Official Career Storm

Chapter 1657: Chapter 1657

The two assistants stepped forward, ready to take Su Rong somewhere else for questioning.

But Su Rong had no intention of playing things down; she came here precisely to blow the whole thing up.

Of course she also knew that doing this would put Secretary Hu in a dilemma, but she couldn’t be bothered about that.

Song Guanchao had reported Chen Jie Ming for taking bribes, got him arrested, ruined his future, and he might even be sentenced.

Whether Song Guanchao did it intentionally or not, Su Rong was never going to let him off.

"Secretary Hu, I want to report someone!"

Su Rong raised the letter of accusation in her hand: "I want to report that Song Guanchao knowingly violated the law and illegally embezzled dirty money!"

Huang Ronghua’s face was as dark as it could get, Hall Director Qi also secretly thought this was tricky, and Secretary Hu’s expression didn’t look good either.

He had told his assistants to deal with it because he didn’t want to engage with Su Rong himself, but this woman just wouldn’t let go, clinging like some shrew.

Still, he could see clearly now that Song Guanchao had definitely offended Su Rong.

Secretary Hu was puzzled: Su Rong was an inspector from Beijing.

Song Guanchao was from Jiangzhou; the two of them had nothing to do with each other, so how did this conflict start?

And to file a report, she was even willing to make such a huge scene.

What kind of deep hatred was this?

Now he had been put on the spot; there was no way he could ignore it.

"Let me see the report letter." Secretary Hu said.

Su Rong walked in, ignoring the displeased look on Huang Ronghua’s face, and put the letter down in front of him.

Secretary Hu tore open the envelope, unfolded it, and skimmed through. A few minutes later he put the letter down and said sternly, "Is the content of this report true?" fгeewebnovёl.com

Su Rong met his gaze without fear: "This is the result of my own investigation!"

Thump, thump.

Secretary Hu tapped the paper: "The entire content of this letter is your own analysis and conjecture. There’s no evidence. Su Rong, you’re also a comrade within the Party, and you’re an inspector—you should be clear that without substantive evidence, mere speculation and analysis cannot be used as grounds for detaining someone."

Su Rong said, "I made reasonable inferences, not random guesses. Precisely because I’m an inspector, I know even better how vile the nature of this matter is! As the first person to get in contact with this group of corrupt officials, Song Guanchao has every motive! Besides, this sum of dirty money was transferred in a baffling way; a lot of things just don’t add up."

Secretary Hu stared at her, and Su Rong met his gaze without yielding in the slightest.

"Have you made enough trouble?" Huang Ronghua spoke up.

Su Rong said, "What do you mean, Mr. Huang? I’m just fulfilling my duties as an inspector! If I know someone has embezzled dirty money and still ignore it, that would be dereliction of duty!"

Huang Ronghua’s lips trembled slightly with anger, and he stopped talking.

"Investigate, then," Secretary Hu said. "Since there’s been a report, we should investigate it properly."

"Director Hou, Hall Director Qi, please get in touch with Song Guanchao and have him come back to cooperate with the investigation."

Since Su Rong was determined to blow the matter up and run it strictly by procedure, he couldn’t just pretend not to see.

Director Hou said, "Let Hall Director Qi contact him."

Hall Director Qi took out his phone expressionlessly and called Song Guanchao.

Song Guanchao and his group had just arrived at the restaurant; the dishes hadn’t even been served yet. They were drinking juice when he got the call.

"Hall Director Qi?" Song Guanchao put the phone to his ear, and before he could speak he heard Hall Director Qi say, "Director Song, come back for a bit. Secretary Hu needs to see you about something."

"Alright."

Song Guanchao felt this was a bit baffling. He stood up and said, "Secretary Hu has something to discuss with me. I’ll head back first—everyone, take your time."

No one thought much of it.

Back at the Municipal Bureau, he saw from a distance that the meeting room door was wide open.

Walking closer, he saw both directors, Secretary Hu and Mr. Huang were all there.

