Chapter 212: A planned frame-up and slander

'Manager Li, the company is preparing a celebration dinner after the contract is signed. You are the main hero in this company's winning of the order, the main character among the protagonists of this celebration dinner, and you cannot be missing!'

Li Qingyuan was just about to leave when Zhao Jun's secretary suddenly appeared at the door and shouted at him like this. Li Qingyuan turned back to her and said, 'I'm sorry, I have something very important that I must go out to do. Could you please tell Mr. Zhao that I may have to go choose a venue and I won't be able to go, and if possible, it would be best if this celebration dinner could be postponed for a few days.'

After saying this, Li Qingyuan didn't care about the secretary's reaction and rushed out the door, hailed a taxi and arrived at the West Lake Hotel, followed by the waiter to a private room.

'What on earth is going on, Mr Wang? Wasn't it already decided at the tender meeting? How can there still be a change now?'

As soon as he walked in the door, Li Qingyuan asked with his mouth open. The person sitting in the private room was Wang Ping, the general manager of the shipping company. He got up and said to Li Qingyuan, 'Manager Li, it is true that the bidding was already decided at the bidding meeting, but many people in the company are saying that this bidding was rigged and is illegal, so they are demanding that your company be disqualified from the bidding or that the bidding be re-held.'

'Shameless!' Li Qingyuan slammed his hand on the table and shouted angrily. However, Li Qingyuan also understood that shouting angrily would achieve nothing here, and he had not come to complain to Wang Ping today. Therefore, Li Qingyuan quickly calmed down and asked Wang Ping, "What did you do in the end, Mr Wang?'

'Everyone argued at the seminar and finally submitted it to the Party Committee for discussion," Wang Ping said.

This is a very common practice in public institutions. Adhering to the tradition of the party leading everything, anything that doesn't come to a conclusion at a general meeting will be submitted to the party committee for discussion, and the members of the party committee will make the final decision.

Generally speaking, those who can enter the party committee are important cadres at all levels, as well as some employees with advanced thinking, and some retired cadres. These people either have very strong connections or are exceptionally capable. In short, no matter what, they are all deeply rooted in the unit, so the decisions they make undoubtedly best serve the interests of the unit's leadership.

And the general Party committee is controlled by the Party secretary, because everyone is in the same unit, and no matter who it is, they have to give the boss a little face. Therefore, under normal circumstances, if a decision is submitted to the Party committee for discussion, it is a foregone conclusion for the Party secretary.

But now the Party secretary of the shipping company is Wang Ping, so the situation is probably a bit different.

Because Wang Ping was only recently transferred to the shipping company, he does not yet have enough control over the company. That is why he came up with the idea of holding a bidding meeting, with the aim of disrupting the situation within the company. Now that so many people oppose the results of the bidding meeting and the matter has been brought to the Party Committee, Wang Ping is not optimistic about the outcome.

'Decisions of the Party Committee are generally made by a show of hands, but the votes I can be sure of on my side are less than a third of the total. It is impossible to get it passed,' Wang Ping said.

Li Qingyuan let out a breath and said, 'It doesn't matter, as long as you can stall, I'll think of something.'

Wang Ping was a little surprised, "What can you think of?'

'You want to change the current situation within the shipping company, right? What if you make a bigger deal of it?" Li Qingyuan didn't answer right away, but instead asked a question in return.

'Of course it's fine to make a big deal of it, and it would be best if everyone jumped out and was rounded up!' Wang Ping said, "But Manager Li, can you tell me what you plan to do first?'

'It's very simple, just use the media to directly expose the matter, and I will organise the company to protest to the relevant departments. I believe someone will come and take care of this matter. As long as the government is involved, it will be useless for some people to jump again," Li Qingyuan said.

Hearing this answer, Wang Ping immediately clapped his hands and said, 'This is a good idea. This is how we should stir up trouble. Don't those guys think they are in the right? Then let's just make the whole thing public and see who's afraid of whom.'

As soon as Wang Ping's words fell, a voice was heard at the door: 'The method is good, but unfortunately, you don't have this opportunity anymore.'

With this voice, the door to the box was suddenly opened, and several people rushed in.

Wang Ping slammed his hand on the table and pointed at the last person to enter, a middle-aged man, and said, 'Vice President Qian, what do you want by bringing so many people here? Do you want to use triad methods to force me?'

This person, Li Qingyuan, also knew him. He was the vice president of the shipping company. Not only was Wang Ping his biggest rival in the company, he was also the one who supported the supply and marketing cooperative the most in winning the bid. If the eight-treasure porridge wanted to pass smoothly, he was a stone that had to be moved.

Vice President Qian shook his head and said, 'I must say, Mr Wang, you really don't have a clue. Do I really need to resort to such despicable tactics? You obviously don't know who these people are, so let me tell you. They are from the Discipline Inspection Commission, and they are here to investigate your suspected bribery and bid rigging.'

What?

Wang Ping and Li Qingyuan were shocked. At this time, a man walked up to them and said, 'Hello, we are from the Nancheng District Discipline Inspection Commission. We have received a report that you are suspected of accepting bribes and engaging in irregularities for personal gain. Please come with us.'

