Power and Wealth
Chapter 1559 – Familiar Faces
Noon.
Inside the airport hall.
Several airport staff members hurried over to intervene.
Upon seeing some of them wearing police uniforms, Dong Xuebing decided not to escalate the situation further. He glanced at Zheng Fei’s face, and his grip loosened. He wasn’t afraid of these staff members; Dong Xuebing had never been afraid of anyone. However, he had matured a lot, and this was him giving them face. But Zheng Fei, seeing Dong Xuebing release his grip, thought he was backing down. In reality, Dong Xuebing could incapacitate him within seconds if he wanted to. If Dong Xuebing didn’t have this capability, he wouldn’t be Dong Xuebing.
“What’s going on here?” one of the staff members asked sternly.
Zheng Fei replied arrogantly, “Mind your own business. Didn’t you see him throw the first punch?”
Dong Xuebing chuckled, “Who threw the first punch? Stop talking nonsense.”
It was true that Zheng Fei had grabbed Dong Xuebing’s arm first, but he didn’t consider it a punch. He didn’t want to waste time arguing with airport staff. “Get your supervisor here,” he demanded.
One of the staff members looked at him. “We are the supervisors.”
Zheng Fei, confident in his tone, said, “Get Director Xu Xianglin here.”
Upon hearing this, everyone was slightly surprised. They hadn’t expected him to know Director Xu.
Dong Xuebing understood immediately. “Ah, so he knows people here. But Xu Xianglin… where have I heard that name before?”
One of them asked, “Who are you?”
Zheng Fei replied, “I’m Zheng Fei from the Xiaxing City Agricultural Bureau. Tell him that, and he’ll know.”
Someone recognized him, “Uh, you’re Director Zheng from the Agricultural Bureau?”
Ignoring them, Zheng Fei turned to Dong Xuebing and asked, “Who are these people?”
The person in the police uniform said promptly, “Just wait a moment. I’ll go get Director Xu.”
Someone picked up a walkie-talkie and made an announcement, while another person walked away to make a phone call.
Being a Division Chief level leader, they obviously couldn’t afford to be negligent. This wasn’t the capital; it was a local area with strong small-circle consciousness.
Seeing a row of waiting areas, Dong Xuebing remained calm. He showed no signs of panic and walked over to sit down. He wouldn’t bother to pick up the suitcase that had been knocked over; he had instructed the other party to pick it up and apologize, and they would do so.
Seeing Dong Xuebing so composed, Zheng Fei sneered. As a leader from the Xiaxing City Agricultural Bureau, he had quite a bit of face in Xiaxing City. He knew many people and didn’t take Dong Xuebing seriously. He felt indignant today and didn’t intend to leave. After all, there was no rush to go back. He planned to teach this ignorant outsider a lesson. Zheng Fei had never been humiliated like this before. While he might lose face in the capital, he couldn’t let an outsider get away with it in his territory.
Dong Xuebing sat down.
As a leader, Zheng Fei couldn’t lose his momentum either. He also sat on a chair in the waiting area, separated by several chairs from Dong Xuebing.
Ring ring ring, the phone rang.
Zheng Fei saw the caller ID and answered, “Hello, Director Wang.”
“Have you returned? How’s everything going?” the person on the other end asked.
“It’s almost sorted out. There shouldn’t be any problems. I’ll report back to you when I get back.”
“Well done. You’ve done a good job. It must have been tiring for you to make this trip. When did you get off the plane?”
“Yeah, I encountered a little trouble here. I am still dealing with it. Might not be back until this afternoon.”
“Mmm, handle it quickly, then head directly to the City Party Committee compound. Secretary Xie had a meeting this morning and was waiting to see the report from the Agricultural Bureau.”
“Okay, I’ll try to be quick.”
After hanging up the phone, Zheng Fei checked his watch. He felt he still had time, but he knew precisely when to leave. The new Secretary Xie always seemed to have a smiling face and appeared very gentle, but just two days after taking office, when a subordinate contradicted her, Secretary Xie didn’t get angry. She finished talking to him with a smile. It seemed like she didn’t take it to heart. However, at yesterday morning’s Party committee meeting, Secretary Xie directly transferred that person to another county. This startled many people, who then realized that the new secretary didn’t have as good a temper as she appeared to have. She was a leader who was warm on the outside but cold on the inside. This was like lighting three fires as a new official; from then on, everyone better understood Secretary Xie’s personality.
Before two o’clock.
He had to get back before two o’clock.
Zheng Fei had already figured it out. Then he just sat there, swinging his legs, waiting.
Dong Xuebing seemed even more relaxed. He didn’t even know that Zheng Fei had gone to find someone. He was humming a tune happily.
A few minutes later.
Finally, someone arrived.
“Director Zheng,” a middle-aged man with a group of people approached from a distance.
Zheng Fei looked over there and also got up to walk over. “Old Xu, you’re quite slow coming.”
The middle-aged man smiled. “I was just having lunch. When I heard a conflict with someone, I put down my lunchbox and came over. What’s going on?”
The two of them seemed very familiar.
Zheng Fei pointed to Dong Xuebing behind him. “It’s him. He was rude to me when he got on the plane, cursing at me. After getting off the plane, he accused me of intentionally bumping into him. It’s unreasonable. And then he even started a fight with me.” He pointed to his arm. “Take a look.”
Xu Xianglin frowned. “Is that so?”
Zheng Fei said, “Old Xu, you handle this.”
“Alright, you don’t need to worry about it,” Xu Xianglin said, then glanced at Dong Xuebing.
Dong Xuebing also looked at him immediately, and both of them were stunned for a moment.
“Dong Xuebing.” Xu Xianglin narrowed his eyes, not expecting to run into him in this place.
Dong Xuebing also smiled. “I thought the name sounded familiar. So it’s Director Xu.” Then he glanced back and saw Xu Xianglin’s son, Xu Dong, among the people behind him. He waved at him with a smile. “Xiao Dong, what are you doing here?”
Xu Dong also recognized Dong Xuebing. “It’s you.”
Zheng Fei was surprised. “You guys know each other?”
Xu Xianglin’s expression wasn’t quite right. “Yeah, we were neighbors before.”
Dong Xuebing reached out to shake his hand, wanting to be polite. “Director Xu, I hope you’ve been well.”
But Xu Xianglin didn’t extend his hand and looked at him coldly. “It’s been many years since we last met, right? Okay, you’re still the same.”
Zheng Fei understood the situation now. The relationship between Xu Xianglin, his son, and Dong Xuebing was bad, indicating conflicts in the past.