Chapter 619

Geng Miao lightly tapped the table with his hand, then said slowly: 'At least for the short term we don't need to guard against him, but we also shouldn't provoke him proactively. Because tonight he already took our money; even if we have leverage over him, unless he wants a mutual destruction, he wouldn't dare move. Of course, he's young and hot‑headed, so we still need to be on guard.'

"If he doesn't accept this gift tonight, I have dozens of ways to deal with him; but since he has taken it, he himself should weigh it clearly. 100000 yuan, for someone at his level, isn't especially large, but it's still a huge sum, and there are cameras in that private room."

"Besides, I've already had people investigate his background; when the time comes we can devise a solid plan against him. As long as he's a person, he must have a weakness, and we can take him down. In our Lieshan Xian, either you wear the same pants and walk the same road as us, or you get lost early—those are the rules."

"In short, your behavior today was truly reckless; from now on, regarding Su Yang's affairs, don't act without my order. Not only you, you should also inform others: Su Yang is different from others—he's the kind of ruthless person who would sacrifice everything and dare to pull the emperor off his horse."

"What he has done before is enough to prove a lot; you too should restrain yourselves and not cause any more foolish trouble."

"Before, the Lieshan Xian Public Security Bureau didn't dare to arrest you, not even their bureau chief would say no. I've just learned that the newly arrived deputy director of the Public Security Bureau gets along well with Su Yang; he was probably brought in by Su Yang."

"If you openly commit any illegal or criminal act, that newly arrived deputy director of the Public Security Bureau will definitely come to arrest people. As long as you stay law-abiding and give her no excuse or opportunity, she can't do anything to me, after all he is a vice county magistrate, not the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission."

"Alright, I'm tired too today; go attend to whatever you need to."

After Geng Miao finished speaking, he dismissed Geng Biao, then took out a thick photo album from the drawer, casually flipped a couple of pages with his eyes closed, opened his eyes, and his gaze fixed on the opened photo.

On the photo it read: Guo Yingying, female, 22 years old, divorced, good figure, studied yoga, flexible and cooperative.

On the back of the photo were some indecent records, and even some of his personal reflections.

After looking at the photo of the woman in a bikini, alluring and provocative, Geng Miao took out his phone and dialed a number.

After the call connected, he said: 'I'm at the KTV tonight, come over, yes yes yes. You don't need to bring any equipment; I have everything here.'

That's right—he has so many lovers that even he can't possibly count them all. To make recording and organizing easier, he specially made this photo album, which records each person's personality, hobbies, talents, age, and identity; the most important part is their personal reflections.

Having too many women is also a trouble; they often quarrel out of jealousy, and in private they even come to blows, creating chaos. That's why he set up this special system: whoever he points to comes to serve him in bed, while everyone else just does what they're supposed to do.

At the same moment, in an ordinary house in the suburbs of the county town, under what seemed to be somewhat dim lighting, an old man stood.

He asked: 'Did the newly arrived vice county magistrate accept a gift on their first meeting? Geng Miao's tactics are certainly not low.'

Another person in the room said: 'Yeah, at the time we didn't expect Geng Miao to return suddenly and present a gift in front of so many people. If Su Yang didn't accept it, that would mean breaking with our entire County Party Committee leadership; if he did accept it, that would be openly giving them leverage. In short, this move clearly shows Geng Miao is the more clever one.'

As for Su Yang, I've also heard he has some background and origins, but this person is too young; I've always thought he can't match Geng Miao. I've studied his résumé—although it sounds impressive and he doesn't tolerate sand in his eyes, after all it was at the township level.

What worldly experience have those township people seen? Most importantly, no matter what he does in the township, the county leaders will protect him; of course, what he does is also correct.

But what place is this? This is Lieshan Xian, the Geng family's domain; in the city nobody protects him. Moreover, I feel the higher-ups' attitude this time isn't that firm; if it were truly firm, why not directly appoint him as county magistrate or party secretary? Then his influence would be greater, and he could deal with Geng Miao more effectively.

The old man with a touch of gray in his hair continued gazing into the distant darkness and said quietly: 'You're greatly underestimating the political wisdom of the provincial leaders. Among the provincial‑managed young cadres there are many excellent ones; if their attitude weren't resolute enough, they wouldn't have taken so long to pick this person. If their attitude isn't resolute, then this time even more so the people they recommend wouldn't be able to assume office smoothly, and we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.'

If I really sent a county party secretary or magistrate over, that would leave no room for retreat; it would plainly mean confronting the Geng family head‑on, and Geng Miao's character would surely provoke a fierce backlash. The ones likely to suffer would be the ordinary common people, as well as the relatively okay economy of Lieshan Xian.

The reason we chose a youngster who appears to lack much work experience is, on one hand, certainly because we valued his boldness and courage; on the other hand, perhaps he has an extraordinary background behind him.

Moreover, haven't you noticed? This time a deputy director of the Public Security Bureau also came along, and this deputy director is actually someone he brought in. Besides, this position allows both advance and retreat; as long as the plan is sound, one can handle it with ease.

As for what you said—that Geng Miao's gift tonight was a move ahead, dragging this young vice county magistrate into the water—I don't see it that way; in fact it shows this youngster is not simple. If he didn't accept the gift, Geng Miao would feel uneasy and would try every means to deal with him; if he accepted the gift, pretending to want to jump aboard Geng Miao's boat, would Geng Miao then have no urgent reason to act against him?

At that moment, another person seated at the table said: 'If that's what you're saying, then Geng Miao now has leverage over him—I just hadn't gone into the details yet.'

The gifts we gave these people today—including the County Party Committee leadership—were each a 5000‑yuan shopping card and two packs of Hua Zi cigarettes, but we heard that Su Yang received 100000 yuan in cash. This is clearly a setup to trap him; if someone later reports that he took a bribe of 100,000 yuan, what would he do?

The old man gave a heh‑heh laugh and said: 'Your experience is still not rich enough, and of course it also has to do with the people you come into contact with and your circle. Since Su Yang was directly appointed by provincial leaders, and furthermore he is so openly favored in public settings, do you think they would have made no prior assumptions?'

What if, while accepting the gift, Su Yang proactively reported it to the relevant authorities or directly donated it to a charitable organization like the Red Cross Society?

As for bribery and corruption, to ordinary people it is a genuine illegal and criminal act; but for those with background and strength, as long as the final outcome is correct and truly for the benefit of the common folk, black can be called white. Moreover, they themselves have the ability to handle this sum of money.

That person continued: 'But the Geng clan also have people in the province; their strength may not be much less than that of Vice Provincial Governor Huang. According to your view, wouldn't the end result just depend on how the province decides?'

The old man said: 'How the province makes its decision depends on how far the situation in Lieshan Xian can develop; if in the end Su Yang really manages to dig up evidence against Geng Miao, then the provincial folks won't have much to say either.'

Although I haven't yet managed to find out exactly what Su Yang's background is, I always feel that the provincial leaders' machinations are nothing but schemes and calculations—at least they think ten steps ahead. When they were able to send Su Yang here, they naturally thought of Geng Miao's connections in the province.

And don't forget, no matter how many layers of legal façades Geng Miao wraps himself in, he's ultimately a state‑owned enterprise subject to oversight by the relevant state departments. Over all these years, aside from business, have the Geng brothers committed few other illegal and criminal acts and activities?

Well then, let's not stay idle—let's add a bit of fuel to test the waters and see whether this Su Yang really has the guts and the mettle.