Chapter 37: The Trouble of Husband and Wife Classes

  Lu Zhong's office, with a dozen or so male and female cadres scattered about, some sitting on the long sofa, others having brought their own chairs, but without exception, all were holding small notebooks, very seriously taking notes.

  Lu Zhong convened a brief meeting with deputy department-level officials from the Foreign Investment Promotion Department, Business Promotion Office and Financial Department.

  Since then, Lu Zhong's work approach and his unique insights on economic policies have been impressive to the officials who frequently interact with him.

  But what's even stranger is that Director Lu would be labeled as a roughneck. It's truly bizarre.

  During this period, Lu Zhong emphasized the introduction of foreign capital in attracting investment and business promotion work. It's not that the more the better, but rather there should be a long-term plan. You need to think clearly about what kind of city you want to position yourself as and what you need.

  For businessmen investing in Wuyi Mountains, it is equally impossible to laugh three points before the event and disappear after the event. Not only must we do a good job of pre-investment work, but also provide good post-investment service.

  The investment department, business development office and other departments should position themselves as service-oriented institutions, rather than bureaucratic authorities.

  Today's ventilation meeting, Lu Zhong briefly talked about the results of the business work in the past few months and discussed the idea of focusing on electronic product enterprises in recent recruitment.

  A meeting of over 20 minutes, basically just Lu Zhong speaking. Before the meeting was adjourned, Lu Zhong asked as usual: "Comrades, do you have anything to add?"

  Some people shook their heads, and some improvised to flatter Director Lu a few words. "Director Lu spoke well, we should do this and that..." Obviously, everyone had nothing to say, so Lu Zhong announced the end of the meeting, and the male and female cadres moved their chairs, chatting and laughing as they walked out.

  He Hongmei, head of the Financial Bureau, stayed behind.

  He Hongmei turned 30 and has been a deputy department head for three years. She was also one of the beneficiaries of the central government's policy to promote young officials in early 1980.

  Wearing a beige uniform, she looks spirited and refreshing, with short hair that reaches her ears, a very capable female cadre.

  Lu Zhong also found out that she was Zhang Qingtian's lover after being in contact with her for a long time, and the two were one of the few husband-and-wife cadres in the Planning Commission.

  "Director Lu, I've taken care of the loan for Qingfeng Factory," said He Hongmei as she handed a stack of documents to Director Lu's desk.

  The Financial and Fiscal Division of the Planning Commission has complex responsibilities. From a policy theoretical perspective, it is responsible for researching and analyzing the balance, operation and policy measures of the city's and society's funds; participating in the research and implementation of fiscal policies and monetary policies; summarizing and analyzing the financial and fiscal situation and putting forward policy suggestions; organizing the formulation of financial and tax planning, compiling the annual plan for municipal construction funds; researching and proposing policy suggestions for direct financing and social financing development, etc.

  In terms of specific affairs, the Financial and Economic Office is now responsible for managing industrial investment and venture capital management work, responsible for relevant management work related to municipal basic construction, arranging project preparation and allocation of working capital and interest subsidies, coordinating credit system construction, etc.

  Providing subsidies or loans for some enterprises in need is also one of the key tasks of the current financial and fiscal authorities.

  Qingfeng Factory is an electronics company that Lu Zhong thinks highly of. It was originally a semiconductor factory and has the same roots as the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, with a good technical foundation, but its development has been limited by funding constraints.

  He Hongmei took over Lu Zhong's handover and personally arranged a loan for Qingfeng Factory to introduce new production lines, further improving the level of craftsmanship.

  "Ah," said Lu Zhong as he flipped through the documents, "the loan from Mitsubishi."

  He Hongmei smoothed her temples and said, "Yes, the Mitsubishi representative office is very supportive of our work. The representative from Kagawa accompanied the people from Qingfeng Factory to Shanghai and obtained a loan from the Shanghai branch of Mitsubishi Bank."

  He Hongmei mentioned Kagawa Junco, Lu Zhong nodded slightly, flipping through the materials, saying: "Well done, thanks for your hard work."

  He Hongmei smiled silently, she was not as stubborn as her husband Zhang Qingtian, but equally serious and responsible, the tasks assigned by the leader were done to the best of her ability.

  Lu Zhong, Director Lu, she and her husband had discussed it privately, both of them said that Lu Zhong was not a good person, capable, Director Lu seemed to be quite strong, and also different from many officials, it seemed that in Director Lu's mind, there was no concept of political performance, for example, the work of attracting investment, who didn't take the amount of investment as the most important thing, at the time of the annual work summary, this number, that was a certain standard, even affecting your ability high or low standards in the leader's mind.

  Director Ke Lu doesn't care about the amount of investment at all and has his own way of doing things.

  Moreover, Director Lu has always been very tough and came to the Planning Commission for less than half a year. He is already one of the most prominent among the nine deputy directors. In private discussions among middle-level cadres, his position in the party group leadership of the Planning Commission can even be ranked among the top five.

  Now, whether or not they are middle-level cadres in charge of the department led by Director Lu, everyone has great respect for Director Lu. Earlier, when Director Lu had just arrived at the Planning Commission, rumors such as "big roughneck" and "live bandit" had long since disappeared, and many cadres wanted to build a good relationship with Director Lu.

  Director Lu is so young and also Director Zhang Yugong's trusted general, his future prospects are boundless.

  As one of the department heads under Director Lu, He Hongmei didn't have any thoughts of currying favor with him. Instead, she was quite worried about her husband, whose strong personality might unknowingly offend this young noble, and bring disaster upon themselves. Intuitively, He Hongmei could sense that Director Lu wasn't a benevolent person.

