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

After a satisfying meal, it was time to get down to business. Chen Shi put down his chopsticks.

"Director Hong, wanna play mahjong later?"

Hong Xiaojia chuckled: "Director Chen, we're one short for mahjong, so we can only play Dou Dizhu (a card game)."

"Director Hong, you are a master at playing Dou Dizhu. I've heard that no one can beat you at Dou Dizhu."

"Let's play mahjong instead, Director Hong. You're familiar with Mingzhou, so invite a friend over to play mahjong together."

Hong Xiaojia loves playing mahjong and is quite skilled at it, rarely losing unless she's playing with her boss, in which case she lets her boss win very naturally.

Hong Xiaojia wondered what Chen Shi meant by bringing a mere director of an electrical management station to dinner with her.

He roughly guessed what was going on. He was familiar with Zhang Heng, the director of the municipal power supply bureau. Chen Shi brought Qin Jiang to dinner with him because he wanted him to introduce Zhang Heng to Qin Jiang.

Leaders are all masters of playing dumb. Hong Xiaojia smiled and said, "Director Chen, your Director Zhou also likes to play mahjong. Call him and ask him to come over and play mahjong together."

Seeing that Hong Xiaojia wanted him to be upfront and make him owe her a favor, Chen Shi said softly, "Director Hong, Chunyang County has the lowest undergraduate enrollment rate in this year's college entrance examination. I dare not invite our Director Zhou to play mahjong. He will get angry as soon as he sees me."

Chen Shi looked at Qin Jiang and changed the subject: "I've known Qin Jiang since we were in Fushan Town. His wife and children are in the county town, and they've been separated for many years. Now the power supply bureau is short of a deputy director. Director Hong, you have a good relationship with Director Zhang of the city bureau. I'd like to ask you to make a connection and invite Director Zhang out to play mahjong and get to know each other."

When Hong Xiaojia saw that Chen Shi had asked her for help and admitted that he owed her a favor, she smiled and said, "Director Chen, why didn't you say so earlier? I could have invited Director Zhang to come along at dinner. I would have called him and asked if he was free."

Chen Shi quickly said, "Thank you, Director Hong."

Qin Jiang also said, "Thank you, Director Hong."

In front of Chen Shi and Qin Jiang, Hong Xiaojia made a phone call to Zhang Heng and put it on speakerphone.

The call was answered quickly: "Old Hong."

Hong Xiaojia smiled broadly and said, "Old Zhang, where are you having fun?"

"What a load of crap! We just got out of a meeting to cooperate with the municipal government on the power grid upgrade, and we haven't even had a hot meal yet."

"Come over to the Water Cube, I'll set up a table for you. We're one short for mahjong, so let's play mahjong and then go for a sauna."

"Okay, I'm coming over."

Zhang Heng didn't ask who the other two were, which shows that his relationship with Hong Xiaojia is quite unusual.

After hanging up the phone, Hong Xiaojia said, "Director Zhang will be here in a minute."

Qin Jiang quickly called the waiter over to remove the cold dishes and serve a new table of hot dishes.

They ordered two more bottles of good wine.

Qin Jiang asked, "Director Hong, should I go out and meet Director Zhang?"

Hong Xiaojia said, "No need, I sent him the room number, he can come directly."

After waiting for more than ten minutes, a middle-aged man in his fifties pushed open the door of the private room and came in.

Chen Shi and Qin Jiang quickly stood up, while Hong Xiaojia remained seated, smiling as she said, "Old Zhang, let me introduce you."

He looked at Chen Shi: "This is Chen Shi, the director of the Education Bureau of Chunyang County."

Chen Shi quickly extended his hand: "Director Zhang, hello, I am Chen Shi."

"Director Chen, hello." Zhang Heng shook hands with Chen Shi.

Hong Xiaojia looked at Qin Jiang: "This is Qin Jiang, the director of the power management office of Chunyang County Power Supply Bureau. He's one of your soldiers, so you should take good care of him."

Qin Jiang quickly extended his hand, his face full of a fawning smile: "Director Zhang, hello, I'm Qin Jiang."

Zhang Heng shook hands with Qin Jiang: "Director Qin, hello."

Hong Xiaojia called out, "Don't stand, sit down."

Qin Jiang opened the wine bottle and poured wine for Zhang Heng.

