Chapter 334 - 230: Tacit Understanding (Part 2)

Chapter 334: Chapter 230: Tacit Understanding (Part 2)

Zhao Wendong looked utterly wronged. Wei Dongliang almost burst out laughing at the sight, but he was a professional and managed to restrain himself. Not only did he hold back his laughter, but an angry expression even appeared on his face.

"Nonsense, this is utter nonsense! If Comrade Zhao Wendong has no right to eat here, then who does?"

His gaze then fell upon Cheng Fuhai. "Xiaocheng, what right do you have to eat here?"

"I... I..."

Cheng Fuhai immediately lowered his head. He wouldn’t dare say he’d come with Zhao Wenming’s family. But his silence didn’t mean everyone else was a fool. All eyes turned to Zhao Zhitian, Zhao Zhitian’s mother, and Zhao Wenming, who were with him.

Zhao Wenming’s face turned from ashen to purple. He knew that in a moment like this, he couldn’t hesitate. He suddenly raised his hand.

SMACK—!

A heavy slap landed squarely on his son Zhao Zhitian’s face.

"You little bastard! Who told you to come here and eat? What right do you have to freeload here? This is all state property, don’t you know that?"

Ignoring his son, who was cupping his face in a daze, he bowed his head toward Wei Dongliang and began his self-criticism. "I’m sorry, Special Commissioner Wei. I had no idea my family had come here to eat. I have failed to manage my own household and have caused a loss for the organization. I will compensate the guest house cafeteria double for what they ate."

Seeing this, Zhao Zhitian lowered his proud head. He cupped his face and said nothing. Even his own father had admitted he was wrong. All he wanted now was to get away from this heartbreaking, humiliating place as fast as possible.

Wei Dongliang smiled and nodded. "Director Zhao, you have a deep understanding of the greater good and strong principles. You are an example for us all!"

He then turned to Zhao Wendong. "Come, come, Comrade Wendong. Let me make some introductions. This is Comrade Zhao Wenming, the Regional Logistics Director. This is his son, whom he has already disciplined. Oh, and there’s this gentleman here."

Wei Dongliang pointed at Cheng Fuhai, his voice laced with a meaningful smile.

"This is Comrade Cheng Fuhai, the Deputy Section Chief of the Regional Secretariat. We’ve specially assigned Xiaocheng here to write your speech for tomorrow. So, Xiaocheng, were you here gathering material from Comrade Wendong?"

Although Wei Dongliang said this with a smile, everyone could hear the discontent in his voice. Cheng Fuhai’s legs gave out, and he nearly collapsed. He had to grab a nearby table to keep from making a complete fool of himself.

"Oh? Gathering material from me? I get it. So this comrade here intentionally framed me just to see how I’d react to being falsely accused, is that it?"

"Come now, Comrade Cheng Fuhai. Those words I just had for Director Zhao’s son? I’m giving them to you, too. You better listen closely!"

"You’re a dumb fuck. A. BIG. DUMB. FUCK!"

BOOM—!

Zhao Wendong’s vulgar words and his rogue, devil-may-care attitude instantly sent the room into an uproar. Some people roared with laughter, others cheered loudly, while some frowned, thinking Zhao Wendong was being uncivilized and tarnishing the glorious image of a model worker.

Zhao Wendong couldn’t care less about their reactions. He only cared about the people close to him. Seeing that Zhao Wendong was on the warpath, Zhao Wenming quickly tried to smooth things over with a smile. After all, Huang Xiaomei would very likely become his daughter-in-law, and he was the one who’d told his son to bring Cheng Fuhai and the other two.

"Comrade Zhao Wendong, calm down. They surely didn’t mean to offend you. Look, my surname is also Zhao, and our given names both have ’Wen’ in them—we’re from the same generation. Five hundred years ago, we would have been family! Why don’t you let them apologize, and you can be the bigger person and let it slide?"

Zhao Wenming’s speech was a slick combination of placating and putting down—the man was a master of passive-aggression. The troublemakers who’d escalated the situation were now just people who "didn’t mean to offend," and he was even telling Zhao Wendong to be the bigger person. Zhao Wendong smiled at Zhao Wenming, but the chill in his eyes was unconcealed. He was the type who responded to soft tactics, not hard ones. ’So you want to be passive-aggressive with me? Two can play at that game.’

"Secretary Zhao, please don’t talk nonsense. I wouldn’t dare consider myself your peer—I’m still so young, you know. Besides, today they were the ones saying I had no right to be here freeloading, but it turns out *they’re* the ones who aren’t qualified. Of course, it’s not a big deal. It’s just like the cheating widow in my village who calls all the decent women sluts. It’s nothing major. I’ve heard plenty of talk like that, so I’m certainly not going to get mad at them!"

"And there’s no need for them to apologize to me. The root of this whole mess wasn’t about them trying to kick me out. It was about them trying to kick out my brother, Zhang Liang! And why were they so intent on kicking out my brother? Because my brother’s ex-girlfriend is your son’s current girlfriend. It’s as simple as that!"

The moment Zhao Wendong’s words came out, the crowd erupted again. They were getting some juicy gossip now! Who would have thought that coming to the regional meeting would not only provide such a lively spectacle but also serve up some prime gossip about the Logistics Director’s family!

Instantly, people’s imaginations ran wild, cooking up all kinds of dramatic scenarios. The cadres from the region and the bigwigs from the counties all looked no different from Aunt Wang and her gossiping friends. They were all craning their necks, eyes gleaming with excitement. The room fell silent; no one spoke, afraid of missing a single detail. Many were even thinking what a pity it was. ’If she was Director Zhao’s mistress instead of his son’s girlfriend, now *that* would be an even bigger scandal!’

No matter how unflappable Zhao Wenming usually was, at this moment, his head was buzzing. He truly hadn’t expected Zhao Wendong to be so ruthless, to expose his family’s dirty laundry in public without giving him, a Regional Director, any face at all. But he hated Cheng Fuhai and the other two even more. His son’s shocked expression wasn’t an act, which meant his son hadn’t known about the history either. ’Cheng Fuhai and his cronies deceived my son!’