Chapter 1124: Giving Su Yang full face, the pie drawn is huge

In Huang Beidou's eyes, a sharp chill shot out instantly; all along, only he had coldly mocked and ridiculed those cadres, and no one had ever dared to talk back to him.

Moreover, what he said face-to-face wasn't just this kind of division-level cadre; even bureau-level cadres had been on the receiving end. But Su Yang actually had the gall to act like this—if word got out, others would surely think their ears were faulty.

A flicker of worry crossed Pan Wenhai's eyes; he wasn't worried that Huang Beidou would strike Su Yang, but that Huang Beidou would vent this anger on him. Fortunately, Huang Beidou merely gave a cold chuckle twice:

"Sure, you're the first person in history who dares to be so genuine in front of me. If this were the past, you wouldn't have walked out intact today. But considering I invited you for a meal, using force isn't appropriate, so I'll tentatively forgive you once."

Saying that, he shouted outside: "Serve the dishes!" Yet Su Yang caught onto his remark, saying: "You just talk about using force and forgiving me—how about this: don't forgive me, just go ahead and use force."

"I'd like to see what it looks like if you actually use force. To be honest, since I started working, no petty thug has ever dared to say to my face that they want to use force; frankly, I'm actually looking forward to it."

Su Yang said this with his hands in his pockets, coldly staring at Huang Beidou. He wouldn't boast about it in a crowd, nor would he claim to handle desperadoes, but this kind of hollow young master, whose body has been emptied by wine and lust, he could handle with one hand.

The atmosphere instantly plunged to freezing point, and Pan Wenhai's face looked especially grim. If he stepped in to smooth things over now, Su Yang might not give him face, and given Huang Beidou's temperament, he might very well vent his anger on him instead.

He even braced himself for Huang Beidou, ashamed and angry, to lash out physically.

However, after Huang Beidou stared at Su Yang for a full half minute, he suddenly burst out laughing: "Secretary Su, you're truly a man of character, just to my taste. Serve the dishes, serve the dishes—let's eat and talk."

"Don't think just because we're in a northern city that I'm boasting—anything that flies in the sky, swims in the sea, or runs on land, if it's edible or you want it, tell me today and I'll have it delivered tomorrow."

"Of course, the premise is that we can become close friends, brothers. Judging by age, we're about the same—I'm also under thirty, exactly the age of vigorous energy. To be honest, you feel different from others to me; I want to sincerely befriend you, and we can selectively forget the past."

As his words fell, various dishes were already on the table. Some Su Yang could recognize, some he could not.

Huang Beidou continued: "This time the preparations weren't thorough enough, so we couldn't serve a few protected-animal dishes; otherwise, things like bear paws—if you wanted to eat them, I could get them. Come on, dig in, dig in."

In the course of speaking, he personally opened a bottle of 30-year-old Maotai and poured it for Su Yang.

Compared to his previous demeanor, this enthusiasm really seems like madness—one foot in heaven, one foot on earth—but Su Yang doesn't care at all. If there were protected-animal dishes on this table, he definitely wouldn't touch his chopsticks, but since there aren't, he'll eat what he should, and he wants to see what this Young Master Huang intends to say next.

After three rounds of drinks, Huang Beidou indeed got to the point: "Su Yang, I'm calling you like this—you don't mind, right? We're about the same age, so you can also call me Huang Beidou. To be honest, within the scope of permission to use my name, only you are allowed to address me by my full name; no one else has that privilege."

As soon as those words left his mouth, Pan Wenhai's expression became even more embarrassed. Although he is, after all, the head of the County Party Committee, here before Huang Beidou he has no shred of personal dignity. Yet he cannot forcibly regain his dignity for himself—if he really did that, he'd likely lose his position as County Party Secretary altogether.

Su Yang merely gave a slight nod: "Calling someone by name directly isn't really a big deal; a name is just what people use to address you—basically it's just a label."

"Fine, since you're so straightforward, I won't beat around the bush either. I, too, genuinely want to befriend you. Why? To be frank, it's because you come from Jingcheng, you have considerable connections and background, and you're also so young."

"Someone like you, I wouldn't dare say how far you could go in the future, but a vice-provincial-level post is definitely within reach."

"As for us businesspeople, we may look glamorous on the surface, but in reality, problems pop up here today, there tomorrow—all kinds of issues keep finding us, and we're annoyed too."

"Of course, if cadres from within the system would speak a couple of words for us, our workload would shrink considerably and our profits would increase correspondingly. We're not like pixiu that only take in and never give out."

"As long as you give us a bit of advantage, we'll repay tenfold—something Secretary Pan and his lot have experienced, so I won't elaborate further."

"So I especially want to befriend you—rest assured, I don't need you to do anything for us; on the contrary, we'll lend you a hand at crucial moments. You also know that nowadays wanting to rise smoothly isn't easy; you need people above to pull you up and people below to push you up."

"But who inside the system isn't sharpening their heads to rush ahead? Wanting to stand out among peers, to get a step ahead, isn't just about ability and background; sometimes it also requires certain financial maneuvering."

"I won't say more about other things, but when it comes to funds, we deal purely in cash flow—no one dares claim they have more than we in this line. So, including me and all the coal enterprises of Liu Cheng Xian, we're open toward you."

"As long as we can engage in strong-strong cooperation, then later everyone will get what they need; you'll be able to step by step climb to higher posts, and all the troubles you encounter along the way, as well as all those shady matters, will be handled by us."

"You only need to speak a word for us at critical moments—for example, if occasionally an accident happens at the mine and thirty or fifty people die, you could say a sentence and turn a big issue into a small one, a small issue into nothing."

"Don't think my saying this makes me seem shameless, base, and disgusting; in fact, everyone does this, and each has their own backing and political resources. Although we also have some passable resources, compared to someone like you—a Young and Strong Faction, a true blue-chip stock—the gap is a hundred and eight thousand li."

After saying that, he turned his gaze to Su Yang. Su Yang lowered his head to eat, making no response at all.

These words sound lofty and righteous, even passionate and stirring, but in reality what they reflect behind is sordid and vile. From his mouth came the offhand remark "an occasional accident killing thirty or fifty people," which seems like a trivial matter, yet he never considered that behind it lie dozens of families.

With such remarks and such generous terms, even Pan Wenhai felt a twinge of envy—back then they hadn't treated him this well. He even wondered whether it's true that the crying child gets the milk. With Su Yang, the conditions are practically heaven-sent, and he too hopes Su Yang will agree without a second thought.

And Huang Beidou is the same; the terms he laid out this time are truly overly generous. If he followed his own inner thoughts, it would be: he'd give you nothing, you just follow him and work, and he'd toss you a bit of money; if you don't follow him, he'd tell you to scram.

But his father, Chairman Huang, gave him a phone call that clearly instructed him to promise substantial funds, with utmost sincerity, to lure Su Yang into joining.

Yet after waiting a full minute, Su Yang still gave no reply.

Pan Wenhai couldn't help but feel a bit anxious; he set down his chopsticks, smiled, and asked: "Su Yang, what's your take? This is a win-win opportunity—who knows how many people dream of it? Give me a straight answer: from now on, in Lieshan Xian's personnel authority, you'll have half and I'll have half."

"The County Party Committee, the County Government, and even the entire Standing Committee will be decided by just the two of us—how about that?"