Chapter 936: Chapter 936

Bright lights illuminated the spacious conference room, where people exchanged glances around a long conference table.

Although the Cabinet’s meeting room in the Mayor’s Mansion of Yilan City was originally designed to accommodate meetings of up to fifty people, since Mr. Lin En had taken office as mayor and formed a new Cabinet a year ago, this was only the second time so many Cabinet members had gathered together.

The first time was not in this Cabinet meeting room but in the banquet hall of the Mayor’s Mansion during the new mayor’s inauguration banquet.

Usually, the Cabinet’s decisions were made by the mayor and the ministers from seven major departments.

Even if matters involved other departments, only the ministers related to the issues would be called for a meeting, rather than convening all members.

As more and more Cabinet members arrived and exchanged friendly greetings, the atmosphere, which was originally relaxed, gradually became tense.

This tension reached a peak after Deputy Mayor Lante arrived.

Watching the deputy mayor take a seat next to the primary seat at the conference table, the man at the back end of the table—a lean man with a Van Dyke beard, wearing a gray suit and a gold pocket watch—bowed his head and asked the slightly overweight man beside him in a low voice,

"Do you have any news? The mayor suddenly called us all together..."

The overweight man leaned back in his chair and shook his head, "I haven’t been able to contact Mayor Lin En since last night."

"Aren’t you part of Mayor Lin En’s faction?"

The man with the beard looked puzzled, "He didn’t answer your calls either?"

"Apparently, all incoming calls since last night were not connected."

The overweight man shook his head, glancing at the main seat where Deputy Mayor Lante, who seemed deep in thought, was seated, "Including Deputy Mayor Lante."

"If the mayor were really assassinated, he would be the biggest beneficiary."

The Van Dyke-bearded man also glanced at Deputy Mayor Lante, "It seems the relationship between our mayor and deputy mayor will not improve."

"But I actually believe that Deputy Mayor Lante wouldn’t do such a thing, considering he had no reason to assassinate Mayor Lin En,"

The overweight man sighed softly, "Their conflict had not escalated to that extent, not to the point of life and death."

"Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter,"

The Van Dyke-bearded man averted his gaze and shrugged slightly, "It matters whether Mr. Mayor believes it."

"It looks like the next few days are destined to be troubled."

The overweight man shook his head.

"Troubled or not, truth be told, I now realize,"

The man with the beard lowered his voice, "Our mayor might not last long. His conflict with the Consortium has become extremely sharp to the point of life and death, and he has also lost control over the City Defense Army. A coup could happen at any time, and by then, we might not even recover his body intact."

"Don’t talk nonsense!"

The overweight man quickly glanced around and whispered.

"I’m just repeating the current situation,"

The Van Dyke-bearded man slightly bowed his head and quickly scanned the people around the table.

At that moment, most of them were gathered in pairs, quietly discussing different matters, with expressions ranging from thoughtful to solemn.

He withdrew his gaze and looked again at the overweight man beside him, "Everyone knows the situation and has probably been preparing for a while now. Don’t tell me you haven’t been in touch with Levis."

Upon hearing the name Levis, the overweight man’s eyes widened in shock; he lowered his head quickly and said, "What are you talking about?"

The man with the goatee shook his head and smiled, "Levis has also made contact with me,"

He glanced at the crowd again, "And those sitting here probably all have more or less some connections with Levis. Everyone knows that Mr. Lin En won’t hold up much longer, so they’re likely making plans early. Those who perform well might even become members of the new cabinet once the new mayor takes office."

"I don’t have so many thoughts,"

The stout man paused, glancing at the goatee man’s cheeks, "Levis and I are just making normal friends."

"It’s all about making friends,"

The goatee man smiled again, glancing at the empty main seat at the conference table, and said thoughtfully, "Do you think if the mayor and the deputy mayor really disagreed, he would force the deputy mayor to resign?"

"It’s unlikely, we all know Mr. Lin En’s character. He’s too soft-hearted to do something so ’radical’."

The stout man shook his head.