The four of them started drinking again, and after an hour, Hong Xiaojia said, "Old Zhang, shall we go to the sauna first, or play mahjong?"

"I feel sleepy after the sauna and want to go to bed. Maybe I should play mahjong first, then go to the sauna."

The four of them went to the entertainment area, asked for a private room, and started playing mahjong.

Hong Xiaojia and Zhang Heng are both highly skilled at playing mahjong, and Chen Shi and Qin Jiang are also experts, making them evenly matched.

You can pretend to be technically inept in front of your superiors, but you can't actually be inept.

Chen Shi and Qin Jiang helped each other, enabling Hong Xiaojia and Zhang Heng to win.

Qin Jiang lost a total of 200,000 yuan by 1:30 a.m.

Zhang Hengzhi felt sleepy and yawned, "I'm too sleepy, I'm not going to yawn anymore, I'm going to go to the sauna to relax."

He had a great time tonight. Playing mahjong is all about being evenly matched and having a challenge. Just when you're about to lose, things take a turn for the better, and you win. It's exciting and fun.

When playing mahjong with your boss, besides losing money to him, you also need to provide emotional value so that he finds winning interesting, rather than obviously letting him win, otherwise he will find it boring.

Hong Xiaojia replied, "Okay, that's enough for tonight."

Qin Jiang quickly said, "Director Zhang, would it be convenient for me to have your phone number? I need to report to you promptly."

Having provided the emotional support he needed, Zhang Heng developed a good impression of Qin Jiang, finding him well-mannered, and gave Qin Jiang his phone number.

Qin Jiang's hand holding the phone trembled slightly; he was very excited. The first step had been successful.

The four went to a sauna and didn't leave the Water Cube until 5 a.m.

Qin Jiang paid for all the expenses at the Water Cube. His credit card limit of 300,000 yuan was almost depleted.

Chen Shi woke up around 10 a.m. when Qin Jiang called.

"Director Chen, are you up yet?"

"Just got up"

"I called Director Zhang and will go to the power supply bureau this afternoon to report on my work. You don't need to worry about me. I want to stay in Mingzhou for a couple more days to strike while the iron is hot and smooth things over with Director Zhang."

"That's all I can do to help you. The rest is up to you."

"Thank you very much, Director Chen. Without your introduction, how could I have gotten in touch with Director Zhang? Please feel free to ask me anything in the future."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi helped Qin Jiang because Qin Jiang knew the rules and wouldn't do anything reckless.

I originally wanted to go back to Chunyang, but I hadn't visited Li Nan in a long time, so I called her.

The call was answered quickly: "Xiao Shi."

"Auntie, are you in Minnesota?"

"I went on a trip to Australia and just got back yesterday with Lingze. Are you in Minnesota?"

"Yes, I just arrived in Mingzhou and wanted to visit my aunt."

"Come here quickly, I brought some gifts from Australia for my older sister, you can take them back with you."

"Thank you, Auntie. You came all this way and still thought of bringing a gift for my mother."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi asked Yang Bin to go to the municipal party committee compound.

Upon arriving at Li Nan's villa, Chen Shi was greeted by the housekeeper, Xiao Chen, who smiled and said, "Sister Chen."

"Director Chen is here, please come in."

Chen Shi went inside; the living room was empty. Li Nan came downstairs: "Xiao Shi's here."

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Auntie."

"Please sit down and make your own tea."

Chen Shi made himself a cup of tea, and Li Nan said, "Your uncle Xincheng's son, Wang Hai, took the college entrance exam this year and did very well, scoring 655. He was admitted to Fudan University."

Chen Shi replied, "You did very well on the exam. Graduating from a prestigious university will give you more opportunities in the future."

"Wang Hai is much more sensible than Ling Ze. He's very opinionated. Your Uncle Xincheng wants him to study Chinese language and literature so he can take the civil service exam later. But he has his own ideas. He doesn't want to go into politics. He wants to be a scientist and do scientific research."

Chen Shi said with a smile, "A graduate of a prestigious university, if you want to go into politics in the future, you can apply for a central government transfer program."

"Your Uncle Xincheng is worried that if he can't get selected through the central government while in school, he won't be able to take the civil service exam after graduation. He didn't choose his major well, so he can only take the exam for positions with no restrictions on majors. The competition for good positions is very fierce."