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

"We arrived at the Municipal Party Committee Organization Department building in forty minutes."

Jiang Fan's words were still lingering in the air when Chen Pingfang locked the drawer.

The anonymous whistleblower letter, along with three hastily promoted documents, was buried at the bottom of the drawer. The key turned once, making a crisp "click."

"No need to chase after them."

Jiang Fan was stunned.

"Sun Zhaohui wanted to get people in before I took office, but the Organization Department will go through the procedures. He can't get anything done until the procedures are completed."

Chen Ping stood up and buttoned his suit jacket up to the second button.

"Get the car ready for me; there's a Standing Committee meeting tomorrow morning."

This was the first time he had used the term "Standing Committee" to plan his schedule.

When Jiang Fan turned to leave, his steps were a beat faster than usual.

The next day. 9:00 AM.

Conference room on the second floor of the Nanzhou Municipal Party Committee building.

The long conference table was covered with a dark green cloth, and twelve place cards were placed evenly spaced on the table. When Chen Pingfang walked in, eight people were already seated.

The arrangement of the seat cards is very particular.

Li Jianguo sat in the main seat. The first person on his left was Wang Cheng, the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee, and the first person on his right was the empty seat of the executive vice mayor. Yan Qinghua's nameplate had long been removed, and a faint crease remained on the cloth.

Chen Ping's place card was at the end.

The last chair.

He pulled out a chair and sat down, the chair legs scraping against the floor tiles with a dull thud.

Across from him, Wang Cheng raised his head, glanced at Chen Pingfang, and then lowered his head to rummage through the materials.

Wang Cheng was fifty-three years old and had served in Nanzhou for eleven years. He and Yan Qinghua were very close when Yan was in office, but after Yan Qinghua's downfall, Wang Cheng was unaffected. The organization conducted an investigation but found no substantial problems.

Wang Cheng was still sitting in that chair.

"Everyone's here." Li Jianguo opened the agenda in front of him. "There are four topics today, in order. First, the handling plan for the personnel freeze period in the High-tech Zone."

Chen Ping turned to the corresponding page of materials.

The document was very thin, consisting of only two sheets of paper. The first sheet was a summary table of personnel changes at the High-tech Zone Management Committee over the past three months, and the second sheet was the review comments from the Organization Department.

The last three lines of the summary table clearly showed the three names that Sun Zhaohui had stuffed in yesterday.

Promotion from section chief to deputy director level. Date of issuance: Yesterday. Review status: Pending.

"Everyone has seen this summary table." Li Jianguo pushed the materials forward. "Personnel matters in the High-tech Zone are frozen according to regulations before the new secretary takes office. However, the Management Committee submitted three lists of candidates for promotion, saying that the preliminary investigation process has been completed and only the final approval is needed."

Li Jianguo stopped there.

Without looking at anyone, he picked up his teacup and took a sip.

Wang Cheng's right hand rested on the edge of the material, and his index finger curled up slightly.

"I've reviewed the evaluation materials for these three individuals, and there are no serious procedural flaws. Since the evaluation process was completed long ago, the freeze period only suspends the approval process, not rejects it. The new secretary can simply sign it off after taking office."

Wang Cheng spoke slowly and deliberately, each word hitting the mark perfectly.

The logic is clear: the procedure is compliant, and during the freeze period, the freeze is only applied, not whether it's lifted. You, Chen Ping, have been put in charge; just sign according to procedure and that's it.

There was a two-second silence in the conference room.

Several members of the Standing Committee glanced at the last seat at the same time.

Chen Ping didn't look at the materials. He had already checked all three names, three files, and three positions last night.

"Secretary Wang said there were no major flaws in the procedure."

Chen Ping spoke up.

"Let me add a fact."

He pulled an A4 sheet of paper from his briefcase and pushed it to the center of the table.

"The investigation reports for these three people were completed on the 26th of last month. The investigation team consisted of three people, with Sun Zhaohui himself as the team leader. The three people being investigated were Sun Zhaohui's cousin, his ex-wife's nephew, and the third person's father-in-law, who had played golf with Sun Zhaohui at the same golf club for six years."

No one spoke in the meeting room.

Wang Cheng withdrew his fingers from the documents.

"Is it proper procedure for the head of the inspection team to personally investigate his own relatives?"

Chen Ping pushed the paper forward an inch.

"The comrades in the Organization Department can verify this. The recusal review section of these three investigation reports is completely blank. Blank doesn't mean 'no recusal is required,' it means it wasn't filled in at all."

