Chapter 8

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The next morning, Xu Junran was still thinking about Li Dongyuan's conversation with him from the day before.

Knowing that Xu Junran was coming to work in the county, Li Dongyuan had told him about the situation in the county and the things he needed to pay attention to. He mentioned the people he should be cautious of, those who were more reliable, and those who were at odds with the old secretary and himself.

Xu Junran was well aware that his identity determined that once he entered the political arena, he would inevitably be seen as being on the same side as Yan Wangsong and Li Dongyuan. This was something that could not be changed, and he had no intention of changing it.

He spent the morning at the Li family's house. At noon, Li Dongyuan sent someone to inform Xu Junran that his placement had been decided.

Thanks to Yan Wangsong's recommendation, Xu Junran was assigned to work in the Comprehensive Group of the County Party Committee Office. Although he was just an ordinary clerk, he was specifically assigned as a correspondent to serve Yan Wangsong.

In that era, the term "secretary" had not yet become widespread at the grassroots level; only high-ranking officials had secretaries. In most districts and counties, most leaders would find someone in the office to serve them, essentially someone to carry their bags, run errands, clean the office, and help write documents and speeches. Therefore, most county party committees had a Secretarial Group responsible for assisting office leaders in handling daily administrative work, coordinating the relationships between various groups (offices, bureaus), and organizing the implementation of various office rules and regulations.

The Comprehensive Group, on the other hand, was specifically responsible for drafting, revising, and reviewing the meeting reports, speeches, and other official documents of the county party leaders, as well as the important news articles of the county party.

Logically, Xu Junran should have been assigned to the Secretarial Group, given that he was personally chosen by Yan Wangsong as a correspondent. However, Yan Wangsong did not want this talented graduate from Jinghua University to do menial tasks, so he directly assigned Xu Junran to the Comprehensive Group to draft speeches and official documents. After all, as a top student from Jinghua University, no one in the entire county could match Xu Junran in writing.

Even so, not all county party leaders had the privilege of having a correspondent. Only the county party secretary and the county magistrate had that privilege.

In the afternoon, Xu Junran arrived at the Wu De County Party Committee Office and found the office with the sign for the Comprehensive Group.

The office was not very large. At that time, government offices did not have the spacious environments of later years; many offices were shared by six or seven people in a space of about fifty to sixty square meters, and the relationships among the staff were relatively relaxed.

Xu Junran peered through the half-open door and saw three people inside. Two men were chatting, and a woman with long hair was sitting by the window, writing something. Her face was hidden by her hair, so Xu Junran could not see her age clearly.

"Knock, knock, knock..." Xu Junran gently knocked on the door and said softly, "Excuse me, is this the Comprehensive Group office?"

The two men chatting turned around and looked at Xu Junran. Seeing his refined appearance, they frowned. "Who are you looking for?"

Xu Junran smiled calmly. "My name is Xu Junran, and I'm here to report to Director Feng."

"Looking for Director Feng?" The man's expression turned strange, and he nodded. "Come in and wait. The director is in a meeting and will be back soon."

Xu Junran nodded. "Thank you."

He walked into the office and found a chair by the side to sit down.

"Xiao Xu, are you just assigned here?" The first man who spoke to Xu Junran walked over with a smile and asked.

Xu Junran looked up and sized up the man. He was in his twenties, with a somewhat thin face and yellow teeth from smoking too much. His eyes occasionally flashed with a strange light, indicating that he was also a newcomer.

"Yes, that's right," Xu Junran nodded calmly.

"Hello, hello," the man shook Xu Junran's hand warmly. "I'm Tu Wenyong."

Xu Junran smiled. "Hello, Brother Tu."

Tu Wenyong seemed to be very friendly. After getting to know Xu Junran, he began to introduce the office situation. The Comprehensive Group of the County Party Committee Office actually only had seven people. This was because the Comprehensive Group had relatively few tasks, mainly writing speeches and official documents for the county leaders, reviewing news articles, and drafting and revising documents for the county party committee, the county party committee office, the county government, and the county government office. In short, the Comprehensive Group was the writing team for the county party and government.

Xu Junran, with nearly thirty years of experience in the political arena before his rebirth, naturally found it easy to deal with an 80s-era grassroots official. Soon, Tu Wenyong was calling Xu Junran brother, almost ready to swear brotherhood.

"Let me tell you, Xiao Xu, there's usually not much to do in our office. The guys in the Secretarial Group are always eager to do our work. They fight over writing documents and such. We just need to review the news articles and check if the wording in the documents is appropriate," Tu Wenyong said, putting an arm around Xu Junran's shoulder and smiling.

Xu Junran nodded. He had already asked Tu Wenyong about the office. The Comprehensive Group had seven people in total. Besides Deputy Director Feng Kuang, who also served as the group leader, there was a deputy group leader named Hong Yanxin, a woman in her thirties. The others were ordinary clerks, the oldest being in his forties and the youngest only seventeen.

Based on Xu Junran's guess, the person in his forties was likely a graduate from the "old three classes."

The "old three classes" referred to the graduates of the 1966, 1967, and 1968 junior and senior high school classes, collectively known as the "old three classes." These students, after graduating from high school and junior high school, mostly became educated youth. This group was the largest to enter university after the resumption of the college entrance examination. Among Xu Junran's classmates, there were several in their thirties and forties. People like him, who entered university in their early twenties, were rare. Those who did not enter university often took up positions in local governments.

Xu Junran knew clearly that for the next few decades, the political stage of China would be dominated by this generation.

"Brother Tu, this is the manuscript for the Propaganda Department this afternoon," a female voice said by Xu Junran's ear.

Tu Wenyong turned around and suddenly smiled. "Come, Xiao Xu, let me introduce you to the flower of our county party committee compound!"