A Headache-Inducing Speech Draft?

One day...

Five days...

Ten days...

As the days he spent in the General Office piled up, Dong Xuebin became increasingly familiar with the work there. Yet the more deeply he got involved, the more remote his chances of promotion seemed. There were too many rules in officialdom. He had just entered the system and understood nothing; whether speaking or handling matters, he used almost all of his daily backtrack ability to make up for basic mistakes. On top of Guo Shunjie's deliberate suppression and Guo Panwei's constant overstepping, Dong Xuebin had not had an easy time in the General Office these past days.

That day.

Dark clouds filled the sky outside, and a light drizzle began to fall.

Dong Xuebin folded up his umbrella in the Office Building corridor and pushed open the General Office door. "Morning, Sister Chang, Tanzi, Zhuangzi."

Tan Limei called out, "Binzi, you're late today. Hehe, did you go on a date yesterday?"

Chang Juan looked over as she applied makeup. "Little Dong, do you have a girlfriend? Whose daughter is she?"

Dong Xuebin smiled. "With my qualifications, what girlfriend could I possibly find? Please, don't make fun of me."

Guo Shunjie tapped the desk with his pen. "Little Dong, perfect timing. Here, do this for me." Who knew how many tasks he had shoved onto Dong Xuebin over the past half month.

Guo Panwei waved him over as well. "Little Dong, come help me when you're done."

Dong Xuebin nearly ground his back teeth to pieces. These two bastards...

That morning, Dong Xuebin went upstairs to deliver several documents. After finishing his work, he sat at his desk and considered his future path.

Then inspiration struck. He decided to start writing a Party Membership Application. Since Dong Xuebin's goal was the Central Politburo, joining the Party was practically an inevitable step. Besides, becoming a Party member would make things go much more smoothly in every respect, add substance to his personnel file and résumé, and greatly increase his chances of promotion.

Scratch, scratch, scratch. Scratch, scratch, scratch.

As he searched online for sample materials, Dong Xuebin refined his Party Membership Application.

Driven by his eagerness for promotion, he actually finished it before the end of the workday. Looking at the nearly ten thousand words he had written, even Dong Xuebin was a little impressed with himself. Human potential truly was limitless. Back when he had written his thesis, he had dragged things out terribly, taking ten days to write five thousand words. But now, at the thought of working toward promotion and wealth, he was instantly motivated. His writing speed could practically be called breakneck.

"Binzi, what have you been writing all day?" Zhuangzi asked innocently from the other side of the desks.

Dong Xuebin raised the draft in his hand. "A Party Membership Application."

Zhuangzi scratched the back of his head. "Join the Party?"

"Oh, you're joining the Party too?" Tan Limei had sharp ears and immediately said with a grin, "I submitted my application a year ago, and I only just became an Active Party Member Applicant this year. You have to study the Party Constitution and submit Ideological Reports. If nothing unexpected happens, I probably won't be approved and become a Probationary Party Member until this time the year after next. Just wait."

"I figure it'll take me four years." Dong Xuebin gave a helpless smile. He knew Party membership review was an extremely slow process; even three years counted as fast. "By the way, who do I submit this application to in the Party Branch? Who's the secretary?"

Tan Limei said, "Just give it to our Director Li, Li Qing. He's in charge."

Li Qing was the deputy director of the General Affairs Department and concurrently the director of the General Affairs Office. Since he seemed to have a good relationship with Deputy Director Zhou and had reportedly always wanted to let go of the General Office so he could climb higher, he delegated a great deal of authority. Basically, he left all General Office matters to Deputy Director Zhou and rarely came by, only occasionally dropping in to inspect the place. Dong Xuebin had only seen Deputy Director Li from afar three or four times.

Strictly speaking, based on his position in the General Office, Li Qing was its director, so calling him Director Li would have been the most appropriate. But director was clearly not as high-ranking as deputy department director, nor did it sound as impressive as department director. Thus, everyone naturally addressed him according to the department director rank. Yes, officialdom was just such a place—both reasonable and unreasonable. If you insisted on calling him Director Li all day long... that would be political immaturity.

At that moment, the area around them suddenly fell silent.

Dong Xuebin looked up. Well, speak of the devil—Deputy Director Li had arrived.

"Director Li."

"Hello, Director Li."

Everyone stood up in a posture of welcoming their leader.

"Busy, are you all?" Li Qing pressed a hand down. "Sit. Keep working."

Li Qing was very thin, like a walking stick. He seemed far more cheerful than the sickly Zhou Changchun, and when he smiled, there was none of Zhou Changchun's faintly false kindness. His smile appeared quite sincere. Li Qing's family circumstances were very difficult. His daughter had leukemia or some other illness; in any event, his finances were tight. Tan Limei had said that the bureau leadership had wanted to organize a donation drive for him last year, but for some reason, Li Qing had refused.

Over there, Zhou Changchun came out of the small office as well, smiling. "Director."

Li Qing, not yet fifty, smiled and patted Zhou Changchun's upper arm. "Lao Zhou, your health isn't good. Take better care of yourself and don't overwork."

Zhou Changchun stood a little straighter than usual, gratitude on his face. "Thank you for your concern, Director. I'm doing all right."

Of everyone there, only Zhou Changchun called Li Qing "Director."

Dong Xuebin had specifically consulted Tan Limei, a senior colleague, about forms of official address. He knew there was considerable thought behind Zhou Changchun's "Director." It was not that Zhou Changchun had addressed him incorrectly; rather, it was a response to the authority Li Qing had delegated. If Zhou Changchun also called him Department Director like the clerks did, Li Qing might easily feel that this deputy director had grown arrogant from favor and had verbally pushed him, the full director, outside the General Office, intending to monopolize power for himself. But by calling him "Director," Zhou Changchun was telling Li Qing: I have not forgotten that you are the full director and the Top Leader of the General Office.

Just think how much subtlety there was in that.

In any case, Dong Xuebin still could not quite make sense of it all.

After a while, Li Qing strolled over to Dong Xuebin's desk. Seizing the chance, Dong Xuebin handed him the Party Membership Application and made a lofty, formulaic statement of his position. Li Qing roughly flipped through the several-thousand-word application and did not say much else, merely delivering a few official platitudes about performing actively, studying more, and striving to join the Party organization as soon as possible. Then he seemed to remember something and turned to hand a document to Zhou Changchun.

"What is this?" Zhou Changchun took it with a puzzled expression.

Li Qing rubbed his brow with a headache. "Director Yang is going to the municipal bureau for a meeting. This is the general content for his speech draft. Put some real effort into writing it and try to satisfy Director Yang. Don't let it be like last time. Lao Zhou, I'm leaving this to you. Don't let Director Yang think our General Office has nobody capable."

"This... yes, we... we'll definitely do it well." Director Zhou's reply was bitter.

Dong Xuebin noticed that the moment they heard they had to write a speech for Director Yang, Tan Limei, Guo Shunjie, Guo Panwei, and the others all looked increasingly miserable.

Huh?

What was going on?

Dong Xuebin and Zhuangzi, who did not understand the situation, were both thoroughly baffled.

Was a speech draft really that hard to write?

P.S. It's about to fall off the rankings! I urgently need Recommendation Tickets and favorites! Friends who haven't added the book to their shelves yet, please do! The plot will definitely get more and more exciting, and every development everyone wants to see will appear!

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