Settling the Division of Responsibilities in Guangming District
After extinguishing his cigarette, Sun Liancheng took out his personal phone and sent Chen Mo a brief message: "The division of responsibilities is settled. You're responsible for shantytown redevelopment, overseeing housing and urban-rural development, science and education, culture and health, civil affairs, public petitions, and stability maintenance. We'll discuss the details this afternoon."
As Sun Liancheng sent the message, Chen Mo was in his new office selecting a liaison officer.
His phone vibrated. He glanced at it, then said to the deputy director of the government office without betraying anything, "All right, I understand the candidates' basic backgrounds. We'll tentatively settle on this comrade. Have them come over so I can meet them."
The deputy director acknowledged the instruction and left. Chen Mo looked at the line on his phone screen again.
"Overseeing the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau," he murmured.
Sun Liancheng had indeed not disappointed him. Though this "pledge of allegiance" carried limited weight, it had landed precisely where it mattered.
Without any hesitation, he picked up the phone and dialed Mayor Lin Yanzhou's direct line.
"Mayor, this is Chen Mo." He clearly reported the outcome of the secretaries' coordination meeting, along with Sun Liancheng's unexpected stance.
There was a moment of silence on the other end. "It seems Ding Yizhen's problems run even deeper than we anticipated. He's already begun disregarding statutory procedures. The more that happens, the more careful you must be not to push him too hard. A cornered beast will still fight; a desperate dog will leap over a wall. Your foremost task now is to establish a firm footing and settle down to work."
"Whatever responsibilities you're assigned, accept them calmly. Remember, every area of responsibility is a platform for serving the people. Whatever you tackle, handle it meticulously, solidly, and with results. Jingzhou is a centuries-old city with a rich cultural heritage. There's much to be done in culture and tourism. I previously intended to have Comrade Wen Zhiyuan focus his efforts there, but he has other work now, and you happen to be overseeing it. This is an opportunity. For shantytown redevelopment, first conduct thorough research and establish the full picture. Funding pressure is heavy at this stage, so it will be difficult to produce visible achievements immediately. We must learn to seek new growth drivers through integrating culture and tourism and boosting consumption and GDP. That, too, contributes to Jingzhou's development."
"Understood, Mayor. I'll familiarize myself with the situation and get things moving as soon as possible," Chen Mo replied in a steady voice.
In the study at Residence No. 1 of the municipal Party committee compound, Li Dakang quietly listened as Yizhen delivered a somewhat embellished and anxious report over the phone.
"Mm, I understand." There was not the slightest ripple in his voice. "As district head, Comrade Sun Liancheng is performing his duties normally by offering differing views within his remit. The whole point of a coordination meeting is democratic discussion leading to consensus. The procedure was correct, and the outcome was good."
Ding Yizhen visibly froze on the other end. The thunderous fury he had expected, or at least some explicit instructions, never came. "But, Leader, the way Sun Liancheng behaved today was clearly-wasn't he extending an olive branch to the other side?"
"That's enough," Li Dakang interrupted. "Comrade Lin Yanzhou is the mayor. Paying close attention to shantytown redevelopment, a key undertaking, is his duty. Your district leadership's foremost task now is to work together in unity and carry out all of Guangming District's work solidly. That is the bigger picture. If there are differences, communicate and discuss them more. Your focus must remain unreservedly on the Guangming Peak Project. That is the highest priority affecting the economic picture of the entire city. There is no room for the slightest mistake."
The call ended. Ding Yizhen held the receiver as the busy signal sounded, unable to recover for a long while.
Secretary Li Dakang's understated response took him greatly by surprise, and a trace of unease arose in his heart.
This was unlike Li Dakang's usual forceful style and pursuit of absolute control.
Meanwhile, at Residence No. 1 of the municipal Party committee compound, Li Dakang put down the phone, then picked up the internal line and instructed his secretary, "Find all of Guangming District Head Sun Liancheng's personnel records, particularly the detailed performance evaluations and records of his major achievements during his tenure as executive deputy district head of Wuhua District, and bring them to my office."
Could this seemingly ineffectual Sun Liancheng really possess some exceptional quality I overlooked, enough to catch the attention of both Lin Yanzhou and that 'Governor Liu'?
Putting down the phone, his gaze returned to the confidential dossier on Lin Yanzhou lying on his desk, which he had read countless times.
He tried to discern, between those lines, the code to Lin Yanzhou's success and the hidden cards behind him. What made him most wary was the almost uncanny blankness of the "Family relations" section.
"If you cannot sweep a single room, how can you sweep the world?" Li Dakang understood this principle well. Family background and marital ties had always been important implicit considerations in the organization's evaluation and appointment of officials. The emptier the record, the deeper the waters often ran.
For officials at their level, personnel records should have been extremely detailed, with clearly traceable family connections. Such blankness allowed only two possibilities: either he was genuinely alone, with no ties whatsoever, or his background was unfathomably deep, with some degree of information compartmentalization or protection in place. This was often a strategy adopted by scions of deeply rooted families to avoid early attention and pass smoothly through their period of practical seasoning.
