Official Career Storm
Chapter 382

Chapter 382: Chapter 382

There’s an unwritten rule in the officialdom.

You win, you’re the winner.

You lose, you’re the loser.

If you lose, you have to admit that your skills were inferior and accept defeat willingly.

Rather than acting like a shameless hooligan who refuses to let go.

During the struggle, everyone should use all the tricks they have, even underhanded ones are fine.

But once the outcome is clear, you must accept reality.

Most of the time, the victor won’t rake up the past.

However, this is based on the premise that the loser is willing to accept defeat.

Song Guanchao had lost and yet he refused to admit it and tried to upset the table.

In his eyes, this was behavior with no bottom line.

Song Guanchao chuckled and said, "Of course I am willing to accept defeat."

"But now someone wants to use Mayor Liang and me as pawns to force Secretary Wu to give up Huayuan District."

"If you were in my position, Secretary Tu, would you choose to wait for death doing nothing, or would you make a fight for it?"

"Besides, I now hold the chips in my hand, and I’m negotiating with Secretary Tu."

Secretary Tu’s smile faded, and he snorted coldly, "To paint threats as negotiation, you truly have the makings of a secretary!"

Song Guanchao also stopped smiling, narrowed his eyes, and said, "Threat?"

"Heh."

"If you, Tu Zhaorui, were using righteous means, I, Song Guanchao, even if dismissed from public office, wouldn’t hold it against you."

"But are you?"

"To get back at County Magistrate Hou, you look the other way on the county’s public security, allowing criminal forces to extort developers from outside the area, forcing average citizens to sell their properties, illegally confining factory owners’ freedom, even committing arson!"

"Tu Zhaorui, where do you get the nerve to talk to me about being willing to accept defeat?"

"When County Magistrate Hou took your woman and drove her to suicide by jumping from a building, why didn’t you tell yourself to accept defeat willingly?"

"If you, Tu Zhaorui, had taken up a knife and sought an eye for an eye with County Magistrate Hou, I would have still respected you as a man."

"Using an entire county’s security to trade for County Magistrate Hou spending the rest of his life behind bars, you, Tu Zhaorui, are nothing but a sanctimonious villain."

"You think you’re qualified to talk to me about rules? About bottom lines?"

Song Guanchao’s mocking tone stripped him bare.

Secretary Tu’s face turned sullen, his nostrils flared, and he remained silent for a long time.

Song Guanchao finished another cigarette and then lit up again.

"Did you investigate me?" Secretary Tu asked, his face looking the worst it could be.

Song Guanchao nodded frankly, "I did."

Secretary Tu said, "Do you think anyone will believe that kind of talk?"

Song Guanchao answered, "What does it matter to me whether they believe it or not? Do you think I would say it out loud?"

"Secretary Tu, I’m discussing this with you now to save you face. Do you think I’m not aware these things aren’t sufficient?"

"I just don’t want to tear off the mask completely so that we can’t even be friends in the future."

As Song Guanchao flicked ash from his cigarette, he suddenly asked, "Secretary Tu, there’s something I don’t quite understand, could you help clarify it for me?"

Secretary Tu looked at him, and Song Guanchao said, "If I take my passport and travel permit to Hong Kong Island, theoretically, I can only stay there for seven days at a time. But what if I feel that seven days isn’t enough? What should I do if I want to stay on Hong Kong Island for more than three months at once?"

This question made Secretary Tu pause for a moment.

Quickly, he realized what Song Guanchao was alluding to.

Song Guanchao smiled faintly, tossed the cigarette aside, and said, "Your aunt’s cooking is excellent, please thank your uncle and aunt for their hospitality on my behalf, Secretary Tu. You should head back and rest early; I need to leave as well."

"Oh, and one more thing, about Mr. Bai, whose factory was burnt down, I need you to pay attention to that matter and address her losses as soon as possible."

Not until Song Guanchao’s figure disappeared did Secretary Tu let out a heavy breath.

He didn’t know how Song Guanchao had found out about this matter.

