Zhou Yu had originally finished his inspection work and was about to leave when he saw Shen Huai and others, so he temporarily stopped at the river embankment to chat with them. After exchanging pleasantries, Zhou Yu followed the officials from Tang Zha District and headed west along the river highway, preparing to return to the district government.

  Zhou Yu suddenly seemed to remember something and stopped, walking back two steps before calling out to Shen Hua: "Secretary Shen, I just remembered there's still one more thing I need to find you about..."

  Shen Hua walked over and asked, "What does Director Zhou want with me?"

  Others didn't know whether Zhou Yu's visit to Shen Huai was official or private business, and those who knew the situation stood aside without approaching.

  "I heard that Meixi Steel Factory's output value may reach 400 million this year, is that right?" Zhou Yu asked.

  Whether internally or externally, the output value target of the steel plant this year has only been discussed by Shen Hua with a limited number of people. However, Zhou's Pengyue Trading and Meixi Steel Plant have close business ties, so it wouldn't be too surprising if Zhou could estimate the steel plant's output value for the year.

  Shen Huai thought to himself, "How coincidental!" He had just decided to reduce Zhao Dong's procurement of furnace materials for Pengyue. However, he pretended to be ignorant and smiled, saying: "What? If it's possible to reach this goal this year, will it help Mei Creek Town merge with Tangzhai District?"

  "I heard that Pan Shi Hua is going to be transferred to Tangzhai District as the district head, are you still so enthusiastic about Mei Xi Town being merged with Tangzhai District?" Zhou Yu asked Shen Huai with a smile.

  Shen Huai was taken aback, Pan Shihua was not an outsider, but the elder brother of Pan Shihui, who had forcibly closed down the town's weaving and dyeing factory. He had previously served as the deputy head of the municipal organization department, and it was unexpected that he would be transferred to Tangzhai District to serve as the district head.

  Shen Huai knew that forcibly shutting down the weaving and dyeing factory and taking back Pan Shigui's contract rights would offend the Pan family.

  Whether it was Pan Shihua, who served as the deputy head of the municipal party committee's organization department, or Pan Shihua, who would soon take office as the head of Tangzhai District, there might be some differences. Shen Hua still found the news that Pan Shihua would soon become the head of Tangzhai District somewhat unexpected.

  Zhou Yu looked at Shen Hua with interest, not minding his foul language, thinking he was indeed a clever person. She only mentioned Pan Shi Hua's matter, and Shen Hua already knew that the marginalization of Tan Qi Ping wasn't an absolute secret unknown to outsiders either.

  It's true that if she hadn't been able to basically confirm that Tan Qiping had already marginalized Shen Hua, she wouldn't have thought that Pan Shihua's appointment as Tangzhai District Head would cause much trouble for Shen Hua. Just like Ge Yongqiu serving as Xiapu County Head, Shen Hua is still not bothered by Ge Yongqiu as long as Tan Qiping is backing him.

  In the usual sense, the circle in officialdom is exclusive. Shen Hua marginalized Tan Qiping, but as long as he didn't thoroughly kick Tan Qiping out, he shouldn't have acted rashly.

  However, on the first day of the new year, Shen Hua ran to her second uncle's house to pay New Year's greetings. Apparently, she wasn't particularly worried about letting Tan Qiping know. Zhou Yu was very interested in knowing: did Shen Hua not understand the implicit rules of officialdom thoroughly, or did she have other plans?

  Shen Huai saw Zhou Yu looking at him with interest, her big watery eyes inadvertently revealing some charm, and he thought of the time he saw her by the swimming pool, knowing that under her tightly wrapped coat was a very seductive and sensual body.

  Although suspicious of Zhou Yu's gloating, Shen Huaining could see that she was like this and didn't want to see her wrapped in layers of hypocrisy. He patted his forehead and said, "It's really a case of 'when it rains, it pours', how did you know I offended the Pan family?"

  Zhou Yu said: "Donghua looks very big, but in fact, as soon as there is any wind or grass movement, the news spreads quickly. Pan Shi-hua's appointment to Tangzhai District was decided last year, and you might not have paid much attention to it. However, after the officials in the district knew that Pan Shi-hua would be appointed to Tangzhai District, someone went to Pan Shi-hua's home to send gifts before the new year, and Pan Shi-gui happened to be at his home complaining about his troubles, so they found out about you forcibly shutting down the weaving and dyeing factory and offending the Pan family last year. According to what I know, Pan Shi-gui contracted the weaving and dyeing factory in Meixi Town, and Pan Shi-hua's wife also had a share, but it was not possible to bring it up to say..."

  "If I had known that Pan Shihua was going to be the district head of Tangzhai District and merge Meixi Town with Tangzhai District, I would have pretended to be a fool and not offended anyone," Shen Huai said. "Please, Director Zhou, considering we are both loyal to the party and the country, can you give me a way out?"

  Zhou Yu saw Shen Huai's frivolous and smiling face, thinking that he really didn't put Pan Shi Hua in his eyes. Although he was also very suspicious of his trump card, for the time being, he just gave him a sideways glance and said: "You've offended all the powerful people in Donghua one by one, don't rely on me to take the blame, my body is even more fragile than yours..." He also felt that using this tone to talk to Shen Huai was somewhat like flirting, so he turned his head to look at the flowing water under the riverbank.

  "To be honest, regardless of whether Pan Shihua becomes the head of Tangzhai District or not, I hope that Meixi Town will be incorporated into Tangzhai District this year. I shouldn't hold back the development of Meixi Town just because I might have to wear small shoes personally," Shen Huai said, "Even if Pan Shihua gives me a hard time, don't I still have Director Zhou looking out for me? From now on, I'll be Director Zhou's person, okay?"

