, Xiao Yu's gift was not registered because after the banquet started, gifts from close relatives would be taken out one by one. These gifts are either held in the children’s hands for a while or hung...Chapter 554: The Intention of Leadership

After hearing what the old man Hu said, everyone who came to participate in the competition took out their brush and inkstones to prepare for writing.

"Director Sun, come here!" While those waiting to participate were preparing to write, a young man who had come with Secretary Liu approached Director Sun and whispered something to him.

Upon hearing this young man’s voice, Director Sun followed the youth out of the room, asking humbly: "Director Zhang, what is it Do you have any instructions"

Though Director Sun was in his fifties while the young man was only in his thirties, he didn’t dare to neglect this youth.

This young man was the office director of the district committee; compared to him, who was merely the owner of a cultural activities center, there was no comparison to be made. Although this person looked young, he wielded power, which meant that even though Director Sun was older, he had to serve him respectfully.

"Old Sun, regardless of how you manage today’s competition, Mr. Elder from the 27th place must win first prize; do you understand" The youth spoke to Director Sun in a lofty tone.

Director Sun hesitated slightly upon hearing this, but before he could say anything, the young man scolded him angrily.

The color drained from Director Sun’s face after hearing these words, and he did not dare to utter another word, only nodding in agreement repeatedly.

Even though his position was low and he had little power, it was enough for him and his family to live comfortably in the capital city, and occasionally even allowed them to make a profit on the side. Therefore, he dared not offend this young man; if the youth were to get angry, Director Sun might have no choice but to pack up and leave.

"It’s good that you understand!" The youth said upon seeing his reaction, then returned to the competition venue.

Director Sun could only give a bitter smile when he saw the young man enter. Those judges were not under his command, and he had hardly participated in this contest himself. In other words, hosting the event was merely occupying their space; it had nothing to do with them otherwise.

If it weren’t for the district party secretary’s visit, he might even have skipped watching the competition altogether.

As just the secretary of this district party committee's chief, he was asked to manipulate this competition, and he knew that although it was this young man who came to talk to him, it must have been the intention of District Party Committee Chief Liu.

Thinking about this, he suddenly understood; no wonder District Party Committee Chief Liu called him in the middle of the night telling him to participate in this competition. There was actually another reason behind it.

But who is this old man number 27 For the sake of winning a small folk competition, why would someone go to such lengths

No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure out where this elderly man came from. In frustration, he gave up. But how could he make sure that this old man won the championship

In fact, not only did Director Sun fail to understand, even the young man who had just given him instructions was equally clueless. He too was told by District Party Committee Chief Liu when he first arrived: “He’s a secretary and if he can't guess what his leader wants, then he should quit.” Therefore, although the leader mentioned it only in passing, he treated it as an important matter.

The district party committee chief even didn’t bother to look at his secretary or Director Sun who walked out. Such a small event and this minor folk competition—if there was any problem, then he might as well not be the district party committee chief anymore.

Outside, Director Sun racked his brains but found no solution other than to seek help from Judge Hu—the elderly scholar—and the two organizers; since they were somewhat acquainted, he had to turn to them for assistance. The matter concerned his future and whatever it took this thing must be done.

With that in mind, he picked up his phone and called Judge Hu who came out not long after.

"Impossible! I will never do such a thing!" When Judge Hu heard Director Sun's words, his face suddenly changed as he angrily said.

A scholar like Judge Hu was naturally unsatisfied with certain phenomena in today’s society. Now someone asked him to do this, so when he heard what Director Sun had to say, his face flushed red and he blurted out in anger.

"Shhh... Old Hu, keep your voice down!" Upon hearing Judge Hu's angry remark, Director Sun scanned around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before exhaled a long breath of relief. He quickly said to Judge Hu.

“Ah... Old Hu, do you think I want to There’s nothing else for me to do! My leader told me to carry out this mission and I must follow through; otherwise my career is over. The best scenario would be a gatekeeper position, which already means the leader has shown mercy!”

Seeing that Judge Hu was still angry, Director Sun let out another long sigh, his face showing a pitiful look as he said to Judge Hu.

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"In any case, I won't agree to this. Even if I did, the other two judges wouldn’t agree either!"

Seeing Director Sun's expression, Old Hu stiffened his neck and said; by the end of it, his face had softened. If Director Sun really lost his position over such a trivial matter, he would feel guilty.

