Sail across the sea

Chapter 383 Which unit in the province?

Xu Dan had a good night's sleep, and when she woke up the next morning, she was back to full energy.

She remembered her father's instructions and knew that the duty of a good secretary was to take good care of the leader. She quickly got up, washed up briefly, and then went to the guesthouse's service desk to borrow bowls and chopsticks. She went out to a breakfast stall on the street and bought steamed buns, pickled vegetables, and rice porridge. She carried them to Gao Fan's room, calling his name while gently kicking the door with her toes.

Gao Fan opened the door and saw Xu Dan carrying several items. He quickly took two items from her and placed them on the small table in the room, casually asking:

"Where did you buy this? Have you eaten it yet?"

"I bought it on the street, I haven't eaten it yet, this is for the two of us."

Xu Dan put down the bowl of porridge in her hand, then pinched her ear. The porridge was a little hot, and her hand was burned.

"Then you eat first, I'll go wash up first."

As Gao Fan spoke, he took a towel and toothbrush and went out.

When they returned from washing up, Xu Dan had already divided the porridge, taking a small bowl for herself and leaving the rest in a large bowl for Gao Fan. There were six steamed buns in total, two for Xu Dan and four for Gao Fan.

People in this era generally have a large appetite, and a young girl like Xu Dan could easily eat two large steamed buns.

"It's so much easier to go out with you," Gao Fan said with a smile as he sipped his porridge. "Back when we took that fatso Ning Mo out, we almost never ate breakfast."

“Didn’t you say it would be safer to bring him along?” Xu Dan said with a smile.

“It’s definitely safer. If he just points there, even highway robbers would be scared away.”

"Why didn't we run into any highway robbers on our trip to Zeshan?"

"Perhaps it was due to the crackdown some time ago."

"Do we still need to go to the county?"

"It depends on the situation. If we're going to the county, we'll definitely have to go with the people from the Nonferrous Metals Institute. It's no use for us to go alone; the people in the county might not even recognize us."

"Aren't you a special envoy?"

"He's a special assistant."

"Then what am I?"

"You are the assistant's assistant, or in short, the assistant squared."

"Oh, right, where did you and Yin Xiaobiao go last night? You two were drinking, weren't you? I can still smell alcohol in your room."

"You have such a keen sense of smell?"

"That's because I was born in the Year of the Dog."

Are you sure you weren't born in the Year of the Horse?

"Sometimes I feel like I'm born in the Year of the Dog..."

After spouting illogical nonsense, the two finished breakfast. Xu Dan went to the washroom to wash the dishes, not in a hurry to return them to the guesthouse, as they would be staying there for a while. Once settled, Gao Fan and Xu Dan went downstairs together. At the front desk, Gao Fan asked the clerk for directions to the Zeshan Nonferrous Metallurgical Research Institute. The clerk readily gave him the directions, mentioning several intersections, turning left and then right, as if reciting a memorized script.

Gao Fan inquired further and learned that the Nonferrous Metals Institute had become very popular in the past two years, with at least half of the guests staying at the guesthouse asking for its location.

In addition, the waiter told Gao Fan that in Zeshan, the abbreviation for the Nonferrous Metallurgical Research Institute is Zeyan Institute, perhaps because the word "nonferrous" easily evokes some negative associations.

Zeshan City has two bus routes, but according to the attendant, neither is convenient. As for taxis, they are even rarer in a prefecture-level city these days; it seems you have to call the passenger transport company to make a reservation.

With no other option, the two had to walk there. According to the waiter, it would only take about ten minutes to walk there, not too far.

The two chatted for a while and soon arrived at Ze Research Institute. Just as the waiter had said, Ze Research Institute was very popular; the people coming and going in the office building's corridors were clearly not institute staff, but rather outsiders on business. Listening to the people speaking, besides the local Zeshan accent, the most common was a vividly descriptive southern accent.

Gao Fan and Xu Dan walked down the corridor to the door of the room with the sign for the Zeyan Institute's office. They knocked on the door, and an impatient voice came from inside: "Who is it? Who are you looking for?"

“I’m from the provincial capital, looking for the leaders of the Zeyan Institute,” Gao Fan replied.

The door opened, and a middle-aged man with an unpleasant expression stood inside. He looked at Gao Fan and his companion and asked, "Are you from the province? Which unit in the province are you from?"

Gao Fan took out a letter of introduction issued by the Provincial Economic Commission and handed it to the man. The man glanced at it, then looked up and carefully examined Gao Fan's face before gesturing inside and saying, "Come in."

The two men entered, and the man closed the door again, explaining, "Many of the people outside are fellow villagers looking for help in mining; they don't know any manners. Oh, you two, please have a seat..."

After saying that, without waiting for Gao Fan and the other person to sit down, he went straight back to his desk, spread the letter of introduction on the table, looked at it, pointed at Gao Fan and asked, "You are the Gao Fan mentioned in the letter of introduction... special assistant?"

"Yes."

Gao Fan and Xu Dan had already sat down on the sofa. He calmly straightened his clothes and then gave a brief reply.

"Oh..." the man responded, seemingly momentarily stunned. After a brief pause, he continued, "So, which unit are you from?"

“Provincial Fertilizer Industry Company,” Gao Fan replied. “I am the assistant general manager of the company.”

Gao Fan always carried several identification documents with him when he went out. One was his Peking University student ID, which he could use to show off or act cute. Another was his Canghua Science and Trade Company work ID, which he used when it came to company business. The third was the one he had just asked Gao Yiping to issue for him using his position; it bore the official seal of the Provincial Fertilizer Industry Company and was the kind that wouldn't be replaced even if it was fake.

The title of Special Assistant to the Joint Working Group was temporary. Everyone who saw his letter of introduction would ask about his previous employer. At this point, it was inappropriate for him to claim he was a student from Peking University, nor was it appropriate for him to use the identity of Canghua Science and Trade, since it was just a joint venture with collective ownership as the main form of ownership, which would be very troublesome to explain.

Using the identity of a fertilizer industry company would be much more official. The company is directly under the name of the Chemical Industry Department, making it a provincial company. Outsiders wouldn't know its origins, so naturally, they wouldn't question Gao Fan's identity.

As for the position of assistant general manager, that title is more real than gold; he has served as the general manager's assistant for many years.

Incidentally, the Zeyan Institute itself belongs to a company called Maolin Provincial Nonferrous Metals Corporation, which is under the Provincial Economic Commission and at the same level as the Department of Chemical Industry. The Zeyan Institute is at the deputy department level. In this joint working group, the Nonferrous Metals Corporation also sent a vice president to serve as the deputy leader.

The man was without power again.

Rationally speaking, he didn't quite believe Gao Fan's identity because the other party was too young. If he was just an ordinary member of the working group, that would be one thing, but how could he be a special assistant?

But then he couldn't quite understand it. Who would impersonate someone so young? Shouldn't con artists all be middle-aged, greasy men like himself?

(End of this chapter)