  Just as Hongmei was indulging in wild thoughts, "Knock knock", the office door was knocked on, then gently pushed open, and two police officers wearing uniforms walked in.

  In front of him was a relatively older police officer, Lu Zhong, who knew the deputy director of the Municipal Criminal Investigation Department, Ouyang Rong, in his fifties, with white hair and piercing eyes, an old public security veteran with over 30 years of experience.

  Lu Zhong exclaimed "hmm" and stood up with a smile, extending his hand. "Ou Yang, what wind brought you here? You're a rare guest."

  Ouyang Rong smiled and shook hands with Lu Zhong, saying: "Director Lu, long time no see, you're getting more and more steady."

  Lu Zhong and Ouyang Rong sat on the sofa to discuss something, He Hongmei then tidied up the documents on her desk, preparing to leave. But unexpectedly, she heard Ouyang Rong say: "Director Lu, we came this time to find Zhang Qingtian, the head of the Inspection Department. I heard he is the head of the Inspection Department?"

  He Hongmei was taken aback, what did the public security bureau want with Qingtian? It was too strange. She couldn't help but slow down her movements, tilting her head to listen carefully to what Ouyang and Director Lu were saying.

  When Ou Yang Rong came to find Zhang Qing Tian, Lu Zhong was also stunned and said: "If your name isn't mixed up, Zhang Qing Tian is indeed the head of our inspection department. What business do you have with him?"

  Ouyang Rong then took out a photo from his briefcase and showed it to Lu Zhong, saying: "Is this Zhang Qingtian?"

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly, no mistake, it was indeed in the photo, Zhang Qingtian's firm gaze was also clearly visible, ordinary people generally didn't have this kind of sunny aura.

  Ouyang Rong put away the photo: "That's it, we suspect he is related to a murder case, so we want him to come back with us to assist in the investigation."

  "Ah!", He Hongmei exclaimed, dropping the file in her hand and staring over in shock.

  "What murder case? He's a witness to the case?"

  Ouyang Rong smiled and said: "This is confidential, Director Lu. Is he also working on the second floor? Is he in the unit now?"

  Lu Zhong nodded: "I'll make a call."

  "Wait." But Ou Yang Rong stopped Lu Zhong and said: "It's better to trouble you to have someone bring us over. If he's not in the unit, please also ask Director Lu to keep it confidential for now and don't tell him we're looking for him."

  Lu Zhong immediately knew that Zhang Qingtian was in trouble, and it was serious. If he were just a witness to the murder case, Ouyang Rong wouldn't be so cautious and alert.

  Lu Zhong is also considered an old public security, Ouyang Rong's current style, it is clear that Zhang Qingtian may be involved in this murder case, and the involvement is very deep, even suspected of being a murderer.

  Lu Zhong smiled and nodded, then raised his head to say to He Hongmei: "He, take Ouyang to find Zhang Qingtian. Ah, I remember, he should be in conference room 1 of building 1 for a meeting." Then introduced He Hongmei to Ouyang Rong: "Our financial director He is Zhang Qingtian's lover."

  Ouyang Rong originally stood up and shook hands with He Hongmei, at this time his face was a bit strange, but he didn't say much.

  He Hongmei listened to Lu Zhong say "Zhang Qingtian should have a meeting in Building No. 1", looked at Lu Zhong with surprise, because she knew what kind of meeting was being held in the conference room of Building No. 1 now, and it had nothing to do with her lover.

  But He Hongmei's face immediately returned to its natural state.

  As soon as Ge Hongmei led Ouyang Rong out of the office, Lu Zhun guessed that they should have gone downstairs. He picked up the phone and dialed "3204", which was the phone number of Room 204 in Building 3, also known as Zhang Qingtian's office and the Inspection Department.

  "Qing Tian, come over for a moment, it's urgent." Lu Zhong heard that it was Zhang Qing Tian's voice and felt slightly relieved.

  As for Zhang Qingtian, Lu Zhong didn't have any special feelings towards him, only feeling that this cadre was clean and honest, a good person, but if it's said that he protected him without reason, that can't be said either.

  But now the public security is looking for him, Zhang Qingtian may have been involved in a murder case. Is this related to himself? Is it targeting himself? This cannot be ignored.

  So before the police took away Zhang Qingtian, we must have a preliminary understanding of what happened and also have a bottom line in our hearts.

  Not long after, the office door was lightly knocked open and Zhang Qingtian walked in. He still looked the same - a thin, dark-skinned little man with forceful strides that gave people an impression of being as tough as stone.

  "Officer Zhang, the police have just come looking for you. They say you're involved in a murder case. Do you know what's going on?" After inviting Zhang to sit down on the sofa, Lu Zheng got straight to the point and stared at Zhang, waiting for his reaction.

  Zhang Qing's eyes widened in shock and he said, "Murder case?" Clearly, his bewildered expression showed that he had no idea what was going on.

  Lu Zhong nodded and said, "Right, a murder case."

  "It's impossible." Zhang Qingtian gradually woke up from his confusion, shook his head, and said in a firm tone, "Director Lu, you may not understand me. Yes, I love arguing with my colleagues, but no matter what, I would never get involved in something like murder! This is simply absurd!"

  Lu Zhong stared at him for a while, making Zhang Qingtian feel uneasy all over his face. "Director, you don't believe me?"

  Lu Zhong finally withdrew his gaze, pondering and said: "Whether I believe it or not is not important, the main thing is whether the police believe you. And, Qing Tian, you should prepare for the worst, I think the public security came to take you away with an attitude that's afraid it's not just saying you're related to the murder case, but rather, you are the suspect of the murderer!"