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

Following that, Li Xinhou, deputy director of the Municipal Party Committee Office, Yang Hao, director of the Municipal Health Bureau, Jiang Wenjing, deputy director of the Municipal Finance Bureau, Jiang Songtao, director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, and Gao Wenchang and Huang Wenlin, who were assigned to other counties and districts, were invited.

However, these were not wedding invitations personally delivered by Jiang Yiming, but rather invitations sent out on his behalf by Li Xinhou.

First, he and Li Xinhou had been trained at the provincial party school for a month and had a good relationship. Second, Li Xinhou was the deputy director of the municipal party committee office, and his position was high enough that having him pass on the message would save face.

He thought he had made enough invitations, but then Jiang Songtao from the Municipal Public Security Bureau called him, saying that Chu Ling, the director of the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Li He from the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, and Cao Minrui, the director of the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce, who had dined with him, had all learned of his upcoming wedding and wanted to attend in person.

Jiang Yiming naturally couldn't refuse other people's congratulations, so he quickly made some wedding invitations and asked Li Xinhou to convey them.

These are for the city leaders; he also needs to go to the province to visit a few leaders.

After that, it's relatives, friends, and classmates.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Jiang Yiming only invited classmates he was close to.

Finally, there are my colleagues from Xinping County.

This presented him with a dilemma. He knew who to invite, but he didn't know who to exclude.

As the acting secretary of Xinping County, when he got married, his subordinates, even if you forbade them to offer their congratulations, would still try their best to squeeze in and congratulate him, no matter what.

"This is really a headache."

Jiang Yiming never expected that just sending out wedding invitations would be such a headache, not to mention the other things waiting for him to do.

Finally, he came up with an idea: to limit the maximum gift amount to 100 yuan per person.

At this time, people usually give gifts of ten, twenty, or one hundred yuan, which is considered a good relationship.

To avoid being reported for accepting bribes under the guise of holding a wedding, he would return a red envelope containing 100 yuan to each guest who gave a gift.

Jiang Yiming felt relieved after coming up with a solution.

In the afternoon, Xia Shining accompanied her parents to buy clothes, while Jiang Yiming discussed wedding details with his parents and Jiang Yongchen.

"Keep the process simple and be mindful of the impact."

Jiang Yiming set the tone.

“How can we make it simple? You’re our only son. We’ll definitely make it a grand and lively affair.”

Jiang's mother disagreed, saying, "Besides, while we agree to a simple wedding, Shi Ning doesn't. Who wouldn't want their daughter to have a grand and glorious wedding?"

"Listen to your son."

Jiang Yunzhou said.

"Okay, we'll listen to our son. Let's keep it low-key and just get eight Audi A6s for the wedding cars."

"An Audi A6 is considered low-key? These days, having eight cars to pick up a bride is already quite impressive, there's no need to be so high-profile."

Jiang Yiming rejected the proposal.

“I originally planned to prepare eight Mercedes-Benzes, but you’ve already reduced it to this level and you’re still simplifying it, which is a bit stingy.”

Jiang's mother said, "This is the minimum standard; anything lower and it won't be presentable."

"How about you help me find a sedan chair? We're having a traditional Chinese wedding, so a bright red sedan chair would be both grand and subtle. What do you think?"

"This is good."

Jiang's mother immediately changed her mind and agreed with her son's suggestion.

"Okay, the wedding procession is settled. The rest is about the venue and the celebration."

Jiang Yunzhou said, "You just set the tone that we can't be too flamboyant, but as your mother said, as parents, we still want our son's wedding to be lively."

"This year's National Day marks the 55th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. I plan to donate 200,000 yuan to purchase fireworks for your government to set off, so that all the people of the county can enjoy the fireworks."

"And to celebrate my son's wedding."

Jiang Yiming shook his head with a wry smile, but he knew that this was his father's good intention, and that handing it over to the county government to set off would not only give the people of the county a lively National Day holiday, but also make their wedding day more festive.

“Okay, then we’ll do it the way Dad says. I’ll have the government office coordinate with you.”

Jiang Yiming ultimately agreed to the plan.

"The venue will be the Xinping Hotel. It has enough space and is quite upscale. I personally don't want to hold the wedding in the city center."

"Okay, with these things settled, it's just a matter of details."

Jiang's father nodded with a smile.

"Fifth Brother, have someone prepare more red envelopes, each with 100 yuan in it. When others give you gifts, you return one. Don't accept gifts that are more than 100 yuan; you can only accept a maximum of 100 yuan."

Jiang Yiming gave instructions.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements."

Once these few things are settled, the remaining details will be left to our parents.

Jiang Yiming then took Xia Shining to the provincial capital to pick up Li Zhengquan and his wife to attend their wedding.

"Yiming, Shining, I'm so sorry, the school is sending me abroad, and I'm leaving the day after tomorrow. I'm afraid I won't be able to make it to your wedding."

Yang Jing said with a face full of regret, "I am very sorry that I cannot witness your happy moment in person."

“We also feel very sorry, but this is an emergency, so we can only go as requested. We will pick you up and have dinner with Uncle Li when you come back.”

After putting down the gifts he brought, Jiang Yiming went to the home of Guo Shenglin, the secretary of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, to deliver wedding invitations.

Both Li Zhengquan and Guo Shenglin were busy with work, and this occasion was not suitable for them, so they could only offer their blessings and wait until they came to Jiangcheng again to have a meal together.

After returning to Xinping County, Jiang Yiming personally sent wedding invitations to the members of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee, while Chen Zixin invited other county leaders on his behalf.

Chen Wei was responsible for inviting the heads of county-level departments and township party and government leaders.

Jiang Yiming personally invited a few entrepreneurs in Xinping County who were on good terms with him, but did not notify the others.

As the director of the county's transportation bureau, Sun Minghua naturally received an invitation as well.

He then asked others and learned that Jiang Yiming had invited most of the cadres at or above the level of section chief.

"Jiang Yiming is really bold to invite so many party members and cadres to participate. All these gifts and money added up are no small sum."

Sun Minghua laughed and said, "Mingda, find someone to write a few more complaint letters and send them to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection on September 30th. Let the provincial and municipal leaders know that Jiang Yiming is accepting bribes on a large scale. With my brother's help, Jiang Yiming will definitely be in big trouble."

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to do it right away."

Sun Mingda said, "Jiang Yiming limited each person to one hundred yuan, which isn't a huge amount of money, is it?"

"But there are just too many people. There are more than a dozen townships, more than fifty county-level departments, plus county leaders and entrepreneurs from all over the county. There are at least two hundred people. What's more, he claims to only charge one hundred, but what is the actual amount?"

Sun Minghua laughed and said, "If we can verify this, we can not only avenge ourselves, but maybe the matter between Lao Wu and Xiao Qi will be dropped."

"Speaking of Xiaoqi and Lao Wu, how are they doing?"