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

Wei Liangjun's words were like nails to the wall of the interview room; Chen Ping didn't respond.

He stood up, pushed the chair back into its place, turned around, and pushed open the door to leave. The gray rubber floor in the corridor absorbed the sound of his footsteps, while the hum of the fluorescent tubes followed him all the way to the elevator.

Cheng Yuan was waiting for him in the temporary office on the second floor.

"Are you done talking?"

"He wants to make a trade."

Cheng Yuan placed the teacup on the table. "What are we exchanging?"

"He said he would use one clue to get leniency. He said the person first in the guestbook at my father's funeral was the player in the whole game."

Cheng Yuan didn't reply, but rubbed the rim of the cup twice with his thumb.

Do you believe it?

Chen Ping shook his head. "It's not a matter of believing or not. He's out of bargaining chips, all he has left is his mouth. A section-level cadre who's been suspended from his post and is under investigation, trying to influence the provincial discipline inspection commission's investigation direction with just a few words—that's a very cunning plan."

Cheng Yuan nodded. "The funds in Songhe's account have been locked. The rest is up to the task force. Go back to Qingjiang and do your job well."

The day after Chen Ping returned to Qingjiang from the provincial capital, the atmosphere in the management committee building was completely different from what it had been half a month earlier.

After Liu Jiangong left, a new section chief arrived at the Business Environment Section. Li Chunsheng was seconded from the Investment Promotion Bureau. He was 32 years old, efficient, and cleared 29 out of the 37 green card applications backlogged in the system within a week. The third weekly efficiency report was posted, and all departments had zero red flags.

But what really made Chen Ping tense was another set of numbers.

When Han Zhiming spread the quarterly output value report on his desk, he pointed to the total in the last line.

"Director, the total industrial output value of enterprises above designated size in Qingjiang High-tech Zone in the third quarter was 41.2 billion yuan."

Chen Ping flipped to the comparison column for the same period of the previous year. 20.6 billion.

It doubled.

How much did those companies contribute to the ChipSpark project?

"14.7 billion yuan, accounting for 35.7%. Jinjiang Microelectronics alone received 6.3 billion yuan."

Chen Ping closed the report. Jinjiang Microelectronics' production ramp-up was two months faster than expected, and the newly commissioned 8-inch wafer line was running at full capacity by the end of August. The successful launch of this line was thanks to the green card channel provided by the Chipfire Project Office. From environmental impact assessment to fire safety, the entire approval process was compressed to seventeen working days, half the average cycle in the province.

Numbers don't lie. The effects of institutional reforms are all written in the final total of the output value table.

In mid-October, the General Office of the Provincial Government issued a research notice.

The notice was worded in a standard way, but Han Zhiming immediately recognized its weight: "Governor Liu will lead relevant officials from the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, and the Provincial Department of Science and Technology to Qingjiang High-tech Zone to conduct a special investigation on the implementation of the Chipfire project."

The provincial governor personally led the team. Three departments and bureaus accompanied them.

Li Chunsheng stood at the door of Chen Pingfang's office with the notice in his hand. His trousers were pressed straight, but he didn't know what to do with his hands.

"Director, should we set up a special team to handle the reception plan?"

"No need," Chen Ping said without looking up. "Just do your normal work, whatever you're supposed to do. Governor Liu wants to see normalized operations, not a makeshift model."

Li Chunsheng's mouth moved slightly, but he swallowed the words that were about to come out, turned around and left.

The weather was nice on the day of the research trip. In late October, the sun was weak over the Qingjiang River, and the wind carried a slight chill.

Governor Liu's motorcade arrived at the management committee entrance at 9:40. Chen Ping was left waiting in the lobby on the first floor; no flowers were presented, and no red carpet was laid out. The service windows at the front desk were operating as usual, with four companies still queuing at window number three.

When Governor Liu got out of the car, he glanced at the hall and paused for a moment.

"Like this, you didn't even put up a welcome banner in your lobby?"

"With the banner up, business people coming to do business will think the service window is closed today."

Governor Liu chuckled and said nothing more.

The investigation lasted four hours. From the industry chain map of the Chipfire project to the approval process of the green card system to the background data of the delayed red light system, Chen Pingfang explained everything in detail. There were no PowerPoint presentations or draft reports; he simply stood in front of the large screen of the digital government affairs platform and clicked on each item with the mouse to show Governor Liu.

"This is a timeline of the entire process from submitting the application to obtaining the certificate. The green line represents this year, and the gray line represents last year."

