The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

Chen Shi and Huang Xin were dancing on stage when Huang Kun suddenly realized that the two were a perfect match; the man was handsome and the woman was graceful.

The dance steps were graceful and pleasing to the eye.

Chen Shi put his arm around Huang Xin's waist, moved his hand down, and patted Huang Xin's buttocks.

Huang Xin looked up. If looks could kill, Chen Shi would have died countless times.

Chen Shi avoided Huang Xin's death stare and said with a smile, "Just kidding."

Huang Xin said coldly, "Does Director Chen think he's funny?"

Chen Shi always had a smile on his face: "He has a good sense of humor."

"Shameless! All men are the same; they can't walk past a beautiful woman."

"Minister Huang, you can't blame the men. You're just too beautiful. When you stand here, many men want to commit crimes."

"Many men, including you?"

"I'm just an ordinary person; when I see a beautiful woman, I feel the urge to commit a crime too."

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

Whether or not I have a girlfriend doesn't affect my liking for a beautiful woman like Minister Huang.

Huang Xin blushed, not expecting Chen Shi to flirt with her so blatantly. She said angrily, "Director Chen, aren't you afraid I'll tell your girlfriend what I said?"

"She's just a girlfriend, not a wife. If it works out, we'll stay together; if it doesn't, we'll break up. If Minister Huang is willing to help, it would be a great help to me."

Huang Xin glared fiercely at Chen Shi, calling him a "scumbag."

She was anticipating Chen Shi patting her buttocks again; the pat from before gave her a different feeling, making her feel itchy.

However, his face showed a cold and angry expression.

Chen Shi and Huang Xin bickered, but it didn't affect their dancing at all. The two worked together seamlessly and danced for half an hour before leaving the stage.

Liu Youguang sang a few more songs afterward, and when he got tired, everyone dispersed to go back and rest.

The next day at work, Chen Shi called Yang Xiaobo into his office.

"Director Chen, you wanted to see me?"

"Old Yang, isn't there a conference room on the top floor of the office building?"

Yang Xiaobo didn't know what Chen Shi meant, so he said truthfully, "It used to be a meeting room, but it hasn't been used for a long time, so it's been converted into a storage room for miscellaneous items."

"Renovate this conference room and turn it into a KTV room. The soundproofing must be excellent, and the audio equipment must be from a major brand with high-quality sound."

Yang Xiaobo thought to himself, "I've never heard of Chen Shi liking to sing. Why does he suddenly want to renovate a KTV room?"

He took out his notebook and wrote it down: "Okay, Director Chen, I'll go and make the arrangements."

Chen Shi then asked, "Do you know the background of Lao Huang, the owner of Lao Huang's agritainment business?"

Yang Xiaobo knew all the relatives of the relevant leaders in Chunyang County, but Lao Huang, the owner of Lao Huang's agritainment business, had no connection with the county leaders whatsoever.

"Director Chen, Lao Huang's farmhouse restaurant only opened after the Spring Festival. Everyone who has tried their fish soup says it's delicious. You need to make a reservation two or three days in advance."

County leaders also go to drink fish soup, but Lao Huang, who runs Lao Huang's agritainment business, has no connection with any of the relevant county leaders.

Chen Shi asked, "What about the ones in the city?"

Yang Xiaobo thought to himself, "How would I know?"

Chen Shi said, "Go check if Lao Huang has any connections with the city leaders."

Yang Xiaobo wrote it down in his notebook.

"Go ahead and get busy," Chen Shi said, picking up the documents and looking at them.

Yang Xiaobo walked out of the office. He had to do both of these things himself. Who should handle the renovation of the KTV rooms? A question mark appeared in his mind.

The week passed quickly. On Monday morning, before the Party and Government Office held its regular meeting, Xiao Guang sent the survey form on the current state of education in Chunyang County, which he had worked overtime on over the weekend, to Yang Xiaobo's email address. He then printed out a paper copy and delivered it to Yang Xiaobo's office.

