After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

In the hallway, the motion-activated light went out again with a "click".

In the darkness, only the blurry outlines of the two figures and the clearly audible sound of their heartbeats remained. Xiao Yuhan's reddened earlobes were faintly visible, but she remained silent.

Chen Ping said softly, "I'll take you downstairs."

"Um."

The two walked down the remaining stairs in silence. Under the streetlights, Chen Ping watched Xiao Yuhan get into the black Audi, and only after the car disappeared at the alley entrance did he turn around and go home.

……

The next day, at the Jinshuiwan Project Command Center.

On the construction site, the workers' shouts were much louder than usual.

Guo Xiaojun hummed a song as he organized documents in his office. Whenever someone passed by, he would pull them aside and boast about how brilliant Chen Pingfang's methods were. The other staff members at the command post walked with an air of authority, their backs ramrod straight.

Around 10 a.m., this tranquility was broken.

Several white vans bearing the logo of the Yunzhou Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision pulled up in front of the command center building. The doors opened, and a middle-aged man with a beer belly stepped out, his face stern.

He is Liu Jianguo, the deputy director of the Municipal Quality Supervision Station.

Liu Jianguo ignored the staff who came to greet him, waved his hand, and led a few of his men, carrying inspection equipment and logbooks, towards the core area of ​​the construction site. His actions caused everyone around to stop what they were doing.

He looked around the construction site, finally stopping at a spot where the ground had just been watered. Liu Jianguo rubbed some loose soil on the damp ground with the tip of his leather shoe, his brow furrowing in a frown.

"The environmental dust control measures are not up to standard. How can such a large project not even meet basic civilized construction standards?"

Then he rushed into the archives, randomly pulled out a construction logbook, tapped it with his finger, and raised his voice a few decibels.

"The information on the inner pages is not up to standard. Look at these margins; the left side is 0.1 cm wider, and the right side is 0.1 cm narrower. What kind of work ethic is this?"

The staff in the archives wanted to explain that it was a printer error, but before they could even speak, Liu Jianguo glared at them, shutting them down.

He ignored all explanations, returned to the command center, and in front of everyone, pulled a prepared sheet from his briefcase and slammed it on the table.

That was a notice to suspend work for rectification.

The reasons listed above are substandard dust control and non-standard documentation. The conclusion is that the Jinshuiwan project should be immediately and completely suspended for rectification for one week.

Guo Xiaojun rushed over from his office upon hearing the news, and his face flushed red when he saw the reason on the notification.

He snatched the notice from Liu Jianguo and yelled, pointing his finger at him, "You're just nitpicking! You're deliberately trying to cause trouble!"

The engineers and workers around gathered around, all staring at the people from the quality inspection station.

Liu Jianguo ignored the people around him and instead gave a cold laugh.

He knew perfectly well that although Secretary Zhou had suffered a loss, his foundation remained intact. He had come today to disgust Chen Pingfang and to demonstrate his loyalty to Secretary Zhou.

"What? You want to fight?" Liu Jianguo crossed his arms, not afraid at all.

Guo Xiaojun clenched his fist, and just as he was about to make a move, a calm voice came from behind the crowd.

"Xiaojun, stop."

Chen Pingfang had been standing there for some time now. He held Guo Xiaojun's shoulder, a smile on his face.

He took the rectification notice from Guo Xiaojun, glanced at it, and politely said to Liu Jianguo, "Station Chief Liu, your criticism is correct. We did not do our job well and were careless."

"We fully accept your criticism, will immediately stop work, and will rectify the situation immediately!"

Chen Ping's words stunned everyone present.

Guo Xiaojun stomped his foot and whispered in Chen Ping's ear, "Director, are you crazy? This bastard is clearly here to cause trouble, why are you backing down?"

Liu Jianguo and his men were stunned. They had prepared a whole speech, but they hadn't expected this reaction. After a moment of surprise, their faces revealed expressions of disdain.

This Chen Pingfang is nothing special after all.

Liu Jianguo cleared his throat, preparing to say a few more words in official language.

"However," Chen Ping changed the subject, his smile becoming genuine, "Station Chief Liu, we attach great importance to this rectification work. We also want to take this opportunity to let our brother units throughout the city and province learn from your meticulous work ethic..."

He smiled, took out his phone in front of Liu Jianguo, and put it on speakerphone.

"I need to report the advanced deeds of our grassroots leaders in Yunzhou to the provincial publicity department."

The call was quickly answered, and a strong voice came through the receiver: "Hey, Pingfang, what's up?"

He is Wang Jian, deputy director of the provincial television station.

Chen Pingfang's tone was very enthusiastic: "Director Wang, hello, hello, I'm Chen Pingfang from Jinshuiwan. I have some good news to report to you!"

"Liu Jianguo, the deputy director of our city's quality supervision station, personally led a team to our project site to provide guidance. He very skillfully pointed out the shortcomings in our work. As one of the top ten model projects in the province, we feel it is necessary to film this rectification process as a special documentary and promote it throughout the province!"

"How about we send a film crew from our station to film the whole thing? It would be great material to showcase Yunzhou's work ethic!"

Provincial television station, one of the province's top ten model projects, a special documentary, promotion throughout the province...

These words entered Liu Jianguo's ears, making his mind go blank.

The smugness on his face vanished instantly, turning ashen, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

He immediately understood.

To make a documentary about the rectification of a model project that was personally inspected and affirmed by a vice governor, and then promote it throughout the province, is tantamount to handing Zhou Wenyuan's political enemies a handle to use against him, and even more so, to slap that vice governor in the face in front of the entire province!

The mess he made is so big that even the Heavenly King himself couldn't save him, let alone Zhou Wenyuan!

"No, don't hit him!"

Liu Jianguo rushed forward and grabbed Chen Ping's still-on-the-phone phone, his voice trembling: "Director Chen! Commander Chen! It's a misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding."

"How could such a trivial matter have alarmed the provincial TV station leaders? I must be seeing things, or I'm simply not competent enough!"

He snatched the rectification order from Chen Ping's hand and tore it to shreds in front of everyone.

"The project is progressing very smoothly, excellently! No modifications are needed, absolutely none!"

After saying that, he smirked at Chen Pingfang, bowed repeatedly, and then, without looking back, he and his few terrified subordinates got into the car and drove off.

After a brief silence, loud cheers and whistles erupted in the command post compound.

Guo Xiaojun and the workers looked at Chen Pingfang with eyes full of awe.

After the matter was resolved, Chen Ping returned to his office and poured himself a glass of water.

The phone on the table chimed, indicating a new message had arrived.

It was sent by my university class monitor; it was a beautifully crafted e-invitation that read:

[A ten-year reunion, a chance to reminisce about our youth. Class reunion this Saturday evening at the Genting Grand Hotel. See you there!]