Chapter 32: Frustration

In his previous life, Li Xiuyuan had spent time working in the countryside and found the staff at the county government office incredibly frustrating—or, to be more precise, the office staff of every department in the county.

They were particularly annoying about demanding data. Sometimes the same department would ask for the same data today, then ask for it again tomorrow. One department would demand it, then another would do the same, and the requirements were never consistent. If one had to start from scratch every time they requested data, there would be no time for any real work; one would spend the entire day just digging up and compiling statistics. Consequently, most people simply used old data to get by.

For Wang Zhitao, however, the perspective was different. He was responsible for chasing down data and documents; if things didn't align, the blame fell on him.

Li Xiuyuan listened quietly from the side. Only after Wang Zhitao had finished his heated phone call did Li Xiuyuan smile and say, "Brother Wang, why get so worked up? There’s no need to be angry."

"Ah, Xiuyuan, you’re new, you don’t understand. People at the grassroots level are just like this—they try to cut corners and shirk responsibility. If you don’t crack the whip, they’ll just give you the runaround all day," Wang Zhitao said, waving his hand dismissively.

Li Xiuyuan couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, his expression turning strange. *I don’t understand? I spent over a decade working in the countryside in my past life; how could I not understand?* It wasn't about shirking responsibility; it was the reality that a thousand threads from above converged into a single needle at the bottom. Everything fell onto the grassroots level, and they were simply overwhelmed. It was genuinely difficult!

*But wait,* he thought, *I’m with the county government office now… ah, well, never mind then.*

Wang Zhitao sighed with resignation. "Forget it, let’s not talk about that. You’ll understand once you’ve dealt with them more. Anyway, I have to head over to the Finance Bureau this morning to coordinate on the rural road lighting project. Come with me."

Li Xiuyuan couldn't very well refuse the request. He nodded in agreement. On the way to the Finance Bureau, Li Xiuyuan asked with some confusion, "Brother Wang, didn't you ask Section Chief Qu to help coordinate this?"

It was obvious that a regular staff member couldn't push this through. The rural road lighting project required funding; unless the head of the county government gave the green light, it was useless for lower-level staff to try to coordinate anything. Furthermore, the people in the office were all cunning; logically, if Pang Zhifeng stepped in, at least the Finance Bureau and the Transportation Bureau could be brought to the table.

If the two bureau chiefs sat down together to discuss the budget and feasibility, there would at least be a thirty percent chance of progress. If Qu Hui stepped in, a phone call to the two chiefs might yield at least a proposal—even if it were completely impractical, it would still be a plan, representing ten percent progress. But with Wang Zhitao in charge, it was a dead end; no one would pay him any mind, resulting in zero progress.

As it turned out, things were even worse than Li Xiuyuan had imagined. Upon arriving at the Finance Bureau, they were completely ignored. Forget about getting a plan or meeting with a leader—they weren't even offered a glass of water. After the initial brief greeting from the office staff, they were left sitting there for the entire morning. Li Xiuyuan had a bit more patience, but Wang Zhitao kept going to the office to inquire when the leaders would be available.

The only response he got was, "Wait," or if he pressed further, "The leader is in a meeting," or "The leader is busy."

Wang Zhitao waited in a state of growing anxiety and humiliation. Everyone knew the Finance Bureau was a powerful department in the county, and its director was affectionately dubbed the "God of Wealth"—someone no one could afford to offend. Moreover, the position of Finance Bureau Director was typically held by a trusted confidant of the County Mayor. A government office director might not be a close ally, but the Finance Bureau Director certainly was, as the Mayor relied on controlling the purse strings to manage the county.

The authority of the Finance Bureau Director was clear. Of course, Wang Zhitao wasn't even trying to see the Director, just a Deputy Director, yet even that person was acting so high-and-mighty that they had left them waiting all morning. It was nearly lunch, and they still hadn't seen anyone.

Seeing Wang Zhitao’s frustrated expression, Li Xiuyuan felt a measure of sympathy. The Finance Bureau was treating them like they didn't exist. Even if they wanted to brush them off, refusing to even show their faces was going too far.

"Brother Wang, I have an idea. I don't know if it will work, but it’s worth a try. Otherwise, if we keep waiting like this, the leadership will go home for lunch without ever sparing a thought for us," Li Xiuyuan said.

"Fine, go ahead and try. If something goes wrong, we’ll take the heat together," Wang Zhitao replied bluntly, his own temper rising. He assumed Li Xiuyuan intended to make a scene.

Li Xiuyuan nodded, stood up, and walked into the Finance Bureau office.

"Director Liu, may I borrow a pen? Mine has stopped working," Li Xiuyuan said, pulling his bag and notebook out before putting his pen away.

This Director Liu was the Deputy Director of the Finance Bureau office. He smiled and nodded, "Of course, no problem."

As he handed over a pen, he added considerately, "If you need to write something down, feel free to use my desk."

As Liu stepped aside, Li Xiuyuan thanked him. He didn't stand on ceremony; he sat down, opened his notebook, and deliberately positioned it so that Director Liu could see the title page, which read in bold characters: "Work Log."

Li Xiuyuan flipped to the latest page and began to write: "May 18, 2005. Sunny. Key work points: At 9:00 AM, arrived at the Finance Bureau with Comrade Wang Zhitao. Requested a meeting with Deputy Director Shao through Director Liu of the Finance Bureau office. No result. 9:30 AM, requested again, told Director Shao was in a meeting. 10:00 AM, told Director Shao was busy with important work. 10:30 AM... 11:00 AM... 11:30 AM..."

Li Xiuyuan wrote with slow, deliberate strokes. His handwriting was neat, but Director Liu, watching from the side, felt his face grow hot with embarrassment and panic.

*He’s actually writing this down?* If this were ever brought up later, it would serve as written evidence placing the blame entirely on the Finance Bureau. The most critical part was that Li Xiuyuan was documenting every detail so clearly that there would be no way to deny it.