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

Chen Shi reminded himself that in the future, no matter what he did, he must keep a clear head and think twice before dealing with his superiors.

He told Yang Bin, "Go to the Municipal Education Bureau."

Upon arriving at the Municipal Education Bureau, Chen Shi got out of the car and went directly to Ye Li's office.

Upon seeing Chen Shi arrive, Ye Li quickly stood up to greet him: "Director Chen, please have a seat."

Chen Shi smiled and asked, "Director Ye, has Director Zhou finished his meeting?"

"I just finished. I'll go report to them. Please wait a moment."

Ye Li poured Chen Shi a cup of tea and left the office.

He returned shortly after: "Director Chen, Director Zhou wants to see you."

Chen Shi stood up: "Thank you, Director Ye."

Chen Shi arrived at Zhou Quanfu's office: "Director Zhou, I've come to report to you."

Zhou Quanfu smiled and said, "Sit down."

Chen Shi sat down in the reception room, and Zhou Quanfu came over and sat opposite Chen Shi.

Ye Li poured Chen Shi a cup of tea and left the office.

With a smile, Chen Shi said, "Director Zhou, thank you for your support of education in Chunyang County. With your support, the bidding process for the reconstruction of three key high schools has been completed, and the winning bidder is Donghai Zhencheng Group, with a total bid amount of 26.46 billion yuan."

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held on May 1st, and on behalf of the Chunyang County Education Bureau, I would like to invite you to attend.

Zhou Quanfu heard about the education department's special education fund support project, which was worth 1 billion yuan: "Director Chen, the bid for rebuilding three key high schools was over 2 billion yuan, but there's still a deficit of over 1 billion yuan. I heard that the education department has a special fund support project, so you should make more trips to the provincial department."

Chen Shi nodded repeatedly: "Okay, Director Zhou, I'll go to the provincial department tomorrow or the day after. If I can get special funding from the provincial department to support the project, the funding problem can be solved to some extent, and the pressure on me will be reduced."

Chen Shi wanted to tell Zhou Quanfu that he had made several trips to the provincial department and gotten in touch with Director Zhao, but he swallowed the words back. He said, "If the leader asks you to run projects, you have to say you didn't. Tell the leader when the project is progressing. That's the leader's credit."

Zhou Quanfu asked, "Which leaders were invited to the groundbreaking ceremony?"

Chen Shi quickly said, "We haven't invited the city leaders yet. I came to the Municipal Bureau as soon as I arrived to report to you on our work. We plan to invite Director Hong Xiaojia of the Municipal Finance Bureau, Principal Li Nan of Mingzhou No. 1 Middle School, and relevant leaders from the county to attend the groundbreaking ceremony."

Zhou Quanfu nodded: "I will make time to attend the groundbreaking ceremony. The education in Chunyang County has always been at the bottom. I hope Director Chen can change this situation and raise the teaching quality of Chunyang County to a higher level."

"We still need Director Zhou to provide more support for education in Chunyang County."

After chatting for a few minutes, Chen Shi looked at Zhou Quanfu and said, "Director Zhou, are you free tonight? It's been a long time since we had a drink together."

Zhou Quanfu thought for a moment, and since he didn't have any plans for the evening, he said, "Ask Secretary Huang if he's free tonight."

"Okay," Chen Shi stood up and made a phone call to Huang Ao in front of Zhou Quanfu.

It took more than ten seconds for the call to be connected.

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Secretary-General Huang, I am Chen Shi, the director of the Education Bureau of Chunyang County. I played cards with you last time."

Huang Ao thought for a moment before remembering, "Director Chen, you've come to Mingzhou?"

"I'm currently at the Municipal Education Bureau, reporting to Director Zhou. Are you free this evening?"

Huang Ao laughed and said, "You want to play cards with me?"

"Yes, it's been a long time since I played Dou Dizhu with Secretary-General Huang. Last time I went back, I studied the techniques of Dou Dizhu carefully. This time I came to find Secretary-General Huang to have a practical match."

"Okay, let's call Lao Zhou, we'll play cards tonight."

"Okay, Secretary-General Huang, shall we go to the Water Cube?"

