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

Chen Ping stared at the provincial and district numbers on the screen, but did not answer.

The bell rang six times and then stopped.

Ten seconds later, it rang again. Chen Ping swiped to answer and held the phone to his ear.

"Old Chen, Governor Zhou from the province has seen the audit summary."

Lin Xiangdong's laughter came through the microphone; he was laughing heartily.

"Let me relay your exact words to you—'What's wrong with giving another 10 billion to people who get things done?'"

Chen Ping took the phone away from his ear and placed it on the table without replying. Lin Xiangdong said a few more words on the other end, the gist of which was that the provincial department's evaluation of Xin Huo had been included in the internal report, and unusually, the word "benchmark" was used.

"understood."

Chen Ping hung up the phone after saying those three words.

Jiang Fan pushed open the door and came in, carrying two cups of tea. Zhang Chao followed behind, his face showing a rare sense of relaxation.

"Director, the investigation team has withdrawn. Xin Huo's accounts have been thoroughly investigated. We should celebrate tonight."

Zhang Chao twirled the car key between his fingers.

"I've booked a private room at that river seafood restaurant on the old street for 6:30."

Chen Ping neatly stacked the documents on the table, pushed them into the drawer, and stood up to get his coat.

"You two go eat, I have something to do."

Jiang Fan opened his mouth, but couldn't stop him. Zhang Chao put the keys back in his pocket and tactfully left.

The office lights went out, leaving only the green emergency indicator lights in the corridor. Chen Ping grabbed his coat, went downstairs, started the car, and instead of heading towards the old town, turned around and drove onto Binjiang Road.

After the audit team left, Nanzhou City was unusually quiet. Streetlights swept across the windshield one by one, the car window was half open, and the night wind blew in, carrying the damp smell of Nanjiang, which mostly dispelled the leather smell of his briefcase that had been lingering on his suit for half a month.

The car was parked at the entrance to the river embankment. Chen Ping took out the keys, got out of the car, and walked down the stone steps.

The stone steps were wet; the river had risen half a foot and was pounding against the embankment. He sat down on the third step, resting his arms on his knees, finally relaxing his tense back.

In the past two weeks, he first submitted the 47-page report, then completely rejected Hongtuyuan at the Standing Committee meeting, then sealed off the construction site, and stood firm against the provincial investigation team. Every step was extremely risky; the slightest misstep could have led to total failure.

We've won.

But after winning, his nerves, which had been tense for half a month, finally relaxed, and he felt a sense of emptiness.

Chen Ping unconsciously reached into his shirt pocket, his fingertips only touching the fabric; it was empty. He had quit smoking three years ago, but his hand still remembered that gesture.

On the river, navigation lights flickered on and off, their red glow shattering on the water. Across the river, the industrial zone was sparsely lit, with only the gray outlines of a few factory buildings clinging to the horizon.

I heard very light footsteps behind me, the soles of my shoes touching the wet stone slabs without hesitation.

Before Chen Ping could turn around, a bottle of mineral water was pressed against the back of his hand. The plastic bottle was still warm, the kind of warmth you get when you take it out of the car.

Su Qingwan, wearing a beige trench coat and a scarf loosely draped over her shoulders, sat down to Chen Pingfang's right. She didn't speak, but simply gathered the hem of her trench coat and stared at the lights on the opposite bank of the river.

Chen Ping unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip. The warm water slid down his throat, suppressing the restlessness in his chest.

How did you know I was here?

"Zhang Chao said you didn't go to eat and drove towards Binjiang Road. This is the only section of the river embankment in Nanzhou where you can park."

Chen Ping placed the bottle on the steps without replying.

Su Qingwan turned her head and looked him over for two seconds.

"I've read the audit summary. Li Jianguo's exact words were, 'A stabilizing force.'"

She pulled her scarf up to block the river wind.

"These four words carry enough weight in the officialdom of Nanzhou to keep many people up at night."

Chen Ping was taken aback. He thought that passing the audit was just a partial victory for him, and he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. But Su Qingwan's words made him realize that there was another layer to the matter.

A pillar that stabilizes the sea.

