Chapter 193 - Trying to Figure Out the Leader’s Intentions
Translator: Lav
Editor: Seliniaki Ilikia
After Wei Qing arrived in Run Zhou, he didn’t look for Shi Lei, instead settling down at a local hotel. He made a few calls and arranged to eat with the leader of the local justice system.
Although the Wei family’s business was situated in Shanghai, they had some investments in Run Zhou. They were a family worth over ten billion yuan and controlled a company worth over a few hundred billion yuan. So when the young master of the family invited the local officials to dine with him, they had to drop everything and accept.
During the meal, Wei Qing subtly mentioned that he had a friend whose family had an incident, but didn’t ask the official to help. Although it was only mentioned, the opposite party couldn"t just ignore it. It was inconvenient to ask during the meal, so after they finished eating, the official began to make calls about it in the car.
Although the incident with Shi Lei’s family was both extreme and miserable to everyone involved, to a prefecture-level judicial system, it really wasn’t as important as some other cases that were happening everyday.
The deputy leader of the bureau called, but the opposite party expressed that he didn’t know anything. Naturally, he said that he would investigate more and continued to make calls.
Luckily, Zhang Meimei’s call reached the district’s subbureau in the afternoon and the call ended there.
The person Zhang Meimei found was the vice chief of the district’s subbureau. He felt strange that such a prominent lawyer would call to ask about such a small case. Even if it involved an executive of a local company, he had to give Zhang Meimei some face. Therefore, he talked to the police and told them to register it immediately. But honestly speaking, he didn’t really care, since registering the case didn’t necessarily mean that there would be a result to it, and these kind of cases were usually settled without a definite answer by paying compensation.
But somehow, the higher executives all suddenly knew about this case and told him clearly that it was under special order from the deputy. The intention was clear: lean toward Shi Zhongping’s side.
Of course, Shi Zhongping was just a small figure, but the intention that was pa.s.sed down from the higher-ups’ decision was very intriguing.
First, a prominent lawyer had already agreed to accept the case. Then the leaders of the bureau told them to follow it carefully. Exactly what kind of person was this Shi Zhongping?
The vice chief of the subbureau, Zhou Qi, didn’t act recklessly. He asked his trusted aide to investigate Shi Zhongping, but couldn’t really find anything special about the man. The only person in the Shi family who could have such a large influence was his son, Shi Lei, who studied at Wu Dong.
After everything that happened, it was getting late. Vice chief Zhou Qi thought that the case shouldn’t be rushed, so he didn’t go to the local police station, thinking that he could take a good look at it with the head of the station the next day. He did call Zhang Meimei to tell her that the city bureau also asked about the case, and that their att.i.tude seemed to lean toward her side. Zhou Qi also wanted to get some information from her about the secret behind Shi Lei and how could he make the bureau pa.s.s down such a clear att.i.tude on the matter.
Zhang Meimei had a very honest nature and didn’t understand the second meaning in Zhou Qi’s words. She only told him that Shi Lei was her daughter’s tutor and she was very grateful. Plus, his family’s incident made her angry, and so, she accepted the case.
Zhou Qi hung up and found the situation to be even more strange. It seemed like Shi Lei didn’t have any special background. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone to Zhang Meimei right off the bat. If he had other means by which to influence the leaders of the bureau, then why would he bother to go through the legal process and seek help from a lawyer?
But if he didn’t have any background, why would the leaders care so much about the outcome of the case?
Before going to sleep, Zhou Qi smoked a cigarette in bed. His wife mumbled her unapproval and he rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to figure the leaders’ intentions! Why are you making trouble for me?”
But his wife’s words enlightened the confused vice chief Zhou Qi.
“How am I troubling you? You’re the one lying in bed smoking and making the room smell disgusting, and I can’t retaliate? Zhou Qi, do you think that just because my father is retired, you don’t have to take my family seriously anymore?”
Zhou Qi had a sudden realization. Right! Qin Huaiyuan had relied on the main company in Shanghai to transfer him over, and he was pretty capable. However, he wasn’t very polite when interacting with other leaders. Perhaps someone in the city disliked him or someone in the district committee wanted to use the incident to punish him, so they talked to the leaders of the bureau, leading to this current situation?
Since Shi Lei really didn’t have any background, he was completely relieved. And Qin Huaiyuan didn’t really have anything to do Zhou Qi, so he didn’t really care anymore.
Now aware of the leaders’ intentions, Zhou Qi fell asleep in relief. However, he never would’ve imagined that because he didn’t go to the police station to deliver an update on the situation, another crazy thing happened.
Shi Lei hadn’t been bluffing when he said that he would only give Qin Huaiyuan twelve hours. After he had dinner with his mother, he sent her home. Although the factory put seals on the door, they were not legally binding. At the moment, no one would come and cause more trouble. Shi Lei spent some time with his mother who, because she was tired, went to bed early.
Seeing that his mother was sound asleep, Shi Lei changed his clothes and asked the driver whom he’d hired to drive around the city because he wanted to find an active construction site.
This year, there were many developments and new houses being built everywhere, so Shi Lei quickly found a construction site.
“Alright, that’s it for today. I already have the hotel room ready for you. Just drive to this address.” Shi Lei took out the room key he’d prepared earlier and pa.s.sed it over.
The driver was blank for a moment, then said, “Don’t you need me to drive you back, Mr. Shi? Or to the hospital?”
Shi Lei waved his hand. “Someone will pick me up later. Go back and rest. You worked hard today. I’ll call you tomorrow. It won’t be too early, around eight or nine.”
The driver understood, and could only take the room key and leave in confusion, not knowing what Shi Lei was going to do at the construction site.
He walked in, noting that they probably had permission to work at night. The noise wasn’t too loud, so they could work without disturbing anyone.
There was a slag truck unloading materials in front of him. Shi Lei glanced around and headed for a bulldozer.
Seeing that someone was walking over, the driver in the bulldozer yelled, “Step aside, step aside! What are you doing, running around at a construction site?”
Shi Lei waved his hand politely and said, “h.e.l.lo, sir. Can you come down for a moment? I need your help.”
The driver didn’t understand, but he wasn’t busy anyway and jumped down. “What do you want, boy?” he asked, frowning. Shi Lei smiled, opened a box of Zhong Hua cigarettes, and pa.s.sed one over.
The driver took it and lit it in confusion. “Sir,” Shi Lei then said, “when do you end construction at night?”
The driver thought that Shi Lei was a resident in the nearby vicinity and said, “We have permission to construct at night and it shouldn’t be too noisy. I just want to use this time to bring in some materials and tow away some construction waste.”
Shi Lei waved his hand again and said, “I’m not here to cause trouble for you, and it’s none of my business whether you make any noise or not. I wanted to ask if I could borrow your bulldozer.”
“What do you need a bulldozer for?”
“It’s for something. I’ll need it at around three or four in the morning and rent it for 1,000 yuan. What do you think?”