The next morning.

All vehicles in Jiangcheng lined up from car number 001 to the twenties, all awaiting an Audi at the highway exit.

Both the route and the highway had been closed off.

The surrounding citizens were puzzled about who was causing such a commotion.

Upon seeing the Audi’s license plates, they all wisely kept their mouths shut and refrained from further comment.

In the lineup, Yang Rong and Cai Qi were at the very back of the fan-shaped corner of the formation, assuming it was a trapezoidal arrangement led by Gu Yuan.

Yang Rong was surprised to see Lin Langsheng actually coming along for the reception?

He squinted his eyes and struggled internally.

If he chose to expose Lin Langsheng now, he would inevitably burn bridges with Cai Qi.

He understood the risk, but thinking about how his share of the cake was almost entirely taken by Lin Langsheng, he couldn’t care less.

It might as well come down to everyone losing together!

With that thought, Yang Rong quietly made his way toward Director Chen’s team.

Because delivering notifications for Gu Yuan was always handled by the municipal office.

Director Chen would definitely understand Lin Langsheng wasn’t a top leader, so a heads-up would make everything clear to him.

Cai Qi saw Yang Rong leaving the lineup and walking towards Director Chen at the front, and he sighed internally.

Yang Rong approached Director Chen, who was in the third row, while the first row was occupied by Gu Yuan, and the second by Wei Chen and Liu Jin’s father, Liu Han.

He intentionally spoke loud enough for the leaders in the first two rows to hear: "Director Chen, there’s something I would like to discuss with you."

Director Chen nodded, signaling for him to get on with it.

Yang Rong cleared his throat to ensure the big shots in the first two rows could hear.

He said, "The city instructed each district to send two representatives, but our district has brought three people today. I’m thinking about taking a leave to finish other tasks."

He was quite tactful in his approach.

He didn’t directly complain by name and surname.

Although seemingly talking about taking leave, he actually drew everyone’s attention to this third person.

Normally, why would Lin Langsheng, not being one of the top leaders, get involved?

Yang Rong had a motive in wanting the city to be aware of the fact that his responsibilities were being sidelined.

Under normal circumstances, how could the third in command take initiative to attend such an event by himself?

Anyone present, given years of experience, would realize there must be something fishy.

It implied that the third was conspiring with the first against the second!

Director Chen looked towards Lin Langsheng from Chongming District, then he simply nodded and said, "Why are you asking for leave now? I understand the situation, we’ll discuss this later. Go back to your position; Head Gu is about to arrive."

Yang Rong nodded and a smile flickered across his lips.

Handling the situation now wasn’t realistic since Head Gu was about to arrive.

But he believed Lin Langsheng would definitely be remembered by Director Chen afterward!

When he returned to his lineup, Cai Qi really didn’t feel like accommodating him and said, "If you want to go back, you can go back on your own."

"Sorry, but Director Chen won’t let me go," Yang Rong calmly closed his eyes.

In the distance, Gu Feng’s Dragon Flag car hadn’t yet arrived, but Gu Yuan and his team could already see the police cars leading the way off the highway.

The spirits of representatives from Jiangcheng City and various districts were invigorated.

Gu Yuan took the lead, gesturing for everyone to stand in order as they prepared to welcome Head Gu.

"We could have just flown directly to the military zone. Why alarm them?" Gu Feng sat in the car, frowning as he saw a long line of Jiangcheng administrators in white shirts far ahead. He glanced at his Secretary Chen.

Secretary Chen quickly explained, "Leader, it’s the will of Head Gu’s residence. It’s your first official outing, and this is also so that the officials from various places become familiar with you."

Gu Feng put down the military base renovation proposal he was holding. When his car reached where Gu Yuan and the others were standing, Secretary Chen got out of the car first.

Before Secretary Chen could walk around to open the door, Wei Chen, who knew Gu Yuan was Gu Feng’s uncle, didn’t dare to open the door.

So he prudently rushed forward to do it for Gu Feng.

Bowing, ingratiating, his posture extremely lowered.

Gu Feng stuck his head out of the car and got out as all the Jiangcheng officials bowed. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

He first shook hands with Gu Yuan, "You’ve worked hard, Uncle."

"You little rascal!" Gu Yuan actually thought the kid was showing off, but seeing him smiling and greeting him informally, just as a nephew to his uncle, it indeed gave Gu Yuan face.

Touched slightly, Gu Yuan laughed and patted Gu Feng on the shoulder.

Gu Feng then shook hands with other key officials next to Gu Yuan.

"You’ve worked hard."

"Not at all, not at all; welcome Head Gu for overseeing our work in Jiangcheng."

Whether Wei Chen or Liu Han, everyone seemed pleasantly surprised as they bent down and shook Gu Feng’s hand with both hands.

Their amiability was because of his uncle being present, which was for his uncle’s face, not theirs.

They were clearly aware of this since, after all, this was a work reception.

Thus, the representatives from the districts, knowing their place, did not step forward to shake hands. Instead, they kept their hands crossed in front of them, smiling and standing by like extras throughout.

Gu Feng then shook hands with people like Wei Chen in the second row, but he didn’t bother with the others, not out of snobbery, but because his casually appointed Li Yan already had an uncle like Gu Yuan in terms of rank; so he really saw no need to cater to the others.

Being at the level of a Hall Master, he no longer needed to worry about offending anyone; his eyes were only set on lofty national and communal aspirations!

Seeing that Gu Feng had no intention of further small talk, everyone quickly cleared a path for him. Gu Feng took the lead and walked through. He just happened to see Lin Langsheng in the lineup.

Although slightly surprised, he was not pretentious and smiled as he walked over to shake hands.