Chapter 87
The moment Yan Lei got home, the first thing he did was ask Qiao Wei, “How was today?”
Qiao Wei chuckled, “What are you worried about?”
“Nothing, just seeing if things went smoothly for you,” Yan Lei said.
Liar; his eyes were full of worry.
“I’m an adult; I can handle it whether things go smoothly or not. I’m not a child,” Qiao Wei said with a smile. “Don’t worry.”
Yan Lei said, “It’s just that the County Party Committee is quite different from the town.”
“I know, it’s quite obvious.”
As soon as Qiao Wei said that, Yan Lei knew she must have encountered something.
“It’s nothing, just that they all have a bit of that stuck-up, arrogant attitude. Maybe it’s because I’m from a subordinate unit.”
As she said this, Yan Lei looked her over.
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
“You didn’t get mistreated, did you?” Yan Lei asked, worried.
So he was observing her mood to see if she had been mistreated outside.
Qiao Wei smiled brightly, “Don’t worry.”
Worry about what?
Worry that she had the ability to cope with bad situations and the ability to stabilize her own emotions? Rather than not being mistreated. Right? That was how Yan Lei understood it.
He nodded and didn’t say anything more.
The next day at work, she first dropped Yan Xiang off at the Kindergarten: “Xiangxiang, you must have a happy day too. Tell Mommy about the happy things, and tell Mommy about the unhappy things, okay?”
Yan Xiang replied crisply, “Okay.”
The teacher complimented, “The child is dressed so cleanly.”
Qiao Wei just smiled.
Originally, in the town, she had strived for Yan Xiang to blend in and not stand out or be unsociable. But after arriving at the county level and witnessing the Kindergarten teacher’s snobbery yesterday, she started dressing Yan Xiang up today.
With Yan Xiang’s looks, paired with clean and well-fitting clothes, it simply melted people’s hearts.
You have to know that at this time, many children wore clothes that were several sizes too big, sacrificing aesthetics so they could wear them for a few more years.
Even more so, because most were from large families, they wore their older siblings’ clothes, which were obviously worn out.
This was characteristic of the era; even in the County Party Committee, it was like this.
As soon as she entered the office, Section Chief Zhou told her, “The Secretary is looking for you.”
Qiao Wei said, “Okay,” put down her bag and water bottle, and went to the office.
Just as she left, a colleague came over: “Hey, where is she? I just saw her come in, how did she disappear the moment I turned around?”
Another staff member said, “She went to the office.”
Going to the office meant she was summoned by the leader.
The first person clicked their tongue and sized up the water bottle and satchel hanging on Qiao Wei’s chair: “Carrying a water bottle every day, showing off, huh?”
Military canteens were a fashion item and were becoming popular in the county town now.
But they were military issue, and you couldn’t get one without connections. Some people managed to get old ones that had chipped paint and dents, but they carried them anyway.
Qiao Wei’s was brand new.
She carried it every day because she had to ride her bike for 40 to 50 minutes while carrying her child; it was a lot of exercise, and she needed to stop and drink water along the way.
Of course, the person speaking ignored this. They wanted to assign work to Qiao Wei but didn’t catch her, so they snorted and walked away.
It was Secretary Meng who had called Qiao Wei over.
He had specifically requested to borrow Qiao Wei, so naturally, he intended to use her. He had forgotten to mention one thing yesterday: Qiao Wei had been arranged by Secretary Huang to go to the Propaganda Section, and newcomers need time to adapt to a new environment. He had given her time to adapt and hadn’t been in a rush to assign her work.
Starting today, he was going to assign tasks.
“For the two themes of National Day and the merger of the county and town, see how you can integrate them,” he said.
Qiao Wei pondered for a moment and asked for advice: “Is this manuscript for the superiors or for the masses?”
She had to figure out who the target audience was. It wasn’t exactly about saying different things to different people, but ultimately, the emphasis when speaking to leaders and when speaking to the masses was not exactly the same.
Secretary Meng looked at her but asked, “How old are you this year, Little Qiao?”
Qiao Wei said, “I am 22.”
