Chapter 26: The Provincial City Trip (Part One)

  Gu Changfeng's recent mood has been extremely poor. He spent a lot of money to find out Ding Dawei's whereabouts, but more than ten days have passed and there is no news at all. Another thing that makes Gu Changfeng very angry is that Hu Lao suddenly left Lanzhou City to return to his hometown. Originally, Gu Changfeng was going to contact Ding Dawei through Hu Lao, now it seems the plan has fallen through.

  "Knock knock knock." A light and even knocking sound came from the doorway.

  "Come in." Gu Changfeng shouted.

  "Ah!" The large door was gently pushed open, and a beautiful woman in her 30s, dressed in professional attire, walked in: "Chairman Gu, someone has sent you an invitation." As she spoke, the beautiful woman placed an exquisite invitation card in front of Gu Changfeng.

  Gu Changfeng picked up the invitation card with a puzzled expression, opened it and took a look, his eyebrows furrowed. The invitation card only had a few sentences: "Chairman Gu, hello, I'm having a birthday party on the 18th, hope you can attend." Signed with three big characters: "Qin Shenghan".

  When it comes to Qin Shenghan, he is quite impressive. Qin Shenghan's elder brother is the vice governor and a standing committee member of the provincial party committee. With his brother's help, Qin Shenghan opened a real estate company in the provincial capital, which has been very successful and made a lot of money over the years.

  Through a friend's introduction, Gu Changfeng got to know Qin Shenghan, and the two had quite a lot of business dealings. To put it this way, Qin Shenghan is now one of Gu Changfeng's biggest business partners.

  Gu Changfeng gently put down the invitation card, looked up at the beautiful woman still standing in her original position and said lightly: "You go out first."

  "Yes." The beautiful woman nodded respectfully and slowly backed out.

  Gu Changfeng pondered for a moment, picked up the receiver and dialed a number.

  The phone rang for a long time before it was finally answered, and a lazy voice came from the receiver: "Who is this?"

  "Is it Mr. Qin? I am Gu Changfeng." Gu Changfeng said politely.

  "Oh, it's Old Chairman Gu, you're looking for me?" Qin Shenghan smiled and said.

  "It's like this, I just received your invitation..." Gu Changfeng said.

  "Yes, the 18th is indeed my 50th birthday. I hope Chairman Gu will do me the honor of coming to celebrate with me." Qin Shenghan nodded repeatedly.

  "Hmm... Boss Qin, I'm afraid I won't be able to go at that time..." Gu Changfeng hesitated for a moment before saying slowly.

  "Why?" Qin Sheng Han was taken aback.

  "It's like this, I've recently run into some trouble, someone wants to do me harm, so now I rarely go out..." Gu Changfeng said, choosing his words carefully.

  "Who is so bold as to dare be unfavorable to you?" Qin Sheng Han said angrily.

  Gu Changfeng slightly shook his head: "For the time being, I don't know who it is either." Before there was conclusive evidence, Gu Changfeng did not want to mention Ding Dawei, lest he cause unnecessary trouble.

  "Former chairman, do you need my help?" Qin Shenghan asked with concern.

  "For the time being, I don't need it, I can still cope with it." Gu Changfeng said embarrassedly: "On the 18th, I really won't be able to attend your birthday party..."

  "Former chairman, why don't you just bring some bodyguards with you when you go out? I've finally managed to organize a birthday party, and you have to come celebrate with me." Qin Shenghan invited enthusiastically.

  "But..." Gu Changfeng wanted to say something more.

  "Former chairman, if not, I'll send someone to pick you up, and guarantee that you will arrive safely at my birthday banquet." Qin Shenghan was a person who cherished his life extremely, spending a huge amount of money to hire dozens of top-notch bodyguards.

  "How can I trouble Mr. Qin?" Gu Changfeng said with embarrassment.

  "Old Chairman, this time I've invited many business tycoons, all of whom are influential figures. You should get to know them, it will be very helpful for future business." Qin Shenghan knew that Gu Changfeng loved to make connections with powerful businessmen.

  "Alright, I'll attend your birthday party on the 18th," Gu Changfeng said with a slight nod. Qin Shenghan's enthusiastic invitation made it difficult for Gu to refuse again, as Qin was the younger brother of the vice governor and couldn't be easily offended. Moreover, Gu wanted to get acquainted with the business tycoons invited by Qin, which might benefit his future business development. As for the safety of the journey to the party, Gu had already thought it through and would just arrange for more security guards to escort him.

  "By the way, don't forget to bring your daughter along to the banquet." Qin Sheng Han said suddenly.

  "What? Take my daughter?" Gu Changfeng was taken aback.

  "To be honest with you, my son Xiao Hao has returned from studying abroad and is insisting on meeting your esteemed daughter." Qin Sheng Han said with a smile.

  Gu Changfeng was a bit silent, last year Qin Shenghan took his son Qin Hao to visit Ding Sheng Group, at that time Gu Jialan was also in the company. After seeing Gu Jialan, Qin Hao's eyes went straight and he couldn't move. Later, he often ran to Ding Sheng Group to find Gu Jialan, every time he came, he would give Gu Jialan a bouquet of roses and express his love to her. Gu Jialan directly rejected Qin Hao, but Qin Hao's face was really thick, no matter how Gu Jialan refused him, Qin Hao continued to pursue her without giving up. Finally, Gu Jialan was annoyed and had no choice but to leave Lanzhou and travel abroad. After a while, Qin Hao was sent by his family to study abroad, and it has been over a year since then.

