That afternoon, Director Zhen refused to let him go, and news that Little Dong's transfer had fallen through quickly spread.
The moment Xu Yan heard the news, she called Zhen Anguo. "Director, about Little Dong's matter..."
"Old Xu." Zhen Anguo and Xu Yan had grown closer during the previous Party committee meeting, and even their private forms of address had changed. "I knew you'd speak up for Little Dong. But debt collectors came all the way to the bureau looking for him. The impact is terrible. I understand someone may have used some underhanded trick to frame Little Dong, but he can't escape responsibility either. He's too young and too impulsive. Sending him down to the grassroots right now won't do him any good. My thought is to wait until there's an opening, then give Little Dong a substantive deputy section chief position and promote him. As for going to the grassroots, he can wait a few more years." Xu Yan frowned. "Little Dong's contributions to the branch bureau are obvious to all of us. Isn't this a little..."
Zhen Anguo said, "He'll practically be handed a substantive deputy section chief promotion. How many people in Capital City get promoted to a deputy section-level leadership post just four months after entering a government office? He should be content, Old Xu. No need to discuss this further. Oh, I went to a city meeting this morning, mainly about that accident at the East City Branch Bureau. You heard about it too. On Sunday, their cafeteria, which had fallen into disrepair over the years, partially collapsed. Even the ceiling came down. Luckily it was Sunday, and luckily it wasn't mealtime, or someone definitely would've been hurt. Most of our National Security buildings are old, several decades old. Safety is a problem. The