Chapter 352: Chapter 352

Gu Zhenbang left the clubhouse and got into the car under the driver’s escort.

Inside the car, it was so quiet it felt almost oppressive, only the engine’s slight vibration was audible.

The driver sneaked a glance at Gu Zhenbang through the rearview mirror, seeing his furrowed brows and slightly dark complexion, he couldn’t help but ask with concern: "President Gu, did the top leader criticize the Cultural Park affair?"

Gu Zhenbang leaned back in his seat, rubbing his temples, his voice was calm: "No problem, just some instructions regarding work."

Despite saying this, he knew well that Zhang Liquan’s phrase "Careful not to capsize in the gutter" wasn’t as simple as it seemed; on the surface, it was advice, but in reality, it was a warning to him.

At the thought of this, a cold smile appeared at the corner of Gu Zhenbang’s mouth, and he thought to himself: "If Zhang Liquan can have a backup plan, why can’t I, Gu Zhenbang?"

Gu Zhenbang sat up straight, a hint of determination flashed through his eyes, and he said to the driver, who was also his most trusted aide: "We need to withdraw cash from that side, this resistance will remain uncertain until the last moment.

If things get exposed, having cash on hand will give us a chance to protect ourselves and leave."

Listening to Gu Zhenbang’s words, the driver was surprised and he had doubts, but he dared not ask more and simply nodded.

The car slowly started, driving into the nighttime, leaving behind a cloud of exhaust merging into the air.

Several days later, at the Tianhai City Investment Group.

When Zhou Li closed the fifth investigation record book, morning light was already streaming in through the window.

It was her third time being stationed at the Urban Investment Company during this period, with her desk piled high with all project files from the past five years. Every tender document was stamped seamlessly, and the expert signatures on the acceptance reports were clearly identifiable.

Since the Cultural Park construction site incident, she’s been working tirelessly to find the culprit behind it for Li Jing. Besides the arrested Huang Liangming, some vague clues also pointed to Gu Zhenbang, the general manager at Urban Investment Company.

Thus, recently, she applied to her superiors to lead a team into the Urban Investment Company for an investigation.

The seventh round of financial document retrieval saw the files delivered by the company’s Chief of Finance still warm from the printer.

"President Gu specifically instructed to fully cooperate with the Commission’s comrades’ investigation."

The counterpart’s smile was standardized, as if trained, causing Zhou Li to frown slightly, recalling last week’s report meeting from the engineering department—a thirty-six minute PPT presentation, each data point had corresponding records in the files.

Yesterday, the commission leader called her into the office, telling her that the investigation into the Urban Investment Company had made some city leaders unhappy.

Without concrete clues, the investigation has placed Zhou Li’s superior under enormous pressure, and after several days without any progress, the leader—no matter how much they admired Zhou Li—had to remind her to pause the investigation.

"Section Chief Zhou, if there’s no substantial progress today, I’m afraid we’ll have to suspend this investigation work..."

Beside her, Xiaowu closed the materials she just reviewed and whispered to Zhou Li: "We’ve gone through the recent years’ documents and indeed found no issues..."

On hearing this, Zhou Li’s expression didn’t look very good.

She suspected Gu Zhenbang and was eager to help Li Jing out of trouble, but the other side’s documents were too flawless.

Without substantial clues, there wasn’t a way to find any vulnerabilities in the Urban Development Group.

"Section Chief Zhou, Section Chief Zhou?"

Hearing Xiaowu’s puzzled voice, Zhou Li’s expression changed slightly, quickly snapping back to reality.

She rubbed her tired brow, speaking softly: "Thank you all for your hard work today, let’s return to the unit."

"Return?" Xiaowu asked: "Are we coming back tomorrow?"

Zhou Li was silent, then shook her head: "We won’t come back tomorrow. If we can’t find any issues, we have no reason to return.

The higher-ups have already put a lot of pressure on our unit, and we can’t let the leader bear that pressure for us any longer."

Watching the commission investigation team leave the company gate, not far away, the office manager smiling in farewell narrowed his eyes slightly, immediately lowering his head to send a message to Gu Zhengbang.

"President Gu, they’ve already left without finding any problems..."

On the other side of Celestial Sea City, in an elegant tearoom.

Hu Yongbo’s wife, Xu Yingning, was staring at tea twigs floating on the edge of her cup, listening to the light sound of porcelain meeting wood.

Previously graceful and gentle, she now showed signs of exhaustion and anxiety in her brows, with newly added streaks of grey in her silky hair.