  "Mr. Qin, my daughter Jialan has been very busy lately and probably won't be able to attend your business banquet..." Gu Changfeng tactfully declined.

  "Hey, Director Gu, you're not giving me any face by saying that. Attending my birthday banquet is just a matter of spending one day, can't your precious time even be squeezed out for just one day?" Qin Shenghan said with some dissatisfaction.

  "No, it's my daughter...". Gu Changfeng wanted to explain something.

  "Alright, it's settled then. I'll be waiting for you and your esteemed wife to arrive in the provincial city on the 18th morning." With that, Qin Shenghan ended the call.

  Listening to the "beep" sound coming from the receiver, Gu Changfeng couldn't help but laugh.

  "What? You want me to go see that annoying Qin Hao?" Gu Jialan's eyes widened in surprise.

  "Jialan, I've already promised someone else." Gu Changfeng said.

  "I didn't agree, you go by yourself, I won't go." Gu Jialan was somewhat angry.

  "Jialan, don't be so willful, okay?" Gu Changfeng frowned.

  "Dad, you don't know how annoyed I am with Qin Hao. I usually try to avoid him, but now you're actively sending me into his arms! What's wrong with you?" Gu Jialan's face looked a bit unpleasant.

  "I also can't bear to lose face, Jialan, you go attend Qin Shenghan's banquet, it's just a day's time, after the banquet is over, we'll immediately return, you also know that sometimes some business banquets are hard to decline." Gu Changfeng advised.

  "I just don't want to see Qin Hao." Gu Jialan said with a gloomy face.

  "When attending the banquet, just avoid Qin Hao and that's it. I think with so many people at the banquet, Qin Hao won't dare to bother you excessively." It seems that Gu Changfeng has made up his mind to let Gu Jialan attend the banquet.

  "But..." Gu Jialan wanted to say something more.

  "Dad has already promised them, you don't want Dad to be a man who doesn't keep his word, do you?" Gu Changfeng said.

  "Let's just forget about it this time."

  "Absolutely won't happen again."

  Bai Leng glanced at Gu Changfeng, and Gu Jialan pouted: "You're really annoying." After finishing speaking, she turned around and left the office.

  Looking at Gu Jialan's departing back, Gu Changfeng sighed with a bitter smile: "This girl is getting more and more unreasonable."

  At 6:00 pm on the 18th.

  More than 20 security guards gathered at the entrance of Ding Sheng Group Building, and Lin San was suddenly inside.

  At 6:15, Gu Changfeng and Gu Jialan walked out of the building.

  "Hello Chairman, hello Miss Gu." The security guards shouted in unison.

  Gu Changfeng smiled and waved at the security guards before getting into a stretched Volvo sedan with Gu Jialan.

  Lin San and 20 other security guards also got into four off-road vehicles one after another.

  A cross-country vehicle led the way, followed by a stretched Volvo carrying Gu Changfeng and Gu Jiaran, with three more cross-country vehicles closely behind.

  Lin San was arranged in the last off-road vehicle, also on board were Zhou Tian, Li Cong and Zheng Guang, and the driver was an old driver.

  "Director Zhou, what is Chairman Gu going to the provincial city for?" Li Cong asked.

  Zhou Tian shook his head: "I'm not clear either, I received the notice and it said that Director Gu and Miss Gu are going to the provincial city on business, and we should make preparations for escorting them."

  "I've grown up to this age, but I've never been to the provincial city." Zheng Guang's face showed a look of yearning: "I heard that the provincial city is prosperous to the point of being suffocating, crowded to the point of being suffocating, and the vehicles on the road are also congested to the point of being suffocating."

  "It's not that exaggerated, but the provincial capital is indeed much more prosperous than Lanzhou City." Li Cong had been to the provincial capital twice, so he still knew something about it.

  "When I arrive at the provincial capital, I must have a good time." Zheng Guang said.

  "We didn't come out here to have fun, don't forget our duty is to protect the old chairman and Miss Gu." Lin San glared at Zheng Guang.

  "What Lin San said is right, our task this time is relatively heavy, everyone must remain highly vigilant and absolutely no loopholes can appear. The provincial city is not the same as Lanzhou City, we are not familiar with the environment of the provincial city, security work is not easy to do." Zhou Tian reminded.

  "In short, everyone should stay vigilant, be careful with what they do, and pay attention to their surroundings at all times. In case of an emergency, we must ensure the safety of Chairman Gu and Miss Gu." Lin San's expression turned somewhat serious.

  "I see, we all understand in our hearts. Lin San, since you became the deputy group leader, I found that you have become more garrulous. Is this what they call 'official disease'? Once you're in office, your mindset is different?" Li Cong said with a hint of dissatisfaction, curling his lips.

  "Get out, you're the one who's sick. I'm just doing this for your own good. What if our carelessness causes harm to Director Gu and Miss Gu? We'll be fired for sure. I've been in society for a while now, and it's not easy for people like us with average education and no skills to find a satisfactory job." Lin said with a crooked mouth.

  "What Lin San said is very right, the company has been good to us, we should also perform well." Zhou Tian agreed with Lin San's words.

  "Alright, I won't talk nonsense from now on." After saying that, Li Cong leaned back in his seat and started playing games on his phone.

  Zheng Guang also consciously closed his mouth and sat quietly without speaking.

  Lin San and Zhou Tian looked out of the car window, vigilantly observing their surroundings.