Ma Xiaoyan returned to the county publicity department and went straight to her superior to report that Li Long was in the mountains helping the herders cut grass with a mower.
Ma Xiaoyan's immediate superior was the department's deputy head. The head also held a seat on the standing committee and had a great deal to attend to, so the deputy handled the department's daily work.
After hearing her report, the deputy adjusted his glasses and picked up two newspapers from his desk.
One carried the article about Li Long in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Daily, and the other carried the article in the Prefecture Daily.
Both clearly identified him as Li Long of Ma County. Unfortunately, neither had been written by the publicity department.
"Xiaoyan, this is a very timely report. Wait here a moment. I'll go ask the standing committee member for instructions. If he approves, you can take one of our compound's cars into the mountains and conduct a proper interview.
"Also, don't just record Li Long's life. Record what those herders have to say too. Isn't Ye Laya working with you? Have her interpret anything you can't understand."
With that, the deputy took the newspapers to the standing committee member's office. Ma Xiaoyan returned to her own office-a large room shared by several people.
For the next ten-odd minutes, Ma Xiaoyan was as anxious as an ant on a hot stove, but with her colleagues around, she couldn't show it.
To be honest, she wanted to get ahead, but she also felt dissatisfied. At the very beginning, she had taken Ye Laya's manuscript and submitted it to the county radio station. Later, she had accompanied Zhang Xinhua throughout the entire process.
It was perfectly normal that Zhang Xinhua's article hadn't included her name. She had only