Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 101 The Banquet, Where Nightmare Began (Part One)

In A City's municipal government building

Briskly walking out of the meeting room, Edgar Gu's face was cold and stern. Holding a meeting log book, Bill Li picked up his pace and followed closely behind Edgar. All the leaders of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tourism Bureau, and the police inside the meeting room, exchanged glances with each other. They all got confused and nervous by Edgar's sudden exit. It took them a while to finally take a breath and a sigh of relief, coming back to their senses. Having been in the government for many years prior, they could not understand why they were all feeling pressured and frightened by the young politician.

"Mr. Mayor! Did you see the facial expressions of all those old sly foxes?" Bill Li said, laughing. "That was such a good show!" He couldn't keep his face straight, as he continued laughing and teasing.

Pushing his office door open, Edgar walked in and sat down in front of his desk. He took a sip in his cup of tea. Seeing the papers Bill placed on top of his desk, Edgar snorted and said, "There must be some strong, powerful people backing those sly foxes up, especially those leaders of the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the police."

Bill furrowed his brows, shrugged, and sat down in front of Edgar. "I think the police have a strong relationship with the Sacred Domain led by Mr. Shen," he said with contempt as Edgar was pouring him tea. "And I think the Cultural Affairs Bureau has people inside who might have already surrendered to Mr. Long and have since become his men."

"Don't be so sure," Edgar said. His eyes deepened as he continued, "The Sacred Domain has taken root in A City for many years. They have extended their influence here, so I don't think they need to do anything to build strong relations with the government. The police, on the contrary, I am afraid that by wanting to keep the city safe and stable, they might turn to lick the boot of the Sacred Domain."

Edgar paused, and then continued, "Regarding the Cultural Affairs Bureau, they are initially, technically Brian Long's men."

"What?!" Bill's eyes widened in shock. Surprised, he asked, "How could that be? That's too unbelievable!"

"Ha!" Edgar snorted as he sipped his cup of tea. Under his pair of rimless glasses, his eyes continued to deepen. "I am afraid... that Mr. Long is far more powerful than what we've known and seen so far."

Bill curled his lips with contempt. He didn't respond but thought in his mind, 'Whatever? No matter how powerful he is, he won't be able to do anything to oppose the government policy once it is implemented!'

Looking at the expression on Bill's face, Edgar instantly understood what was running on the guy's mind. He shook his head helplessly but didn't try to contradict Bill's thoughts. It was pointless to tell Bill that he was wrong, because experience would enlighten him one day. Edgar knew that Bill wouldn't believe him no matter what he said, yet.

"Is Mr. Song's birthday present already prepared?" Edgar asked, trying to change the subject.

Bill nodded and said, "Yes. We already assigned someone to give the present to Mr. Song; and he was very happy with what he received."

"That's good," Edgar replied. Edgar had just taken the position of A City's mayor and would be attending Mr. Song's eightieth birthday party tonight. He was careful with his gift because no matter what Mr. Song received from him, it would show the government's respect. So he had to make sure that Mr. Song was satisfied. "Who do you think will be attending Mr. Song's birthday party tonight?" he asked Bill."

Bill's eyes instantly lit up as he heard Edgar's question. Eagerly leaning forward, he answered at once, "Mr. Song is a big shot here in A City and even the people in gangland would want to show respect to him. So I think Mr. Shen and Mr. Long will definitely be of attendance to his party tonight."

"Maybe..." Edgar said, a dash of mysterious anger flashing through his eyes.

Having sensed Edgar's anger, Bill chuckled. In an expectant voice, he said, "If they all show up tonight, that would be one hell of a show! And I am curious about how Mr. Shen is going to deal with Tyler's matter."

Hearing Tyler's name, Edgar furrowed his brows and voiced out his doubts. "Mr. Shen has always been tolerant of Mr. Long's behaviors here in A City. So even though Mr. Long had someone kill Tyler, Mr. Shen still hasn't taken any action of revenge. It is very unusual. I think they might have some sorts of secrets between the two of them."

"I had someone investigate what's going on between them. Though Mr. Long has done so many things that have caused Mr. Shen some problems in the past few years, he has remained very tolerant of Mr. Long's actions. He has never allowed his men to get back and seek revenge on Mr. Long. I can not understand why," Bill said. Curling his lips, he went on,"Mr. Long is such a mysterious man. I have heard a lot of things about him, but most of them were rumors from unreliable sources. Most of the people in the gangland still have no idea what his full name is, except maybe for those who are familiar with him or those who are already long gone, dead."

Edgar radiated such a cold, vexed aura. With a stern face, he put his cup of tea down and leaned backwards on his chair. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of one of the monitor screens which was airing the news about Mr. Song's upcoming birthday party. Turning to Bill, he said, "Bill, if a person who always does things in such an aggressive and tyrannous way is still able to walk freely and lawlessly, then such a person might either be too young and arrogant to know fear, or... he might have some sort of very powerful, strong and unknown ability. Which sort of person do you think Brian Long is?"

Edgar fixed his gaze on Bill, waiting for an answer.

"I think it's the latter one," Bill immediately answered without hesitation. He had already met Brian Long twice, and each time he saw him, he felt like Brian became a different man. Bill knew that Brian Long was a dangerous man who had hidden his thoughts so deep, despite his young age. It would be difficult for anyone to get any information from him and out of him.

Edgar grinned and that expressionless, grim smile stayed on his face for a long time until Molly's face suddenly popped up in his mind. He frowned, a sudden dash of worry flashing through his eyes and reaching his heart.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and he saw that Bill had already stood up to get the door.

"Please, do come in!" Edgar said.

The door was pushed open and in came Zack Wang, the minister of the Planning Department. He said, "Mr. Mayor, here is the information you asked for."

Edgar took the file from Zack Wang, opened it, and quickly browsed it. As he read some of the content in it, he muttered in confusion, "What? Both the Dragon Empire Group and the Shen Group are interested in buying that ruined land?"