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

After he finished speaking, the reception hall became eerily quiet.

Liu Zhenhua's smile froze. He stared at Chen Pingfang's retreating figure, his eyes filled with astonishment and disbelief, which finally turned into anger.

Even if a secretary-general of the municipal government office is highly regarded by Li Jianguo, would he dare to speak to a bureau chief with real power who holds the lifeline of the city's electricity supply?

Discipline Inspection Commission?

What gives him the right?

"Madman." Liu Zhenhua spat out the word through gritted teeth, straightened his stiff tie, and sneered at his pale-faced secretary beside him. "Young people these days really don't know their place. Do they think they can do whatever they want in Nanzhou just because they've chosen the right leader?"

Liu Zhenhua knew very well that Chen Pingfang's calmness and composure were not bluffing. There was a kind of indifference in his eyes, as if Liu Zhenhua was not worth mentioning at all.

This feeling made him very unhappy.

"Director, what about... the Corefire project?" the female secretary asked cautiously.

"Drag it out!" Liu Zhenhua waved his hand. "I want to see how he plans to make me wait at the Discipline Inspection Commission for three days! Call Vice Mayor Wang's office immediately and tell them that Director Chen from the Municipal Government Office came by, was very rude, and made extremely unreasonable demands on our normal power grid dispatching work!"

The guilty party files a complaint first; this is a basic practice in officialdom.

However, both Liu Zhenhua and Wang Weidong underestimated Chen Pingfang's determination and, even more so, the speed of their opponent's counterattack.

……

On the taxi.

Zhang Chao was driving, his palms still sweating. Looking at Chen Pingfang, who was expressionless in the back seat, through the rearview mirror, he felt uneasy.

"Director, are we... really leaving like this?" Zhang Chao couldn't help but ask. "What I just said has completely severed ties with the power company. If they're determined to block us, the equipment debugging for Phase II of Xinhuo..."

"He wouldn't dare," Chen Ping said calmly, his gaze fixed on the rapidly receding street scene outside the window. "Liu Zhenhua is Wang Weidong's man, but not Wang Weidong's henchman. He dared to leave us hanging for three hours because he felt that with Wang Weidong's backing, he was certain that I would have no choice but to beg him according to the rules. But if I overturn the table, he'll have to weigh the pros and cons himself and see if it's worth it for Wang Weidong's petty squabble."

Zhang Chao nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Just then, Chen Ping's encrypted phone rang; it was an unfamiliar number.

Chen Ping answered the phone, but his eyes turned cold after listening for less than ten seconds.

"I see."

He hung up the phone, and Zhang Chao's phone rang.

"Feed? What? The safety supervision bureau people went to the factory?"

"What did you say? The fire department went too? They sealed off our warehouse?"

"The environmental protection officials are here too? They're saying our emissions don't meet standards and we have to shut down production for rectification?!"

One phone call after another came in. Zhang Chao's hands were trembling as he gripped the steering wheel, and his face was deathly pale.

In less than ten minutes, the three core supporting factories in the second phase of the Chipfire industrial chain, which are responsible for the supply of precision molds, special gases, and chemicals, were all sealed off and forced to shut down by a joint inspection team from different departments on the grounds of major safety hazards.

This is no longer a matter of being held hostage.

This is a beheading.

Wang Weidong's counterattack came faster and was more ruthless than expected. He didn't dwell on the power approval process, but instead directly used his authority over safety, fire protection, and environmental protection to attack the most vulnerable supply chain of the Corefire project.

"Director...this..." Zhang Chao's voice trembled.

If the suppliers stop supplying equipment, all the expensive equipment at Chipfire Phase II will become nothing more than scrap metal. Jiang Fan's team's research and development will also come to a complete standstill.

"Back to the office."

Chen Pingfang's voice remained calm, but his eyes had lost all warmth.

Back in that small office in the corner, bad news kept coming in.

Five more smaller supporting companies were ordered to cease operations. Wang Weidong precisely severed every supply chain of the Chipfire project.

Zhang Chao paced anxiously in his office: "Director, I'm going to report to Mayor Li right away!"

"It's no use." Chen Ping shook his head. "Wang Weidong is using all sorts of open schemes. A major safety inspection, the reasons are perfectly plausible, no one can find fault with them. You go to Mayor Li, Mayor Li will then coordinate, and a week will have passed in the back and forth. Our project can't wait."

He opened the drawer and took out a black notebook that looked very old from the deepest part.

This was given to him privately by the former municipal party secretary, Lin Yaodong, before he left Nanzhou. It contained no classified information, only a few dozen names and phone numbers.

Most of these people were retired officials who had either stepped down from their positions or had been sidelined by Wang Weidong in key roles. They may have lost power, but after years of operating in Nanzhou, their connections and influence remained.

Chen Ping turned to one of the pages and dialed the first phone number.

On the other end of the phone was an aged but strong voice: "Who is this?"

"Secretary Chen, this is Chen Pingfang."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a soft chuckle: "Oh, it's that young man Secretary Lin mentioned. What's wrong, running into trouble in Nanzhou?"

"Nanzhou's industry is in trouble," Chen Pingfang said. "Wang Weidong is using safety inspections as a pretext to cut off the supply chain of the Corefire project. What he's trying to destroy is Nanzhou's hope for the next ten years."

Chen Pingfang directly elevated the matter to the level of the entire development of Nanzhou.

The old man on the other end of the phone fell silent again.

After a long silence, he finally spoke: "Wang Weidong is a domineering and uncouth man. We old folks have long since had enough of him. What do you need us to do?"

"I don't need any of you senior leaders to do anything," Chen Ping said, emphasizing each word. "I just need a few respected senior comrades, as citizen representatives, to use their mobile phones to record the entire process of civilized law enforcement when the body cameras of certain departments happen to break down."

The old man on the other end of the phone was stunned, then burst into hearty laughter: "Good lad! Your move is a decisive blow! I understand. Don't worry, the sky over Nanzhou won't fall!"

After hanging up the phone, Chen Ping dialed several more numbers.

Fifteen minutes later, he put down his phone, his eyes sharpening.

He glanced at Zhang Chao, who was nearly frantic with worry, and coldly issued a series of instructions.

"First, immediately notify all shut-down suppliers to remove the seals and resume production immediately! All losses will be covered by special funds from the municipal government!"

Zhang Chao's eyes widened suddenly, and he exclaimed, "Director! This...this is blatant defiance of the law!"

Chen Ping gave him a cold look.

"Second, mobilize our project's own security team and immediately deploy them to all factories. Tell them that from now on, they are not guarding factories, but the stronghold of a national strategic project!"

"Third, convey this message to all factory managers—"

Chen Ping stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the gray sky outside the municipal government building.

"The Chipfire Project is a key strategic project supervised by the Provincial Party Committee. Anyone who dares to forcibly cut off power or obstruct production for any reason will be charged with deliberately sabotaging the safety of a major national scientific research project, placed under on-site control, and directly handed over to the Provincial Department!"