99 banquets, 98 ways with words, 28 years in public service. See how the ordinary Li Mo uses his tongue to climb the pyramid of power over clinking glasses, making a stunning comeback from “one who cannot speak” to “one who knows what to say.”
At 22, after failing the civil service exam, he is taken in as a communications aide by Zhou Yan, deputy director of the County Party Committee Office. At his first banquet, he offends the finance bureau chief by saying the wrong thing.
Zhou Yan tells him, “In official circles, listening matters more than speaking.”
He begins learning how to listen, how to speak, and when to say nothing.
From understanding the “fish-eye performance theory” to decoding “crab-claw signals,” from turning the tables with bitter melon to upending the room with plain noodles...
99 banquets, 99 ways with words. Every toast is a contest for power.
He uncovers the truth behind the 7.15 mine disaster, sends three successive leaders to prison, makes countless enemies, and saves countless people.
But the people he owes the most are the family who waited 28 years for him.
This is an epic about using words to pry open the gates of power, and the story of an ordinary man who holds fast to his conscience.
