Official Career Storm

Chapter 1613

In the office, Zhang Yan jumped down from the desk, lowered her skirt to cover her white thighs, and pulled out a chair to sit down.

She casually picked up Zhou Zheng’s cigarette, drew out one and lit it, exhaling slowly: "Tell me about Wu Qiangwei’s situation."

Zhou Zheng put on his pants, feeling a bit weak in the waist and back.

These past few days, almost every night, he had sought out Zhang Yan, venting all his energy on her.

At middle age, how could one endure such exhaustion?

He sat down, took a sip of tea, and handed her the notice from the Pinghai City Public Security Bureau.

Zhang Yan raised her eyebrows, thought for a few seconds, and said, "She must have offended Secretary Xue."

Zhou Zheng nodded; from their position, they could roughly guess what was going on.

But the exact reason remained unknown.

However, that wasn’t important.

The important thing was whether Wu Qiangwei could make a comeback.

"I suggest you wait." Zhang Yan said.

"Do you think there’s still room to maneuver?" Zhou Zheng said, "I don’t know exactly what Wu Qiangwei did, but Secretary Xue directly issued a warrant, so there’s absolutely no room for negotiation. Also, for Secretary Zhou to issue a warrant, it means he absolutely has something on Wu Qiangwei, enough to nail her down."

Zhou Zheng didn’t think Wu Qiangwei could turn the tables.

Zhang Yan said, "That’s true, but Wu Qiangwei is still the Mayor of the Provincial City; Secretary Gao won’t just stand by. You’d better wait a bit longer."

Zhou Zheng shook out a cigarette, sniffed it under his nose, and said, "I definitely won’t act so hastily, but this is a good opportunity."

Zhang Yan looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Sun Jiajun." Zhou Zheng said, "I’ve been secretly observing Sun Jiajun during this time and am basically certain he has no capabilities."

"What do you intend to do?"

"Act according to your original suggestion."

"My suggestion?" Zhang Yan said, "To sow discord?"

"Exactly!"

"How can you sow discord if Wu Qiangwei can’t come back?"

The premise of sowing discord is that Wu Qiangwei must be in Jiangzhou.

If she’s not there, even attempting to sow discord would have no chance.

Zhou Zheng gave a confident smile: "First plant a mine. If Wu Qiangwei can return safely, this move will come in handy. If she doesn’t return, it won’t have any impact."

Seeing that he could keep a secret, Zhang Yan didn’t ask further.

She elegantly tossed the cigarette into the ashtray, smoothing out the wrinkles on her clothes with her hands on her abdomen, and slowly stood up: "I’m leaving now, let me know if there’s any progress."

Zhou Zheng asked, "Want to have a meal together later?"

"No, I’ve made an appointment with a friend to go to the beauty salon."

Zhang Yan grabbed her bag, swayed her voluptuous and sexy waist, and pushed open the door to leave.

...

Pinghai City.

Secretary Xue stood at the floor-to-ceiling window in his office making a phone call: "I need all the money transferred out today, what’s the handling fee?"

"About 20 percent."

"20 percent? Why don’t they just rob me?"

"Secretary Xue, I didn’t set this." The person on the other end gave a wry smile: "Besides, you’re in a rush to transfer it out, so the handling fee is bound to be high. If you’re not in a hurry, I can get it done for five percent."

"Five percent... how long will it take?"

"About a week."

"No, a week is too long." Secretary Xue frowned and took a hard drag on his cigarette: "20 percent it is then."

After hanging up, Secretary Xue took a few more hard drags on his cigarette, flicked the butt to the ground, and stomped it out.

Yesterday, after hearing from Mayor Fang that Wu Qiangwei from Jiangzhou was investigating him, he wasn’t too worried.

This wasn’t the first time he encountered such a situation; he had plenty of experience dealing with it.

But in the afternoon, his secretary suddenly told him that Mayor Fang and Director Chen had been arrested by Wu Qiangwei!

Being investigated wasn’t a concern.

There’s nothing that can’t be negotiated, and nothing that money can’t solve.

But arresting people was a different matter.

This meant Wu Qiangwei had no intention of negotiating.

It was a precursor to tearing the facade and flipping the table.

Secretary Xue wasn’t the indecisive type like Secretary Zhuang.

He knew better than anyone the importance of making decisive decisions.

Without this boldness, he couldn’t have turned Pinghai City into his personal fiefdom.

He decided swiftly to transfer his assets and run away.

Issuing a warrant for Wu Qiangwei was to buy time for his escape.

And by releasing news that he was going to the Provincial City tonight, it served as a smokescreen.

Because he was unsure of the Provincial City’s stance on him.

If they had already sent people to arrest him, staying in Pinghai City would be very dangerous.

By declaring he was heading to the Provincial City, he could at least be sure today was safe.

In a single day, many things couldn’t be done; he couldn’t quickly liquidate his domestic fixed assets.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about such matters.

Getting out was the most important thing.

He opened his office door, and his secretary immediately got up and followed him: "Secretary Xue."

"I’m heading to the Provincial City shortly, anything in the city, contact me promptly." Secretary Xue said without looking back.

The secretary acknowledged, paused until Secretary Xue was out of sight.

Secretary Xue’s personality was suspicious; he trusted no one, not even his secretary or his spouse.

Things succeed through secrecy.

He hadn’t told anyone about his plan to flee.

Leaving the City Committee, he drove his official car home.

He quickly packed a few clothes, took cash, a backup phone, and two foreign passports from the safe, and a car key from a drawer.

He went to the parking lot and pressed the car key; the lights of a dust-covered Volkswagen SUV blinked.

This car had a private license and was rarely used.

He got into the car, pressed the start button, but the car didn’t start.

He glanced at the dashboard only to find the battery had drained.

"Damn it!" Secretary Xue was a bit furious, feeling like everything had been going wrong lately.

...

In a self-built house in a village in the city.

Song Guanchao leaned on the sofa, legs crossed, while Mayor Fang, in front of him, was confessing the names of corrupt officials in Pinghai City.

Shu Xue was holding paper and pen, taking notes at the dining table nearby.

He pressed his fist to his chin, recalling everything that happened that day in his mind.

For some reason, he felt something was off, but couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind, and Song Guanchao sat up straight, interrupting Mayor Fang: "Who’s Secretary Xue’s backer?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

Mayor Fang’s train of thought was interrupted; it took him two seconds to catch up. Just as he was about to speak, Wu Qiangwei lightly coughed, interrupting again: "Mayor Fang, have some water and take a break. Director Song, come upstairs with me."

Everyone looked puzzled, wondering what Wu Qiangwei was doing.

Why wasn’t she letting Mayor Fang speak?

The two of them went upstairs, and Wu Qiangwei entered a room, closing the door with a serious look: "We just need to investigate Pinghai City’s corruption issues, not expand it or get curious about anything else. Secretary Xue’s backer is irrelevant to us or this case."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Some things shouldn’t be dug into too deeply.

At a certain level in the system, who doesn’t have a backer?

In massive corruption cases like in Pinghai City, how the top ultimately defines it and whether they want to pursue it further is their decision and none of our business.

Certain questions shouldn’t and can’t be asked.

Certain matters can’t be investigated.

What if something is actually uncovered?

Knowing when to stop is enough.

Song Guanchao nodded: "I know what you’re worried about. I’m not trying to dig deep; I just thought of another matter."

"What matter?"

"Let’s talk about it later." Song Guanchao pulled out his cell phone and called Li Zhijun: "Zhijun, bring Mayor Fang up."