Outside the compound.
The atmosphere had frozen solid.
More and more Investment Bureau clerks came out to watch. The Office Building's corridor and restroom windows were packed with people craning their necks to look. The twenty-odd locals outside the compound, Cao Xupeng, Zhao Xinglong, the Investment Bureau officials, and several county government office staff all turned their eyes toward Dong Xuebin, who was muttering into his phone. Their expressions varied, and no one knew who Dong Xuebin was contacting.
At that moment, Dong Xuebin walked back under everyone's gaze and held out his phone.
Li Shengbin and the other two looked at him. "...What?"
"Answer it." Dong Xuebin glanced at Li Shengbin and said coldly, "It's from your leader!"
Hearing that, Cao Xupeng and Zhao Xinglong exchanged a look. Their leader? Little Dong has connections at Xinhua News Agency?
Li Shengbin frowned but did not reach for the phone.
Wang Na and Wang Ting were full of suspicion, seemingly wondering which leader it could be.
Dong Xuebin laughed in fury. "Not answering? Fine, I understand."
"Wait!" Seeing Dong Xuebin raise the phone as if to say something, Li Shengbin stopped him and took the phone anyway. He had no idea whom Dong Xuebin had contacted, but what Xinhua News Agency higher-up could a bureau leader in a backwater like Yantai County possibly know? The headquarters was already relatively independent and special, practically another form of officialdom, with little involvement with lower-level places. Besides, although Li Shengbin was not yet thirty, he was still the deputy leader of a group and had some connections at the agency, so he did not take it too seriously.
With the phone in hand, Li Shengbin said flatly, "Hello?"
"Are you Li Shengbin from the Domestic News Editorial Department?" A woman's cold voice came through.