That afternoon.
A little after three.
At the county party committee's Small Conference Room.
Dong Xuebin had cried poverty for half the day before finally reaching out his hand.
Jiang Fangfang calmly took a sip of water from her cup, then looked up and said, "The Investment Bureau has indeed been somewhat neglected over the past few years. Its positions aren't even fully staffed. As far as I know, the deputy director, office director, and other posts have been vacant all along. There's only one director and a few section staff and clerks handling the work. If we want to improve results, we first need to sort out its internal affairs. Only then can such an investment team have cohesion and fighting strength."
Pu An spoke up. "I agree with County Chief Jiang."
Chu Peng paused. "I agree too. Four people are indeed a little too few."
Jian Xiangrong also voiced his agreement while the iron was hot. The members of Jiang's faction all stated their views.
"I disagree." Deputy County Chief Ci Boyang said, "The Investment Bureau's work results are plain for all to see. Its results in previous years were far from outstanding. From what I understand, only last year brought in somewhat more investment, but even that was less than ten million. The county is short on both people and money right now. There are difficulties everywhere. When there are difficulties, we can't always look for excuses—we have to find ways to solve them ourselves. Every additional person means another expense, and every additional cadre means another outlay. The county launched the dormitory construction project a few days ago, and now we can barely make ends meet."
The conflict between Dong Xuebin and Zhang Wanshui was out in the open, and that was nothing unusual. But Ci