Chapter 146: Forcing the Palace
In front of his daughter's life and dignity,
Tan Yandong chose the latter.
As a mother, Feng Wenya couldn't bear the consequences.
Eventually, she took her daughter and went back to her parents' home.
Because there were no domestic experts for her daughter's illness, Feng Wenya later emigrated with her daughter with the financial help of her family, and since then, she never returned.
The later Tan Yandong, through his own efforts, step by step, became the County Party Secretary of Changming County.
But emotionally, he was empty; all these years, he had walked alone.
This story.
Contains some tragic elements.
Li Duming finished speaking.
He let out a long sigh.
He said, "I can't judge other people's choices, but if this happened to me, I would have made a different decision."
As he said this, he glanced at Li Yi.
"Okay, Dad, the food is getting cold."
Li Yi also picked up a rib and placed it in Li Duming's bowl…
After dinner.
Li Yi volunteered to escort Chen Fang downstairs.
Once downstairs,
Li Yi said, "Alright, I'll leave you here, I should go back."
Just about to turn around.
Chen Fang suddenly grabbed her hand and asked, "Why?"
Li Yi countered, "Why what?"
Chen Fang scratched his head and said, "Your attitude toward me... why?"
Li Yi smiled sweetly and said, "Because I like you."
After dropping that perplexing phrase, she went back upstairs.
Leaving Chen Fang baffled.
Despite having had two deep interactions, Chen Fang still couldn't figure out what was on this woman's mind.
Wednesday.
The regular Standing Committee meeting.
Today's agenda was to review the report on the legal construction status in Changming County.
The meeting was presided over by the County Party Secretary, Li Duming, who began by conveying the study of the provincial party committee's spirit of ruling the province by law, followed by a report on legal construction by the Political and Legal Committee Secretary, Sun Qianguo.
This kind of meeting actually had nothing special.
The agenda was also pre-determined.
But no one expected that halfway through the meeting.
Sun Shenru suddenly knocked on the table.
Sun Qianguo immediately stopped speaking, and all eyes converged on Sun Shenru.
He cast a sidelong glance at Chen Fang in the corner and said, "Secretary Chen, go get me a cup of water."
Chen Fang was taking notes.
He was startled by the request.
Still, as the leader had spoken,
he set down his pen, stood up, took the cup, and walked to the water dispenser.
Without Sun Shenru's permission,
no one else continued to speak.
Only the gurgling of the water cooler was heard following which Chen Fang brought back the cup.
Sun Shenru unscrewed the cup, took a shallow sip, frowned, and said, "Why is this water so cold? Pour it out and get me some hot water."
Chen Fang hadn't even sat down yet.
He could only take the cup again,
Pour out the cold water and replace it with hot water.
Sun Shenru took another sip and angrily said, "It's too hot to drink! Change it for me again!"
Speechless.
As Chen Fang reached for the cup once more, Li Duming held out his hand and stopped him.
With a stern face, he said, "Comrade Shenru, we are in the middle of a Standing Committee meeting. Please respect the meeting process. If you want to drink water, it can wait until later."
Li Duming was standing up for Chen Fang.
After all, he could see that Sun Shenru was deliberately being difficult.
"Talk about it later? Mr. Li, since when did meetings forbid even drinking water? Aren't you being a bit too tyrannical?"
Sun Shenru asked with a cold laugh.
Li Duming's face looked very unpleasant.
No matter what, he was still the top leader. Such sarcastic remarks, so overtly mocking, not even the former Tan Yandong had ever made.
Li Duming paused before saying, "If you want to drink water, go pour it yourself, hot or cold as you like, what's the point of making things difficult for a secretary? After all, you're the mayor, don't you find it a bit low-level?"
As soon as he said this,
the atmosphere in the conference room became more charged with tension.
Ever since Sun Shenru had become mayor, while they hadn't gotten along, they had never had a head-on confrontation - if ever there were one, this was the first.
Moreover, judging from Sun Shenru's reaction now,
he was intentionally causing trouble.
"Heh, asking your secretary to pour some water is low-level? Fine, then let's switch topics for a moment. We'll now discuss the decision to dismiss Comrade Chen Fang from the role of head of the Secretary Section of the County Party Committee Office."
Once he said this,
Chen Fang was stunned.
Even Li Duming hadn't expected Sun Shenru to suddenly make such a bold move.
You must know that the position of head of the Secretary Section isn't like other positions; this one is directly appointed by the County Party Secretary without necessarily having to go through organizational discussion. This rule has always been this way, sort of an unspoken agreement.
"The agenda for today has already been set. Who allowed you to just change it on a whim?"
Li Duming said, his face reddening with anger.
Sun Shenru chuckled coldly.
He said, "Mr. Li, we practice democratic centralism in the Standing Committee, don't we? And why do we have democratic centralism? It's to prevent the abuse of power. So, as the mayor, I can't propose a new topic? Are you trying to silence us all?"
"Comrade Chen Fang hasn't made any mistakes, so why dismiss him from his position?"
Li Duming then asked.
Sun Shenru stretched leisurely.
He glanced at Chen Fang and said, "Hasn't made any mistakes, you say? What if I insist that he disregards the organization, refuses to take management, and is lacking in work ability?"
"He is my secretary. It's up to me to decide whether his work ability is insufficient or not!"
Li Duming, with widened eyes, raised his voice by three degrees.
But Sun Shenru was unruffled.
He said, "Mr. Li, are you still trying to create a one-man dictatorship here? We have ten committee members. If Mr. Li dares to say in front of everyone that Chen Fang only reports to you alone and has nothing to do with anyone else, then we'll drop this topic, how about it? Do you dare to say it?"
This statement, clearly, had the intention of setting a trap.
In the system, it's very serious for a top leader to make unilateral decisions.
If Li Duming indeed said that, Sun Shenru could righteously pin that label on him, and it wouldn't be impossible for the city to take the opportunity to make things difficult for him.
That's why it is said that one must choose words carefully and act prudently in the realm of officials. What seems like an ordinary statement could lead to disastrous consequences.
Seeing Li Duming hesitate,
Sun Shenru's mouth curved into a confident smile.
His eyes swept around the room and he asked, "I've put forth this topic, does anyone have any objections?"
"None,"
the Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee, An Tai, was the first to speak.
Straight after, other committee members also expressed their views, agreeing with Sun Shenru's temporary change of topic.
The situation was clearly overwhelming, one-sided.
With the matter progressing to this point,
Chen Fang could also see it.
Sun Shenru had suddenly launched a "total offensive."
To say it was killing two birds with one stone was no exaggeration.
Firstly, Chen Fang was a capable aide handpicked by Li Duming. In the prior confrontations, Chen Fang had made notable contributions. Dismissing him for no reason at this point would utterly destroy Li Duming's prestige within the County Committee, making it nearly impossible for him to stand up again.
This time, Sun Shenru aimed to shatter his authority and face.
Secondly,
it would serve as a lesson for Chen Fang, kicking him out of the system so that he could no longer make waves in the future.
In such a situation, how was this any different from Zhao Gao 's identifying a deer as a horse? To put it more dramatically, it already bore the scent of a coup d'état.
Most people had expressed their stance.
Sun Shenru spread his hands helplessly and said, "Mr. Li, as you can see, everyone agrees with the agenda I proposed. Shouldn't we respect the will of the majority?"