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

Zhou Dingbang.

The three words burned under the purple light for an entire night. Chen Ping folded the copy of the sign-in book back to its original shape, stuffed it into a document folder, and locked it at the bottom of a cardboard box.

The public notice period lasted seven days, and no objections were raised.

On the morning of Monday of the third week of November, Chen Pingfang carried an old leather suitcase into the Jiangsu Provincial Government building. The suitcase, left to him by his father, was made of brown cowhide, the zipper had been replaced twice, and the handles were worn smooth. Inside were three sets of clothes, an electric shaver, and two policy compilations.

The office of the Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Government is located on the east side of the sixth floor of the building, facing south. It is 32 square meters and has a standard configuration: a desk, two meeting chairs, a metal filing cabinet, and an organizational chart of the Provincial Government hanging on the wall.

Chen Ping put the suitcase in the corner, not in a hurry to open it.

Sun Desheng, the director of the General Office, led him around the sixth-floor corridor, introducing the areas of responsibility of the adjacent offices. When they reached the end and turned back, Sun Desheng lowered his voice.

"Secretary-General Chen, the pace here in the province is a bit different from that at the grassroots level. Some things can't be rushed."

Chen Ping glanced at him.

"Director Sun, what's the rush?"

Sun Desheng smiled but did not give a direct answer.

"There's a coordination meeting at 2 PM this afternoon to review the special funds from several departments. The agenda has been sent to your email; please take a look."

Chen Ping returned to his office, turned on his computer, and logged into the provincial government's internal office system. His inbox contained eleven unread emails, the one at the top being the coordination meeting agenda that Sun Desheng had mentioned.

He scanned through the items one by one, stopping when he got to the seventh item.

"Application for special funds for facility maintenance and renovation of the Provincial Retired Cadres Activity Center in 2024, amount: 12 million yuan. Applicant unit: Management Office of the Provincial Retired Cadres Activity Center."

Twelve million.

The renovation and upgrading of an activity center was asking for 12 million. Chen Ping scrolled down; the only attachment was a two-page funding application form, without even a detailed budget.

He picked up the landline on the table and dialed the internal line of the General Affairs Division of the Policy Research Office.

"This is Chen Pingfang. Please retrieve a document for me—the special fund allocation records for the Provincial Retired Cadres Activity Center for the past five years, including the application amount, the actual amount disbursed, and the final audit report for each year. Please deliver it to my office within half an hour."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"Director Chen, does this... require a review and approval process?"

"As the deputy director of the policy research office, accessing the records of local government fund allocations is within my authority. No further approval is required."

The other party didn't say anything more and hung up.

Twenty minutes later, Xiao Zhao, a clerk from the General Affairs Division, knocked on the door and came in carrying a stack of printed documents. The papers were still warm from the printer, and there were more than forty pages stacked up.

Chen Ping turned to the first page.

Five years, five grants.

In 2019, eight million was allocated for "upgrading and renovating fire protection facilities." The final accounts audit report is missing.

In 2020, the cost was 6.5 million for "air conditioning system replacement." The final settlement report was only one and a half pages long and did not include any construction contract attachments.

In 2021, nine million was spent on "facade repair and roof waterproofing." The audit opinion section of the final accounts report was blank, and the auditor's signature section was stamped but not handwritten.

In 2022, seven million yuan was allocated for "Phase I of Intelligent Transformation." The final settlement report is complete, but the construction company is a small company with a registered capital of 500,000 yuan, and the enterprise credit information system shows that the company was established less than six months ago.

In 2023, ten million was allocated for "age-friendly renovations and barrier-free access construction." The final accounts report has not yet been submitted.

Over five years, the total was 41.5 million.

This year, another twelve million was reported.

Chen Ping neatly stacked the printed documents, clipped them with paperclips, and placed them in the center of the table.

The coordination meeting started promptly at 2 p.m.

The conference room was on the fifth floor, with a long table and two rows of chairs, seating twelve people. Qin Jiru, the executive vice governor in charge of finance, sat at the head of the table, with Sun Desheng to his right. Chen Ping's nameplate was placed in the third seat from the left.

The first six items on the agenda were routine appropriations, not large sums. Each department took turns reporting, and Vice Governor Qin nodded and signed off. The process was completed in fifteen minutes.

