“That would be me. What would Chairman Zhaolike to talk about?”
Se Cai said after taking a deepbreath.
He frowned slightly, affected byChairman Zhao’s open hostility.
PR Department… It was the PRDepartment again!
Se Cai felt confident about hispiece yesterday, he could firmly say that it was the best news he had writtenin his career. It had even gotten the approval of someone as experienced asStation Manager Wei.
So how could it have gone wrongwhen it reached the PR Department?
With a raised brow, Se Cailooked straight at Chairman Zhao and enquired, “If it’s related to the piece, Iwould like to request Chairman Zhao to point out what was wrong.”
“What kind of att.i.tude is that?Fine, I’ll tell you what’s wrong with your script!”
Chairman Zhao slammed the tableand said. He was annoyed that a small reporter like Se Cai would have theaudacity to look at him with a challenge in his eyes.
“First, your piece mentions governmentofficial that is above the county rank so how dare you skip informing the PRDepartment before you send it off to province and central news. This is a grossviolation of our department’s rules.”
“Second, you’ve misp.r.o.nouncedthe official’s name. Everyone at the county admin refers to him as CommissionerXie, do you know how much shame you have brought to our department?”
“Third, we are not supposed tobe so cavalier with news reports on bombs and explosion. With rumors ofterrorist attacks on the rise, do you know how much damage your piece hascaused or is it your original intention to sow public turmoil?”
Chairman Zhao leaned back in hischair, took a sip of his tea and glared icily at Se Cai.
Xu Jing Song immediately filledanother cup and pa.s.sed it to Chairman Zhao, adding consolingly, “Chairman Zhao,here, please take another sip of the tea to calm down.”
His status as the Deputy StationManager put him as almost equal standing to this Chairman Zhao, but he felt noharm being a little bit reverential.
His expression changed immediatelyas he turned away from Chairman Zhao to face Se Cai. He scolded, “Se Cai,quickly apologize to Chairman Zhao and I’m sure he’ll forgive you if you’rewilling to suspend yourself to reflect on your mistakes.”
He could barely contain thesmile that was twitching at the corner of his lips.
Yesterday, Se Cai stole his son’scredit and openly defied him, now he was going to get his just desserts.
“Chairman Zhao… Se Cai is stillnew at this so he’s unfamiliar with the inner workings of the system. It’s myfault for not teaching him so please don’t suspend him, take a cut out of mysalary instead!”
Hai Dong stood up and sighedapologetically.
Se Cai was deeply grateful towardsDirector Bai, he knew Hai Dong couldn’t directly challenge Chairman Zhao so shoulderingpart of the blame was already the best he could do.
Director Bai’s action wasespecially heartfelt because Se Cai knew Director Bai had been saving to buyhimself a house and to find himself a wife.
Se Cai narrowed his eyes andread Chairman Zhao’s mind.
This Chairman Zhao obviouslycame prepare to pin the blame on Se Cai so chances were, he himself was be particularlyfamiliar with the rules that Se Cai so-called broke.
“Chairman Zhao, do calm down butI believe you might have treated me unjustly.”
Se Cai smiled confidently as hecontinued at length.
“First, according to yourdepartment’s rules, one could bypa.s.s informing the department if the situationcalls for it. If you don’t believe me, you could refer to Clause 12 of Chapter3 that was added to the Department Rulebook last year. Furthermore, even if I wantedto send the script to your department, it wouldn’t have reached any of youbecause it’s already over the department’s working hours.”
Se Cai had hit the nail on thefirst point. The PR Department was a governmental body, it worked a 9 to 5schedule. Unlike the people at the Tv Station, no one would have stayed after5.
“Second, the p.r.o.nunciation forCommissioner Sai is not wrong. It’s the people from the administration thathave been calling the commissioner wrongly. In fact, I hope Chairman Zhao wouldcorrect them when you return.”
“What, you said it’s wrong so itmust be wrong?”
Chairman Zhao snorted.
In lieu of a reply, Se Cairemoved from his pocket a gilded name card. It was the one given to him by SaiWu himself.
Chairman Zhao accepted the namecard with a frown and read aloud from it, “The people’s republic of China StateDepartment Ministry of Public Safety Vice Department Chief, Sai Wu?”
Commissioner Sai had just beentransferred to his new post so he was still using his old name card.
