Looking around the house, only Zhao Dong and Xiong Wenbin were left. Shen Hua took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed them to Xiong Wenbin and Zhao Dong, saying: "Old bear, what's your intuition about?"

  "Uh," Xiong Wenbin didn't mind Shen Huai's changed tone, took the cigarette and lit it despite having quit smoking for many years. He said, "Gao Tianhe and Wu Haifeng have been openly and secretly fighting for so many years, but it's rare to see them publicly clash at a Standing Committee meeting. Not many people in the city know that Zhou Yu is Wu Haifeng's niece, but there are some. Now, Wu Haifeng has transferred Zhou Yu to Tangzhai as deputy secretary of the district committee, which seems like a lateral move on paper, but it's also somewhat hasty. From the side, this also confirms the rumors that Wu Haifeng might be about to fall... I think there must have been some problem in handling Mayor Chen's aftermath..."

  Shen Hua is directly related to Vice Mayor Chen Mingde, and Zhao Dong thinks that once Chen Mingde dies, Shen Hua will lose his backing and his situation in Donghua will become extremely dire.

  Listening to Shen Hua and Lao Xiong exchanging riddles, Zhao Dong also sensed some other meanings.

  Lao Xiong is a formidable person, Shen Hui thought to himself. If he hadn't been personally involved in this matter, his understanding of the issue might not have been as thorough as Lao Xiong's.

  Xiong Wenbin continued: "Wu Haifeng really wants to fall, and Gao Tianhe may not necessarily benefit. Perhaps the province will send someone to Donghua..."

  Zhao Dong only then realized where the problem lay, and the problem lay in Shen Huai's fearless attitude.

  If it were someone else, relying on the mountain to collapse, and being pressed down immediately after standing up, being kicked to the countryside, the arch-nemesis who was once offended, would happen to be one's direct supervisor, who else could have Shen Hua's calm attitude?

  However, Zhao Dong had doubts and asked: "Since the province will send people to come to Donghua to rectify this mess, wouldn't it be better for Secretary Shen to stay in the city..."

  It also means that if someone else is sent from the province, they will still have a relationship with Shen Hua.

  "Wu Haifeng didn't exactly fall, but being the municipal party secretary is going to be tough. Besides, I was the one who volunteered to go to Mei Creek Town," Shen Huai said slowly, revealing a part of the mystery, "I've been following Vice Mayor Chen Mingde in Donghua for over half a year now. In the past, I didn't quite understand things, and Vice Mayor Chen also oversimplified the complex situation in Donghua. I think even if I stayed in the city, it wouldn't bring me more benefits, so why not go to a rural town for a couple of years, get some experience under my belt, and then see..."

  Xiong Wenbin heard Shen Hua say this, and roughly sorted out some things. He thought that even if Wu Haifeng was transferred to be the director of the People's Congress, where would he have the pleasure of being the secretary of the municipal party committee?

  "I offended Ge Yongqiu at the municipal steel plant, and he naturally wants to hate me to the bone. Hai Peng just said that Meixi Steel Plant is a toilet pit, and if Ge Yongqiu really becomes the vice secretary or secretary of Xiapu County, I'll directly ask him to let me be in charge of Meixi's industry, and he'll probably be very happy for me to jump into this toilet pit," Shen Huai said, "Zhao Dong, are you willing to go to Meixi with me?"

  Shen Hua deliberately didn't say it clearly and directly invited Zhao Dong, also wanting to see if he had the courage to take a risk.

  Zhao Dong was also hesitant, Shen Huai's words were not entirely truthful, he could sense that Shen Huai had a deep background, and a dragon crossing the river wasn't afraid of a tiger sitting on a mountain, but as a small figure, taking one step out would mean eternal doom.

  Xiong Wenbin coughed lightly, Zhao Dong gritted his teeth and said: "Having been stifled in the municipal steel factory for so many years, it's time to make a decision. Unfortunately, Secretary Shen didn't get to know Haiwen earlier..."

