Chapter 1883:

Chapter 1883: Chapter 1883:

City Committee.

Secretary Pan was reporting work to Zhou Zheng, and he’d also made a related report on the restart of the Cultural Industrial Park in Wensong District.

From the moment Wu Qiangwei proposed restarting the park up to today, there hadn’t been any movement at the park.

Secretary Pan felt that Wu Qiangwei was all thunder and no rain; with her ability, there was no way she could revive the park.

But he only reported the situation and didn’t express personal opinions.

Lest Secretary Zhou form an opinion about him.

Zhou Zheng nodded and showed no sign of asking questions, so Secretary Pan left the office.

Buzz buzz.

The phone on the desk vibrated.

It was a call from Sun Jiajun.

This old guy, physically at the City Government, but his heart was with Zhou Zheng.

"Mayor Sun, busy?" Zhou Zheng said with a cheerful pleasantry.

Sun Jiajun said mysteriously, "Secretary Zhou, there’s been a lot going on at our City Government recently, have you heard?"

As expected, there was news coming his way. Playing along, Zhou Zheng asked curiously, "What’s going on?"

Sun Jiajun said, "Song Guanchao has been down below doing research recently, have you heard about that?"

Zhou Zheng gave a slight "eh": "He’s just a director, what is he doing research for?"

Sun Jiajun chuckled, "Exactly, when I first heard, I thought it was odd too. How does a director end up doing the Mayor’s job?"

If this got out, it would be like putting Song Guanchao on the grill, because this move was overstepping.

Doing something that’s not yours to do—doesn’t that amount to saying the people who are supposed to do it are all useless?

Otherwise, how would it ever be your turn to do it?

Sun Jiajun was just venting to him; he didn’t dare run his mouth outside.

The City Government was now under Wu Qiangwei’s control; he didn’t have any standing at all.

But that didn’t stop him from spreading things in private.

Zhou Zheng thought for a moment and then guessed why Song Guanchao was doing research.

First of all, this research must have been at Wu Qiangwei’s instruction.

The purpose was nothing more than trying to find points to drive the economy under the current circumstances.

Ever since Wu Qiangwei restarted the park, Zhou Zheng had felt a sense of crisis and pressure.

He hadn’t expected her to be unsatisfied with just the park and to be planning to walk on multiple legs, trying things in all directions—swinging the bat whether there were dates on the tree or not.

The two of them chatted on the phone for a while; Zhou Zheng discreetly asked him to keep a closer eye on the City Government’s moves and to contact him promptly if anything came up. Sun Jiajun readily agreed, saying there was absolutely no problem.

As the number-two figure in the City Government, he should by rights be aligned with Wu Qiangwei, but he just didn’t have a clear head.

On top of that, when he first came to Jiangzhou, Zhang Yan had arranged for Shi Qin to install surveillance at his residence and then steered the matter toward being Song Guanchao’s doing.

It was precisely because of that misunderstanding that he became wary of Wu Qiangwei.

So even later, when Wu Qiangwei shared with him the more than one hundred companies they had signed from Pinghai City, it still didn’t dispel his suspicion.

As for Zhou Zheng, he hadn’t fully opened his heart either.

They just happened to share the same goal.

Zhou Zheng didn’t want Wu Qiangwei to achieve results, because that would affect his position.

Sun Jiajun also didn’t want her to achieve results, because he wanted to replace her.

With a shared goal, they naturally stood on the same side.

After hanging up, Zhou Zheng closed his eyes and rubbed his brow.

Recently, with Secretary Tian’s introduction, he’d had a few meals with the leaders of the Provincial Investment Promotion Committee.

On the suggestion of that leader, he planned to attend a summit in Europe at the beginning of next month.

He’d had the chance to attend this kind of summit back when he served as Mayor, but unfortunately he’d been swamped with official business at the time and hadn’t been able to make room.

And this year his top priority was investment promotion; he intended to take this matter very seriously.

On the other hand, he was also closely watching Wu Qiangwei’s moves, wanting to see whether there was any opportunity to get a slice of the pie.

...

It had been three days since Song Guanchao last spoke with Jiang Yongxi.

In these three days, the two sides hadn’t been in touch again, and Song Guanchao hadn’t gone to press him either.

