Official Career Storm

This remark made Wu Qiangwei blush deeply.

Song Guanchao's tone was teasing, it was clear he was joking.

But Wu Qiangwei knew that he often used a joking tone to express his true feelings.

These words nearly spelled out his true thoughts.

Wu Qiangwei's heart raced like a deer, she huffed lightly, "Who wants you to devote yourself to me."

Song Guanchao chuckled, saying, "Please don't misunderstand, Secretary, I mean I'm willing to help the leader lighten their burdens."

"Isn't your family always urging you to go on blind dates?"

"Next time, just bring me along. I'll be your boyfriend for free to fend off those suitors."

"Hmph." Wu Qiangwei said, "I don't need you, go on with your work."

Song Guanchao felt a bit regretful. He knew Wu Qiangwei had feelings for him, and she knew he had feelings for her too.

Both were aware yet didn't say it out loud.

Song Guanchao sometimes wanted to break this unspoken understanding, but Wu Qiangwei never seemed ready, leaving him hesitant when the moment came.

Reining in his thoughts, Song Guanchao headed to Qu Xiangru's office.

Jiang Yiren saw him coming and smiled so widely that her eyes curved: "Are you inviting me to dinner?"

"I'm here for Secretary Qu," Song Guanchao said, "I'll take you to dinner once this busy period is over."

"Hmph." Jiang Yiren pouted, "I knew you were going to delay."

She got up and knocked on the door, "Secretary, Secretary Song is looking for you."

Qu Xiangru put down her file and watched as Song Guanchao sat down, Jiang Yiren poured tea before leaving.

She didn't speak, merely watching Song Guanchao silently, her gaze as if looking at a stranger.

This gaze made Song Guanchao feel very uncomfortable.

In defiance, he said nothing either and placed the file from the Industrial and Commercial Bureau down, lighting a cigarette for himself.

Qu Xiangru took the file, glanced at it, and asked, "What's up with this company?"

Song Guanchao recounted the situation to her again.

After listening, Qu Xiangru looked at him with a different expression.

"You analyzed this yourself?"

"Secretary Qu, what you should focus on is Mayor Zheng's billion-dollar project."

"I will get to the bottom of it."

"If Secretary Qu needs anything, give me a call."

Song Guanchao didn't linger, the more his enthusiasm was doused, the more weary he became.

Since Qu Xiangru wanted to keep a distance, so be it.

Song Guanchao was holding in a different kind of frustration too.

His emotions were obvious, and Qu Xiangru noticed.

Seeing him leave in frustration, Qu Xiangru felt somewhat downtrodden too.

She took a cigarette out from her drawer, lit it, and after finishing, picked up the landline and dialed the City Government.

"This is Qu Xiangru from the City Committee, connect me to Mayor Zheng."

...

In a high-end residential area of Lingjiang.

Tang Zhengqiang was sitting with a few companions on the sofa.

The ashtray on the coffee table was filled with cigarette butts, the whole room reeked of smoke.

"Old Tang, are you sure that guy really knows?" It was Assistant Sun who spoke.

Tang Zhengqiang nodded, "He indeed knows."

Though Song Guanchao only mentioned the word "scam," it was the core issue.

Even if Song Guanchao was probing, it meant nothing.

He now had direction, and as long as he followed it, he could figure out the details.

The information in his hand was already worthless.

Tang Zhengqiang regretted it a lot.

He regretted divulging those details in the first place.

Although, in hindsight, what he said didn't reveal much.

But in reality, Song Guanchao used that morsel to uncover the complete picture.

To be honest, Tang Zhengqiang found it astonishing.

Additionally, he regretted being so greedy.

The price of ten million had already been settled, Song Guanchao was ready to pay.

But he wanted more.

He couldn't be blamed for that.

The information was indeed invaluable.

Even fifty million wouldn't have been too much.

But now it's too late to say anything, regret won't change a thing.

"Old Tang, are you sure that guy is from the City Committee?"

"For sure," Tang Zhengqiang replied, "He's either with Qu Xiangru or Wu Qiangwei, but he's definitely from the City Committee."

Although Song Guanchao always wore a mask, his identity wasn't hard to trace.

The Fengmen Building ended up with the City Committee, which was pretty much an open secret.

He just wasn't sure which Secretary the guy belonged to.

But that didn't matter.

Even knowing Song Guanchao's real identity, so what?

Could they threaten him?

Not to mention whether the threat would work.

If he dared to threaten, the other party wouldn't likely let him off either.

That would be truly barefaced, overturning everything.

Their aim in scamming was money, not making enemies.

"Damn it," Assistant Sun cursed, "A billion turned into a million, what the hell!"

The other companions wore gloomy faces.

The man acting as the driver said, "Old Tang, you shouldn't have reached out to the other side! If we knew, we should've directly asked that Liu guy for money! This time they're making such a big move, hush money would have been at least several tens of millions!"

Tang Zhengqiang squinted at the man, "It wasn't just my decision, we all agreed during the meeting to contact the other side. Now that something happened, you're putting all the blame on me?"

"Alright, let's not talk about it."

Assistant Sun stepped in to mediate, "But a million surely won't do, we're suffering too much loss!"

"We need to come up with a plan."

This news, which originally worth several millions, suddenly became a million, which they couldn't accept no matter what.

Tang Zhengqiang said, "One million is better than nothing at all."

The man who had blamed him said, "I have an idea."

They all looked at him, the man said, "Old Tang, you contact the other side, and sell it at the original ten million price."

Tang Zhengqiang didn't speak, knowing he had more to say.

The man continued, "If they disagree, then we'll contact Liu. Tell Liu that their scam has been exposed by the leaders from the Lingjiang Municipal Committee."

"At least we could sell it for a few million to Liu."

Assistant Sun's eyes lit up, "That's a good idea, I think it's feasible!"

Tang Zhengqiang didn't immediately respond, but looked at the other two, "What do you think?"

The two thought for a moment, then one said, "I think it's inappropriate."

"Our goal is money, but this would be like threatening them."

"Such threats might provoke their dissatisfaction."

The man snorted, "This isn't a threat, it's a normal transaction. If the City Committee people don't want to pay, we're reasonably selling the information to Liu."

"Besides, without us, would they even have guessed this?"

"We're not doing charity here, there's no way we'd help them for free!"

"Ten million is the bottom line!"

The other two pondered for a long while before agreeing with the man, "Indeed, without us, they wouldn't have guessed it."

"Old Tang, go contact them, but be polite. I believe they'll get it."

Tang Zhengqiang nodded, taking out his phone.