1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 152

If you keep exchanging pleasantries and small talk and nothing gets out of it, you can only get Dai Mingde drunk after a few rounds of drinks and a few dishes, and then you can lower his guard.

Therefore, Zhu Jing specially brought Yang Dingtian, who had a good alcohol tolerance, along!

After the door to the private room opened, there was no waiting; one hot and delicious dish after another was served, and the wine bottles were kept warm in a basin of hot water.

"Come on, we're all brothers in the army, let's go around first!" Zhu Jing, sitting in the main seat, raised his glass first, and specially arranged for a large bowl to hold the wine, with each bowl containing a full half catty of wine!

The other three raised their wine bowls and, according to the rules of the martial arts world, clinked them together. The amber-colored wine in their bowls was stirred up by the collision and splashed into each other's bowls.

This is also a rule of the underworld: the first bowl of wine poured out must be touched together like this. Between acquaintances, it means that the relationship is very close and harmonious. Between new acquaintances, it means that you are open-minded and can say that you have not added anything to the wine.

Liu Ting downed the entire bowl of wine in one gulp. The bowl contained half a jin of wine. He closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and gulped it down in two mouthfuls.

Liu Ting initially thought the wine would be difficult to drink, but after tasting it, he found it to be a complex and mellow flavor with a hint of sweetness and a lingering, rich aroma, making it very easy to drink.

Moreover, the liquor was warm, so drinking it didn't make you feel uncomfortable at all.

Compared to the whiskeys and rums I used to drink in America, this tastes much better, smooth and mellow.

This is also the yellow wine that has been popular among the upper class of the Republic. These days, the upper class basically doesn't drink baijiu (white liquor). The strong and spicy baijiu is for the middle and lower classes. All the high-end banquets at the upper class are served with yellow wine.

So-called Moutai, Luzhou Laojiao, Jiannanchun, etc., also exist within the People's Republic of China, but they are all local specialties and cannot be served at the highest levels. Yellow wine is nourishing and does not harm the body, and its brewing process is complex and costly. A bottle of aged yellow wine cannot be served in just a few years; it takes at least ten or twenty years before it can be served on the table of important figures.

Although rice wine is mild, it can be quite intoxicating, especially when heated!

Zhu Jing and Dai Mingde only took a small sip as a token gesture, but everyone's eyes widened when they saw Liu Ting, this tough guy, down half a jin in one go.

Zhu Jing's face stiffened, and she turned to look at Yang Dingtian. Yang Dingtian also forced himself to finish the wine in his bowl in one gulp.

"Haha, this bureau chief under me studied in the United States and was a Chinese American in his early years. He's a bit reckless when he drinks, which he learned from foreigners. Please excuse his behavior!"

Dai Mingde was very pleased with himself. With a big smile, he picked up his chopsticks and started eating: "Come on, eat up, it'll get cold if you don't eat now. It's so expensive, you have to try it!"

Without any hesitation, Dai Mingde went to the rice bucket himself, filled a bowl to the brim, and even took Zhu Jing's bowl to help serve rice.

When serving Zhu Jing rice, Dai Mingde was incredibly generous with his serving. He would press down on each spoonful after each serving, until the rice was overflowing. Then, like a plasterer, he pressed down hard around the top of the rice bowl.

The maids standing nearby were dumbfounded; they had never seen this person before.

When the rice bowl was handed to Zhu Jing, her face turned dark.

"Come on, let's have soldiers face soldiers and generals face generals. We two will take care of the food, and Xiao Liu and Director Yang will take care of the drinks!" Dai Mingde turned his head and shouted towards the door, "I heard you have some exciting performances here, right? Hurry up and bring them on!"

A group of dancers and female musicians quickly poured in from outside. Inside the private room was a spacious hall with carpets.

A group of elegant dancers with their hair tied in buns and graceful figures, dressed in sheer gauze skirts that partially concealed their faces, stood barefoot in two neat rows on the carpet.

The other two female musicians sat on one side of the hall, setting up their guzheng and long flute. The musicians' big, round eyes looked at the dining table.

Zhu Jing waved her hand helplessly: "Then let's play music and dance while we drink and chat!"

Zhu Jing nodded, and the exciting program in the hall immediately began.

Her delicate hands gently caressed the strings of the zither, and her crimson lips played the long flute, producing ethereal music.

