Official Career Storm

Chapter 1655

Right now Pinghai City has finally calmed down with great difficulty. If nothing unexpected happens, in another week the higher‑ups will send people over to take over, and then they can return to Jiangzhou.

So why did something like this have to happen at this juncture?

Annoyed as he was, he also understood why Wu Qiangwei was doing this.

Local entrepreneurs in Pinghai had been cruelly squeezed by corrupt officials. They clearly had companies and should have been living comfortably, yet under this gang of corrupt officials they were so stifled they couldn’t even hold their heads up.

In this kind of environment, any normal person would want to leave Pinghai and move somewhere else.

They hadn’t left before because Secretary Xue and the others still controlled Pinghai—they didn’t dare leave, not because they didn’t want to.

Now the corrupt officials had been dealt with, and Pinghai looked as if it was about to turn over a new leaf, but who could guarantee there weren’t any fish that slipped through the net?

Who dared say that the newly appointed leadership team would definitely be better than Secretary Xue and the others?

For Wu Qiangwei to choose this time to approach local companies, promise them benefits and extend invitations, was the most appropriate moment.

And for the top leader of any locality, being able to bring in a batch of enterprises is a temptation impossible to refuse.

"Let’s go, I’ll go with you." Hall Director Qi only grumbled a couple of lines in his heart.

Once you’re inside the system, your essence is also to "compete."

Compete for the leader’s favor, compete for resources for your political career, compete for political achievements!

If you don’t compete but others do, it will make you look incapable of bearing heavy responsibilities—how can the leader feel at ease handing them to you?

When he walked out of the office and saw Song Guanchao there too, he nodded slightly and walked forward.

Knock, knock.

He stood outside the office, knocked, pushed the door open. Director Hou looked up; seeing Hall Director Qi come in, with Wu Qiangwei and Song Guanchao behind him, he immediately knew what they were here for.

Song Guanchao closed the door behind them, then went over to make tea for Hall Director Qi and Wu Qiangwei and served it, then pulled over a chair for himself and sat to the side.

Director Hou shot him a glance. He had originally wanted to scold him a couple of times, but considering that Wu Qiangwei was the protective type, he swallowed it down and didn’t stir up more trouble.

"What is it?" Director Hou put on the airs of a superior and asked, pretending not to know.

Hall Director Qi tilted his head to look at Wu Qiangwei, and she in turn looked at Song Guanchao.

Song Guanchao said, "Director Ma said Director Hou was looking for me, but didn’t say what for."

A trace of displeasure flashed across Director Hou’s face; he suddenly lost the patience to keep them guessing.

He pointed a finger at Song Guanchao and turned his gaze to Hall Director Qi. "Hall Director Qi, do you know what they’ve been up to?"

Hall Director Qi shook his head.

The corner of Director Hou’s eye twitched. Still putting on an act, huh!

You don’t know why you’re here?

"Then let me spell it out for Hall Director Qi." Director Hou’s sinister gaze slowly swept across the faces of Wu Qiangwei and Song Guanchao. "Someone reported to me that Mayor Wu has been secretly making private contact with entrepreneurs in Pinghai City!"

"Mayor Wu, have I wronged you?"

At that, Wu Qiangwei’s willow brows arched. "Perhaps Director Hou is under some kind of misapprehension."

Director Hou let out a cold "heh." "What, Mayor Wu dares to do it but doesn’t dare admit it?"

Wu Qiangwei shook her head. "When I say Director Hou is misunderstanding, it’s not that I don’t dare admit it. I just need to correct your wording."

"First of all, I have indeed been in contact with local entrepreneurs. But it has not been done in secret. From the very beginning when I came to Pinghai, it was for investment promotion. May I ask, Director Hou, how does my normal investment promotion become ’secret, private contact’ in your mouth?"

Director Hou’s words stalled; he didn’t know how to refute her.

Wu Qiangwei went on, "Second, the issues in Pinghai City were first discovered and resolved by me. Without me, these corrupt officials in Pinghai would have long fled abroad. Strictly speaking, the leaders of Wu Province owe me a favor."

"Setting aside the fact that my coming here for investment promotion is perfectly reasonable, even if it weren’t, for the sake of that favor, I’m just bringing in a few companies—is that not allowed either?"

