Official Career Storm
Chapter 473

Chapter 473: Chapter 473

Chen Yang lit up a cigarette, smiling without saying a word.

Secretary Gao laughed heartily, "Young man, reaching this step is already quite commendable. Who hasn’t made mistakes? I have, Minister Chen has, Governor Hou has too."

"Don’t be afraid of young people making mistakes, only those who dare to lead can stand at the forefront of the tide!"

"I think Secretary Song is very good: bold yet meticulous, and crucially, highly capable."

"Look across the whole country, in so many corruption cases, money transferred abroad, do we have a precedent where it was retrieved within two days?"

"I don’t think so."

"Not to mention, an amount as large as 7 billion."

Secretary Gao flicked his cigarette ash, his words clearly implying something that anyone but a fool could understand.

He was supporting Song Guanchao, trying to erase his mistake of spreading the news without notifying the province first.

He didn’t want others to hold on to this issue and make a big deal out of it.

Qu Xiangru obviously caught on too, but she pretended not to understand, saying, "Of course, it’s normal for young people to make mistakes, but appropriate reprimands are also necessary."

"The City Secretary hasn’t stepped forward, and a secretary is playing the lead role."

"If this continues, I wonder if Lingjiang is going to become his personal stage?"

"Secretary Gao, I don’t deny his capabilities, but my opinion remains the same: merits and demerits do not offset each other, praise where due, and punish where necessary."

After pausing, Qu Xiangru added, "The standing committee of Lingjiang City also seems problematic. I recommend the province set up a research team to thoroughly investigate Lingjiang."

"This time, Dujiang City’s Finance Bureau directly transferred the funds, which is unimaginable! Was Lingjiang City’s Finance Bureau also at fault?"

"Are the officials of the City Finance Bureau still capable of leading? In my opinion, this is a good time to replace those who can be and should be replaced!"

Governor Hou, Minister Chen, Secretary Xu, and others were pondering as they listened to her discourse.

Vice Governor Qu Xiangru, seemingly criticizing Song Guanchao, had ulterior motives, not truly concerned with the matter at hand.

She wanted to take advantage of the chaos to place her own people.

Secretary Gao took a puff of his cigarette and said, "Without special circumstances, the province doesn’t directly intervene with the city’s affairs."

"I believe Lingjiang can solve its issues, but Governor Qu’s suggestion is very good. How about this, Secretary Xu, you get a few people from the Provincial Disciplinary Inspection Committee, also contact Hall Director Qi, arrange for a few comrades from public security."

"Hmm..." Secretary Gao paused for a moment and continued, "Both offices also provide some personnel, I’ll handle the arrangements from the Provincial Committee side, and for the Provincial Government Office, Governor Qu, please select a few people."

Qu Xiangru nodded, not speaking further.

Having achieved her aim, saying more would be rather tactless.

Secretary Gao glanced at his wristwatch and said, "It’s almost six o’clock, let’s tire ourselves a bit more today and finalize the rewards for the staff handling the Hou Wen corruption case as well, let’s not procrastinate."

Qu Xiangru’s brow slightly furrowed but she did not object.

...

Ever since Song Guanchao had exposed Hou Wen’s embezzlement incident, he had been making Lu Feng keep an eye on Lu Xiaotian.

He was worried that Lu Xiaotian, catching wind of the situation, might flee.

Surprisingly, Lu Xiaotian did not run away.

Whether he was thick-skinned or felt that Hou Wen’s downfall wouldn’t affect him, he still maintained his usual arrogance.

From a certain perspective, he indeed had talent.

After work in the evening, Song Guanchao packed up his belongings, ready to leave.

Wu Qiangwei came out of the office saying, "Follow me."

Song Guanchao eagerly followed, "Secretary, where are we going?"

"I’ve made an appointment with Mayor Jiang."

"Oh," this was to deliver a big gift to Mayor Jiang.

Honestly, Song Guanchao could understand Wu Qiangwei’s actions but personally found it unnecessary.

Mayor Jiang was a local of Lingjiang and deeply rooted.

