Chapter 630: A Good Hand of Cards Played Disastrously!

Early the next morning, Hanzhou Municipal Committee Compound.

Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee Song Weiping arrived at his office as usual.

He lived nearby and was always accustomed to arriving early.

The secretary had already cleaned the office, brewed tea, and placed the day's newspaper on the desk.

Yet this morning, he vaguely sensed that the atmosphere in the Municipal Committee Compound was somewhat unusual.

The door to the Municipal Party Secretary's office was actually wide open.

Wasn't Secretary Zhou Chengwu still in Yanjing, and according to the original plan, not due back for another two or three days?

He noticed that more people were entering and leaving the office than usual, so he called his secretary over to ask.

"When did Secretary Zhou return?"

"He came back by train last night and arrived at the Municipal Committee Compound at five in the morning! I heard there were some problems in Tianling County."

Song Weiping raised an eyebrow: "What kind of problems in Tianling County?"

The secretary lowered his voice: "I just asked around over at Tianling County; last night the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection took people and detained Shen Mingcheng. It seems to be suspected corruption!"

Song Weiping's eyes narrowed: "The Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection is moving against Shen Mingcheng? He is a Provincial Managed Cadre!"

"This matter is nine times out of ten true! It is said that in that luxury mansion of Shen Mingcheng's in Shuangshui Town, several boxes of gold bars were buried under two loquat trees!"

"Alright, don't spread this around; after all, the matter hasn't been officially determined yet," Song Weiping instructed his secretary.

After the secretary left the office, Song Weiping's brows were tightly locked. He had a close relationship with Shen Mingcheng, and they belonged to the same camp. As Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, he needed a foothold in a subordinate county to produce political achievements, which was why he had chosen Shen Mingcheng. Now that Shen Mingcheng had slipped up, it meant all the energy he had invested had gone down the drain.

Ring-ring—the landline suddenly rang, and Song Weiping picked up the phone.

"Secretary Weiping, this is Du Chengfeng. I'm notifying you to come to Secretary Zhou's office for a meeting in five minutes."

Song Weiping responded: "Alright, I understand!"

Hanging up the phone, he rubbed his forehead, inwardly cursing Shen Mingcheng for being such a troublesome fellow.

He really didn't know how such a person had managed to climb to the Division Level; to have such a good hand of cards and play them so disastrously was simply mind-boggling.

When he walked into the Municipal Party Secretary's office, Mayor Li Chaoyang, Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary Du Bin, and Municipal Organization Department Minister Xia Hong were already present, along with Secretary-General Du Chengfeng—this was the lineup of the Municipal Party Committee's Five-Person Group.

Zhou Chengwu greeted everyone to sit down and turned his gaze to Du Bin: "Secretary Du, please report the situation from last night to everyone!"

Du Bin opened his notebook and said in a serious tone: "Last night we received a tip and launched a surprise investigation into Shen Mingcheng. Upon investigation, Shen Mingcheng is suspected of trading power for sex and has an improper relationship with Shuangshui Town Mayor Gao Xiaoqing.

According to Gao Xiaoqing's confession, in order to obtain Shen Mingcheng's recommendation qualification, she used her body as a bargaining chip and, by a twist of fate, became pregnant with his child.

Shen Mingcheng is also suspected of using his position to accept bribes; we searched his luxury mansion in Shuangshui Town and found a large number of deposit slips and gold bars.

Additionally, it has been verified that a batch of fireproof materials for municipal engineering in Tianling County had quality issues, and Shen Mingcheng had financial dealings with the involved developer..."

After Du Bin finished reporting the case, Zhou Chengwu looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Let everyone share their thoughts."

Xia Hong frowned and said: "Shen Mingcheng had similar problems before; I remember he had an improper relationship with a female cadre named Gu Lanping at the time. This shows he is not a first-time offender, but a repeat offender. It is truly heartbreaking that such a malignant tumor has appeared in such an important position as County Party Secretary. I believe he must be dealt with severely."

