Chapter 10: Joy and Sorrow

Chapter 10: Joy and Sorrow

North Heping Street.

In front of an apartment building.

Dong Xuebing had takena cab to the Cancer Hospital and then took a taxiback home. He returned at about the same time as Qu Yunxuan and the others.They had taken public transport and the time taken to reach home was longer. Asthe taxi turned towards his residential area, Dong Xuebing saw his mother, Mrs. Xu, andthe others walking in front. He immediately alightsand walked over to explain himself: "Mum, Aunt Xuan, I'm sorry. I had somethingurgent to do and had rushed off.

"Xuebing..." His mother said his name and then stoppedtalking and sighed.

At the hallway, Section Chief Xu who had just returned fromwork, walked over with a briefcase. "You finished the test? How is the essaytest?"

"I... I..." Xiao Dong was a different person from thismorning. He no longer has that cocky, arrogant look.

Dong Xuebing wanted to laugh out.

"Tell me!" Section Chief Xu pulled a long face. "I had madearrangements with the Customsdepartment."

Mrs. Xu looked at his son. Xiao Dong mumbled: "The essayquestions were tough. I don't thinkanyone can answer these questions. I am only confident of getting one questionright. The rest... The rest of the questions should be wrong... I don't think Iwill be able to pass with my overall scores."

Section Chief Xu shouted: "What have you been doing? Didn'tyou prepare for this test? Didn't you keep telling me that you will pass thistest without any problem?" Trace back the roots of this material to n0v$lbin

Xiao Dong was in despair. "I also did not expect thequestions to be so difficult. I don't think the other candidates are able toanswer them too."

Section Chief Xu continued: "Stop telling me that thequestions are difficult. You are the one who did not work hard."

"Don't blame Xiao Dong." Mrs. Xu helped to speak up for herson: "The questions were really too difficult. I heard many people outside thetest venue complaining about it. Not only XiaoDong, I think everyone will fail this test. Oh, Xiao Ping's son, Xiao Bing hadtaken the test too. He will also fail the test. At least our Xiao Dong didbetter than him. His multiple-choice test will get almost full marks."

For instance, the office Dong Xuebing applied for, was the State Security Bureau's Administrative Office.The people working there will have regularoffice hours, and they need to squeezethe morning peak hour buses. They are also allowedto attend gatherings and tell others where they are working. It wasnothing confidential. One of Dong Xuebing's senior in his university wasworking in the State Security. He often jokes that the people who sit in the office doing administrative workslike him have no chance to access to theconfidential reports from the intel officers. There was nothing good aboutworking in the State Security. They were not allowed to drink or tell otherswhat they were doing. They cannot reveal to others where their families werestaying and had many more restrictions. The only good thing was that theirovertime pay was slightly higher than other departments.

To be honest, it was not Dong Xuebing's choice to apply forthis department.

He had no other choices. There were too many restrictionsimposed on the candidates when applying for the various department.

For example, the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the Safetysupervision bureau, etc. requires the candidates to not only pass the AAT andWritten Essay test. The candidates need to passone more test. Dong Xuebing was already struggling with two tests. How can hecope with one more professional test? He gave up on applying these departmentswithout thinking.

The Municipal Political Consultative Conference, Municipalcommission of education and other bigger departments requires at least 2 years of working experiences.

Some departments like the Red Cross and Ministry of Culturerequires the candidate to be a Communist Party member.

Some departments like Land and Resources Bureau requires the candidate to have at leasta Master or Doctorate.

Some departments require Accounting certification, heightabove 180 cm, female only, etc.

Dong Xuebing realized that the positions he could apply were less than 3% of all the positions. Some of these positions were inrural areas where the requirements were not so strict. Even fresh graduates canapply. But there was only one vacancy. Competingwith other candidates for that one vacancy would be tough. Dong Xuebingknew he will not stand a chance.

When Dong Xuebing had almost given up hope, he coincidentallyoverheard someone from the City's State Security speaking to someone.

The State Security was also recruiting, and as long as the candidate had no physicaldefects and did not stay overseas for a prolonged period, anyone can apply. Itwas not limited to male or female, a partymember, work experiences, etc. The department was going to recruit 4candidates. Compared to other departments, this was a lot.

Later, Dong Xuebing found out that the State Security would usually recruit fresh grads.

This was because fresh grads were not corrupted by society, complicated backgrounds andrelationships. They were considered 'Clean.'Those people who had 2 years working experiences, will not be recruited by theState Security.

This was why Dong Xuebing convinced his mother to let himapply for the position in the State Security. This was the only position withthe highest possibility of hiring him.

Let's hope that everything will go as planned.