Chapter 10

**Update Time: July 2, 2012**

**(Where are the red tickets? I need red tickets!! Don't forget to add to your favorites!)**

Although the Party Secretary had kicked him out, Shen Huai knew he couldn't just leave in a huff. Even if he had to stay and watch the situation develop, it was better than leaving without a fight.

After years at the city steel plant, Shen Huai deeply understood that sometimes excessive pride was not beneficial. Finding a way to turn things around was the most important thing.

The two doctors who had rushed over to participate in the rescue, along with the two waitresses assigned to the sixth building of the Nanyuan Hotel, were still in the first-floor lobby.

The two girls were both pretty, but they were so frightened by what had happened today that they didn't even dare to sit down, their faces pale with fear.

Shen Huai sat down and, seeing their frightened silence, tried to comfort them to get them to speak.

"Mayor Chen missed the rescue opportunity, which is very unfortunate. But it's not your fault. If I had called when Mayor Chen was resting, I might have been scolded too. Don't be too upset..."

"That's right. Mayor Chen specifically instructed us not to disturb him at noon. We left for a moment, and who would have thought such things would happen? Even if Secretary Ge was at Nanyuan, by the time the ambulance was called, it was already too late."

The girl with the ponytail spoke crisply, and her words made Shen Huai's heart skip a beat: Ge Yongqiu was at Nanyuan when Chen Mingde fell ill?

Shen Huai clenched his fists and left the lobby without showing any emotion.

The sixth building was next to Cuilake, separated by a grove of water pines. Opposite was the main building of Nanyuan, and at this moment, the setting sun was shining on the dark brown sail-shaped high-rise, making the lake shimmer with golden light. Only the reflection of the main building in the lake seemed like a dark cloud.

Who could imagine that in this seemingly warm and peaceful twilight, there were such dangerous undercurrents?

Shen Huai pondered to himself. At first, he didn't understand why Peng Yong, the director of the city reception office and the manager of Nanyuan Hotel, had deliberately muddied the waters, but now that he knew Ge Yongqiu was at Nanyuan when Chen Mingde fell ill, he began to understand.

************

Shen Huai didn't go anywhere else. He turned to the parking lot in front of the small building and sat in the car to think.

By late September, the days had become shorter, and the sky had darkened without him noticing. No one had come out of the sixth building for a long time.

Shen Huai, exhausted and worn out from the past few days, felt so tired that he lay down in the back seat of the car to think. He didn't know how long he had been there when he heard footsteps approaching.

Just as Shen Huai was about to sit up, he saw Ge Yongqiu's eyes scanning the car, checking if anyone was inside.

Ge Yongqiu only glanced at the front seat, not expecting Shen Huai to be lying in the back.

Ge Yongqiu's overly cautious expression made Shen Huai more alert, so he lay still, watching Ge Yongqiu stand outside the car, take out his large "big brother" phone, and lean against the car door to make a call.

After the call was connected, Shen Huai heard Ge Yongqiu report to the person on the other end:

"... The first to arrive at the scene was Peng Yong, with no other staff. Chen Mingde was indeed found naked in the bedroom, with his clothes outside. The two girls came upstairs afterward but were too panicked to notice the details of the room. I have already cleaned up the bathroom, making the shower marks less noticeable. If the province sends people down, we just need to insist that Chen Mingde was very unhappy about the lack of hot water at Nanyuan at noon—there is a record of this—so it will be a murky case."

"Um, um..." Ge Yongqiu responded with several "ums" and continued, "Nanyuan doesn't have surveillance equipment, and although there were staff on duty at the sixth building at noon, they happened to take a break for about an hour. No one can clearly say whether anyone entered or left the building at noon. The key is that Secretary Wu seems unsure. He should be able to see something. He is reporting to the province alone in a small room, and we fear he might try to downplay the incident..."

"Yes, yes, you're right. Secretary Wu will try to downplay the incident and unify the story. Since he hasn't done so, it seems he is also unhappy with the province's decision to send Chen Mingde to Donghua. Should we start spreading rumors now?" Ge Yongqiu said several more "goods," "Good... good, we will hold off for now!"

Shen Huai suddenly realized who was on the other end of the call.

Ge Yongqiu was talking to the Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Committee and Mayor Gao Tianhe!

Although it was already cool in the fall, Shen Huai felt the air in the car was stifling and hot, almost suffocating him.

He had suspected that Ge Yongqiu was involved, but hearing him and Mayor Gao Tianhe discuss the cause of Chen Mingde's death was still a shock.