The two lines on the screen are at different heights, and the difference is clear.

The deputy director of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission took three photos with his mobile phone. The section chief of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology turned to a new page in his notebook.

Governor Liu stood in front of the screen for half a minute, then turned around.

"Comrade Pingfang, you've learned this lesson at the grassroots level very well, a perfect score."

These words weren't harsh, but everyone present heard them. Li Chunsheng stood in the corner, his back ramrod straight, his fingernails digging into the cover of his notebook.

When the deputy director of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission shook hands with Chen Pingfang, he added, "Secretary Chen, the mid-term evaluation report on the Chipfire project from the ministries has been submitted to the meeting, and the evaluation is very high. The Qingjiang model was specifically mentioned in the briefing of the High-Tech Department of the National Development and Reform Commission."

Chen Ping nodded but didn't respond.

As the convoy left, window number three in the management committee hall had just called the next number.

In the second week of November, the announcement of appointments and removals of cadres by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was posted on the intranet of the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee.

Han Zhiming sent the screenshot to Chen Ping's phone at 5:06 PM. Chen Ping was in his office looking through a land supply agreement when his phone vibrated. He glanced at the screen.

The third item in the public notice: Chen Pingfang, male, currently serves as the Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Qingjiang High-tech Zone and the Director of the Xinhuo Project Office, and is proposed to be appointed as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government and the Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee (Deputy Department-level).

Deputy Director-General.

The youngest deputy director-level official in Jiangsu Province.

Chen Ping turned his phone face down on the table and continued looking at the land supply agreement. On the fourth page, there was a discrepancy between the area data and the planning map, so he circled it with a pen.

Han Zhiming pushed open the door and came in, his face showing a suppressed excitement.

"Director, the announcement has been made public."

"I saw it."

"The organization department said the public announcement period is seven days, if there are no objections~"

"Seven days is seven days." Chen Ping pushed the land supply agreement towards him. "On the fourth page of this contract, the land area differs from the planning map by 0.3 mu. Have the land use department recheck it."

Han Zhiming took the contract, pursed his lips, and turned to leave.

After the door closed, Chen Ping sat on the chair for thirty seconds without moving.

Deputy Director-General level. Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Government. Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the Provincial Party Committee.

These three titles carry considerable weight. The Deputy Secretary-General oversees the coordination hub for the daily operations of the provincial government, while the Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office is responsible for policy implementation. These two positions combined mean one foot is on the administrative chain, and the other on the decision-making chain.

Only now, with this move, is the game truly on the table.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Chen Ping returned to his residence in Qingjiang.

The temporary one-bedroom apartment was furnished by the management committee, and there were three stacks of documents piled on the table. He moved the documents aside and pulled a cardboard box out from under the bed.

The box contained his father's belongings. His mother had sent them last year when she was cleaning out the old house, and Chen Ping hadn't opened them yet.

He tore open the seal on the box and turned it over to the second layer. Inside were a photo album, two stacks of old letters, and a brown document folder.

A sheet of A4 paper, folded into thirds, was tucked inside the document folder.

A copy of the funeral guestbook.

Chen Ping unfolded the paper and laid it on the table. The sign-in book had a simple format: the left side was for names, and the right side was for organizations. There were forty-seven names in total, arranged in order of arrival.

The name in the first line was blurred by a blot of ink, and the characters were indistinct, with only the radicals vaguely discernible.

He stared at the ink blot for five seconds.

Wei Liangjun's words from the interview room came up again.

"The person ranked first, you can never move."

Chen Ping opened the drawer and took out an ultraviolet banknote detector.

*Snap.* The light came on.

As the purple light shone on the paper, the strokes covered by ink gradually emerged.

Three words.

Zhou Dingbang.

Chen Ping pressed his thumb on the light switch and didn't move it.

Zhou Dingbang. Former Provincial Party Secretary. A pillar of stability in Jiangsu's political arena. He retired seven years ago and now holds the title of advisor to the Provincial Retired Cadres Activity Center, and is even featured on provincial television news during holidays.

He was the first person to arrive at his father's funeral.

Under the purple light, the three characters were clearly visible, straight and upright, completely different from the handwriting style on his father's manuscript. This was signed by Zhou Dingbang himself.

Chen Ping turned off the money detector light.

The room was plunged into darkness, with only the light from the streetlights outside the window seeping through the gaps in the curtains and falling on the first line of the sign-in book.