Chapter 384: Study (Part 2)

Chapter 384: Study (Part 2)

Daily updates leave little time for meticulous polishing, so inconsistencies may arise. If the book is eventually published, I will revise it comprehensively. Thanks to Zhongqing History for the support.

Additionally, I have two strict requirements for my work: no logical errors and no factual inaccuracies. While minor flaws may persist, this approach brings the narrative closer to the texture of real society.

Hou Weidong kept guessing what Deputy Secretary Jiang had said. Zhou Changquan’s face remained dark and silent. Since Zhou didn’t speak, Hong Ang didn’t ask, and Hou Weidong naturally held his tongue as well.

How is political depth cultivated? It is forged through repeated exercises of restraint—holding back words, withholding questions. Having served two terms as a secretary and now leading the New Management Committee and the Science and Technology Commission, Hou Weidong had gained some insight. Without such experience, living ten or twenty extra years would not have helped him understand the complexities of officialdom and society.

The three men returned to the Provincial Party Committee Guesthouse in silence, the air thick with unease. This was a major provincial conference, drawing large crowds. Because the Provincial Party Secretary planned to visit the attendees at the guesthouse during the meeting, local leaders preferred to stay there rather than book rooms at commercial hotels. Consequently, the guesthouse was fully booked. The Provincial Party Committee had allocated only two rooms for the Shazhou delegation.

Zhou Changquan took the single room. Hong Ang shared a double room with Hou Weidong. The driver, Ma Bo, had booked a room at a nearby three-star hotel.

Upon entering the room, Hong Ang’s first action was to pick up the tea bags from the counter, sniff them, and sigh, “This bagged tea is undrinkable. I’ll go buy some fresh leaves.” For those engaged in long-term literary and administrative work, cigarettes and tea are essentials, especially during late-night brainstorming sessions. Hong Ang had developed this habit in his early years, and it had accompanied him for over two decades.

Hou Weidong shared this habit. He always prepared good tea for his business trips. He handed a small tin to Hong Ang and said, “Secretary Hong, I brought some tea. It’s local tea from Shangqing Forest.”

Hong Ang praised it, “Good tea. The flavor is very pure.” He sniffed it again and added, “It’s roasted a bit too heavily. A gentler fire would have been better.”

Hou Weidong was surprised. “Secretary Hong, you’re quite an expert. This tea was roasted by locals in Shangqing Forest. They don’t follow strict standards; they rely entirely on feel—the sensation in their hands, their eyes, their nose. It’s like most traditional Chinese crafts. There are no fixed formulas, only intuition.”

“In a way, this reflects Chinese philosophy in daily life. Yin and Yang, contradiction and unity, right and wrong, disaster and fortune—none have clear boundaries. Even modern disciplines have the concept of chaos.”

“Secretary Hong, this shows that ancient sages possessed great wisdom, but it is a slippery wisdom. It avoids hard obstacles. Westerners, on the other hand, are rigid. They like to drill into the牛角尖 (horn of a bull), insisting on asking 'why.' Paradoxically, this has led to the development of rigorous logic and science.”

Hong Ang sighed, “We are merely living through a brief moment in history. We may never see the final outcome of these two models.”

He shifted the topic. “Let’s talk about practical matters. When I was in the county, I wanted to develop tea processing in the mountainous areas. Although tea doesn’t contribute significantly to tax revenue, it directly improves the livelihoods of the people. It’s a project with visible results.”

Hou Weidong had never heard of any outstanding tea projects in Shazhou. Seeing the regret on Hong Ang’s face, he realized the project had failed. “Under the current performance evaluation system, GDP and local fiscal revenue are the deciding factors. Even if people’s actual income increases, it doesn’t quickly reflect in official performance metrics. Therefore, most leaders prefer to develop industrial enterprises, regardless of whether the conditions are suitable.”

Hong Ang, having served as County Mayor and County Party Secretary, was familiar with this reality. He said, “Development is the absolute principle. This viewpoint was proposed based on the reality of extreme poverty. It has a distinct era-specific character. Our Shazhou region is backward, with very few enterprises. It’s like a starving person who just wants to fill their stomach, caring nothing for nutrition or taste. Only after being full do they start to be picky.”

“Currently, Shazhou and the counties below it are in the ‘starving man’ stage. When I was in the county, to increase tax revenue and rank high among the four counties, I placed tea in a secondary position and focused on industrial enterprises.”

Hou Weidong, having served as Director of the New Management Committee, could follow Hong Ang’s line of thought. He said, “It was unavoidable. I hope Shazhou can complete its primitive accumulation soon and upgrade.”

After this metaphysical discussion, Hong Ang felt much better. He smiled and said, “The future development of Shazhou rests heavily on your shoulders.”

“Secretary Hong, I am just a small soldier under your command. Please don’t tease me.”

“The world is yours, and it is ours, but ultimately it is yours. You young people are full of vitality, in your prime, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Hope is placed on you.” This was a quote from the Leader. Hong Ang had memorized it fluently in his youth. In this context, he recited it smoothly, both as a joke and as his genuine belief.

Chatting about everything under the sun, Hong Ang recalled the scene when Deputy Secretary Jiang left. He asked, “What did Deputy Secretary Jiang say when he left, making Secretary Zhou so unhappy?”

