Official Career Storm
Chapter 609

Chapter 609: Chapter 609

This matter was tricky; he couldn’t directly relay it to Wu Qiangwei, nor was it appropriate to contact Liang Jianfeng.

Letting Zhang Meilin act as the messenger served two purposes: it allowed Zhang Meilin to make a good impression and show face, and Wu Qiangwei would know who had Zhang Meilin pass on the message.

One phone call, two favors.

As Zhang Meilin listened to the content that Minister Zhou asked him to relay, his brain seemed to shrink.

After hanging up, he was still somewhat dazed.

Minister Zhou, from just a segment of reproduction, could deduce so much?

Moreover, his tone was very certain.

If it weren’t certain, he wouldn’t have asked him to pass the message.

He knew there was a huge gap between himself and Minister Zhou; ever since he became the City Secretary, he had been learning, striving to catch up.

But now he realized, some gaps can’t be closed simply by working hard.

He steadied his mind and dialed Wu Qiangwei’s number.

After listening, Wu Qiangwei was silent for a long time.

Only after a good while did she say, "I understand, thank you, Secretary Zhang, and please thank Minister Zhou on my behalf."

She was too worried about Song Guanchao.

If she were calm, even if she couldn’t reach Minister Zhou’s level, she would be able to figure out a general idea.

This was indeed true when care brings chaos.

She contacted Liang Jianfeng again, to continue relaying the message.

At 10 o’clock in the morning.

Li Zhuang arrived in An County, parking the car in the parking lot of the County Committee building.

Song Guanchao had run away, and he had already sent people to capture him, but there was no news yet.

He sat in the car, making one last phone call to Li Zhu.

He told them, from now on not to contact him again.

In the following period, he would be under the control of the Disciplinary Committee, or possibly the police.

Once the police determined the missing person in the car was Song Guanchao, they would surely suspect him.

He had to arrange everything before that happened.

Next, it would be a race to see who could find Song Guanchao first.

This was a zero-sum game fought against the clock.

No win-win!

If he lost, he would rot in jail.

If Song Guanchao lost, he would lose his life.

From this perspective, whether he lost or won, it wasn’t a loss.

After the call, he removed the SIM card from his phone, got out of the car, and entered the County Committee building.

Seizing the chance while going to the bathroom, he flushed the SIM card down the toilet.

Then he headed to Mr. Zhu’s office.

This morning, Director Liu had made another phone call asking when he would arrive.

From the moment he received the call, he knew they were going to take action against him.

This must have been arranged by Song Guanchao in advance.

In fact, upon learning about Song Guanchao’s escape, he had considered whether to talk to Zheng Bihui.

If Zheng Bihui was willing to intervene, to disrupt the police search, the chances of his people finding Song Guanchao would’ve been slightly higher.

But in the end, he didn’t make that call.

The main reason he didn’t call was that he didn’t have any leverage to threaten Zheng Bihui.

The likelihood of Zheng Bihui helping him was very low, and more likely, he would be betrayed.

After all, what he had done this time was too severe.

What good would it do for Zheng Bihui to help him?

None.

On the contrary, if it was discovered that he knew and did not report, he would face even stricter punishment.

Why help with a matter that had no benefit?

Arriving outside Mr. Zhu’s office, he had barely pushed open the door when Director Liu walked out with several policemen from a department behind him, and they surrounded him from both sides.

"Li Zhuang, please come with us for a moment."

Li Zhuang appeared very anxious, constantly asking what was wrong, but no one answered him.

He was taken back to the station, thrown directly into the interrogation room, and left to sit for more than ten minutes until Director Liu pushed the door open and tossed some documents in front of him: "Take a look for yourself."

Li Zhuang, trembling with fear, flipped open the file and after just reading the beginning, exclaimed, "This is a false accusation, false accusation! I didn’t do this!"

Director Liu took out a cigarette, lit one, and tossed one to him: "Have a smoke, take your time to think."

