The place for dinner was a Sichuan restaurant not far from the city hotel. The big red sign and the two strings of red peppers as decoration at the door made it look authentic.
Li Lin called Gao Qiang in advance and asked him to deliver a box of wine and a pack of cigarettes in advance. Of course, it was at his own expense.
In the private room upstairs, Li Lin sat in the main seat, and two slightly older comrades, Zheng Hao and Mu Jianping, sat next to him on his left and right.
Since they had just met and it was their first time to have dinner together, everyone was in high spirits.
After all the dishes were served, the waiter opened the wine and placed it in four wine containers on the table.
Li Lin picked up the wine jug and walked around the table filling everyone's glass with wine.
Zhang Mingchen and Niu Yang saw Li Lin's polite behavior and quickly stood up and said, "Team Leader Li, how can we let you pour the wine? Let us do it."
As they spoke, the two of them grabbed the wine jugs and filled the glasses of the people next to them.
"Now, apart from work, don't call me team leader anymore. Older people can call me brother, and younger people can call me Brother Lin. It's fate that we can work in the same group, and I feel very honored to get to know you all." Li Lin said with a smile.
Everyone looked at Li Lin with a smile on their faces, and they were deeply moved by his approachable attitude.
Although Zheng Hao still looked cold and smoked silently, he was moved by Li Lin's words. He looked at Li Lin curiously and looked up to this young man in his twenties.
Just a few simple words brought together a group of people who had just met. This required a high level of vision and great wisdom. Li Lin seemed to have an innate leadership temperament.
Did I underestimate him? Zheng Hao thought to himself.
As the youngest member of the team, Xiao Qi stood up excitedly, raised the cup in her hand, and said to Li Lin with a smile on her face, "Team Leader...ah no, Brother Lin..."
After calling him "brother", Xiao Qi's face became visibly hotter and redder...
Li Lin looked at her with a smile.
I only heard her say shyly, "I am the youngest in our group, shall I have a drink first and toast to everyone?"
Li Lin smiled and nodded, and said to everyone, "Then today's opening drink will be given to Xiao Qi?"
"Xiao Qi, if you want to drink the first glass, then you better make a good start and show your strength, otherwise we won't be able to let go later, hahaha..." Zhang Mingchen and everyone else laughed.
Xiao Qi did not refuse. He picked up the small wine cup and drank it all in one gulp, and then drank five more cups in a row.
"I'll drink six cups, and I'll toast to everyone with three cups. I wish you all a long and happy life, and may you all rise to great heights!"
"good!"
Xiao Qi's toast won applause from the audience.
"This first cup of wine, of course, should be toasted to our team leader. Thank you for giving us special treatment! I am honored to work under the handsome team leader. Let alone working for three months, I would be willing to work for him for a lifetime."
Li Lin was very happy to be praised by Xiao Qi. He stood up, picked up the wine glass and drank it all.
Zhang Mingchen and Niu Yang, who were watching the fun nearby, heard what Xiao Qi said, thought about it, and had a different opinion.
Zhang Mingchen said jokingly, "Xiao Qi, I agree with what you said, but the word "干" is not very elegant. Think about it..."
Everyone was stunned, thinking about what Xiao Qi had just said, "Working with Team Leader Li for the rest of my life..."
They were all experienced people and they were immediately enlightened. After they realized what was happening, they all laughed out loud with their heads tilted back.
Xiao Qi was still a little confused and couldn't understand what they were all laughing at.
Li Lin drank another glass and said to her with a smile, "They are all bad, just ignore them."
Xiao Qi's face turned even redder when she heard this, and she immediately realized that these people had bad intentions...
When it was Zheng Hao's turn to toast, Zheng Hao was probably infected by the relaxed atmosphere on the scene, and his originally tense expression relaxed a lot.
What's more, it was a shy girl who toasted him, so he couldn't keep up a straight face. He just stood up calmly, smiled uncomfortably, and without saying a word, picked up the glass and drank.
Li Lin had learned something about Zheng Hao through his former colleagues.
He was a top student and later was admitted to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection. More than ten years have passed and he is still a deputy director at the section level. Many of his colleagues of the same period have left the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and become the top leaders of other units, but he is still standing still.
As time went by, he also felt tired. It didn't matter that he had no one and no money, and gradually he stopped thinking about promotion. He just worked as a deputy director of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, without any desire or ambition.
It was under such circumstances that he gradually became cold and unkind...he felt that nothing was worth his while.
But from his performance tonight, Li Lin could feel that there was a passion deep inside him.
Especially after two glasses of wine, his face gradually became rosy and his smile became more natural and friendly.
Alas! Everyone has his own troubles. If they had not experienced something, who would be willing to become a smelly, hard, and disgusting stone?
Li Lin had some understanding of his state of mind.
Once upon a time, I was like this too. No one could stand me and no one would accept me... But later the environment changed and I adjusted my mentality.
Li Lin, still drunk, patted Zheng Hao on the shoulder and said to him with a smile, "Director Zheng, our team is still short of a deputy team leader. Do you have any ideas? Today is an informal occasion, so just treat it as a casual chat. You can open up."
Zheng Hao's expression froze, and he felt like he was petrified on the spot, with a look of disbelief on his face...
He was the deputy director of the department, which sounded impressive, but only he knew that he was actually nothing in the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection. Because each department had more than one deputy director, most of them were idle positions, marginal figures, and had no real power.
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