The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

When Jiang Yiming worked in the Organization Department and the County Party Committee Office, he lived in the Organization Department's dormitory. When he went to work in the Industrial Park, he moved to the rest room provided by the park. Later, when he arrived in Xigou Township, he lived in the collective dormitory in Xigou Township.

Now that he's back in the county, he bought a second-hand house. Although it's a second-hand house, it's already been renovated by someone else and hasn't been lived in yet.

The homeowner is a business owner who has moved his entire family to Mingzhu City and is selling the entire property.

He saw that the location was good and close to his workplace, so he bought it.

"Yiming, Jiang Tao also wants to come and help. I've told him several times that he doesn't need to come, but he insists on coming with me. What do you think about this?"

Jiang Yongchen called Jiang Yiming, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

Jiang Yiming didn't want to put Jiang Yongchen in a difficult position, so he said, "Let him come if he wants. I'll go back to work overtime after I finish moving the furniture. You can prepare a meal to entertain the people who helped me."

"Okay, leave it to me."

Jiang Yongchen brought Jiang Tao to help Jiang Yiming move.

To their surprise, before they even had a chance to do anything, a whole bunch of people came to help.

Many people from the agricultural, forestry and water conservancy sectors came to help, and even a deputy director personally helped move things.

After Jiang Yiming finished dealing with matters at the county government, he returned to his new home and saw a deputy director of the Agriculture Bureau bending over and working hard to move furniture for him.

"County Chief Jiang, you're back?"

The deputy director wiped his sweat and quickly said, "I've been on annual leave these past few days and I heard you're moving. I was just sitting at home doing nothing anyway, so I thought I'd come and help out."

"Thank you for your hard work, Director Qi."

Jiang Yiming reached out and shook hands with him.

Although he was somewhat speechless at these uninvited guests, he didn't say much and could only greet them.

"It's not hard work at all. County Chief Jiang is very busy. It's my honor to be able to share his burdens and help him solve his problems."

Director Qi was full of excitement and then went to move things with his buttocks sticking out.

Jiang Yiming was genuinely worried that the obese man would strain his back.

“Yiming, I told them we could move it ourselves, but they insisted on doing it, so we didn’t have a chance to move anything.”

Jiang Yongchen said with a wry smile, "I had no choice but to stand there and give directions."

"Let them move if they want. If you don't let them move, they'll think you have a problem with them. It's best not to offend this kind of person. Once you do, who knows what bad things they'll say about you behind your back."

Jiang Yiming sometimes couldn't understand how these kinds of people thought.

They're not asking you for favors, but they just want to show off. When they're drinking and bragging, they'll boast about how good their relationship is with a certain leader, saying that the leader personally called them when he moved, asked for their help, and even shook hands with them.

If Jiang Yiming had given him a bad look or even kicked him out, this kind of person would definitely spread negative news about him in various places.

But if Jiang Yiming gives him the respect he deserves, he might speak well of Jiang Yiming in various situations.

Some people are just so amazing.

"Thank you all for your help. I have something to do at noon and won't be able to have lunch with you. My fifth brother, Jiang Yongchen, will arrange lunch for you then."

Jiang Yiming said hello and then left.

Jiang Yongchen immediately became the backbone of the group and the person they sought to befriend.

"President Jiang, could you leave your contact information? If you ever need my help, just give me a call. I'll definitely help you if I can."

"President Jiang, let's go out for a drink sometime. My hotel is just a short distance away. I'll personally greet you when you arrive. By the way, let's arrange lunch at my place. It'll be on me."

A group of people came forward to greet them.

"President Jiang, do you remember me? We worked together when you were still contracting projects."

"It was a small section chief in a township who said it enthusiastically."

“I remember, I used to be a foreman. Your town needed to build a canteen, and you assigned me to do it. I visited your house quite often.”

Jiang Yongchen recognized the other party. Back then, in order to get this small project, he had made many trips to the home of this township cadre, spending over a thousand yuan on cigarettes and alcohol alone.

The section chief looked embarrassed and whispered, "President Jiang, I brought everything. I'll put it in your car later."

Jiang Yongchen naturally wouldn't accept it. Putting aside the fact that with his wealth and status, he wouldn't care about a few thousand yuan. More importantly, his principles were very clear: he couldn't use Jiang Yiming's identity to gain benefits.

He and Jiang Yiming both belong to Donggou Township. Many cadres and business owners in Donggou Township, unable to contact Jiang Yiming directly, tried to establish contact with him through him, sending him good cigarettes and alcohol, but he refused them all.

He could not play a role in advancing Jiang Yiming's career, nor could he afford to hinder it.

"Brother Tao, you stay here and keep an eye on things. I'll go to the park and see if there's anything left behind."

Jiang Yongchen confessed.

"Go ahead, I'll keep an eye on things here."

Jiang Tao nodded in agreement.

As soon as Jiang Yongchen left, Jiang Tao shouted, "Hurry up! Stop dawdling when you're working for the county magistrate!"

At this moment, a group of people arrived, all there to congratulate Jiang Yiming on his housewarming.

They were each holding a different gift.

"You're here to congratulate County Magistrate Jiang on his new housewarming, right?"

Jiang Tao stepped forward and introduced himself, "I'm Jiang Yiming's cousin. He can't be here right now, so you can come to me if you need anything."

"Hello, Brother Jiang. I am from Changlv Ecological Agriculture Company. I heard that County Chief Jiang has moved, so I came to offer my congratulations."

He then handed over a black tote bag.

"Okay, I've got it. I'll pass it on to County Chief Jiang later."

Jiang Tao took it, saw that it was two packs of good cigarettes, and casually accepted them, even writing them down in his notebook.

Seeing this, the others also handed their items to Jiang Tao.

Some people gave cigarettes, some gave alcohol, and some gave red envelopes.

The red envelopes come in various sizes, ranging from two hundred to ten thousand.

This was in 2002, and two hundred was no small sum, not to mention the ten thousand in red envelopes.

Jiang Tao held it in his hand, feeling very excited.

"Damn it, no wonder everyone's scrambling to climb up the ladder. It's good to have power; you don't have to do anything, and people just hand you money."

Jiang Tao couldn't help but complain. His father was the deputy director of the Forestry Bureau. Although people gave him gifts, they were all small things, far less than what Jiang Yiming, the deputy county head, received.

While he was taking inventory, a thought struck him, so he moved some of the cigarettes and alcohol to his car, and kept only a small portion of the red envelopes, leaving the rest in his car.

After all, the person who gave the gift wouldn't go to Jiang Yiming on their own initiative, nor would they participate in the subsequent dinner.

In other words, Jiang Yiming had no idea how much of these things there were, and even if he took some, he wouldn't be discovered.

When Jiang Yongchen returned and saw that Jiang Tao had packed his things, he angrily said, "Who told you to accept other people's things?"

"It's not like I took it myself; I was just helping Yiming collect it."

Jiang Tao retorted somewhat defiantly.