Chapter 403

"Hmm." Li Shanshan nodded. "That morning when Bureau Chief Zhang called you into her office and sent me away, was that when she talked to you about the merger?"

Zhao Desan understood that Li Shanshan had worked by Bureau Chief Zhang's side for a long time and knew everything that was going on, so he didn't hide it from her and nodded, "Yes."

"Bureau Chief Zhang and Lin Dafa have a very good private relationship. I reckon she must have told you to pull strings for Lin Dafa during the inspection and evaluation, right?" Li Shanshan hit the nail on the head.

"Right, I'm troubled by this very thing. Originally, I wanted to conduct the inspection and evaluation fairly and impartially, but with Bureau Chief Zhang giving such instructions, I don't know what to do. If I pull strings for him, I feel guilty in my conscience; if I don't, I'm afraid Bureau Chief Zhang will blame me. It's truly a dilemma."

"What can you do if your conscience feels guilty? You can't go against Bureau Chief Zhang, or how will you survive in the bureau in the future?" Li Shanshan said.

"Then what should I do?"

"Just try to go along with Bureau Chief Zhang's wishes. In any case, in my view, even if you don't pull strings for Lin Dafa, he has the confidence to win this merger. After all, the Lin family was the first to open coal mines in Yuyang City; their strength is there for all to see."

"Then I'll listen to you. It's really not easy to survive in this kind of unit." Zhao Desan sighed and gave a bitter smile.

"No unit is easy to survive in now, especially this kind of state unit. I've been Bureau Chief Zhang's secretary for three years, and I've seen too much."

Zhao Desan shook his head with a light laugh and said, "Let's not talk about this. Everyone in the bureau has finished work and left. Let's go eat."

"Hmm." Li Shanshan nodded happily. It had been a long time since she had eaten with him.

The two left the bureau, hailed a taxi to a famous dumpling restaurant to eat, and then accompanied her for a walk on the street for a while. It wasn't until the sky was completely dark that he sent her home.

After Wang Anguo told Zhang Ailing about the relationship between Zhao Desan and Ma Lan, Zhang Ailing didn't believe him at first, but she did develop some suspicions about Zhao Desan. In order not to alert the enemy, she didn't go to Zhao Desan to ask about it. It wasn't until this day when Wang Anguo knocked on her office door and placed a cassette tape and a stack of photos on her desk that she became convinced.

Closing the door, Wang Anguo accompanied her to listen to the dialogue on the tape again and look at the spectacular scenes he had captured through tracking and secret photography. After seeing these materials, Bureau Chief Zhang was furious, believing that this guy had betrayed her. In a fit of rage, she wanted to call Zhao Desan up to reprimand him face-to-face. But Wang Anguo smiled eerily and stopped her from calling, saying with a sinister smile, "Bureau Chief, don't alert the enemy yet. Since Comrade Xiao Zhao wants to help the Ren woman, and we have the Ren woman's handle in our hands, we don't need to do anything else. Just sow discord between Comrade Xiao Zhao and her... Heh heh... I'm afraid she will voluntarily withdraw from the competition."

After Bureau Chief Zhang heard this, she gradually calmed down and said, "Fine, we'll do as you say. I valued this Comrade Xiao Zhao so much, and he promised me he would help Old Lin, yet he dared to secretly help Ma Lan behind my back! I will make his days in the Coal Bureau anything but peaceful!"

From then on, Bureau Chief Zhang no longer trusted Zhao Desan. Now, not wanting to alert the enemy, she followed Wang Anguo's advice, preparing to deal Ma Lan a fatal blow to complete the merger before slowly giving Zhao Desan a taste of her power.

After Wang Anguo came to the Bureau Chief's office, Zhang Ailing had specifically sent her away. She felt something was fishy, so she snuck back up and hid outside the door to listen carefully. The entire content of the conversation was heard by her. However, she didn't intend to tell Zhao Desan these secrets, because the conversation involved the private relationship between another prominent woman and Zhao Desan, which was something she couldn't tolerate. Not only was she not worried for him, but she also wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, waiting to see a good show. Li Shanshan wanted to see how Zhao Desan would handle this secret struggle, and secondly, she wanted to truly understand what kind of relationship he had with Ma Lan. She was still leaving him a chance, just waiting to see how he performed. More importantly, she didn't want to get burned in this struggle.

If he really had an unclear romantic relationship with Ma Lan, then at the necessary moment, she would tell Bureau Chief Zhang about the email Zhao Desan had sent to Deputy Mayor Yu reporting the mine accident.

Both sides were secretly carrying out their own plans, and this day passed as usual without any wind or grass stirring. Zhao Desan was busy in the office all afternoon. After finishing the summary of the morning's inspection, it was already evening, and almost everyone in the office building had left. Zhao Desan stretched, leaned back in his chair, and lit a cigarette, waiting for Li Shanshan to come down and call him. He finished the cigarette without seeing her come down.

Just as he turned off the computer and packed his things to leave, his phone rang once. He received a message. While putting on his bag, he took out his phone to look.

It was Sister Lan. A smile appeared on his face as he opened the message to read it.

Ma Lan was asking him to meet at a teahouse now. Without much thought, he went to the appointment in high spirits.

Upon entering the teahouse, he saw Ma Lan sitting in a corner at a glance. She was wearing a sleeveless sweater, her long hair draped over her shoulders, and her skin looked dark and shiny under the light, looking extremely charming. Zhao Desan walked over quietly, covered her eyes from behind, and asked with a chuckle, "Guess who I am?"

