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

In the temporary office, Chen Pingfang looked at Sun Hongwei, whose attitude had changed drastically, with no expression on his face.

Chen Pingfang did not immediately respond to the tearful "Let's discuss it again." Instead, he slowly picked up the glass in front of him, put the last sip of warm tea into his mouth, swallowed it, his Adam's apple bobbed.

The entire process was slow and steady.

"Click."

The glass was gently placed back on the table with a crisp sound.

The sound wasn't loud, but it made Sun Hongwei's heart sink, and another layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. Chen Ping's calm gaze sent chills down Sun Hongwei's spine; his previous arrogant and condescending demeanor had completely vanished.

Finally, Chen Ping sighed, looking somewhat troubled.

"Mr. Sun, this is not something I can decide."

Chen Pingfang's voice was not loud, but every word was clear: "The handover was personally overseen and promoted by Secretary Zhou of the Municipal Party Committee, and the relevant documents have already been issued. As a subordinate unit, the only thing we can do is resolutely implement the decision of the Municipal Party Committee."

Chen Ping spread his hands, his tone both helpless and sincere.

"You now have command over the Jinshuiwan project. The future of the project depends entirely on you and the Changqing Group, this professional national team."

His words were perfect; he threw the problem back at the city party secretary, Zhou Wenyuan, and pointed the finger at him as the source of the blame. His attitude was so humble and standard that no one could find fault with him.

Sun Hongwei could no longer maintain his composure. He took half a step forward, lowered his voice, and almost pleaded:

"Commander Chen, my dear Director Chen! You must be joking with me. The project account is empty, not a single penny! Next week, just the initial construction costs and equipment advance payments alone will leave us with a shortfall of tens of millions. How... how are we supposed to cover this?"

In desperation, he disregarded his pride and blurted out the whole story of the team's predicament.

"Our group is responsible for the later stages of operation, not for filling the holes left by the initial construction! We simply didn't have the money prepared for such a huge deficit!"

He wanted to scare Chen Pingfang with this serious problem, make him realize the gravity of the situation, and thus persuade him to take back this hot potato.

The subordinates standing behind Sun Hongwei were also dumbfounded.

They stared blankly at their leader's almost pleading expression, their smugness and contempt gone, replaced by barely concealed panic.

It wasn't until this moment that they realized the project they had taken on was a huge problem that could ruin them all at any moment!

However, after hearing Sun Hongwei's words, Chen Pingfang showed no panic. Instead, his expression turned serious, and he stood up from his chair.

Under Sun Hongwei's astonished gaze, Chen Ping quickly stepped forward, grasped Sun Hongwei's hands tightly, and shook them vigorously.

"President Sun! I have faith in Changqing Group's strength as a provincial state-owned enterprise. This small financial difficulty certainly won't be a problem for you!"

Chen Ping looked serious, but his eyes were full of trust and encouragement.

"As for me," Chen Ping changed the subject, his face showing apology, "I'm prepared to immediately submit a profound self-criticism to the Municipal Party Committee. I reflect on my previous inadequate work and poor coordination, which left you with this mess. I will take responsibility for this!"

The next day, when Sun Hongwei was in a state of panic and wanted to discuss the matter with Chen Pingfang again, he found that Chen Pingfang had disappeared.

Guo Xiaojun stood guard at the door of the temporary office with a sympathetic look and stopped him.

"Mr. Sun, this is unfortunate. Our Director Chen is currently in seclusion, reflecting deeply on his actions and writing a self-criticism." Guo Xiaojun sighed, mimicking Chen Pingfang's expression of helplessness. "The director said that during the project handover period, he won't be present to avoid interfering with your work. If there's anything you need, just give the order, and we guarantee our full cooperation!"

Chen Pingfang simply avoided seeing him, a move that cornered Sun Hongwei.

The news quickly spread within the command center.

The Changqing Group team was in complete disarray. Every day when they arrived at the office, they were faced with a flood of payment requests and reports from various departments, but looking at the empty accounts, they couldn't come up with a single penny.

Chen Ping's original team members cooperated very well.

The engineering department sent a request for the urgent purchase of imported HVAC equipment, the design department submitted a report on the payment of the second phase of landscape design fees, and the logistics department kept urging for the advance approval of next month's worker wage budget.

Every report was well-reasoned and every expense seemed reasonable. These reports, which required money, piled up like a small mountain on Sun Hongwei's brand-new desk.

The entire command center was in a state of panic. Everyone realized that this wasn't a transfer of power at all; it was clearly a scheme orchestrated by Chen Ping to shift the blame!

Sun Hongwei had no choice but to endure the pressure for three days. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and had to bite the bullet and call Zhou Wenyuan, the municipal party secretary, for help.

The matter quickly reached the provincial level.

The provincial leader, who was about to retire, was furious when he heard that the professional state-owned enterprise team he had personally recommended had jumped into the project without even understanding the most basic financial situation. Now, not only had they failed to take over the project smoothly, but the province was also having to coordinate funds to fill a hole of tens of millions of yuan.

This wasn't just incompetence; it was utterly humiliating for him, especially in Yunzhou!

At the same time, the vice governor, who had been paying close attention to the Jinshuiwan project, also criticized, without naming names, some provincial state-owned enterprises that were prone to grandiose projects, lacked market research, and blindly expanded during a public meeting.

Immense financial pressure and political risks from the province came crashing down at the same time.

Zhou Wenyuan's plan has completely failed.

Not only did he fail to use this opportunity to get rid of Chen Pingfang, this thorn in his side, but because of the incompetence and stupidity of Changqing Group, he owed a huge favor to his old connections in the province, and left a bad impression on higher-level leaders that he was bad at judging people and unreliable in handling affairs.

Left with no other choice, Zhou Wenyuan had to personally intervene and urgently halt the handover.

Less than a week later, the once-proud Changqing Group inspection team slunk away, citing "major strategic adjustments within the group, requiring a concentrated effort on key projects."

The saga of vying for credit ended just like that. The matter of the handover was never mentioned again.

After the turmoil subsided, Chen Ping returned to the command center's office.

This incident further enhanced Chen Ping's prestige within the entire Jinshuiwan Project Command Center.

However, before he could even catch his breath, the red internal phone in the office suddenly rang.