Nominal: Starting with an entrance exam for a PhD in Economics at Peking University

The whole process took less than five minutes, and he walked off the stage briskly amidst applause.

This time, instead of returning to the seat that might have been reserved for him in the front row, he went straight to the area where the staff of the Industrial Policy Department were gathered and very naturally sat down in the empty seat next to Ruan Lingling.

The turmoil in Ruan Lingling's heart had not yet completely subsided, and her mind was still somewhat blank. She deliberately turned her head away, staring at the empty space in front of her, ignoring him.

On the stage, Han Shen began his final mobilization and discipline emphases.

Qi Tongwei secretly reached out his finger under the table and gently poked Ruan Lingling's arm.

"Sister Ruan?" He lowered his voice, with just the right amount of "innocence," "Sister Ruan? Are you... happy to see me?"

Ruan Lingling suddenly turned her head, her almond-shaped eyes wide open, and glared at him fiercely. Her eyes were filled with shock, anger, frustration, and a complex emotion that was hard to describe.

Qi Tongwei seemed to want to say something more, but Han Shen's speech on stage just ended.

A round of applause erupted in the conference room, and Qi Tongwei immediately straightened his posture and joined everyone in clapping enthusiastically, looking very serious.

The leaders left first, followed by the key personnel who also got up and went to their respective temporary office areas according to the pre-assigned groups. The real battle was about to begin.

In the corridor, the crowd split up. Qi Tongwei quickened his pace to catch up with Ruan Lingling, who was deliberately trying to shake him off.

"Sister Ruan, don't walk so fast."

"Sister Ruan, where is our team's office again?"

"Sister Ruan, you brought so much luggage, can I borrow anything from you if I need it?"

Ruan Lingling ignored him and moved with lightning speed.

When she reached a relatively secluded corner, Ruan Lingling finally couldn't bear it any longer. She abruptly stopped, turned around, and her cheeks were slightly flushed with excitement and a little grievance. She glared at the young man in front of her, who was smiling with an air of "innocence," and said in a low voice, word by word:

"Give me back my cookies!"

After saying that, she realized how childish and ridiculous her words were. She glared at him angrily, then turned and walked away quickly.

Qi Tongwei stood there, touched his nose, and a triumphant smile appeared on his face. This little prank, teasing this usually energetic but currently troubled older sister, was a way to inject some lighthearted relief into the inevitably tense and tedious days of confinement to come.

However, this minor incident was quickly overwhelmed by the ensuing torrent of intense work.

Once in true "combat" mode, everyone becomes like a finely wound-up gear, operating at high speed within the massive policy machine.

Data collection, case analysis, comparison of domestic and international experiences, drafting of clauses, debate of viewpoints, revision of documents... Day and night, the lights in the conference room often stay on until the early hours of the morning.

Everyone was so busy they barely had time to breathe, their eyes were dark, and no one had the leisure to joke or make fun of anyone anymore.

Ruan Lingling also adjusted her mindset at an astonishing speed.

She was a pragmatic and intelligent person. When the title of "Initiator of Catalog Compilation Suggestion" was firmly placed on Qi Tongwei's head, she understood that the competition for the deputy director position in the industry division had already been settled and was no longer in doubt.

Continuing to dwell on this will only lead to internal friction and serve no purpose.

She had considered the possibility that this "initiator" identity might be the result of Han Shen's manipulation to promote his own people, but she quickly dismissed the thought.

Even if that's true, so what? Within the system, gaining the recognition and support of superiors is itself a form of strength.

Once she truly immersed herself in her work, Ruan Lingling had to set aside her lingering prejudices and objectively evaluate Qi Tongwei.

She found that, apart from being somewhat inexperienced in working in ministries and familiar with certain specific business processes, this young man displayed outstanding qualities far beyond his age and seniority, including a broad perspective on issues, novel and unique angles of approach, and clear and rigorous analytical logic.

Gradually, Ruan Lingling's initial resentment transformed into acceptance of reality and a pragmatic goal of "settling for second best."

Since there's no hope for promotion this time, I should go all out to accumulate solid achievements and improve my abilities in this high-level task, so as to prepare for the next opportunity.

As for Wu Zhong from the second group, he had already settled into his role early on, diligently performing his assigned auxiliary duties without any competitive spirit.

In this arduous task, Qi Tongwei did not regard the items or viewpoints he initially conceived as untouchable "private achievements".

Instead, he openly accepts discussion, questioning, and revisions.

Many of the items he proposed were adjusted, refined, or even deleted during the group discussion; at the same time, other colleagues also added a lot of content that he had not thought of or had not thought deeply about.

He humbly accepted the reasonable revisions and drew inspiration from them.