And that seductive little young married woman he had bumped into at the door earlier was there too.

Song Guanchao keenly sensed that something was off. As he walked in, he heard Secretary Hu say, "Director Song, sit down, I have some questions for you."

He pulled out a chair and sat at the end of the table.

Secretary Hu picked up the report letter and handed it to his assistant: "Take this to Director Song to look at."

What the hell is this?

Song Guanchao took it from the assistant, glanced at it, and his brow immediately arched; a mocking smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

His reaction was observed by the leaders present, and in their hearts they were basically sure that it was impossible for Song Guanchao to have embezzled this money.

Hall Director Qi’s heart loosened slightly. He had actually been a bit worried, but now he felt reassured.

Song Guanchao put the letter down and said, "The content of this report is untrue. If Secretary Hu doesn’t believe it, you can send people to investigate."

He unlocked his phone and pushed it to the middle of the table. "All the contents of my phone, Secretary Hu can check. I, Song Guanchao, walk the straight road and do things upright—I’m not afraid of being checked."

"However!"

His tone suddenly shifted as he looked over at Su Rong, his eyes sharp: "I need an explanation."

Su Rong shot him a hateful look. "What explanation do you want? Someone reported you, so you should cooperate with the investigation! Even if the report is untrue, that’s still what you’re supposed to do!"

Song Guanchao had guessed that this woman had reported him, and hearing this only confirmed it for him. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

"If I’m reported, of course I’ll cooperate. But the content of this report letter is nothing but subjective speculation from beginning to end, without a single shred of useful evidence. Does this thing deserve to be called a report letter?"

"If writing some random nonsense is enough to make people submit to an investigation, then couldn’t I also just make things up out of thin air and report Secretary Hu, report Mr. Wu, report Hall Director Qi and Director Hou?"

He gave a cold laugh and shook the letter in his hand. "This time, I will absolutely cooperate with the report, whether it’s checking the contents of my phone or checking my bank transactions—I’ll cooperate."

"But as I said, I need an explanation."

"And this explanation isn’t for my own sake, it’s to defend a healthy environment!"

"I’m at least a deputy-department-level cadre. If even I can be casually investigated just because of a report letter with no evidence, then this work style is completely rotten."

Secretary Hu nodded slightly; what Song Guanchao said hit him right where he lived.

If it weren’t for Su Rong’s status, he wouldn’t have paid any attention to this kind of report letter.

But even if she was an inspector, she couldn’t just report others at will like this.

No rules, no order. If today Song Guanchao could be investigated on a whim, tomorrow it might be Director Hou, and the day after it might be him, Hu Yong’an.

"What kind of explanation do you want?" Secretary Hu asked.

"Simple," Song Guanchao said. "Investigate whoever reported me! I want to know why the accuser filed this report. Does this person have some private grudge against me and is purely using this method to take revenge?"

"In addition, I request a thorough investigation of all the accuser’s bank transactions. I have serious reasons to suspect that the accuser is actually a corrupt official who takes bribes!"

Su Rong’s eyelids twitched rapidly, and her heaving chest trembled nonstop.

This counter-move from Song Guanchao caught her utterly off guard.

"Ahem." Huang Ronghua gave a light cough and said, "No need for Director Song to be so angry. Secretary Hu asked you to come back not actually to investigate you, but just to inform you that there’s such a thing and to get your side of the story."

"The content of this report is so vague and incomplete—there’s no way we’d really investigate you based on this alone."

Huang Ronghua looked over at Su Rong. "Who gave you this anonymous tip-off letter? Bringing it straight to Secretary Hu without doing any verification? How have I usually told you to handle these—anonymous letters must first be checked and verified! Apologize to Director Song!"

Su Rong bit her lip. After several seconds, she finally squeezed out a sentence through her teeth: "I’m sorry, Director Song. I made mistakes in my work."

After apologizing, she only felt her heart was filled with humiliation.