Inside the Small Conference Room.
The atmosphere had practically frozen solid.
Everyone's expressions had become unnatural. Some were stunned, some astonished, some had darkened faces, while others... wore extremely complicated expressions.
Only Dong Xuebin kept smiling as though nothing had happened, as if he had merely tossed out those words casually and saw nothing important or improper about them. When it came to keeping his composure, few could compare with Dong Xuebin. He had faced life-and-death situations with a smile before, so what was a scene like this? It was all tempered through the years of struggle and hardship. Besides, what he had just said was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had been planning it since that morning, and had even considered parts of it in the taxi after leaving Su Yan's home the previous night. Naturally, he had come prepared.
He was prepared, but no one else was!
Everyone found it utterly unbelievable. For a moment, they could not even decide whether Dong Xuebin's move was a blunder. It had caught them far too off guard.
Calling a Standing Committee meeting that very day while at a disadvantage?
Openly arm-wrestling with the County Chief at a Standing Committee meeting where he was at a disadvantage?
Even after encountering resistance, not listening to anyone else's opinions and directly demanding a vote?
Of those three things, not even an ordinary County Party Secretary would dare do a single one. This was no joking matter. It concerned who would hold greater influence in the county leadership going forward and who would take the lead in future work. Especially that last point—the vote. That was simply beyond everyone's imagination. He was a County Party Secretary who had just arrived, had not even figured out the situation yet, had not exchanged so much as