"The Water Cube is acceptable."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi smiled and said, "Secretary-General Huang is free tonight and said he'd like to invite you to play cards with him."

Zhou Quanfu smiled and said, "Okay, let's have a couple of drinks together tonight."

Zhou Quanfu glanced at his watch: "Director Chen, I have other matters to attend to and cannot keep you company any longer. See you at the Water Cube tonight."

Chen Shi stood up: "Director Zhou, you're busy, I'll be going now."

After leaving the Education Bureau, Chen Shi called Wen Xianglin in the Party and Government Office of the Municipal Finance Bureau.

"Director Wen, I am Chen Shi, the director of the Chunyang County Education Bureau. Is Director Hong available? I would like to come and report to him on my work."

Wen Xianglin smiled and said, "Director Chen, are you in Mingzhou?"

"I just arrived in Mingzhou. Director Hong was available, so I came directly to the Finance Bureau."

"Please wait a moment while I check Director Hong's work schedule."

Chen Shi waited for a while, and then Wen Xianglin called.

"Director Chen, Director Hong originally had work scheduled, but when he heard you were coming, he canceled it and is waiting for you in his office."

"Thank you, Director Wen. I'm coming right now."

Chen Shi asked Yang Bin to drive to the Municipal Finance Bureau.

Upon arriving at the Municipal Finance Bureau, Chen Shi checked the time; it was 4:10 PM. He then went to Wen Xianglin's office.

When Wen Xianglin saw Chen Shi arrive, he stood up to greet him: "Director Chen."

Director Wen

"Come on, let's go to Director Hong's office. He knew you were coming, so he brewed a pot of good tea and is waiting for you."

Chen Shi never expected that he would be more popular at the Municipal Finance Bureau than at the Municipal Education Bureau.

Upon arriving at Hong Xiaojia's office, Chen Shi smiled and said, "Director Hong."

Hong Xiaojia stood up, smiling broadly, "Director Chen, please sit down."

Sure enough, a pot of fine tea was placed in the reception room. Wen Xianglin poured Chen Shi a cup of tea and then left the office.

Hong Xiaojia sat opposite Chen Shi: "Director Chen, has the project funding been secured?"

Chen Shi was somewhat surprised that Hong Xiaojia would take the initiative to ask about the project's funding. He shook his head repeatedly, saying, "There's still a hole of over a billion yuan. Even if I sold myself, I couldn't solve it."

Hong Xiaojia smiled and said, "Stop complaining about being poor. I heard you went to the Education Department to apply for special education funding for a project. That project is worth a billion yuan. If you win this project, the funding problem will be solved."

Who told Hong Xiaojia this? Could it be Zhang Kai? No, Zhang Kai doesn't know anything about it either. The only ones who know are Ding Yi and Zhao Ji.

Chen Shi felt a sense of suspicion. Could it be that Ding Yi told Hong Xiaojia? No, there was another person, Wan Xirong.

Chen Shi suddenly remembered that Wan Xirong's Donghai Zhencheng Group had built an office building for the Municipal Finance Bureau three years ago.

The relationship between the two of them is definitely not ordinary.

Chen Shi said with a forced smile, "Director Hong, we haven't made any progress at all. I've been to the Education Department several times, but I still haven't found the relevant leaders."

Hong Xiaojia looked at Chen Shi: "I have a friend who knows relevant leaders in the Education Department. Tomorrow I'm going to a meeting at the Finance Department. Director Chen, come with me to Yizhou and I'll introduce you to him."

Chen Shi readily agreed, "Okay, thank you, Director Hong."

After chatting for a while, Chen Shi said, "Director Hong, the bidding for the project to rebuild three key high schools has ended. The winning bidder is Donghai Zhencheng Group, with a total bid amount of 26.46 billion yuan."

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held on May 1st. On behalf of the Chunyang County Education Bureau, I would like to invite Director Hong to attend the ceremony and express my gratitude to the Municipal Finance Bureau for its support of the Chunyang County Education Bureau.

Hong Xiaojia nodded: "Okay, I'll come down to Chunyang County to attend the groundbreaking ceremony."

Chen Shi quickly said, "Thank you for your support, Director Hong."

After chatting for a few minutes, Chen Shi got up and left.