Noon.
It was time to eat.
A food truck drove into the temporary County Party Committee Compound and stopped in the courtyard. Dedicated staff began unloading insulated containers and handing them out one by one. Back when they were still at the Old County Party Committee Compound, the rundown cafeteria had once forced them to rely on food trucks delivering boxed lunches. But back then, meals were delivered directly to each office area and department, so no one had to come out themselves. Now, with limited conditions and the row houses in such disarray, everyone could only come out and line up to collect their boxed lunches. It could not be helped. Though there had been plenty of complaints, they had to make do.
Dong Xuebin came out as well.
"Secretary, your meal." The staff member handing out meals spotted Secretary Dong and immediately picked up a boxed lunch, about to run it over to him.
Dong Xuebin waved a hand. "No need. I'll line up."
"Ah... uh..." The staff member was put on the spot. "Don't, Secretary, you..."
"Heh, everyone's lining up. I can't jump the queue." In the Jingcheng Dialect, that meant cutting in line. Dong Xuebin then went to stand at the very end of the line. Everyone's boxed lunch was the same anyway, as he had previously required. There was no difference between the work meals of leading cadres and ordinary clerks. This had always been his governing principle: everyone was equal. He could not let the privileges of certain leaders become fodder for gossip behind people's backs. In the past, he had lacked the means to put this idea into practice. His position had been too low, and he could not make decisions for leaders. But now that Dong Xuebin was the Top Leader of