On the way to late-night snacks.

Director Liu sat in the passenger seat and said in a teasing tone, "Mayor, Gu Baisun's attitude of surrender is quite sincere."

"Those with both virtue and talent should be given important positions; those with virtue but lacking talent should be cultivated and used; those with talent but lacking virtue should be restricted; those with neither talent nor virtue should be resolutely rejected." Li Mingsheng sat in the back seat, playing with his phone, and replied faintly, "Keep a proper eye on him."

"Haha, okay." Director Liu nodded.

...

Nothing happened overnight. Early the next morning.

Hou Guoyu woke up groggily, habitually turned his head to look at the alarm clock on the bedside table, and found that it was already past nine o'clock.

He had drunk to the point of losing consciousness last night, but Hou Guoyu miraculously drove home, successfully got into bed, and even changed his underwear before going to sleep.

Hou Guoyu lay in bed and yawned, about to get up and pour a glass of water, but when he lifted the quilt, he found an old man sitting behind him, with his face turned to the side, smoking a cigarette, looking somewhat melancholic.

"Damn, Dad... how did you get in here?" Hou Guoyu was startled.

The old man was lean and his skin was dark. Although his cheeks were full of wrinkles from old age, one could still see that he had thick eyebrows and big eyes when he was young, and his features were handsome. He must have been a handsome guy.

"Aren't you going to work?" the old man asked.

"Oh, I worked overtime yesterday, so I can go a little later today." Hou Guoyu scratched his head, behaving very well in front of his father, "I'm going to wash up now..."

"You worked overtime last night?" his father asked, taking a puff of his cigarette.

"Yeah, we were taking care of the lawn. The squad leader saw that we were tired, so he treated us to a late-night snack."

"Really? Didn't he find you a woman?" The old man said, his lips trembling, and slowly reached for the belt on the bedside table.

Hou Guoyu sensed something was wrong and got up to run.

"Smack!"

The old man suddenly jumped up, turned around, jumped onto the bed, and whipped Hou Guoyu's butt with his belt, "Full of nonsense! You're even lying to your dad!"

"Why are you hitting me? Are you crazy!" Hou Guoyu shouted, feeling wronged, as he was trapped next to the cabinet.

"Uncle Dong called me early this morning." The old man roared, "You're not working, and you're fighting with people there. Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Was it easy for the family to find you this job, huh? Do you know how many good things I said to get you in there...!"

The more the old man spoke, the angrier he became, and he whipped Hou Guoyu with his belt.

Hou Guoyu protected his head and shouted, "Dad, it's not that I don't want to do it, it's that they're too unreasonable! Tell me, with my qualifications, it would be more than enough to be their captain, right?! Although my liberal arts grades weren't ideal, my professional skills are eight hundred streets ahead of those other trainees! The police department has to spend money to go, and the coast guard team was squeezed out by others. I finally got a temporary position, and all I do every day is water the flowers, repair the lawn, and clean. Tell me, am I, a young man in his early twenties, going to be wasted if I continue like this?!"

"Still arguing, what do you want to do if you don't do this?" his father responded, while whipping him.

"A real man should have some ambition, right? He should have aspirations and look to the world!"

"I'll look to your mother's world! Pay me back the two hundred yuan you borrowed first, and then you can look to the world!" His father was so angry that he whipped him harder and harder.

Two minutes later, his father was tired from hitting him and sat on the bed, breathing heavily.

On the other hand, Hou Guoyu, after being whipped, only had some red and swollen areas on his body, and the skin was fine. He squatted down, not angry, and begged while stroking his back, "Dad, I really don't want to do it anymore. I can see myself growing old in that place. I'm useless."

"What's useful? Going to Fulihao to be a gigolo is useful, isn't it?" His father was about to hit him again when he mentioned this.

"Isn't that a short-term plan? I was thinking of paying you back two hundred yuan first!"

"I'm going to beat you to death!"

Some time ago, Hou Guoyu felt that his hope of joining the Coast Guard was slim, so he applied to Fulihao. He originally wanted to be a security manager or something, but he didn't expect to be taken in by the gigolo manager. He asked about the price and learned that he could earn more than a hundred yuan a night, so... he had to compromise with life.

He worked for three days and was discovered by his father, who gave him another whipping and brought him back.

His father paused for a while, pointed at Hou Guoyu, and said, "In the next two days, I'll have a meal with your Uncle Dong and ask him to help talk things over. You have to go back to the Coast Guard, there's no other choice!"

"Dad, I really...!"

"What is life? Firewood, rice, oil, salt, marrying and having children, that's the life of ordinary people!" The old man got up, threw away his belt, and said, "Don't talk nonsense, you have to go!"

After speaking, the old man pushed the door and left.

"Sigh!"

Hou Guoyu sat on the ground and sighed wearily.

...

Half a month passed in a flash.

During this time, Su Tianyu devoted almost all of his energy to the Coast Guard. He participated in various trainings, physical training, familiarized himself with patrol procedures, daily work procedures, and so on. Although the days were a bit boring, they were fulfilling.

At the upper level, although the mine disaster turmoil had gradually subsided, the aftermath remained. Various media were following up with subsequent reports, and public attention was extremely high.

Baolong Mining was completely finished. Not only did the city set up an investigation team, but also the mining, security, and judicial departments of District One sent a large number of people to be stationed in Dragon City for investigation.

The superior Baolong Group was also implicated, but with its strong public relations capabilities and deep-rooted political connections in District One, it was also trying to smooth out various negative impacts.

In the past two days, the delegation from District One and the Dragon City Autonomous Government held several talks and had in-depth discussions on the issue of the regulatory committee. However, Su Tianyu heard from Li Yuan that the communication at the upper level was not smooth. Local cadres, led by Li Mingsheng, believed that the regulatory committee had too much power, and some corrupt and greedy people could cover the sky with one hand. However, the District One delegation firmly believed that although there were corruption phenomena in the regulatory committee, it was an important department that controlled the direction of Dragon City. Reducing its power would not be conducive to the stability of the entire city.

In short, the two sides were in a state of wrangling, but Su Tianyu believed that the other party would definitely compromise, otherwise Baolong would have difficulty extricating itself, and the mine disaster turmoil would not be so easily erased.

However, Su Tianyu didn't need to worry about these things, because this level of political game was better handled by Li Mingsheng's team.

This day, at more than five o'clock in the evening, Su Tianyu got off work and came to the association to chat with Bai Hongbo, Zhou Tonghui, Su Tianbei and others.

Just as everyone was joking and laughing, a red business car stopped at the gate of the courtyard, and a charming and powerful woman stepped out of the car.