Upon hearing the elderly man’s inquiry, Xiao Yu pondered for a moment. He noticed a consultation desk beside the counter with the four treasures of the study—brushes, ink sticks, paper, and ink stones...Chapter 417: Borrowing Money

After Xie Yu hung up the phone, he helplessly shook his head and drove in the direction of the same city.

When Xie Yu returned home, he stayed at home to accompany his family instead of going anywhere else. On the second day after Yun Xi returned to the ancient city, she came to the municipal party committee and government office with a document signed by the Ministry of Health, finding Wan Hongguang, as she only knew him among people in the municipal party committee.

After seeing this document, Wan Hongguang nodded his head. He was aware that the Ministry of Health had such a project but did not expect Yun Xi to secure fifty million yuan for it. However, considering Xie Yu’s presence, these matters were trivial.

Regarding the matter of the fifty million yuan special fund, he naturally wouldn’t pay any attention and even planned to establish a dedicated team with Yun Xi in charge of this matter. After all, the Ministry of Health specifically designated Yun Xi for it.

Fortunately, Yun Xi came to him; otherwise, if she had gone straight to the municipal government office first, they might have only managed to retain ten million yuan from the fifty million. Moreover, even with that ten million, Yun Xi would likely be sidelined, as using such special funds for other purposes was a familiar practice in local areas.

Since Wan Hongguang took charge of this matter, Yun Xi bid farewell and left his office.

If following her original intention, Yun Xi wanted to go to the municipal government to find the leader overseeing health affairs. However, based on his long experience in the government, Lu Jianhong knew well about these dark practices. Thus, during dinner at Xie Yu's house two days ago, Lu Jianhong advised her that it would be better to first seek Wan Hongguang’s assistance as this could save a lot of trouble.

During those few days when Xie Yu was at home, he made big pots of food every noon and invited his grandfather's bodyguards over for meals. During these days, the bodyguards brought their children along to meet with the Xie family.

When these elders recounted what had happened, their children understood why their fathers hadn’t been promoted in many years and why they had lied to anyone seeking information about the Xie family.

Although these young people resented their fathers for their career prospects, they also admired their integrity. Their fathers could be considered loyalists who upheld righteousness.

Moreover, these elders also talked about Wan Hongguang to them. When they heard that the patriarchs of each family mentioned their connection with Wan Hongguang, excitement appeared on their faces. Additionally, Wan Hongguang even asked for their contact information, which gave them hope.

To know, they hadn't been promoted in many years, and now that they could be promoted, they were afraid to be forgotten by others. However, with Wan Hongguang around, their worries were unnecessary. Moreover, they also knew about Wan Hongguang's background. When they heard this, they became even more excited. Who doesn’t hope for a promotion while working within the system

Over these few days, Xiao Yu only went to Ancient City once and had lunch with Yun Xi. However, Yun Xi was very busy and could only accompany him for an hour before rushing back.

A few days ago during a standing committee meeting, when Wan Hongguang mentioned the special fund matter, it was stopped by the newly arrived mayor. Due to this year's city financial strain, his intention was to first allocate these funds into government finances and only gradually release them for basic health facilities construction once next year’s fiscal situation became more relaxed.

However, Wan Hongguang firmly opposed this proposal. As a result, they could only resort to voting in the standing committee meeting with raised hands. And Wan Hongguang agreed to it.

The newly arrived mayor felt secretly delighted when he heard that Wan Hongguang agreed to go ahead with the vote. Although the city government was currently financially tight, there wasn’t an urgent need to allocate these funds elsewhere. If someone else proposed this, he would turn a blind eye and agree, but for Wan Hongguang’s proposal, he had to oppose it.

He didn't mind if there were more funds in the government treasury; that could let his subordinates have a good year. Moreover, recently, he had won over several standing committee members who now supported him, so he wanted to openly assert an advantage and defeat Wan Hongguang in the standing committee meeting with this proposal for raising hands voting.

Since the new mayor was recently very active, Wan Hongguang also wanted to take a stand against his momentum on the standing committee meeting. Thus, Wan Hongguang agreed.

When Wan Hongguang announced that they would start the vote, an odd situation happened on the standing committee: "five in favor and five against." Meanwhile, the standing committee member from the military district did not raise his hand as usual, never voicing any opinions on civilian matters.

Seeing this situation, Wan Hongguang didn’t get angry or frustrated at all. This outcome was both within and beyond his expectations.

Wan Hongguang knew that the new mayor had won over several standing committee members but did not expect that apart from his allies, every other member would side with the mayor instead. Thinking about this, he felt lucky. Fortunately, a couple of days ago when the elder grandpa came to visit, he invited a neutral-standing committee member. Although one left, another stayed.

