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

Liang Bowen raised his head.

Before Gu Deren left, he told me to ask my mother what my father did in Suzhou in the autumn of the Gengchen year.

The old man tucked his hand into the table for a moment, then remained silent.

"Dean Liang, you spent five years at the Party School. The server project was initiated in 2003, and you were present throughout the entire process." Chen Pingfang's voice was very calm. "Gengchen is 2000, the autumn of the year the young cadre training class ended. My father was also in Sujiang."

Liang Bowen took the hardcover notebook out of the drawer and pushed it in front of Chen Pingfang.

"I've kept it for twenty-four years."

A folded letter was tucked into the notebook's title page. The edges of the page were brittle, and small scraps of paper fell out when it was unfolded.

The top line is written in pen, and the pen strokes are exactly the same as those on the back of the photo.

"Dedicated to innovation, regardless of personal gain or loss. A gift to Brother Bowen, from the class monitor."

Below the signature is an abbreviated signature.

RGD

Chen Ping pressed his hand down on the paper and didn't move.

"What's the class monitor's name?"

It's not a question. It's a declarative sentence, in a somber tone.

Liang Bowen took off his glasses, rubbed the lenses with his thumb, and didn't reply immediately.

"Your father, Chen Jianbang, was the deputy head of the provincial discipline inspection commission's inspection team stationed in Sujiang in the autumn of the Gengchen year." He put his glasses back on. "The core task of that inspection was not disclosed to the public; even people within the inspection team only knew half of it."

Chen Ping paused, his fingers hovering over the table.

Chen Jianbang. The way Liang Bowen said his father's name carried an unfamiliar solemnity.

"Is he investigating the youth cadre training program?"

"He was investigating a network attached to the youth cadre training program." Liang Bowen stood up and walked to the window. "Thirty-two people graduated and went on to work in provincial departments, municipal departments, and state-owned enterprises. On the surface, they went their separate ways, but in reality, that connection was never broken." He paused for a moment. "It was the class leader who connected that network."

"What does the class monitor rely on for his skills?"

"Interests." Liang Bowen's tone was indifferent. "What he gained at the Party School was not just a graduation certificate, but also a network of connections. He knows better than anyone who owes him, who he has leverage over, and who is truly following him."

Chen Ping pushed the letter back onto the table.

"How much did my father find out?"

The old man turned his back to him and remained silent for a long time.

"Jianbang had already gotten his hands on the server's connection." Liang Bowen turned around. "At the end of 2000, he submitted an internal memo to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, along with seven pages of materials, covering the flow of funds, a list of personnel, and an overseas transit account." He paused for a moment. "After submitting that memo, nothing more was heard from it."

"Then what."

"Then in March 2001, Jianbang was in a car accident on his way to a meeting in Suzhou city."

Chen Ping didn't move.

He stared at the desktop for a long time.

Twenty-three years. He had always believed that his father's death was an accident, and even his mother said so. Every time it was mentioned, his eyes would redden and he would turn his face away.

Now, Liang Bowen has presented the other side of the matter in a very calm, official-document-like tone.

"Does the squad leader know that my father is investigating him?"

"I know." Liang Bowen sat back down in his chair. "The squad leader got the news through some channels on the third day after the memo was submitted. I only found out later, and by then Jianbang had already left."

"Why are you telling me now?"

There was no blame in Chen Ping's tone; he was simply asking.

"Because you came looking for me." Liang Bowen looked directly at him. "You found that server at the Party School, you found RGD's signature, you had Qingwan investigate the guesthouse's background, and you led Gu Deren to that table." He paused. "Now that you've come this far, no one can turn back for you."

Chen Ping folded the letter paper again and pushed it back to Liang Bowen.

"The class monitor's name."

Liang Bowen took a piece of white paper from the drawer, picked up a pencil from the table, wrote a few words, turned it over, and pushed it to Chen Pingfang.

Three words.

Ren Shaoting.

Chen Ping turned the paper over, stared at the name, and silently recited it in his mind.

Ren Shaoting is currently the Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), in charge of historical and cultural data. He recently transferred from the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress last year and is known for his low-key, pragmatic, and non-partisan approach.

He folded the paper into four sections and put it in his shirt pocket.

"Dean Liang, has he contacted you in all these years?"

"I contacted him once." Liang Bowen closed the hardcover notebook. "Five years ago, the provincial academy of social sciences' funding application was stuck in the review stage of the provincial political consultative conference. He sent someone to tell me that he could help get it done. I didn't reply."

"And then what?"

"The funding was approved, no one asked for anything, not a penny more, not a penny less, it was all done according to the normal procedure." Liang Bowen looked up at Chen Pingfang, "He knows I have this document, but he also knows that I won't ask for it if I don't need it."

Chen Ping stood up and buttoned up his coat.

"Dean Liang, may I borrow this notebook?"

Without hesitation, the old man pushed the hardcover book over.

"I'll wait for you to come back."

---

My phone vibrated as soon as the car drove out of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences gate.

The direct line number for the governor's office.

Han Zhiming glanced at the rearview mirror from the driver's seat and remained silent.

Chen Ping answered the call.

"Secretary-General Chen, Governor Liu requests your presence here now, in ten minutes."

Liu Mingyuan's secretary spoke in a flat tone, but emphasized the word "now".

"receive."

Chen Ping hung up and put the hardcover notebook into his briefcase.

"Go to the provincial government."

Twenty minutes later, the door to the governor's office opened from the inside.

Liu Mingyuan stood in front of his desk, not sitting down, still wearing his coat. The desk lamp was on, but all the overhead lights around him were off, leaving only a yellow halo around the room.

Without exchanging pleasantries, he picked up an envelope from the table and handed it to me.

The envelope was made of kraft paper and had already been opened. The sealing wax stamp on the seal was the exclusive design of the central government.

Chen Ping took the paper out of the envelope.

There was only one sheet of paper with only one line of text, handwritten in black pen.

Four words.

The operation is about to be completed.

---

The other side of that business card, the folding fan drawn in pencil, Chen Ping kept in his drawer for three whole days.

For three days, he didn't go to see anyone or make a single phone call.

But some things are already in operation.

The four words "The net is about to be closed" were handed to him personally by Liu Mingyuan. The sealing wax stamp was a central government design, not one that the provincial government could forge.

This decree had been awaited for twenty-three years.

The launch ceremony for Phase II of the Chipfire project is scheduled for the last Wednesday of this month.

The location was chosen in the semiconductor industrial park in Jizhou City, where the first mass production line of Chipfire 1.0 was located. The backdrop was a full twenty meters wide, with a burning chip pattern in the center, and the words "Chipfire" were cast on the steel plate in an industrial style font.