Chapter 34: A Helping Hand in the Snow

Deputy Director Shao rattled off a series of questions, leaving Wang Zhitao completely stunned. He opened his mouth, but had no idea how to respond. Deputy Director Shao looked at Wang Zhitao, then shifted his gaze to Li Xiuyuan.

It dawned on him immediately: Wang Zhitao was truly just a greenhorn, and the one who held the real weight was this Li Xiuyuan.

"Well, this..." Wang Zhitao stammered, at a loss for words.

"How about this, you two should head back. I will report this matter to my superiors when I have a moment. We’ll schedule a meeting to study it, and once there’s any progress, we’ll be in touch. Director Liu, please leave a phone number so we can contact the County Government Office promptly when there is an update."

"But..." Wang Zhitao opened his mouth to object, but the leader’s words were logical and well-founded, leaving him with no ground to argue. Finally, he looked at Li Xiuyuan with a helpless, pleading expression.

Unfortunately, even Li Xiuyuan could do nothing about this. Managing to see the leader and receiving such a response was enough to go back and report; what else could one expect?

Expect them to hand over a plan? On what grounds? It was obvious that this was just a matter of going through the motions. If one really wanted to push this forward, it was far beyond the capability of a junior clerk in a typical office.

It was already noon when the two emerged from the Finance Bureau. Li Xiuyuan had originally planned to go back to the county government canteen with Wang Zhitao, but he received a call from his uncle-in-law, Song Limin.

"Xiuyuan, my classmate is back. I met him this morning, and we’ve arranged to have dinner tonight. Are you free this evening? Should you come with me, or should I go first to test the waters?"

"How about this, Uncle-in-law? Where are you? I’ll come over to meet you now, and we can talk in person," Li Xiuyuan said immediately.

After hanging up, Li Xiuyuan looked at Wang Zhitao and said, "Brother Wang, you head back. I have something to take care of at home, so I need to head over there."

"Alright, take care of your business. If you can’t make it back this afternoon, remember to call Section Chief Qu to ask for leave," Wang Zhitao reminded him.

Li Xiuyuan nodded and hailed a taxi toward his uncle-in-law’s home. By the time he arrived, Song Limin was already waiting. Since it was lunchtime, Li Xiuyuan didn't stand on ceremony; he ate while asking about the situation from that morning.

His classmate, Luo Tao, had only returned last night and had called Song Limin this morning. The reason was simple: when Song Limin had visited last time, he had brought two bottles of fine liquor, which clearly indicated he had a favor to ask.

"This Luo Tao is a man of standards. Others have entrusted him with tasks before, and his reliability is generally decent," Song Limin explained.

Li Xiuyuan understood the situation. After thinking for a moment, he said, "In that case, let’s book a high-end restaurant for tonight. The standards must be high, and the quality must be top-tier. Don’t worry about the cost. Arrange for Moutai and cigarettes that cost at least a hundred a pack to host him."

"Xiuyuan, this is to host him, not Director Luo himself. I think we should just arrange something reasonable for tonight, and then properly host him when we get to meet Director Luo. Don't you think..."

"No. The two are brothers; we cannot treat people differently based on their rank. Besides, since we are asking for help, we must show full respect from the start. Otherwise, we won't get the job done and will end up offending him instead."

Li Xiuyuan’s attitude was firm. When asking for favors, one must have this mindset. Some people didn’t understand this; they were used to being stingy, so they were stingy even when hosting dinner.

The end result was that they spent the money, failed to get the job done, and offended the other party in the process.

When asking for favors, this was the biggest taboo. Since you’ve decided to host, you must arrange it perfectly from the start.

"Xiuyuan, this..." Song Limin felt a pang of heartache over the money, but before he could finish, Li Xiuyuan interrupted him.

"Uncle-in-law, listen to me on this. Don't worry about the money; I’ll give it to you in a moment. Just get it all arranged for tonight," Li Xiuyuan said.

He knew that passing the hurdle of Luo Tao tonight was the most critical step. If he could win over Luo Tao, the younger brother, Director Luo, would naturally follow suit.

If Luo Tao was willing to help, as long as the brothers' relationship wasn't terrible, Director Luo would certainly provide some support.

After all, the favor he was asking for wasn't anything overly difficult; he just needed a little bit of care from Director Luo.

Furthermore, in his conflict with Qu Hui, he actually held the absolute advantage. In the system, it wasn’t easy to just get rid of someone, and if things blew up, Qu Hui wouldn’t be able to handle it either.

Unless he had absolutely no connections, Qu Hui would have to be cautious. After all, Qu Hui was still young and had a promising future ahead of him.

Watching Li Xiuyuan’s imposing demeanor, Song Limin felt a wave of emotion. He finally understood why he had achieved so little in all these years—he was small-minded. He was already fifty years old, yet he couldn't even match a young junior, lacking even a fraction of his courage.

No wonder he had only managed to run small businesses his whole life.

With this thought, Song Limin made a decision. He spoke up immediately, "Xiuyuan, don't mention the money. You’ve just started working, how much could you have? Let me handle the expenses. You call me uncle-in-law, so trust me. Entrust this to me, and I promise to get it done properly."

Since Li Xiuyuan was willing to go to such great lengths to build a relationship with Luo Tao, couldn't he do the same to build a relationship with his nephew?

Merely acting as a middleman and running errands—what kind of bond would that build? But if he were willing to get involved personally, using his own resources and efforts to help Li Xiuyuan—a gesture of timely help while Li Xiuyuan was just starting out and still weak—that would be different.

"Uncle-in-law..." Li Xiuyuan started to say something, but Song Limin cut him off. "That's enough. It’s getting late, so you should head back to work. I’ll pick you up after you clock out. If you trust me, leave this to me."

Since Song Limin had put it this way, Li Xiuyuan had nothing more to say and could only nod in agreement.

After lunch, Li Xiuyuan returned to the office.

He stayed in the office for the entire afternoon. As it neared closing time, Wang Zhitao came over to invite him to dinner.

"If it hadn't been for you this morning, we would have been stuck at the Finance Bureau swallowing our pride. I’ll treat you to dinner tonight as a thank you," Wang Zhitao said, looking at Li Xiuyuan.

Li Xiuyuan smiled. "Brother Wang, let’s save the treat for another day. I already have plans tonight. Just remember you owe me a meal."

Having grown familiar with Wang Zhitao, Li Xiuyuan joked.

Li Boyang, standing nearby, also laughed. "What a shame. I was hoping to tag along and grab a free meal tonight..."

The three of them were among those who were not well-regarded in the office, so they naturally gravitated toward each other.

Wang Zhitao shook his head and laughed, "The offer expires tonight; I won't be treating you another day."

The three of them joked around until the end of the workday. Just then, Li Xiuyuan received a message on his phone from his uncle-in-law, Song Limin, saying he was waiting outside. Li Xiuyuan immediately stood up and hurried out of the office, but he was in such a rush that he nearly collided with someone at the door.