Official Career Storm
Chapter 451

Chapter 451: Chapter 451

In the Mayor’s office of the municipal government building, a small group of standing committee members had gathered at this point.

Secretary Lu, Jiang Yuan, and even Minister Zhou were present.

Director Qin had also been summoned over.

Director Qin was extremely annoyed; he had just left the City Committee Building when he was called here.

At the request of Secretary Lu and Mayor Zheng, he made contact with Fucheng Public Security Bureau.

The directive authority was now in Song Guanchao’s hands, and even Secretary Lu didn’t feel it was appropriate to intervene and inquire directly.

Therefore, they could only use this method to track the progress of the situation.

And Director Qin was their source of information.

Director Qin’s phone hadn’t stopped ringing. He was constantly on calls, and at this point, he had already contacted Mr. Ren from the airline company.

He learned that Song Guanchao was searching for Hou Wen’s flight information, but to no avail.

Just then, Secretary Lu’s phone rang; a message from Secretary Sun came through.

He had been eavesdropping and was discovered by Song Guanchao.

Secretary Lu shook his head inwardly—this Secretary Sun was truly useless, botching even the simplest task.

"Ahem," Director Qin said. "Leaders, Mr. Ren says the surveillance might take another half an hour or so to obtain."

Secretary Lu said, "Then let’s wait."

Jiang Yuan glanced at the two men and smiled, "Secretary Lu, do you think the money has left the country?"

Secretary Lu pondered, "It’s hard to say."

Mayor Zheng sneered. "What’s there to say? At this point, why keep playing it safe? That money, one hundred percent has been transferred out of the country! Otherwise, why would Hou Wen run off so decisively?"

At this, Mayor Zheng glared at Director Qin, "Director Qin, Tu Zhaorui came to see you that day, right?"

Although Minister Zhou and Jiang Yuan were still present, it didn’t matter.

Both of them were crafty, and there was little that could be kept from them.

Director Qin didn’t speak, which was taken as an affirmation.

Mayor Zheng cursed, "He went to see you, and you did nothing?"

Director Qin was also angry, and his tone was uncharacteristically harsh, "We’ve already put someone on surveillance!"

"But before we catch Hou Wen, he is still the top official of Dujiang City! What he does, would he report to a director like me?"

"You!" Mayor Zheng was furious; he dared to talk back.

"Enough," Secretary Lu said. "Now is not the time to assign blame."

"Contact Secretary Tu and see if he has any good suggestions."

Director Qin sneered, "He is now a leader in Guangyue City, would he care about what happens in Lingjiang?"

Secretary Lu ignored his sarcasm and called Tu Zhaorui.

Tu Zhaorui was already in the know.

The head of the Lingjiang City political consultative conference, Lu Nanshan, had told him after the meeting had adjourned.

Tu Zhaorui was shocked when he heard the news.

Beyond the shock was anger.

His goal was to catch Hou Wen.

But now, Hou Wen had fled!

He had thought several times of calling Director Qin, to ask if they were imbeciles!

Despite being informed in advance, how could they let such a significant figure escape?

Not only had they allowed him to flee, but they also let him transfer 7 billion!

Idiots, all the standing committee members of Lingjiang are bloody idiots!

No wonder their powers were being undermined one after another.

With such leadership capabilities, it would be odd if they weren’t sidelined.

Seeing the call from Secretary Lu, Tu Zhaorui snorted coldly and answered directly.

"Does Secretary Lu have something to discuss?" Tu Zhaorui’s tone was quite unfriendly.

Secretary Lu said, "Secretary Tu... Mayor Tu should already know, right?"

"Hmm."

"Does Mayor Tu have any suggestions?"

"Suggestions?" Tu Zhaorui snorted coldly, "Even the best suggestion needs someone to execute it! In Lingjiang, is there anyone with a normal brain who can do it?"

Secretary Lu’s face turned unsightly. That comment was just short of pointing at his nose and calling him incompetent.

And he couldn’t refute it.

He didn’t argue back, "Mayor Tu, let’s save the angry words for later. The urgent task at hand is to figure out how to get the money back."

"Get it back? How? There’s no precedent for retrieving money that has left the country!"

"I, Tu Zhaorui, don’t have that ability!"

Tu Zhaorui said, "You want me to give a suggestion, my suggestion is, ’the more you do, the more mistakes you make, the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make, do nothing, make no mistakes!’"

Secretary Lu took several deep breaths to suppress the anger that was about to explode.

He forced a smile, "Hehe, we can indeed do nothing now. After all, Secretary Song has taken this matter upon himself. But after all, as the top leader, I can’t push all the responsibility onto others. If Mayor Tu could provide some useful suggestions, I will report this matter as it is to the province afterward. This would also be a merit for Mayor Tu."

"Secretary Song? He took it upon himself?" Tu Zhaorui was stunned for a moment.

"Mayor Tu didn’t know?"

Tu Zhaorui didn’t respond; indeed, he was unaware.

Lu Nanshan only mentioned that Hou Wen took the money and ran, without mentioning Song Guanchao.

Secretary Lu briefly explained the situation to him, and the more Tu Zhaorui listened, the stranger his expression became.

Because he suddenly remembered something.

Not long ago, Song Guanchao had asked him for evidence of the illegal crimes of two directors from the Dujiang City Finance Bureau.

At the time, although he was puzzled, he did not think deeply about it.

But combined with the events of today, even if he was a fool, he knew that Song Guanchao must have already known about Hou Wen’s escape.

Otherwise, why would he take on the entire responsibility when he had nothing better to do?

After a few seconds of silence, Tu Zhaorui said, "Since Secretary Song has taken the responsibility upon himself, then let him solve it. You just need to think about how to protect him."

"I have no suggestions and can’t help Secretary Lu."

"I’ve got my own things to attend to."

Tu Zhaorui hung up the phone, lit a cigarette, and pondered in detail the role that Song Guanchao might have played in all this.

By the time he finished the cigarette, his train of thought was clear.

Song Guanchao definitely knew about the situation a long time ago.

If he had stepped forward earlier, he could have stopped it.

But he didn’t.

He did not stop it, and instead, let things escalate.

And yet he was now stepping forward.

That meant that the 7 billion in financial funds were still under his control.

This kid must be planning to play the hero.

If he actually succeeded, he could indeed become a star in Lingjiang... no, in the whole Nanjiang Province.

Even more, he could become the first person in history to retrieve embezzled funds that had fled abroad.

The weight of such an achievement would be immeasurable.

He found Song Guanchao’s number and dialed it.

Song Guanchao was surprised but not shocked when he suddenly received a call from Tu Zhaorui.

"Mayor Tu, what advice do you have?"

"Secretary Song has quite the tactic!"

"What is Mayor Tu talking about?"

"You know what I am talking about. There’s no need for pretense between you and me."

"Sorry, I don’t understand. I’m busy at the moment. If Mayor Tu doesn’t need anything..."

"Bring Hou Wen back!"

Tu Zhaorui said, "I won’t interfere with you trying to put a feather in your cap, but if Hou Wen gets away, this matter will quickly spread across the whole country."

Song Guanchao narrowed his eyes, "Is Mayor Tu threatening me?"

"You can take it as a threat," Tu Zhaorui said. "If I have noticed that your hands are not clean, you should have expected this."

"But as I said, I do not care how you do it, and whether you can retrieve the money or not has nothing to do with me. However, Hou Wen must be brought back! If you can’t bring him back, you will replace him in prison!"

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