Saturday.
The government offices were closed.
Though for a County Party Secretary, it was hard to have anything that could truly be called a holiday among the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. As long as something happened in the county, he had to deal with it at any time, whether by phone or by personally returning to the office. Sometimes, if an emergency occurred in the middle of the night, he had to crawl out of bed and head to the scene to take command. While enjoying the authority that came with the position, he naturally had to bear the corresponding responsibility. That went without saying. No County Party Secretary could idle around in the office watching movies every day. Still, people needed time to relax, and no one could work without rest year after year. As long as his phone remained available twenty-four hours a day during his time off, so he could receive news and handle matters immediately if anything came up, that was enough.
For instance, Dong Xuebin had taken the day off today. He had only been in Jiaolin County for a few days, yet the work overall had progressed very well, entirely according to his expectations—far more smoothly, in fact. His initially displayed combativeness had intimidated the government cadres; his later rescue had made an impression on the public; then came the consolidation of authority through the matter of the New County Party Committee Compound. Finally, he had struck while the iron was hot and pressured the city into confirming Huo Yibang's promotion, planting a nail on the county government side. This was another step Dong Xuebin had taken in securing authority over personnel appointments, using the momentum to tighten his grip on that power once again. These were all the achievements