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

Chen Shi chatted with Gao Rongdong for a while, then got up and left.

Just after leaving the county government, I received a call from Jiang Yiqiu: "Honey, are you free tonight? Come over for dinner."

Chen Shi checked the time; it was past five o'clock, almost time to get off work.

"I'm coming over now."

"Okay, I'll make you some cured pork, ham from home."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi asked Yang Bin to drive to the No. 1 Middle School teachers' apartment.

Chen Shi's car was parked in front of the teachers' apartment building. Yang Xiong saw it from afar and quickly ran over.

Yang Bin opened the car door, and Chen Shi got out. Yang Xiong quickly stepped forward, smiling broadly, and said, "Director Chen."

Principal Yang

Yang Xiong smiled and said, "Director Chen, come to my house. My wife cooked a free-range chicken that she brought from her hometown tonight."

"Yi Qiu cooked dinner and is waiting for me. Maybe next time."

Yang Xiong smiled and nodded, repeatedly saying "okay".

Chen Shi said to Yang Bin, "You go back first."

Yang Bin knew Chen Shi's habit: when he came to his girlfriend's place, he would stay overnight, which was like giving himself an early shift so he could go to the movies with his wife and children.

Chen Shi went upstairs, Yang Bin smiled and nodded at Yang Xiong, and drove away.

Yang Xiong smiled. Promoting Jiang Yiqiu was the right choice. It would be beneficial for Jiang Yiqiu to whisper sweet nothings in Chen Shi's ear.

Chen Shi arrived at Jiang Yiqiu's house, where Jiang Yiqiu was wearing an apron and cooking.

"It'll be ready in a minute."

Chen Shi sat on the sofa in the living room, took out a cigarette, and started smoking. Before he had even finished the cigarette, Jiang Yiqiu's dishes were ready, and the aroma of cured meat filled the air.

Jiang Yiqiu called out, "Come and eat!"

When Chen Shi came to Jiang Yiqiu's place, he never drank alcohol; Jiang Yiqiu would simply serve him rice.

Chen Shi picked up his chopsticks and started eating the cured pork. It tasted very good: "This cured pork is very well made. The cured pork my dad makes is too salty and doesn't have any flavor."

Jiang Yiqiu smiled and said, "My parents are experts at making cured meat. Our family's first pot of gold was earned from making cured meat. When I was a child, my parents would buy pig legs, cure them themselves, and then take them to the city to sell in April or May, where they could earn at least double their profit."

Chen Shi ate the cured meat with gusto: "Your parents are good at business, very capable."

"There's no other way. Farming doesn't earn much money. Even if you do business, a month's income can be less than a year's income, and not just that."

The two ate and chatted. Chen Shi ate almost the entire large bowl of cured meat. Chen Shi looked at Jiang Yiqiu and asked, "Why aren't you eating?"

Jiang Yiqiu retorted, "Didn't you realize I had something on my mind?"

Chen Shi put down his chopsticks: "Did Yang Xiong say anything about the decline in the college entrance examination results of No. 1 High School this year?"

Jiang Yiqiu shook his head: "No, Principal Yang is quite nice. He didn't say anything, but he promised me before that if the undergraduate enrollment rate exceeds that of last year, he would recommend me to the Education Bureau to serve as vice principal."

But this year it dropped by 2.5 percentage points compared to last year, so my position as vice principal fell through.

Chen Shi jokingly said, "I didn't expect you to be such an official-minded person too."

"Before becoming a leader, I didn't feel anything; but after becoming a leader, who isn't obsessed with officialdom?"

Chen Shi nodded, agreeing that this was the truth, as he himself was also ambitious for officialdom: "You've been the dean of education for about a year, and you don't have any outstanding achievements. Promoting you would leave room for gossip."

I made a solemn pledge to Secretary Liu: next year's college entrance examination results must improve from the bottom three to sixth place. Tomorrow, there will be a bureau chief's office meeting; the target for No. 1 High School is a 55% undergraduate admission rate. This target must be met. If it's not achieved, I can't be the director of the Education Bureau, and the principal of No. 1 High School will also have to resign. This is a political task assigned to me by Secretary Liu; the 55% undergraduate admission rate is also a political task for No. 1 High School.