This was also the deeper reason he had consistently favored defense and observation in dealing with Lin Yanzhou, rather than taking the initiative in a direct confrontation.
He feared the people who might stand behind him. They might represent a force he could not withstand.
He craved advancement too much and could give up a great deal for it, but he absolutely could not back the wrong horse, much less offend anyone he should not offend.
In requesting Sun Liancheng's records now, he wanted both to establish this "chess piece's" true value and to verify indirectly whether Lin Yanzhou had merely placed a piece casually, or whether his philosophy of employing people truly contained some subtlety Li Dakang had yet to fathom.
He put on his glasses, picked up Lin Yanzhou's dossier, and began studying it closely once again, particularly those feats of turning decay into marvels in his previous postings: reviving enormous nonperforming assets, driving astonishing upgrades in traditional industries, and completing major public welfare projects at minimal cost. The meticulousness of his thinking, the breadth of his vision, and the precision of his methods repeatedly left Li Dakang marveling, while also feeling a gap he could scarcely bridge.
Sometimes he could not even help thinking, If someone of Lin Yanzhou's caliber could devote himself wholeheartedly to leading the Guangming Peak Project, with his ability and boldness, what staggering figure could Jingzhou's GDP growth reach? When the time came to contend for the governor's seat, who could compete with me?
An unknown amount of time passed before his secretary placed several file envelopes before him. Only then did Li Dakang put down Lin Yanzhou's dossier and pick up Sun Liancheng's file envelope. He urgently needed to know what deeper significance lay in this district head he had overlooked, even disdained, for years, and why he had become Lin Yanzhou's first chess piece in prying open the game in Guangming District.
He opened Sun Liancheng's file, skipped over the formulaic employment history, and focused directly on the performance evaluations and specific achievements from his tenure as executive deputy district head of Wuhua District:
"Outstanding performance in Wuhua District's comprehensive public security management efforts. Led public security, urban management, subdistrict offices, and other departments in dismantling multiple criminal gangs that had long entrenched themselves locally, substantially raising residents' sense-of-security index."
"Keenly seized the opportunity presented by balanced educational development, overcame difficulties, and successfully brought branch campuses of two provincial key secondary schools into the district, greatly alleviating the local shortage of high-quality educational resources and winning widespread public praise."
"Adept at handling complex legacy problems. In resolving a collective petition by laid-off workers from the former municipally owned textile mill, employed flexible methods and a sincere attitude, ultimately securing proper arrangements for over a thousand workers without a single petition bypassing the designated administrative levels."
Line after line of seemingly dry text gradually came alive in Li Dakang's eyes.
These were by no means achievements an ineffectual official could produce. Sun Liancheng had demonstrated strong execution, skill in coordination, the ability to gnaw through tough bones, and an exceptional emphasis on safeguarding people's livelihoods.
Li Dakang leaned back in his chair, removed his glasses, and rubbed the space between his brows.
He suddenly realized that he might have made an enormous mistake in the past.
He had relied too heavily on Ding Yizhen's sweeping, GDP-above-all reports, completely overlooking the value of a "hands-on" official capable of holding the rear steady and solving practical problems.
What Lin Yanzhou valued was probably precisely Sun Liancheng's solid ability to remain unobtrusive while clearing the "last mile" of policy implementation with precision. This was an official quality entirely different from his own and Ding Yizhen's, yet potentially much scarcer.
Just as Li Dakang was reassessing Sun Liancheng's value, his red telephone rang again.
The caller ID showed a number from the provincial government's general office.
He answered immediately.
"Secretary Dakang, tomorrow at nine in the morning, Governor Liu wants Jingzhou City specifically to prepare a report on some preliminary ideas for innovation and upgrading in the province's development zones. The focus is on the Guangming Peak Project's subsequent industrial layout and ideas for raising its development capacity. Please make thorough preparations. Also report on progress in the Jingzhou shantytown redevelopment area petition incident and the proposed solutions."
Governor Liu largely stayed out of affairs, spending extended periods recuperating in Yanjing and waiting for retirement.
This sudden summons, directed straight at the core of the Guangming Peak Project, suggested that the higher-ups had already decided Governor Liu would serve out this term. Perhaps they had also shown him some opportunity, prompting him to emerge once more and turn his attention to economic work.
Then Li Dakang's spirits lifted. This was also an excellent opportunity to showcase his achievements and seek support.
Such a specialized report, particularly one involving industrial planning and innovation-driven upgrading, would probably be beyond Ding Yizhen's flashy style. He could all too easily expose his inadequacies before the governor.
His gaze involuntarily returned to Lin Yanzhou's dossier. Lin Yanzhou was currently leading the response to the petition incident in the redevelopment area. If the Guangming Peak Project could also incorporate Lin Yanzhou's thinking...
In the end, he abandoned the idea, planning to report on the Guangming Peak Project himself and have Lin Yanzhou report on progress in handling the petition incident in the shantytown redevelopment area.