Deputy Secretary Jiang had mentioned Yang Senlin at the dinner. Hou Weidong had kept this detail in mind. Hearing Hong Ang bring it up, he pondered and said, “I remember that last time, Mayor Liu wanted Yang Senlin to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Government. It caused some discord at the Standing Committee meeting. Today, Deputy Secretary Jiang suddenly mentioned Yang Senlin. I suspect it was regarding this matter.”

Hong Ang had vaguely guessed this. His analysis aligned with Hou Weidong’s. He patted Hou Weidong’s shoulder and said, “It resonates with my heart.” Then he added, “Let’s stop chatting. Time to sleep.”

After a long night of conversation, the relationship between Hou Weidong and Hong Ang had grown significantly closer.

At the Provincial Party School, Hou Weidong found the registration point for the graduate law program. Just as he finished the procedures, he ran into Guo Lan and another unfamiliar girl.

Hou Weidong was usually busy. Although he and Guo Lan lived in the same building, they rarely met. Today, however, they crossed paths in Lingxi.

“You’re registering? Studying law too?”

Guo Lan had seen the car of Shazhou’s top leader when she entered the building and guessed that Hou Weidong must be registering. Sure enough, as she walked into the office building of the Provincial Party School, she ran into him.

“Yes. I’m here to register. The mathematical formulas in economic management make me dizzy. Law suits me better.” Guo Lan pointed to the girl beside her and said, “This is Li Jun. She used to work at the Yiyang Daily. You’ve met her. She now works at the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission. She’s also here to study for a graduate degree at the Party School.”

Hou Weidong had met Li Jun once and had a vague impression of her. He said, “We’ll be in the same class.”

Li Jun wore her hair in a ponytail and narrow glasses. She smiled with her lips pressed together. “Being in the same class as Section Chief Hou means I can often hitch a ride. When are you returning to Shazhou today?”

When she smiled, two distinct dimples appeared on her cheeks.

“I’m not going back today. Secretary Zhou has two more days of meetings. We return to Shazhou the day after tomorrow.”

Li Jun said, “Forget it this time. But when you come for classes later, remember to invite Guo Lan and me.”

In Hou Weidong’s impression, Li Jun had been a quiet girl. After several years without contact, she had become quite outgoing, chatting endlessly with Hou Weidong, while Guo Lan stood quietly by her side.

After bidding farewell to the two, Hou Weidong thought to himself, “Why does Guo Lan seem different from usual?” He looked back and saw Guo Lan’s back. He understood why he felt she had changed. It was her hair. Previously, Guo Lan’s hair was short. Now, it had grown long enough to cover her ears.

“If Guo Lan kept her hair long, with her features and temperament, she would look more feminine.”

Thinking of this, he looked back again. At that moment, Guo Lan was preparing to go up the stairs to the second floor. She felt a gaze on her back and turned around, meeting Hou Weidong’s eyes.

Li Jun happened to see this scene. She looked at Hou Weidong, then at Guo Lan, and smiled mischievously. “When we were in Yiyang, your families were neighbors. Honestly, do you have feelings for Hou Weidong?”

Guo Lan’s face turned slightly red. “Don’t talk nonsense. Hou Weidong is already married. His wife is Zhang Xiaojia, his college classmate.”

Li Jun was Guo Lan’s close friend and knew her heart best. During her school days, she had been famously quiet, but after working as a journalist for a few years, she had become a somewhat notorious “crazy girl” at the newspaper office. She spoke freely, “The eyes are the windows to the soul. Your gaze betrayed you. I know why you can’t enter a romantic relationship.”

“In Shazhou, young men as outstanding as Hou Weidong are indeed rare. No wonder.” She said solemnly, “Lanlan, you’ve set a very high standard for yourself. It will be hard for you to marry in Shazhou. I have an idea. Since you like Hou Weidong so much, if you can’t be his wife, why not be his mistress? A mistress is still a mistress. It’s better than being a spinster for life.”

Guo Lan made a fierce expression. “You dead girl, if you keep talking nonsense, I’ll ignore you.” Although she denied it verbally, Li Jun’s words subtly penetrated her heart. She thought to herself, “Do I really have such thoughts? Do I?”

The more she thought, the more startled she became. As she walked into the registration office for the law class, Guo Lan suddenly realized, “Over the past year, I have rarely thought of him.”

That “him” had once been Guo Lan’s entire world. When he left Lingxi and went overseas, she felt as if her heart and lungs had been hollowed out. When he calmly discussed breaking up, her world collapsed like Mount Everest. However, several years had passed, and he had slowly disappeared from her dreams.

What terrified Guo Lan even more was that in her dreams, Hou Weidong appeared most frequently.

While paying the registration fee, Guo Lan glanced down. The car of Shazhou’s top leader was no longer in sight.

After getting into the car, Hou Weidong quickly returned his thoughts to Zhou Changquan’s gloomy face. He thought to himself, “Deputy Secretary Jiang was once Zhu Jianguo’s personal secretary and attended the banquet with Secretary Zhu. His words naturally represent Secretary Zhu’s intentions. It seems Secretary Zhou will not offend the Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee in charge of organization over Yang Senlin. It appears Liu Bing was confident, deliberately proposing Yang Senlin’s appointment at the Standing Committee meeting to break Zhou Changquan’s absolute authority in Shazhou.”