"Who can be sure? After all, a person who has gone through a life-and-death experience might undergo some significant changes,"

The goatee man mused, "And our Deputy Mayor Lante is quite a tough character. If the mayor is showing such clear signs of distrust, and if the assassination really had nothing to do with Mayor Lante, I suspect he would be unable to bear the criticism and would resign."

He leaned back in his chair, reached into his breast pocket, and touched the chain of his gold pocket watch thoughtfully, "If the deputy mayor resigns, who do you think Mr. Lin En will nominate as his successor?"

According to the laws of Yilan City, if the deputy mayor resigns or dies during their term, the mayor has the authority to nominate a new candidate for the position, who must then be confirmed by a simple majority in the city council.

"Definitely not you or me,"

The stout man shook his head, then looked toward the top seats at the conference table, his eyebrows slightly furrowing, "The Minister of Internal Affairs isn’t here? Isn’t he favored by the mayor? Every time there’s an issue, he’s the quickest to act, always the first to show his loyalty in public."

"Right, he’s the quickest,"

Hearing the stout man’s words, the man with the goatee shrugged, "So he ran. If you think Mr. Lin En would nominate the Minister of Internal Affairs as the deputy mayor, you’re probably going to be disappointed."

The stout man was taken aback, struggling to understand what the goatee man meant.

"Ran, just as the word suggests. That guy has better intelligence than us; he knew about Mr. Lin En’s assassination attempt last night and ran right out of Yilan City."

The goatee man said with a hint of sarcasm.

The stout man was somewhat incredulous, "Where did you get this news?"

"From a mutual friend of ours."

The goatee man withdrew his gaze, speaking softly, "When he ran away, he used some of our mutual friend’s channels."

The stout man spoke in a lowered voice, incredulously looking again at the empty seat, "The Minister of Internal Affairs has always been very aggressive. I thought he was one of Mr. Lin En’s staunch supporters."

"Loyalty can be feigned, can’t it? Until the critical moment, who really knows what someone is thinking deep down?"

The goatee man laughed, "If Mr. Lin En is willing to nominate me as the deputy mayor, then I am also Mr. Lin En’s most loyal servant!"

"Tsk, he probably thought Mr. Lin En was a goner, so he ran to avoid the storm."

The stout man smacked his lips, "With this strategy, if we really get a new mayor supported by a different consortium, he might still secure a spot in the new cabinet."

At this moment, the goatee man suddenly turned his head toward one of the more isolated seats at the top, where a man with silver half-frame glasses and somewhat prematurely white hair sat.

This man was one of the few in the entire conference room not engaged in conversation with others but was instead constantly fiddling with a bracelet.

"Minister of Finance,"

The stout man’s expression changed slightly, then he said casually, "What’s up?"

"You have evidence of the Minister of Finance ’using his power for personal gain,’ given by our friend, right?"

The man with the mustache suddenly asked.

The burly man’s expression changed.

"Don’t worry, at least a few people sitting here have similar ’evidence’, and these pieces of evidence have been sent to Mayor Lin En’s hands already, just waiting for our mayor to ask about it, then they can come forward and testify."

The man with the mustache shook his head, "I have some too."

The burly man’s expression softened a bit.

"Mine is about that,"

he glanced toward the other corner where a suave man in his thirties was chatting comfortably with the people around him.

"The Minister of Energy?"

The burly man was puzzled, "Isn’t he part of Vice Mayor Lante’s team?"

"Probably made some enemies,"

the man with the mustache touched the gold watch chain on his chest, then turned his head, smiling at the burly man, "But I won’t be complicit this time."

"You want the position of Minister of Energy?"

In Yilan City, the mayor’s appointment of vice mayors requires council approval, but the appointment or removal of cabinet officials does not, with only the new officials needing to attend a duty hearing in the council at the appropriate time.

Whether the council agrees or not doesn’t affect the new cabinet members taking their posts.

If the Minister of Energy annoys the mayor because of ’evidence,’ the mayor could dismiss him directly, and at such a time, for this department which does not demand high qualifications, tradition has it that the new minister is usually chosen from among the less senior ministers in the cabinet.

