He thought to himself, although he seemed like just a minor secretary in the city, he actually dared, right in the city steel plant, to brazenly beat up John Reed's brother-in-law, a trusted aide of Tom Clark, and the head of the Production Safety Department of the city steel plant. Afterward, he simply clapped his hands and left unscathed—now that’s what you call having real backing.

Eric Bennett had been through a lot over the years and saw things clearly. Although he didn’t know much about this Brian Sullivan, he knew that Brian Sullivan’s background was anything but ordinary—he was definitely not just an average city government secretary.

Big Mouth Harris had taken a few hard punches to the face, but with his fleshy face, even his walk was wobbly, yet he wasn’t seriously injured. Earlier, his face had been covered in blood from a nosebleed, which looked scary, but after getting bandaged up in the infirmary, he had recovered.

Rather than saying his face was injured, it was more accurate to say that, in front of his subordinates, he was beaten up by someone from the city, which hurt his pride even more. Who could swallow such humiliation? If he did, wouldn’t he become the laughingstock of the entire plant?

The key was that his brother-in-law was standing right there, watching him get beaten up, which made him even more furious.

With half his face wrapped in gauze, Big Mouth Harris returned and saw there were still employees lingering in the office. Embarrassed and enraged, he snapped sharply, “What are you all doing here? Get back to work! Are you waiting to eat shit?” He drove everyone out.

John Reed was sitting in his office, still fuming, and seeing his brother-in-law return in that state only made him more annoyed.

“Brother-in-law, that bastard wasn’t just hitting my face—he was hitting yours! We can’t just let this go!”

“What’s with all the nonsense?” John Reed said irritably, thinking that if his brother-in-law had any backbone, even if he had fought back against Brian Sullivan, at least he wouldn’t look so pathetic now. Useless fool—now he knows what embarrassment feels like?

“How am I talking nonsense? Isn’t that bastard your secretary? Didn’t he beat me up right in front of you, then just walk away like nothing happened? If word gets out, how many years will people laugh at us? Brother-in-law, you’re not telling me you can’t even squash a little fish like him, are you?”

“If you don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense.” Sitting in his brother-in-law’s office, John Reed felt his sore spot poked and his face grew even darker. He said, “Tom Clark went to Xinjing on short notice and isn’t at the plant. Of the other deputy directors, did any of them step in? Do you know why?”

“Why?”

Seeing his brother-in-law actually follow his lead and ask, John Reed almost wanted to slap him again—what a pigheaded fool.

The city steel plant had close ties with the city. Director Tom Clark and the other deputy directors all understood the city’s political landscape well.

Everyone knew he was David Carter’s man, while Brian Sullivan was Mark Brooks’s secretary. Brian Sullivan had beaten up his brother-in-law right in front of him in the office—who among the deputy directors would want to get involved in this mess?

John Reed had to patiently explain to his brother-in-law, “The real worry is that Mark Brooks might want this bastard to stir up trouble.”

“Why would Mark Brooks want to cause trouble?”

“Are you really that stupid, or just pretending?”

John Reed felt hopeless about his brother-in-law, who only knew how to eat, drink, and chase women. But to keep the peace, he had to calm him down first; otherwise, if he ran to his sister and made a scene, there’d be chaos at home.

“…Mark Brooks was directly assigned to Donghua by the province. As soon as he arrived, he became a member of the municipal party committee, then deputy mayor in charge of economic affairs—the province clearly wants Mark Brooks to replace Mayor Carter.”

“Huh?” Big Mouth Harris had never imagined there was so much going on behind the scenes. He sat there, stunned, his face still burning with pain, but he didn’t dare make a sound.

He started to understand: if Mayor Carter was replaced, his brother-in-law’s good days would be over, and if his brother-in-law was out, his own days of living the good life at the steel plant would be finished too. Thinking this way, Big Mouth Harris felt that getting beaten up by Brian Sullivan wasn’t such a big deal after all—so what if he lost face, as long as he didn’t lose his position.

Seeing his brother-in-law quiet down, John Reed spoke earnestly, “You have to understand, right now Mayor Carter can’t afford to make a single wrong move. We can’t give Mark Brooks any excuse to cause trouble. Alright, I need to report this to Mayor Carter first. You just stand by and keep quiet.”

Chapter 5: The Riddle of the Privileged Scion

John Reed picked up the phone and dialed Mayor David Carter’s direct line, giving a brief report of what had just happened at the city steel plant.

Big Mouth Harris sat across the desk, hearing the voice on the other end of the line suddenly rise in pitch—it was clear that David Carter was furious upon hearing about the incident.

A city government staff member getting into a fight at an enterprise—no mayor would take that lightly. Big Mouth Harris vaguely heard David Carter loudly instructing John Reed over the phone: “Report this directly to Mayor Brooks and see how he handles it!”

Big Mouth Harris knew the bigger picture mattered, but he still couldn’t swallow his anger. Hearing David Carter tell his brother-in-law to take the matter straight to Mark Brooks, he looked at his brother-in-law expectantly.

David Carter wanted John Reed to take this straight to Mark Brooks, and naturally, Mark Brooks couldn’t openly shield Brian Sullivan.