He knew very well what it meant for a listed company to suddenly shift its operational focus.

This was not a decision one could make lightly.

On the other side, the personnel transfer order for Chen Xiangdong also came down.

The Municipal Organization Department of Fuyang City called the district; after the District Chief took the call, he summoned Yang District Chief over.

"District Chief He, you were looking for me?" Yang District Chief walked into the office.

District Chief He asked, "That Xiao Chen in your subdistrict office, what’s his situation exactly?"

Yang District Chief froze for a second, not understanding why District Chief He suddenly brought him up, and said, "You mean Chen Xiangdong?"

District Chief He said, "Alright, drop the act. I’ve long heard people say he offended you. What exactly happened?"

Yang District Chief picked up on the subtext: "District Chief He, what’s going on?"

District Chief He said, "The Organization Department just called me. Chen Xiangdong is getting a promotion."

Yang District Chief was a bit stunned: "Promoted to where?"

"Jiangzhou." District Chief He said, "Mayor Wu of Jiangzhou named him specifically. The Governor called the City Committee and Municipal Government directly."

"Hiss~" Yang District Chief was startled.

Last time the province called and sent him to Jiangzhou on a business trip, he’d been wondering whether this guy had some connection somewhere.

But then he thought, if he really had connections, could he have been suppressed by him for so long?

Besides, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t checked—this guy’s parents were both ordinary people, and there wasn’t a single person on the family tree with a government post.

Yet now District Chief He was suddenly telling him that the Mayor of the provincial capital, Jiangzhou, had named him, and even the Governor had personally called.

This kind of face was so big it could drown in the ocean.

Seeing that he didn’t speak for a long time, District Chief He couldn’t be bothered to ask what conflict he had with Chen Xiangdong.

"Get in touch and have Chen Xiangdong come over."

"Got it."

Yang District Chief’s mouth tasted bitter. If he’d known this kid had a chance to turn things around, he never would’ve offended him.

He went back to his office, grabbed his keys, and personally drove over to the subdistrict office.

Chen Xiangdong was in his office reading documents. When he heard a knock, he didn’t look up and said, "Come in."

He only put down the document when the door opened. Seeing who it was, he was a bit surprised, but not taken aback.

"What brings you here, District Chief Yang?" Chen Xiangdong stood up and poured him a cup of tea, his attitude calm, without any obsequiousness just because of his rank.

"Xiao Chen, I’m here to tell you some good news." Yang District Chief took the tea and said with a broad smile, "You’re getting a promotion."

Chen Xiangdong let out an "oh," not the least bit surprised. From his reaction, Yang District Chief could tell he must have known long ago.

He cursed inwardly: really knows how to keep it in.

Such a big personnel transfer, and he could still be this calm.

If it were someone else, the news would’ve been flying around town already.

Cradling the teacup, he said, "Xiao Chen, there might have been some misunderstandings between us. I’ve actually always valued you. I’d originally planned to have you go down to the countryside to do research for a while, temper you a bit, and when you came back, I was going to arrange an important post for you in the district."

Chen Xiangdong smiled and nodded slightly, saying nothing.

Yang District Chief was getting anxious. He wanted to smooth out this conflict before Chen Xiangdong left, but the latter showed no sign of giving him an inch.

Even though Chen Xiangdong was going to take up a post in Jiangzhou, which had nothing to do with him directly, this time it was the Governor who’d personally made the call.

If the Mayor ever found out about the conflict between him and Chen Xiangdong, the Mayor would certainly have no problem doing the Governor a small favor.

That’s how officialdom was: don’t seek merit, just avoid mistakes.

After all, no one knew whether the Governor’s promotion of Chen Xiangdong was just something he’d done in passing, or if there was some hidden story behind it.

In any case, no one dared to bet.

Besides, he, Yang District Chief, was only a deputy district chief.

Chen Xiangdong simply didn’t like the unhealthy trends inside the system; that didn’t mean he didn’t understand how things worked.

Of course he understood; he just couldn’t be bothered to play along.

And his heart wasn’t so broad as to forgive, with just a few words, a piece of trash who had almost ruined his life.

He put down his teacup and said calmly, "I have work to deal with. If there’s nothing else, District Chief Yang, you should head back."