Power and Wealth

Morning. 10 am.

Level four, Grand Meeting Room.

Everyone in the Investment Promotion Agency is in the meeting room. Deputy Chief Lui Dafa and Deputy Chief Sun Shuli sat in the first row facing the Chief's table, followed by Office Director Luo Haiting, Deputy Office Director Dan Enguo, Beijing's Offsite Office Director Pu Yang, Shanghai's Offsite Office Director Guo Junbao. Behind them is Section Chief of Business Section One, Lin Pingping, Section Chief of Business Section Two, Jiang Hailiang, other staff members.

Everyone sat in their chairs quietly, waiting for the meeting to start.

Lui Dafa and Sun Shuli, the two leaders, are keeping quiet, and the rest dares not to make any noise. They don't even dare to cough.

Suddenly, everyone in the meeting room heard footsteps outside. Dong Xuebing had arrived.

Clap… clap… clap… Luo Haiting started clapping, and the rest of the staff followed to welcome Dong Xuebing.

Dong Xuebing walks in slowly and smiles at the staff. He went up to his seat and sat down, facing everyone.

The clapping stopped.

Sun Shuli clapped a few times and stopped.

Lui Dafa did not even clap at all. He only waved his hands, pretending to be clapping. In his heart, he is still feeling sore. If Dong Xuebing had not interfered suddenly, he would be the Chief, and this meeting will be hosted by him. He should be the one sitting there and not Dong Xuebing! Because of Dong Xuebing, everything changed, and he ended up as Dong Xuebing's subordinate! He knows that his life in the Investment Promotion Agency will be tough because of their grudges. Even the lowest-ranked staff member of the Agency knows about this.

Dong Xuebing is the only person sitting at the rostrum.

There are some seats beside him, but they are empty.

An appointment announcement ceremony is normally held by the County's top leaders. Still, Dong Xuebing's official appointment is before the Lunar New Year holidays. The ceremony is not held, and today is no longer considered Dong Xuebing's first day of the appointment. Xie Huilan had asked Dong Xuebing if he needs her to hold the ceremony for him, but Dong Xuebing rejected it.

Dong Xuebing adjusted the microphone and started his speech.

This is the first time Dong Xuebing is giving a speech as the head of a department.

Dong Xuebing cleared his throat and smiled. "Thank you for the warm welcome. You all should know that the higher-ups had appointed me as the Chief of the Investment Promotion Agency before Lunar New Year. Today is my official first day of work. I would like to thank the organization for their trust, Mayor Xie, and the County Party committee for giving me this opportunity. I hope every one of you will put in your 100% at work…"

Clap… clap… clap…

After saying what he must say, Dong Xuebing looked at the staff in front of him and continued. "Attracting investments is not an easy task. The County needs to develop, increase its average income, expand the economy, improve people's lives… all these are related to our Investment Promotion Agency. Do you all know how many people are watching us? Do you know how many people had pinned their hopes on us? It's not that I want to criticize your results in the past. Our Yan Tai County cannot even be compared to our surrounding Counties!"

At year-end, the leaders will talk about the good things and not talk about the bad stuff.

But at the start of the year, it is the opposite. Furthermore, Dong Xuebing needs to establish his authority, and denying the past years' result is part of changes.

The staff whispered among themselves. Dong Xuebing had compared them to the surrounding Counties and made them look bad. Indeed, Yan Tai County's result in attracting investments is very poor, which had not changed for several years.

Dong Xuebing continued. "I don't mean anything by saying all these. I just want everybody to think about why other people can attract billions and even tens of billions of investments. In contrast, we can only attract a few hundred million? Why are the investors going to other Counties instead of us? Why? I don't understand! We are all humans! Why others can achieve that and not us?!" Dong Xuebing raised his voice. "I don't want to hear excuses such as geographical position, environmental factors, etc. I just know that if others can do it, so can we! If they can bring investors to their Counties, we can also bring investors here! I don't believe Yan Tai County is worse than those counties! I don't believe our people here in Investment Promotion Agency are lousier than them!"

Business Section One's Chief Lin Pingping was the first to clap. What Dong Xuebing said is in line with what she felt.

The staff started clapping enthusiastically.

Luo Haiting also clapped loudly. She thought to herself. No wonder Chief Xiao Dong can get promoted so fast. He is good at motivational speeches.

Lui Dafa sneered. Who doesn't know how to boast? You want to attract more than a billion-investment funds? If you can maintain 200 million like last year, it will be a miracle! You don't even know what is going on, and you dare to say such things?!

Deputy Chief Sun Shuli also frowned.

After a while, the meeting ended.

Everyone started to leave.

Dong Xuebing noticed Lui Dafa and Sun Shili are not on good terms with each other. They did not speak or even look at each other. As everyone left, Lui Dafa and Deputy Office Director Dan Enguo walked out together while speaking softly. Sun Shuli left by himself without speaking to anyone else. The two Chiefs of the Business Sections, Lin Pingping, and Jiang Hailiang smiled and chatted for a while before walking out with their staff. As for the rest of the offsite Office Directors, Dong Xuebing did not monitor them closely. After all, they are not station in Yan Tai County.

"Ahem!" Dong Xuebing cleared his throat and said. "All the leaders stay back for a meeting."

The ones that were about to leave the meeting room stopped, puzzled. The staff members continued their way out of the meeting room.

You have not even sat in your office for more than an hour, and you dare to call for a meeting? What are you trying to do?

Luo Haiting walked over to Dong Xuebing and asked. "Chief Dong, what materials do you need? I will go and prepare them now. Will the meeting be held in the small meeting room?"

