Official Career Storm
Chapter 170

Chapter 170: Chapter 170

Song Guanchao hurriedly turned around, his back to the door.

Wu Qiangwei walked in and saw him holding out a garment high, muttering to himself, "This should be the one, right?"

"That’s the one," Wu Qiangwei approached and said, "Give me the clothes."

"Here." Song Guanchao turned slightly and handed over the clothes.

Wu Qiangwei felt something odd, "Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

"No, I’m not."

"Then why are you standing sideways?"

"Oh, my back is a bit sore."

"Why would a sore back make you stand sideways?"

Growing more suspicious, Wu Qiangwei went around to face him.

Song Guanchao instinctively bent over, his gaze evasively flitting about.

A familiar feeling surged in her heart, and Wu Qiangwei almost reflexively looked down.

Seeing the bulge in his pants, Wu Qiangwei felt both embarrassed and puzzled.

Why would he have a reaction?

She quickly turned her head towards the wardrobe, to where the underwear was placed.

Wu Qiangwei grabbed the clothes and turned to leave without another word, sparing his dignity.

Song Guanchao followed slowly, his illicit fire refusing to recede.

"Secretary, I... I need to go to the bathroom."

Bent over and hunched, Song Guanchao turned and squeezed into the restroom.

"Wait a second..." Wu Qiangwei called after him, but he was already inside.

She was somewhat anxious outside; the underwear was still hanging up there.

The scoundrel was prone to wild thoughts; seeing that would only fan the flames he was struggling to suppress.

"What is he even thinking about!"

Wu Qiangwei stamped her foot in frustration.

She rarely lost control of her emotions, but facing Song Guanchao, it had happened several times in a row.

Upon entering the restroom, Song Guanchao indeed saw the underwear hanging on the wall again.

He immediately turned away, pulling out his phone and scrolling through mindless news.

He stayed in the bathroom for a good ten minutes before coming out.

During that time, Wu Qiangwei did not rush him.

When the two came down from upstairs, Wu Ming noticed that their expressions were quite off.

Sister was a bit red in the ears, anger hidden in her eyes.

Song Guanchao looked guilt-ridden, his eyes unfocused, both avoiding eye contact with each other.

Recalling that they had stayed upstairs for nearly half an hour before coming down, Wu Ming couldn’t help but let his thoughts run wild.

Could they possibly have done that, what with the time?

Shit, that’s not possible, is it?

They couldn’t restrain themselves in such a short amount of time?

Curiosity surged within him; had Song Guanchao not been there in the car, he would have already asked out of sheer inability to wait.

Tonight’s banquet was at the Lingjiang City Guesthouse.

It was a four-star hotel, but if judged by hardware standards, it had long met the criteria of a five-star establishment.

On the second floor of the hotel, in the banquet hall, a huge circular table could accommodate more than thirty people.

Wu Qiangwei and Song Guanchao arrived relatively late; as they entered the banquet hall, over a dozen entrepreneurs had already arrived, engaging in friendly conversations with officials like Mayor Zheng.

Others like Secretary Sun were also there with their leaders, chatting with the entrepreneurs’ secretaries or assistants.

Waiters continuously brought over glasses of wine or appetizers, weaving through the crowd.

The scene actually somewhat resembled a networking cocktail party.

As for the dishes on the table, hardly anyone touched them, nor did anyone take a seat to eat.

"Secretary Wu has arrived."

Mayor Zheng smiled as he introduced her to everyone, "This is Secretary Wu, please get to know her."

Wu Qiangwei arrived in Lingjiang City and hadn’t really met with the local entrepreneurs.

These entrepreneurs were generally over forty years old, with those in their fifties being the main force.

Their businesses varied in size.

Wu Qiangwei had reviewed the materials and discovered that most of those invited by Mayor Zheng were related to the construction industry.

As for technology companies, electronics industries, and manufacturing industries, they were not invited.

From the nature of these businesses that he invited, Wu Qiangwei guessed the purpose of Mayor Zheng’s banquet.

The simplest way to boost a city’s economy was through land finance.

Real estate companies were undoubtedly the easiest lever to pull to spur on local GDP.

In this regard, Wu Qiangwei’s ideas differed from those of traditional officials like Mayor Zheng.

In her view, land finance was not a high-quality option.

Besides, the employment it solved for was not sustainable.

But officials within their term didn’t care about these matters; they only focused on immediate benefits, only saw the achievements of the present.

These entrepreneurs met with Wu Qiangwei one by one.

Upon seeing her, a glint of light flashed through their eyes.

The attractive Secretary Wu, they had heard of her, and seeing her now, they were all surprised.

However, they also knew that the main character tonight was Mayor Zheng and didn’t engage much with Wu Qiangwei, quickly returning to surround Mayor Zheng.

Song Guanchao didn’t join in on that side, that was the leaders’ circle, and he, a secretary, certainly couldn’t steal the spotlight.

"Brother Song," Secretary Sun and Mayor Zheng’s secretary Li Jun approached.

Song Guanchao picked up a glass of red wine and toasted with the two of them.

Li Jun said, "Secretary Song, I heard Sister Lin gave you a car?"

Song Guanchao was startled and looked at Secretary Sun.

Secretary Sun said softly, "We’re all insiders here."

Song Guanchao appeared uncomfortable, "Sister Lin just lent it to me to drive."

Li Jun enviously said, "Sister Lin is really good to you. Every time I go there, Sister Lin isn’t even willing to drink a glass of wine with me."

He just listened to these words, taking them seriously would be foolish.

The mayor’s secretary, what kind of status was that?

Sister Lin, at most, was just a club’s manager, dare to give Li Jun the cold shoulder?

Saying this was merely to set off himself.

"Secretary Li, Secretary Sun," a tall, good-looking woman approached holding a wine glass.

Her gaze swept past Song Guanchao and with a sincere smile, "Secretary Song, I’ve long heard of you. It’s finally nice to meet you today."

Li Jun introduced, "Secretary Song, this is the assistant to New City Company’s Chairman Liu, Ning Lin."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Ning," Song Guanchao smiled and clinked glasses with her.

Seeing Ning Lin seemed quite interested in Song Guanchao, Li Jun and Secretary Sun exchanged a look and found an excuse to leave, giving them space.

Ning Lin was well-spoken and obviously had received an elite education, regularly interacting with high-ranking officials.

Her speech was neither servile nor overbearing, which made conversing with her very comfortable.

"Secretary Song, did you serve in the military?"

"Yes."

"No wonder you feel so familiar," Ning Lin said. "My brother also served in the military. I always feel you soldiers have a certain similar aura."

She was skillful at conversation, quickly bridging the gap between them, removing the barrier of strangers.

After chatting for a while, Ning Lin said, "Secretary Song, are you familiar with Dujiang County?"

Song Guanchao shook his head, "Secretary Wu had an inspection trip there last time, but I had other matters and couldn’t accompany him. What about it?"

Ning Lin said, "Dujiang County has undergone rapid development in recent years, and our company believes it has great potential. We would like to understand more from Secretary Song."

Song Guanchao immediately understood her meaning.

The news of Dujiang County being upgraded from a county to a city was very confidential, known only to insiders.

However, Ning Lin, as the secretary to the chairman of a real estate company, surely had internal channels to obtain this information.

The subtext of her words was that they believed Dujiang County was worth investing in.

But before investing, they needed to confirm whether Dujiang County would indeed be able to elevate its administrative level.

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