On the carpet, the graceful dancers swayed their hips and spread their arms, fully displaying the beauty of women. As their silk robes fluttered, their beautiful eyes were like pools of autumn water.

Classical Chinese music and dance are not as noisy and disruptive as Western music and dance. They are performed in an elegant and leisurely manner, bringing both beauty and atmosphere without disturbing conversations among guests.

Chinese luxury is never in the open; it is hidden in the inconspicuous details and the overall picture.

But Zhu Jing had no interest in appreciating it. He had seen this kind of scene many times before in Jiangnan, where people's extravagance was truly astounding.

He had originally intended to send away the maids in the private room, leaving only a few people at the table to discuss things that were not convenient for outsiders to hear, but unexpectedly, Dai Mingde directly called in a dance group, and now he couldn't say many things at all.

Yang Dingtian was also somewhat absent-minded. He was only half-heartedly called over because Zhu Jing was now his direct superior, and he was happy to be able to discuss secret matters now.

Zhu Jing: "Brother Dai, I really want to have a heart-to-heart talk with you."

Dai Mingde raised his rice bowl: "Come on, come on, eat, eat, eat!"

Zhu Jing: "Colonel Liu, didn't you eat before you came?"

Liu Ting quickly put down his rice bowl and raised his wine bowl: "Come on, let's drink!"

Yang Dingtian downed another half-jin of wine in one gulp, gritting his teeth and continuing to drink, since he was there to drink anyway.

Zhu Jing was completely speechless. What kind of oddballs were these two from the Joint Logistics Department? One was a drunkard, and the other was a good-for-nothing. They were a match made in heaven!

After the dinner, Zhu Jing barely managed to say a few words, almost causing her internal injuries from holding it in.

Dai Mingde, that foodie, ate four bowls of rice and tasted all the dishes on the table.

Liu Ting was even more ruthless; he ate three bowls of rice and drank a full six jin of yellow wine.

Yang Dingtian was already lying down, and Zhu Jing, who was drinking only small sips each time, almost got drunk as well.

Zhu Jing felt like a million alpacas were stampeding through her mind. "Dude, I invited you here for dinner and drinks, and you actually came?"

After the dinner, Dai Mingde and Liu Ting left as if nothing had happened, having eaten and drunk their fill. Zhu Jing, filled with grief and indignation, still had to worry about Yang Dingtian, who had passed out drunk.

After seeing everyone off, Zhu Jing called the shopkeeper to settle the bill.

"General, how could we let you pay? This meal is on our restaurant. It's our honor that you came!"

Zhu Jing slammed her hand on the table and roared, "You run a restaurant and you're not charging? Believe me, I'll bring a whole tour group here to eat tomorrow, and then we'll see if you still charge us!!"

The shopkeeper, not knowing what he had done to offend Zhu Jing, could only quickly put on a smiling face and say, "Oh dear, I misspoke."

"Please forgive me, General, the total is one hundred and eighty-eight, a very generous sum!"

Zhu Jing was furious. She took out her wallet and, without even counting, slapped down a stack of banknotes: "It's all here. Arrange another car to send this Colonel Yang back."

The shopkeeper didn't dare count the money and simply put it all away, lest he displease the other party: "Yes, General!"

In reality, this extravagant affair alone cost more than 188 yuan for drinks, plus a table full of delicious dishes and a song and dance performance. The whole thing would easily cost over a thousand yuan, but the manager only dared to quote 188 yuan.

Before the manager could even arrange for someone to help him up, Yang Dingtian stood up on his own, dusted off his sleeves, told the restaurant not to see him off, and left the restaurant as if nothing had happened.

Chapter 251 Do I look like an idiot to you?

The following day, Liu Ting did not continue his vacation and obediently returned to work at the department.

Before he even reached the office, Dai Mingde called him over to discuss something.

"Liu Ting, have these reports and plans approved? Also, could you prepare the plan for our department's new office building?"

"Take care of this matter for the next couple of days, and put everything else on hold for now."

After meeting him, Dai Mingde threw several documents on the department's office building construction plan, all of which required approval from the Joint Logistics Department before the Finance Department would allocate funds.

After the restructuring of the Ministry of National Defense, the General Staff, the Joint Logistics Department, the Navy, and the Army will all move out of the Baohe Hall and will no longer be crammed together in the Ministry of National Defense offices.

