knows very well that this is our territory, yet still wants protection; it's obvious something will happen!"As Song Hushan spoke, the others nodded thoughtfully. The middle-aged man in his fifties tu...Chapter 112: The Sons of Officials from the Capital City
The Wei Army had connections with the district health bureau, where he knew an associate who was a deputy director. For someone like Wei Army, getting a license to open a clinic should be as easy as turning his hand. With the help of a deputy director, it would even be easier.
Unexpectedly, when everything seemed to be going smoothly until the last step where the director's approval was needed, he got stuck because a new director from the capital city had just taken office and refused to approve on account of non-compliance with regulations.
Wei Army later learned that his associate deputy director did not see eye-to-eye with this new director. The latter was young, and at meetings, he had embarrassed him twice when he had tried to speak up for Wei Army. As a result, the approval process for the clinic license got stuck.
With no other options left, Wei Army suddenly thought of his childhood friend working in the city bureau who knew about the new director's powerful background since his father had told him that this new director was well-connected with the powers-that-be back in the capital.
When Chen Qing received Wei Army’s call, he didn’t immediately agree but suggested taking the director out for a meal to discuss it. Clearly, the new director knew about Chen Qing's background and readily agreed to it without hesitation. However, before they could make any plans, the director canceled his appearance over the phone.
Chen Qing was at his wit’s end with this matter while Xiao Yu and Wei Army were equally helpless.
The Wan Xiang Lou served food relatively quickly; they didn’t have to wait a long time for another dish after receiving one. By the time the men had finished talking, all dishes had arrived on their table.
Xiao Yu’s group didn’t order much but everything was exquisite and carefully prepared. The three of them clinked glasses while enjoying each other's company without mentioning the clinic license matter again. Given Xiao Yu’s current alcohol tolerance level, even Chen Qing, a seasoned drinker who had been tested by alcohol many times before, started to feel tipsy.
"You guys wait here; I’ll go to the restroom for a minute and we can continue drinking once I’m back!" Chen Qing walked towards the bathroom with half his mind already drunk.
Soon after, Chen Qing returned in a hurry and told Wei Army, "Junzi, have you got the clinic's paperwork On my way back from the restroom, I met that director. He seemed to think today’s matter wasn’t quite right so he asked me to take the paperwork with him for tomorrow’s approval stamping and we could retrieve it two days later."
"What isn’t quite right! That's just his way of showing respect towards Comrade Chen! So what if someone is from the capital Our father is influential in the health department; how dare he refuse" Wei Army took out the paperwork from his bag and handed it to Chen Qing, saying.
"Haha, everyone is just being polite to each other!" Chen Qing smiled smugly and said.
At this moment, Chen Qing was in a very good mood. Originally, Wei Jun had asked him for a favor, which wasn't anything major at first hearing; he readily agreed without hesitation. However, when no one turned up to help, Chen Qing felt extremely humiliated. As someone with a powerful father here in the Deep Sea, Chen Qing valued face above all else. Now that his pride had been trampled upon, even though he didn’t say it out loud, he was already seething inwardly at the bureau chief.
Although the other party had an influential background in the capital city, here in the Deep Sea, he couldn't be dealt with directly. However, causing some trouble and creating a few hassles for him wouldn’t be difficult.
Chen Qing had already decided to cause some trouble for the other side when he went to the restroom; however, things took an unexpected turn while he was away.
It seemed that they weren't intentionally leaving him hanging but were dealing with urgent matters.
From Wei Jun's hand, Chen Qing received the materials and headed to their private room 301. Upon knocking and entering the room, five or six young men were seated inside, while the well-connected bureau chief was sitting at the end of the table.
"Director Li, here are the documents!" As soon as he entered the room, Chen Qing handed over the materials to that young director.
This young director surnamed Li and named Hanbo. He was the second son of the vice-minister of health and had come down to Deep Sea for a temporary position to improve his credentials. After taking the documents from Chen Qing, Director Li placed them on the table and said, "Comrade Chen, they can go to my place tomorrow afternoon to retrieve these!"
While talking with Director Li Hanbo, Chen Qing observed that the main seat was occupied by a young man in his thirties who looked haughty. The rest of them also wore expressions of arrogance and didn’t even glance at Chen Qing as they chatted amongst themselves.
Seeing their demeanors, Chen Qing wouldn't bother trying to ingratiate himself with such people. He handed over the materials to that young director, agreed to treat him to a drink later on, and then excused himself.
After leaving room 301, Chen Qing was still pondering over the identities of those few individuals—what kind of people were they Why did Director Li Hanbo with his influential connections have to sit at the end of the table Were they also powerful figures from the capital
With a puzzled look on his face, Chen Qing returned to room 318.