Wei Yan from the city sports bureau press down on her unconsciously tapping fingers on the table, comforting: "I’m familiar with the procedures up above. Your husband will certainly be able to return home in three days."

"This time it’s different, they’ve taken all the files from his office..."

Under the light, Xu Yingning appeared especially weary, with traces of bloodshot eyes: "Even the blood pressure medicine from the medicine box was packed into the evidence bag."

Wei Yan pushed steaming red date tea over: "I’ve already inquired; they have tracked down key evidence, and the IP login for the whistleblower account is overseas, there must be problems."

She unbuttoned the first button of her collar, revealing the ginkgo leaf necklace gifted by the other side many years ago, shifting the topic: "Sister Xu, have some dishes. If one is upright, they need not fear the shadow slanting. Your husband will surely be fine."

Looking at the boiled cabbage heart gradually cooling on the glass lazy Susan, the sound of a waiter changing bone plates echoed down the corridor, and Xu Yingning sighed deeply. Just as she was about to pick up her chopsticks to take some food, a sudden phone ringing startled both.

Afraid it might be about the investigation of her husband, Xu Yingning’s expression shifted slightly. She subconsciously glanced at Wei Yan beside her before slowly fetching her phone.

But seeing the note displayed on the screen, she exhaled a little, answering: "Hello, Xiaojing, what is it?"

Hearing Xu Yingning address the person on the other end, Wei Yan’s eyes showed a hint of surprise, guessing it was Li Jing calling.

Recently, she had heard quite a lot about the incident with Hu Yongbo.

There was true information, and there were also exaggerated rumors.

And among these, information about Li Jing was not scarce. Especially his collaboration with Hu Yongbo on the Cultural Park, it had early become a hot topic within the system.

Originally, upon hearing about the alleged groundwater pollution at Cultural Park, she thought Li Jing couldn’t last long, especially since his backers had been called for talks.

But unexpectedly, he not only didn’t collapse but instead struck back, implicating Huang Liangming. This made Wei Yan view Li Jing’s capability with a new perspective.

Not knowing what was said over the phone with Li Jing, Xu Yingning furrowed her brows, showing a difficult expression: "As for matters regarding Gu Zhenbang, I’m not too clear either. Although I want to provide you some information, it really is..."

Beside her, Wei Yan asked in surprise and lowly: "President Li needs information on Gu Zhenbang?"

Xu Yingning gently covered the phone’s microphone, nodding to Wei Yan: "Yes, Xiaojing suspects it’s Gu Zhenbang pulling tricks behind the scenes and wants to know something about him."

"He wants to investigate Gu Zhenbang?"

Wei Yan’s expression shifted unpredictably, hesitating for some moments before softly saying: "Sister Xu, you tell President Li, I’ve heard Feng Peng, the boss of Sky Cauldron Real Estate Company, has a pretty close relationship with Gu Zhenbang. To investigate Gu Zhenbang, he can start with Feng Peng."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yingning looked at Wei Yan in surprise, seeing the determination in her eyes, she couldn’t help but take a deep breath, passing this message on to Li Jing.

After hanging up, Xu Yingning looked towards Wei Yan seriously: "By telling Xiaojing this, he will definitely go to investigate Gu Zhenbang. Do you think Xiaojing has what it takes to handle Gu Zhenbang?"

"No matter if President Li can handle Gu Zhenbang or not, isn’t Gu Zhenbang already dealing with him?"

Wei Yan maintained a serious look, her brows furrowed complexly: "Besides, I always feel this President Li might not be easy to deal with either.

Sister Xu, don’t forget, Gu Zhenbang’s trusted aide Huang Liangming was recently put in by President Li."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yingning’s expression shifted unpredictably before slowly nodding and sighing: Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

"No matter what happens, I hope Xiaojing won’t be implicated because of us..."

Meanwhile, inside a Maybach parked at the Cultural Park, Li Jing put down the phone, his fingers gently tapping on the car window frame, then turning to Ah Liang, who was driving, he asked:

"Have you learned about Sky Cauldron Real Estate?"

"Sky Cauldron Real Estate?" Ah Liang thought for a moment before responding: "I remember this company specializes in developing luxury housing projects in Celestial Sea City.

Oh, right, President Li, the luxury housing project for your residential area seems to have their company involved."

"My residential area?"

Li Jing raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised, then gradually a person emerged in his mind, his lips curved upward:

"How interesting, then I know who to start with."