Official Career Storm
Chapter 211

Chapter 211: Chapter 211

At 7:00 p.m., Song Guanchao arrived belatedly.

As he entered the private room, the noise inside suddenly ceased.

Song Guanchao looked up and scanned the room; Liang Hao was there too.

"Secretary Song, you have finally arrived."

Mr. Chen hurried forward to greet him, grabbing his hand and walking toward the sofa.

As he approached, a middle-aged man around forty stood up from the sofa and reached out with a pleasing smile: "Nice to meet you, Secretary Song."

Mr. Chen introduced: "This is Captain Xu from our district fire brigade."

Song Guanchao shook hands with him, saying, "Nice to meet you, Captain Xu."

After shaking hands, Captain Xu stepped aside.

Mr. Chen offered a cigarette and lit it for him.

A few of them chatted, puffing smoke clouds, and Mr. Chen handed over a document: "Secretary Song, please have a look at this, it’s a processing document."

Song Guanchao extinguished his cigarette and looked over it carefully.

Captain Xu and Mr. Chen both held their breath, anxiously waiting.

The processing outcome was just as Song Guanchao said, a fine.

It wasn’t severe, just several million.

As for those who had engaged in extortion within the system, the punishment was a bit more severe: two individuals, who were contract workers, were dealt with by termination, while their direct superiors were given warning sanctions.

He tossed the document onto the coffee table and said, "Let’s handle it this way."

Both men quietly sighed with relief.

Liang Hao had anticipated this early on.

Song Guanchao was a smart man.

He did not truly care about the execution of the punishment; his main aim was to intimidate them.

"Secretary Song, shall we take our seats at the table?"

"Sure, let’s sit down."

Song Guanchao naturally took the main seat, while Mr. Chen and Captain Xu kept toasting him.

They drank glasses full, while Song Guanchao just took sips, fully displaying their respect for him.

As the gathering was nearing its end, Mr. Chen and Captain Xu each picked up an exquisitely wrapped gift box and handed them over.

Song Guanchao’s expression darkened, "What is the meaning of this?"

Mr. Chen thought he was feigning seriousness and did not take it to heart, laughing with a ’heh heh’: "This is just a little gift I picked up on the way here, I hope Secretary Song won’t find it too modest."

Captain Xu said, "Secretary Song, this is a special product from my hometown, nothing valuable."

Liang Hao frowned secretly; he had dealt with Song Guanchao the longest and knew he did not appreciate such things.

These two, whose intentions were to get closer to Song Guanchao, ended up doing a bad job with good intentions, patting the horse on the legs instead of flattery.

Song Guanchao did not speak, but stared at them for a few seconds and said, "Take them back."

The two wanted to speak, but Song Guanchao said, "What kind of person do you think I am? This is our first meal together, and you bring these things?"

Mr. Chen reacted quickly, understanding that Song Guanchao’s refusal was not out of disinterest, but because it was too soon.

There were proprieties to observe when giving gifts.

It’s not that he feared the gifts were too lavish, but that the recipient might not accept.

He had just met Song Guanchao today, all accounted.

To give a gift upon a first meeting, it would be strange if someone was willing to accept it.

After all, he was not familiar with you.

"Yes, yes, Secretary Song is right to educate us, we were presumptuous."

Mr. Chen took the gifts back, and promptly returned Captain Xu’s gift as well.

The group got up from their seats, ready to leave the room together.

When they reached the restaurant entrance, a waiter went to arrange a designated driver.

Song Guanchao, smoking a cigarette, asked, "Mr. Chen, what is your relationship with Chairman Du of Lingjiang Bank?"

"Are you referring to Du Lingchun, Secretary Song?"

"Hmm."

"The relationship... is okay, I guess."

He was unsure why Song Guanchao suddenly mentioned this and gave a non-committal reply.

Song Guanchao inquired, "Which bank does the district government’s financial account use?"

Mr. Chen said, "Lingjiang Bank."

It seemed that their relationship wasn’t quite as he had said, merely "okay."

