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

Jiang Yiqiu wanted to eat rice, and Chen Shi wanted to eat noodles, so they ate noodles together.

Jiang Yiqiu's cooking skills are quite good, having been passed down from Zhang Qingrong.

Chen Shi ate the noodles heartily; they tasted better than the ones he made himself.

Jiang Yiqiu's phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was his mother, Zhang Qingrong, calling. It must be that Jiang Yishan had complained to Zhang Qingrong.

"mom"

"Xiao Qiu, Xiao Shan said that you didn't let him stay at school and kicked him out of the apartment. He didn't have any money, so I transferred two thousand to him. It's not safe for him to stay outside, so you should let him stay at school."

"Jiang Yishan is an adult now, he's a grown man, we should let go and let him be independent. The county town is very safe, what's there to be afraid of?"

It's not that I don't want him to stay, but he lives in my apartment, and there's trash everywhere. He never cleans up, and the place smells musty and stinks. The school leaders who live next door have complained to me about the situation; they can smell the stench too.

He doesn't need to be super clean, but at least he needs to have basic hygiene. He has absolutely no self-discipline. I've already warned him once, but he didn't listen. I mean what I say, I have to kick him out. Out of sight, out of mind.

"I talked to him and told him to change. No matter where he lives, he has to keep the place clean."

"Mom, if you don't want Jiang Yishan to become a useless person, it's not too late. Don't worry about him. Let him experience the harsh realities of society so that he can grow up."

If you can't bear to see him suffer, you'll regret it.

After Jiang Yiqiu finished speaking, he hung up the phone immediately.

After Chen Shi and Jiang Yiqiu finished eating their noodles, Chen Shi stood up to wash the dishes. Jiang Yiqiu said, "I'll wash them. A leader as high as you washing dishes at home? People will laugh at you."

"Even leaders need to eat; they're human too. They don't have an extra nose or eyes."

Chen Shi handed the bowl to Jiang Yiqiu and asked her to wash it.

The next morning, Chen Shi arrived at the office, where Xie Shanquan had tidied up and was waiting.

Chen Shi sat down and read the newspaper first. After finishing the newspaper, he said to Xie Shanquan, "I'm going to Mingzhou these two days, so you don't need to come with me. I'm assigning you a task: check on the greenhouse vegetable base in Heyuan Town. You went with me to inspect it last time, but I didn't have time to go. Can you check for me whether the road leading from the neighboring village has been paved? The 500,000 yuan allocation from the Transportation Bureau has been disbursed for over a month. Also, check on the farmers' electricity usage and whether there has been any follow-up or implementation. Are they charging residential electricity rates?"

Go and find out about the dilapidated housing renovation project, and what the construction progress is.

"Have the Civil Affairs Bureau been distributing subsidies to elderly people living alone on time? Make a surprise call to verify this."

Xie Shanquan quickly took out his notebook and wrote down Chen Shi's work arrangements.

Chen Shi then said, "Make a call and tell Yang Bin to drive to the entrance of the government building and wait for me. I'm going to Minnesota now."

Xie Shanquan hurriedly went down to make arrangements, then returned to his office and called Chen Dazhi.

Chen Dazhi's phone rang. Seeing it was Xie Shanquan calling, he quickly answered, "Secretary Xie."

"Brother Dazhi, come to my office for a moment."

Chen Dazhi hung up the phone and rushed to Xie Shanquan's office.

Xie Shanquan smiled and said, "Brother Dazhi, you've been working in the government office for a while now. Are you settling in well?"

"It's much better than working in the Chengnan Subdistrict Office."

"I've been quite busy lately, and I haven't had time to treat you to dinner. Tonight, I'll treat you to a couple of drinks."

Chen Dazhi quickly replied, "Okay."

"This afternoon, you'll come with me to Heyuan Town to inspect the greenhouse vegetable base."

The head of the information department just assigned Chen Dazhi his work. This afternoon, he went with Xie Shanquan to inspect the work, and he'll have to work overtime again tonight.