However that wasn’t the point. Thepoint was the pin yin underscored underneath the Chinese characters… Sai Wu.
Since it was written on his ownname card, Se Cai was of course in the right on the second account.
“Third, there’s no reason for usto suppress this news. There were many people at the actual scene, if we didn’trelease an official news, it would lead to rumors and speculation. Then, youwould have a real terrorist scare on your hands!”
Se Cai rephrased what ManagerWei had said the day before. The purpose of the news was to calm the public andvalidate the truth.
It was the responsibility of themedia to do so.
“You…”
Chairman Zhao was startled by SeCai’s brilliant defense. He refuted every single point that he had brought up.Not only that Se Cai had done it with great eloquence!
Se Cai cheered inwardly when hesaw Chairman Zhao’s fl.u.s.tered demeanor.
The so-called mistakes wereriddled with flaws, but Chairman Zhao a.s.sumed they were enough to bully a reporteras inexperienced as Se Cai, and he would be right if not for Se Cai’smind-reading cheat.
Furthermore, Se Cai had pulledout another important piece of information from Chairman Zhao’s mind.
He was indeed here on the behestof w.a.n.g Run Fa. His intention was to punish Se Cai for sniffing around Blue SkyRehab. Se Cai went to the school on the request on a mysterious tip, he didn’tknow it would lead to so many ensuing troubles. They had bribed the hospital,kidnapped an anchor and now conducted administrative bullying. How tyrannicalthis w.a.n.g Run Fa can be?
“You… are you insinuating the PRDepartment of putting the blame on you unjustly?”
Chairman Zhao was shivering withanger. He was used to people bowing to him referentially so he made livid by SeCai’s reaction. He stared threateningly at Se Cai, adding, “It’s not you northe tv station who decide whether a news is threatening to public order andwhether it should be suppressed or not, only the PR Department can do that!”
Chairman Zhao was obviously veryangry because he had uttered such shameless arguments.
“And as a representative fromthe PR Department, my sentence is that you… are guilty as charged! You’ll besuspended from now on!”
He slammed his notebook on thetable loudly, resonating the finality of his statement.
Xu Jing Song added fuel to the fire, hepointed his finger at Se Cai, berating, “Se Cai, how dare you oppose ChairmanZhao? Suspension is too light a punishment for you, you’re fired!”
Se Cai knew he was in the rightbut this was a lost cause. He was just a lowly reporter, what can he do?
“Director Bai, thank you foryour kindness and mentorship.”
Se Cai sighed and left hisreporter ID on the table. Now where would he go to earn his News Point?
With such an administration, nowonder County S Tv Station had stagnated in its growth.
“Xiao Se!”
Director Bai’s eyes were red. Heopened his mouth to say something but ultimately swallowed it.
He dared to argue with thestation manager but this was the chairman was the PR Department. Unlike Se Cai,he was not in his twenties anymore, he no longer had the drive and therecklessness to quarrel with his superior.
Suddenly, the door of theconference room opened with a bang.
“Station Manager Wei?”
Se Cai said in surprise.
“Chairman Zhao, sorry I’m late,I was held up by the people from the Province station.”
Manager Wei uttered in betweenbreaths. It looked like he ran there.
“Of course, I understand thatManager Wei must be busy with everyday workings of the station. I wouldn’t wantto disturb unless truly necessary…”
Chairman Zhao stood up and said.
Station Manager of the CountyStation was slightly higher in ranking than Chairman Zhao. At the end of theday, he was only a right-hand man for the Department Head.
“I couldn’t help but overheardSe Cai was getting suspended. Could you tell me what is his lapse?”
Manager Wei said as he walked tothe conference table.
“Manager Wei, your reporter hereviolated departmental rules, openly defied his superior’s orders, and worst ofall, his suicide bombing piece will cause general panic and undermine publicorder!”
Chairman Zhao continued in aserious tone, “I believe this kind of rogue reporter should definitely besuspended and even blacklisted in the journalism world.”
“Is that so?”
Before Manager Wei could reply,a female voice came from outside the open door.
The voice clicked in Se Cai’smind, it was one he had heard before!
[My release rate will probably slow down in these few days in preparation for migration to webnovel.com as fan translation. Still unpaid but the formatting should be easier on the eyes.]