Even if he discovers minor logical flaws or execution risks in some modified entries, he never points them out to show off his "brilliance," but chooses to turn a blind eye.

On the one hand, this could easily offend colleagues who are specifically in charge;

On the other hand, he was keenly aware that the ultimate goal of this closed-door effort, which brought together more than 80 elites and lasted for half a month, was not to produce a flawless "final draft" that could be directly implemented, but to quickly produce a high-quality "finished draft" that was complete in its main body, had no obvious flaws, and was sufficient to seize the policy opportunity.

After this draft is completed, it will go through a long and complicated process, including being submitted to higher levels, soliciting opinions from relevant departments and localities, and finally being approved by the State Council.

At that time, all the details will be repeatedly refined through broader argumentation and negotiation, and these minor issues will naturally be corrected and improved in the subsequent process.

In addition, through this intense collaboration, Qi Tongwei also got a close look at his senior colleague Han Shen's work style.

He discovered that Han Shen was indeed an extremely outstanding "executive commander" and "coordinator".

He can accurately grasp the intentions of his superiors and break down grand strategic goals into clear and feasible phased tasks; he can efficiently mobilize resources from various departments and bureaus to resolve common buck-passing and friction in cross-departmental collaboration; the coordination meetings he chairs are fast-paced and pragmatic, and can quickly build consensus and make decisions; for unexpected problems or bottlenecks that arise in the work, he can always quickly find the key nodes and responsible persons to promote solutions.

In Qi Tongwei's view, Han Shen may not have fully demonstrated the courage and vision to take charge of all aspects of work, but his outstanding ability to assist in execution, organize and coordinate, and integrate resources is enough to qualify him for key positions such as executive vice governor of a province, which require superb "operation" skills.

Fifteen days passed in a flash during an intense brainstorming session in near-isolation from the world.

When Han Shen finished his impassioned and encouraging closing remarks at the summary meeting, announcing the successful completion of this closed-off intensive task, Qi Tongwei finally breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

The task force disbanded on the spot, and everyone returned home, exhausted and carrying a thick stack of results documents.

Qi Tongwei practically dragged himself back to his dormitory and collapsed into bed, while Han Shen, disregarding any rest, followed closely behind the director, carrying the "Guidance Catalog" and detailed compilation instructions that embodied everyone's hard work, to report to a higher level.

Meanwhile, various news, details, and even gossip about this "secret operation" began to spread rapidly within the Economic Commission building, gaining momentum and influence.

Ruan Lingling dragged the suitcase, which seemed even heavier than when she arrived, and returned to her familiar home, exhausted.

Pushing open the door, I saw my husband, wearing an apron, carefully tending to the clay pot in the kitchen, the aroma of the soup filling the entire living room.

The pressure, exhaustion, frustration from losing the competition, and emptiness after completing the task all combined to make her nose tingle and her eyes well up with tears.

She opened her mouth, a thousand emotions welling up to her lips, but what finally escaped was a complaint tinged with deep frustration and a hint of coquetry:

"Honey...we...we can't both be deputy section chiefs anymore..."

The husband, who was tasting the soup with a spoon, turned around, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Chapter 49 Li Yiqing's Teachings (Part 1)

It's been almost a week since the battle ended.

Instead of receiving the expected announcement of his appointment as deputy director, Qi Tongwei received a call from his mentor, Professor Li Yiqing, asking him to make time to visit Peking University over the weekend.

Stepping back into the familiar Peking University campus, Qi Tongwei felt an involuntary sense of relaxation. It was as if he had temporarily returned from the noisy and cramped arena of power to a spiritual home where he could breathe freely.

When Qi Tongwei knocked on that familiar office door and saw Li Yiqing hunched over his desk writing furiously, the last trace of tension in his body vanished.

Three years have passed, and apart from a few fine lines around the eyes and a few more gray hairs at the temples, the teacher has hardly changed. He still wears the same slightly worn gray jacket, still sits at the same large desk piled high with books and documents, looking somewhat messy, and even the faint scent of ink and old paper in the air is the same as before.

Li Yiqing was writing something with his head down, but he raised his eyes slightly, indicating that he should find a place to sit down.

Qi Tongwei didn't stand on ceremony. He walked familiarly to the small tea table against the wall, picked up the thermos, and reached for the tea canister.

He opened the jar, paused for a moment, and then exclaimed in surprise, "Teacher, you haven't finished drinking this Yunwu Maojian tea yet?"

Inside the jar was the best batch of pre-Qingming Yunwu Maojian tea that he had specially sent from Qijia Village last year; now only a small portion of the jar remained.

Li Yiqing finally looked up from the manuscript and glared at him irritably: "Knowing that I don't really like tea, you still forced ten catties on me! How long am I supposed to drink that?"

