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

The office returned to silence.

Chen Ping closed the notebook filled with relationship diagrams, his face expressionless.

Outside the window, the night grew deeper.

The news that the new county head hadn't said a word throughout the Standing Committee meeting quickly spread throughout the county party committee building. Many cadres looked at Chen Pingfang's office with a mixture of disdain and pity.

Chen Pingfang didn't care about this.

As it was nearing the end of the workday, he calmly packed his things. Li Wei, the director of the county party committee office, called and warmly said that he had arranged a welcome banquet and accommodation at the best guesthouse in the county.

Chen Ping simply replied, "No need," and hung up the phone.

He didn't take the Audi arranged by the county government, nor did he use a driver. Instead, he carried his simple luggage and walked to his black Passat. Amidst the surprised gazes of the crowd, the car drove out of the county government compound, turned onto a dilapidated side road, and stopped in front of an old residential building in the style of the 1980s.

This is the temporary dormitory assigned to him by the organization.

The dormitory conditions were worse than I had imagined. The white walls had turned yellow and still bore the marks of newspapers pasted by the previous resident, and there was a faint musty smell in the air.

Chen Ping tidied up a bit, without showing any disgust.

He took out the brown paper bag that Xiao Yuhan had given him from his briefcase, spread out the thick stack of cadre information sheets one by one on the peeling wooden table, and compared them with the relationship diagram he had drawn at the meeting during the day.

Under the lamplight, his analysis gradually revealed the complex network of interpersonal relationships in Qingyuan County, making it clear where each person was positioned and how each connection was made.

Late at night, just as Chen Ping was setting out...

"Thump...thump thump..."

A very light, hesitant knock suddenly sounded.

In this quiet old building where hardly anyone lives, the sound was a bit strange.

Chen Ping looked up from the document without saying a word. He quietly walked to the door and peered through the peephole.

Outside the door, under the dim light of the stairwell, stood an elderly cadre with gray hair and a nervous expression. He was wearing a faded old Zhongshan suit, constantly looking back, his thin body slightly hunched, as if afraid of being seen.

Chen Pingfang's eyes were calm as he reached out and opened the door.

"Squeak—"

The old wooden door creaked open, startling the person outside, who shuddered. But upon recognizing Chen Pingfang, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly lowered his voice to introduce himself: "County Chief Chen... I am Liu Wenhai from the County Finance Bureau."

His voice was low and trembling slightly, and his eyes darted around, showing great unease.

He didn't dare go inside. He just stood at the door, took out an unsigned kraft paper envelope from his pocket, the seal glued shut, and handed it to Chen Pingfang with trembling, wrinkled hands.

"County Chief Chen, there is...there is an important matter that I need to report to you anonymously."

Chen Ping did not answer the letter immediately.

His gaze was calm; he simply looked at the other person, then stepped aside, making way for the doorway. "It's cold outside, Director Liu, please come in."

He poured a cup of hot water for the uneasy Liu Wenhai.

As Liu Wenhai accepted the water glass with both hands, Chen Pingfang's gaze swept over it subtly. He clearly saw that the hands were trembling slightly from nervousness, causing ripples to appear in the hot water inside. He also noticed the thick calluses on Liu Wenhai's right index and middle fingers, formed from years of writing, and the joints were somewhat deformed.

After Liu Wenhai sat down, fidgeting with his water glass, Chen Pingfang slowly picked up the envelope and tore it open in front of him.

The letter was pulled out, and its contents were astonishing.

The letter, written in a very skillful style, detailed the severity of the illegal sand mining problem in Qingyuan County. Numerous sand dredgers were entrenched on the Qingyi River, scouring the riverbed and severely damaging flood control dikes, leading to increasingly serious ecological damage and safety issues.

The letter also subtly implied that key county leaders were acting as protectors behind this.

At the end of the letter, a sentence was highlighted in bold: "Former county head Wang Dawei suffered a heart attack and resigned precisely because he wanted to take a piece of this pie."

This letter is both a testament to loyalty and a troublesome burden.

Chen Ping read the letter word by word, his expression remaining completely calm without any change.

His gaze swept over the powerful, sharp handwriting on the letter, and then, almost imperceptibly, glanced at Liu Wenhai's hands across from him, hands covered in calluses and with slightly deformed knuckles.

A thought flashed through his mind in an instant.

wrong.

The handwriting on the letter was powerful, carrying an undisguised sharpness, something that the cautious old man before me, who dared not even speak loudly, could never have written.

This letter was a carefully planned test.

This Deputy Director Liu, who is about to retire, is merely a pawn pushed out to test the waters.

Chen Ping folded the letter back up and slowly put it back into the envelope, his movements unhurried and deliberate.

He didn't ask who wrote the letter, nor did he discuss any details of the sand mining. Instead, he smiled gently at Liu Wenhai, who was sweating profusely with nervousness, as if nothing had happened.

"Director Liu, thank you for your concern and support for the work in Qingyuan County."

His sincere and earnest tone instantly eased the other person's tension. "It's so late, and you've come all this way yourself. You must be very tired."

Liu Wenhai was stunned. He had considered countless possibilities, but he had never imagined this reaction. The new county magistrate wouldn't press the matter? Wouldn't he offer any opinion? Would he just let it pass by so easily?

He was somewhat at a loss. Seeing that Chen Pingfang had no intention of continuing the conversation, he could only assume that the conversation was over. He quickly stood up, holding the untouched cup of hot water, and prepared to leave.

Just as he turned to leave, Chen Pingfang suddenly spoke up and asked a question that he had never expected.

"Director Liu, you've spent your entire career in the Finance Bureau; you're a senior figure and know the county's situation best. I'd like to ask you for some advice..."

Chen Pingfang's tone was very serious, as if he were asking an important question.

"Of all the primary schools in our county, which one has the worst leaky roof?"

This question had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the whistleblower letter; it seemed to have appeared out of thin air, leaving Liu Wenhai completely bewildered.

He was stunned on the spot, his mouth agape, completely unable to react.

A newly appointed county magistrate received a letter late at night reporting local organized crime. Instead of asking about the case or any leads, he was concerned about which primary school was leaking.

Liu Wenhai was taken aback by the sudden question, his mind going blank. He thought for a few seconds instinctively, then almost blurted out, "It should...it should be the central primary school in Dawan Township. That place is the most remote, the buildings are the oldest, and they need repairs every year, but they never have the money..."

"Dawan Township Central Primary School"

Chen Ping nodded, picked up his pen, and carefully wrote the name down in his notebook.

Then, he stood up and personally escorted the still bewildered Liu Wenhai to the door, politely reminding him to be careful on the way.

"Bang."

The dormitory door was gently closed, and the room returned to silence.

Chen Ping stood alone in front of the table, his gaze fixed on the letter of complaint on it, his eyes becoming unusually sharp.

He knew it very well.

Illegal sand mining was a deliberate slip-up by Ma Changsheng, but this letter was bait, a trap. Whoever bites directly into it will be entangled in that invisible net.

That leaky primary school was his first step into the game, allowing him to turn the tables and take control.