The Tempting Road to Becoming an Official

Chen Fang returned to the Education Bureau and the more he thought about it, the more something seemed off.

So, he called in Shao Rui, the head of the office.

Shao Rui had always been Pan Youde's confidant, capable of providing some information about the last hospitality event.

That was one of the reasons why Chen Fang kept Shao Rui around.

Chen Fang first went over the details of what had happened.

He then said, "Normally speaking, when people from the Yongfu Education Group come for an inspection, it should certainly be the county leaders who receive them. Even if Li Xiaomin personally took care of it, it wouldn't be excessive. So why was the head of the preparation team in charge of the reception?"

Shao Rui swallowed hard.

He looked like he wanted to speak but didn't dare to.

Chen Fang glared at him.

Shao Rui caved in.

He said, "The leaders didn't receive them because they wanted to avoid suspicion."

"Avoid suspicion? Why would they need to avoid suspicion?"

Chen Fang asked.

Scratching his head, Shao Rui said, "Director Chen, you're asking me to tell, and I dare not refuse. But if these words get out, my position as the head of the office is probably over for good."

Chen Fang smiled.

He said, "As long as Director Shao's stance is firm, I guarantee that your position as director won't be affected, and if possible, you might even get a promotion."

A firm stance implied that as long as Shao Rui was loyal to him, he would naturally have nothing to worry about.

At these words,

Shao Rui's spirits blossomed with joy.

After pondering for a moment, he said, "Director Chen, to be honest, Zhao Yunpeng, the deputy head of Yongfu Education Group, is difficult to deal with..."

Yongfu Education Group, headquartered in the provincial city, specialized in tertiary education and its business covered almost all the prefecture-level cities in Yongan Province.

Moreover, in Yongan Province, it already had 5 Vocational Technical Colleges.

As for other vocational training institutions, they were too numerous to count.

The project in Jinde County was currently the largest single investment made by Yongfu Education Group.

Zhao Yunpeng was the deputy head of Yongfu Education Group and also one of its shareholders.

This man had three main characteristics.

The first was his love for pomp.

Zhao Yunpeng paid great attention to appearance; if he was received by just a few scattered individuals, he would certainly feel slighted.

Additionally, he had very high standards for food, clothing, accommodations, and transportation.

Without saying, the meals had to be exquisite. If the alcohol wasn't top-shelf, like Maotai, he wouldn't even take a sip. If the dining standards weren't up to par, he would put down his chopsticks and leave. The accommodation had to be at least four-star, ideally five-star, and it absolutely had to be a presidential suite, otherwise, he wouldn't even consider staying.

For transportation, it had to be a luxury car worth millions; ordinary sedans wouldn't even warrant a glance from him.

The second characteristic was his terrible temper.

He always acted superior, commanding everyone imperiously as if they were his subordinates, never giving anyone face.

The most important was the third point, his extreme lasciviousness.

No matter what he did, if there weren't beautiful women accompanying him, he would immediately throw a tantrum. Moreover, every time he traveled, he would arrange for a female secretary to accompany him. Regardless of whether the secretary was willing, he would take advantage of the business trip to have his way with her.

That's what happened last time.

The female secretary was completely unwilling.

Zhao Yunpeng forcibly had his way with her, leaving a mess for Pan Youde to clean up.

Pan Youde spent two hundred thousand to finally appease the female secretary.

All of these reasons

were why the county leaders didn't want to receive Zhao Yunpeng personally.

Putting aside the issue of whether it was rape or not, just the high maintenance alone would make the county leaders keep their distance.

After hearing what Shao Rui said,

Chen Fang also sucked in a breath of cold air.

He had thought that Ding Yuan was just making things difficult for him in terms of funding, but he hadn't realized that the reception itself was a pitfall. If something went wrong in any part of the process and Zhao Yunpeng got angry, he would have enough of an excuse to get him into trouble.

"Director Chen, may I ask, how much funding did you get approved for this time?"

Shao Rui asked.

Chen Fang said, "Two thousand?"

