The pushover offended a top-tier boss

District Party Secretary's Office.

Ye Zhenzhen held the completed appointment letter. She had written it as soon as she arrived at work today. Actually, it was very easy to write; it had a fixed format, and as long as the name and position were correct, it was basically just a matter of filling in the blanks. But she still checked it against the computer screen many times.

She raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

I pushed the door open and found someone inside.

A young man stood across the desk, slender and tall, wearing a simple white shirt.

"Secretary, this is my initial vision for the future development of Nanjing."

Zhou Huaijin sat upright in the chair, expressionless, and simply hummed in response.

Yang Guanyu was also feeling uneasy at that moment.

He had no idea how a mere town mayor like himself could have been personally called upon by the new district party secretary. Yesterday, after receiving a call from Secretary Lin, he was still wondering why the leader wanted to see him. Had something gone wrong at work? Or had someone reported him?

It wasn't until Zhou Huaijin said those words—"I intend to nominate you as the county magistrate of Nanjing County"—that things changed.

Yang Guanyu was incredulous.

He has no special background. He came from a poor family and relied on scholarships and poverty subsidies to finish Tsinghua University. In recent years, he has led the villagers to build roads, greenhouses, e-commerce, and find sales channels, doubling the per capita income of Yuzhuang Town and lifting it out of poverty.

But he knew that in officialdom, these achievements sometimes couldn't compare to a "connection".

Now, this district party secretary, who is only a few years older than him, says he wants to promote him to county head.

He suppressed the surging emotions in his chest and said "Thank you, leader" as calmly as possible. During the report, he laid out the experiences, lessons, and data of Yuzhuang Town over the past few years, one by one, without embellishment or exaggeration, stating things as they were.

After listening, Zhou Huaijin asked him an unprepared question: "What are your thoughts on the development of Nan Jing?"

Yang Guanyu remained silent for a few seconds.

He wasn't prepared, but as a native of Nanjing, he knew this land too well. Without a script or clichés, he spoke about the mountains and rivers of Nanjing, the people and events of Nanjing.

After listening, Zhou Huaijin said, "Some of their views are indeed different."

His tone remained calm, but Yang Guanyu could tell that the leader approved.

Ye Zhenzhen stood at the door, saw someone inside, and said softly, "Sorry, I'll come back later."

"It's over," Zhou Huaijin called out to her. "Come here."

Ye Zhenzhen walked over, her eyes glancing at the people beside her.

"You...you are Yang Guanyu, right?" she couldn't help but ask, her voice brimming with excitement.

Yang Guanyu was taken aback, somewhat surprised.

"Do you know me?"

"I'm from Nan Jing too!" Ye Zhenzhen exclaimed excitedly. "You're my senior, and you're really famous at school! Your picture has been on the honor wall for years, and so has my mom. She often uses your story to inspire me—"

Zhou Huaijin looked at the excited man, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

He coughed lightly.

Ye Zhenzhen then realized that she had lost her composure. She quickly wiped the overly bright smile off her face and respectfully handed over the appointment letter.

"Sir, this is the draft appointment letter. Please sign it."

Zhou Huaijin took the appointment letter, glanced at it, confirmed that there were no problems, picked up the pen on the table, and signed his name in the signature column.

After signing, he didn't look up and said in a nonchalant voice, "County Chief Yang, Xiao Ye is also from Nanjing. She has prepared some plans for the promotion of Nanjing's culture and tourism. You can take a look when you have time and see if they are feasible."

Yang Guanyu nodded quickly, his tone sincere: "Okay, okay, thank you, Secretary Ye."

-

Yang Guanyu came from Nanjing to report on his work and didn't leave in the afternoon.

He sat at the workstation next to Ye Zhenzhen, with a draft plan spread out in front of him.

People from the Culture and Tourism Bureau also arrived. The newly appointed director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau, surnamed Meng, was thirty-five or thirty-six years old, with short, neat hair, and spoke crisply, exuding a strong desire to "get things done." She brought a young person in charge of publicity, and together with Wei Zixuan, the five of them huddled together, discussing things enthusiastically.

Throughout the afternoon, laughter and conversation could be heard from the next office.

"Senior, that's a great idea!"

"Junior, many of your ideas really coincide with mine."

"I believe we can definitely do a good job in Nan Jing."

After finishing several documents, Zhou Huaijin leaned back in his chair and took a sip of tea. The tea had gone cold, and no one came to replace it.

Laughter came from next door again, with upperclassmen and underclassmen calling out to each other.

"Senior, let's film an interview video about you!"

Yang Guanyu was taken aback: "An interview?"

"Yes, let's do a simple personal interview." Ye Zhenzhen got more and more excited as she spoke. "You were in the news back then for being the top student in the city and getting into Tsinghua University, but few people know that you returned to your hometown after graduation and have been working at the grassroots level ever since. Now that the appointment letter has been issued and the new official has taken office, we should start the publicity. It's more convincing for the people to see a living, breathing person who came from their neighborhood and came back to build their hometown than to watch a hundred propaganda videos."