"No need." Dong Xuebing smiled and shook his head. "The meeting will be held here."

Everyone exchanged looks and returned to their seats.

Because the chairs are positioned near to each other, the corridors are narrower. Luo Haiting accidentally knocked into Lui Dafa's arm when she was returning to her seat. Lui Dafa immediately frowns and stared at Luo Haiting's back without saying a word. Dong Xuebing noticed this and understood why Luo Haiting was the first one to lean towards him. Lui Dafa and her are not on good terms.

Lui Dafa is in-charge of Finance, promotions, filing, etc. That means he is overseeing the Office Department and is Luo Haiting's direct superior. But from what happened earlier, Lui Dafa is closer to the Deputy Office Director Dan Enguo. He had skipped Luo Haiting, and this shows that he is unhappy with her. If Lui Dafa had become the Chief, Luo Haiting's position would be in jeopardy.

Now, Dong Xuebing is only guessing the relationships between the heads of various departments by observing them. As for the different factions, he must wait until he really starts work.

After everyone sat down, the meeting started.

Dong Xuebing was still sitting at the rostrum, looking down at them. He smiled and said. "Why is this position so uncomfortable? Haha… should we go to the smaller meeting room?" The smaller meeting room has a round table, and most meetings are held there. This Grand Meeting Room is the Chief facing several dozen chairs, and it is not a discussion. It is more like giving out orders.

Seeing Dong Xuebing mentioning this, some people smiled and said it's fine.

This is what Dong Xuebing wanted. He needs to reorganize the interior and establish his authority. This environment is perfect. Seating in a higher position will exert pressure on others. Dong Xuebing pushed the microphone aside and said. "You all are sitting quite close, and I don't need the microphone. This meeting is actually for me to know everyone and update me on the various departments. I am new here and need to understand the current progress." Dong Xuebing turns to Sun Shuli. "Old Sun does not need to update me, as we had chatted in my office earlier. Haha…"

Other than Dong Xuebing, Sun Shuli and Lui Dafa are the highest-ranking leaders here. Since Dong Xuebing had skipped Sun Shuli, it will be Lui Dafa's turn.

Lui Dafa hates Dong Xuebing, but Dong Xuebing is still the Agency's head, and he cannot go against him openly. He took a sip of tea and said. "I am in charge of…"

Dong Xuebing interrupted Lui Dafa and said. "Director Luo, how about you start first?"

Lui Dafa had only said a few words and was interrupted. His face immediately changed.

Lin Pingping blinked and looks at Lui Dafa.

Jiang Haiting and Dan Enguo turned to look at Luo Haiting.

I will start first?! Luo Haiting was stunned. In the Government sector, seniority is very important, and Luo Haiting should report after Lui Dafa. Dong Xuebing's words made everyone think about the underlying meaning.

Luo Haiting immediately reply. "There is 13 staff in the Office Department. Our duties are mainly… assisting the leaders of various departments, official documents, meetings, filing, confidential documents, vehicles, and all administrative matters. We also set the Agency's regulations and policies, appraisals, human resource matters, finance, and support services. The Party building, disciplinary matters, political training, auditing, managing suggestions, assisting the Party Committee to implement their orders, sorting the materials for investors, updating the investment list to the investors, collecting and editing materials for newsletter."

The rest of the leaders looks at Luo Haiting. How did you memorize all these?

Dong Xuebing nodded. This Office Department is doing the job of many different departments and has high authority. But he knows that although their duties include disciplinary matters, audits, human resource matters, finance, etc. but there is not much staff in the Agency. The power of this department is not as big as what others think. Also, they are in charge of too many things. This department's actual duties are to consolidate the information and data from the rest of the Agency and report to the leader. It is still the leader who has the final say.

"The Office Department is handling so many duties. The responsibility is too high." Dong Xuebing said.

Luo Haiting doesn't know what to reply, and she felt Chief Dong had not said everything.

Before Luo Haiting can say anything, Dong Xuebing shocked everyone in the room. "We must pacify the internal before facing our enemies. Director Luo, the Office Department, is very important and must not be taken lightly. Alright. You will report to me directly in the future!"

The meeting room went silent.

Luo Haiting was stunned for a second and immediately replied. "Yes."

Everyone in the room knows that the Office Department is under Lui Dafa. Other than the Agency's Chief, Lui Dafa has the most authority and controls almost half of the Agency. Now, Chief Dong had taken away all of his authority with one sentence. Let Luo Haiting report to Chief Dong directly?! That means Lui Dafa is powerless now!

Lui Dafa did not expect Dong Xuebing to do this on his first day. His face turned black, and he almost cursed out loud.

After the rest of the leaders reported about their departments, Dong Xuebing said. "Ok. Dismiss!"

Dong Xuebing is using this meeting to deal with Lui Dafa! This is Chief Dong's first move!

The grudge between Dong Xuebing and Lui Dafa is an open secret, and everyone knows about it.

Before the Lunar New Year, news of Chief Lui's wife disfiguring Dong Xuebing's helper had spread. Everyone knows after Dong Xuebing starts work at the Agency, he will take revenge on Lui Dafa.

But… no one expects Dong Xuebing to act so fast!

Today is Dong Xuebing's first day at work. He immediately takes revenge on Lui Dafa after he finishes his appointment announcement?!

It is still the Lunar New Year period. Dong Xuebing is too ruthless!

Everyone kept quiet.

Luo Haiting is surprised. This newly appointed Chief is friendly and always smiling. But under that smile, he is overbearing and resolute. This is not what any leaders will do! Other than 'Ruthless,' there are no words to describe him!