On the other side, in Box 301, as soon as Chen Qing left, a young man in his mid-twenties sitting by the side said, "Second Brother Li, you're getting more and more old-fashioned. How can you be so courteous to a mere section chief"
"Third Brother, don't you know that mixing with the system requires being considerate of everyone's feelings I could ignore this brat, but his father is an important figure in the Health Department, even if he cannot harm me, he can still cause some trouble. Besides, it's not a big deal; let’s just do him a favor!" Hearing what the man said, Li Hanbo shook his head helplessly.
Upon hearing Li Hanbo's words, this person no longer spoke. Although these people did not mix with the system, they were far from ignorant about it. They understood it better than most, and each of them came from households full of officials involved in the system.
"Here, here, let’s not talk about that. Today, several brothers have come all the way from Beijing for my sake; I shall toast to you!" Li Hanbo picked up his wine glass and stood up, addressing the others.
Among these people were two who appeared younger than Li Hanbo, but he called them ‘Brother’ without any embarrassment. This couldn’t help but reveal that in their circle, age didn't matter like it did in officialdom—whichever father held a higher rank was the boss. Clearly, all of these men's fathers had ranks superior to Li Hanbo’s father, so he had no hesitation in addressing them as ‘Brother’.
Since the elders from their families belonged to the same faction, they came here from Beijing to support Li Hanbo. When Li Hanbo offered a toast, these people naturally accepted his courtesy and stood up, raising their glasses to finish their drinks at one go—only the man in his thirties sitting on the main seat did not stand up; he just symbolically sipped some wine. However, none of the others said anything about it.
Seeing this man also raise a glass and sip, Li Hanbo felt quite pleased, wearing an expression of satisfaction.
A person next to Li Hanbo accidentally knocked over their teacup when sitting down; the water spilled all over Chen Qing's file folder.
Li Hanbo saw this, but didn’t bother with it. He continued chatting with everyone else, and the young man who had tipped over the teacup knew that this matter was inconsequential after seeing Li Hanbo’s lack of reaction; they could either do them a favor or not.
The youth looked at Li Hanbo, turned his eyes, and said, "Second Brother Li, I just love using various types of paper to light my cigarettes. What should we do"
"What can be done Whatever you want! Take it to light your cigarette, and I’ll have them send over a new copy!" Li Hanbo shook the water off Chen Qing’s documents and handed them to this young man.
“Hou San [Third Hou], what kind of bad habit is that When you were with your grandfather before, he would scold you for using local officials’ papers to light cigarettes. Hasn’t he cured you yet” The man sitting on the main seat glanced at this young Hou San and said indifferently.
"Big Brother, you wouldn't believe it. My habit was given to me by my grandfather. Every time he beat me up, I would use the materials from his place to light a cigarette just to annoy him. Little did I know this would turn into a habit!" Hou San said in a playful manner.
"Hahaha... Hahaha..."
Upon hearing Hou San's words, everyone in the room burst out laughing heartily.
Hou San took out a piece of paper from his file folder and put a cigarette between his lips. He then picked up a lighter to light it but was abruptly stopped by someone sitting at the main seat who snatched it away! The person at the main seat picked up that material paper and started looking through it. That piece of paper was actually a personal resume with a photo attached, and the person at the main seat no longer had an air of arrogance on his face as he frowned at Hou San.
Hou San did not mind when his resume was snatched away by the young man sitting at the main seat; instead, he pulled out another one and said with a grin, "Big Brother, have you also taken up this hobby"
The man at the main seat didn't say anything but took Hou San's material again and glared at him while lightly hitting him.
At that moment, everyone in the room noticed the young man with a grim expression. They exchanged puzzled looks as to what was going on; things were fine just now!
"Li Er, where is the person who asked you to do this" The young man at the main seat glared at Li Hanbo while holding the resume.
It was only then that a few people inside realized there might be a problem with the material Hou San had presented.
If Xiao Yu were here, he would recognize that the young man sitting at the main seat was none other than Zhong Lao's grandson, Zhong Tao.
"Brother Zhong, they... They are in room 318!" Li Hanbo looked at the grumpy-looking Zhong Tao and couldn't figure out what had happened, so he stuttered as he spoke.
Upon hearing that they were in room 318, Zhong Tao took a bottle of alcohol from the table and walked toward the exit. The other few people saw him leave and followed behind him. When Zhong Tao noticed them following, he thought for a moment but didn't object; instead, he warned them, "All of you stay in line later on, don’t bring out your usual tricks!"r business. They were just following orders. And there was nothing wrong with what they did—taking in a report of a crime and bringing the people involved in for questioning.The police officers hadn’t...