"Actually, I'm in a difficult position as well."
"I was brought up by Secretary Bai and Minister Jia, and I've also received favor from Director Yan."
"And your... relationship with him is well known within the Bureau."
"So... it really wouldn't be appropriate for me to meet with you...."
Upon hearing Qiu Tu's words, Tang Feifei's expression remained unchanged, but Liu Fuping was startled.
The two of them hadn't planned for this.
Moreover... by talking so frankly, wasn't Qiu Tu aware that he might make the atmosphere awkward tonight, or expose himself by acknowledging that Tang Feifei had set him up?
Thinking this, Liu Fuping couldn't help but glance at Tang Feifei.
To her surprise, Tang Feifei seemed not the least bit taken aback.
Liu Fuping grew more puzzled. After pondering for a moment, she suddenly realized:
Given the abilities Qiu Tu had displayed to the outside world, even if he hadn't been aware beforehand, he should have guessed that this was all a deliberate arrangement the moment Tang Feifei appeared.
Therefore, Qiu Tu's decision to directly clarify his understanding of the situation was the most appropriate and logical action.
With this realization, Liu Fuping suddenly felt she still had a long way to go to be a qualified spy....
While she was thinking this, Tang Feifei spoke up.
Tang Feifei didn't deny that tonight's arrangement was intentional. In fact... she made things even clearer. She said calmly, "I understand the concerns in Chief Qiu's heart."
"But if you ask me, the moment Jia Shu handed over the Yin Caimei case to you, they had essentially already given up on you."
With that, Tang Feifei took a sip of her drink before continuing, "This case may be small, but it has attracted too many people's attention."
"One wrong step, and you could fall into an abyss."
At the right moment, Qiu Tu sighed, picked up his drink, and also took a sip.
Then he glanced at Liu Fuping and said to Tang Feifei, "It seems Director Tang is already aware of everything?"
Tang Feifei raised her eyebrows noncommittally.
Qiu Tu sighed again, looking resigned and a bit faraway as he said, "Actually, I'm very conflicted now."
"When I received this case, I felt something wasn't quite right."
"But it was a task given by the minister, and I couldn't refuse. So, I had to go ahead and investigate, no matter what."
"The more I looked into it, the more frightened I became. The local magnates of Xinjie City, the great merchants from the Sanctuary, the Municipal Committee, the military, the Investigation Bureau, forces from all sides entangled within."
"Even within each faction, there are different ideas and opinions about this case."
Saying this, Qiu Tu deliberately let his gaze become unfocused, as if he was drunk.
He gave an example, "Take our Investigation Bureau, for example."
"Our minister seems to have some special relationship with Vice President Tian."
"So he has been hinting to me to make a sham case, to brush this one off."
"And... Director Yan, because our minister went against him on this matter, has asked me to be strict with this case."
Qiu Tu raised both hands, his eyes bleary, and said, "One superior, and the superior of my superior."
"Being caught between these two people, I already have a difficult time."
"Not to mention, there are over a dozen other forces I dare not provoke!"
Upon hearing the "inadvertent" intelligence that Qiu Tu disclosed, Tang Feifei's eyes flickered slightly, and a thoughtful expression emerged on her face.
Qiu Tu glanced at her inadvertently, knowing that she had received the message he had conveyed.
Yes, that's right; the reason Qiu Tu made the key contradiction of the matter explicit was to cast the "bait" out first to capture Tang Feifei's attention.
On the way to Liu Fuping's home earlier, Qiu Tu had been contemplating what to use to drag Tang Feifei into the water.
Lies made up on the spot? Fabricated clues? Pie-in-the-sky promises?
Qiu Tu felt none of these would work.
After finalizing the plan to drag Tang Feifei into the scheme yesterday, Qiu Tu carefully gathered information about her.
In his mind, Tang Feifei was a woman who possessed both the sensibility of a mature woman and the calmness of a politician.
As a standard Action-Oriented Person, she was confident, strong, and shrewd, like a queen who couldn't tolerate sand in her eyes.
Therefore, if Qiu Tu were to open the situation with deceit, it would be too easy to provoke backlash.
So, after much consideration, Qiu Tu decided to still lure the strong and predatory her with "true information," which interested her the most!
And what was she most interested in?
At first, Qiu Tu thought it was leveraging Yan Chen's weaknesses.
But later he realized... Yan Chen's weaknesses might seem useful, but in fact, they weren't very effective.
After all, compared to Yan Chen, Tang Feifei's influence, whether in Xinjie City or the Sanctuary, was far weaker.
Just relying on some dirt, you couldn't bring down Yan Chen, and it was very likely only to startle the snake in the grass.
Therefore, even if Qiu Tu collected a bunch of dirt on Yan Chen for Tang Feifei, it was highly probable that after obtaining it, she would lie low and stop taking action.
Since Yan Chen's weaknesses wouldn't lure Tang Feifei, what could?
Qiu Tu felt it was the weaknesses of Jia Shu and the fractures in the relationship between Yan Chen and Jia Shu...
As the Deputy Director of the Investigation Bureau, Tang Feifei couldn't touch Yan Chen, but by allying with other deputy directors or higher-ups, she might be able to make a move on Jia Shu.
And Jia Shu, being Yan Chen's right-hand man and the highest-ranking person in the ace department of the Political Department of the Investigation Bureau...
Once he was taken down, Yan Chen would not only lose an arm, reducing her strength, but also vacate a position in a department with real power, offering huge benefits.
Indeed, when Tang Feifei heard the "secret" about Jia Shu that Qiu Tu disclosed, her gaze changed, as if filled with aggressiveness.
Qiu Tu sneakily glanced at Tang Feifei and, confirming that she was interested, continued to speak "drunkenly,"
"Ah. Actually... I quite understand our minister."
"He seems to have a very close personal relationship with Vice President Tian, and the two sides have many collaborations."
"And this time, Vice President Tian has promised to set up a monitoring system capable of surveilling all communication networks in the city for him."
"It's no wonder he's tempted."
"After all, it's said that this monitoring system can retrieve all the records of any communicator within a certain time frame."
"It can also eavesdrop on targeted communicators' calls and message contents."
"Even without the communicators' numbers, one could designate an area and listen in on all communications within that range."
Qiu Tu's words were actually improvised based on the development of technology from his past life.
But... who can resist being bluffed by such convincing tales?
Thus, Tang Feifei's pupils noticeably contracted slightly.
Qiu Tu knew he had achieved his second step: painting a picture of crisis.
Just like Qiu Tu didn't want the expansion of Yan Chen and Jia Shu's power.
As Yan Chen's political opponent, Tang Feifei obviously didn't want Yan Chen and Jia Shu to expand their influence either.
So, telling Tang Feifei "If she didn't stop them, then the expansion of Yan Chen and Jia Shu's power would be unstoppable, and it could make her future incredibly passive" became Qiu Tu's second step in forcing Tang Feifei to make a choice.
Having completed the second step, Qiu Tu knew that he should give Tang Feifei some time to process the information, and it was also time for him to use his two Cataclysmic treasures!
Tang Feifei had drunk several glasses of wine just now, making her face slightly red. Although her gaze was still incredibly clear, there was still a hint of tipsiness.
So, if he used the Mandragora Love Drug at this moment, she was more likely not to notice anything unusual. Or even if she did notice something was off, she would probably attribute it to the alcohol.
Then he would add the Lucky Joker Card on top.
Using the two treasures together might bring unexpected effectiveness to the plan for the evening.
Thinking this way, he rose unsteadily and slurred his way to Liu Fuping, "Liu, Sister Liu... where is your restroom?"