With a beaming smile, he said, "Director Yang, the survey form is ready. Here's the paper version; the electronic version will be sent to your email."

Xiao Guang handed the questionnaire to Yang Xiaobo with both hands. Yang Xiaobo took the questionnaire, glanced at it, and said he would spend a day checking it. If there were no problems, he would send it to Chen Shi tomorrow morning.

"Xiao Guang, you did a great job. Thank you for your hard work. You spent the whole weekend working overtime in the office to finish the survey."

Xiao Guang was overjoyed. He felt it was worth it to work overtime, since his boss had noticed. He smiled and said, "Director Yang, you're the one who's working so hard. I'm so happy to be able to help you with some of the work. I feel very at ease working overtime this weekend."

Yang Xiaobo needed an obedient subordinate, and even more so an obedient deputy director. He had already made up his mind that the Party and Government Office was short of a deputy director, so he chose Xiao Guang.

"Xiao Guang, as long as you work hard, the leaders will see it. Don't think that the leaders don't know; they are actually very clear about it."

Xiao Guang nodded repeatedly, revealing an expression of admiration for Yang Xiaobo.

Yang Xiaobo said softly, "Go and inform them that there will be a routine meeting in half an hour."

When Xiao Guang saw that Yang Xiaobo's thermos was empty, he quickly filled it with water and placed it where Yang Xiaobo could easily reach it.

He then stepped out of the office. The Party and Government Office was short of a deputy director, and he was determined to take the position; the opportunity would not come again.

During the regular meeting, Yang Xiaobo specifically praised Xiao Guang. Dong Xuexi really wanted to improve his relationship with Yang Xiaobo, but he couldn't bring himself to flatter him.

He thought that anyone could flatter someone if they wanted to, but when it came to actually doing it, the words would often come out but he couldn't, feeling like he was mute.

Dong Xuexi forced himself to please Yang Xiaobo, but when he was about to take action, he backed down. He couldn't get past this mental hurdle.

Yang Xiaobo was inferior to him in every way, and he felt very resentful that Yang Xiaobo had become his leader.

Yang Xiaobo, unaware of Dong Xuexi's thoughts, lowered his head, lost in thought. The content of the regular meeting was simple, the same every week.

Summarize last week's work, assign this week's work, and give everyone their tasks.

After the meeting, Yang Xiaobo returned to his office and carefully checked the survey form to make sure there were no errors. He planned to hand the survey form to Chen Shi a day in advance the next day.

On Tuesday morning, Yang Xiaobo printed out a paper copy of the survey form and sent an electronic copy to Chen Shi's email address.

Holding the survey form, I went to Chen Shi's office.

"Director Chen, the survey on the current state of education in Chunyang County that you assigned last week is complete. Please take a look."

Chen Shi took the survey form handed to him by Yang Xiaobo with both hands, glanced at it, and realized he didn't have time to check each piece of data one by one.

"Old Yang, have you checked the data?"

"I've checked, and everything is true and valid; there isn't a single error in the data."

Chen Shi put down the survey form: "Well done, thank you for your hard work."

"It is my duty to share the burden for the leaders." Yang Xiaobo looked at Chen Shi and said softly, "Director Chen, I went down to inquire about Lao Huang, the owner of Lao Huang's farmhouse. He has no connection with the city leaders, but he does have a connection with the provincial leaders."

Old Huang's real name is Huang Guoqiang. He works as a chef at the provincial party committee's reception office. His fish soup was a favorite of the former provincial party secretary, who often invited him to his home to make fish soup.

He retired last year; he's a native of Chunyang County, so he came back and opened a farmhouse inn.

Upon hearing this, Chen Shi realized why the two county leaders had gone to his place for fish soup. Having worked at the provincial party committee's reception office, they must know several provincial leaders.

We should make good use of Lao Huang's connections. Whenever we have free time, we should go to his place for a couple of bowls of fish soup. It might come in handy at a crucial moment.