Seeing the confusion on Chen Bin’s face, Su Xiangqian continued to explain.
"You’re younger than me, and your mind is more agile. You’ll definitely be able to find a suitable path for Qinghe Town."
Shaking his head, Chen Bin replied with a wry smile.
"I did come to Qinghe Town intending to achieve something. However, I still don’t know where to start. Besides, I’m not too familiar with the internal workings of the town government. I hope Director Su can give me some guidance."
After hesitating for a moment, Su Xiangqian nodded.
"Actually, before you even came to Qinghe Town, you had already offended someone. Secretary Chen should be aware of this, right?"
"I know—it’s because I took a position some people wanted."
"When I was in Qinghe Town, there were people who wished every day for me to leave. After I finally left, they didn’t expect my successor would be you. That’s why some people are opposing you now. Secretary Chen, you need to be careful."
Hearing this, Chen Bin understood.
Although Su Xiangqian had left Qinghe Town, he was still keeping an eye on what was happening there.
Clearly, this time, he had found the right person to ask!
"Then how should I deal with this trouble?"
Instead of giving a direct answer, Su Xiangqian responded with a question.
"Since you came to Qinghe Town, what information have you learned so far?"
Sighing lightly, Chen Bin appeared somewhat helpless.
"The town government is full of his people. I can hardly find out anything."
But Su Xiangqian shook his head with a smile.
"What Secretary Chen sees now is likely just the surface."
"You mean there are people in the town government who oppose him as well?"
Su Xiangqian didn’t answer but gave a meaningful smile instead.
Then, he quickly changed the subject.
Returning to his room at the guesthouse after dinner, Su Xiangqian’s words kept swirling in Chen Bin’s mind.
Through those hints, he seemed to have found a way to deal with Lu Huisheng.
The next morning, when he went to the restaurant for breakfast, he happened to run into Cai Lixia and Jia Fugui.
Chen Bin almost always saw them there in the morning, but this was the first time they were sitting and eating together.
"Mind if I sit here and eat with you?"
Cai Lixia immediately smiled and replied, "Of course not, Secretary Chen. Please, have a seat."
Just then, a staff member from the guesthouse brought over Chen Bin’s breakfast.
Noticing that his meal was obviously much more lavish than theirs, Chen Bin offered.
"Come, let’s eat together."
Jia Fugui shook his head slightly, politely declining. "Thank you, Secretary Chen. What we have here is more than enough for us."
"Don’t be so formal. It’s too much for me alone, and wasting it would be such a pity. Let’s eat together."
As he spoke, Chen Bin served Cai Lixia and Jia Fugui some of his dishes one after the other.
The two exchanged a glance and then each expressed their thanks.
For the rest of the time, the three of them ate and chatted.
But with a tacit understanding, no one brought up any work-related issues.
Since Cai Lixia’s school was close to Chen Bin’s alma mater, the two started talking profusely.
Seeing their animated conversation, Jia Fugui, sitting nearby, also joined in with a smile.
After breakfast, Chen Bin initially intended to walk to the town government with the two of them.
But they both said they needed to return to their rooms for a bit, making it inconvenient to go together.
Chen Bin naturally understood what they meant, so he left the guesthouse by himself.
As soon as he stepped into the town government building, a car horn sounded behind him.
Startled, Chen Bin turned around to see Lu Huisheng smirking coldly as he drove past.
Even though he hadn’t blocked the car’s path, Chen Bin still stepped to the side.
Lu Huisheng’s expression became even more disdainful when he saw how timid Chen Bin looked.
After parking the car, Lu Huisheng ran into Wei Kai at the entrance as he walked into the office building.
The two exchanged knowing smiles but didn’t yield to each other. They nearly walked in together simultaneously.
Witnessing this scene, Chen Bin’s lips curled into a slight smirk.
As Su Xiangqian had said, the town government’s unity was only superficial.
However, even upon discovering the underlying tension between Lu Huisheng and Wei Kai, Chen Bin didn’t rush to intervene.
After all, to escalate their conflict, he first needed to understand exactly what it was about.
Otherwise, his efforts might backfire.
By noon, Jiang Huai came to Chen Bin’s office.
"Secretary Chen, someone named Ma Juan wants to see you. Will you meet her?"
As soon as he heard Ma Juan’s name, Chen Bin’s mood immediately improved.