The deputy minister in charge of organization looked down and flipped through the archived copies in his hand. After turning three pages, his expression changed.

The blank space was clearly displayed there.

Li Jianguo put down his teacup.

"What is Secretary Chen's opinion?"

This was the first time Li Jianguo addressed him as "Secretary Chen" at a Standing Committee meeting.

"All three promotion applications were rejected. The evaluation process had serious flaws. The High-tech Zone Management Committee was instructed to reorganize the evaluation team, and the members of the evaluation team must not have any conflict of interest with the candidates being evaluated."

Chen Ping cut his words very cleanly.

"At the same time, it is recommended that the Organization Department initiate an interview procedure regarding Sun Zhaohui's violation of regulations in issuing personnel documents during the freeze period."

Wang Cheng slowly moved his left hand under the table.

"Secretary Chen, the leadership of the High-tech Zone has just changed, and the changes are too drastic, which is causing instability among the staff."

Chen Ping turned his head to face Wang Cheng.

"Secretary Wang, whether people's hearts are at ease or not does not depend on how big the actions are. It depends on whether the rules are followed."

Wang Cheng did not respond.

He closed the documents and leaned back in his chair.

The United Front Work Department Minister, sitting to Wang Cheng's right, lowered his head, picked up a pen, and wrote a line in his notebook.

Li Jianguo took the A4 paper from the table and handed it to his secretary behind him.

"Does the Standing Committee have any objections to Secretary Chen's opinion?"

No one raised their hands.

"Then let's do it this way. Next topic."

The last three topics were all routine matters: urban construction funding, feedback from environmental protection inspections, and clearing up backlogged petitions. Chen Ping was seated at the end, and theoretically, these topics were not very relevant to the High-tech Zone, so he could have remained silent.

But Li Jianguo suddenly stopped when discussing the urban construction funding plan.

"Secretary Chen, what are your thoughts on the municipal infrastructure for the second phase of the High-tech Zone?"

The newly appointed Standing Committee member, who was ranked last, was called upon by the mayor in front of everyone at the table to solicit his opinion. Everyone present understood the message.

Chen Ping turned to the detailed page of urban construction funding and pointed to the seventh line.

"It is recommended that the bidding for the second phase of the road pipeline network be included in the city's unified platform, instead of going through the management committee's internal procurement process."

Li Jianguo nodded and drew a circle on the material.

"Change it to this."

The meeting lasted an hour and a half. As the meeting adjourned, the Standing Committee members stood up one after another.

Wang Cheng walked the fastest. He closed his notebook, squeezed out from behind the chair, and passed Chen Pingfang less than an arm's length apart.

Wang Cheng didn't look at him.

But Chen Pingfang noticed that Wang Cheng's knuckles were very taut when he was gripping the notebook.

Upon reaching the door, Wang Cheng said something to the United Front Work Department Minister who followed behind him, and the two of them turned into the stairwell one after the other, their footsteps quickly fading away.

Chen Ping put the materials into his briefcase and was about to get up when Li Jianguo walked over from the head of the table.

The secretary and everyone else had already left. Only the two of them remained in the meeting room.

Li Jianguo walked over to him, but didn't sit down; instead, he rested one hand on the edge of the table.

"The first Standing Committee meeting went well."

Chen Ping stood up.

"You handled Sun Zhaohui's matter correctly. But the waters in the High-tech Zone are deeper than you think."

Li Jianguo lowered his voice.

"The High-tech Zone is the lifeblood of Nanzhou, contributing one-third of the city's tax revenue every year. But it's also a powder keg."

Chen Pingfang didn't respond, waiting for him to continue.

"When Yan Qinghua was in charge, the interest chains in the High-tech Zone were deeply entrenched. Sun Zhaohui was just one thorn in the side. Even if you remove this one, there's a whole row of others buried underneath."

Li Jianguo pulled his hand back from the edge of the table and patted Chen Pingfang on the shoulder.

It wasn't very strong, but the landing point was very solid.

Take your time, but don't go too slow.

Li Jianguo turned and walked out.

The door opened and closed again, and the footsteps in the corridor faded into the distance.

Chen Ping was left alone in the conference room.

He bent down and unzipped his briefcase, revealing the black fountain pen on top, its gold thread gleaming under the fluorescent light.

A pen weighs a thousand pounds.

A series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door, approaching and stopping at the doorway.

Someone knocked on the door. Three knocks, very softly.

"Secretary Chen, Secretary Wang would like to invite you to sit in his office."