Afternoon.
At the ancient tomb excavation site.
Secretary Chen and the provincial officials did not stay long. After inspecting the site for roughly an hour, they went back down the mountain and returned to the province. The ancient tomb was important, but not important enough for a Provincial Party Secretary to spend the entire day here. There was clearly much more work to be done in the province.
The leaders had left.
The remaining crowd found the atmosphere somewhat stiff.
There was no helping it—Xiao Dongnan was still standing there in a daze.
In truth, many members of the Provincial Work Group felt that Director Xiao had been wronged. It had been nothing more than a trivial matter. Two officials had argued because of work, which was perfectly normal. Even if someone had to be punished, it should have been Dong Xuebin, whose rank was lower. Yet the blow had landed on Xiao Dongnan's head instead. Not only had Dong Xuebin of Jiaolin County not been disciplined, Secretary Chen had even chatted and laughed with him the whole time. Even an idiot could see that Director Xiao had been left in an awkward position, and his face had been thoroughly slapped.
"Director Xiao." A cultural department official called out to him.
Xiao Dongnan merely waved a hand and said nothing. "Handle the work here properly." With that, he went into a temporary tent, collected his belongings, and headed down the mountain without looking back. His departing figure looked utterly bedraggled.
Once Xiao Dongnan left, the Provincial Culture Work Group immediately became much more low-key. They no longer strutted around in front of reporters and cameras, instead diligently cooperating with the Archaeological Team—helping with the excavation, setting up equipment, and ignoring everything else. As for the administrative work outside the archaeology,