Chapter 955: Hot Potato

Luo Zhiwei had just kicked Director Liu and Gao Yicheng out when the office door was knocked again. He frowned and barked: "Come in."

The moment the door was pushed open a crack, Luo Zhiwei felt a shock and instinctively stood up.

The person who came in was not a subordinate, but Executive Vice Mayor Meng Qinghe.

Meng Qinghe was followed by a wounded young man in his early twenties, with bluish-purple patches on his face and an unhealed wound at the corner of his mouth.

"Mayor Meng, how did you come here?"

Luo Zhiwei forced an awkward smile, not wanting to anger this bureaucrat.

Meng Qinghe kept an icy face the whole time, saying nothing. That cold gaze alone was enough to make one shudder.

He plopped down on the sofa, crossing his legs.

The young man also got up, standing beside Meng Qinghe, looking around with an equally arrogant air.

Luo Zhiwei studied the unruly young man; even with his toes he could guess it was Meng Qinghe's son—Meng Yu.

The matter of Meng Yu being beaten yesterday had already been brought up by Meng Qinghe at the standing committee meeting.

The Executive Vice Mayor's son was pressed to the ground and beaten badly!

This has already spread far and wide.

I never expected Meng Qinghe to personally bring his son to the Faction! It seems the Meng family today wants an explanation.

Having thought this through.

Luo Zhiwei feigned ignorance: "Mayor Meng, this person is——"

"Chief Luo, stop pretending to be clueless here!" Meng Qinghe said, stern outwardly but weak inside: "This is my son Meng Yu, who was beaten on the pedestrian street yesterday! You, the Faction Chief, do you intend to stand by and do nothing?!"

Sure enough, the visitor means no good.

Luo Zhiwei carefully examined Meng Yu's facial injuries; though they looked bluish-purple on the surface, they were merely superficial abrasions that did not affect facial function.

Having worked in the Faction for most of his life, what injury hasn't he seen?

This injury.

Not even a minor injury.

Luo Zhiwei collected himself, smiling as he replied: "Mayor Meng, young people are hot-blooded; occasional street scuffles are inevitable. The bruise on your son's face will heal completely after a day or two of rest. In my view, there's no need to blow this out of proportion—as the saying goes, a prime minister's belly can hold a boat…"

"What boat? You speak lightly, as if it weren't your son who got beaten!"

Meng Qinghe's face instantly darkened to the extreme!

He stood up, pulled an injury report from his briefcase, and slammed it onto Luo Zhiwei's face. Luo Zhiwei gritted his teeth but held back his anger.

Meng Qinghe added: "Look carefully, this is the hospital's injury report! Multiple soft tissue contusions, facial bruising, mild concussion! And you call this a minor scuffle?!"

"「……！！！」"

Luo Zhiwei picked up the injury report and flipped two pages.

The hospital seal and the attending physician's handwritten signature were all present.

But Luo Zhiwei knew deep down: this kind of injury report is not entirely reliable! For instance, a mild concussion can't be seen on a CT scan; it's based solely on the patient's self-report.

But Meng Qinghe now throws this report out there, with intentions that are not to be feared, they are not vicious.

The Meng family is not just protecting their calf.

They also want to take the opportunity to make things difficult for Luo Zhiwei.

Luo Zhiwei suppressed his anger: "Mayor Meng, please calm down first; let me look into the situation……"

"I'm giving you one day!" Meng Qinghe pointed at Luo Zhiwei's nose and ordered: "Within 24 hours, if you can't catch the person who injured my son, you'll be waiting for punishment!"

"「……！！！」"

Luo Zhiwei gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Since becoming chief, this was the first time he'd been scolded like a grandson, finger pointed at his nose; he had to swallow this anger whether he could bear it or not.

Meng Qinghe is the leader in charge of the Faction's public security system, with authority to point and gesture before him.

What's more important, the newly appointed Secretary Duan Binghua also publicly criticized the public security situation at the meeting, being very dissatisfied with how the police handled things.

After Meng Qinghe left.

Luo Zhiwei immediately summoned Director Liu to the office, ordering him to send people to retrieve the pedestrian street's surveillance footage to verify the assailant's identity.

This time, Lao Liu acted quickly, returning with the investigation results in under two hours.

"Found it?"

"Hmm."

Lao Liu's face turned as ugly as it could get.

Luo Zhiwei said: "Don't dilly-dally, hurry up and arrest the person, go through the procedure."

"Chief Luo..." Lao Liu wore a troubled expression: "The person who injured the Vice Mayor's son yesterday was the Mayor's son—Lin Fuxing."

"What did you say?!"

Luo Zhiwei was so shocked he couldn't even sit.

He stood up, staring straight at Lao Liu: "Say it again—who injured the Vice Mayor's son?"

It was the Mayor's son—Lin Fuxing.

Lao Liu reported with a stiff upper lip: "Lin Fuxing is now with Deputy Director Yang Qing of the Provincial Public Security Department; the people I sent were directly scolded back by Deputy Director Yang."

"「……！！！」"

The sky has fallen; this time there's truly no way forward or back.

Luo Zhiwei plopped down onto the chair, his head buzzing with confusion. He couldn't understand why he was so unlucky, as all sorts of chamber pots were being dumped on his head.

Seeing Chief Luo as if he'd taken billions of points of critical damage, he sat frozen, silent.

Lao Liu again comforted: "Chief Luo, this matter isn't without a solution."

"Let's hear it," Luo Zhiwei said.

Lao Liu analyzed: "Deputy Mayor Meng dares to come here and order us to arrest people; he must not know that the other party is the son of Mayor Lin. Moreover, Mayor Lin's side has shown no movement at all; he probably doesn't know his son injured someone. In other words, there is an information gap, and now only we police know the inside story……"

"Don't talk nonsense, get to the point!" Luo Zhiwei had already lost all patience.

Lao Liu spoke bluntly: "In my opinion, you should personally go find Mayor Lin and lay this out clearly. Then Mayor Lin will personally step in to handle it. Even if Mayor Meng suffers a dumb loss, he has no reason to blame us."

Luo Zhiwei thought it over, nodded in agreement: "For now, that's all we can do; let them fight it out like dogs……"

"Cough cough!"

Lao Liu coughed twice urgently, reminding Chief Luo to watch his words.

Luo Zhiwei replied dismissively: "There are no outsiders here; if we don't speak our minds, I feel uneasy. Hurry up with installing the surveillance; don't give the higher-ups a chance to find fault."

"Understood."

Lao Liu thought for a moment, then asked: "Chief Luo, do you think this Mr. Meng has water in his brain? Even though he knows Mayor Lin's background is immensely powerful, he still stands opposite Mayor Lin."

"He's quite smart; this is a do-or-die situation, putting himself in a desperate place to survive." Luo Zhiwei chuckled lightly: "Before, he was close to Wang Qigang and wasn't favored by Lin Dongfan. Now Wang Qigang has been demoted four ranks in succession, fallen from power, lost his backing. If he doesn't find a new strong supporter, Wuzhou will soon have no place for him to stand."

"The problem is, the newly arrived Party Secretary Guo isn't that capable either." Lao Liu laughed: "Making a big deal out of a fight between two young people shows a narrow mindset."

"Whether the mindset is big or small, it's none of my business." Luo Zhiwei reminded: "Focus on doing your job well; don't stir up trouble unnecessarily, or you could face utter ruin."