In Shenzhen City.
Du Zhaohui confidently claimed he had overcome Mayor Tang’s hurdle, only to find that Mayor Tang didn’t attend the scheduled meeting time.
Secretary Peng said the leader had gone to Beijing for meetings.
An impromptu meeting?
Du Zhaohui didn’t quite believe it.
There was a reason Liu Tianquan could never break through Tang Hongen’s defenses. Mayor Tang’s way of handling matters was interesting. Du Zhaohui wasn’t in a rush – if Mayor Tang wasn’t around, he’d talk with others.
Mayor Tang’s meeting lasted quite long – several days. Young Master Du certainly remembered this show of authority.
Liu Tianquan watched with amusement. Du Zhaohui wasn’t known for his good temper, and everyone around him was as silent as winter cicadas.
The only one who dared to speak normally was Xia Dajun.
Xia Dajun had been frequently going out lately. Du Zhaohui watched coldly, discovering that Xia Dajun had rented a house in Shenzhen, and suddenly called out to him:
“Damn you, keeping a woman in Shenzhen?”
The young master was busy running around, constantly thinking about how to maximize profits in Shenzhen, yet his followers seemed to be living more comfortably than the young master himself, renting a place and keeping a woman. Du Zhaohui berated Xia Dajun: “I thought you were a cat that didn’t steal fish!”
“Young Master…”
As Xia Dajun stammered to explain, Du Zhaohui’s expression changed, smiling while patting his shoulder:
“That’s more like it! What’s the point of making money if you don’t spend it? Serve this young master well, and you won’t have to worry about money or women!”
“It’s not like that, Young Master. She’s from my hometown, she’s in difficulty, I’m just helping her.”
“Helping her? How are you helping? Spending money?”
Xia Dajun nodded.
Money had to be spent, of course.
Living in Shenzhen, everything required money – rent, daily necessities, clothes, bedding – all needed money. Xiao Yu couldn’t find work yet, so Xia Dajun covered all expenses. Xiao Yu had sworn to repay every cent, keeping careful records and even writing IOUs to Xia Dajun. For current Xia Dajun, this wasn’t much money, but Xiao Yu’s attitude made him feel good.
When Xia Dajun admitted to spending money, Young Master Du laughed:
“Spending money means keeping a woman! Alright, don’t be wishy-washy about it – where in the world can you find women without spending money!”
Even he, Young Master Du, had to spend money to date female celebrities. Xia Dajun wasn’t particularly handsome, so why shouldn’t he spend money?
Xia Dajun couldn’t argue with the young master. His relationship with Xiao Yu wasn’t like that at all – she was only in her twenties, and he saw her as a younger sister.
Among the three Xia brothers, Xia Dajun had always been overlooked.
No one had ever looked at him with the admiring eyes Xiao Yu did, and Xia Dajun felt somewhat elated. Being completely trusted by Xiao Yu made him want to take extra care of her. Of course, he couldn’t tell the young master these thoughts – he’d only be ridiculed.
Though Xia Dajun was older than Du Zhaohui, when it came to experience with women, he couldn’t hold a candle to Young Master Du.
Du Zhaohui didn’t care whether Xia Dajun found women or not – he wanted to remind Xia Dajun to never let his guard down.
After the assassination attempt, Du Zhaohui became very cautious about everyone around him. He only announced his outings at the last minute, never letting plans leak to those around him… Though Shenzhen wasn’t Hong Kong, the people who wanted him dead wouldn’t be picky about location. The last attempt was also on the mainland, so Du Zhaohui’s vigilance was severe.
“In any case, you need to know what should and shouldn’t be said.”
Seeing Young Master Du’s stern face, Xia Dajun felt a chill down his spine.
“Young Master, I understand!”
Xiao Yu had never asked about Du Zhaohui, otherwise, Xia Dajun would have distanced himself from her. Though Xia Dajun helped Xiao Yu, his mind wasn’t muddled – he could only help his troubled fellow villager because of his capabilities, and where did his “capabilities” come from? From Young Master Du!
If Young Master Du fell, no one would pay him over 3,000 in monthly salary. No one knew Xia Dajun’s true worth better than himself.
“Young Master—”
Someone ran in from outside with a high-pitched voice, panting.
Du Zhaohui’s eyelid had been twitching since early morning. He thought something would happen with Xia Dajun, but since that front was fine, it must be something else.
“Speak quickly!”
“Young Master, last night in Fujian Province, we lost five ships and over thirty brothers—”
“Damn it! Are you sure?”
The cargo from five ships was worth over ten million!
And they lost over thirty men?
Du Zhaohui sat on the sofa, “Tell me everything from the beginning.”
The delivery time and location must have been repeatedly confirmed. If this was rivals stealing from rivals, there must be a mole. Was it mainland police sweeping the sea area, catching them by chance? Du Zhaohui didn’t believe in such coincidences – all coincidences were manufactured. Losing over ten million wasn’t a small change even for Seng Wing Group. It wasn’t early or late, but happened right when Du Zhaohui came to Shenzhen to manage affairs. Du Zhaohui believed there must be a mole.
“Those people just appeared suddenly, without any prior warning. If Fujian had planned an operation, we would have known somehow… Young Master, none of our people have escaped so far.”
Du Zhaohui’s face was dark, and no one dared speak. Even Xia Dajun didn’t dare make a sound.
This transaction – even Xia Dajun didn’t know about it, so there was no need to suspect he leaked the information.
Du Zhaohui viciously extinguished his cigarette.
Could this be Liu Tianquan’s self-directed show to deal Young Master Du a heavy blow?
Regardless, Seng Wing Group took the financial loss, and Seng Wing’s money would all be his in the future. In other words, Du Zhaohui had lost over ten million for nothing. With his personality, how could he let this go?
“Investigate, let me find out! If you can’t figure it out, you might as well all go home and eat shit!”
These useless rice buckets only deserved to go home and eat shit.
Du Zhaohui had originally planned to see how long Mayor Tang would avoid him, but now Seng Wing had suddenly lost over ten million, and over thirty men were arrested. Fearing loose talk, Du Zhaohui wanted to quickly finalize the cooperation with Shenzhen. Once the Fujian incident was linked even slightly to the Seng Wing Group, any talk of cooperation would become a pipe dream.
Du Zhaohui brought Xia Dajun to city hall, “Secretary Peng, when exactly will Mayor Tang return from Beijing? If Mayor Tang’s meeting will take quite long, I don’t mind going to Beijing personally to report to him.”
Secretary Peng didn’t know Tang Hongen’s return date.
What secretary would question a leader’s schedule? Secretary Peng only knew that this time Tang Hongen went to Beijing not just for work matters, but also to handle some family affairs.
To what extent would those need to be handled before finishing?
Secretary Peng couldn’t answer that question.
“Mr. Du, our progress isn’t slow. While the leader is away, Seng Wing Group could certainly propose a better investment plan, just waiting for the leader’s return to sign and confirm.”
Du Zhaohui still showed restraint since this was the city government office, otherwise, he would have dragged Secretary Peng out to dump in the sea – Tang Hongen had veto power, and without his approval, all these discussed results were meaningless.
…
“Teacher Lin, you mean…”
Xia Xiaolan stood in the office, finding it hard to believe.
Teacher Lin was excited yesterday but didn’t get to see Xia Xiaolan. After a night’s sleep, he was much calmer today.
“You heard right, you’ve made it to the finals!”