"I need your support to persuade some people in your party, to influence Mayor Lin En,"

the man with the mustache said with a slight smile,

"If I succeed, I’ll make our mutual friend exert some influence, and then this position of Minister of Education will be yours, although this department doesn’t have much in the way of perks, it’s probably still better than your Women’s, Children’s, and Health Department, of course,"

he glanced up at the empty chief position in the meeting room, "unless you also want to be mayor, ignore what I said."

"I don’t have the capabilities that Lin En has,"

the burly man laughed a little, looking at the empty chief seat, "The position of mayor is still a bit too dangerous."

"If you don’t want to oppose the Consortium, it remains the most powerful position in the city, but that’s not something we can contemplate now."

The man with the mustache looked sideways at the burly man.

"But speaking of which, have you seen those ’evidences’ against the Minister of Finance?"

The burly man lowered his head, asking curiously, "Are you also going to ’testify’ about the Finance Minister later?"

the man with the mustache shook his head, "I’ll abstain because sometimes retreating is more useful than advancing."

He glanced at the burly man, who had his eyes fixed on his own chair, knowing that he was tempted by the offer.

"What do you think is Mayor Lin En’s purpose for calling this meeting?"

The burly man next to him raised the initial question.

The man with the mustache smiled, "All I know is that someone might be fired and lose their cabinet position at this meeting."

His gaze then fell on the laughing suave man.

The Minister of Energy, having close contact with the energy and industrial sectors, is one of the most powerful and easiest positions to receive ’donations’ among the seven main departments; it’s unfortunate that such a good position has fallen into the hands of someone inept.

But soon, it would return to the hands of someone who could make good use of it.

"Some materials, you might need to look at this."

Just arriving at the door of the cabinet meeting room, the blonde Chief of Staff slightly frowned, handing over a Paper Book tablet.

This was handed to her on the way just now by a staffer.

He Ao took the tablet.

"We received an anonymous tip,"

the Chief of Staff explained slightly, "It involves two cabinet ministers,

"One is the Minister of Finance Rosser, who’s been reported to have abused his power colluding with the Nord Consortium to send his daughter to Saint Ilan Nord Private High School through improper means, one of the best private high schools in Yilan City.

"The other is the Minister of Energy Wittel, reported to have accepted bribes from Kopace Mining in a bar."

He Ao looked at the tablet, browsing through the materials.

Rosser’s mainly involved photos of document materials.

Wittel’s was more sensational, featuring a photo of him accepting a briefcase passed by a seemingly corporate-dressed man, the classic money-carrying briefcase style, and the background wall in the photo bore the insignia of Kopace Mining,

"Indeed, quite coincidental."

The expression of the Chief of Staff was also a bit peculiar.

Colluding with consortiums, accepting bribes, precisely hitting on the points that Mayor Lin En dislikes; these two materials are a bit too ’targeted.’

"Send these two files to Tucker, let him contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ask those under Levis if they know the ’source’ of these materials."

He Ao handed the Paper Book tablet back to the Chief of Staff, speaking rapidly, "Also, prepare the list as soon as possible."

The Chief of Staff nodded thoughtfully, then she looked at He Ao, "Do these two materials need to be sent into the meeting room?"

He Ao smiled, "These materials came just in time."

He pushed open the door of the office, and just as he opened the door, the previously somewhat noisy office suddenly fell silent.

Everyone’s eyes converged on him instantly, each figure sitting upright.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for waiting."

He Ao walked to the chief position, looking at those whose eyes were fixed on him, and noticed two empty seats not far beside him.

One was for the Minister of Internal Affairs, the other for the Minister of City Defense.

The Minister of Internal Affairs had run off, and the Minister of City Defense, Scott, was not invited by He Ao this time.

"Today’s assembly is mainly for one simple matter."

He stood before the table, placing a brass walking stick on the table surface, his tone calm, "However, before I start the meeting, I happened to receive two pieces of material."

He reached out his hand, pressed the hidden touch button on the table, and immediately, the two sets of materials were projected onto the hidden screens in front of each seat.