Alan Cooper thought for a few seconds, and suddenly a set phrase he had memorized a few days ago flashed through his mind—a kind of “empty talk” response pattern. He felt it was quite suitable for this situation, so he quickly broke it down and reassembled it, combining several sentences in his mind: “At present, the internet has become an important channel for gathering public opinion and reflecting public sentiment. Grassroots units can use the internet to submit their opinions to higher authorities and promptly report problems. As for higher authorities, they can respond conveniently and quickly…” He rattled off a whole bunch of lines as if reciting a textbook. Two minutes passed. “…That’s the end of my answer.”

The tall man shook the file, “That’s all?”

Not enough?

Alan Cooper blinked gloomily and simply continued, pulling another passage from what he’d memorized: “If the opinions raised by grassroots units concern our work attitude or methods, I would gather the feedback, hold a departmental meeting, actively correct our work attitude and methods, and strive to provide good service. If the grassroots units…” Again, he spoke for another two minutes.

The woman and the short man kept their heads down, writing.

The tall man, in the same tone, said, “Nothing else?”

The female examiner frowned, tilted her head, and glanced at the tall man, but said nothing.

The short man, on the other hand, remained calm as ever, tapping the table with his fountain pen, barely looking up the whole time.

“…Um, that’s all.” Alan Cooper was so frustrated—he didn’t even want to talk about it.

The next few questions were the same. Alan Cooper felt his answers were decent, but for some reason, the tall man always said things like, “That’s it? Finished? Just that? Anything else? Nothing more?” after he finished, as if Alan Cooper’s answers were terrible. Never mind how well he answered—the tall man’s tone alone could easily mislead and influence the other two examiners’ scores.

Damn, what did I do to deserve this? Who’s ever been grilled like this?

Are all civil service interviews like this? No way, he’d never heard of it!

Alan Cooper’s heart sank. He knew his chances this time were slim, and, being rather sensitive, he even detected a hint of deliberate troublemaking in the tall man’s tone!

This is bad!

Really bad!!

Chapter 13【Such a Genius!】

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Pages of the file were flipped one after another; it seemed the set interview questions were finished.

Having been given a hard time, Alan Cooper was a bit stifled, but unable to vent, he could only grit his teeth in silence.

The tall man tapped the file with his finger, not speaking for a long time. He was indeed intentionally trying to lower Alan Cooper’s interview score. The day after the written test results and general rankings came out, he’d received a call from a leader in the bureau. The leader specifically mentioned the upcoming interview and a young man’s name. Although nothing was said outright, the tall man knew that young man was the leader’s nephew—he wanted him to help pull some strings.

After checking, sure enough, the young man’s written test score ranked fifth. As long as one of the top four was eliminated, the fifth would move up.

The top three had already finished their interviews and all did quite well, so the tall man set his sights on the fourth, Alan Cooper. First, this person seemed to have no connections, just an ordinary family background. Second, his score was closest to the fifth place. As long as his interview score was harshly suppressed, dropping his total score to sixth or seventh wouldn’t be a problem. That’s why the earlier scene happened. The short man and the woman examiner were both well aware of this.

But now a problem arose.

Alan Cooper’s interview answers were indeed average, but there were no real mistakes. If he really docked his score without principle, it wouldn’t look good. If it was discovered later, the tall man himself wouldn’t be able to get away with it—it just wasn’t worth it. So, he set his sights on the final question. As agreed beforehand, the last question of this interview could go beyond the set questions and be made up by the examiner.

Alan Cooper still didn’t know that from the moment he stepped into the interview room, he seemed destined to fail.

“Hmm, the last question…” The tall man frowned in deep thought, tapping the file with his hand.

Just as Alan Cooper perked up his ears to listen, there suddenly came the sound of footsteps outside. A few men and women walked past the open door, chatting and laughing.

A young girl giggled, “If you’re going to buy one, get the iPhone 4. That’s the most popular right now.”

An older young man said, “I’m still used to using Nokia.”

“We should support domestic brands,” said another man in his thirties.

Their voices were loud enough that Alan Cooper and the three examiners all looked over. As the voices faded into the distance, the tall man, who was closest to the door, went over and closed it. After a pause, he sat back down at the desk and said, “Last question: those people who just passed by—what color and style were their clothes and shoes?”

“Huh?” Alan Cooper dug at his ear, thinking he’d misheard. “Excuse me?”

The tall man impatiently repeated, “The color and style of those people’s clothes and shoes.”

Alan Cooper was stunned. His attention had been entirely on the examiners—how could he have noticed anyone else?