In addition to the Ministry of National Defense, the Prime Minister's Office and the Presidential Office have also undergone organizational restructuring. Many departments have broken away from the three main halls and the Forbidden City, building their own office buildings or directly requisitioning princely residences or mansions to establish their own offices.

On the one hand, the Forbidden City simply couldn't accommodate the increasingly bloated institutions and departments. They could barely squeeze them in, but drastic changes to the Forbidden City would severely damage the original structure of the palace.

Zhao Yan did not want to become a sinner in history, so he had no intention of changing the palace.

On the other hand, aviation power has already stepped onto the historical stage. If the Republic continues to forcibly squeeze all the central power departments into one Forbidden City, it will be a very dangerous thing, and it will be easy for someone to wipe them out in one fell swoop. Therefore, it is still very necessary to disperse them.

The Ministry of National Defense first relocated its four directly subordinate departments. Unlike civilian employees, the military requires its offices to be closed and confidential, so they all chose to build new buildings on cheaper plots of land in the outer city.

High-rise buildings are not allowed to be built in the inner city, and no one dares to build them, but it's much more relaxed in the outer city.

The area inside the original Beijing city walls was the inner city, and the area outside the city walls was the outer city. Now, the population of the capital has exceeded 1.5 million, and the inner city is already extremely crowded.

Everyone is busy with large-scale construction projects in the outer city, including the government and the military.

The documents thrown into Liu Ting's hands were the construction plans and budgets for the offices of the General Staff Headquarters, the Army and Navy, and the Army and Navy. Even though Dai Mingde said he could just approve them directly, Liu Ting still took them and looked at them carefully.

The Joint Logistics Command is the general manager of the entire military, responsible for everything from clothing and food to housing and transportation. After the four departments became independent, the last remaining treasury of the Ministry of National Defense was also taken away by the Joint Logistics Command.

The slush fund included more than 300 properties in and around the capital city, as well as more than 1,000 acres of land. All four departments needed to go through the procedures and obtain approval from the Joint Logistics Department before they could build new office locations.

"This isn't right. Why are the construction projects for the three office sites being bundled together for bidding? And this kind of bidding should be done by our people. Why is the General Staff getting involved?"

"The budget amount is also somewhat inflated. I roughly calculated that it exceeded the budget by at least 10%. Where is the extra 300,000 yuan going?"

Liu Ting seemed to realize something and exclaimed in surprise, "Minister, could this be Vice Minister Zhu Jing?"

Before Liu Ting could finish speaking, Dai Mingde nodded: "That's right, it's our turn to repay the favor. We tricked Zhu Jing yesterday, and he came knocking on our door today."

"He's using these three projects to give benefits to others. Zhu Jing also has many veteran members of the Changsha Uprising behind him. They were all members of the Changsha New Army and later went to work in local areas after retiring."

Furthermore, all the active-duty generals have old friends and relatives with whom they do business; as long as it's not too outrageous, we'll just tacitly accept it.

Liu Ting asked worriedly, "Won't doing this pose a risk to us?"

Dai Mingde raised his head and said, "Do I look like an idiot to you? They took the blame themselves, so what does it have to do with me if something goes wrong?"

"If they want to take it, we'll give it to them. Once we give it to them, we won't interfere. Let them do what they want. As long as we promise not to take anything ourselves, the rest is none of our business."

"Don't worry, Lao Zhu himself knows what he's doing. It's a building for the military; they wouldn't dare to mess around with it."

"Our Joint Logistics Department's office area will be put out to public tender through normal procedures, and the budget will also be allocated normally."

After listening, Liu Ting nodded and left with the documents.

Zhu Jing wasn't stupid. When she first arrived in the capital, she was transferred from the local area to the central government. It was normal for her to build relationships, offer some benefits, and win over some people. It would be abnormal if she didn't do it.

However, Zhu Jing didn't go too far. He dared not cross the line when it came to military projects. These were forbidden areas. If he did, no one could protect him. Zhao Yan would be the first to execute him, just like Ma Su.

The total budget for the three office building project is around 2.4 million. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that it's inflated. Normally, it should be at most 2 million. These are reinforced concrete buildings, and the land is practically free for the owners. Where does such a high price come from?

The extra profits will definitely be divided among the military officers. After all, everyone has a family to support and needs to maintain appearances. If the military pay isn't enough, then they'll skim some profits. This has always been the case, and it will continue to be so in the future.

Armaments are a red line; no one would dare to touch the procurement of weapons and equipment unless they were out of their mind.