Yang Guanyu thought for a moment and nodded.

Director Meng of the Culture and Tourism Bureau also perked up and immediately decided: "I'll have the photographer come over right away, and we'll take pictures right here in our municipal party committee compound while the light is good today."

Several people surrounded Yang Guanyu and started working.

Someone helped him straighten his collar, someone else fastened the microphone cable, and someone else used a reflector to find the right angle. The photographer carried his equipment, his lens pointed at Yang Guanyu standing by the window—a white shirt, dress pants, a Party emblem pinned to his chest, with sunlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows and his own shadow behind him.

With neat short hair, honey-colored skin, and sculpted features, he stood there, simple yet upright.

Unlike many officials who exude an overt bureaucratic air, he lacked the slickness and worldliness cultivated by the system, and he didn't possess the powerful, aloof presence of Zhou Huaijin. He was gentle, and his smile even carried a hint of youthful charm.

Ye Zhenzhen stood next to the photographer, looking at the face in the viewfinder, and suddenly remembered what he looked like when she was a child on TV—he looked just like that back then, wearing a school uniform and a big red flower, standing in front of the camera.

The video interview has begun.

"County Chief Yang, you are a top student from Tsinghua University. Why did you choose to return to the countryside after graduation?" Ye Zhenzhen asked softly, holding up a plaque with her inscription, standing next to the photographer.

Yang Guanyu looked at the camera and remained silent for two seconds.

The voice wasn't loud, but it was very steady.

"I grew up with my disabled grandfather. There was no able-bodied person in my family, and no stable income. When I was a child, the food we ate was scraped together from the villagers, one bowl from here, one spoonful from there. The money for my schooling was collected by the villagers, one family at a time, fifty or one hundred yuan at a time."

"At school, my homeroom teacher helped me apply for a poverty grant, and my classmates often took care of me. Although I didn't start my life well, I was very lucky that everyone I met along the way was willing to lend me a hand."

He looked at the camera, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

"Nan Jing gave me life and raised me, enabling me to leave the mountains. What I want to do is not to go further, but to go back and give back to this land."

After the interview, Ye Zhenzhen was so moved that she was almost intoxicated.

Yang Guanyu's colleagues at the Culture and Tourism Bureau also silently gave him a thumbs up behind his back.

Yang Guanyu stood there, scratching the back of his head somewhat embarrassed: "Was I too sentimental?"

"No, no," Ye Zhenzhen shook her head, "It's really good."

That night, colleagues from the Culture and Tourism Bureau worked overtime to edit the video.

She wrote the promotional copy:

[Binzhou's youngest county head: From a poor student struggling to get enough to eat to a Tsinghua University master's graduate, he shed his accolades and dedicated six years to rural development.]

It was almost 10 p.m. when the video was posted.

The next day, when Ye Zhenzhen opened her phone, she almost thought she was seeing things.

That video went viral and became a trending topic.

It received 1.2 million likes and over 60,000 comments.

The comments section was buzzing with activity:

[Yang Shen!!! Our Nanjing legend! He turned a bad hand into a winning one!]

[He turned down a million-dollar annual salary after graduation to return to his rural hometown and become a village official. Which young person these days would do that?]

He's finally been seen. Under his leadership, Yuzhuang Town has been lifted out of poverty in recent years, but no one has ever reported on it.

These are the kind of idols young people should follow. Not internet celebrities or idols, but people who are down-to-earth and dedicated to building their hometowns.

Honestly, I only looked at their faces. It seems all the good-looking people have been given to the state. Is County Chief Yang still single?

Forget about it, a man of that caliber would have already been snapped up by someone else.

County Magistrate Yang has been putting his love life aside because of his work. He's 31 and still single.

[Enough said, just book me a plane ticket to Nanjing—oh no, a train ticket.]

Ye Zhenzhen scrolled through the comments one by one, unable to suppress the smile on her lips.

Upon seeing the video go viral, Director Meng immediately sent a message in the work group: "Continue filming in Nanjing this weekend! Let's strike while the iron is hot and make the series a success!"

Ye Zhenzhen immediately raised her hand to sign up: "I'm going home this weekend too, so we can go together!"

She excitedly held up her phone and shoved the screen in front of Zhou Huaijin.

"Boss, look! That video's gone viral!"

"I told you this would attract more viewers, and look, it's over 20 million views!"

"Wow, how am I so smart?" She became happier the more she thought about it. "I came up with this idea, I wrote the interview outline, and I even came up with the title—don't I have a real talent for new media?"

Zhou Huaijin leaned back on the sofa, watching her with her tail practically wagging in the air.

"Having traffic is not enough; the supporting measures must follow. We can't just set up a stage without putting on a show," he said casually.

Ye Zhenzhen snorted and pouted.

They never praise people.