  When Zhao Dong said that, Shen Hui's heart was also moved, and he patted Zhao Dong's shoulder excitedly, revealing the truth to them:

  "The provincial government may send Tang Qiping, the deputy head of the Provincial Organization Department, to Donghua to serve as the municipal party secretary. However, the organizational procedures have not yet started, and the news that has been leaked so far is that Wu Haifeng must give up his position as municipal party secretary. This is also why Wu Haifeng is anxious to help Zhou Yu find a good position. But for now, this information must be kept absolutely confidential..."

  Xiong Wenbin was surprised by these speculations, but when Shen Hua finally revealed the truth, he also took a deep breath.

  He only truly realized that there was a big problem with Chen Mingde's death, otherwise the province would not have directly pulled Wu Haifeng down from his position as municipal party secretary and then suppressed Gao Tianhe from taking over, but instead directly gave Donghua a municipal party secretary.

  However, at the same time, Xiong Wenbin also knew that he had gambled correctly with his unorthodox swordsmanship.

  Tan Qiping came to Donghua alone, facing a situation that can only be said to be slightly better than Chen Mingde. The municipal party secretary has the power in his hands, but it's not much better. Alone and helpless, it's hard to do anything. After Tan Qiping arrived in Donghua, if he wanted to break through the situation or do something, he could only win over these officials who had been marginalized early on.

  Having the right is just one aspect, but to get things done, you must have your own people. Real power does not come solely from a position, but also relies on an entire circle of people to consolidate that power. Not only did Tan Qiping need capable people when he went to Donghua, but Shen Hua also needed his own team to achieve something at Donghua.

  Xiong Wenbin can confirm at this time: although he doesn't know what the relationship is between Shen Huai and Tan Qiping, but since he has such confidence in staying in Donghua, then he should be the pioneer of Tan Qiping's stay in Donghua; they must also go through Shen Huai to be recommended to Tan Qiping...

  **************

  Three people in a smoke-filled room were discussing a conspiracy that was not to be spoken of outside, when the tightly closed door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

  "Haha, old dad, you're in trouble. If mom finds out that you've broken your smoking habit, she'll nag you for half a year..." Xiong Dailing's clear voice came over.

  Shen Huai turned his head to look, outside the light was still brighter, Xiong Dailing's slender figure stood at the door, blocking the light, her whole body seemed to be covered with a layer of mist.

  Xiong Wenbin awkwardly extinguished the half-smoked cigarette; Zhao Dong seemed to be somewhat annoyed at Xiong Dailin's tattling, took two puffs of his cigarette and then extinguished it.

  Only Shen Hua was leisurely smoking, while Xiong Dai Ling waved her hand to drive the smoke away and walked in, opening the window across from him for ventilation.

  "You guys are really something, smoking and then closing the window, aren't you afraid of inhaling a few more mouthfuls of second-hand smoke?" Xiong Dailing stood by the window, breathing in the fresh air, feeling that the three old men's habit of smoking with the door closed was quite unreasonable.

  Shen Huai recalled the scene when he first entered the municipal steel plant, following behind Xiong Wenbin's butt all day, learning from experience and participating in technical reform, exhausted all day, could only use cigarettes to relieve boredom.

  At that time, Xiong Daling was only 12 years old and still lived in the dormitory building of the municipal steel plant. Every time she came to deliver meals to everyone sent by Xiong Wenbin's lover, she would take out the cigarettes from everyone's mouths one by one without leaving any face, but unexpectedly she grew up to be a slender big girl, and it seems that she is not as "rude" as before.

  Time flies so fast, the thin and weak little girl from back then has grown up into a mature adult. Her sleeves are rolled up, revealing her icy jade-like arms, her hair is tied in a ponytail, showing off her slender neck, her figure is slim and tall, although not as mature and elegant as Zhou Yu, but she can't help but exude the aura of a youthful girl.

