Fu Jianguo stood at the front-lines and engaged the reporters. As time ticked by, pressure began to build up. They were already an hour past the due time for the event. He was not concerned at first; such delays were not unexpected in events.
But soon he noticed indistinct grumbling growing into audible voices of protests — unnerved, he skipped to a side and directly dialed up to Secretary Xiu. To his distress, her line turned out to be busy at the first call. After a brief pause, he tried again, but to no avail.
It continued for ten long minutes.
A seamlessly busy line under such tense circumstances — Fu Jianguo was wise enough to infer the cause.
It meant Secretary Xiu was in distress. And there were fair chances of that 'cause' being linked with Mr. Ji's absence.
Fu Jianguo was acutely aware of the situation. More than that, he was aware of the consequences if Mr. Ji failed to appear.
