Song Guanchao shook his head.
These past few days he had been busy with other matters, uncertain of who exactly had framed him. He had several suspicions, but nothing definite.
Those people, they all had motives.
Of course, the most likely were Secretary Lu and Mayor Zheng.
Chu Xiao’e asked, "So, have you figured out what to do?"
Song Guanchao shook his head again.
Chu Xiao’e suddenly got a bit angry, "Song Guanchao, do you plan to just give up? Does this little difficulty make you falter?"
"Uh..." Why is this woman more agitated than me?
He gave a wry smile and said, "Let the Disciplinary Committee investigate first. There’re no fingerprints of mine on the cash and gold, and to convict me, they need conclusive evidence."
This matter was likely to blow over without turning into anything serious.
Under normal circumstances, after some time went by and the attention died down, the Disciplinary Committee would declare a lack of substantial evidence.
And then, the matter would be over.
But Song Guanchao knew it wouldn’t be that simple.
The reason someone framed him was for control over Huayuan District.
But now, they didn’t know that he’d already secured Secretary Tu’s support.
By the time Secretary Tu decided on his nomination, they would realize too late, with no hope left for them.
By then, they would be like a cornered dog ready to jump over the wall.
And his bribery charge, although without evidence, would likely be targeted by them once again.
In other words, Song Guanchao was using his own political future to secure this victory for Wu Qiangwei.
As for the cash and gold in the car, whether it could prove that Song Guanchao was framed was not entirely without solution.
If Song Guanchao wanted to, he did have other ways to investigate.
But he didn’t want to bother with it now.
He felt somewhat disheartened.
Seeing him silent for too long, Chu Xiao’e said, "I will help you."
She stood up and walked toward the door.
As she pushed open the door, ready to leave, she dropped a line, "If you don’t answer your calls again, I’ll ignore you!"
Her words, resembling a slight spat between lovers, left Song Guanchao with mixed emotions of laughter and tears.
He picked up a cigarette, leaned back on the sofa, and his heart, previously filled with despair, began to stir slightly with the arrival of Wu Yun and Chu Xiao’e.
With so many people supporting him from behind, it seemed that he shouldn’t let them down.
Song Guanchao scratched his head and grabbed his phone to call Lu Feng.
"Madman, is there any surveillance near the bar?"
"Someone planted something in my car and set me up."
"What? Somebody tampered with your car parked near me?"
"That’s too easy; all my surveillance cameras are high definition."
"???" Song Guanchao asked, "Weren’t the cameras smashed?"
"That’s just the ones outside."
Lu Feng said with disdain, "Haven’t I told you? This bar belongs to my friend. Recently, some people are targeting it, always causing trouble. My friend feared foul play, so he installed a dozen high-definition cameras inside, just to ward against this kind of situation."
Song Guanchao was utterly speechless.
He originally thought to use nearby businesses’ surveillance to see if he could capture anything useful.
Turns out, there was no need for such efforts.
The surveillance was already inside the bar.
"Help me pull up and save the footage."
"Done, leave it to me."
After hanging up, Song Guanchao got dressed, extinguished the cigarette, grabbed his bags, and left.
The accusation had been resolved.
But he didn’t plan to prove his innocence right now.
First, let him have the Disciplinary Committee investigate and let the person gloating behind his back enjoy their moment.
Proving his innocence now would only invite more underhanded tactics from the opponent.
During this time, he’d go home, lie flat, and rest for a while.
To hell with Lingjiang, he was taking off!
His hometown was in Lingjiang, albeit a rather remote part.
Zhuxi Village, located in the West Suburb of Lingjiang, sat on the border between Lingjiang City and Jianyuan City.
Every place straddling the boundary of two cities tended to be underdeveloped.
Although Lingjiang was surrounded by wide and clean asphalt roads, upon reaching the West Suburb, the asphalt gave way to pitted cement paths.
Massive trucks roared past, whipping up clouds of dust, the environment was horrendously poor. Dıscover more novels at novel•fire.net
Song Guanchao took a taxi and followed a small road along the side toward the village below.
After more than an hour, the car entered Zhuxi Village.
Stepping down from the car, Song Guanchao carried his stuff and looked across at a landscape of green mountains and waters.
Several small hills undulated gently, a riot of greenery with birds chirping and insects singing.
A stream of Lingjiang flowed by, and on weekends, its banks were dotted with fishermen who drove from the city just to fish.
Single-story houses and two-story farm courtyards adorned the area like a landscape painting of Huizhou—quiet and peaceful, a vision of serene beauty.
As soon as Song Guanchao entered the village, the villagers saw him.
"Isn’t that Guanchao? When did you come back?"
"Just got off the car."
Song Guanchao took out a cigarette and offered it: "Uncle, come to my place for a drink tonight."
"No drinking for me, I’ve quit."
After chatting for a while, Song Guanchao arrived at the yard of a two-story building.
The gate was about a meter high, made of stainless steel sliding rails; in the yard, an old lady lay on a rattan chair, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, a teacup and radio on the small wooden table beside her.
The radio played the operas that Song Guanchao had listened to since childhood.
The sound of the gate being pushed open caused the old lady to open her eyes.
Seeing Song Guanchao, she sprang up from the chair with an agility that belied her age, without the expected stiffness or clumsiness.
"My grandson’s come back."
The old lady walked over, trying to pat Song Guanchao, but she was too short.
Song Guanchao bent down to let her hand reach his head.
"Ah, my good grandson has come back."
The old lady’s smile was benevolent: "Why did you suddenly come back? You didn’t even tell Grandma."
"I got a long break, so I came back to visit you." Song Guanchao entered the house, put down his things, and asked, "Grandpa?"
"He’s gone up the mountain to collect chestnuts."
The old lady said: "Sit down and take a rest. Grandma will make you some tea, and tonight I’ll cook a chicken for you."
Song Guanchao glanced at the clean yard and thought that the chickens from the next-door aunt’s place were once again in peril.
In the afternoon, around three o’clock, a small old man, about one meter eighty tall and quite lean, returned.
"Grandpa." Song Guanchao greeted him.
A flicker of surprise crossed the old man’s eyes, then he gave a composed grunt: "When did you come back?"
"Arrived home at noon."
"When are you leaving?"
Just after finishing the question, Grandma’s voice emerged from the kitchen: "Guanchao’s just got back, and you’re already hoping he leaves."
Grandpa felt a bit embarrassed, he coughed once: "Well, military duties are heavy, and even when at home, one shouldn’t delay their military service."
Now it was Song Guanchao’s turn to feel awkward.
He hadn’t yet told his family about his retirement.
"Um, Grandpa, I need to tell you something, but don’t get mad."
"Are you dating someone?"
"Ah, retired, you’ve retired?"
Grandpa’s eyes bulged out in an instant, then he looked around, grabbed a bamboo stick leaning against the wall: "You little rascal, what trouble have you gotten into?"
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