Even if Chen Mingde's death was not directly related to Gao Tianhe, the dirty conspiracy surrounding his death was no less dirty than if they had directly murdered him.

Peng Yong's words were entirely arranged by Ge Yongqiu, and they had even tampered with the bathroom to make it look like Chen Mingde died naked in the room, leading to endless speculation...

They were trying to tarnish Chen Mingde's posthumous reputation to achieve their sinister goals!

***************

After the call, Ge Yongqiu returned to the sixth building. Shen Huai didn't dare stay in the car, fearing that Ge Yongqiu would realize he had overheard the conversation.

Shen Huai bent down and walked to the main building in the east, confirming that no one had seen him in the parking lot before he relaxed. But then he thought: Even if he could stay out of it, how much better would his situation be?

A cool breeze blew from Cuilake, and Shen Huai shivered, realizing his back was drenched in sweat. He forced himself to calm down and think about the underlying causes:

The province was very dissatisfied with Donghua's lagging economic development and had sent Chen Mingde to serve as a vice mayor to revitalize the city.

Chen Mingde was well-educated but had a bad temper and focused on efficiency, which clashed with the bureaucratic style in Donghua. With the support of the province, he had made sweeping reforms to Donghua's economic work, naturally conflicting with local interests and offending many people over the past half year.

The conflict between Chen Mingde and the local faction, represented by Wu Haifeng and Gao Tianhe, was obvious.

However, the deepest conflict was between Chen Mingde and Gao Tianhe.

Almost anyone with a discerning eye in Donghua could see that Chen Mingde's goal was to take over Gao Tianhe's position as mayor.

In the political arena, the enmity of a power struggle is greater than the enmity of a personal vendetta.

Faced with Chen Mingde's aggressive moves, Gao Tianhe's faction had remained inactive for half a year. Even when Shen Huai had a fight at the city steel plant today, Ge Yongqiu had kept quiet and not reported it to Chen Mingde.

In the end, they were afraid that Chen Mingde, with the support of the province, would find their weak points.

In theory, Chen Mingde's sudden death due to illness should have eliminated the real threat to Gao Tianhe's position as Deputy Secretary and Mayor, and they should not have resorted to underhanded tactics to tarnish Chen Mingde's posthumous reputation.

However, the reality was different. Chen Mingde's death could lead the province to send another "Zhang Mingde" or "Ge Mingde" to Donghua to take over the economic work, replacing Gao Tianhe.

The crisis Gao Tianhe faced would not be resolved by Chen Mingde's death.

By making a big deal out of Chen Mingde's death, Gao Tianhe and Ge Yongqiu were actually targeting the provincial government.

**************

Chen Mingde's death would be officially declared as a work-related illness, but the true power in this world always lies in the unspoken rules that lurk in the shadows.

The implicit judgment of Chen Mingde's death would determine the nature of the event.

To make an official judgment, factual evidence is needed; but for an implicit judgment, sufficient evidence is not necessary—only the belief that something exists is needed:

Even if there was no woman, the fact that Chen Mingde was found dead naked in a hotel room at noon, when he should have been at work, would make it hard to believe he was innocent.

To cover up this fabricated scandal, the province might deliberately avoid a thorough investigation, but the stain on Chen Mingde's reputation would never be washed away...

If Chen Mingde's death was linked to a scandal, the provincial leaders who supported his appointment to Donghua would also be embarrassed and might even bear the responsibility for recommending him.

In the future, the provincial government would be hesitant to intervene strongly in Donghua's affairs; even if they sent officials to Donghua, these officials would be constrained and find it difficult to make significant changes.

This was the goal of Gao Tianhe and Ge Yongqiu: they wanted to treat Donghua as their own territory and did not want others to interfere.

Shen Huai had not had much contact with Mayor Gao Tianhe before, but understanding this made him shudder at Gao Tianhe's ruthlessness: he was a formidable and ruthless person!

Originally, Wu Haifeng, the top boss of Donghua, should have played a crucial role in determining the cause of Chen Mingde's death.

Shen Huai believed that Wu Haifeng could see some suspicious points, but given the current situation, Wu Haifeng was also bound by local interests and was dissatisfied with Chen Mingde and the province's excessive interference in Donghua's affairs.

Wu Haifeng might even be deliberately leading Ge Yongqiu and Peng Yong by the nose.

This was the dirty and ruthless political arena.

Compared to the dangerous undercurrents behind this incident, Shen Huai felt that the pressure he faced at the city steel plant was trivial.