Song Weiping frowned and said: "Shen Mingcheng is a Provincial Managed Cadre; according to procedure, he should be handed over to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection to handle. Will excessive intervention by the Municipal Party Committee disrupt organizational processes?"

Li Chaoyang chimed in: "I understand Comrade Weiping's concerns. However, we should still truthfully report the situation to the province; we must provide an explanation to the common people."

After the four of them finished expressing their opinions, Zhou Chengwu finally spoke: "Comrades, everyone's opinions are essentially consistent; everyone believes that this matter must be handled cautiously and seriously. Later, I will report the situation to the provincial leaders.

Shen Mingcheng's problems are not just a matter for Tianling County, but even more so a problem for our Hanzhou, and I will conduct a profound self-reflection. I also ask everyone to take this as a warning; from now on, you must attach importance to the construction of lifestyle conduct and resolutely put an end to bureaucracy!

Additionally, the position of County Party Secretary cannot remain vacant for too long; we must arrange a suitable candidate as soon as possible. Over the next few days, everyone can actively make recommendations. I believe the province will value Hanzhou's opinions and select a leader who satisfies everyone. Meeting adjourned!"

Song Weiping walked out of the office, inwardly pondering the direction of the meeting just now. Without any surprises, there was definitely no room for maneuver for Shen Mingcheng this time. From here on, everyone's focus would be on who would take over his position—this Spring Festival was destined not to be peaceful!

On the other side, Guo Zhengting rushed to the County Party Committee Compound early in the morning. Seeing everyone gathered together chatting, he felt the atmosphere was wrong and was quite displeased.

Walking into his office, just as he was about to ask the Liaison Officer for information, he saw Zhuo Ming knock on the door.

"Secretary Zhuo, is something the matter?"

"County Magistrate Guo, you don't know yet? Something big happened last night!"

Guo Zhengting sat up straight and asked in a deep voice: "What exactly is going on?"

Zhuo Ming lowered his voice: "Yesterday in the middle of the night, I heard movement in the hallway. I went out to look and discovered someone knocking on Secretary Shen's door, and the person leading them was Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary Du Bin!"

Guo Zhengting gasped sharply: "This matter cannot be spread around recklessly!"

Zhuo Ming didn't know if he was truly unaware or just playing dumb, and smiled helplessly: "County Magistrate Guo, it's already spread all over the County Party Committee Compound. They say Shen Mingcheng had an extramarital affair with Gao Xiaoqing from Shuangshui Town and got her pregnant. He has a villa in Shuangshui Town where he would usually sneak off to have affairs with Gao Xiaoqing, and the people from the Discipline Inspection Commission dug up box after box of gold in the villa's backyard!"

Guo Zhengting swallowed hard. If someone else had said this, he might have doubted it, but coming from Zhuo Ming, the credibility was much higher. He made a gesture to stop, dialed Shen Mingcheng's cell phone on the spot, but no one answered—though it was common for Shen Mingcheng's phone to be unreachable.

Guo Zhengting's heart stirred, and he dialed Tang Ye's number.

"Hello, County Magistrate Guo, is something the matter?"

"I want to ask you about something..."

"You're calling about Shen Mingcheng's matter, right?"

"Yes, rumors about Secretary Shen are spreading everywhere outside..."

Tang Ye was silent for a moment, then sighed softly: "County Magistrate Guo, there is a saying that there is no smoke without fire. There will soon be a major change in Tianling County; you must prepare early!"

Guo Zhengting said softly: "Thank you for your reminder."

Silently hanging up the phone, after a long time, he confirmed with Zhuo Ming: "It seems Shen Mingcheng has indeed been investigated."

After Zhuo Ming left the office, Guo Zhengting walked to the window and looked at the thriving pothos on the windowsill. His entire mood suddenly brightened, and he couldn't help but grin and hum a little tune.

He had had several in-depth contacts with Tang Ye before.

At that time, Tang Ye had revealed some signals to him!

Shen Mingcheng's position was unstable!

In the past, he didn't believe in things like "devising strategies within a command tent to determine victory a thousand miles away"!

But today, he believed it!