Chen Dazhi didn't hesitate, knowing this was an opportunity, and quickly agreed.

"There's one more thing I need you to do: follow up with the elderly living alone to see if the Civil Affairs Bureau has paid their subsidies on time. Make sure the follow-up records are complete. Randomly select thirty elderly people from across the county and give them to me before you leave work tomorrow."

Xie Shanquan handed the documents sent by the Civil Affairs Bureau to Chen Dazhi.

Chen Dazhi took the documents and left the office. The tasks Xie Shanquan assigned him had to be completed first, and other tasks had to wait.

Xie Shanquan was organizing Chen Shi's speech. He said that the leader could assign unimportant tasks to his subordinates, and that his time was precious and should be used for important work.

Yang Bin drove quickly and arrived in Mingzhou at ten o'clock. He asked, "Chen County, where are we going?"

"Go to the city government"

Chen Shi took out his phone and called Zhang Kai.

Chen County

Chen Shi said with a smile, "Director Zhang, I'm in Mingzhou. I wanted to come see my uncle and report on my work."

Chen Shi is now the executive deputy county head and is qualified to report to Wang Mingzhang.

"Chen County Magistrate, come here first, I'll go report something."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Kai didn't dare to delay and rushed to the mayor's office.

"Mayor, Chen Shi, the executive deputy county head of Chunyang County, called earlier to report to you."

Wang Mingzhang put down the documents in his hand: "Where does he live?"

"In Minnesota, we'll be at City Hall in a bit."

"We've arrived. Have him come to my office."

Wang Mingzhang now thinks highly of Chen Shi. Even without his help, Chen Shi is capable enough to become the executive deputy county head at the age of thirty.

He reached the deputy division chief level at the age of thirty-three, three years earlier than others.

Chen Shi arrived at the municipal government and went directly to Zhang Kai's office.

Director Zhang

Zhang Kai stood up to greet him: "County Chief Chen, I was reporting to Mayor Wang earlier. Now that you've arrived, go directly over to report to him."

"Thank you, Director Zhang." Chen Shi arrived at the mayor's office. The door was open, and he knocked gently.

Wang Mingzhang looked up and saw Chen Shi. He called out, "Come in."

Chen Shi walked in, thought for a moment, and then, realizing it was inappropriate to call him "Uncle" since this wasn't home, but the municipal government, said, "Mayor Wang."

Wang Mingzhang looked at Chen Shi, his expression mature and composed: "Sit."

The two sat down in the reception room. A staff member came in, poured Chen Shi a cup of tea, left the office, and closed the door behind him.

Chen Shi took out the highway information from his briefcase and handed it to Wang Mingzhang with both hands.

"Mayor Wang, this is the decision made by the Chunyang County Government and County Party Committee to build a highway in order to develop the economy. The proposal has been submitted to the Municipal Government, the Development and Reform Commission, and the Municipal Transportation Bureau."

Wang Mingzhang took the documents, and Chen Shi gave a detailed report. When Wang Mingzhang heard that the total investment was 145 billion yuan, his face darkened, and he put the documents on the table.

"How much is Chunyang County's annual fiscal revenue? Can they really afford to spend 145 billion yuan on road construction?"

Chen Shi thought to himself, "Is this nonsense? How could Chunyang County possibly come up with so much money to repair the road? That's why they're coming to you for a solution."

"The county party committee and county government have decided that they can allocate a maximum of 20 billion yuan."

"How do we solve the remaining 125 billion?"

Chen Shi was stunned and couldn't answer. "If I could solve it, why would I come to you?"

Wang Mingzhang looked at Chen Shi: "Chen Shi, do you think you're very capable, daring to take on any job? Do you know that Chunyang is a poor county? This road is only related to the development of Chunyang. If you want to build this expressway, Chunyang should find a way to solve the funding problem itself."

From the city government's perspective, there's no point in building this highway.

Chen Shi was given a cold shower by Wang Mingzhang; he hadn't even asked for the money yet, but he was already being criticized.