"As long as you complete the task, I'll have a reason to promote you to vice principal, and no one will dare say anything then."

Upon hearing that the undergraduate admission rate was 55%, Jiang Yiqiu looked dejected and said, "This is an impossible task."

Nothing is impossible; as long as you strive, anything is possible.

First and foremost, you cannot have negative or conflicting emotions; if you do, you will absolutely not be able to complete the task.

With this year's college entrance exam results, it's already good enough if I can keep my current position. Anyone who shows any negative or rebellious attitude will be removed from their post and replaced by someone with the ability and drive.

Jiang Yiqiu quickly said, "I was just saying. You don't know how much potential you have until you push yourself."

She served Chen Shi a bowl of soup and tentatively asked, "None of the four high schools in Chunyang County have met the Education Bureau's targets. Will the principals of these four high schools be reassigned?"

Chen Shi rarely talked to Jiang Yiqiu about work. When Jiang Yiqiu asked, Chen Shi glanced at her, and Jiang Yiqiu lowered her head guiltily.

"Yi Qiu, tell me, did Yang Xiong ask you to inquire about this?"

Seeing that Chen Shi had seen through his plan, Jiang Yiqiu nodded.

Chen Shi picked up his bowl to drink the soup, put it down, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and said slowly, "Don't ask about this. No matter who is the principal of No. 1 Middle School, they wouldn't dare to touch your dean of studies."

Jiang Yiqiu said softly, "I know you don't like me interfering in your work. This is the first and last time. It will never happen again."

Chen Shi was satisfied with Jiang Yiqiu's tact and knew when to back down, so he changed the subject and asked, "Yishan also took the college entrance exam this year. How did he do?"

Mentioning Jiang Yishan, Jiang Yiqiu was furious: "Don't even mention it, it's infuriating! His total score was 245, which wasn't even close to the cutoff for a junior college, so he had to pay to attend a private junior college."

"These grades are really too low. The foundation is very weak, and there's no way to even start tutoring."

"He's just not cut out for studying. I don't think it's worth spending over 100,000 yuan to attend a private junior college. It's pointless; he won't learn anything."

My parents are rich, and they insisted that he go to school just to get a college diploma.

"If you don't lack money, you can go to school. Yishan is still young. After three years of college, he will be more sensible. Then he can learn to do business with his parents, which will be better."

"That's what my parents said too, and they told me to find him a private junior college in Yizhou."

Chen Shi thought of Shen Xiaorong: "After Shen Xiaorong finishes her high school entrance exam, once the scores come out, No. 1 High School will have to beat her to attract more top students to apply."

Jiang Yiqiu had this idea in mind: "I've already started preparations. Once the high school entrance exam results are released, I'll promote it extensively to attract top students to apply to No. 1 High School. However, the school's college entrance exam results have declined this year, so it will definitely be affected."

Chen Shi looked at Jiang Yiqiu: "There will be an impact, but we must minimize it. I heard that No. 1 Middle School poached a top student from Mingzhou No. 1 Middle School. How are his grades?"

"He's a relative's child. His family is poor, and the No. 1 High School offered a lot of money to recruit him. He has excellent grades. In the final exam of his second year of high school, he scored 655 points. He has a chance to get into Tsinghua or Peking University."

Chen Shi nodded: "When No. 1 High School is recruiting students, we can use the reputation of her and Shen Xiaorong, two top students, to attract top students to apply to No. 1 High School."

Jiang Yiqiu nodded repeatedly: "How come I didn't think of that? Even if our college entrance exam results aren't good, we can still promote the top students in our second year of high school."

This is a way of skirting the line, misleading top students into thinking that Zhao Chunfang is this year's top scorer in the college entrance examination.

Solutions are found by people; as long as you're willing to use your brain, there are always more solutions than problems.