Chapter 1929

Chapter 1929: Chapter 1929

Ji Dengke was scared out of his wits and didn’t dare stay at the hotel, so Song Guanchao had no choice but to bring him home.

"The bathroom’s over there." Song Guanchao led him into the apartment, pointed at the bathroom, then went to sit on the sofa.

Ji Dengke finished his shower, came over and sat to the side, glanced at Song Guanchao, looking like he wanted to say something but held back.

Song Guanchao knew what he wanted to ask, and said directly, "This should be one of Secretary Zhou’s good deeds."

"Secretary Zhou?" Ji Dengke’s face showed shock and doubt. "Which Secretary Zhou?"

The District Committee Secretary is also called Secretary, the City Secretary is still called Secretary; who knew which level of leader he was talking about.

"Secretary Zhou from the City Committee."

"..." Ji Dengke’s throat bobbed. He asked cautiously, "You and Secretary Zhou, you have a grudge?"

Song Guanchao said, "Nothing much of a grudge. He simply can’t stand seeing Mayor Wu rack up political achievements."

"I know what you’re worried about. Since I’ve laid it all out for you, that already means this isn’t some big deal worth putting on the table to discuss."

"Secretary Zhou being able to sit in the City Secretary’s chair is purely to keep the seat warm for Mayor Wu for a while."

Ji Dengke kept a smile on his face, but clearly didn’t believe what he was saying.

Song Guanchao asked, "Have you ever heard of a Provincial Capital’s City Secretary who isn’t a Provincial Committee Member?"

Before Ji Dengke could carefully think through what that meant, Song Guanchao went on, "Secretary Zhou just isn’t in."

Ji Dengke’s eyes widened and he asked on reflex, "Really?"

"Don’t you have a phone? Check it yourself."

Ji Dengke actually took out his phone and started checking.

Once he checked, he realized Song Guanchao was telling the truth: Zhou Zheng really wasn’t a Provincial Committee Member.

Song Guanchao said, "But Secretary Zhou isn’t willing to accept that. He wants into the Provincial Committee, and doesn’t want to just hand over the position to Mayor Wu so easily. Mayor Wu, on the other hand, is thinking of pushing the economy up this year, and then next year, it’ll be easy and natural for him to take over Secretary Zhou’s post."

At this point, it was clear enough, and Ji Dengke understood.

What happened tonight was pure scheming by Secretary Zhou.

If you don’t know the inside story, and you just hear that the Secretary and the Mayor are locked in a power struggle, you’d definitely feel that Jiangzhou’s political environment is rotten to the core.

But once you figure out the key, you realize Jiangzhou is still quite stable.

Behind Mayor Wu stands Secretary Gao from the Provincial Committee; Zhou Zheng is just someone temporarily bumped up to occupy the seat, his say doesn’t amount to shit.

Besides, this kind of thing doesn’t affect foreign companies like theirs all that much.

"The guest room’s over there. Get some rest early."

Song Guanchao stood up and headed toward the bedroom.

The next day, when Song Guanchao arrived at the City Government, he got a call from Director Ma.

According to him, last night some gaudily dressed woman had knocked on yellow jade’s door.

But yellow jade wasn’t much interested in that kind of thing and didn’t let the woman in.

Song Guanchao felt sure that the target really was these foreign firms that had come for the site visit.

Although there was no direct evidence to prove it, aside from Zhou Zheng he really couldn’t think who else would pull this kind of stunt at such a critical juncture.

After hanging up, he dug out Tan Xiang’s number and dialed it.

"What is it?"

Tan Xiang still had that half-dead, indifferent attitude.

Song Guanchao said, "Help me look into someone."

She’d been working undercover for years and had built up a lot of contacts in the underworld. Some things were easier and more efficient to handle through her.

"I’ll send you the number later. Once you find something, get in touch with me."

He didn’t have much to do with her now; aside from necessary official business, he almost never contacted her.

After sending the number, he went to find Wu Qiangwei and told her what had happened last night.

"You’re sure it’s Secretary Zhou?" Wu Qiangwei asked.

"We’ve checked." Song Guanchao said, "This afternoon the third Japanese company is coming for a site visit. I’ll have Director Ma assign people to shadow them the whole time to make sure nothing like this happens again."

If high-level executives of a company get hauled into a police station over this kind of thing, once that gets around, who would still dare come invest in Jiangzhou?

Actually, even if they did get taken in, Song Guanchao could still bail them out, but the fallout would be terrible.

It’s no exaggeration to say this trick of his is vicious right down to the bone.

"From now on, all executives who come for inspections are to be put up at the guesthouse, not at outside hotels."

"Okay."

The guesthouse director was named Wang Xiaowu, the younger cousin of the Deputy Director of the Jinpings District Government Office.

Last year, when Su Rong set fire to the guesthouse in an attempt to frame Song Guanchao, he had dealt with him.

But Song Guanchao felt he should still meet him again and spell this out properly.

As long as the guesthouse is properly briefed, even if someone tries a honey trap, there’s nothing much to worry about.

Back at his office, Song Guanchao immediately contacted Wang Xiaowu and gave him a heads-up.

He put it rather cryptically, but Wang Xiaowu caught his meaning right away. Thumping his chest, he said that as long as it was guests arranged by the City Government to stay at the guesthouse, even the police wouldn’t be allowed to barge in.

Song Guanchao wasn’t going to let him help for nothing, either. He said that if Wang had any difficulties, he could come to him.

Wang Xiaowu was actually quite excited. People at Song Guanchao’s level are usually impossible for ordinary folks to even see.

Now he’d taken the initiative to come ask him for help. That’s a solid debt of gratitude, and the two of them could be considered tied together now.

"Open a few rooms for me. This afternoon a few foreign executives will be coming over to stay."

"No problem. Director Song, just send me their names and I’ll make the arrangements."

Song Guanchao immediately sent over the names of the executives from the last foreign company, along with Ji Dengke’s name.

Then he called Ji Dengke, telling him to go straight to the guesthouse to check in.

Once he’d made the calls, Song Guanchao picked up his now-cold teacup, took a sip, and glanced at the time; it was already past ten.

He stayed in the office until around eleven, then called up Zhou Xingjian to go meet the third foreign company’s inspection team.

...

"Boss, it didn’t work."

When Sun Jiajun got the call, he almost started cursing.

The money’s been spent and the job still didn’t get done.

After hearing the explanation, he learned that the woman they’d arranged had changed her story on the spot when she saw the police.

As for the other woman they’d arranged, she hadn’t even gotten inside the guy’s room.

Sun Jiajun didn’t say a word and just hung up.

His face dark, he smoked two cigarettes in a row, feeling he couldn’t let it go just like that.

Secretary Zhou had finally given him a job to do, and he still couldn’t pull it off. In the future, it’d be hard for him to speak to Zhou Zheng on equal footing.

Frowning, he thought, since the honey trap didn’t work, then they’d have to switch tactics.

"Got it!" Sun Jiajun’s brow smoothed, a sly smile spreading across his face. He dug out his phone and called back.

...

The third foreign company’s representative was surnamed He. After having lunch with Song Guanchao and the others and taking a short rest at the guesthouse, they all headed out together to inspect the industrial park.

While Song Guanchao and the District Government people were accompanying Mr. He and his team on the tour, the Vice District Chief’s phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID and said, "Director Song, Mr. He, you go ahead and look around. I’ll just take this call."

He stepped back a few paces and moved to the side to answer.

Dozens of seconds later, he walked back over, smiling as he leaned close to Song Guanchao and said quickly and quietly, "Director Song, something’s happened."