A routine meeting was underway at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
They discussed one matter after another. In truth, most of the middle-ranking and senior leaders attending knew that the director and deputy directors had already reviewed these items, so there were unlikely to be any surprises. The person in charge explained each matter's importance, the funding and manpower required, and which section and personnel would handle its implementation, and then it was approved.
Once everything had been discussed, Deputy Director Yu, who was chairing the meeting, was about to adjourn when the newly transferred Deputy Director Liu suddenly cleared his throat and said:
"Now that the main business is finished, I'd like to bring up something off the agenda. Just a small matter."
This was a minor surprise, but since he called it a small matter off the agenda, Deputy Director Yu did not stop him and let him speak.
Deputy Director Liu, Liu Shengli, had been parachuted in from the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Cooperative. He was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, young, spirited, and highly enthusiastic about his work. The older comrades generally needed to support him.
"The organization assigned me responsibility for personnel, so this actually falls within my duties. But since I've only just arrived, I thought I should bring it up at the meeting. I went through our cooperative's personnel and discovered that a temporary worker named Li Long is never at his post. He's in the Purchasing Section. Section Chief Li, he's one of yours, right?"
"Yes, he is." Li Xiangqian nodded.
"Where is he now?"
"Out on business." Li Xiangqian had little respect for this new deputy director. He had barely arrived and was already targeting him. He was a veteran here, after all. It would have been fine if Liu had spoken to