Power and Wealth

Morning.

Seven thirty.

A car gradually approached and stopped in the hotel's open-air parking lot. Deputy Mayor Hua Li got out of the car, frowned, and made a phone call with his phone in his hand. Beep, beep, beep. No one answered the call from the City Investment Promotion Bureau director, Lu Weiguo.

This old Lu…

What is he up to?

It's already so late, and he doesn't even answer the phone.

Hua Li's expression wasn't too good. Normally, it would be fine, but now it's during the investment promotion period. The city has already made regulations that all Investment Promotion Bureau in-service personnel must keep their phones open 24 hours a day during the investment promotion period. Not to mention Lu Weiguo, the top leader. But from when he set off until now, Director Lu's phone has been unanswered. Hua Li's secretary also called other officials from the City Investment Promotion Bureau, and the result was the same. Except for one person whose phone was turned off, none of the other officials' phones were answered. It's one thing for one person, but if all the City Investment Promotion Bureau officials can't be reached by phone, what's going on?

He got out of the car.

"Still can't get through?" Hua Li said irritably.

The secretary nodded, "Can't reach the heads of the investment promotion bureaus in other districts either."

Hua Li slammed the car door, "Could they have vanished into thin air?"

The secretary blinked, "Um, maybe they drank too much last night."

Hua Li also knew about the dinner last night, "How much could they have drunk? How come no one is up? Keep calling them until someone answers."

The secretary and several city staff continued to make phone calls.

Hua Li stopped talking and walked into the hotel's entrance in big strides. As far as he knew, at least forty investors were scheduled to visit various counties and districts today. At this rate, all the investors will be stuck in the hotel without arrangements. Each investor is precious to them, and attracting one is difficult. Hua Li certainly doesn't want investors to have second thoughts. So he wants to communicate with them quickly. However, after entering the hotel lobby, Hua Li and the city staff were slightly stunned. They didn't see a single investor. This shouldn't be the case; at this time, the investors should have all woken up. Why is there no one in the lobby? Could they all be in their rooms? No, it can't be. After searching around, Hua Li couldn't find any staff from the Investment Promotion Bureau.

Where are they?

Where have they all gone?

With his team, Hua Li wandered around the lobby and even went to the restaurant, but still didn't see anyone. Suddenly, he became angry, "I don't believe it. Knock on their doors. If they don't open, find the hotel staff and use a spare card to open the door and get them out."

Everyone acted separately, and all the city staff went upstairs to find people.

A few minutes later, Hua Li saw a more infuriating scene. Lu Weiguo came down, and several officials from the investment promotion bureaus of various counties and districts also came out. However, there were only about ten people left. The remaining forty or so people were nowhere to be seen. Moreover, as soon as Lu Weiguo and Chen Mingming, the director of the Meiyang District Investment Promotion Bureau came down, they both covered their mouths and started vomiting. Lu Weiguo vomited into the hotel lobby's flowerpot, and Chen Mingming couldn't hold it in, vomiting directly on the floor. The other people didn't look much better; they seemed unsteady.

Bastards!

Hua Li pointed at them and shouted, "What are you doing?"

Many hotel staff were alarmed and quickly came over to clean up.

Lu Weiguo was vomiting, so one of the slightly more sober city investment promotion officials hurried over and said, "I'm sorry, Mayor Hua. Yesterday, we drank too much."

Hua Li angrily said, "Enough with the excuses. Tell me, where are the investors? Where are they?"

The official was stunned, looking around, "They should be in their rooms. Oh, right." He suddenly slapped his forehead, "Many of them were scheduled for inspections at six."

Hua Li's secretary said, "It's almost eight. What inspections are they doing at this hour?"

The official panicked, "I'll contact them immediately, immediately." He started making calls, but no one answered after a long time. "Um, they're not answering."

By this time, Lu Weiguo also stumbled over with a painful expression, "Mayor Hua."

"Old Lu, old Lu." Hua Li pointed at him, "Look at yourself."Follow current novelenglish.net . s on N(o)vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.nᴇt

Lu Weiguo also felt a bit embarrassed, but the alcohol hadn't been fully metabolized yet, and he was still floating, unable to control his body.

Hua Li shouted loudly, "Contact the investors for me individually. Call all those scheduled for inspections at six. If they don't answer, go upstairs and apologize."

Over there, a hotel staff member blinked and suddenly said, "Leaders, there's no need to keep calling. Someone just took all the investors away."

"What?"

"Took them away?"

Hua Li, Lu Weiguo, and others were all stunned.

The female staff member said, "I saw them get on a bus, probably around a hundred people. The person in charge seemed to be Dong, the Mayor of Zhen Shui. I don't know about the others."

Lu Weiguo urgently asked, "Where are they?"

The female staff member said, "They've all left."

"The ones from Zhen Shui County also left," Lu Weiguo said.

The female staff member nodded, "Yes, Mayor Dong left with the foreign investors about twenty minutes ago."

Zhen Shui County, headed by Dong, took away the investors.

There was an uproar, and Hua Li and others were shocked and angry. "Why didn't you stop them?"

The female staff member looked at them and thought, "Can we really stop them? That's your Investment Promotion Bureau's business, and it has nothing to do with our hotel. Even if we wanted to stop them, we couldn't."

Lu Weiguo sobered up a bit and angrily said, "Zhen Shui County is audacious."

Hua Li's secretary exclaimed, "Is this Dong Xuebing acting recklessly?"

People from other county investment promotion bureaus were equally infuriated. This is outrageous. We worked so hard to attract these investors; while drunk, they took them all away. Damned Dong, you're unethical.

In the end, after the last contact, only around twenty investors were left in the hotel.

Who can blame others for this?

They couldn't blame anyone.

In just half an hour, the news spread throughout the city. The entire city learned about the incident. Last night, the joint efforts of the city's Investment Promotion Bureau and the Investment Promotion departments aimed to get Zhen Shui County officials drunk to snatch away the foreign investors they invited. However, instead of getting Mayor Dong drunk, they ended up getting themselves all drunk, and Dong Xuebing, alone, drank 5.5 liters of alcohol and, the next day, managed to take away all the investors brought by other districts and counties.

Many people were left dumbfounded.

Who exactly is this in Zhen Shui County Deputy Mayor?

A person who can outdrink over fifty others in just a half-hour is unheard of. This has made Lu Weiguo and others almost a laughingstock throughout the city.