The New Office
The note was on his new desk on his first day.
Folded once. No envelope. Lin's name in unfamiliar handwriting on the outside.
He looked around. The Policy Research Office's main room held twelve desks. Nine were occupied. None of the nine occupants was looking at him.
He unfolded the note.
*Section Member Liang has been pulling files on you since Monday. He reports to Vice-Mayor Liu. Watch your back. — A friend.*
He read it twice. He folded it. He slid it into his pocket.
It was eight forty-two on the morning of May twenty-second. He had been in his new position for forty-one minutes.
#
Sun arrived at nine.
"Deputy Section Chief Lin. With me."
Lin followed him to a small inner office. Sun closed the door.
"Three things," Sun said. "First — congratulations again. Second — your desk assignment is temporary. By Friday you'll move to the back, near the window. The current location is — exposed. Third —"
He paused.
"Have you been given anything since you arrived this morning."
Lin produced the note.
Sun read it. He folded it. He set it on his desk.
"Burn this when you go home tonight. Not in the office. The boarding house stove."
"Yes."
"Do you know who Section Member Liang is."
"I do not."
"Liang Hao. Thirty-four. Cousin of Vice-Mayor Liu's wife. Has been in this office for five years. Was — until two weeks ago — being groomed for the Deputy Section Chief slot you have just been given. The slot was reassigned to you on the Mayor's recommendation. Liang has — feelings about this."
"I see."
"He will, in the next several weeks, attempt to discredit you in small ways. Pulling files is the first step. He's looking for any inconsistency in your work history he can use. He won't find anything. Your work history is clean. But he will find — small things he can frame as something. He will then pass them to Vice-Mayor Liu, who will pass them to certain other parties."
"What do you want me to do."
Sun looked at him.
"Nothing. For two weeks. Be — exemplary. Let him pull files. Let him pass them. The framings will fail because there's nothing to frame. After two weeks, when his first round has produced nothing, he will become — frustrated. Frustration produces mistakes. We will, when he makes the mistake, address it."
"Yes."
"Now. Your actual work."
Sun pulled a folder from his desk.
"This is the file on the Provincial Tier-Two Cities Cooperative Initiative. Twelve cities, Qingyuan among them, are negotiating a multilateral framework for shared infrastructure investment. The negotiations have been ongoing for fourteen months. They are — stalled. The Mayor has asked our office to produce a position paper that can break the stall. The position paper is due in three weeks. You will draft it."
Lin took the folder.
"Three weeks."
"Yes. You will work alone. You may consult — me, Section Chief Wei, anyone in this office whose judgment you trust. You will not consult anyone outside this office without telling me first."
"Yes."
"Go."
#
He went back to his desk.
The man at the desk diagonally across — perhaps thirty, sharp-featured, in a slightly too-expensive shirt — looked up as Lin sat down.
The man smiled.
"Deputy Section Chief Lin. Welcome. I'm Liang Hao. We'll be working together."
Lin returned the smile.
"A pleasure, Section Member Liang."
Liang's smile did not — quite — reach his eyes.
"I hear you've been given the Tier-Two Cities Initiative. That's — quite a project. I worked on the preliminary research for it last year. Let me know if you want to talk through the file."
"Thank you. I will start with the documents and come to you with specific questions."
"Of course."
Liang turned back to his work.
Lin opened the folder.
He thought, very calmly: *He just announced himself. He's not subtle. That's useful information.*
He began to read.
---