Liu Zhizhong put down his chopsticks, took the cigarette handed over by Hamuer, and smiled, "Hmm, my wife disappeared, which has been quite distressing for me. Fortunately, I've gotten through it. Go ahead, whatever unpleasant things you have to say, I can hear them."

While eating and drinking earlier, Hamuer also inquired about Liu Zhizhong's wife, expressing only regret and prayers. Of course, normally, he often asked and showed concern for Liu Zhizhong.

Hamuer is a straightforward person, yet slightly smooth in demeanor, making it quite comfortable to work alongside Liu Zhizhong.

Hamuer nodded and said, "The secretary's outlook and mental resilience are truly not something that ordinary people can emulate. But during your absence, someone indeed has been trying to learn from you!"

"Oh? Learning from me? Hehe... that's intriguing, who is it?" Liu Zhizhong asked with quite an interested smile.

"Who else could it be? County Head Zhang! This guy is indeed a politically ambitious fellow. Lately, he's been working hard, yet he hasn't gained any weight, and he's getting darker and thinner, not adapting to the climate here. In his words and actions, he's constantly mimicking you, trying to align himself with you..."

Hamuer said a lot in one breath, finally landing on the key point: "The key is, Zhang Hongyang has gotten very close with some county-level leaders, building quite close relationships. The heads of various county departments think highly of him and maintain very close relations too! I suspect he has already started forming cliques and building factions."

Liu Zhizhong rubbed his chin, nodding, "Hmm, this is getting interesting. All along, Zhang Hongyang has treated me as an enemy, you know that. But learning from the enemy, that's something worth digging into."

"Yes, so I think he has ulterior motives and quite a political ambition. But for now, he hasn't been blatant, nor has he had the time to reveal his true colors. As for me, I don't have much evidence to directly prove these things. However, I do have this sense of political crisis."

Liu Zhizhong nodded and said, "Secretary Ha is very correct, we must be vigilant. Especially with forming cliques and factions, this should not become a trend in Shanan, it's absolutely forbidden! Losing fairness and justice, with only coalition politics, Shanan would end up going down the old path of Mo Dayou."

"Yes, wouldn't that betray the secretary's original intention? So what should we do?"

"This is what we'll do..."

"..."

The secretary and his chief steward were thus eating while strategizing a response.

Meanwhile, Zhang Hongyang also got wind of Liu Zhizhong's return to Shanan, and he was dining with Xie Peng!

Xie Peng had a bit of regret, saying, "Alas, Brother Yang, that bastard came back a bit too early! If it had been a little later, haha, your network structure would have been completed."

Zhang Hongyang let out a cold laugh, a trace of hatred in his eyes, and shook his head, "Yeah! That bastard, neither early nor late, just had to come back at this time."

"Then tomorrow night's secret dinner meeting... should we still proceed?"

Zhang Hongyang had indeed privately arranged a secret dinner meeting with several County Committee and County Government leaders for tomorrow night, which they had planned for a long time and finally got the chance, and they agreed.

As it turned out, Liu Zhizhong came back.

Zhang Hongyang thought for a moment, "Proceed, why not? After finally setting it up, it's out of the question not to go ahead."