The slender, cool breeze marks the trace of winter, dressing the bare branches with specks of withered yellow.

In the fourth floor's Record Department of Jiangdong Province's Party Committee Complex, a woman in her thirties with porcelain skin, wearing glasses, was methodically organizing records.

The Record Department contained a vast number of files, including past reports of the Province Party Committee, speeches of leaders from various city and county governments, as well as various red-topped official documents issued over the years.

The sound of leather shoes echoed, "Clack... Clack..."

A young man around the age of twenty-three, with a delicate appearance and tall stature, walked in. If encountered on a university campus, most people would mistake him as a student.

"Chu, what are you researching again today?” The attractive woman didn’t even raise her head as she asked.

It appeared that this young man named Chu was a frequent visitor to this rarely visited place that she could recognize him just by the sound of his footsteps.

"Good afternoon, Sister Lin. You really like mocking me, don't you? I come here when I don't have anything else to do, just to learn from the experiences of our former leaders, think about their historical achievements, and improve my ideological awareness," young Chu answered with a laugh.

The attractive woman’s name was not complicated: Lin Yue. Her temperament was as serene as her name suggested. The young man was Chu Dongheng, a graduate student working in the Secretariat Office of the Provincial Party Committee − a high and rather rare level of education at the time.

Chu Dongheng was handsome, highly educated, and graduated when government agencies began to stop allocating jobs to graduates. He had to pass a civil service exam before he could pursue a career in politics.

"Well then, take your time and 'reflect',” Lin Yue said casually, not paying much attention to Chu Dongheng. Having grown accustomed to Chu Dongheng frequently browsing through materials in her office over the years, Lin Yue trusted him as he always returned the documents to their original places when he was done reading. Chu Dongheng would take notes of relevant ideas, unlike others who might be tempted to borrow certain materials.

When the clock struck 5:00 pm - the end of the workday, Chu Dongheng bid Lin Yue goodbye and left.

Returning to the secretarial office, Chu Dongheng found that everyone had left early, half an hour ahead of time. "What's going on? It's not time for work to end yet, but everyone's left early," Chu Dongheng muttered to himself.

He sat at his desk, organizing the information he had recorded in the reading room. That was his habit.

Chu Dongheng had a lot of leisure time, and the staff from the Provincial Party Committee's Secretariat liked his relaxed pace. The first reason was that he was not a Chinese language and literature major, nor a journalism or new secretarial professional, so they did not think highly of his eloquent writing. The second reason was that he had a higher academic background and they were afraid he might take all the credit.

Therefore, he didn't get the chances to draft significant speeches and would occasionally handle minor tasks. In fact, finishing a postgraduate thesis, a task necessary for all master students, was a trivial matter for him. The reality was that he lacked opportunities to showcase his abilities.

Thus, he didn't interact much with staff from the Secretariat, and they rarely involved him in personal activities. He was content with this tranquility. After all, he had a master's degree and had experienced scientific research, so loneliness was his norm.

As Chu Dongheng was focusing on organizing the data, someone pushed through the door.

"Hello, Secretary General!" Chu Dongheng quickly stood up to greet him. The visitor was Zhao Zefeng, Secretary General of the Provincial Party Committee. Seeing that only Chu Dongheng was in the office, Secretary General Zhao's brow slightly furrowed before quickly relaxing.

"Little Chu, you're adapting well, right?" Zhao Zefeng asked casually. "It's okay; I'm just taking some time to immerse myself."

"That's good, young man. Being self-reflective is an admirable quality."

Few people in the Provincial Party Committee yard were friendly with Chu Dongheng; they could be counted on one hand. Secretary General Zhao Zefeng was one who cared for and looked out for him the most.

A year ago, Zhao Zefeng transferred from Bei Yue Province to Jiang Dong Province, taking office as the Deputy Secretary General of the Provincial Party Committee. It was not until October of last year, when the former Secretary General retired, that Zhao took over.

Back then, Chu Dongheng had just graduated. The state administrative units had stopped job allocation, and he wanted to work in the government, which required passing civil servant examinations. For Chu Dongheng, becoming a civil servant was not challenging. He even got a position in the provincial capital’s bureau - the Provincial Development and Reform Commission and was assigned a deputy section level position. It should have been a moment to celebrate, but during the job assignment, his position was taken over by someone else.

That's when his misfortune began.

The Organization Department reassigned him to the Education Bureau of the provincial capital, Jiang Ming City. He could have still been content with a section chief's position, but the Education Bureau refused to take him, citing a lack of positions.

Left with no choice, the Organization Department reassigned him to the Environmental Protection Bureau. The Environmental Protection Bureau also rejected him adamantly. Their reason was that it was improper for a person specialized in economics to grab a position in an environmental protection department, especially when there were no positions available at that time.

Thus, Chu Dongheng experienced back and forth visits from over two hundred provincial and municipal departments, such as public security, traffic police, culture, tourism, and water conservancy. He went through all fifty-six ethnic groups and returned to the organization department.

In fact, Chu Dongheng has such a high academic background that the leaders of those units fear he might take their positions. Otherwise, how could so many departments fail to arrange a place for him?

Zhao Zefeng could not stand it. He put Chu directly in the secretary's office, where there's always room for one more person. Despite some people being jealous of Chu's sudden rise to section chief, Zhao brushed them off, "If you're against it, you come up with a solution!"

However, Chu had majored in economics and finance, so his placement in a department mainly dealing with draft writing was definitely awkward.

Mainly because Zhao Zefeng had just arrived in Jiangdong and was unfamiliar with everyone. Chu Dongheng was one of the few highly educated graduates in place. His promotion to the section chief did not violate regulations, though it was somewhat reluctant. In this way, a year passed.

"Oh yes, Chu, have you had a chat with Secretary Hua's daughter? How'd it go?" Zhao Zefeng asked casually. Chu Dongheng was embarrassed.

Secretary Hua, whom Zhao Zefeng referred to, was Hua Jicheng, the county party secretary of Hefeng County. Hua's daughter, Hua Yueran, was a Chinese teacher at Jiangming Middle School and was three years older than Chu.

Once Zhao Zefeng asked Chu if he had a girlfriend, and finding out he didn't, he gave Hua Yueran's phone number to Chu and sent Chu's number to her as well. Of course, Hua Jicheng was aware of this and agreed; he even said Hua Yueran was quite a catch.

Chu Dongheng knew Hua Jicheng, as personnel within the system frequently attend meetings at the provincial party committee, and it's common to navigate and build relationships, leading to frequent interactions.

Hua Jicheng was considered a star county party secretary at the time, and having a relationship with Zhao Zefeng, the Provincial Party Committee Secretary, was not surprising.

Zhao Zefeng certainly had a way of steering the conversation; he moved from work-related matters to personal life.

"S-Secretary-General, I haven't yet!" Chu Dongheng stuttered. "Why, don't you like her?" Zhao Zefeng seemed upset.

"No, Secretary-General..." He couldn't find the words to explain. Chu felt at a loss when thinking about his own "family" situation, with only him and his mother, he felt inferior.

Seeing Zhao Zefeng's stern face, he awkwardly said, "I'm afraid she won't like me, but I'll give it a try." Only then did Zhao Zefeng relax a bit.