That afternoon, Xu Damao didn't leave the building materials factory. After Xu Damao offered the sidecar motorcycle as a tempting offer, Han Daxi immediately reported to the top leader.
After Xu Damao came over in the afternoon and told Han Daxi about He Yushui's situation, Han Daxi went out to report to the top leader, but didn't mention that it was Xu Damao, the auto repair shop manager, who had contacted him. In such urgent personnel changes, only the top leader's approval could ensure stability.
Han Daxi was the office director, promoted by the factory manager of the building materials plant, and thus belonged to a faction. He didn't refuse this rare opportunity to speak from his trusted subordinate, immediately agreeing.
The factory director, however, hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise. Upon hearing Han Daxi's report, he naturally wouldn't let Xu Damao leave so easily that night.
Even though supplies were scarce, the building materials factory canteen still prepared a few dishes, and several factory leaders had a drink with Xu Damao.
In terms of rank, the factory director was definitely a division chief, and the deputy director was at the same level as Xu Damao. Faced with this situation, Xu Damao could only keep drinking. Fortunately, they were all people of a certain rank, and they stopped after drinking to a certain extent. Otherwise, the final result would have been that a group of leaders from the building materials factory would have been taken down by Xu Damao alone.
As if afraid Xu Damao would change his mind, the building materials factory sent their purchasing department to the auto repair shop the day after the meal to retrieve the vehicles that had already been ordered. The head of the purchasing department was quite eccentric; he was trying to get away with it by paying for two vehicles and taking them away, thus creating a fait accompli.
Little did they know that each of these cars had an owner, and before they had even paid, they were told that this trick wouldn't work, so they had no choice but to obediently follow the reservation.
After sending Han Daxi's men away, they didn't expect another acquaintance to come knocking.
"Factory manager, someone's looking for you!" Li Tong called out from outside.
This girl was normal for a while, doing everything in a very methodical way, like an office manager, but I never expected her to go crazy again.
"Come in," Xu Damao said.
"Da Mao, you've got quite the setup. The office director has such a young and beautiful girl; it can't be corrupt," a familiar face said as he walked in.
The visitor was Zhu Guangrong from the district government, whom Xu Damao had initially met while hunting together. As they spent more time together, Xu Damao learned that Zhu was the deputy director of the district government office, specifically responsible for liaising with and serving the top government official—essentially the top official's chief secretary.
It's said that the top government official is going to be promoted to another city, but this guy doesn't want to go with him, saying he's not used to being from Beijing. The higher-ups are quite nice; they've made arrangements for him, and he might be assigned to be the head of a street-level government office soon.
Among Xu Damao's group of friends, Zhu Guangrong has the most extensive network of connections and seems to have the most promising future. He'll likely be promoted to deputy head of the district after serving as the head of the subdistrict office, and he'll only be 40 years old then – truly a promising career.
At that time, Xu Damao sought help from the district education bureau regarding the location of his auto repair shop, which was coordinated through Zhu Guangrong. Zhu Guangrong simply made a phone call, and Xu Damao did not encounter any obstacles in the process.
"Hey, isn't this Comrade Chief Secretary? What brings you to my humble abode today? I was wondering why the magpies were chattering at the door this morning; turns out we have a distinguished guest."
"Li Tong, have someone change the water in my kettle."
Xu Damao saw that it was Zhu Guangrong and stood up to shake hands with him. The chief secretary is usually very busy, always by the side of the top leader, rarely having time for himself; he never expected him to be at the auto repair shop today.
"You little rascal, you always know how to say nice things," Zhu Guangrong said, pointing at Xu Damao with a smile.
Just then, Yu Li came in from outside, carrying a kettle full of water to replace Xu Damao's kettle. She was about to help Xu Damao make tea to serve the guests when Xu Damao stopped her.
“No need, I can do it myself. This is an honored guest, and I must serve him my own treasured tea,” Xu Damao said.
After speaking, Xu Damao took out an iron box from under his office desk, opened the lid, first took out a piece of charcoal wrapped in newspaper, and then grabbed a handful of tea leaves. These tea leaves were naturally from Anhui Province; he had specially made a tea caddy for them.
"Da Mao, I was just saying you know how to enjoy life, with the office director being a beauty. I didn't expect the service staff to be beauties too. Wow, that's something else," Zhu Guangrong exclaimed.
"Haha, it's nothing special, nothing compared to your government." Xu Damao didn't explain much. These things get more complicated the more you explain, and if you don't explain, things will just stay the same for a while.
The two drank tea and chatted, seemingly quite relaxed. But neither of them had that kind of leisure time right now; it was just a matter of seeing who would lose their temper first.
In the end, Zhu Guangrong spoke first. There was no other way; he was busier and had even less time than Xu Damao, and the matter had to be resolved quickly.
"Da Mao, besides catching up, I also need your help with something today," Zhu Guangrong said.
Xu Damao realized the real business was here, and he guessed it was about the car. He had just helped Han Daxi get a car, and it was probably because the kid was showing off to Zhu Guangrong that the other party found out and came here.
But now all four cars have been towed away, and there's no way to assemble a new car in a short time. Xu Damao was having a headache about how to refuse his brother's idea, but he couldn't hesitate to say it.
"Secretary, don't even think about asking me for help. Your boss is right here, how could I possibly help you? But if there's anything you need, just let me know, and I'll do it," Xu Damao said.
"Don't speak so confidently yet. This matter is a bit difficult for me, especially at this critical juncture. I've consulted many people before, but none of them could help. I thought of you, kid, you have a lot of ideas and connections." Zhu Guangrong didn't talk about the matter, but instead praised Xu Damao.
"Brother, you should tell me what's going on first. If you keep holding me like this, I'm worried it will hurt too much if I fall." Xu Damao forced a smile.
"I heard that your factory had a pork stew with vermicelli a while ago. Did you get the pork?"
As Zhu Guangrong spoke, he looked at Xu Damao, seemingly worried that the boy might be lying.
"Seriously? Our factory just eating meat gets the government's attention? Are you planning to crack down on us?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Damao breathed a sigh of relief and replied with a joke. Knowing that the other party was after the meat made things easier; there was always a way to resolve it.
“If we’re going to crack down on someone, it’s not us. It’s like this: I’m planning to ask you to help me get some pork.” Seeing that Xu Damao didn’t deny it, Zhu Guangrong revealed his real purpose for coming.
“This shouldn’t be a difficult thing for you, right? You can easily handle a little pork, unless…” The more Xu Damao analyzed it, the more he felt that something was wrong.
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