DEFYING FATE

Chapter 21: Troublesome Speech

One day...

5 days...

10 days...

Dong Xuebing had started working at the General Affairsdepartment for some days. He became morefamiliar with the work there, but he felt the chances of being promoted wasslim. There were too many unspoken rules at his workplace. He was new and stilldoes not know many of these rules at work. Almost every day, he got to use hispower "Back" to rectify his mistakes. Furthermore, Guo Shunjie was purposelymaking things difficult for him, and GuoPanwei had asked Dong Xuebing to do his task for him. The past few days, DongXuebing was suffering at work.

Today.

Dark clouds covered the sky, andit was drizzling.

Dong Xuebing reached the office and kept his umbrella. Heopened the office door: "Good morning, Sis Chang, Tan Zhi, Zhuang Zhi."

Tan Limei scolded: "Bing Zhi, you are late today. Did you goout on a date last night?"

Changjuan was putting on her makeup, as usual. She turned to Dong Xuebing: "Xiao Dong, you have a girlfriend? Who is your girlfriend?"

"Dong Xuebing laughed: "Stop poking fun at me. Which girlwill like me?"

Guo Shunjie knocked his desk a few times with his pen. "XiaoDong, you are just in time. Here, do this." Dong Xuebing had lost count of thenumber of tasks given to him by Guo Shunjie in the past two weeks.

Guo Panwei also waved to him: "Xiao Dong, after you are donewith your task, come and help me."

Dong Xuebing gritted his teeth. These two bastards...

In the morning, Dong Xuebing delivered a few documents andreturned to his desk. He was thinking about his prospects in this office.

Suddenly he thought of an idea. He decided to apply to be amember of the Communist Party of China(CPC). Since Dong Xuebing's goal was to enter Central Bureau, then becoming amember of the CPC is essential. Once he was a member of the CPC, he would beable to build up his portfolio and increase his chances of promotion.

Click, click, click...

Dong Xuebing went online to search for information and fillin his application form.

Dong Xuebing was able to complete his application formbefore the end of the say. Looking at the almost 10,000 words applicationletter, he felt proud of himself. He was amazed at what he could do when he focusesall his energy into it. When he was writinghis thesis at University, he could onlywrite about 5,000 words over 10 days. But now, it was for his promotion, and he was motivated.

"Bing Xhi, what are you writing the whole afternoon?" ZhuangZhi, who was seated opposite Dong Xuebing asked.

Dong Xuebing waved his application form: "Application to theCPC."

Zhuang Zhi scratched his head: "You are joining the CPC?"

"Oh, you also want to join the CPC?" Tan Limei overheardtheir conversation. She smiled: "I have submitted my application one year agoand had just become a Party Activist. Iam still learning to about the Party's programmes and submitting periodicalreports. I think I should be able to become a Probationary party member theyear after next."

"I think I got to wait for 4 years." Dong Xuebing laughed.He knew the application process to be a CPC member would be very long. Even 3years was considered short. "Oh, I should pass my application form to the PartyBranch. Who is the secretary?"

Tan Limei replied: "You can submit to Li Qing, Director Li.He oversees all the applications."

Li Qing, General Affairs Department's Deputy Director, and General Affairs Office's Chief. He had aclose relationship with Deputy Chief Zhou, andhe let Deputy Chief Zhou take charge of the office. He only visits the office once in a while and let Deputy Chief Zhou handles all the work.Dong Xuebing had only met him 3 to 4 times from afar.

Actually, Li Qing should be addressed as Chief Li as he wasthe head of this General Affairs Office. But 'Chief' does not sound better than the Director. His rank was Deputy Director. So, everyone addressed himas Director Li. This was one of the unspoken rules in the government sector.The lower levels must address the higher-ups with the best soundingtitles.

Suddenly, the office became quiet.

Dong Xuebing looked up from his desk. Speaking of the devil,Deputy Director Li had entered the office.

"Director Li."

"Good afternoon, Director Li."

Everyone stood up and greeted Director Li.

"Hi, carry on with your work." Li Qing waved his hand,gesturing them to return to their work.

Li Qing was very skinny. Like bamboo. The feeling he gave others was cheerful and friendly,unlike Zhou Changchun. Zhou Changchun had a pretentious smile, whereas Li Qingseems more sincere. Li Qing's family was poor. His daughter had Leukaemia orsome other illness. He was in financial difficulties. There were rumors thatTan Limei had wanted to help him raise funds for his daughter's medicaltreatment, but Li Qing stopped it for some unknown reasons.

The other end of the mainoffice, Zhou Changchun walked out of his room. "Chief."

Li Qing, in his 40s, walked over and patted Zhou Changchun'sarm: "Old Zhou, you must take care of your health.:

Zhou Changchun straightenedhis back and replied: "Thank you Chief for your concerns. I am fine."

Zhou Changchun was the one person who addressed Li Qing asChief.

Dong Xuebing had asked his senior Tan Limei about this.There was a lot more to the way Zhou Changchun address Li Qing as 'Chief". Thiswas not a mistake. It was to show that he was grateful to Li Qing for lettinghim oversee the office. If he addressed Li Qing as 'Director' like the rest ofthe people, it would show that he was arrogant and had taken over Li Qing's role as Chief. This was to imply to LiQing that he was still the person in charge of General Affairs Office and ZhouChangchun had not forgotten that.

There were too many of such complicated rules there.

Dong Xuebing was still learning about these unspoken rules.

After a while, Li Qing walked past Dong Xuebing, and Dong Xuebing immediately passed hisapplication form to him. Dong Xuebing said some "fake, exaggerated claims" about how much he wanted to enter theCPC, while Li Qing flipped through the pages of the application form. He gaveDong Xuebing some encouraging words andsuddenly remembered something. He turned around and pass a document to ZhouChangchun.

"What's this?" Zhou Changchun took the document from him.

Li Qing rubbed his temple: "Bureau Chief Yang is going tothe City's Bureau office for a meeting. This isthe contents of what he is going to say. Put in some effort and write a goodspeech for Bureau Chief Yang. Don't mess it up like the previous time. OldZhou, I will leave this task to you. Don't let Bureau Chief Yang thinks thatour General Affairs Office are all useless."

"This... Yes..... We..... We will do this well." Zhou Changchun reluctantly replied.

Dong Xuebing looked around. When everyone heard that theyhave to write a speech for Bureau Chief Yang, everyone's face changed.

Huh?

What's happening?

Only Dong Xuebing and Zhuang Zhi who did not know what wasgoing on were confused.

What's so difficult about writing a speech?