Chapter 1: The Obstruction of Official Career
No matter in the Tao family or among neighbors, Tao Ruxuan has always been a true and outstanding person. The more than 20 years before joining the workforce were almost spent in praise and applause. However, since entering the county committee propaganda department's civilization office, Tao Ruxuan's outlook on life was completely overturned. Listening to others was said to be inflexible, being flexible was said to be cunning; being diligent was said to be brainless, using one's brain was said to be too clever; being willing to help others was said to be sinister, being honest and down-to-earth was said to be lacking in vision; even greeting leaders was said to be fawning. It seemed that no matter what he did or how he did it, everything was wrong.
There were three other people in the comprehensive office with Tao Ruxuan, including Deputy Director Qu Jia Sheng, who was over 50 years old and still a deputy department head. His responsibilities included overseeing the overall work of the comprehensive department, but he was actually idle, spending his days drinking tea and reading newspapers. Due to his age and seniority, no one managed or bothered him.
The other two were women, one named Yu Minhua and the other Ding Xiaoman. Yu Minhua was a married woman in her early thirties, looking very dignified, always wearing a simple ponytail, not talking much, but for some reason, she had been married for six or seven years without having children, mainly responsible for file management work. Ding Xiaoman was about the same age as Tao Ruxuan, in her twenties, but had joined the company almost a year earlier than Tao Ruxuan, not particularly beautiful, but very sexy, with an exceptionally good figure, perhaps she was also very aware of her advantages in this regard, so she always liked to wear tight or revealing clothes, especially in the summer, becoming a bright landscape line in the propaganda department, and was also an unmarried young woman, mainly responsible for answering phone calls, printing files and other daily work.
Tao Ruxuan was mainly responsible for clerical work, which was quite a lot and also very miscellaneous. In short, all the work that required writing articles was handled by Tao Ruxuan. It can be said that among the four people, only Tao Ruxuan's workload was the heaviest and busiest. However, Tao Ruxuan did not complain, but instead worked diligently and conscientiously every day, arriving half an hour early to clean up, leaving half an hour late to tidy up, being polite to colleagues and respectful to leaders. Yet, despite working like this for over a year, Tao Ruxuan not only failed to leave a good impression on leaders and colleagues but also got entangled in a big mess of gossip and rumors.
On Wednesday, just after work began, Tao Ruxuan offended Qu Jia Sheng and Ding Xiao Man with one sentence.
The composer went to the water dispenser to get water, only to find that the bucket was empty. He then used a cup to tap on the bucket several times and shouted: "Ding Xiaoman, no water!"
Ding Xiaoman has always been in charge of this matter, and Qu Jia Sheng's intention is to let Ding Xiaoman call the water delivery company.
Ding Xiaoman and Qu Jia Sheng originally had some discord, so they pretended not to hear, continuing to crawl on the computer printing things.
He called twice, but Ding Xiaoman didn't budge. Qu Jian's voice couldn't help but get a little angry, thinking to himself: "Although I'm just a deputy director, I'm still your superior. You're just a young girl, how dare you ignore me like this?" He slammed the cup in his hand on the table and was about to lose his temper.
Tao Ruxuan saw the situation and feared that the two would quarrel, so he hastily picked up the phone and said to Qu's voice: "Director Qu, please wait a moment. Xiaoman is busy preparing materials for me and may not be able to make it in time. I'll call the water delivery company right away."
The composer's voice was heard by Tao Ruxuan, who had already started making phone calls, so it wasn't good to say anything.
Ding Xiaoman finished filing and left, then Qu Jia Sheng said ambiguously to Tao Ruxuan: "I'm telling you, little Tao, are you afraid I'll scold that little girl? This is originally her job, what's wrong with me saying a couple of words to her. Let me tell you, taking the blame for someone else isn't done this way."
Two icy sentences left Tao Ruxuan speechless, as if he had called Ding Xiaoman for some purpose. But Qu Jia Sheng was after all the leader, so Tao Ruxuan still smiled awkwardly and didn't say a word.
I thought the matter was settled, but unexpectedly I was blocked by Ding Xiaoman in the office after work. Ding Xiaoman is a straightforward person, speaking quickly and bluntly, scolding me without any courtesy: "I'm telling you, Tao Ruxuan, what do you mean? Old Qu asked me to call you about something, why did you have to offer your services for no reason. You want to show off, I don't care, but don't use me to show off. It's like the whole office only has one person who understands things. What are you talking about, 'I'm helping you with materials'? Who do you think you are? I'm the one helping you with materials."
Tao Ruxuan felt that if he didn't explain, things would get out of hand. What had happened to him? He had helped and yet was being blamed from both sides. How could this be? But after all, they were all colleagues, and it was inevitable that there would be some misunderstandings. So he forced a smile and said: "Ding Xiaoman, don't rush to conclusions, listen to my explanation. Actually, I..."
"Stop messing around here, if you want to curry favor with Old Man Qu, then just do it, what's the point of explaining this and that?"
Before Tao Ruxuan finished speaking, Ding Xiaoman glared at him and retorted, then flipped her hair and stormed off with a huff.