Director Sun, upon hearing Old Hu’s words, sensed that his attitude had relaxed and hurriedly continued: "Old Hu, weren’t those other two judges the ones you invited Won't they give you some face"

Hearing a hint of relent in what Old Hu said, Director Sun immediately became very polite. Today's affair involved superiors as well as the TV station—under no circumstances could it go wrong, so he had to ask for Old Hu’s help.

"Hmph, hard to say, I don’t know that young man very well; we met only once before and his personality is unknown. The other one has been a colleague of mine for many years!"

After hearing Director Sun's words, Old Hu actually felt pity for him. A person in their fifties begging with a mournful face made it hard to refuse.

If such a trivial matter really cost someone their position, he would feel terrible. But if he were asked to cheat, he would feel extremely uncomfortable, so now his expression was conflicted.

"The young man doesn’t need to be worried about for now; it’s mainly you and the other gentleman who will decide. If both of you agree, I don't think that young man will object."

Director Sun, after spinning his eyes around a bit, said to Old Hu.

In his heart, he probably considered Xiao Yu as an additional participant anyway, so he wasn’t taking him seriously. Furthermore, if he could convince Xiao Yu, it would be even better. If not, then with the agreement of himself and the other elderly gentleman, they would have a majority vote of two to one, which would prevent Xiao Yu from causing any trouble. Besides, Old Hu and Xiao Yu didn't know each other very well anyway.

Old Hu smiled bitterly upon hearing this; although Xiao Yu was young, he knew Xiao Yu’s weight—among the top masters! Even if a nationwide competition invited such people to participate, they wouldn’t necessarily attend. If they did come here, it would be out of respect for him. If Old Hu went against their wishes, he would definitely offend them.

"Director Sun, let's decide based on how the situation develops later! I hope that old gentleman is almost done with his writing; otherwise, I wouldn't dare to give you a guarantee!" With this thought in mind, Old Hu also revealed helplessness and said.

He didn’t dare to say for sure now because he had to see how things developed. He still didn’t know what Elder Wu’s attitude was and Xiao Yu’s stance was even harder to predict.

"Brother Hu, you must help me! Otherwise, I really have to go guard the gate!" Director Sun was also at a loss. When Secretary Liu mentioned it to him, he hesitated for just a moment and received a reprimand; then he realized that he had to complete today's task without making any mistakes, or else watching the gate would be an improvement over his current predicament.

After seeing Director Sun's expression, Old Hu nodded solemnly. He was quite helpless at this point and felt he needed to consult with Old Wu. After all, it was just a casual competition among amateurs. It wouldn't feel right if someone’s future were ruined over something like this.

Although that was what he thought, the premise was that the old man's writing wasn't subpar. If it was too poor in quality and couldn’t convince anyone, then there would be no other way around it. However, if the writing was decent, even with some debate, it wouldn’t matter much.

"Sigh... I'll do my best!" Old Hu sighed deeply after hearing Director Sun's words.

Although he wasn't very familiar with this director, they often saw each other around. Therefore, he felt quite helpless in his heart as well.

After saying that, Old Hu turned and walked back into the house, while Director Sun also went inside. Regardless of the outcome, he had to stay there today.

The reason was that Secretary Liu would also be here until the competition ended and present prizes to the champion; with him around, who else dared leave

Xiao Yu wasn't sitting in front at this moment but walking around observing people as they wrote.

Though these people's writings were decent enough, it was still just a hobby for them. Some of the older folks had only started learning calligraphy after retirement, so their skills could only be considered satisfactory.

Xiao Yu stopped moving suddenly while walking around and focused his gaze on an elementary school-aged child.

The more he looked at this child's writing, the more surprised he became. This little boy, despite being in his early teens, was actually writing in cursive script—his handwriting had a touch of Wang Xizhi’s style to it. It was quite astonishing for Xiao Yu to see.

It was no easy feat to write well in cursive; especially for an elementary school-aged child. Most kids probably wouldn't even recognize these characters, let alone be able to write them! This boy's ability to capture the essence of Wang Xizhi’s style showed that he must have received guidance from a master calligrapher.

After looking at this child's writing, Xiao Yu raised his eyes and looked at him. The child was fair-skinned, clean-cut, handsome, and held his brush and stood with perfect posture. still behave like this!"Wang Mingfu looked at Wang Manjiang and the rest with a smile. These people were under his command before he stepped down; after Chu Guoqing came into power, they completely b...