"Let go!" Ma Lan flew into a rage without even asking. This left Zhao Desan puzzled for a moment. He released his hands in confusion, and Ma Lan turned around and slapped him hard across the face without a word. Instantly, a red palm print was imprinted on his face.

"Sister Lan, why are you hitting me?" Zhao Desan asked, covering his face in grievance.

Ma Lan knitted her brows tightly, squinting her almond eyes. She looked furious and asked through gritted teeth, "Why am I hitting you? Why am I hitting you? Is this what you call liking someone, yet doing all this to her?" As she said this, she slammed a stack of photos onto the table with force.

Zhao Desan looked down at the photos on the table in confusion. He saw that these photos were all scenes of him and her being intimate in her company office last time. He felt astonished and quickly explained to her: "Sister Lan, this isn't what I did, it's not me—"

"If it wasn't you, then it was a ghost! Why are you treating me like this? It's fine if you don't help me, but why do you say you want to help me while doing such things behind my back? What exactly do you want? How much money did Lin Dafa give you?" Ma Lan's emotions were very agitated, and she didn't allow him to explain, questioning him angrily. Because she was so angry, her originally beautiful eyes were now filled with murderous intent and hatred.

"Sister Lan, it really wasn't me. I really don't know what's going on!" Zhao Desan shouted at her in his anxiety.

She glared at Zhao Desan with resentment and left in a fit of rage. No matter how he called her, she wouldn't turn back. Standing by the window, watching Sister Lan's car quickly disappear into the traffic, Zhao Desan sat down heavily in his chair, holding these photos of their intimate scenes, feeling completely bewildered. It wasn't until the waiter came over to ask what he wanted to drink that he hurriedly stuffed the photos into his bag, ordered a cup of bitter coffee, and began to drink while smoking alone.

He couldn't figure it out no matter how he tried. When he and Sister Lan were doing that in the office, the whole company had already finished work. Who had the ability to know he was going to find Sister Lan, and know he was going to do that with her? He couldn't figure it out, and now Sister Lan was insisting it was him.

When he had finished half his coffee, Li Shanshan suddenly entered the teahouse, walked straight to him, and slapped him across the face with a loud sound. He was caught off guard, and half his coffee spilled onto his clothes. He thought it was Sister Lan returning, so he quickly stood up, preparing to explain to her again. When he looked up, he realized it was Li Shanshan.

Being slapped twice for no reason within half an hour made his emotions suddenly impulsive. He stood up with a "Whoosh" and roared at her in a rage: "What are you doing!"

"What am I doing? You tell me what you're doing! You liar! It turns out what Deputy Bureau Chief Wang said in Bureau Chief Zhang's office was absolutely correct! You and that slut Ma Lan have something going on! You beastly guy!" Li Shanshan scolded him furiously. Without waiting for Zhao Desan to speak, she gave a "Hmph," turned around, and left.

What Deputy Bureau Chief Wang said in Bureau Chief Zhang's office? Zhao Desan didn't chase after her but stood there recalling what Li Shanshan had just said. Suddenly, he realized the truth. So these photos were secretly taken by that old bastard Wang Anguo? Zhao Desan thought while sitting down, taking the photos out of his bag, and looking at them again. Judging from the angle of the photos, the secret shots should have been taken from behind him. Thinking carefully about the scene of doing that in Ma Lan's office that day, he suddenly remembered that he felt stinging light shooting in from time to time. He immediately realized that these photos were taken from outside the blinds. From this, he couldn't help but think that he must have been followed when he came to Ma Lan's company that day.

Fuck his mother! Zhao Desan slammed his fist on the table, gritting his teeth in anger. In his anxiety, he took out his phone and called Wang Anguo.

Before Wang Anguo could speak after answering the phone, Zhao Desan, in his anger, ignored that he was a Deputy Bureau Chief and directly cursed at him: "You old bastard, you want to fix me? No way! Watch out, I might turn around and fix you!"

"Comrade Xiao Zhao, let's talk properly. Why are you cursing?" On the phone, Wang Anguo suppressed his anger and spoke deliberately and slowly, which further infuriated Zhao Desan. He questioned him on the phone: "Did you secretly take photos of me, you motherfucker?"

"Comrade Xiao Zhao, what are you talking about? What secret photos?" Wang Anguo pretended to know nothing on the phone, his tone very innocent, but a cold, sinister smile squeezed out from the corners of his mouth.

"Don't play dumb, you motherfucker! The photos of me and Ma Lan were taken by you!" Zhao Desan insisted it was him.

Wang Anguo gave two cold laughs and said, "So what if it was? Do you want to eat me?"

The more he wanted to provoke Zhao Desan, the less angry Zhao Desan became. He gave two cold laughs, calmed down, and said slowly, "Deputy Bureau Chief Wang, I can't eat you, but do you think it's that easy to deal with me and Ma Lan using such methods?"

"Hmph, Comrade Xiao Zhao, you don't seem to worry about your future at all. You are still young; don't ruin your bright future for that woman. Our Bureau Chief Zhang values you very much. Do you want to disappoint Bureau Chief Zhang?"

"You're talking to me about the future at a time like this? Heh, Deputy Bureau Chief Wang, do you think you can deal with me and Ma Lan just because you have those things? Aren't you counting your chickens before they hatch?" Zhao Desan said slowly while lighting a cigarette and taking a puff.

"Comrade Xiao Zhao, letting President Lin's enterprise merge with President Gao's mine in this reform is the unanimous wish of the bureau's leaders. Do you want to go against the entire bureau's leadership? I'm afraid that won't do you any good, right?" ===== CHAPTER 404 =====