This is really a case of "a dog biting Lu Dongbin, not recognizing good people". Tao Ruxuan got angrier the more he thought about it, and almost shouted in the corridor. Fortunately, Yu Minhua came out of the bathroom and saw the two arguing, so she pulled Tao Ruxuan away.
"Never mind, don't bother. You still don't know what kind of person she is." Yu Minhua said, pulling Tao Ruxuan into the office, putting a cup of water in front of him and smiling slightly: "Take a sip of water, calm down."
Tao Ruxuan was still seething with anger, but facing Yu Minhua's sincere smile, he couldn't say anything else. He took the cup of water and drank a mouthful, looking at Yu Minhua to thank her: "Thank you, Sister Hua." As their eyes met, Tao Ruxuan discovered that there seemed to be a warm spring breeze in Yu Minhua's gaze, his heart also involuntarily skipped a beat, and he hastily looked away.
At noon, Tao Ruxuan returned home with a somewhat depressed mood. After entering the house, he found that his third uncle had returned from the provincial city and was chatting with his parents in the living room. He forced a smile to greet them before retreating to his own room.
Tao Ruxuan's third uncle, Tao Jinhutou, was a notorious figure in the neighborhood. He had a nickname "Big Stick" and was known for being a troublemaker since he was young. He would often get into fights and cause trouble, with a group of shady men and women always following him around. When he was younger, he made a living by doing small business at the market, but after making some money, he started his own transportation business. Later on, he even bought a mine, and his business continued to grow. However, despite all his success, he had one major regret: approaching fifty years old, he still had no children.
Just as they were about to eat, Third Uncle came in with a big smile on his face, carrying a square black canvas bag. As soon as he entered, Tao Ruxuan hastily got up from bed out of politeness. Third Uncle then swung the bag in front of Tao Ruxuan and handed it over, saying: "There's nothing good to bring, so I brought you a laptop, take a look and see if you like it?"
For a computer, Tao Ruxuan didn't have much interest, but after all, it was Third Uncle's kind intention, so he thanked him and took it out to put on the table and opened it. It was a top-of-the-line ThinkPad, with a market price of around 20,000 yuan, and its performance was naturally unparalleled.
Third Uncle looked at Tao Ruxuan fiddling with the laptop and asked, "Baby, is there something wrong with work? Tell your uncle."
By the time of Tao's father's generation, there were many daughters in the family, but only one son, Tao Ruxuan, so everyone in the family treated him as a treasure.
If many years ago, San Shu saw Tao Ruxuan crying with a sad face, he would definitely say: "Bao'er, who bullied you? Tell San Shu and I'll break that kid's leg." Even seven or eight years ago when San Shu had just made his fortune, he would also say: "Bao'er, don't be afraid. If anything happens, San Shu will take responsibility for you. If anyone offends me, I'll smash them with money."
But now San Shu is no longer the big stick he used to be, as his business grows bigger and bigger, he gradually realizes that not everything can be settled with violence and money.
Third Uncle asked, Tao Ruxuan put down the computer in his hand and said truthfully: "Nothing much, just some people at work were a bit angry."
"Why are you sulking? Tell Third Uncle about it. Maybe Third Uncle can give you some advice."
Tao Ruxuan is not good at expressing himself, and if his parents asked him, he would definitely not say anything. On the one hand, he was afraid that his parents would worry, and on the other hand, he felt that even if he told them, it would be useless. However, when it came to Third Uncle, perhaps because he had been used to making a fuss since childhood, he didn't avoid the topic and poured out everything that had happened today as well as his troubles after joining the propaganda department.
Third Uncle listened attentively and nodded along, after finishing he fell into deep thought for a moment before asking: "Have you ever felt that there's something you've done wrong?"
Because Tao Ruxuan always thought he had done nothing wrong, he was worried. Suddenly, San Shu asked him a question that he had never considered before, and he was stunned for a moment. After thinking about it carefully, he still couldn't find anything he had done wrong. Honest, diligent, and kind to others, if this is considered wrong, then what is right? Should he do the opposite, be deceitful, lazy, and arrogant, and cause trouble for others?
Seeing Tao Ruxuan not speaking for half a day, San Shu smiled and said: "Although your third uncle is not a person in the official circle, but these years because of doing voice, can't help but often have to deal with the official circle. As the saying goes, 'those who are in power are confused, while those who observe from the side are clear'. Although I am not in the official circle, but for official things, I see even more clearly than people in the official circle. In the official circle, one must follow the rules of the official circle."
Tao Ruxuan then said beside him: "But I'm just a small clerk now, and I really can't be considered an official yet."
Third Uncle smiled and said, "Yes, with your current experience and rank in the propaganda department, you can't be considered an official, but don't forget that although you're not an official, the environment you're in is still the official circle. Your leader is an official, and the thoughts of those colleagues around you are all about becoming officials one day. Although you're not officials, each of you is a 'quasi-official'. Since it's the official circle, you can't look at problems with the thinking and perspective of ordinary people, or else there will be trouble. Just like your current situation, where you're working hard but getting no credit. So what I'm telling you is that first of all, you've got a problem with positioning yourself, which means you haven't formally entered into the role of being in the official circle."
Tao Ruxuan was puzzled: "You mean I should pretend?"