Official Career Storm-Chapter 1045:

Qi Yiming's outstretched hand stopped in mid-air.

Song Guanchao acted as if he didn't see him, brushing past and heading to the elevator with Zeng Li.

President Lu stood beside Qi Yiming, seeing this scene, feeling somewhat annoyed and a bit nervous.

He knew why Song Guanchao had such an attitude.

Because previously, in the high-speed rail project, Golden Heaven and Earth had stabbed Song Guanchao in the back.

Since then, Song Guanchao and Golden Heaven and Earth hadn't had any contact.

President Lu hadn't taken this matter seriously.

But who could have expected that this time Golden Heaven and Earth would be defrauded of a hundred million in deposit money.

And this case was being handled by Song Guanchao.

From Song Guanchao's attitude, it was clear he still bore a grudge.

Qi Yiming slowly pulled his hand back, turning to look at the back of Song Guanchao.

After he entered the elevator, Qi Yiming cursed, "What a joke!"

As the chairman of the company, he personally came to the City Committee to see a mere secretary, which already was giving enough face.

But Song Guanchao did not give him any face.

"Chairman Qi." President Lu carefully observed the chairman.

Qi Yiming snorted and also headed towards the elevator.

He came out from the City Committee, got into the car, and said to the driver, "To the City Government!"

Upon arriving at the City Government, he went straight to Zheng Bihui's office.

"Mayor Zheng, I heard that Secretary Song has returned."

Qi Yiming smiled and said, "Could I trouble Mayor Zheng to inquire about the progress of the case?"

"Has he returned?" Zheng Bihui hadn't really paid attention.

"Okay, I'll ask."

Zheng Bihui directly called Song Guanchao.

"Secretary Song, have you returned to Lingjiang?"

"Yes, I'm back." Song Guanchao asked, "Does Mayor Zheng need something?"

Zheng Bihui smiled and said, "Just asking about the case, have those fraudsters been caught?"

Song Guanchao suddenly asked, "Did someone from Da Yuan Real Estate come looking for Mayor Zheng?"

Zheng Bihui was startled: "No."

"Then it must be Golden Heaven and Earth?"

"...Yes."

Zheng Bihui's mind was racing; for Song Guanchao to ask such a question indicated that Qi Yiming must have just sought out Song Guanchao.

Moreover, there seemed to be some conflict between them.

He suddenly remembered.

It should be about last year's high-speed rail project.

Song Guanchao said, "The case is currently in a confidential phase, if they want to know, they should directly go to the City Committee to ask Secretary Qu."

Zheng Bihui didn't dig further, acknowledging and then hanging up the phone.

He looked at Qi Yiming, pondered for a few seconds, and said, "The case is now in a confidential phase, and Secretary Song is not able to disclose it. Chairman Qi, please return for now. The City Committee will notify you once there are updates."

Qi Yiming's face looked a bit unpleasant.

Confidential… that means there indeed is progress, just that I'm not privy to it.

"Alright, thank you, Mayor Zheng."

Qi Yiming squeezed out a smile and left, filled with anger.

...

Song Guanchao arrived at the restaurant and met with Mr. Zhou.

After sitting down, he looked at Mr. Zhou and said, "Mr. Zhou, please take out your phone."

Mr. Zhou was unsure, but he complied and placed his phone on the table.

Song Guanchao asked, "Just one phone?"

Mr. Zhou took out another phone, vaguely guessing something.

Is he going to discuss something important?

Worried I might record it?

Song Guanchao asked, "Mr. Zhou, how much were you defrauded?"

"A hundred million."

"Not much."

Song Guanchao said, "Let me put it this way, some of the money has been recovered."

Mr. Zhou's eyes lit up with excitement.

He immediately took a briefcase from under the table, placed it on the glass platter, and spun it towards Song Guanchao.

"Secretary Song, a little token of respect, don't refuse on my account."

No need to open it, Song Guanchao knew this must be cash.

It was probably no less than a million.

Song Guanchao didn't open it, he turned the briefcase back, and with a serious face said, "Mr. Zhou, don't do this again in the future. If I wanted to line my own pockets, I could have easily pocketed the money recovered this time."

Mr. Zhou felt a bit awkward and was also very surprised.

Is his implication that he recovered the money himself?

If that were true, the money in the briefcase indeed looked a bit petty.

He refused to acknowledge tens of billions, would he even care about a mere million?

"I was abrupt, Secretary Song, please don't take offense."

He took back the briefcase.

Song Guanchao sipped his tea nonchalantly and said, "I just mentioned that some of the money has been recovered."

"But the details of this fraud, Mr. Zhou should be aware of."

"The defrauded were not just your company alone."

"The current issue is, who should this money be used to repay first."

"The bank or the developers?"

"If it's developers, then how much to repay, all of these need to be discussed."

Mr. Zhou felt a slight weight in his heart.

He understood the implication of Song Guanchao's words.

It meant that a hundred million might not be fully recovered.

"However,"

Song Guanchao shifted the topic and said, "I have a suggestion, Mr. Zhou can consider."

"Please go ahead, Secretary Song."

"The city is planning to focus on developing Tongchi District next. The two plots of land destroyed will be put up for sale. If Mr. Zhou is interested, I can authorize transferring your company's defrauded hundred million deposit directly to this project."

Mr. Zhou frowned but quickly forced a smile: "I am indeed interested, but our company is small, and we might not handle such a large project."

Mr. Zhou was not a child to be easily fooled.

Though Song Guanchao stated the city plans to focus on development, there were no supporting documents, how could he believe it?

Tongchi District was an old area with no high-tech enterprises, no large shopping malls, and the entire region was stagnant.

Rejuvenating an entire area's economy isn't a short-term task.

Purchasing land in such a situation, the possibility of losing money was very high.

Song Guanchao smiled, not surprised by his reaction.

Agreeing to their dinner invitation was merely to coax them into buying those plots of land.

Alas, those who can grow a company to such size aren't fools.

But Song Guanchao had prepared for both outcomes.

If any company was willing to buy land, then the defrauded deposits would naturally be fully refunded.

If unwilling, then there was no choice but to deduct a little from each company's deposit to compensate for the City Government's loss this time.

Consider it the fee for helping them recover their deposit.

As for Golden Heaven and Earth and Da Yuan Real Estate's deposits, from the start, Song Guanchao never planned to refund them.

Money that crossed borders, even if not a penny was recovered, was reasonable.

After all, the power of interpretation was with Song Guanchao.

Mr. Zhou, of course, understood the implication of Song Guanchao.

What could he do, there was nothing he could do.

He could only silently pray that Song Guanchao wouldn't deduct too much.

He didn't ask for much; if half of the hundred million could be recovered, he would be delighted.

The portion that couldn't be recovered would be considered a cost of a valuable lesson learned.