Chapter 34 (1/2)
In walked a woman with a sharp
ponytail, carrying a printed canvas bag and trailing a bohemian-style dress.
The woman in the eye-catching
attire was none other than the reporter that Se Cai rescued, <legal frontline=””>’s Lee Wei.
However, her get-up was indeed
too casual, she looked like she was going to the beach. If she worked at County
S Tv Station, Manager Wei would have ordered her to go back and change.
“Lee Wei? What is she doing
here?”
Se Cai tried to catch Manager
Wei’s eyes for an explanation but as Lee Wei walked in, Manager Wei lowered his
head and moved out of her way.
“You are… Superintendent Lee
from the province station’s information channel? I’m County S PR Department’s
Xiao Zhao, glad to make your acquaintance!”
Chairman Zhao got up in a hurry,
bowed and offered his hand.
“It’s Vice Superintendent Lee, I
don’t want people to say I purposely misled them of my position. Plus, I prefer
others to recognize me as a reporter not a pencil pusher.”
Lee Wei said meaningfully. To
stress her point, she let Chairman Zhao’s outstretched hand hanged awkwardly in
mid-air.
“Lee Wei looks at most to be in
her 28, and she’s already a Vice Superintendent?”
The thought drifted into Se Cai’s
mind. No wonder Manager Wei had to go meet her even though the County PR
Department’s Chairman Zhao had announced his arrival.
Se Cai knew a thing or two about
the province station’s internal structure, other than its main channel, it had
many sub channels, among them were the news channel, legal channel and
information channel.
Province X Tv Station was one of
those rare stations whose leaders had great executive power. The station
manager held state level executive power, while his or her deputy would be the
auxiliary. The superintendents of these sub channels held executive power of
varying degree, ranging from deputy state to deputy county.
Lee Wei was only a deputy county
civil servant but that was already impressive enough.
There was probably not another
under 30 deputy county government worker like herself.
In the entire County S, there
weren’t many that held higher ranking than her.
Se Cai laughed speechlessly
thinking back to the way he had treated her yesterday, a.s.suming she was just a
lowly reporter like himself.
“Nice to see you again, Se Cai.
I did say I would come to gather the suicide news material from you, didn’t I?”
Lee Wei smiled at Se Cai and
offered her hand.
“Yes… Vice Superintendent Lee.”
Se Cai hurriedly shook her hand.
After her warm greeting with Se
Cai, Lee Wai sauntered to the conference table and flung her bag over a chair. Her
demeanor had hardened considerably.
“I overheard from outside the
door, the suicide news from the commercial building can’t be broadcasted because
it would cause public dismay, and reporter Se Cai here was to be suspended
because he’s the one responsible for it, am I right?”
Before anyone could answer, Lee
Wei smiled cryptically at Chairman Zhao, adding, “It just so happens that our
station also reported on that news and I’m the main reporter, so does this mean
I have to get suspended too, Chairman Zhao?”
The air in the room froze.
“Of… of course not. I’m sure the
province station has better news sensitivity than our small department does.”
Chairman Zhao stuttered. He was
given a taste of his own medicine. Never would he have thought the criticism he
leveled at Se Cai would be reflected at the province station as well.
“If that’s the case, then
Reporter Se did nothing wrong right? Using one’s own personal favor to block a
news that could get up to the central station just to spite the colleague working
under the same station, I’ve not seen something as ludicrous as that in my
entire life.”
Lee Wei drawled and the face of
Manager Wei beside her darkened.
He held his composure but
leveled a fiery stare at Xu Jing Song.
As the station manager, he was
familiar with his worker’s loyalty. He knew who would be willing to put
personal grievances above the whole station’s wellbeing.
The station too suffered a loss
from its news being blocked on its way to the central station.
“Our department has reacted rashly
in this particular instance, I will reflect this to our leader.”
Chairman Zhao added woefully.
He wondered why would Lee Wei be
willing to stand up for a small reporter like Se Cai. Then he remembered in the
news, a reporter was taken hostage. Could it be that the reporter was Lee Wei?
The new article was vague about
the reporter’s ident.i.ty but based on today’s development, it had to be her.
“d.a.m.n, why didn’t anyone tell me
the reporter Se Cai saved was Lee Wei?”
Chairman Zhao grumbled
internally. If he had known Lee Wei owed Se Cai such a big favor, he wouldn’t
have been dumb enough to take on this task.