This is a positioning strategy. The Municipal Standing Committee's designation of Xinhuo as the benchmark for semiconductors in Nanzhou is tantamount to declaring that the entire industrial landscape of the Nanzhou District will revolve around Chen Pingfang.

Yan Qinghua's territory, which he had cultivated for twenty years, was thus shaken by an outsider.

How do you think Yan Qinghua will react?

Su Qingwan didn't answer immediately. The river breeze blew the stray hairs on her forehead, then pressed them back down.

"It's not scary for someone like Yan Qinghua to lose face; what's scary is that he'll start cutting his losses."

Her voice was flat, but she pronounced each word clearly.

"The audit team has thoroughly investigated Xinhuo's accounts, leaving Hongtuyuan with absolutely no chance of recovery. His fatal weakness now lies not in the South District, but in his own home."

Chen Ping turned to look at her.

Su Qingwan pulled a folded fax sheet from her trench coat pocket and handed it over.

"My people in the financial sector sent word back yesterday that Yan Qinghua's wife, Zhao Shumin, has been frequently visiting the mainland office of a Hong Kong asset management company called 'Hengtong Capital' over the past two weeks."

Chen Ping took the paper and unfolded it in the dim light of his phone screen.

The list contains seven account numbers. Chen Pingfang recognized four of them; they were related accounts of Chengyuan Private Equity Fund, the ones shown to everyone in the fund flow chart at the Standing Committee meeting. The remaining three accounts were registered in Hong Kong.

"The other party is taking advantage of the chaos caused by the shutdown of Hongtuyuan to disguise public funds as sham compensation through multiple layers of cross-border trade contracts."

Su Qingwan reached out and tapped the third line of the fax paper.

"Once this money leaves the country under the guise of compensation, with contract law and arbitration procedures in place, the whereabouts of the funds can no longer be traced."

Chen Ping turned the fax paper over. On the back was a handwritten note. Although the handwriting was messy, the content was clear: Hengtong Capital's mainland affiliate is a trading company in Qianhai, Shenzhen, and the legal representative is Zhao Shumin's cousin.

Chen Ping stared at the line of text, his nerves, which had just relaxed, tightening once again.

He exposed Hongtuyuan as a shell company, but Yan Qinghua did not admit defeat. Instead, he wanted to find another way to escape unscathed.

He planned to withdraw the money, transfer it through cross-border channels, and once the funds reached Hong Kong, transfer it into Hengtong Capital's account, thus severing all ties with the mess in Nanzhou. By then, even if the disciplinary committee investigated, Hongtuyuan would only have a pile of obsolete equipment and a nominal graduate student left; the money would be long gone.

He thought that obtaining the overall control of the southern region was a winning move.

Yan Qinghua, however, was preparing to abscond with the money.

When will the funds leave the country?

Su Qingwan held up one finger.

"This Friday. That's Hengtong Capital's quarterly settlement day. All funds will be cleared in one go, mixed in with normal cross-border trade transactions, making it difficult to detect."

Today is Tuesday.

Three days.

Chen Ping folded the fax paper, stuffed it into his inner pocket, and pressed his finger against the outside of the fabric to make sure the paper was against his chest.

"This is his last chance."

Su Qingwan stood up, the hem of her trench coat fluttering in the wind. She was taller than Chen Ping, and looked down at him.

"This is also your chance to completely bring him down."

Chen Ping didn't look up; he just kept staring at the river. The river was dark and murky.

"They're running away."

Su Qingwan's voice didn't sound loud.

"Your time is running out."

Then she left, her footsteps echoing up the steps until they faded away, leaving only the sound of the river.

Chen Ping sat on the steps for a while longer. He felt the matter was urgent. He squeezed the mineral water bottle in his hand hard, and the bottle made a sound.

So Chen Ping stood up, took out his phone, found Zhang Chao's number, and dialed it.

They answered very quickly.

"director?"

"Inform Song Yue and the finance team to come to a meeting at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone; it seemed Zhang Chao was eating, but he stopped now.

"Six o'clock?"

"Yes, six o'clock."

Chen Ping hung up the phone and started walking up the stone steps. He stepped on the wet stone slabs, leaving a footprint, then stepped on another footprint, and that was it.