But Song Guanchao was not intimidated by him.

Whether it was open competition or a secret battle, he was ready for anything.

The high-speed rail project was snatched by him personally, and now he had to share it with others, naturally irritating him.

Of course, he knew that Wu Qiangwei’s approach was correct.

Just as she had said, one should have many friends and few enemies.

But Song Guanchao was confident that even without many friends, he could still establish himself in Lingjiang City.

He was just grumbling internally, after all, he had already agreed to the dinner invitation.

Upon arriving at the restaurant’s private room, Mayor Jiang hadn’t yet arrived.

Wu Qiangwei had just finished ordering when Mayor Jiang arrived with his secretary, Fang Wei.

"Mayor Jiang," Wu Qiangwei stood up to greet him and shook hands.

Song Guanchao politely said, "Mayor Jiang."

During the meal, both parties shared a pleasant conversation, and Wu Qiangwei took the opportunity to bring up the high-speed rail project, hoping for the city government’s support.

Mayor Jiang understood her intent, nodded with a smile, agreed, and instructed Fang Wei to join the project team to assist Song Guanchao’s work.

As they left the restaurant and were about to part ways, Mayor Jiang suddenly smiled and asked, "Secretary Song, there’s something I’d like to ask you."

"Mayor Jiang, you flatter me."

A mayor asking a secretary for advice, if word got out, Song Guanchao would be in trouble.

Jiang Yuan asked, "I’m quite curious, how did you manage to get that money back?"

Song Guanchao had anticipated this question and recited his prepared response, "On the same night, we took control of the people responsible for those offshore accounts and consulted some legal experts to exploit a few loopholes."

His statement couldn’t really stand up to scrutiny, after all, the actual account manager was Hou Wen.

Even if Wang Meihua and the others could transfer funds, there were limits.

Tens of billions in funds couldn’t possibly be transferred back by just the three of them.

Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded, "Secretary Song, you are quite impressive."

He refused to tell the truth, and Jiang Yuan was at a loss.

He was simply curious and had no other intentions.

As for Song Guanchao beating him to the punch, he wasn’t upset.

It wasn’t because he had moved only after reaching an agreement with Hou Wen.

Song Guanchao already had a complete plan in place, which would proceed regardless of whether Hou Wen sought him out.

After Jiang Yuan left, Song Guanchao drove Wu Qiangwei home.

On the way, Song Guanchao asked, "Secretary, when is the provincial commendation likely to take place?"

"In the next few days. Why, do you have something else?"

"There are some obstacles with the high-speed rail project in Dujiang City, I need to make time to deal with it."

He didn’t plan to delay dealing with Lu Xiaotian.

He clearly remembered that Lu Xiaotian had acquired several guns from Yao Jinsheng.

The critical issue was, he couldn’t yet reveal this situation.

Otherwise, if others asked how he knew, he wouldn’t be able to explain.

And now that Yao Jinsheng was detained by the Provincial Public Security Department, he couldn’t be expected to confess voluntarily.

A handgun in the hands of someone like Lu Xiaotian was very dangerous—who knew when he would act impulsively.

Thus, Song Guanchao needed to quickly send Lu Xiaotian to prison and not give him a chance to cause trouble.

"Wait and see, it should be in the next few days."

...

The province didn’t make Song Guanchao wait long.

The next morning at ten, the city’s main leaders received a notification.

Led jointly by the two major offices of Nanjiang Province, the Provincial Disciplinary Inspection Committee and the Provincial Public Security Department allocated staff to form a temporary research team that would conduct a month-long research in Lingjiang City.

The research team would officially arrive in Lingjiang City next Monday.

On Sunday morning, the City Propaganda Department issued a notice that a civil servant report meeting would be held at ten o’clock Monday morning at the People’s Stage Theater under the City Propaganda Department.

Everyone who saw the notice knew that the province was about to commend actions taken in Hou Wen’s corruption case.

The main character, naturally, was Song Guanchao.

They were eager to find out what kind of reward the province would provide this time.

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