Chapter 361 - "I am on you and Rugui's side." (2)
All of the meetings were more or less the same and they all could put people to sleep.
Tong Xuelu, however, looked very serious and even brought a notebook with her in order to jot down all the notes.
When Minister Lin arrived, he happened to see Tong Xuelu making notes.
There was only a handful of people who were taking notes at the meeting.
Tong Xuelu was dedicated, responsible, and creative. She had bold ideas and was meticulously when implementing them. She was good.
After the meeting, Minister Lin had Tong Xuelu went over to his office alone.
Tong Xuelu thought he wanted to talk about matters with regards to the spice packets but, to her surprise, what he said instead was, “Manager Tong, I wonder if you might be interested in coming to the Commerce Department and be my secretary?”
As soon as he had finished saying that, Secretary Zhuo walked inside holding two glasses of water in her hands.
Her hands shook and the ceramic mugs fell onto the floor.
Minister Lin frowned, “What’s going on?”
Secretary Zhuo’s face was pale. “I’m sorry. I tripped. I’ll go get you more water.”
Having said that, she picked up the mugs from the floor and gave Tong Xuelu a complicated look on her way out.
Tong Xuelu cussed to herself but, outwardly, she sighed. “Minister Lin is such a wise man. I am very flattered that Minister Lin thinks so highly of me. Nevertheless, this is not where my heart is. I have always loved to cook since I was a child and am very happy that I am able to be the manager of a restaurant.
“Besides, even from my limited contact with Secretary Zhuo, I feel that she is a better fit for the position than I am. She is able to keep track of all of Minister Lin’s work and appointments.
“I should mention that I had sustained damage to my brain in the past and, if I don’t jot things down, I will forget them quickly. Someone as scattered brain as me will not make a good secretary.”
Secretary Zhuo happened to hear the last part of what Tong Xuelu was saying when she returned with the water. She was shocked by it.
She felt for sure that Tong Xuelu would have accepted Minister Lin’s proposition and took away her job.
Being a secretary might not sound as glamourous as being the manager of a rest, but one could meet a lot of people through the position. That was not something that one could get as a restaurant manager.
More importantly, she had no other skills other than being a secretary.
What could she do had her job been taken away by Tong Xuelu?
Minister Lin was shocked when he heard Tong Xuelu’s words. “Oh wow, I am sorry to hear that.”
Attention to details was important to a secretary, but they would also need to have good memories. They would need to remind him of things from time to time when they were out at meetings.
Tong Xuelu couldn’t possibly bring her notebook with her everywhere they went and she’d be frazzled all the time without it.
Tong Xuelu also nodded regretfully. “Exactly, that is the reason why you see me with my notebook all the time. I want to make sure that I don’t forget things.”
The secretary position might be important to Secretary Zhuo, but not so much to Tong Xuelu.
Truth was, she didn’t care much about the position as the restaurant manager either. She would be the first to leave when she could do business on her own in the future.
Her not caring about them was one thing, for certain she would not let that show.
She had no intention of entering the political field in the future, but it would still be beneficial to have good relationships with these government officials.
Walking out of Minister Lin’s office, Secretary Zhuo looked a little embarrassed when she saw Tong Xuelu.
To make up for her thinking poorly of Tong Xuelu, she let Tong Xuelu in on some internal news.
“Manager Tong, there will be a cooking competition at Capital City. The winner of the competition would win the opportunity to host foreign guests!”