Official Career Storm-Chapter 1373

Song Guanchao’s words made Wu Qiangwei think carefully for a few seconds.

What he said indeed made sense.

Zhou Zheng, once he has a bit of power, becomes unbearably arrogant.

However, he was, after all, transferred from the City Government.

Moreover, Lv Jie has served as the Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Committee for several years, and his power in the City Committee is not small.

From Zhou Zheng’s behavior today, it’s apparent that he is deliberately suppressing Lv Jie.

Wu Qiangwei has no doubt that once given the chance, Zhou Zheng absolutely would not hesitate to take down Lv Jie, and then put one of his own people in place.

Therefore, the best scenario is for Lv Jie, as Deputy Secretary, to remain unharmed, allowing for a mutually constraining relationship with Zhou Zheng.

This way, Zhou Zheng wouldn’t truly have sole control.

Plus, with Wu Qiangwei from the City Government’s side, the three of them could check each other, achieving a delicate and balanced situation which is best for the city.

Having considered this in her mind, Wu Qiangwei nodded: "Come with me tonight."

Song Guanchao responded affirmatively and got up to leave the office.

He returned to his office, and as he was about to get off work, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Song Guanchao put down his phone, looked up, and it turned out to be Shi Qin.

He smiled and said, "Director Shi is back at work already?"

Shi Qin walked over, looked at him across the desk for a few seconds, and said, "What do you plan to do with Li Song?"

"Did you come just to ask this?"

Song Guanchao felt quite speechless.

Shi Qin remained silent, just quietly watching him.

Song Guanchao said, "How to handle it, you should ask Director Liang. I’m not the police, how would I know."

Shi Qin said, "Avoid sentencing, any conditions you have, I can agree to them."

Song Guanchao leaned back slightly, sizing her up and asked, "Who is Li Song to you?"

Shi Qin said, "He was promoted by me."

Song Guanchao felt she wasn’t telling the truth, but he wasn’t concerned.

"Letting you off is already the biggest concession, Li Song cannot be released."

"Avoiding a real sentence is also unlikely."

If Li Song had confessed at the start, cooperating with him, saying everything that needed to be said, then Song Guanchao could have decided on a dual removal without prosecution for him.

But now, it’s too late.

It’s not that Song Guanchao is vengeful, but the situation is set and the procedures have begun.

The person has already been taken away by Liang Jianfeng, at this point it’s not a matter of whether he agrees, but that Liang Jianfeng would definitely not consent.

Shi Qin’s eyes dimmed; although she guessed that Song Guanchao wouldn’t agree, she still felt very disappointed when outright refused.

"Can the punishment be mitigated?" Shi Qin retreated to the next best option.

This time, Song Guanchao didn’t say anything about it being useless to find him.

Shi Qin came to him because she knew he and Liang Jianfeng were both under Wu Qiangwei.

She knew he could play a decisive role.

"I’ll talk to Director Liang."

"Thank you."

Shi Qin forced a smile, turned, and left.

Soon, it was time to leave work.

Song Guanchao waited in the parking lot.

When Wu Qiangwei came down, Shu Xue followed along.

Song Guanchao asked, "Is Secretary Shu going too tonight?"

Wu Qiangwei nodded, "Get in the car."

Song Guanchao opened his private car, and the two women got in one after the other.

Driving on the road, Song Guanchao asked, "Isn’t Zeng Li driving for the Mayor anymore?"

"She’s got some issues, taking a break for a while."

"Oh."

This girl, didn’t mention anything to him either.

Song Guanchao first dropped Wu Qiangwei home, and he and Shu Xue went upstairs with her.

Shu Xue seemed a bit uneasy, sitting upright on the sofa.

The two waited for about ten minutes before Wu Qiangwei came out of the room.

She had changed her clothes.

Because Shu Xue was there, Song Guanchao also had to restrain himself and didn’t dare to brazenly look at her, for fear Shu Xue might notice something.

"Let’s go."

Twenty minutes later.

They arrived at a private restaurant.

By the time they arrived, Lv Jie was already there.

Seeing Wu Qiangwei, Lv Jie put on a polite smile.

Probably because of the unfounded report fabricated by Zhou Zheng, Lv Jie felt some dissatisfaction towards Wu Qiangwei.

But no matter the dissatisfaction, he could only forcefully suppress it.

As the Deputy Secretary, controlling his emotions wasn’t too difficult.

"Secretary Lu, sorry to keep you waiting." Wu Qiangwei approached to shake hands with him, then took a seat.

Song Guanchao and Shu Xue sat to the side; Shu Xue sat primly without speaking.

Song Guanchao was more at ease.

The dishes were served, and Wu Qiangwei asked, "Secretary Lu, would you like wine or tea?"

"Tea will do."

The waiter brewed a pot of fine red tea, and after the final dishes were served, Song Guanchao asked them to leave the private room.

During the meal, Wu Qiangwei chatted about this and that, leaving Shu Xue feeling lost.

She still didn’t know why Wu Qiangwei was treating Lv Jie to dinner.

The meal was almost finished, but she hadn’t gotten to the point yet.

"The position of City Secretary was originally meant for Secretary Lu."

Song Guanchao wiped his mouth, and suddenly said this unexpectedly.

Wu Qiangwei remained calm, Shu Xue widened her eyes, and Lv Jie’s hand slightly trembled while holding the chopsticks.

He slowly looked up, smiling, "Some things shouldn’t be said carelessly, it wouldn’t be good if outsiders heard."

Song Guanchao smiled mischievously, "Let them hear; anyway, everyone thinks this way."

"Secretary Bao thinks so, Minister Wang thinks so, Secretary Zhou thinks so too."

"Secretary Lu, don’t you think so yourself?"

Lv Jie maintained his smile and did not answer.

This kind of question is a trap, hard to answer correctly and easy to fall into if not careful.

Song Guanchao continued, "Everyone thinks this way now, so whether or not the surveillance was installed by Secretary Lu, you are always the first to be suspected when others harbor doubts."

"That report letter... actually isn’t important either."

"Secretary Lu, have you seen that letter of report?"

"Heh, whether there’s a report letter, if Secretary Zhou says there is, then there is. If he says there isn’t, then there isn’t."

Lv Jie looked at him calmly, asking, "What exactly does Director Song want to say?"

Song Guanchao said, "Mayor Wu hopes Secretary Lu won’t be affected by today’s incident."

Lv Jie chuckled, nodding, "There is indeed some impact, but it’s already passed."

At this point, Wu Qiangwei picked up her teacup and said, "Sometimes Secretary Zhou’s requests cannot be refused. Regarding today’s incident, I hope Secretary Lu doesn’t take it to heart."

Secretary Lu’s eyes showed contemplation, then he smiled, raising his teacup, lightly clinking it with hers from afar.

He heard the underlying meaning in Wu Qiangwei’s words.

Her words had twofold meanings.

The first being, it signaled that Zhou Zheng was very firm in his stance; even with her mayoral status, she couldn’t refuse.

The second was to clarify that the report letter was demanded by Zhou Zheng, and this dinner was meant to clear that matter up.

However, Secretary Lu also caught a third implication from the series of things Song Guanchao said.

The main purpose of Wu Qiangwei inviting him to dinner tonight was to prevent him being suppressed by Zhou Zheng, preventing the City Committee from being dominated by one party.