Chapter 932

On the afternoon Ye Jiaying was taken away, the project at Cloud Peak Mountain Villa also stopped.

This time it wasn't a workers' strike, but the financial system of Mortal Group was taken over by the tax bureau, and not a single penny of project funds could be disbursed.

Material suppliers couldn't get paid, trucks blocked the site entrance, and steel and cement couldn't be brought in.

The excavator was parked beside the foundation pit.

The driver, cigarette in mouth, squatted on the track scrolling on his phone.

When the news reached the Municipal Party Committee, Wang Qigang was in his office waiting for Wan Xiaoqing's update, but what he got was not good news but an urgent report from Ma Ju, head of the Urban Construction Bureau.

"Secretary Wang, the situation at Cloud Peak Mountain Villa is not optimistic."

Director Ma stood nervously before the desk, and thinking that Cloud Peak Mountain Villa was a key cultural-tourism project watched by the Provincial Party Committee, he broke out in a cold sweat from anxiety.

Bang!

Wang Qigang slammed his teacup down heavily on the table.

Furious, he roared at Director Ma: "What the hell are you eating, Urban Construction Bureau chief?! You can't even keep an eye on a project, causing work stoppages again and again!"

"Secretary Wang, I have already communicated with Mortal Group's executives."

Recalling the disastrous communication half an hour earlier, Old Ma felt like crying but had no tears; as a Division Level official, he had been holding it in all along like a grandson.

Seeing that Wang Qigang's anger showed no sign of subsiding,

Old Ma steeled himself to explain: "Mortal Group's financial system has been taken over by the tax bureau, and Ye Jiaying has been taken away for investigation. Now the group can't even pay wages, and material suppliers are blocking the door demanding payment. I talked to Mortal Group's executives, and they said not a single cent can be moved financially right now, so there's nothing I can do."

"You Urban Construction Bureau chief, is that all the brains you have?!" Wang Qigang scolded angrily: "When a problem arises, just saying 'I can't do anything' settles it?!"

"Even a clever woman can't cook without rice…"

Old Ma strained to say a few more words, but upon looking up, he saw Wang Qigang's deathly glare and immediately shrank his neck back in fear.

Wang Qigang kept scolding without pause:

"Is it really 'no rice for a clever woman'? A listed company with a market value of over a hundred billion—would it halt operations just because of a tax bureau investigation?"

In the morning they audit and arrest people, and by afternoon material suppliers are blocking the door demanding payment!

How can the news spread so fast?

Use your pig brain and think! It's obvious Mortal Group is pressuring government agencies, trying to force them to release Ye Jiaying!"

Old Ma kept his head down throughout the lecture, not daring to utter another word in rebuttal.

Wang Qigang added: "I give you 24 hours to coordinate and resolve this! If you can't solve the problem within 24 hours, step down and let someone who can take over!"

"……!!!"

A hundred thousand mythical grass-mud horses galloped and neighed in Director Ma's heart; he couldn't figure out why, having provoked no one, he was the one caught in the crossfire.

Damn it!

This job really can't be done.

If I keep going like this, I'll eventually become a scapegoat and end up disgraced and ruined; better to go home and be a grandfather than to linger in officialdom as a lackey.

Thinking of that…

Director Ma placed the resignation letter he had prepared earlier in front of Wang Qigang: "No need for you to push me out; I'll leave on my own. This is my resignation."

"Bang!"

Wang Qigang slammed his palm on the table and sprang up.

This time he was truly furious.

Wang Qigang stared at Director Ma, held back for a few seconds, then spat out a harsh remark: "I criticize you a couple of times and you argue back! As a Party cadre, is this your work attitude?!"

"You overestimate me; I truly have no talent for being a contrarian."

At the moment he handed in the resignation letter, Old Ma had figured it out—as long as he didn't cling to that black hat on his head, he was your grandfather!

From this moment on!

I no longer need to watch your face!

Old Ma straightened his back, adopting a fearless posture: "I'll keep this attitude; if you really can't stand me, I can even quit the Party."

"You!!!! ……"

Wang Qigang was so choked he couldn't catch his breath, nearly suffocating.

He pointed toward the door: "Get out!"

"Should I also submit a Party withdrawal application then?" Old Ma asked.

Fuming, Wang Qigang grabbed the documents on the desk and hurled them at Old Ma's face: "Get out or not! Get out or not! Get out! ……"

He threw a document with each curse.

Old Ma raised his arms to block a few blows; leaving was impossible, and from the moment he resolved to become a grandfather, it was destined that he would stride out of this office head high and chest out.

When he reached the doorway.

Old Ma turned back with a smirk: "If you're capable, go out yourself and get Cloud Peak Mountain Villa back to work within 24 hours. Damn it, all you know is sitting in the office pointing fingers……"

"Get out!!!!"

This time Wang Qigang threw not a document but the pen holder on the desk.

Too bad he missed.

Old Ma sidestepped and darted away faster than a rabbit.

The pen holder hit the door with a bang and fell to the floor; the cap of the Hero brand steel pen popped off, as if the word 'Hero' had been torn in two.

Perhaps there was never any hero to begin with.

Wang Qigang plopped into his chair, looking lost and dejected; he hadn't expected Cloud Peak Mountain Villa to halt work suddenly, nor that Director Ma would actually quit his post and go ashore.

This world is too fucking crazy, lunatics everywhere!

Only now did Wang Qigang belatedly realize—that he had carelessly fallen with a clatter into the trap set by Lin Dongfan!

When Wan Xiaoqing went to Mortal Group to arrest Ye Jiaying, Lin Dongfan was also present.

And Lin Dongfan, however, did not intervene.

At the time, everyone thought Lin Dongfan was worried about rumors and afraid of giving others leverage, so he didn't dare to openly protect Ye Jiaying.

Now thinking about it, how could that damned Lin Dongfan be unwilling to protect Ye Jiaying?

That damned fellow simply turned the tables!

That damned fellow, he practically wanted the Tax Bureau to take over Mortal Group's financial system! He practically wanted Wan Xiaoqing to immediately take Mortal Group's sect leader away for investigation!

This is how it comes about.

That damned fellow could then naturally push forward the next step of the plan—let Cloud Peak Mountain Villa halt work!

And Cloud Peak Mountain Villa, which had only just resumed work with great difficulty, if it were to halt work again, the province would surely hold someone accountable! By then, the first to be punished would be the top leader of the Municipal Party Committee.

Put bluntly, that damned Lin Dongfan, by going with the flow, set up this counter‑kill scheme! His aim was simply to take out Wang Qigang in one fell swoop.

"You Lin, I really underestimated you!"

"Damn it!"

Wang Qigang gritted his teeth in hatred, held his hand over his chest and waited a while, yet still felt an indescribable heaviness in his chest.

He closed his eyes.

Wang Qigang then leaned back in his chair, thinking painfully: "Wuzhou is the turning point in my career, Wang Qigang; could it be that I, Wang Qigang, truly cannot get past this hurdle posed by Lin Dongfan? This place ought not to be my final stop……"