Evening.
It was seven o'clock.
Everyone ate heartily in the Small Banquet Hall, with lavish dishes of fish and meat, along with fine cigarettes and liquor. It was rare for them to splurge so extravagantly. If they had not been hosting Foreign Guests and fellow officials from the city this time, they would not have ordered so much food and drink. Publicly funded banquets were under strict scrutiny these days. No one wanted to make a mistake over something like this, much less be singled out and criticized by the city or provincial authorities. Still, they had eaten to their hearts' content this time.
Of course, the atmosphere at the table was not really one for dining.
What had happened earlier weighed heavily on everyone's minds.
"Secretary Dong cursed someone out again."
"Yeah, and this time it was a city official."
"Damn, if this gets reported to the City Discipline Inspection Committee, we'll be in real trouble."
"Even if it gets reported, it probably won't become too big a problem, right? They were the ones who neglected their duties first. At most, they'll criticize Secretary Dong's way of handling things. Besides, even though that Deputy Director Niu is a city official, he's no big deal, and his rank isn't higher than Secretary Dong's."
"What if it gets escalated to the Discipline Inspection Committee at the next level?"
"Have you forgotten what Secretary Dong did before taking office? He came from the discipline inspection system, and he was even an official with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. He'll definitely be able to smooth this over. Otherwise, Secretary Dong wouldn't have cursed them out in the first place. He has the confidence for it. Didn't you see his expression? He didn't take it seriously at all."
"But they were accompanying Foreign