Lu Feng couldn't help but laugh when he heard this; it was definitely the funniest joke he had ever heard.
“President Lu, you don’t need to mention Huang Youwei here.” Fatty Tan leaned back in his chair and said, “You’re here to make money. Whoever can help you earn more, you should side with them. Be flexible in your dealings with people. Young Master Zhou’s connections are not much worse than Huang Youwei’s.”
"Why does this sound like I'm being asked to switch allegiances?" Lu Feng picked up the glass of red wine in front of him, took a sip, and said, "The point is, I haven't become anyone's apprentice. Let's get back to the point."
Lu Feng wanted to talk business, but these people didn't want to talk business. They wanted to talk about which camp you were on. They said that as long as you were on their side, they would do anything they could for you.
Wang Shouzi chimed in, "The power behind Young Master Zhou is beyond your imagination. Let me tell you this: the communication system is comprehensive, you can contact anyone you want. As long as you follow Young Master Zhou, you'll be family. We'll support anything from Jiafeng Group, and we can help with any projects or business that Jiafeng Group has."
"Let me put it this way," Young Master Zhou sat up straight and stared at Lu Feng, asking, "I can help you, but you have to let me know whether I'm helping you or Huang Youwei. If you can't figure that out, then we don't need to talk anymore."
Having said all that, there was no more direct way to put it. Lu Feng picked up his glass of red wine, gestured towards Young Master Zhou, and said, "I don't really mingle in these circles. I just want to get things done. How about we settle this with money and cooperation?"
“Then you can’t do it!” Young Master Zhou said with great certainty.
"In that case, at least let me know how powerful our circle is, right? I'm a businessman; if you're truly powerful, I'll naturally make my choice." Lu Feng clinked glasses with Young Master Zhou and said, "A toast to you."
“Since Mr. Lu says so, then I’ll have to show you, but don’t be scared,” Young Master Zhou said with a smile.
“He’ll be absolutely stunned,” Fatty Tan said with a laugh.
The atmosphere at the dinner table recovered considerably, and after another round of toasts and drinks, the atmosphere reached its climax when another girl sang a song. When they were in high spirits, Mr. Zhou boasted to him about how powerful his family used to be in the province and how close his father's former boss was to him.
Don't be fooled by his recent transfer; he's being promoted. His influence in the local area is so deep that no matter which department he's in, everyone has to give him face. What does it mean to be "one of our own"? It means that if you serve your superiors well, their connections become your connections.
At 10 p.m., Young Master Zhou, quite drunk, said he would organize a dinner party in a couple of days to broaden Lu Feng's horizons. He added that no matter how rich Lu Feng was, money meant nothing in Lu Feng's network of connections.
The crowd helped Young Master Zhou into his car and watched him leave. Fatty Tan took a drag of his cigarette, the smoke drifting away on the evening breeze. He turned to Lu Feng and said, "How was it? This arrangement wasn't a waste of your time, was it?"
"But there's still no progress at all," Lu Feng said, taking a deep breath.
“Look at you, in some things, fast is slow and slow is fast. You can’t rush these things,” Fatty Tan said from the side.
Lu Feng nodded and said, "It's getting late, I'll take my leave now."
"Wait a minute, let's go back and settle the bill first," Wang the Skinny reminded him from the side.
Lu Feng waved his hand and said, "No rush. We'll need your help a lot in the future. Since we've come this far, there's no need to settle accounts now, right?"
The two exchanged a glance, thinking that a boss as big as him couldn't possibly stop contacting him over a meal costing ten thousand yuan, right?
Lu Feng hailed a taxi and headed straight for the hotel.
In the municipal government building, Huang Youwei's office was still brightly lit. The vice mayor in charge of finance and the head of the municipal discipline inspection commission sat silently at their desks. The cigarette in Huang Youwei's hand was half-burnt, and the ash broke off under the pressure.
Huang Youwei snapped out of his daze, patted his clothes, and asked, "Before I came here, there was a project in the city to promote telephone service to every household, right?"
"Yes, the city contributed ten million, the province five million, and the post and telecommunications group five million. They installed five thousand landlines, mainly for businesses. This happened many years ago." The vice mayor in charge of finance was puzzled as to why this matter was brought up.
"With 20 million, they only laid 5,000 landline phone lines, 4,000 yuan per phone." Huang Youwei stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and said, "I remember a single phone line has dozens, even hundreds of connectors, right? How many lines did they lay? How much manpower did they use? How many kilometers of phone lines and how many utility poles did they use?"
The deputy mayor was somewhat at a loss and couldn't help but say, "Secretary Huang, there's no need to investigate past issues."
"Why not? Why not? Who made this rule?" Huang Youwei asked the two men. "A tacit understanding, huh? Are you afraid that after you leave, others will investigate your past? I'm not afraid. I want to find out how that ten million was spent back then!"
"Since you're bringing this up, let me tell you something. Back then, it cost more than ten million. After completion, the other party said that the price of raw materials such as utility poles and telephone lines had increased, resulting in a significant overpayment. The three companies split the cost, and the city government provided an additional three million to cover the shortfall," the deputy mayor replied.
“This money is really not worth much. Can we reconcile this account with the Post and Telecommunications Group?” Huang Youwei asked.
"It was difficult. At the time, it was an outsourced company, and the Post and Telecommunications Group was the guiding unit. The outsourced company had long since gone bankrupt, and there were a lot of people and things involved. The owner of that construction company was surnamed Tan. I know that the person in charge of the guiding unit was General Manager Zhou's son, who had just joined the company at that time," the vice mayor replied.
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