The seventh item.

Sun Desheng turned to the corresponding page of the agenda and cleared his throat.

"Next item: the Provincial Retired Cadres Activity Center's 2024 facility maintenance and renovation special fund application of 12 million yuan. Director Zhao of the Retired Cadres Activity Center Management Office, could you please say a few words?"

A plump man in his early fifties stood up from the back row, holding an A4 sheet of paper in his hand, and read it very quickly.

"Distinguished leaders, the main building of the Laogan Center is over twenty years old, and many facilities are severely aged, posing safety hazards. This application is mainly for three aspects: elevator replacement, water supply and drainage network renovation, and floor renovation of the activity hall, with a budget of 12 million yuan. We respectfully request your approval."

After reading it aloud, Director Zhao sat back in his chair, folded the A4 paper twice, and stuffed it into his shirt pocket.

Vice Governor Qin flipped through the materials in his hand, nodded, and was about to speak.

"Governor Qin, may I interject?"

Chen Pingfang's voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the conference room turned their heads.

The newly appointed deputy secretary-general will speak at a coordination meeting on his first day in office.

Qin Jiru raised his hand.

"Comrade Pingfang, please speak."

Chen Ping pushed the stack of printed documents clipped together with paperclips to the center of the table.

"This morning I checked the special fund allocation records of the Laogan Center for the past five years. From 2019 to 2023, a total of 41.5 million yuan was allocated. Among them, the final accounts audit reports for three years have obvious defects: the 2019 final accounts report is missing, the audit opinion column for 2021 is blank, and the 2023 final accounts report has not been submitted to date."

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

Director Zhao's neck turned red.

Chen Ping continued speaking.

"In addition, the contractor for 2022, Hengrun Construction Co., Ltd., has a registered capital of 500,000 yuan and was established for less than half a year. It undertook a 7 million yuan intelligent transformation project. The company's current status in the enterprise credit system is 'existing - operating abnormally'."

He turned to that page in the printout and pointed to it.

Qin Jiru took it, looked down at it for more than ten seconds, and two wrinkles appeared on his forehead.

Director Zhao stood up and opened his mouth twice.

"Secretary-General Chen, these are all historical issues, related to this year's application..."

"Director Zhao, I didn't say there was a problem with this year's application," Chen Pingfang interrupted him. "What I said was that before the final audit of the accumulated 41.5 million yuan from the previous five years has been fully submitted, according to Article 14 of the Provincial Special Fiscal Funds Management Measures, new applications for appropriations are not eligible for acceptance. The procedure is not followed."

Director Zhao's back was pressed against the chair back, and sweat began to bead on his forehead.

Sun Desheng held a teacup, the lid hanging in mid-air, not being put down.

Qin Jiru put the printout back on the desktop and remained silent for a few seconds.

"Comrade Pingfang is right. This application from the Retired Cadres Center should be returned first. We'll submit it again after they've completed the annual financial statements. Director Zhao, please go back and get it done as soon as possible."

Director Zhao's lips trembled slightly, then he nodded and sat down.

When the meeting ended, Sun Desheng walked beside Chen Pingfang without saying a word for a long time. When they reached the elevator, he finally managed to utter a sentence.

"Secretary-General Chen, the situation behind the Retired Cadres Center... is rather complicated."

Chen Ping pressed the up button.

"Director Sun, I'm arguing against the procedure, not the people. The final accounts report has been completed, and not a penny of the money that should have been allocated will be missing."

The elevator doors opened. Chen Ping walked in, but Sun Desheng didn't follow.

The door to the sixth-floor office closed, and Chen Ping sat back down in his chair.

The landline on the table rang.

Internal line. The number displayed is from the office reception desk.

"Secretary-General Chen, a gentleman is looking for you. He says he is Mr. Zhou's secretary, surnamed Fang. He left a mobile phone number and asked you to call him back when it's convenient for you."

Chen Ping picked up a pen and wrote down the number.

"What else did he say?"

He said, "Old Zhou would like to invite you to his home this weekend for a casual meal."

Chen Ping put down his pen and pressed his thumb on the last digit of the string of numbers.

The busy tone of the telephone receiver echoed repeatedly in the empty office.