At this moment, Michael Thompson was completely stunned. Thinking of his uncle’s gloomy face, he suddenly felt at a total loss. There was no doubt that if his uncle found out he had almost caused a huge disaster for him—even though Ryan Carter had already salvaged the situation—he probably wouldn’t be able to keep his job at the township government. Worse yet, his uncle might even take out his anger on his parents, since this could affect his future prospects.

His mind was in turmoil, thoughts churning wildly. Michael Thompson shook his head, closed his eyes and thought for a long time, but couldn’t come up with any good ideas. He could only look at Ryan Carter with a pleading gaze. “Blockhead, you’ve always been the smart one since we were kids. Every time we got into trouble, you were the one who came up with a way to pin the blame on someone else. You must have a solution this time too, right?”

Ryan Carter smiled slightly and said to Michael Thompson, “Let me tell you a story. How about it?”

Michael Thompson was taken aback, and then heard Ryan Carter say, “During the Qing Dynasty, there was a minister named Zeng Guofan. When he was suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, he kept losing battles. The last time, he barely escaped home after almost losing all his troops. There were several other ministers in the same situation. But strangely, in the end, all the others were executed and put on public display, while only Zeng Guofan survived and was even promoted. Can you guess why?”

Chuckling, Michael Thompson scratched his head and said, “You’re just messing with me. I’m not as smart as you. Just tell me the answer.”

Rolling his eyes, Ryan Carter was speechless at his best friend. He took out some paper and a pen from his bag, wrote eight characters on the paper, and handed it to Michael Thompson, saying, “Take a look. What’s different about these eight characters?”

Michael Thompson took it and, upon seeing it, his expression immediately turned odd. He muttered, “No wonder, no wonder!”

Then, looking at Ryan Carter as if he were a monster, he said, “Amazing, truly damn amazing! If you don’t become an official, there’s no justice in the world!”

On the paper Ryan Carter handed him, there were eight characters:

屡败屡战！屡战屡败！

Ryan Carter’s meaning was simple: when Michael Thompson recounted the incident to Ethan Green, he just needed to switch the order. Think about it—if Ethan Green knew his nephew had offended a high-ranking official from the capital, and that this official was friends with Ou Ruhai, his first reaction would definitely be to punish Robert Thompson to seek forgiveness. But what if, when telling the story, the sequence of events was reversed?

Michael Thompson could completely say that he and Ryan Carter had received a man claiming to be Secretary Ou Wenhai’s old classmate, and through chatting and observation, determined that he was an official from the capital. In this way, what Ethan Green would want to do is probably to befriend Ou Ruhai.

This way, Michael Thompson would not only be blameless, but even take credit.

Thinking of this, Michael Thompson felt an urge to open up Ryan Carter’s head and see what was inside!

With just one look, he had seen through Han Dingbang’s unusualness, stopped him from cursing, communicated politely with the other party, and now had come up with a way to keep himself from being scolded by his uncle. Michael Thompson admired Ryan Carter more and more—truly a scholar, with a mind that really worked.

Thinking of this, Michael Thompson hesitated for a moment and said, “But what if my uncle asks about that man’s identity? What should I say?”

Smiling confidently, Ryan Carter said, “Don’t worry, I’ll go with you. I happen to have something to report to Secretary Green as well.”

Michael Thompson was taken aback and asked in surprise, “You have something to report to my uncle?”

Ryan Carter nodded, stood up and walked to the door of the private room, glanced around to make sure no one was there, then went to the next room to check, and finally returned to their own room. He said to Michael Thompson in a low voice, “Qiangzi, don’t you think something’s strange?”

“What? What do you mean, strange?”

Ryan Carter chuckled, dipped his finger in a bit of wine, wrote a character on the table, and said calmly, “The illness is just too coincidental!”

Michael Thompson was startled. Although he didn’t understand all the twists and turns of officialdom, he knew that man was the only one who could threaten his uncle’s position as secretary.

Don’t be fooled by Yanjiang Township’s backwardness. After all, with so many years of reform and opening up, a township with a population of over a hundred thousand—even if development was slow—still had considerable industrial and agricultural output. Even if some villages were very backward, that was only because they were far away, in the Datian area. Right now, it was a critical time for leadership transition. If the other side really pulled some tricks or did something behind the scenes, his uncle, who was completely unprepared and thought his re-election was a sure thing, could easily be replaced.

Looking at Ryan Carter, for the first time, Michael Thompson felt he couldn’t see through this old friend of his.

Chapter 012: Acquaintance

Michael Thompson wasn’t an idiot. Even the most foolish person would become much smarter after a few years in society, let alone him—he just didn’t like studying. Carefully analyzing Ryan Carter’s every word and action, he quickly realized that Ryan Carter intended to use this opportunity to connect with his uncle, Ethan Green.