Secretary Meng praised, “Still so young.”
But he immediately added, “Young people should have the vigor of young people. Don’t act too much like an old person when doing things; real old people don’t find that comfortable to watch.”
Qiao Wei paused and said, “You are right, I understand.”
Coming from the future, having seen and done a lot, and having navigated the workplace, she had been too arrogant.
Being too worldly-wise worked in the small town because the small town didn’t actually have such strict official hierarchies or scheming.
No, no, that in the small town really couldn’t be called scheming; it could only be called petty trifles.
She almost forgot that this was a world inside a book. Xiahekou Town was the main stage of this book, with a simple background, focusing on sweet romance.
Qiao Wei had unexpectedly walked out of the small town, left this main stage, and started facing things that couldn’t be seen in the main text of a sweet romance novel.
That mindset of “I am one dimension higher than the people in this world” needed to be put away.
When a child lies, adults see it clearly. Similarly, when subordinates play little tricks, leaders also see them clearly.
Leaders are leaders for a reason; naturally, they have their superior qualities. The higher the level, the higher the emotional and social intelligence, the richer the life and official experience, and the sharper their eyes.
Trying to cater to them deliberately—the people above are not fools. If they dislike you and you leave a bad impression, it won’t be easy to turn things around.
Although Qiao Wei was a mature corporate worker, her understanding of officialdom was still a bit shallow.
But it actually fit her status. Worldliness and slickness could be an innate personality, but understanding comes from experience. She was just a broadcaster in a small town, and she was still young.
Secretary Meng pointed this out to her, and she could immediately understand and accept the lesson; Secretary Meng nodded.
Qiao Wei confirmed with the Secretary, “When do you need it by?”
Secretary Meng recalled that after she finished the meeting the first day, the manuscript was delivered the next morning; it was said she had stayed up all night to write it.
Young people are really quite hardworking.
With this hard work, she had worked her way from the town to here.
Secretary Meng gave her two days: “Give it to me next Monday.”
Today was already Saturday, and this week was about to end.
That was a very generous amount of time. Qiao Wei replied, “Okay.”
Vibrant and full of energy.
When Qiao Wei came out of the Secretary’s office, Secretary Huang asked with a smile, “Are you adapting well over there?”
“It’s quite good,” Qiao Wei replied.
“Did the Secretary give you a task?”
“Yes, writing a manuscript.”
“Write it well,” Secretary Huang encouraged her.
Secretary Huang always had a smile when he saw people and spoke kindly, so Qiao Wei had a quite good impression of him.
On the way back, she was already brainstorming in her head. When she returned to the section, she first reported to Section Chief Zhou, “The Secretary has given me a task: to write a manuscript about National Day.”
Section Chief Zhou’s expression became amiable: “Write it well.”
Qiao Wei said, “I’d like to see previous manuscripts for reference.”
She was someone who did things reliably, not the type who liked to show off and be reckless as he had thought. Section Chief Zhou changed his impression of her and pointed out the location: “The third cabinet.”
The Propaganda Section’s filing of materials was not bad. In the third cabinet, there was a folder that, when opened, was full of past materials with the National Day theme, including those from this county as well as other counties and cities. They were collected and organized very well.
Without the era of Baidu, she had to rely on this.
She flipped through a few pieces, summarizing while learning, and took manuscript paper to write down the key points.
Suddenly, someone came over and slapped a stack of printed materials on her desk: “You, bind these.”
Qiao Wei glanced up and saw at least one person drinking tea and one reading a newspaper; it wasn’t that there was no one free to do the work.
She said, “I can’t. The leader just gave me a task, and I have to write a manuscript. I’m currently looking up materials.”
The person was unhappy: “That doesn’t mean you can’t do other work. You people who are borrowed are here to do this.”
So she was just here to be a beast of burden, right? Even a beast of burden can’t multitask; she wasn’t Nezha.
Qiao Wei asked, “What is your name?”
The person was stunned: “Huh?”