But it didn’t matter anymore.

What mattered was that this could absolutely not be leaked.

If Song Guanchao were to divulge it, his political career would be completely over.

...

Song Guanchao didn’t return home that night.

He had secured the slot for Dujiang County.

But things were far from over.

His main purpose today was the slot.

He hadn’t planned on exposing the situation in Dujiang County.

But if he were backed into a corner, then it would not be pretty.

Yet not exposing it didn’t mean he could tolerate Lu Xiaotian’s continued wrongdoing.

He had to take out Lu Xiaotian.

At the very least, before Secretary Tu’s promotion, he needed to maintain a sense of stability in Dujiang County.

Dealing with someone like Lu Xiaotian, Song Guanchao had plenty of methods.

But the usual tactics, they only treated the symptoms, not the cause.

Such a person had no reservations, fear was absent from his heart.

Simple physical pain, he wouldn’t remember a lesson from that.

So, either not act at all, but if he acted, he had to act decisively!

Song Guanchao already had a plan in mind, a perfectly laid out plan.

Without any surprises, Lu Xiaotian would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

"Madman, bring a few brothers to Dujiang County."

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

At ten pm, Lu Feng arrived.

One car, four people.

Song Guanchao took one look and realized they were the same few lads who had gone to the mountains to search for them last time.

One of them he remembered particularly well, named Li Zhijun.

Song Guanchao pulled them over to a barbecue stand, eating skewers while discussing serious matters.

"Zhijun, you guys find a way to get into Lu Xiaotian’s gang."

"After blending in, do as I just instructed."

"Understood!"

The three, inspired by Song Guanchao’s plan, were brimming with determination, ready to go.

After eating barbecue, Lu Feng drove around the county town before finally stopping near a bath center.

The area was filled with bath centers, with barbecue stalls and food vendors nearby—night life was rich, with figures from the social fringes and ’misses’ to be seen everywhere.

From among them, Song Guanchao spotted a few familiar faces: "Those guys over there."

Li Zhijun and his two companions immediately walked over, pretending to bump into the familiar faces by accident.

The others cursed, hurling abuse.

The three bore it at first, but the others became aggressive and started a fight.

Seven or eight of them against Li Zhijun’s three, yet they promptly laid them out.

"Not bad, you’ve got fighting chops! If you’ve got the guts, stay right here."

"What? Didn’t get enough?" Zhijun rolled up his sleeves, ready to continue.

The man cursed: "You wait, I’m calling people!"

"Sure, you call, I’ll wait right here."

Grabbing his phone, the man called for backup: "Brother Biao, we got beaten up, right downstairs at the barbecue stall."

Within minutes, Lu Xiaotian’s lead thug, Biaozi, arrived with his men.

Seeing his wounded brothers bearing signs of a beating, Biaozi asked, "Who did it? Where are they?"

One of the underlings pointed at Li Zhijun and his companions: "Them!"

Biaozi was surprised: "Just the three of you?"

"Yes!"

"Damn," Biaozi scrutinized them and said, "You guys really can fight."

The three men stood unafraid: "Your people hit first."

Biaozi responded, "I don’t care who started it, you beat up my brothers, so you owe me an explanation."

"I won’t make it hard on you, you’ve got two choices."

"First, I break one of your arms."

"Second, you join me."

During this period, Lu Xiaotian’s gang had suffered heavy losses.

The bidding center, in order to report to their superiors, had arrested seventy or eighty of their brethren.

Some were released over time, but many were still locked up.

A few days ago, there was a factory fire, and a bunch of their brothers were arrested again.

Now they were desperately short-handed and in dire need of fresh blood.

And to find three who could fight like these men was rare.

Li Zhijun and the others exchanged looks; they hadn’t expected it would be so easy to join.

From a distance, in the car, Song Guanchao watched as Li Zhijun and the other two quickly sat down to eat and drink with Biaozi’s group, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

This Young Master Tian had a screw loose, and everyone under him was a damn fool.

"Let’s go, time to get some sleep."

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