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

Chen Ping pressed the answer button.

The voice on the other end was that of an unfamiliar woman, and she spoke very quickly.

"Comrade Chen Pingfang, this is the General Office of the Provincial Party Committee. Secretary Lu asked me to inform you that at 3 PM, a Coaster will be waiting outside the North Gate of the Provincial Party Committee."

Ten seconds later, the call ended.

Jiang Fan stood to the side without moving, holding the fax.

Chen Ping placed his phone on the table and stared at the darkened screen for two seconds.

The provincial party committee's instructions had just been issued this morning, with three department-level units working together, using the phrase "thorough investigation" and "no mercy." Lu Zheng summoned people around noon, indicating that this matter had been on his mind for much longer than today's draft.

With Lu Zheng's approval, Fang Zhiyuan's petition was rendered invalid. But Lu Zheng summoned him today not to review the events in Guangling.

"Get the car ready." Chen Ping stood up, casually took the black fountain pen from his shirt breast pocket, rummaged through it in his hand, and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

Jiang Fan followed.

"Where to?"

"provincial capital."

On the highway, Chen Ping pulled down the sunshade, took out the explanatory document that Liu Mingyuan had submitted to the provincial government office from his briefcase, and flipped through it from beginning to end.

The timeline of the four-city linkage mechanism, the filing records of international standard certification, the logistics timestamp of Donghu Port inventory scheduling, and screenshots of the business registration information of the three companies in Guangling that cut off supplies.

The materials were extremely clean, with not a single comment, just facts and timelines.

Chen Ping closed the documents, placed his hand on the clasp of his briefcase, and leaned back in his chair.

Fang Zhiyuan set off from Guangling this morning, carrying a complaint to find Tang Zhigang. The complaint contained nothing more than the usual accusations: Chen Pingfang was creating barriers to entry in the four cities, excluding Guangling businesses, and disrupting the regional industrial balance.

But on Tang Zhigang's desk, before Fang Zhiyuan entered, Liu Mingyuan's documents were already on the table. On one side was an appeal without supporting attachments, and on the other side were factual materials with timestamps, plus the provincial party secretary's instruction from that morning.

Tang Zhigang is a smart man.

Chen Ping closed his eyes, leaned against the car window, and stopped thinking about it.

At 2:50, the Coaster stopped on the east side of the small square outside the north gate of the Provincial Party Committee.

The car was dark-colored, the engine was off, and it sat there silently. Jiang Fan turned off the engine, parked the car next to him, and didn't get out.

At 3:00 PM sharp, the low iron gate on the side of the north gate was pushed open from the inside, and a staff member came out and nodded in this direction.

Chen Ping got out of the car and followed him inside.

The rear compartment of the Coaster has been modified, with two rows of seats facing each other and a folding table in the middle.

Lu Zheng sat on the right, wearing the same suit he wore that morning, with his provincial party committee work ID lanyard hanging on the armrest of his chair.

"sit."

Chen Ping sat down on the left side, the car door closed, and all outside noise was shut out.

Lu Zheng first flipped through the document on the table. It was the three sheets of paper that the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology had delivered this morning. He flipped through it for less than a minute, then closed it and put it aside.

"There's been quite a commotion in Guangling today."

Chen Ping took the black fountain pen out of his coat pocket and placed it on the folding table, with the nib pointing towards Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng glanced down at it, picked it up, twirled it in his hand a couple of times, and said nothing.

"Three years ago, you inspected Nanzhou and gave me this pen before you left." Chen Ping pushed the pen half an inch towards Lu Zheng. "I brought it today to report in person on what I've been doing these past three years."

Lu Zheng stopped and put his pen on the table.

"explain."

"The standards alliance is not just about technological upgrades."

Chen Ping took out the seventh item of the Four Cities Memorandum from his briefcase, unfolded it, and placed it on the table.

"Technological upgrading is just the surface; what we're really doing is eliminating outdated production capacity and breaking up the network of relationships that binds it to it."