Their relationship was probably rather good.

Mr. Chen was somewhat nervous, unsure why he was asking about this out of the blue.

Soon, the designated driver brought the car around.

Song Guanchao stamped out his cigarette and said, "I’ll head back first."

"Secretary Song, take care."

"Mm."

Song Guanchao got into the car and left.

Captain Xu immediately came over: "Old Chen, we just delivered something to him; he wouldn’t report us, would he?"

Mr. Chen shook his head: "Did you see what kind of car he drove? How does a secretary afford to drive a luxury car worth several hundred thousand? Do you really think he’s a white lotus?"

Being a Secretary of the Municipal Committee and still called a white lotus - even a three-year-old wouldn’t believe it.

Moreover, he had only been in this secretary role for a little over two months and was already so high-profile.

He was not the incorruptible paragon people thought he was; on the contrary, he was not at all averse to these practices.

He didn’t take the gift today because the timing wasn’t right.

Captain Xu suddenly realized he had not paid attention to these details.

...

The next morning.

Song Guanchao was tidying up the office when Wu Qiangwei said, "Get in touch with Mayor Zheng, Secretary Lu, Minister Zhou, and Secretary Wang for a small meeting later."

"Okay."

After preparing the tea, Song Guanchao headed to Secretary Lu’s office.

The Standing Committee meeting was scheduled for next week, and excluding the last temporary Standing Committee meeting, this would be the second official Standing Committee meeting called by Wu Qiangwei.

And now, she wanted to hold a small group meeting before the Standing Committee meeting.

At the moment, there was some misunderstanding between her and Mayor Zheng, so it was better for her to keep a low profile and not contact him directly.

Otherwise, before she had mended fences with Mayor Zheng, she might offend Secretary Lu.

Although both men had been sidelined, they were both still eager to advance further in their careers.

Song Guanchao didn’t expect them to accomplish much, but he was worried they might seize an opportunity for their gain.

"Brother Sun."

"Brother Song, what brings you here?"

Secretary Sun was surprised; this was the first time Song Guanchao had taken the initiative to visit.

Song Guanchao said, "Secretary Wu sent me to ask for your help in contacting Mayor Zheng, Minister Zhou, and Secretary Wang for a small group meeting at noon."

"For such a small matter, you could have just called me. There was no need for you to come all this way."

"This is no small matter."

Song Guanchao lowered his voice and said, "Brother Sun, I’m only telling you this, and you mustn’t spread it around."

Secretary Sun’s heart stirred, "What is it?"

Song Guanchao said, "Someone is trying to create a rift between Secretary Wu and Mayor Zheng."

"Ah? Really?" His surprise was genuine, not feigned.

He knew that because of the Hui Po Company issue, Mayor Zheng was very angry and that there was a rift between him and Wu Qiangwei.

Song Guanchao said, "For real."

"About the case with Hui Po Company, Secretary Wu never intended to blow things up from the start, otherwise she wouldn’t have put Director Qin in charge. By giving it to him, she essentially wanted to keep it from being widely publicized."

Secretary Sun pondered for a moment.

"Brother Sun, I’ll leave the contacting to you; I’m heading back now."

"Go ahead."

Secretary Sun turned and entered his office, first reported about the small group meeting, and then conveyed what Song Guanchao had just shared to Secretary Lu.

Secretary Lu held his tea cup, contemplating for a moment, then clicked his tongue.

Secretary Sun asked, "Secretary, I think what Song Guanchao said is true. Secretary Wu wouldn’t use such matters to deliberately upset Mayor Zheng. It doesn’t benefit her."

Secretary Lu hummed a response, looking amused at him: "Do you think Mayor Zheng doesn’t know?"

"Ah?" Secretary Sun was confused: "Mayor Zheng knows?"

If he knew, why did he seem so dissatisfied with Wu Qiangwei outwardly?

Secretary Lu said, "Indeed, Secretary Wu isn’t deliberately targeting Mayor Zheng, but Mayor Zheng is doing it intentionally."

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