Chapter 148: Value
When Su Can and Tang Wu left Rongcheng for university life, it was probably just when Tao Changping was having a rough time. According to Wang Weiwei's reliable information, of the twenty-odd calls Tao Changping received in a day, more than half could turn him from his usual striding, expansive self into a man of few words.
Rumors circulated every day in that seemingly solemn municipal office building. Sometimes these rumors were not entirely groundless. Many stories told in convincing detail would eventually be confirmed to some degree. In a city of steel and concrete, no wall could ever keep every secret.
After Mayor Tao's call a few days earlier, Su Licheng had not received another call from him, but he had already seen the shift in Rongcheng's political winds.
According to Su Can's eldest uncle, Zeng Qu anming, among the calls Tao Changping had received these past few days, several that he knew of had come from key figures in departments with considerable real power and influence. The calls had gone directly to Tao Changping's mobile, and the words spoken had been fairly harsh. After one call, Tao Changping's facade had collapsed completely, and he had shut himself in his office for over an hour. Su Can reckoned that had been around the time his father received Mayor Tao's call.
That winter in Rongcheng, the affair had undoubtedly brought the names "Su Licheng," "Big Banyan Construction," and "Su Can" repeatedly to the ears of those who wanted to hear them and those who did not.
After the provincial investigation team originally intended for Big Banyan Construction stood down, the repercussions of the affair had only just begun to build. The calls his father received had already changed on several fronts. Even a leading figure originally in