Late morning.
Jiaolin County.
County Party Committee Compound.
Everyone had arrived. Jiaolin County's leadership came out in a rush to greet them, while those who had arrived late hurried a few steps to quickly fall into line.
"Minister Ma."
"Minister Ma."
Everyone called out to him.
Ma Wei nodded slightly. "Everyone's here?"
A balding middle-aged man stepped forward from the front, smiling. He was quite heavy, probably close to one hundred and sixty pounds, and he was not very tall, which made him look even rounder. "Minister Ma, sorry we came out late. I had someone watching outside earlier, but their report came late. We only found out after you had come in. I'll give them a good dressing-down afterward!"
Ma Wei smiled. "It's fine."
The chubby middle-aged man looked at Dong Xuebin. "This must be Secretary Dong?"
Ma Wei said, "That's right. This is Comrade Dong Xuebin. You'll be working together from now on, so you need to cooperate and communicate well."
That very heavy middle-aged man was clearly County Chief Zhang Dongfang.
Zhang Dongfang chuckled. "Absolutely. Secretary Dong, hello."
Dong Xuebin shook his hand as well and smiled. "Hello, County Chief Zhang."
Zhang Dongfang said, "Secretary Li has been gone for quite a few days now. We've been waiting for you to come take command of the overall situation. We waited and waited, and you've finally arrived."
Dong Xuebin smiled. "You're too kind, County Chief Zhang. I'll certainly have many things to ask your guidance on in the future. We've met today, so let's communicate more from now on."
Zhang Dongfang said, "No problem."
The two exchanged a few polite words. Although Dong Xuebin held a certain degree of prejudice toward Zhang Dongfang—after all, one was the Top Leader and the other was second-in-command, and some things had