"Two thousand... yuan?"

Shao Rui paused, asking.

Chen Fang forced a smile and countered, "You don't actually think they approved twenty million for me, do you?"

The moment Shao Rui heard this, he panicked.

He said, "Director Chen, even two thousand isn't enough for Zhao Yunpeng to stay just one night..."

After speaking,

he paused and added, "Our office still has fifteen thousand in unspent procurement funds. I'll go get approval from finance to provide for the hospitality."

Seeing this,

Chen Fang waved his hand and said, "Director Shao, I appreciate your good intentions, but I can't use it. If I really did, I'd give people something to hold against me. I'll take care of the hospitality, you don't have to worry about it."

Shao Rui had no better solution.

He could only nod and ask, "Director Chen, why not let the newly arrived Director Sun handle this matter?"

True to his reputation as an old hand at office politics, Shao Rui certainly knew how to dodge responsibility.

He said, "Oh right, on this first day of taking office, what is Deputy Director Sun busy with?"

Shao Rui let out a wry smile and said, "He hasn't been here since early this morning, said he went to the hospital to visit the deputy director who got appendicitis."

"Wow, I didn't expect him to be so caring,"

muttered Chen Fang.

Shao Rui said, "Caring? That other deputy director is no small fish—he went to suck up."

"No small fish? What do you mean by that?"

Chen Fang paused and asked.

Shao Rui asked in surprise, "Director Chen, you don't know?"

Chen Fang shook his head and said, "I don't."

"Well, that explains it. This new deputy director's name is Meng Shuwan, only 28 years old, previously the secretary of Deputy Mayor Xiao."

"What?"

Upon hearing this news,

Chen Fang stood up abruptly.

He had heard clearly,

but he still found it hard to believe and asked again, "You said who?"

"Deputy Mayor Xiao's secretary,"

Shao Rui repeated.

Chen Fang's mind buzzed, and he was stunned in place.

Not because Xiao Xiao's secretary couldn't be the deputy director of the Jinde County Education Bureau, but because since the incident, Xiao Xiao himself had also been in Jinde County and never once mentioned this to him.

Of course, whether he mentioned it or not wasn't that important.

Xiao Xiao knew full well that the educational system in Jinde County was murky, yet he still arranged for his secretary to be placed there. What was the reason?

"Director Chen, what's the matter?"

Seeing Chen Fang react so strongly,

Shao Rui asked somewhat puzzled.

Chen Fang waved his hand and said, "Give me Meng Shuwan's hospital information. I'll pay a visit after work as well."

"Alright."

Shao Rui took a piece of paper and wrote rapidly.

After examining the paper,

Chen Fang asked, "Director Shao, has Deputy Mayor Xiao ever worked in our Jinde County?"

"Yes, when Deputy Mayor Xiao was your age, he was also the head of our Jinde County Education Bureau for a full five years before he was promoted to deputy county head, also in charge of education. After that, due to the significant improvement in education standards in Jinde County, he went to the City Education Bureau to serve as its head for several years. About three years ago, he was promoted to deputy mayor, specifically overseeing education. You know, Deputy Mayor Xiao is indeed quite capable," said Shao Rui with a bit of pride.

It seemed as if he were bragging about his own accomplishments.

"What about Pan Youde? Who promoted him?"

Chen Fang inquired.

After thinking for a moment, Shao Rui said, "When Deputy Mayor Xiao was still the head of our county's Education Bureau, Pan... Pan Youde became a deputy head. Later, when Deputy Mayor Xiao went to the county as deputy county head, Pan Youde was promoted to head. He is certainly one of Deputy Mayor Xiao's old subordinates."

Old subordinates?

If that were the case, then Xiao Xiao, while backing Chen Fang on the day he took office, showed no regard for Pan Youde's face. At first, Chen Fang thought they didn't know each other at all, but now it seemed to be a total facade.

With that realization,

Chen Fang broke out in a cold sweat.

Could it be that the biggest tiger in Jinde County's education system was not these visible county leaders but...