Rebirth 1990: The beginning is sweet and cool Bai Yueguang

As the electronic lock closed with a slight sound, Zhou Qi stared at the last ray of warm light disappearing through the crack in the door.

The mobile phone screen lit up in the dim underground garage, with twenty-three unread messages all related to the west city commercial district renovation project.

When key words such as "building materials exceeding standards" and "abnormal accounts" appeared for the third time in different documents, a familiar sense of crisis exploded along the nerve endings.

The moment you push open the mahogany door, a strong smell of cigar hits you in the face.

Zhang Gongzheng jumped up from the leather sofa too quickly, and cigarette ash fell on his Armani suit.

The man who always paid attention to his image didn't notice it and rushed over in two steps: "Brother Qi, the Finance Department suddenly wants to check the purchase orders for three quarters, right?"

Zhou Qi paused as he unbuttoned his cuffs. Sunlight slanted in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, drawing a dividing line between the two of them.

He looked at the bloodshot in the other's eyes, and suddenly remembered the rainy night seven years ago when the soaked young man swore to do clean business in the construction floor room.

Zhou Qi walked to the desk in silence and sat down

The metal lighter made a crisp clicking sound, and blue-gray smoke rose between the two people.

Zhang Gongzheng's Adam's apple moved, and he stood opposite the mahogany conference table with his hands hanging down. He did not pull out his chair and sit down halfway until he saw Zhou Qi tapping the table with his index finger holding a cigarette.

"Gongzheng, do you remember how we shared pickles and steamed buns in the boiler room in 1998?"

Zhou Qi suddenly spoke, the sparks from his cigarette flickering as he spoke.

The ginkgo leaves outside the window swirled and fell onto the windowsill, and the golden color stung Zhang Gongzheng's eyes.

Zhang Gongzheng clenched his fist and then unclenched it: "Brother Qi has been very kind to us. Last year, I spent three hundred thousand yuan on my mother's hospitalization..."

"That's why I'm sitting here talking to you."

Zhou Qi put out his cigarette and pulled out a stack of photocopies of bills from a folder:

"The concrete grade of each cubic meter of the grain depot's staff building is two grades different. Mr. Wang from the building materials market said that Hualong's buyer withheld his payment for three months."

Zhang Gongzheng was sweating on the back of his neck. He forced a smile and said, "The people below are not clean. When I go back, I will..."

"Dingfeng Construction, the company you newly registered last month, just won the bid for the city gymnasium."

Zhou Qi turned his lighter and it made a clicking sound. "Last week, a remittance of 800,000 yuan came into the account of the director of the bidding office's son in the United States."

The central air conditioning in the office made a slight hum. Zhang Gong was loosening his tie and grabbing a cigarette box. His trembling fingers pressed the lighter three times before he lit the cigarette.

The smoke blurred his blue face: "Brother Qi, those hooligans have long gone, I am now working on the project seriously..."

"The current account book is in my safe."

Zhou Qi suddenly stood up, the air from the hem of his suit scattering the cigarette ash: "Next week the Commission for Discipline Inspection will check Hualong's accounts. Which one do you think I should hand in?"

The setting sun outside the glass curtain wall suddenly became dazzling, and the ashes from Zhang Gongzheng's cigarette fell on his custom-made trousers.

"But I really didn't."

"Brother Qi, do you know how difficult it is to carry out demolition?"

Zhang Gongzheng rubbed his palms and said, "At the beginning, I also wanted to be a civilized person. The compensation was 30% higher than the market price. I almost knelt down and begged those stubborn households to sign.

We have all been through hard times, how can we not understand the difficulties faced by ordinary people? But some people just take advantage of others! "

He suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it on the coffee table: "Look, I'm young and easy to talk to, but you're asking for a huge amount of compensation!

If I hadn't arranged for someone to draw a red circle on their wall in the middle of the night, would these people have moved away obediently?"

"Now that the group has grown, how can you still see the dirty and tiring work at the grassroots level?"

Zhang Gongzheng picked up the cold tea and drank it all in one gulp: "If I don't have a few brothers who can keep the peace, do you want me to personally swing an iron rod to negotiate?

All compensation procedures are in compliance with the law. It is just a scare tactic. We have never touched anyone."

Zhou Qi turned his wedding ring in silence.

The searchlights from the construction site outside the window swept across, casting alternating light and dark shadows on his face.

"You said the commission card is needed."

"Heaven and earth, conscience!"

Zhang Gongzheng straightened his back suddenly: "The project team is open to bidding, and the accounts can be checked at any time. If you don't believe me, send the audit team in now. If you find any problems, I will pack up and leave immediately!"

The conference room fell into a brief silence, and the central air conditioner made a slight hum.

Zhou Qi suddenly leaned forward and asked: "Where is the gift money account book?"

"What gift money?"

Zhang Gongzheng's throat rolled. "Of course you have to use connections to organize key projects. Is sending some local specialties during festivals considered a bribe? When you built the branch factory, didn't you also give supermarket stored-value cards to various departments?"

"Total amount." Zhou Qi's voice sounded like ice.

"About two million."

Zhang Gongzheng loosened his tie and said, "You'll have to ask the finance department for the exact amount. Some of it was used to help arrange jobs for the leaders' children, and some of it was used to advance the expenses for overseas inspections."

“So you dare to cut corners on the acceptance criteria?”

Zhou Qi grabbed the construction plan and threw it on the table: "The municipal square was designed with an eight-centimeter foundation, but you only built five centimeters. Do you think the regulatory authorities are blind?"

“Technology is advanced now.”

“Is it advanced enough to replace C30 concrete with C25?”

Zhou Qi sneered and flipped open the test report: "The daughter of Lao Wang from the Quality Inspection Station just received an admission notice from Berkeley. Do you need me to help you recall the amount of the sponsorship fee?"

Zhang Gongzheng's face was pale and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Whose meanings are these?"

"Did you do this on your own initiative, or was there someone behind this?"

"Whose pocket did the so-called profit dividend go into? Did they keep it all or did they share it?"

"Violent demolition, collusion between officials and businessmen, and shoddy work."

"Are you going to spend the rest of your life in jail?"

Zhang Gongzheng still looked nonchalant: "Brother Qi, this can't be considered forced demolition. The compensation has been paid and the contract has been signed in black and white.

As for the exchanges during festivals, they are just social etiquette, at most they are just courtesy. Although the quality of the project is different from the bid, it can definitely stand the test. "

Zhou Qi tapped the table with his knuckles, making a crisp sound. "What if one of your 'personal connections' is suddenly caught, and the Discipline Inspection Commission follows the clues and finds you here?"

"This...what does this have to do with me?" Zhang Gongzheng's voice began to weaken.

"It doesn't matter?"

Zhou Qi stood up suddenly, casting a shadow over the other person: "Do you think the evidence is not conclusive enough?"

"To tell you the truth, as long as any link is verified..."

"The cash flow is ironclad evidence! The engineering inspection report is real evidence! Those who were forced to sign can become witnesses at any time! By then, let alone the closure of the company, a ten-year prison sentence would be a light punishment!"

"Don't forget that I also hold the title of company director."

"Do you think the Disciplinary Inspection Committee believes that I am innocent?"

Zhang Gongzheng's forehead was covered with cold sweat: "No... not really."

"Still pretending to be confused?"

Zhou Qi pulled out his phone and pulled up the engineering forum page: "Look at these anonymous reports, saying that the square project is a shoddy project with a lot of money and that there is something fishy about the bidding process."

"None of the four large real estate developers in Chuncheng won the bid, but it fell into the hands of a county-level developer like you. Two million 'activity funds', do you think this is normal communication?"