Her words were reasonable and well‑grounded; Director Hou had no way to argue back and even briefly felt that he was the one making trouble out of nothing.

A faint smile appeared on Hall Director Qi’s face. He had been worried they’d fall out with Director Hou, but hadn’t expected Wu Qiangwei to already have her counter ready, so there was no need for him to fret on her behalf.

He also didn’t want to make Director Hou too embarrassed. He was planning to say a couple of words to ease the atmosphere and give Director Hou a way to step down, but Wu Qiangwei was a bit relentless in pressing the advantage. "Director Hou, could you please tell me who reported this to you? I want to ask him why he’s deliberately sowing discord between you and me! What exactly is this person after?"

Director Hou felt all the more awkward.

He should have been the one doing the questioning, and he should have been the one getting angry, but after what Wu Qiangwei said, he suddenly no longer had the moral high ground.

If it were crooked logic and specious arguments, he definitely wouldn’t have swallowed it.

But there was absolutely nothing wrong with what she said.

From the very start she had come to Pinghai for investment promotion; her intention was sound.

It was also she who first uncovered the corruption in Pinghai; she caught the people, and she stabilized the situation...

That was a massive favor.

So what if she wants a few companies from you?

You’re not going to give them?

If that gets around, you might as well not want your face anymore.

"Alright, alright." Hall Director Qi stepped in to smooth things over. "I think Director Hou was also just misled by someone."

He tossed a cigarette over and said earnestly, "Director Hou, there’s no issue with Mayor Wu’s investment promotion work here. The companies she’s been talking to are all ones she’d already been in touch with. Whether or not there was corruption involved doesn’t affect that."

What else could Director Hou say? He could only force out a stiff smile.

"Mayor Wu," Hall Director Qi then said to her, "you also shouldn’t be too angry. Director Hou just isn’t familiar with the details. It’s a misunderstanding—once it’s explained, it’s fine."

Wu Qiangwei nodded. "I did get a bit worked up. Director Hou, don’t take it to heart."

Director Hou forced a smile and shook his head, but inwardly he was seething.

"Then I’ll head off first. Director Song still has a meeting with a company this morning."

Wu Qiangwei and Song Guanchao left first. Hall Director Qi stayed behind to smoke two cigarettes with him, dispelled the awkwardness in the air, chatted with him in a gentle tone for a while, and then left.

Once everyone had gone, Hall Director Qi called Secretary Zhuang to report.

He relayed what had happened there, and after Secretary Zhuang had been silent for two seconds on the other end, he only said, "Got it," and hung up.

"Damn it." Director Hou slapped the desk hard.

He felt he had been taken advantage of, but when he followed along with Wu Qiangwei’s line of reasoning, he also felt that he was the one who’d gotten off easy.

The two conflicting thoughts left him feeling stifled.

...

"How many companies have you contacted?"

Hall Director Qi went to find Wu Qiangwei and asked.

"Fewer than a hundred," Wu Qiangwei said. "They’re all small and medium‑sized enterprises; I’ve basically avoided manufacturing and other companies that employ large workforces."

Hall Director Qi nodded. Wu Qiangwei was still acting fairly prudently and had taken all aspects into consideration.

Time flew by, and another week had passed. The twenty companies promised to Fu Ying had all been finalized as well.

The three teams under Zhou Xingjian had also facilitated several dozen, and the remaining dozen or so companies would be completed in another two or three days.

On the third day after coming to Pinghai, Sun Jiajun went back.

He felt that with both the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor out of town, the City Government couldn’t be without someone in charge at home. In reality, even if the two of them disappeared outside for a few months, it wouldn’t affect the normal functioning of the City Government.

Every unit performed its own duties; usually things just proceeded in an orderly fashion with periodic reporting, and most decisions didn’t need to be submitted to the City Government at all.

Only a very small number of matters required the Mayor to decide.

So Sun Jiajun had almost nowhere to show off.

Another two days went by. After accompanying Fu Ying to sign the investment agreement with the last company, the trip to Pinghai City finally came to an end.

"Let’s have lunch together..." Before he could finish, his phone rang. It was a call from Wu Qiangwei.

"Mayor... alright, I understand."

He put down the phone and said, "Lunch is off. The Central Disciplinary Inspection Committee has sent people over—I have to go and cooperate with the investigation."