Chapter 221: The Secretary-General Fails to Steal the Chicken!

The next morning.

Tang Ye's gaze remained fixed on Lin Ru's office.

Once he saw Lin Ru enter the room, he stood up immediately and walked toward that office.

He raised his hand to knock on the door, and a crisp "Please come in" came from inside. Tang Ye wore a perfectly measured smile as he pushed the door open and entered, asking with concern, "Secretary-General, are you feeling any better?"

Lin Ru looked up and saw it was Tang Ye. She pondered to herself: Why does this feel like a weasel wishing a chicken a Happy New Year?

However, in an instant, she squeezed a gentle smile onto her face and replied, "Nothing serious. The doctor prescribed some medicine and told me to get some rest. By the way, how did the reception for the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission Research Group go yesterday? Was it smooth?"

Tang Ye showed a hint of helplessness on his face and sighed softly, "Secretary-General, with you away, we felt like we had lost our backbone. Fortunately, the whole process went quite smoothly. I hope there will be an ideal outcome."

In reality, Lin Ru had been particularly attentive to this reception.

The reception process arranged by Tang Ye had won unanimous praise from everyone.

Especially that set of gifts showcasing the cultural characteristics of Hanzhou, which had garnered extremely high acclaim.

These gift-producing merchants also felt as if a windfall had fallen from the sky.

The Municipal Party Committee Reception Office planned to arrange for the unified procurement of gifts; from now on, any group coming to Hanzhou for research or inspection would likely receive this unique gift.

Although the profit margin was not substantial, having secured an officially recognized channel was undoubtedly a rare brand endorsement for the merchants. Tang Ye had a strong interest in Mu Yunchun's traditional cosmetics. After discussing it with Gu Wenqin, he had her communicate with Mu Yunchun's side to prepare for building a national-style cosmetics brand that fit the internet sales model.

Lin Ru could not help but feel a trace of disappointment in her heart.

Originally, she had taken leave hoping to make Jiang Jing deeply realize her importance.

Unexpectedly, it had instead provided Tang Ye with an opportunity to stand out.

In daily life, the submissive posture Tang Ye maintained when dealing with her was impeccable.

Even if Lin Ru wanted to find fault with him, she truly had no way to start.

"As long as nothing went wrong, that's good. I hope this reception yields ideal results." Lin Ru nodded slightly, her gaze falling on Tang Ye as she asked softly, "Is there anything else?"

Tang Ye handed the pre-prepared itinerary to Lin Ru, "Secretary-General, this is Mayor Jiang's schedule for this week."

Lin Ru reached out to take it and immediately began to review it seriously.

According to the work process, Jiang Jing should have communicated with Lin Ru regarding the itinerary; after all, the Deputy Secretary-General bore the important function of coordination and liaison.

But now, Jiang Jing had bypassed her, which placed Lin Ru in an extremely passive position.

And at this moment, Tang Ye taking the initiative to present the itinerary for reporting, while not improper in terms of procedure, inexplicably made Lin Ru feel a sense of showing off.

Lin Ru knew in her heart that Tang Ye might not have intended this, but her relationship with Jiang Jing had become increasingly tense lately, and her mindset was inevitably unbalanced, which was why such thoughts arose.

Tang Ye taking the initiative to contact Lin Ru was actually to test her attitude toward him.

In officialdom, one must be tactful and make as few enemies as possible.

But if it was truly unavoidable and one had to face an opponent directly, one must never shrink back; when it was time to act, one had to act.

From the test of Lin Ru just now, he could feel that the conflict between the two was already difficult to reconcile.

The root cause was a matter of stance.

Their relationship was somewhat like concubines in an ancient imperial palace vying for favor, naturally in a state of opposition.

Returning to his office, his cell phone rang suddenly; the caller ID was Guo Zhengting.

"Section Chief Tang, this is Guo Zhengting. Are you free lately? I'd like to invite you to a meal."

Tang Ye and Guo Zhengting had once been superior and subordinate.

Because their stances were contradictory, every time they met, the atmosphere was tense, and sparks flew in their words.

Now that Tang Ye had changed positions and had no further conflicts of interest with Guo Zhengting, those past conflicts seemed not worth holding onto following the change in work.

"County Magistrate Guo, hello! Why don't you make some time and come over to the city area? I'll host," Tang Ye replied with a relaxed tone and a smile.

Guo Zhengting had originally been full of trepidation, fearing that Tang Ye still held onto past grudges and would be cold and perfunctory toward him. But he hadn't expected Tang Ye to be so polite, which made him feel a wave of guilt, and he couldn't help but secretly regret having been too rigid with Tang Ye back then; it really shouldn't have happened.

"How about we set it for tonight?"

Guo Zhengting being this urgent clearly meant he had something important; otherwise, he wouldn't have arranged the meeting time so hastily.

This abnormal urgency instantly piqued Tang Ye's curiosity.

"Fine, as long as Mayor Jiang doesn't have any special arrangements, I'll treat you to dinner tonight. I'll arrange the location; wait for my news."

Guo Zhengting hurriedly laughed, "I'll wait for your notification."

Hanging up the phone, Tang Ye leaned back in his chair, his right hand subconsciously rubbing his chin as he fell into deep thought. A moment later, he pulled open a drawer and took out a document—it was a complaint letter regarding Guo Zhengting.

Some time ago, several counties heard that the Nongken Group had plans to build a New Reclamation Area. For a time, Tang Ye received quite a few complaint materials, which were eventually all summarized and sent to Jiang Jing.

Strangely, among those materials, many involved Suiyuan and Chongjiang counties, but there was none for Tianling County.

In reality, it was Tang Ye who had "reasonably intercepted" a portion of the materials unfavorable to Tianling County.

This complaint letter was anonymous, so Tang Ye had a reason to temporarily not submit it to Jiang Jing.

After all, the Mayor was busy with a thousand tasks; one had to accurately grasp what he focused on and filter out information that was irrelevant or not yet substantiated.

Jiang Jing was likely already inclined to let the project land in Tianling County; at this time, submitting these unverified materials was truly unnecessary.

Although Tang Ye had only spent half a year in the Tianling County government, he had his own judgment regarding the content of this material and vaguely felt that this matter could not be separated from Guo Zhengting.

Now that Guo Zhengting was so urgently asking to meet him, it was nine times out of ten for this matter.

The anonymous whistleblowing letter, in black and white, reported that Guo Zhengting had used his position to accept a three-million bribe during the restructuring of Tianling Heavy Machinery.

The letter described in detail how Guo Zhengting helped the former chairman secure the controlling stake in Tianling Heavy Machinery, specifically when he pulled the strings, and what connections and resources he used to operate.

The details were substantial and consistent with the logic and conventions of officialdom.

Tang Ye put down the letter and picked up his teacup, taking a light sip of the freshly brewed tea; the sweetness of the tea leaves spread on the tip of his tongue.

At this moment, his thoughts drifted involuntarily back to the scene in the Tianling County Government conference room, where Guo Zhengting had once been overbearing and pointed at his nose to humiliate him.

That majestic and imposing appearance had made him unable to lift his head at the time.

Who could have imagined!

A few short months later, he was sitting in the office of Secretary Section Two, holding in his hands the key that could change the fate of Guo Zhengting's official career.