  "Secretary Shen knows French! Is this French?" Xiong Dailing saw a stack of books on the desk and exclaimed as if she had discovered a new continent.

  "Others, like Secretary Shen, are overseas talents introduced by the province. Are you all just good at eating and lazy about learning?" Xiong Wenbin smiled and changed the subject, his impression of Shen Hua was very complicated, with too many places that couldn't be grasped. Even though Shen Hua had just revealed such an important mystery to them, he still maintained a vigilant observation of Shen Hua in his heart, speaking carefully and measuring every word.

  Shen Huai was too familiar with Xiong Wenbin and Zhao Dong, even if Xiong Wenbin and Zhao Dong wouldn't immediately trust him unconditionally, keeping his mouth shut wasn't a problem.

  However, Shen Hua didn't want to discuss the topic of "overseas talent" at all. Xiong Dailing had studied at the Provincial Economic College in the provincial capital, and if they chatted about it, she might think of that infamous beastly teacher from the college, which would be unpleasant for her.

  Shen Huai also had a headache, that previous bastard left him with a big mess to clean up one by one, it was really damn tiring.

  Shen Hua didn't say anything more about "overseas talent", and asked Xiong Dailing: "Is dinner ready?"

  "That's right, you've been hiding here for half a day without coming out, and I still don't know what kind of conspiracy you're plotting," said Xiong Dailing.

  Zhao Dong was still a bit confused, unable to understand why Shen Hua would look for him. In fact, he also had doubts about Shen Hua's words, but couldn't think of any reason why Shen Hua would deceive him. He still trusted Lao Xiong's judgment, seeing that Lao Xiong was calm and composed, even if he had many questions in his heart, he controlled himself and didn't ask too much.

  Of course, in addition to being puzzled, there is also an inexplicable excitement in my heart. If what Shen Huai said was true, if Tan Qiping, who would become the secretary of the municipal party committee in the future, really regarded Shen Huai as his right-hand man, he certainly knew how important this opportunity was for him.

  Walking into Xiong Wenbin's living room, the wine and dishes were already on the table.

  Zhou Ming was probably dissatisfied with not being able to share secrets with Wen Ji, and also had a dislike for Shen Huai himself, so he remained silent and spoke little during the banquet.

  Yang Haipeng didn't have many ideas, so he sat down at the table and quietly pulled Zhao Dong to ask what the three of them had said in the next room.

  Xiong Dailing sat beside them, heard their conversation, and directly asked: "What's going on? You guys are talking secretly about something?" The five women in the room were also very curious.

  "Mei Creek Town has one or two town enterprises, and after a period of time, they will publicly recruit management and technical personnel," Shen Hua looked at Zhao Dong's embarrassment and directly answered for him. "I advise Zhao Dong to take the initiative to lay off from the municipal steel plant and compete for the enterprise management personnel in Mei Creek Town. If Zhao Dong becomes the factory director or deputy factory director, some things will not be so difficult..."

  "Then Zhao Dong went to Mei Xi Town, can he earn back the 680,000 dowry in a few months?" Xiong Dailing asked straightforwardly.

  Jian Xiong Dai Ling directly asked Zhao Dong about his income after going to Mei Xi Town, Shen Huai smiled: "I haven't gone to Mei Xi Town to work yet, the specific needs to be discussed by the town party committee, in short, it will be higher than our main administrative staff, and not just a little bit."

  "You officials don't live on dead salaries..."

  Xiong Dailing just topped Shen Huai with a sentence, and then gave her mother a chopstick to knock on the back of her head. "Ah" cried out, and then spat out her tongue, self-deprecatingly saying: "If I also drag my dad into this, it's indeed rare for him to be an official like this."

  Shen Huaiyan smiled and returned to the neighboring room after dinner, but Xiong Dailing's tongue-out expression kept flashing in his mind.