After returning to his office, Liu Ting reviewed the proposal twice more and found that the amount of embellishment was well controlled, at most only a dozen percent. He knew that there were probably many other people benefiting from Zhu Jing's involvement, and he didn't want to be a stumbling block, so he simply approved it, figuring he wouldn't take any money himself.

"Chief, someone's looking for you outside. It's someone from the National Security Intelligence Service!"

Wang Xiaoman knocked on the office door and immediately delivered some very bad news.

"what?"

"I just signed the papers, and they've already come knocking on my door? Was it really necessary to be so quick?"

Liu Ting was completely dumbfounded. He had just signed the document, the ink was still wet, and the Security Bureau had already come looking for him? Could it be that Zhu Jing had set a trap for them? That shouldn't be the case; if they really investigated, he would be the first one to get away with it.

Liu Tingren was numb and appeared somewhat flustered. Anyone would be flustered in his shoes; the National Security Intelligence Bureau was like the modern-day Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The Ministry of Supervision only investigates matters concerning the private sector and the government, and cannot investigate special departments, especially the military. Even the Ministry of Taxation dares not investigate the military's accounts!

Only the Security Intelligence Service is qualified to investigate corruption within the military, since it is directly under the Presidential Office.

Liu Ting knew he couldn't avoid it any longer, so he braced himself and went out, taking Wang Xiaoman with him. He even recalled his drunken escapades and prostitution in the United States.

Upon arriving at the main gate, Liu Ting saw a girl sandwiched between two plainclothes agents from the Security Bureau. As he approached, his eyes widened in astonishment and disbelief.

The girl was about to speak when she was stopped by the agent's stern look.

"Director Liu, do you know her?" the agent asked with a serious expression.

Liu Ting dared not lie: "I know her. Her name is Huang Yun. She's from Guangzhou. She's a high school girl who just graduated. We met on a train during our summer vacation when we were in the same carriage."

Liu Ting didn't hide anything and told everything he knew, but he also mixed in some nice words to tell the agents on behalf of Huang Yun.

After hearing this, the intelligence agent's expression became complicated. He asked emphatically, "So, this girl took a liking to you, followed you all the way to Beijing, even bought a ticket to enter the Forbidden City, and waited at the entrance of the Hall of Supreme Harmony holding up a sign with your name on it, looking for you?"

Liu Ting was stunned: "Huh? He's holding up a sign in front of the presidential palace?!"

The agent nodded and took out a square sign, about three feet three inches long, which read, "Who knows Liu Ting?"

"The head of state thought this girl was here to seek justice, and told us to investigate, but it turned out to be this mess?"

"Director Liu, you're over thirty, are you still single?"

Liu Ting's face flushed red, and he finally admitted in humiliation, "I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed!"

The agent patted Liu Ting on the shoulder sympathetically: "It's alright. We're all men, so we understand each other's difficulties. I know an old doctor who specializes in treating this kind of thing. How about I introduce you to him?"

Liu Ting decisively refused: "No need. Thank you for your concern, but if there's nothing else, let me take her away and teach her a lesson. Don't make things difficult for her."

The two agents looked understanding and didn't press the matter further. They figured it was enough to investigate. Then, completely abandoning their previous seriousness, they started talking to Liu Ting directly as they walked.

A man in his thirties who is still unmarried and has no woman by his side—that's not necessarily bad, but it definitely means he prefers a more traditional, less conventional lifestyle.

The onlookers around them suddenly realized why Director Liu always liked to spend time alone with Minister Dai, a man and a woman, in a room, sometimes for an hour or two, even eating together. So that's why!

Dai Mingde was sitting in his office at that moment, unaware that his reputation had suddenly been ruined. He was married, but this kind of thing couldn't be proven innocent just because you were married.

Liu Ting was so embarrassed that he couldn't even go to class. He quickly took Huang Yun and left the Forbidden City to talk outside.

Since his home wasn't far from the Forbidden City, he took Huang Yun home directly. He was really scared; this girl was too reckless. Not only did she dare to buy a ticket to enter the Forbidden City by herself, but she also dared to hold up a sign looking for someone at the entrance of the Presidential Palace.

It's no wonder that an unidentified woman holding a sign in the Forbidden City, specifically looking for the director of the Technical Equipment Bureau, attracted the attention of agents from the National Security Intelligence Service.