"Yes, let her in, quickly."
Soon, Jiang Huai and Ma Juan entered the office, one following the other.
Chen Bin gestured for Ma Juan to sit down and smiled as he asked, "What brings you here?"
At this moment, Ma Juan no longer had the rough demeanor she used to. Instead, she looked more like a career-oriented woman.
"I came to Dragon Mountain County to check on Bailing Wine’s sales. Mr. He told me you were working in town, so I thought I’d drop by."
Jiang Huai first poured Ma Juan a glass of water and, seeing that Chen Bin had no further instructions, quietly left the office.
The moment the office door closed, the composed aura around Ma Juan immediately dissipated.
She threw herself into Chen Bin’s arms, grabbing his face and kissing him passionately.
Chen Bin, caught off guard, worried that Jiang Huai might return and hurriedly pushed her away.
He scolded her in a low voice, "This is the office. No fooling around!"
Tilting her head, Ma Juan pouted. "You heartless man! You’ve ignored me for so long. I came to see you, and this is the thanks I get?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Chen Bin quickly tried to appease her.
"Xiao Juan, I was wrong, okay? Don’t hold it against me."
Hearing this, Ma Juan’s expression brightened instantly. She hugged Chen Bin’s face and kissed him once again.
"Brother Bin, I missed you so much! Did you miss me? Tell me! Say it!"
Glancing at the door, Chen Bin lightly squeezed her chest and whispered.
"Of course I missed you; now behave yourself. If someone sees us, it’ll reflect poorly. We’ll talk about the rest after work."
Feeling a tingling sensation in her chest, Ma Juan shivered, and a faint trickle of warmth seemed to flow from her depths.
Truthfully, she had wanted to visit Chen Bin for a long time, but the store had been too busy.
This time, no matter what, she was determined to release all her pent-up longing!
She climbed off Chen Bin, nodded obediently, and said, "Okay, I’ll do whatever you say."
Although she was now sitting on the couch, her fiery gaze never left Chen Bin.
Seeing this, Chen Bin could only shake his head with a smile.
He realized Ma Juan was like a child pretending to be an adult. As soon as she was with him, her true self would surface.
But that was fine—after all, out of all the women in Chen Bin’s life, Ma Juan was the only one younger than him.
By noon, Chen Bin originally planned to take Ma Juan to the guesthouse.
But on second thought, doing so might seem like taking advantage of public resources.
In the end, he decided to go to Qinghe Hotel instead.
The hotel’s owner, Yan Ning, was well-connected and had an excellent grasp of who’s who in town.
When Yan Ning saw the town party secretary arriving, he quickly ran over to greet him.
Upon learning that Chen Bin wanted a private room, Yan Ning personally made the arrangements.
In the private room, Chen Bin asked Ma Juan to order the food.
But she said she was fine with anything.
So Chen Bin told Yan Ning, "Just pick six tasty dishes. Try not to make us wait too long."
"Secretary Chen, will you be having any alcohol?"
"No, I still have to work in the afternoon. Just bring some soft drinks. Oh, and arrange a room for my friend—she’ll be staying here tonight."
"Understood. Please wait a moment; I’ll arrange everything now."
While waiting for the food to arrive, Chen Bin suddenly felt an urgent need to use the restroom.
He told Ma Juan to wait and hurried to the bathroom himself.
As soon as he entered a stall, he overheard two people chatting outside.
"You mentioned earlier that Wei Kai is planning to buy a house in the city center. Is that true?"
"Absolutely, his own son told me!"
"Goodness, Tianhai’s housing prices are already sky-high. A house in the city center would be at least a million. Where did he get that kind of money?"
"Did you forget what his wife does for a living?"
"Isn’t she some kind of fortune-teller? That can’t make much money."
"Oh, you’re out of the loop. These days, there’s actually a lot of demand for that kind of thing. Making ten thousand or more a month isn’t unusual."
"Wei Kai is a party member, yet he allows his wife to engage in superstitions. Why hasn’t anyone reported him?"
"First, he believes in it himself. Second, he has connections in town. Who would dare report him?"
Hearing this, Chen Bin’s mind began racing.
Recalling the scene from earlier in the morning when Wei Kai and Lu Huisheng refused to give way to each other, he immediately formulated a plan to deal with Lu Huisheng!