Chapter 23 – He is not scholarly. He is illiterate! (2/2)

Dong Xuebing had no time to chat with the rest. He sat behind his monitor and was typing furiously. He knew what Yang Yizhong wanted, and he was able to write out the draft effortlessly. Idioms? References from classics? Those must not be in the draft.

Simple and straight forward.

The speech must be very simple and straight forward.

Speech: Dear leaders. This topic I will be talking about is . After typing this, Dong Xuebing immediately felt this was wrong and deleted it. No. Deputy Bureau Chief Yang might not know this character. He changed it to . Yes. These are all simple words.

Dong Xuebing thought hard about the words and continued to type.

It was not easy to write in primary school’s choice of words. This speech must be simple, and the contents must be straight forward. It was really challenging for Dong Xuebing.

“Huh? Bureau Chief Yang?”

“Bureau Chief Yang!”

Tan Limei and the rest immediately stop what they were doing. All of them could feel the hairs on their back standing.

Yang Yizhong had a gloomy expression when he asked: “Is the speech ready? Almost half the day is gone!”

Zhou Changchun walked out of his room quickly. “It’s done, and I was about to send them to you. Xiao Tan, Xiao Chang, bring the drafts over.”

With Zhuang Zhi and the other two Guo, there were a total of 5 drafts.

Yang Yizhong took the drafts and scanned through: “No……. Wrong……. This is also not right…… What is this? This too…. Cannot….” Within a minute, all the drafts were rejected. “Old Zhou, your General Affairs Office can’t even write a simple speech?”

Tan Limei and the rest lowered their heads.

“Bureau Chief Yang, we……” Even if it were one rank higher, heads would roll. Furthermore, Yang Yizhong was several ranks above Zhou Changchun. If he was unhappy with Zhou Changchun, Zhou Changchun might not be able to be the Deputy Chief for long. This was why Zhou Changchun tried to establish a good relationship with this new Deputy Bureau Chief. But now, his plans were in jeopardy.

Zhou Changchun was also getting pissed, but he could not show it in front of Deputy Bureau Chief Yang. He stared at Guo Shunjie and the rest. All of his subordinates seem capable and eager on regular days, but during crucial times, all of them were useless.

“Bureau Chief Yang.” Dong Xuebing took the printout from the printer. “My draft is done.”

Guo Panwei looked at Dong Xuebing and thought to himself. Was this idiot fearless or ignorant? You hand up your draft now? Are you looking for a scolding from Bureau Chief Yang?

Yang Yizhong had lost his patience and did not say a word when he took the draft from Dong Xuebing.

Everyone in the office sighed in their hearts and closed their eyes, waiting for another round of scoldings.

1 minute……

2 minutes……

3 minutes……

No scolding was heard. After a while, everyone was shocked. Yang Yizhong laughed. He raised his right hand and hit on the draft a few times. “Look at what he has written. This is the speech I want.”

This outcome had made everyone in the office speechless.

Yang Yizhong patted Zhou Changchun’s back: “Old Zhou. Seems like your General Affairs Office have strong potential. Not bad……” Yang Yizhong turned and look at Dong Xuebing. He nodded: “I remember your name is Dong…… Dong Xuebing right? Good job. In the future, you will be in charge of writing my speech.”

“Thank you, Bureau Chief Yang.” Being able to leave an impression with the leaders was rare. Dong Xuebing straighten his back to try to look as smart as possible.

The office was in chaos after Yang Yizhong left.

Tan Limei was the first to ask: “Bing Zhi, what did you write? Why is Bureau Chief Yang so happy?”

Changjuan laughed: “Our office has Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons.”

Guo Panwei stared at Dong Xuebing with jealousy.

Guo Shunjie was not looking too good either. Why was that picky Bureau Chief Yang satisfied with Dong Xuebing’s speech and the rest of them who had sent over 10 drafts were rejected?

Dong Xuebing could not tell the rest that Yang Yizhong had a limited vocabulary. If Bureau Chief Yang knew he was the one who told others about this, he would be in trouble. So, Dong Xuebing explained that Yang Yizhong likes simple and clean words.

After all of them saw the draft on Dong Xuebing’s monitor, they understood what the meaning of “Simple and Clean” words was.

Tan Limei was deeply impressed. She gave Dong Xuebing a thumbs up: “Terrific.”

Zhou Changchun also did not expect the problems lies in Yang Yizhong’s education levels. He was impressed with Dong Xuebing’s attention to details. He patted Dong Xuebing’s back: “Good work. You have done a great job.” Zhou Changchun felt what the General Affairs Office lacks was someone like Dong Xuebing. Someone who would stand up and save the situation in critical moments.

Translator’s notes:

Yang Yizhong had read Dong Xuebing’s draft as 知荣明止, but what Dong Xuebing had written was 知荣明耻. This was some Chinese idioms. It meant to be righteous and not to do anything dishonorable.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon