Harassment!

The day of the interview.

Dong Xuebin was afraid that his mother and Aunt Xuan's expectations would put too much pressure on him, and also afraid of causing them emotional ups and downs, so he hadn't dared to tell them about the interview. After drinking a bowl of porridge to fill his stomach in the morning, Dong Xuebin secretly stuffed his admission ticket, ID card, and other documents into his pocket, went out to take a bus, and headed to the "battlefield" alone.

Baiyun Times Building.

The 22nd floor was filled with a row of offices of various sizes, each with a sign on the door, such as the Earthquake Bureau and the Customs. After asking a passing attendant, Dong Xuebin followed the direction she pointed and walked to the very end, finally finding Room 2216 in an inconspicuous corner. There was no sign for the Personnel Bureau or the Political Department, just an A4 paper with the words "Waiting Room" pasted in the center of the door. Chapter 12 [Difficulties!]

The door was wide open, and the smell of smoke wafted out.

Looking at his watch, it was still more than ten minutes before nine o'clock. Dong Xuebin nervously clenched his fists and knocked on the door frame.

"Come in," a rough male voice said.

"Hello, I'm Dong Xuebin, here for the interview today."

"Oh, let me see your documents."

Behind the desk sat two middle-aged men in plain clothes, one about forty-five years old and tall, the other fifty and short. After confirming Dong Xuebin's admission ticket, they waved for him to sit down. There was only one empty chair outside the desk, directly facing the two middle-aged men, and it was slightly shorter. After Dong Xuebin sat upright, he felt even more nervous, his heart pounding uncontrollably.

Before long, a middle-aged woman walked in, nodded to the tall and short men, and sat down behind the desk.

"It's almost time," the tall man said, taking out a stack of documents. "Shall we begin?"

Dong Xuebin stiffly said, "...Okay."

It wasn't his fault for being uneasy. He had thought that with his Administrative Aptitude Test and Essay scores, he would be in the top three among the graduating students applying for the State Security Bureau this time. However, he had learned from the person in the Political Department on the phone that day that his score was ranked fourth. That is to say, he was the fourth person to be interviewed, and if he wasn't careful and didn't answer the questions well, he was very likely to be overtaken by the fifth and sixth place candidates, replacing his position.

This time, the State Security Bureau only had four openings.

One wrong step, and the whole game is lost. Dong Xuebin was now facing the biggest challenge of his life.

Over there, the three examiners looked at each other. Finally, the tall man cleared his throat and said in a serious tone, "What are your views on this year's stock market?"

Here it comes!

Dong Xuebin's mind raced. He had traded stocks before, playing around with his mother for a while when there was money at home, so he knew a little bit. Plus, he could occasionally hear news about market trends on TV, so Dong Xuebin had many aspects he could answer. But just as he was about to open his mouth, he remembered something Grandpa Hu had told him earlier: don't underestimate any question, each one has its deeper meaning.

That was close, he almost analyzed the market trend.

What they want to examine shouldn't be whether you know how to play stocks, but something else.

Dong Xuebin calmed himself down and opened his mouth thoughtfully, "The overall market trend in the first half of the year was good, showing a steady upward trend. I think this is both a good thing and a bad thing. From an economic point of view..." He brought out an analysis of the national economy from the stock market, which was knowledge he had crammed in the past half month, and it came in handy. Uh, of course, it wasn't very outstanding, after all, it was just copying from books, but at least it was moderate and shouldn't have any mistakes.

It's best to be conservative, as long as he can hold on to fourth place, this civil servant position won't get away.

"...Well, I'm done answering." Two minutes later, Dong Xuebin breathed a sigh of relief.

The tall man looked at him, "That's it?"

Dong Xuebin was stunned, "...That's it." What does that mean? Did he answer off-topic?

The tall man didn't say anything more, and together with the short man and the middle-aged woman, they scribbled on the table, seemingly writing comments. Immediately, the tall man flipped through the files in his hand and said indifferently, "If you were a civil servant, and grassroots units frequently submitted many opinions to you through the internet, what would you do?"

Dong Xuebin considered for a few seconds, and the fixed pattern sentences he had memorized the day before yesterday suddenly flashed in his mind, which were similar to "fake, big, and empty" answers. He felt that it was appropriate to use them here, so he immediately disassembled and reassembled them, combining several sentences in his mind, "Currently, the internet has become an important channel for gathering public opinion and reflecting public sentiment. Grassroots units can submit their opinions to higher-level authorities through the internet, promptly reflecting problems. As higher-level authorities, we can conveniently and quickly respond..." He threw out a bunch of words like reciting a text, and two minutes passed, "...I'm done answering."

The tall man shook the file, "Just that?"

Still not enough?

Dong Xuebin blinked listlessly and simply continued with another passage from the sections he had memorized, "If the opinions raised by grassroots units concern our work attitude and methods, I will gather the opinions, convene a department meeting, actively correct our work attitude and methods, and do a good job in service. If the grassroots units..." He spoke for another two minutes.

The woman and the short man wrote with their heads down.

The tall man still said in the same tone, "Nothing else?"

The female examiner frowned, tilted her head, and glanced at the tall man without saying a word.

The short man, however, remained as steady as Mount Tai, tapping the table with his pen, rarely looking up from beginning to end.

"...Um, that's it." Dong Xuebin was extremely depressed, to say the least.

The following questions were the same. Dong Xuebin felt that his answers were quite appropriate, but the tall man, for some reason, always said something like "Nothing else? Done? Just these? Anything else? Nothing more?" after he finished answering, as if Dong Xuebin's answers were very poor. Leaving aside how he answered, the tall man's tone alone could easily mislead and influence the other two examiners' scores.

Damn it, who did he offend? How could someone be so irritating?

Is this how all civil service interviews are? That's not right, he hadn't heard anyone say that.

Dong Xuebin's heart sank. He knew that this time he was likely doomed. Moreover, being quite perceptive, he even detected a hint of deliberate making things difficult in the tall man's tone.

This is bad.

Things are going to go wrong!!!