'We didn't!' Wang Ping shouted, and he pointed at Vice President Qian and said, 'You have the wrong people. They are the ones who really engaged in irregularities for personal gain and accepted bribes to rig the bidding!'

Compared to Wang Ping, Li Qingyuan was much calmer: 'President Wang, it seems that they are much faster than us.'

'It seems that Manager Li of the Eight Treasures Congee Company knows more,' Vice President Qian said.

Wang Ping was momentarily stunned. While he was in a daze, the Discipline Inspection Commission had already taken action. Four people came over and held them respectively, leading them out of the private room.

Wang Ping and Li Qingyuan were carried to the entrance of the hotel. Many reporters were already waiting here. When they saw Wang Ping and Li Qingyuan being led out, they immediately scrambled to swarm up, raising their cameras and video cameras to take pictures of them.

In front of these reporters, there was another person doing the introduction: 'Comrade reporters, I really didn't expect it, the head of a state-owned enterprise and the manager of a private enterprise, they actually did such disgusting things together, using their power to manipulate the bidding meeting. How can they claim that this is the most legitimate business practice? They are destroying the market economy by doing this, and this is the worst kind of crime!'

'Liu Feng! Don't slander others, we didn't use our power for personal gain!' Li Qingyuan shouted at him, the man being Liu Feng, the general manager of the supply and marketing cooperative.

'No? Then why were you caught in a restaurant box? I always wondered why our supply and marketing cooperative lost the bid, it turns out you were the ones messing with it. Manager Li, how much did you pay Mr Wang this time?' Liu Feng asked deliberately.

'We didn't. We were just having dinner together, and that doesn't mean anything!' Wang Ping also said so, but at this point his words didn't carry any weight.

At that moment, Vice President Qian of the shipping company happened to walk out of the restaurant: 'President Wang, this doesn't seem to mean anything. It seems that you don't call the shots, it's the evidence that does.

As he spoke, Vice President Qian walked over to the reporters and said with a heavy tone, 'Today is truly a day of regret. I really never imagined that our esteemed President Wang would be such a person. He always said that he wanted to reform, and all of us comrades in the shipping company believed in him and respected him, and supported all the decisions he made. But who knew that he was actually just thinking of his own selfish interests. This is so sad!'

Liu Feng over there also said, 'Yes, in fact, as soon as the bidding result came out, I sensed something was wrong. But at the time, I still wanted to believe that perhaps the Eight Treasures Congee Company really had a chance of winning the bid. But now it seems that was just wishful thinking on my part. The facts have proven that the bidding result was a kind of cheating behaviour and is invalid!'

'Yes, such a bidding result is definitely invalid!' Vice President Qian followed suit, saying, 'In view of the actions of Comrades Wang Ping and Li Qingyuan, we have decided, in line with the principles of fairness, justice and openness, to invalidate the results of the first bidding and disqualify the company from bidding. According to the bidding rules, we will pass the qualification to Hangzhou City Supply and Marketing Cooperative, which came in second place.'

Hearing Vice President Qian's words, Li Qingyuan almost felt like vomiting blood, because he knew very well that it was all nonsense! What did he mean by fairness, justice and openness? Did he mean that they would have the Discipline Inspection Commission come and arrest someone, and then they would try their best to smear the person in front of the reporters, and then forcibly change the bidding results? If you want to talk about favouritism and malpractice, this is the real favouritism and malpractice, isn't it?

Li Qingyuan was shaking with anger. He wanted to shout, but he knew that it would be useless, because today's events had all been arranged by Liu Feng and Vice President Qian.

Li Qingyuan subconsciously glanced back, and Liu Feng was looking at him at that moment, giving him a dismissive smile, his lips moving. Li Qingyuan could tell that he was saying, 'I told you not to think that you've won just like that.'

Li Qingyuan suddenly felt a wave of helpless despair. Could it be that after all his hard work, after all the days and nights spent desperately trying to find ways to exploit the loopholes in the bidding rules, after meeting with the heads of the three companies, White Rabbit, West Lake and New Tide, and even going so far as to kneel before them, and even after finding Wang Ping as soon as he found out what Liu Feng and the others might do next, to discuss a countermeasure,

But even after all this, is it still going to come to nothing? Is it really not possible to win the tender? Is this miracle really just like Cinderella's, lasting only until midnight and not forever? Then who can really make it happen?

Li Qingyuan let out a desperate cry in his heart, while Liu Feng over there was very happy. He knew that Li Qingyuan would definitely seek Wang Ping's advice in order to finalise the order as soon as possible, not to mention that Vice President Qian of the shipping company had even brought the bidding to the Party Committee meeting, so they would have to meet and discuss it. Therefore, he had called in his connections to get the Discipline Inspection Commission and reporters there, with the aim of completely discrediting them. As long as they were not there, wouldn't the project just be his?

Liu Feng's mouth curled up, revealing a smug smile, but at this time, someone walked over and said, 'I didn't realise it was quite so lively here!'

Hearing this voice, Li Qingyuan looked up again full of hope: 'Boss Zhou!'

!!!