It was not until they were eating that Zhao Yitang and Ma Guotao walked out of the office. This move of the two surprised the people in the town government. After the two had a big quarrel over the mining matter a few years ago, in addition to meetings, They have never appeared together in public. But the two of them actually got together again today. It seems that something big happened.
After Shen Tong cleaned the room, he followed the footsteps of others to the cafeteria.
The other people in the town government were relatively enthusiastic. After meeting, they would always nod and smile, which made Shen Tong feel more cordial and the unpleasantness of the morning was forgotten.
The canteen is on the east side of the third row. In addition to the canteen, there is also a large conference room. It is said to be a canteen, which means there are only two rooms, one is a place for cooking and the other is a place for eating. But the staff of the agency Basically, everyone eats standing in the courtyard, and the dining room is vacant for Zhao Yitang. In other words, only cadres at the deputy department level and above are eligible to eat in the room. Although there is no explicit rule, the agency staff has reached an agreement on this arrangement. consensus.
When Shen Tong saw others taking their own rice bowls to prepare meals, Shen Tong realized that he had left in a hurry in the morning and didn't bring anything with him. Suddenly, he felt very embarrassed.
In this agency compound, apart from Yuan Caiyun and Zhao Yitang, Shen Tong didn't know him. However, Shen Tong didn't find Yuan Caiyun, so he couldn't go to Secretary Zhao.
At this moment, Deputy Mayor Liu Siming saw Shen Tong standing in the yard, and waved to Shen Tong, motioning for Shen Tong to come over.
When Shen Tong saw someone calling him, he immediately felt grateful and hurried over.
Liu Siming said while eating: "Are you new here?"
Shen Tong scratched his head and said, "Well, my name is Shen Tong. I just came here to report this morning. It's my first time going to work. I don't know what to prepare, so I brought nothing."
Liu Siming looked at the young people of his own age and said, "Oh, you need to prepare your own lunch box to eat here. That's it. Feng Qikun from the family planning office went to the county for a meeting today. If you don't mind, you can use it first." His lunch box."
Regarding Liu Siming's eager concern, Shen Tong felt warm in her heart and said, "I don't dislike it, thank you."
Liu Siming picked up his chopsticks and threw an uncut potato in the bowl into the trash can far away, and said: "Thank you for everything. If you want to be in harmony with the masses in the town government, you must learn to survive. You wait, I will give it to you." You cook."
Liu Siming handed his rice to Shen Tong, then turned and entered the cafeteria. At this time, Zhao Yitang came over with a shy belly.
When Zhao Yitang saw Shen Tong, he asked with concern: "How is it? Are you used to eating in the cafeteria?"
Shen Tong was a little surprised, so he hurriedly replied: "Secretary Zhao, I am also the son of a farmer, and I am used to eating this kind of food."
Zhao Yitang smiled slightly and said: "Okay, just get used to it." After saying that, he walked to the cafeteria. After walking for a few steps, he seemed to remember something and came back. He said to Shen Tong: "I'll meet you in the afternoon. Participate too.”
Shen Tong was a little unable to recover and nodded dully.
When Zhao Yitang arrived, the people eating at the door stopped eating and immediately dispersed, leaving an aisle for Zhao Yitang.
Liu Siming handed the prepared rice to Shen Tong, and ate it himself. He made a "squeaky" sound when eating the noodles. His eating appearance did not look like a cadre at all.
Shen Tong took the rice and saw that it was hand-rolled potato shreds. The potato shreds were as thick as chopsticks and were cut unevenly. Some were thick, some were thin, and some were even connected together. Looking at the hand-rolled noodles again, they were already It's noodles that have been cooked for a long time, and the noodles are stuck together, making people lose their appetite at all.
Shen Tong had been busy all morning and felt hungry indeed. Regardless of the quality of the food, he wolfed it down like everyone else.
"Are you assigned for this public examination?" Liu Siming suddenly asked.
Shen Tong hurriedly stopped eating and replied, "Yeah."
Liu Siming saw Shen Tong's nervous look and said, "Don't be nervous, let's chat while eating."
Shen Tong didn't have too many scruples and chatted while eating.
"Where is your home?" Liu Siming continued to ask.
"From Beizhai Township."
"Oh, I'm from Nanpo Township, we live not far away." Liu Siming said.
When Shen Tong learned that Liu Siming was from Nanpo Township, he said excitedly: "My grandma's family is also from Nanpo Township."
Liu Siming looked up at Shen Tong and said, "Really? Then we are half fellow villagers."
Shen Tong smiled sheepishly and said, "That's right. I still don't know what you call you?"
Liu Siming pulled the last bite of rice from the bowl into his mouth and said while chewing: "My name is Liu Siming, and I am the deputy mayor in charge of agriculture. See me anytime in the future."
When Shen Tong heard that he was the mayor, he stood up quickly and said, "I didn't know you were the mayor. I'm sorry, Mayor Liu."
"Hurry up and eat. Being a deputy mayor is nothing in a township. Why should I be so rigid? Besides, I'm not a few years older than you. Just call me brother from now on." Liu Siming said.
Liu Siming said this, but Shen Tong was still a little nervous and replied: "Mayor Liu, I can't mess with the rules. It's better to call me Mayor Liu."
Liu Siming looked at this immature young man, shook his head helplessly, stood up and walked to the cafeteria, saying: "After dinner, come to my room to rest. My room is in the third room on the east side of the second row."
After Liu Siming left, he felt very uncomfortable eating alone, so he ate in a hurry and returned to his room.
Ma Guotao originally asked Shen Tong to go home in the afternoon, but Zhao Yitang asked him to attend the afternoon meeting, so Shen Tong returned to his room and waited for the afternoon meeting.
Although Liu Siming asked Shen Tong to go to his room, Shen Tong thought about it and still didn't go, so he continued to tidy up his room with nothing to do.
It was only one o'clock, still early for the meeting. Shen Tong sat at his desk and stared blankly at the newspaper posted on the glass.
The newspaper was yellowed and the corners were damaged. The time displayed on the newspaper was June 25, 1995, which had obviously been many years. At the bottom edge of the newspaper, Shen Tong found a few small words written with a pen. Shen Tong Tong felt curious, so he took a closer look. Although the words had faded after being exposed to the sun, the writing content could still be vaguely seen: "Horse takes 20,000."
"What does this mean?" Shen Tong looked at these strange four little characters and was very confused.
Shen Tong didn't study too much into the four puzzling words. He opened the drawer of his desk and found a few almost moldy documents scattered inside, as well as a pen without a cap, that's all.
The content of the document was a notice on strengthening the construction of rural cooperative funds in Shihe Town. Shen Tong's family also deposited 2,000 yuan in the Beizhai Township cooperative, and Shen Tong looked at it with interest.
In 1994, Shihe Town raised more than 1.2 million yuan and issued loans of more than 800,000 yuan. Seeing this figure, Shen Tong couldn't help but feel nervous. More than half of the funds in Shihe Town had been loaned out. What if the people who deposited money wanted to withdraw? Shen Tong didn't dare to think too much and hurriedly threw the documents back into the drawer.
The weather in April was quite warm. Shen Tong thought it was still early, so he lay down on the table and went to sleep.
I don't know how much time passed, but Shen Tong woke up from his dream. He looked at his watch and saw that the time was already 3:10. Shen Tong blamed himself and ran to the conference room.