  Shen Huan spoke in a tone that was half serious and half playful, with a hint of teasing himself. Zhou Yu couldn't help but smile and said: "My younger brother is running the Peng Yue company, which supplies furnace materials to Mei Xi Steel Factory. I think you should know about it. My younger brother has asked me several times to arrange a formal meeting with you, so I'm taking this opportunity to mention it..."

  "Everyone knows that Bai Du has seen me twice, the second time he hid in the car and didn't get out, but at the swimming pool that one time, shouldn't we have formally met?" Shen Huai said with feigned ignorance.

  Zhou Yu's face was slightly red, and he also knew that Shen Hua was pretending to be confused. He deliberately didn't have the face to say things clearly, his eyes staring at his shoe tips, saying: "I'll just say it once, Secretary Shen is busy with a million things, no time to show up, what can you do..."

  "No way, the key is that I just decided to reduce the procurement of fuel for Pengyue. If we meet in person, I'm afraid Zhou Zhi will smash something on my face." Shen Huai said.

  "What," Zhou Yu was also shocked when she heard it, although she didn't care much about the company's affairs, but hearing that Shen Hua wanted to cut down on business with Pengyue, she felt very surprised. "Isn't the steel output of Meixi Steel Plant always increasing? Is the refractory material supplied by Pengyue not meeting your requirements?"

  Zhou Yu's eyes stared at Shen Huai, for a moment unable to distinguish whether his words were true or false.

  On New Year's Day, he rushed to his second uncle's house for the New Year's visit, and then came to Ka Pengyue's neck. What did Shen Huai want to do after all?

  Is it that Tan Qiping is dissatisfied with the New Year's visit, and Shen Hua is forced to re-draw a line with the Zhou family? But looking at Shen Hua's current smiling face, it doesn't seem like he wants to thoroughly draw a line either.

  Shen Hua wouldn't tell Zhou Yu all his plans, only saying: "Mei Xi Steel Factory needs to establish a perfect procurement system. And the procurement of furnace materials is related to the smooth operation of the entire factory, so it won't completely rely on one or two suppliers. Therefore, we will gradually reduce the proportion of furnace material purchases from Peng Yue Trade to below 40%. This was planned long ago. Originally, after tomorrow, we would formally notify Peng Yue Trade. However, if Director Zhou takes care of Mei Xi Steel Factory, then it's not impossible..."

  "No, I am indeed the daughter of the Zhou family, but a married-out daughter is like spilled water. I don't care much about the Zhou family's business, and I'd rather not get myself involved in this matter." Zhou Yu was afraid that Shen Huai had some trap waiting for her to fall into, so he quickly cut off his line of conversation.

  Shen Huai heard that Pan Shihua would take over as the head of Tangzhai District, so he wanted to rush through a few urgent matters before Mei Creek Town was merged into Tangzhai District, in order to make things difficult for Pan.

  Of course, if you want to get things done before the Tangshan earthquake, you must have Tao Jixing's strong support. Currently, it seems that only Wu Haifeng's face is useful, but unexpectedly, Zhou Yuyi was rejected in one sentence.

  Shen Huai thought that Wu Haifeng would probably not be interested in discussing any more deals with him at this time, so he might as well stall for a while and inform Zhou first.

  ***************

  The next day, Shen Hua formally notified Peng Yue through Zhao Dong that from the second quarter onwards, they would reduce the amount of fuel purchased from Peng Yue.

  Peng Yue Trade is facing a decline in business from both the Municipal Steel Plant and Mei Xi Iron & Steel Factory, Zhou Zhi Bai is also somewhat flustered, unable to guess Shen Huai's intentions for the time being, repeatedly expressing his desire to have a face-to-face talk with Shen Huai.

  Shen Hua simply pushed the procurement of furnace materials to Zhao Dong for responsibility; The steel plant operation is relatively stable, and he puts more time and energy on this side of the town government, promoting various work to move forward.

  The Spring Festival holiday for government departments is not long, and they are required to go to work after the fifth day of the new year, but the lazy atmosphere in government departments will only slightly dissipate after the first month.

  Pan Shihua officially transferred to Tangzhai District as Deputy Secretary and Acting District Head after the Spring Festival holiday, which is considered a lateral transfer. However, Pan Shihua had always worked in organizational departments before, and this time he was transferred to Tangzhai District as the head of government, still a signal that he is about to rise.

  Pan Shi-Hua's transfer was almost decided before the shutdown of Shen-Huai Weaving and Dyeing Factory, it's not something that can be easily changed; secondly, Shen-Huai wouldn't think that Tan Qi-Ping would deliberately suppress Pan Shi-Hua to take care of his feelings.

  In Shen Hua's view, Tan Qiping is also a very realistic official. Tan Qiping just wants to make continuous small adjustments to county-level officials in order to let the situation in Donghua develop in his favor.

  Tan Qiping's approach seemed slow at first, but after half a year, looking back, it was clear that the Donghua government had changed beyond recognition under his control...

  Shen Hua no longer regarded Tan Qiping as his confidant, and he didn't know if Pan Shihua's transfer was through Tan Qiping's connections. When Shen Hua was still working in the municipal government, he had met Pan Shihua two or three times, but at that time, Shen Hua looked down on everyone, and Pan Shihua wouldn't even bother to acknowledge him as a person of note. Shen Hua didn't even know if he had ever exchanged half a sentence with Pan Shihua.

  Shen Huai knew that Pan Shigui would not be convinced of the suspension of the weaving and dyeing factory, and Zhou Yu said that Pan Shi's wife also had a secret stake in the weaving and dyeing factory. Even if it was true or false, Shen Huai had to guard against Meixi Town being merged into Tangzhazhen District after many things would be obstructed by Pan Shigui.

  Shen Hua no longer hesitated and before the end of the first month, he pushed all work forward at the fastest speed.