At the Pinnacle of Power: The Female Leader and Her Chief Advisor

The next day, Mu Xueqi ate lunch before leaving.

Lu Ming had intended to rest at home, but in the afternoon, he received a call from Zhou Lin.

"Brother Lu, are you free tonight? I'd like to invite you to dinner."

Will you treat me to a meal?

Lu Ming's expression turned somewhat strange.

I'm afraid the meal won't be good; it might be a trap!

He now has absolutely no trust in Zhou Lin.

All her attempts to be friendly were seen by Lu Ming as having ulterior motives or malicious intent.

"Just you and me?"

"Yes, just the two of us."

"Okay, once you've decided on a place, send me the address."

After hanging up the phone, Lu smiled slightly.

He was curious to see what Zhou Lin was up to by inviting him to dinner tonight.

Twenty minutes later, Zhou Lin sent over an address.

Lu Ming glanced at it and saw that it was a restaurant in the city center, not far from his home.

At five o'clock, Lu Ming got ready and left home.

When he arrived at the restaurant, Zhou Lin was already there and had ordered the food in advance.

Upon seeing Lu Ming enter, Zhou Lin hurriedly stood up to greet him: "Brother Lu, you're here."

Lu Ming nodded with a smile: "Why did you suddenly decide to treat me to dinner?"

Zhou Lin put on a sincere expression and said, "I have learned a lot from you during this time."

"And I also know that Mayor Yu may soon assign me to work in another place."

"So I thought I'd treat you to a meal before I leave, to properly thank you for taking care of me during this time."

That's a very sincere statement.

Unfortunately, Lu Ming didn't believe a single word of it.

Lu Ming feigned surprise and said, "Where did you hear this news? You're doing a great job, why would the mayor transfer you?"

Zhou Lin smiled and didn't say anything more.

After the waiter served all the dishes, Zhou Lin asked, "Brother Lu, would you like some drinks?"

"I'm not drinking anymore, I have to go to work tomorrow."

"Okay, let's have some juice then."

At the dinner table, Zhou Lin kept expressing her gratitude to Lu Ming.

If Lu Ming didn't know what kind of person Zhou Lin was, he probably would have thought she had truly reformed.

The more she acted this way, the more certain Lu Ming became that there was something wrong with tonight's meal.

However, until the end of the dinner, Lu Ming didn't notice anything unusual about Zhou Lin, except for her feigned gratitude that started as soon as she entered the room.

"Brother Lu, let's go."

Lu Ming's expression gradually became serious.

Even now, Zhou Lin still hasn't shown any problems, which means that what she's about to do is definitely not ordinary.

Lu Ming felt a vague unease. He knew Zhou Lin had ulterior motives towards him, but he had no idea what she was really up to. This feeling made him very uncomfortable.

After leaving the restaurant, Lu Ming felt he couldn't remain passive any longer, so he decided to confront Zhou Lin directly.

"Xiao Zhou."

"What's wrong, Brother Lu?"

"Just tell me, what do you want to do?"

Zhou Lin looked bewildered and said, "Brother Lu, what are you talking about? I don't quite understand."

Lu Ming said, "It's just you and me here, so there's no need to play dumb."

"Just because I don't talk about what happened between you and Li Pingqian doesn't mean I don't know."

"Since you yourself know that Mayor Yu will eventually choose me as his secretary, then you should understand that no matter how much you struggle, you cannot change this outcome."

"Even without me, Mayor Yu wouldn't have elected you, understand?"

Zhou Lin's face stiffened slightly, but she maintained her smile: "Brother Lu, I know everything you're saying, but I really don't know what you were talking about!"

Lu Ming stared at Zhou Lin for a long while, sighed, and said, "Considering we've worked together, I'll give you one last piece of advice."

"Just do your job honestly, and Mayor Yu might be able to arrange a good position for you."

"But if you still want to team up with outsiders to deal with me, then don't blame me for being ruthless."

"Li Ping is a cautionary tale; you'd better watch yourself."

After saying that, Lu Ming turned and walked towards the parking lot.

Zhou Lin watched his retreating figure, her expression constantly changing, her chest heaving violently.

Lu Ming's words made her feel deeply humiliated and threatened!

With a venomous glint in her eyes, she pulled out her phone and quickly sent a message to Wang Qiang.

"Director Wang, we've finished eating!"

Lu Ming walked to the car, but instead of getting in immediately, he lit a cigarette in front of it and began to analyze the situation with a frown.

Zhou Lin would never invite me to dinner for no reason, but nothing unexpected happened during the meal.

This meal was so normal that it became abnormal in itself.

Zhou Lin invited me to dinner tonight, she must be trying to get back at me.

This fundamental premise will absolutely not change.

What methods might she use?

Drugging yourself?

But even now, no abnormalities have been detected.

Since the attack didn't happen at the dinner party, it must have happened outside of it.

Was that on the way home?

Want to cause a car accident so that you can die on the spot?

This possibility is very low.

Lu Ming felt that Zhou Lin didn't have that much courage.

However, even if the possibility is low, it is still possible.

After much deliberation, Lu Ming decided to proceed with caution.

He took out his phone and called Xu Zhipeng.

"Secretary Xu, are you busy?"

"No rush, no rush. Secretary Lu, is there anything I can help you with?"

"It's nothing serious, I just wanted to trouble you to come over for a bit."

Lu Ming then told Xu Zhipeng the address, and Xu arrived in less than twenty minutes.

"Secretary Lu, what are your instructions?"

Although Xu Zhipeng was the deputy secretary of the municipal discipline inspection commission, he treated Lu Ming with utmost humility.

There was nothing he could do; Lu Ming had leverage over him.

If Lu Ming releases the video of Song Chuhe before his death, then Xu Zhipeng will have no place to stand in Songxi.

"Secretary Xu, could you please give me your car keys?"

Xu Zhipeng was puzzled, but he still obediently took the key out of his pocket and handed it to Lu Ming.

Lu Ming took the key, then handed his temporary key to Xu Zhipeng, saying, "Take the car to my house."

"what?"

Xu Zhipeng was taken aback.

No, you called me specifically so you could ask me to be your driver?

Can't I just call a designated driver?

Are you short of this little bit of money?

Although he was extremely unhappy, Xu Zhipeng didn't dare to utter a single word of dissent.

"Okay, no problem."

Xu Zhipeng got into Lu Ming's car, only to find that Lu Ming had gotten into his own car.

What... what does this mean?

Xu Zhipeng was somewhat confused by his actions, and at the same time, he felt a little uneasy.

The car drove out of the parking lot and headed towards Lu Ming's house.

Lu Ming followed Xu Zhipeng's car at a leisurely pace, keeping his eyes constantly on the surroundings.

If a dump truck suddenly appears, then we can only offer our condolences for Xu Zhipeng.

However, the journey was uneventful.

The more normal it seemed, the less Lu Ming could understand it.

Has Zhou Lin really reformed?

Is tonight just a dinner treat for myself?

However, he quickly dismissed this idea.

Just as the car passed a traffic light, two police cars suddenly sped out and stopped Lu Ming's car on the side of the road, one in front and one behind...