Chapter 1010: There

Upon hearing this, everyone present showed a look of startled surprise, but they quickly caught on; it seems Secretary Zhang and the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport's nephew Jia Guolong are indeed familiar!

However, what this young Jia said seemed off; could they have some premeditation?

That would be a huge loss of face: a Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee can't handle a Vice County Magistrate, yet seeks outside help and tries to set a trap.

If this got out, they'd be laughing their teeth off. With such political skill and competence, how can one even be a Deputy Secretary?

Zhang Jiangbo's face instantly turned the color of pork liver; he hadn't expected that once the call connected, Jia Guolong would immediately bring up the previous matter.

He was on speakerphone! He hurriedly said, "Comrade Jia Guolong…"

The moment he opened his mouth, Jia Guolong blasted him, "Did your brain burn out? What's with 'Comrade Jia Guolong', did you mess things up again?"

"Earlier you told me that regarding your sand‑mining case, you intend to release the involved personnel on site; that way Su Yang will strike back fiercely and will have to take those people down."

"Thus Su Yang would be completely at odds with the county magistrate and his clique, which would be absolutely effective for you to control the county's discourse power."

"Moreover, I've already informed the relevant city leaders; they'll support you later. If you still can't handle Su Yang, I think you should quit being County Party Secretary and go back to the enterprise to idle."

Zhang Jiangbo was already dead inside. In private, Jia Guolong would ride his head and piss on him, claiming the urine was sweet, extracted from 1982's sugarcane.

But in front of so many people, especially the leadership of the County Standing Committee, and with Su Yang here, how could he save face?

Yet he dared not launch a patriotic tirade at Jia Guolong, nor hang up Jia Guolong's call outright; otherwise, although he might not be removed immediately as County Party Secretary, his future career would be certainly frozen.

He stammered, "I'm on speakerphone here at the Standing Committee, what nonsense are you spouting? Were you out drinking at a reception again today?"

"I called you mainly to discuss the project; you know our current situation, and I hope you can pull some strings for us. We can't come up with the two hundred million matching funds."

"So you must help with this; Comrade Su Yang will soon return to Jingcheng specifically for this matter."

"All the comrades in the County Party Committee fear the funding won't be approved, so they unanimously asked me to use my personal connections to make this call."

Awkward as it is, humiliating as it is, it's still essential to force a recovery now.

Otherwise his face would truly hit the floor.

When he said that, Jia Guolong immediately understood and muttered inwardly, "Zhang Jiangbo, Zhang Jiangbo, you damn fool, calling me on speakerphone at the Standing Committee, what's with the speakerphone?"

But he still replied, "Fine, I got it. I'll call Executive Vice Minister Pang of the Ministry of Transport, but as for how the comrades in your county should speak or act, that's not my concern."

"I have no problem on my end; whether you can get the money is your own issue."

Zhang Jiangbo's complexion finally eased a bit, and he said, "Alright, thank you, Jia Guolong."

Before he could finish, Jia Guolong hung up on his end.

The atmosphere instantly became unbearably awkward; it was meant to showcase connections and personal authority, but it ended up as an ultimate face‑slap moment.

Zhang Jiangbo stayed silent with a dark face, and the others dared not utter a word. For a moment, the conference room was so quiet that even the sound of breathing seemed especially clear.

Even Qi Guohui didn't dare step forward to speak up and defuse the situation; a misstep could invite a barrage of rebukes.

At this moment, Zhang Jiangbo desperately needed someone to vent on; only a clueless person would speak up now.

Fortunately, Zhang Jiangbo's secretary knocked and entered, saying, "Secretary Zhang, Comrade Ma Su from the government office is here; he says he has important documents to deliver."

Zhang Jiangbo, still with a dark face, said, "Let him in."

He also silently breathed a sigh of relief; as long as Su Yang's transaction details are brought in and confirm those two deposits, his lingering resentment could finally be vented a bit.

Ma Su pushed the door open, ready to boast, but upon seeing everyone's expressions, he instantly swallowed the flashy remarks he had intended to say.

He said, "Secretary Zhang, County Magistrate Zhao, leaders, this is the transaction record I retrieved from the bank, and I have also made copies."

Zhang Jiangbo said, "Good, distribute it to the comrades so everyone can see."

Zhang Jiangbo thought that Ma Su's involvement was far more useful; compared to a pig‑headed Qi Guohui, he was hundreds of times smarter. If he were to read the record himself or circulate it after reading, it would clearly affect the impact.

But if everyone sees it immediately, that would be a different effect.

Sure enough, when everyone saw Su Yang's transaction record, they couldn't help but frown. Even if some understood the situation, putting on a show was still necessary.

Some even displayed a flash of indignation, their gazes at Su Yang full of contempt.

Su Yang also looked at his own transaction record and indeed saw two deposits: one of exactly 50,000, and another of 68,000.

Moreover, the deposit dates weren't recent; they were two days before he handed the project over to Hou Junlai and Zhou Yanru's people earlier this year.

One must admit, these people set the trap quite meticulously, even colluding with bank staff to deliberately advance the timestamps of those two entries.

After glancing twice at the transaction record in his hand, Zhang Jiangbo looked up and said to the crowd, "You've seen the statement; if I recall correctly, this dates to the two days before the project was awarded."

"Although I wasn't in office then, after I took the post I familiarized myself with all last year's work."

"So I think, Comrade Su Yang should have an explanation, right?"

All the twists and turns led to this very moment.

When his words fell, everyone's gaze snapped onto Su Yang, as if the earlier ultimate face‑slap moment had been completely forgotten.

At this moment, Chen Bo and the other two were sweating nervously.

Originally Chen Bo had thought that if the trap was set in those two days, they could exploit the timing loophole for a counterattack, but now it seemed the scheme was flawless.

For a moment, Chen Bo couldn't help but become nervous.