"It's not feasible to push it in a single city. The chemical companies in Guangling are too deeply integrated with the local system. Whoever is supposed to bear the burden of transformation costs will back down. When administrative orders are issued, they are simply told that the technology is too difficult, and three years later, we are still stuck in the same place."

"The four cities are all aligned on the same criteria: only those that meet the standards can be included in the procurement list, and those that don't are excluded. This isn't an administrative order; it's a market threshold. The fact that the three companies in Guangling sent letters simultaneously today shows that they're panicking."

Lu Zheng pressed down on the pen with two fingers.

"You set the threshold."

"The threshold is clearly stated in black and white in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's clean production standards for semiconductors."

Chen Ping paused for a moment.

"I just included it in the procurement agreement. Tiancheng, Ruifeng, and Zhonghao were eliminated not because I was targeting Guangling, but because they had already secured the renovation opportunity three years ago and chose not to participate."

Lu Zheng put the pen back on the table.

"Su Qingwan's manuscript."

"The test report data is correct, and the qualification documents are complete."

Chen Ping didn't mince words. "When to release it and how to write it are Su Qingwan's decisions, not my arrangements."

There was a five-second silence in the carriage.

Footsteps could be heard outside, then they faded away.

Lu Zheng leaned back in his chair.

"The provincial party committee has a basic assessment of your actions over the past six months."

Chen Ping placed his hands on his knees.

"You were the one who uncovered the illegal equipment at Jiacheng, you were the one who sent Sun Zhaohui's 300 million yuan to the Discipline Inspection Commission, and you brought the pollution problem in Guangling to the front of the Provincial Party Committee through a single article."

Lu Zheng paused for a moment. "But there are also voices saying that as the director of the management committee, your power boundaries are unclear, and you're extending your reach into more and more areas."

Chen Ping raised his head slightly.

"That's because I don't have the authority to do it."

Lu Zheng looked at him.

"The four cities worked together and coordinated across cities. I talked to He Jianguo through personal connections, without any formal documents. In the case of Donghu Port, it was He Jianguo who did me a favor to allow the port authorities to skip the queue and give us priority."

Chen Ping paused for a moment on the edge of the folding table with two fingers.

"If the same situation happens again, why should I expect the director of a management committee in another city to cooperate? This line of personal favor will break sooner or later."

Lu Zheng picked up the black fountain pen, pinched the barrel with two fingers, and didn't speak immediately.

Outside the carriage, a car drove by, the faint sound of tires rubbing against the ground lingering for a moment before disappearing.

"The province is studying something." Lu Zheng traced a line on the pen with his thumb. "We're appointing you as the deputy head of the Provincial Semiconductor Industry Leading Group."

Chen Ping didn't move.

Deputy team leader. Provincial-level authorization for cross-city coordination, with official documents and official seals, eliminating reliance on personal connections.

"Liu Mingyuan will be the team leader," Lu Zheng said, placing his pen flat on the table.

"You'll be in charge of the day-to-day coordination. The collaboration between the four cities can be expanded further. Guangling's current industrial structure definitely needs to be reorganized, and someone needs to be specifically responsible for follow-up and implementation."

Chen Pingfang sat opposite him, but he didn't speak immediately.

He knew very well that this was not simply a promotion, but rather a shovel.

Lu Zheng wanted him to use the authorization from the province to uncover things that were hidden deeper and had a wider scope.

Fang Zhiyuan's case is just the beginning. There's the 300 million yuan from Dingsheng Venture Capital, the complicated equity relationships at Tianyu Fine Chemicals, and the still unresolved relationship between Sun Zhaohui's signature and Guangling.

No one can stop until these accounts are completely sorted out.

But could he refuse this position? Certainly not.

Lu Zheng stood up from his seat, bent down to pick up the black fountain pen on the table again, and handed it back to Chen Pingfang.

"You said those yourself, so you need to work hard from now on."

Chen Ping reached out and took the pen, his fingers touching the pen body.

He could feel that the pen was still warm, which was left from Lu Zheng holding it in his hand for quite a long time.

After Lu Zheng sat down again, he turned to the side and asked a question as if it were just a casual remark.

"What methods do you plan to use to recover that 300 million yuan in guiding funds?"