If he hadn’t called these standing committee members over and indirectly displayed his strength back then, it might have turned out differently today. At that time, even he would probably be powerless to change the outcome.

However, he didn't look worried at all. Instead, he looked up at the military area's standing committee member. The standing committee member felt Wang Hongguang’s gaze and paused before saying, "I agree with Secretary Wan’s opinion!"

The voice of this uniformed standing committee member was not loud, but when his words were spoken, it echoed like a muffled thunderclap in the room. The mayor, who had been brimming with self-satisfaction on his face, instantly turned gloomy upon hearing that voice.

This new mayor had felt proud seeing himself able to hold his own against the city's party secretary after only two or three months on the job. All he needed was one more member of the standing committee, and he could control it.

But with this military man speaking up just now, all these hopes turned into a mirage, rendering all his efforts over the past period in vain.

Turns out that the Song family’s foundation was within the army. This standing committee member from the army was precisely what Wang Hongguang had left behind as an ace in the hole. However, since Wang Hongguang controlled the standing committee before, he didn’t need to use this covert move.

If today's matter wasn't about Yun Xi, but something else, even if it resulted in a tie, Wang Hongguang wouldn’t have used his hidden ace. He had intended to reserve this card for delivering a fatal blow to the new mayor, but since it was about Yun Xi now, he couldn’t not use his covert move.

With six votes against five, they passed the decision on special fund allocation and would establish a team as soon as possible to manage its utilization, with Yun Xi as the leader.

This team had just started everything from scratch, so they were busy collecting various medical institution data in each county. Hence, all of them were extremely occupied; Yun Xi squeezed out some time to accompany Xiao Yu for a meal.

Since finding out about Xiao Yu’s grandfather's identity, even though neither Xiao Yu nor his family said anything, she felt the pressure herself. Therefore, she needed to become more excellent and was now making efforts toward that goal.

Xiao Yu didn’t overly disturb Yun Xi; after finishing dinner, he left Ancient City and returned to the same city.

Just after having dinner one day, Xiao Yu was helping his mother sort out her herbs when his phone rang. Picking up the unfamiliar local number, he answered it regardless of his doubts.

A short while later, Xiao Yu hung up and said to Xiao Jianying and Xiao Yu, "Mom, Sister, I'll be going out for a bit!"

Xiao Yu finished speaking and washed his hands before leaving the clinic. He walked onto the street, standing by the roadside looking left and right but seeing no one around. Just as he was about to turn back, a faint shout came from an adjacent alleyway.

Upon hearing this cry, Xiao Yu turned around to look towards the alley. At its entrance, Er Zhu poked his head out, waving at Xiao Yu.

The caller who had phoned Xiao Yu earlier was indeed Er Zhu. In their conversation over the phone, Er Zhu mentioned that he needed something from Xiao Yu and asked him to come out for a bit. That's why Xiao Yu left home in response to his call.

Seeing Er Zhu's secretive demeanor, Xiao Yu frowned slightly and walked toward him.

When Xiao Yu arrived at the alley and looked at Er Zhu before him, he noticed that not only had Er Zhu become noticeably thinner but also appeared somewhat pale. Furthermore, the faint aura of煞氣 (malevolent energy) that Xiao Yu had observed on his person during his son's illness seemed even more intense now.

"Er Zhu, what’s up Let's head home and talk!" Seeing Er Zhu's state, Xiao Yu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he said this.

"No, no need to go home. I have something to ask of you, Xiao Yu!" After looking around cautiously to ensure there were no onlookers, Er Zhu turned towards Xiao Yu and spoke.

"Oh What is it Speak up! If I can help, I will." Though puzzled by Er Zhu's behavior, Xiao Yu thought for a moment before answering.

"Xiao Yu, do you have some money on hand that you could lend me I’ll pay you back in just a few days!" A look of embarrassment flashed across Er Zhu’s face momentarily but it quickly vanished as he stared at Xiao Yu with an expression full of anticipation.

Hearing about the loan request, Xiao Yu recalled what his mother had mentioned regarding Er Zhu's gambling habits and considering his secretive behavior, he couldn't help but believe a little more.

"Why do you need money" Xiao Yu fixated his gaze on Er Zhu’s eyes as he asked.

"I... I've partnered with someone else in a business deal. We urgently need some funds to keep things running smoothly for now, and I'll return it soon after!" After hesitating briefly, Er Zhu looked away nervously while speaking to Xiao Yu.ing joint inspections was nothing more than a way for them to make money by extorting businesses. These people would find some fault even if you had no issues at all."Little Brother Xiao, do you need...