Qiao Wei stood up: “I have to tell Secretary Huang that the section has arranged other work for me, and the work Secretary Meng asked me to do will have to be put aside for now. If Secretary Huang asks me who arranged it, I need to be able to say who it was; otherwise, Secretary Huang might think that I, the borrowed personnel, want to be lazy and not work.”
The person opened their mouth and finally said angrily, “Fine, you do your work.”
That stack of things was carried away just as it had been carried over.
Qiao Wei sat back down and continued to look down at her manuscript paper.
In her peripheral vision, she could feel the other people in the section exchanging glances.
Someone even said sarcastically, “Are borrowed personnel so hard to order around now?”
Qiao Wei curled the corner of her lips but didn’t pay attention. Small ghosts are hard to deal with, and tangling with them is a pure waste of her own life. Just refusing was enough.
Especially this kind of obedience test; there was no logic to speak of. Either resist or submit.
However, she thought to herself, Secretary Huang is really useful.
Her rank was low, so if she directly brought up the top leader, Secretary Meng, it would sound particularly fake. Although this work was indeed directly assigned by Secretary Meng.
But as soon as she brought up Secretary Huang, it instantly grounded things, and a real sense of suppression came.
The others’ obedience test on her didn’t succeed. The advantage was that after one person tested her and got shut down, everyone understood that this borrowed person was not a soft persimmon, and no one came to pinch her and humiliate themselves again.
The disadvantage was that the people in the section ignored her.
At noon, when it was time for lunch, they all went off in groups. Yesterday, this could be said to be because they weren’t familiar yet, but today, this was intentional.
But Qiao Wei had already spent one day there, so she didn’t need Section Chief Zhou to call her anymore. As soon as it was time, she pulled open her drawer, took out her lunch box, and hurried straight to the Cafeteria.
A foodie with a foodie’s soul.
The interesting thing was, it was clearly others working together to isolate her. She didn’t care, and didn’t even get angry, yet the people isolating her were the ones who got angry.
“How can this person be like this!”
“Don’t pay attention to her, let’s see how many days she can hold out.”
Qiao Wei finished her meal, washed her lunch box, checked her watch, saw she still had time, and disappeared from the office.
Who would stay here and get mistreated? Not her.
Having a bicycle as a means of transport was really much more convenient. Qiao Wei rode it to the Department Store.
The Department Store was not far from the County Government Residential Compound, but if walking, the time back and forth would still be a bit tight. Having a bike made it much more convenient.
She went and bought a bag of peach cakes.
Peach cakes were good stuff at this time; whether eating them herself or giving them to others, they were good items.
She rode her bike back like the wind. Carrying the peach cakes, she went straight to the Kindergarten.
“Teacher Xia, Teacher Xia~” She called out softly through the fence.
“Oh, Yan Xiang’s mother.” For some reason, Teacher Xia smiled at her very sincerely.
Yesterday, when the teachers learned that Yan Xiang was from a cadre family, they all had smiles for her, but today, Teacher Xia’s smile was even more natural and sincere.
She came over: “The children are all asleep.”
“It’s okay, I’m not here to see the child.” Qiao Wei handed the peach cakes to Teacher Xia, “I bought some peach cakes. The teachers have worked hard. Quickly, while the little ones are all asleep, take a good rest, have some tea, eat some peach cakes, and relax.”
“Oh my, this isn’t very good, making you spend money.” Teacher Xia politely pushed them back.
Qiao Wei smiled: “Don’t be strangers, Yan Xiang likes you very much. Hurry and take them, I have to go back to work. I’m going to be late, and the leader will lecture me.”
She left.
Teacher Xia carried the peach cakes back to share with everyone: “Yan Xiang’s mother bought these.”
Eating other people’s food makes you soft-mouthed; everyone said, “Yan Xiang’s mother is too polite.”
“As expected of a cadre family.”
“Don’t you think her shirt is especially white? It looks so clean.”
“Yan Xiang is the same; such a clean child, she even keeps toilet paper in her pocket, knows to take out her handkerchief to wipe her mouth after eating, and knows to use toilet paper to blow her nose.”
“What a worry-free child.”