"Old Li, I advise you not to resist in vain. Just admit it—it’s no big deal."

"It’ll count as cooperation, and the sentencing will take that into account later on."

"Director Liu, I didn’t do this, how can I admit to it? Isn’t that framing someone?"

"If you’re going to say that, then there’s no point."

Director Liu said, "Do you really think we caught you without any evidence? The transactions on your bank card, your family’s financial transactions, all it takes is one query at the bank to make everything clear. In the rural areas below, just ask anyone, and see if the subsidies have been distributed properly. Do you think that’s difficult?"

"Old Li, let me tell you the truth, this case was assigned by the city officials. Your case has attracted the attention of the city."

However, no matter what he said, Li Zhuang firmly denied embezzling the subsidies.

Director Liu also lost his patience, flicking away his cigarette: "Think it over well, and when you’ve figured it out, shout for me to the surveillance camera."

He was just getting up when his phone suddenly rang.

He showed the phone to Li Zhuang: "See? Director Liang from the city bureau, people are calling to ask."

Then, in front of him, he took the call: "Hello, Director Liang ... Li Zhuang? Li Zhuang is here at the station, we’ve arrested him. What? Okay, fine, I’ll bring people over right away!"

After hanging up the call, he stared at Li Zhuang, suddenly finding this frightened and anxious man in front of him a bit terrifying.

Director Liang had said on the phone that Song Guanchao had been in a car accident, and his life or death was unknown.

It’s highly possible that the perpetrator was Li Zhuang!

Li Zhuang noticed his reaction and guessed that the city bureau must have determined that the victim of the car accident was Song Guanchao because of those mobile phones.

Those mobile phones were a real blunder!

Without them, it would have been just a regular car accident. The police would not have put so many resources into it, and his chance to catch Song Guanchao would have been much greater.

Pushing aside these thoughts, he noticed that there was something off about Director Liu’s tone, and the way he looked at him was also off.

Could it be that the city bureau had already guessed that it was he who acted?

Impossible!

The city bureau had very little information, and none of them had been to the scene. How could they have so quickly concluded it was him?

Without betraying his emotions, he feigned panic and asked, "Director Liu, what did Director Liang say?"

Director Liu instinctively stepped back two paces and asked, "Did you cause Secretary Song’s car accident?"

Li Zhuang’s heart skipped a beat—the city had actually guessed it!

He couldn’t quite understand what the city based its guess on.

Were there so many capable people in the city?

"Car accident?" Li Zhuang feigned confusion: "What car accident?"

"Hmph."

Director Liu couldn’t be bothered to waste more words with him and turned to leave.

No sooner had he walked out of the police station than Director Liu’s phone rang again.

This time, it was the Mayor who had called.

"Hello, Mayor Zheng."

"Director Liu, have you caught Li Zhuang?"

"Under the wise guidance of Mayor Zheng, we have successfully apprehended him!"

"Hmm." Zheng Bihui sounded very pleased. Just as he was about to hang up, Director Liu suddenly said, "Mayor Zheng, I just asked Li Zhuang if he was responsible for Secretary Song’s car accident, and he won’t admit it."

The other end of the phone suddenly went silent.

"Mayor Zheng?" Director Liu asked carefully.

"Did you just say, a car accident involving Secretary Song?"

Director Liu was a bit confused: "Doesn’t Mayor Zheng know?"

This was the information given to him by Director Liang, so he had assumed that Mayor Zheng Bihui, being the Mayor, would certainly be aware of it and would know more details.

Zheng Bihui didn’t answer but instead asked, "When did it happen? Where?"

"In a mountainous area of Furong Town, Xuning County, it supposedly happened early this morning. I hear the car was burned down to its frame."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zheng Bihui’s tone turned unexpectedly excited as he asked, "How is Song Guanchao? Did he ... cough, cough, what I mean is, is there any chance he survived?"

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