Qi Tongwei chuckled and said shamelessly, "Then... shall I help you share some? Take some back to drink? So it won't go bad if it sits for too long."

Li Yiqing was so angry she laughed: "So this is how you show filial piety to me? I spend money to buy tea from your hometown, and in the end, you just take it away?"

"Teacher, you bought this? I remember it was a free gift!" Qi Tongwei pretended to be stupid.

"Don't give me that! I bought it with my salary, even after discounting the market price!" Li Yiqing said with a straight face, but couldn't hide the amusement in his eyes. He waved his hand as if shooing away flies. "Take it away! It's infuriating to look at!"

"Okay! Thank you, teacher!" Qi Tongwei readily agreed and immediately found a small bag, unceremoniously filling it with about half of the contents.

Seeing his smug look of "a thief never leaves empty-handed," Li Yiqing shook his head, his train of thought also interrupted. He simply closed his pen cap, got up and walked to the small sofa area by the window to sit down, and called out, "Alright, stop fiddling around, come over, let's have a chat."

Qi Tongwei carried over the freshly brewed, clear, and emerald-green tea and sat down opposite Li Yiqing.

Li Yiqing glared again: "You're only pouring it for yourself? What about mine?"

Qi Tongwei looked aggrieved: "Didn't you say... you didn't like drinking it?"

"If you don't drink it now, won't it all be a bargain for you, kid?" Li Yiqing snorted.

Qi Tongwei had no choice but to scurry back and respectfully pour a cup for the teacher as well.

Li Yiqing took it, brought it to his nose and sniffed it, then smacked his lips. Whether it was psychological or something else, he felt that it was more refreshing and sweeter than usual, and it seemed... to have some flavor.

He put down his teacup, the playful expression on his face slowly fading, replaced by a slightly scrutinizing calm, and said, "The day before yesterday, your senior brother Han Shen came by and told me about your recent affairs."

He paused, his gaze falling on Qi Tongwei's face—a pause typical of those in positions of power, one that unconsciously instills tension in those in power.

"Is there... anything you'd like to tell me?"

Qi Tongwei knew perfectly well that the teacher was trying to lure him out, hoping he would confess. But a perfectly timed, slightly smug smile appeared on his face.

"Teacher, you knew? I'm going to be a deputy director?"

Li Yiqing finally couldn't hold back and was amused by his "unserious" behavior, so he laughed and scolded, "You're just a lowly deputy director, do you deserve my special attention?"

"You're not young anymore, teacher!" Qi Tongwei gestured seriously. "In our hometown, if a deputy director were to be demoted, he would be at the level of a deputy county head!"

Li Yiqing knew that his disciple was a deep thinker and extremely tight-lipped, so he didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point:

"The 'Guidance Catalogue for Industrial Structure Adjustment' that you put forward is excellent. It has a clear approach and hits the nail on the head. If it can be successfully implemented, it will be a great step forward in making our country's industrial policies more standardized, transparent, and scientific. Just for this reason alone, it's worth the two years I've spent teaching you."

Qi Tongwei immediately suppressed his smile and said seriously, "It's all thanks to the teacher's excellent guidance. I've just combined the principles the teacher usually teaches with some practical considerations."

Li Yiqing waved his hand, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

"Bringing the State Planning Commission into this and using their influence to push things forward... is that what I taught you?"

Qi Tongwei's relaxed expression froze instantly. He opened his mouth, trying to explain, "Teacher, I..."

Li Yiqing raised her hand to interrupt him, her tone calm and unreadable:

“I’m not criticizing you. I know you come from a humble background and don’t have any family connections. To accomplish things and make progress in complex situations, ‘leveraging’ resources is a necessary means, and you could even say it’s an art. You are very talented and good at this.”

He meticulously recounted Qi Tongwei's path of "leveraging influence" over the past few years:

"Before you enrolled, you used the influence of the 'Hero of Lone Eagle Ridge' and my reputation to get the Minister of Public Security to speak up and clear the way for your departure from Handong; then, you used the Minister's statement to successfully get a leave of absence without pay, thus maintaining the continuity of your rank and resume; once you arrived at the Economic Commission, you used the influence of the General Office and your mentor's group to open up sales channels for tea from your hometown... These are all your abilities. You see things clearly, grasp them accurately, and use them skillfully. I have never said anything against you for this."

Qi Tongwei silently added in his mind: There was an even earlier one, who took advantage of the Liang family's eagerness to persecute him, and manipulated things in the opposite direction, tricking Jin Ming into giving him a vacation so that he could go to Beijing for an interview.

Li Yiqing changed the subject, his gaze becoming deep and serious: