Urban Martial Saint

The middle-aged man’s face changed. He was quite familiar with these situations in the officialdom, and Chief Xu’s words shocked him. The Director was willing to give up his own office, which showed how much he cared about Director Su. If it were just an ordinary background, why would the Director give him such face?

”Isn’t the Director the son-in-law of Deputy Minister Qian?” The middle-aged man looked at Chief Xu, his voice trembling a bit, ”Does he... does he still need to show such deference to Director Su?”

”That’s why I said, if Director Su is in charge of this matter, there’s nothing I can say!” Chief Xu waved his hand and said, ”Old Lin, I’m not lying to you. To make this happen, Director Su has to approve. Why don’t you try to talk to Director Su again? If he’s willing to nod, then everything will be fine!”

The middle-aged man furrowed his brows. The higher Director Su’s status, the harder this matter would be. However, this matter concerned the Lin family, so he had to give it a try no matter what.

The middle-aged man looked at Chief Xu and said, ”You said earlier that Director Su is in office No. 5 on the ninth floor?”

Chief Xu, being a shrewd character, immediately understood what the man was thinking. However, he didn’t say anything, just nodded and said, ”That’s right, that room is the best office in the entire Finance Bureau!”

The middle-aged man nodded and said, ”Old Xu, I won’t bother you any longer. Let’s meet some other day for a drink.”

”Sure, we’ll have a good drink over the weekend!” Chief Xu smiled as he stood up and saw Lin Haoqi and the others out of the office.

”Dad, what are we going to do now?” Just after stepping out of the office, Lin Haoqi immediately asked the middle-aged man nervously.

The middle-aged man remained silent for a while and then said solemnly, ”Go to the ninth floor!”

”To the ninth floor?” Lin Haoqi was even more puzzled and said, ”Dad, are you planning to go directly to Director Su’s office? Could this have the opposite effect?”

”No matter what effect it has, we have to give it a try!” The middle-aged man patted Lin Haoqi’s shoulder and said, ”Dad has put almost all his resources into this. If this doesn’t work out, our Lin family will lose its previous position in the Capital. So, we have to take the gamble no matter what!”

These words motivated Lin Haoqi, and he nodded in agreement, ”We’ll go up together, and no matter what, we have to meet him this time!”

Although Ding Yue, standing nearby, was somewhat reluctant, she nonetheless followed the two to walk towards the elevator.

On the other side, Ye Qing and the others had already reached the ninth floor and had arrived at Su Guoli’s office. When they arrived, Su Guoli was busy with work. Seeing Ye Qing come in, he promptly put down his work and warmly welcomed Ye Qing and the others to sit down.

Su Guoli made tea for Ye Qing and the others while smiling, ”Sorry, I don’t have a secretary at the moment, so my hosting might be lacking.”

For Ye Qing and Huangfu Ziyu, it wasn’t a problem as they were friends with Su Guoli, so they didn’t feel anything special. Gao Shibao, however, was different. At the door, he already knew that Su Guoli was a high-ranking leader. As a grassroots worker, such opportunities to meet big leaders were rare, so he naturally felt extremely excited upon seeing Su Guoli.

When he saw Su Guoli personally making tea, Gao Shibao hurriedly stood up to take the teapot and said, ”Let me do it, let me do it.”

”Oh, you are a guest, how can I let you do it?” Su Guoli tried to take it back, but ultimately couldn’t snatch the teapot from Gao Shibao, who made four cups of tea and brought them to the table.

”Thank you!” Su Guoli smiled awkwardly and said to Ye Qing, ”Honestly, I haven’t done much of this tea-making stuff, so I’m not that skilled. Letting your friend do it is really impolite!”

”No problem, no problem, I’m quite familiar with this!” Gao Shibao laughed, ”That’s mainly what I do at the office.”

”Oh, is that so?” Su Guoli laughed and looked at Ye Qing and said, ”By the way, you haven’t introduced this friend of yours yet?”

”You two have been busy since we got in, where was my chance?” Ye Qing responded with a smile and formally introduced Gao Shibao to Su Guoli.

Upon hearing that Gao Shibao was a grassroots civil servant and had worked at the grassroots level for four or five years, Su Guoli’s eyes lit up.

”Mr. Gao, which agency do you work for?” Su Guoli asked.

”The Nanhui Sub-district Office of the Northern District in the Capital,” Gao Shibao replied.

”Oh.” Su Guoli nodded slowly and said, ”Are you classmates with Ye Qing?”

Gao Shibao nodded, ”Yes, we are college classmates, both graduates of Northern University.”

Ye Qing added, ”But during college, Shibo was quite different from me. I was preoccupied with sciences, while Shibo was proficient in both arts and sciences. Especially in humanities, he often published articles in various newspapers and journals and was nicknamed a little genius at our school!”

”Really?” Su Guoli’s eyes brightened as he turned to look at Gao Shibao and said, ”So Mr. Gao has a pretty good writing ability?”

Gao Shibao blushed a little and said with a smile, ”Just writing for fun, publishing articles to earn some royalties for a living.”

”Publishing articles is not an easy task, especially with the higher standards of the Capital’s publications!” Su Guoli nodded approvingly. He was essentially assessing Gao Shibao’s qualifications through all these questions.

He was precisely lacking a secretary and had been looking out for one. However, none of the people at the Finance Bureau met his standards, so he was considering finding someone from outside.

In the afternoon, Su Kaicheng called him, mentioning that Ye Qing would come to visit and brought up the matter regarding Gao Shibao. Su Guoli, being as sharp as he was, understood the real purpose of Ye Qing’s visit.

However, Su Guoli was a man of principles. He didn’t agree right away but wanted to first understand Gao Shibao’s situation. After all, what he needed was a capable secretary, not just anyone Ye Qing brought over. If he hired someone incompetent, his work would indeed be troublesome in the future.

Just now, Gao Shibao had helped with serving tea, which satisfied him greatly. A secretary needs quick wits, swift legs, and efficiency, and Gao Shibao fit the bill on this point.

After learning that Gao Shibao had worked at the sub-district office for five years, meaning he had grassroots work experience and could effectively handle many situations, it made him even more pleased.

Then, upon hearing that Gao Shibao had excellent writing skills, Su Guoli became even more satisfied. As a secretary, writing speeches and materials is crucial. Having this skill met the basic requirements for being a secretary.

With these three points, Su Guoli had basically made a decision in his heart. The subsequent casual conversation involved more discussions with Gao Shibao, getting a deeper insight into him through his speech and demeanor, and feeling increasingly like the person he was looking for as a secretary. In the end, it was just Su Guoli and Gao Shibao chatting, while Ye Qing and Huangfu Ziyu were practically silent on the side, watching their conversation.

Gao Shibao was straight in temperament and had a similar personality to Su Guoli, so they clicked well and even felt like they regretted not meeting sooner as they talked longer. Moreover, when asked for his opinions on economic matters, Gao Shibao responded fluently, as he had studied this in college, and these questions were no challenge for him.

Currently serving as an official in the Finance Bureau, economics was a core focus area for Su Guoli. These economic questions were essentially the final assessment for the secretary position. His expectations for a secretary were not high, just requiring a basic understanding of economics, as being entirely clueless would complicate writing materials for him. Of course, having more knowledge was always better.

Unexpectedly, Gao Shibao’s research and understanding of economics were so impressive that Su Guoli was astonished. His insights went even deeper than some professionals, leaving a lasting impression on Su Guoli.

After hearing Gao Shibao’s views on economic issues, Su Guoli asked directly, ”Little Gao, which department are you working at right now? And who is your superior officer?”

Gao Shibao hadn’t realized that this conversation was changing his fate. However, as his character was akin to Su Guoli’s, he was thoroughly enjoying the chat. On hearing this question, without any second thought, he replied, ”Nanhui Sub-district Office of the Northern District, and our chief’s name is Lei Xingyu.”

”Lei Xingyu? I don’t know him!” Su Guoli waved his hand and said, ”Tell me about a higher-ranking leader.”

Gao Shibao was a bit stunned, not knowing what Su Guoli was getting at, and said, ”Our Deputy Director is named Lu Yangcheng.”

Su Guoli remarked, ”I don’t know him, mention someone higher up.”

”Our Director...”

Just as Gao Shibao began speaking, Su Guoli waved his hand and said, ”Stop mentioning these grassroots officials, name someone even higher.”

To Gao Shibao, a director was already a lifelong aspiration. Yet in Su Guoli’s mouth, a director was just a grassroots official, nearly making Gao Shibao cough up blood.

Thinking for a moment, Gao Shibao said, ”The one in charge of our Nanhui Sub-district is Director Ding Xinlian!”

”I don’t know him! Forget it, don’t say more.” Su Guoli waved it off, thought for a while, and asked, ”Fan Wenshan works in the Northern District, right?”

”He... he is our District Chief...” Gao Shibao could barely muster his breath, realizing that to be considered a high-ranking leader by Su Guoli, one had to be at least a District Chief. In the entire Northern District, there were at least one hundred sub-districts like Nanhui, hence one hundred similar sub-district offices. The sheer number alone highlighted the disparity between their directors and the district chief!

Su Guoli scratched his head, saying, ”Oh, it’s been years, and he’s become a district chief now!”