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

Liu Mingyuan was silent for three seconds, then said one word.

"OK."

Chen Ping hung up the phone and placed it face down on the table.

The streetlights outside the window were already on, and the parking lot was mostly empty.

He opened the compressed file that Su Qingwan had sent three weeks ago, pulled up the test report inside, and scrolled through it on the screen.

The report cover bears the header of Nanjing Oasis Third-Party Environmental Testing Center, and the registration number in the numbering column is from the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China. The sampling points were seventeen groundwater locations along the Qinglong River in Guangling City, and the sampling date was two months ago on a typical workday.

Turn to the third page, and that column of data appears.

Volatile organic compounds (benzo[a]pyrene), reference standard: 0.01 μg/L, average detected value: 82.4 μg/L.

Exceeding the standard by 8240 times.

Chen Ping stared at the number for nearly twenty seconds before picking up his phone and sending a message to Su Qingwan.

"The time has come, we can release it now."

The other party replied with a single word three seconds later.

"it is good."

At 8:10 a.m. the next day, the provincial newspaper's mobile app pushed out a special report.

Title: Who is backing up the pollution? ~An investigation into the Qinglong River culvert in Guangling.

Signed: Su Qingwan, Senior Reporter, Special Report Department.

The main text is 6,000 words long. The opening is about a character: a villager in his sixties sitting on the doorstep, saying that his well had been smelling strange since last year, and this spring his wife was diagnosed with severely abnormal liver function. The doctor advised him not to drink groundwater anymore.

The second part consists of on-site photos. At the back wall of the Tianyu Fine Chemicals plant, a section of sewage pipe protrudes from the soil, with its end inserted into the masonry joint of the Qinglong River embankment. The sewage at the outlet is black, and white foam can be clearly seen in the photos.

The third part features a magnified screenshot of the core test report, with "8000 times exceeding the standard" displayed on a separate line in a font size one and a half sizes larger than the main text.

The fourth part is the equity penetration diagram. Tianyu Fine Chemicals has five layers of shell companies listed one by one, and finally it comes down to a name called Fang Huiwen, a local from Guangling and Fang Zhiyuan's niece.

The article concludes with the following statement: Over the past three years, the Guangling City Environmental Protection Department issued six rectification notices to Tianyu Fine Chemicals. All six notices were shelved due to the high technical difficulty and long renovation cycle. There was not a single production stoppage penalty during those three years.

Chen Ping was drinking soy milk in the cafeteria when Jiang Fan pushed his phone over to him.

He swept from beginning to end and then put the bowl down.

Su Qingwan handled the test report very cleanly—not mentioning the source at all, only writing "based on independent testing commissioned by this newspaper," with the full text of the testing agency's qualification documents attached at the end, seventeen pages long, all bearing official seals.

Anyone who wants to overturn that figure can only do so by suing the provincial newspaper in court.

Within an hour of the article being published, it had over 100,000 views on the app. In the comments section, someone was asking: What has the head of the Environmental Protection Bureau in Guangling been doing for the past three years?

Chen Ping finished his soy milk and got up to return to his office.

The phone vibrated at 11:27.

Guangling's landline number.

I answered, but didn't say anything.

There was a two-second pause on the other end before they spoke.

"Chen Pingfang."

Fang Zhiyuan's voice.

"Mayor Fang, what's the matter?"

Fang Zhiyuan spoke in a low voice, enunciating each word carefully.

"You arranged this report."

"The report is by Su Qingwan, from the provincial newspaper's special features department." Chen Ping rested his right hand on the edge of the table, not moving. "If Mayor Fang has any questions, he should contact the provincial newspaper's editor-in-chief."

"Enough with the nonsense." Fang Zhiyuan's voice rose a half-octave. "Where did that test report come from? If you leak this, don't you know what the consequences will be for the Guangling Chemical Industry sector? How many jobs? How much tax revenue—have you thought this through?"

"More than two thousand villagers around the Qinglong River drink water from that well." Chen Ping's thumb paused on the table. "Does Mayor Fang know how many years they've been drinking it?"

Fang Zhiyuan did not respond to that sentence.

It paused for four seconds, then changed direction.

"Chen Pingfang, we can talk. I'll arrange to resume supply to the three companies at the Chipfire Center this afternoon. I've also stopped supplying to Jiaxing. I'll handle the materials from the province."

"One condition: suppress this report."

Chen Ping leaned back in his chair and did not respond.

Fang Zhiyuan's voice lowered a little.

"We're both people working within the system, so there's no need to push things to the extreme. Let's leave each other a way out."

"Mayor Fang, I gave you a three-year transition period, but you wanted to take a shortcut yourself."

There was silence on Fang Zhiyuan's end.

Chen Ping switched the phone from his right ear to his left ear.

"In 2021, I mentioned at an internal meeting that the transformation of Guangling Chemical Enterprises must be accelerated. The province's green industry plan is clearly stated in black and white, and the goal is to achieve zero emissions by 2025. You said that the technology is difficult and the transformation cycle is long, so I gave you three years."

"It's 2024 now. That number isn't 8 times, it's 8000 times."

"It can't be suppressed."

Fang Zhiyuan's breathing could be heard through the microphone.

"Chen Pingfang, you're the director of the High-tech Zone Management Committee, yet you're meddling in Guangling's environmental issues. That's overstepping your authority."

"You're right," Chen Pingfang said without refutation. "Environmental issues are under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Department, and reporters' articles are under the jurisdiction of the editor-in-chief of the provincial newspaper. I haven't been involved in anything."

Fang Zhiyuan paused for a full beat on the other end of the line.

The phone was disconnected.

Chen Ping put his phone on the table and leaned back in his chair.

From the moment Fang Zhiyuan lost the provincial party committee meeting, he had very few cards left to play. He thought cutting off the supply would strangle him, that the media could be silenced, and that appealing to the provincial authorities would turn the tide.

However, with each step he took, he was three whole days slower than Chen Ping.

Jiang Fan pushed the door open and came in, holding a fax in his hand.

"Director, this was just sent by the Provincial Party Committee General Office."

Chen Ping took it and glanced at it from beginning to end.

The faxed document was a forwarded instruction, signed by Lu Zheng.

The main text consists of only one line.

"The problems in the Qinglong River are shocking and extremely serious. A joint special investigation team from the Provincial Department of Environmental Protection, the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the Provincial Procuratorate will go to Guangling immediately. A thorough investigation will be conducted without any leniency."

The last four characters are noticeably heavier than the preceding ones.

Chen Ping placed the fax on the table and stared at the signature.

Lu Zheng. Provincial Party Secretary.

This directive completely changed the situation in Guangling. Lu Zheng's strong wording indicated that the provincial party committee had long harbored resentment towards the problems in Guangling, and this was merely someone lighting the final fuse.

Su Qingwan's article was the fuse that ignited the fire.

Jiang Fan stood silently to the side, clutching the document.

My phone lit up again; it was a message from Su Qingwan.

"The page views have just surpassed three million. The comment section on the Guangling Municipal Government's official website has been shut down, and screenshots are flying everywhere."

Chen Ping paused for two seconds on the reply box with his thumb, then typed five words.

"Take care of yourself."

Send it out and then lock the screen.

The fax was still on the table, with Lu Zheng's handwriting facing upwards.

Jiang Fan spoke softly.

"Director, what's the next step with Fang Zhiyuan...?"

Chen Ping's phone vibrated again, the caller ID showing an unfamiliar landline number from the provincial capital.