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

The elevator doors closed, and Zheng Weiqing's words were trapped inside the metal frame.

Chen Ping pressed the button for the sixth floor, his thumb still firmly planted. "Water that is too clear has no fish." This saying, used as a toast at a dinner table, becomes a warning in the elevator of the provincial government building.

Zheng Weiqing had no reason to say such things to a deputy secretary-general who had only been in office for three days, unless someone had instructed him to do so.

The sixth-floor corridor was deserted, the fluorescent lights casting a white glow on the floor. Chen Ping pushed open the office door; the red light on the landline on his desk was flashing.

A message. From Cheng Yuan.

"Lie it flat, and call back when it's convenient."

Chen Ping made the call. Cheng Yuan answered quickly.

"Have you offended someone?"

"In which area?"

"This morning, the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection's Petition Office received a letter of complaint, alleging that Chen Pingfang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Provincial Government, abused his authority over the approval of the Xinhuo project to illegally provide Huaxing New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. with a green card and accepted bribes from the company's actual controller. The amount alleged is 3.8 million yuan."

Chen Ping leaned back in the chair, not moving.

"Real name? Who raised that?"

"The signature is that of Jiang Tao, a former employee of Huaxing New Materials. The petition office transferred it to me according to procedure."

"Jiang Tao." Chen Pingfang chewed on the name twice. "When Huaxing New Materials applied for a green card last year, I returned the environmental impact assessment report three times. The third time, Jiang Tao, as the project manager, caused a scene at the management committee and was escorted out by security. This person left Huaxing this March."

Cheng Yuan didn't reply, and waited.

"Secretary Cheng, was the whistleblower letter printed or handwritten?"

"Printed. A4 paper, Song typeface, size 4."

"I need to see that letter."

There was a three-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"You know the rules. The person being reported cannot access the materials used in the report."

"I don't look at the content. I only look at one thing—printing the feature codes."

Cheng Yuan remained silent for two seconds.

What do you suspect?

"I suspect this letter wasn't written by Jiang Tao. How could a low-level employee who left in March of this year have such a precise timing in submitting a whistleblower letter to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection on my third day in office? The timing is too perfect."

The sound of a teacup being placed on the table came from the other end of the phone.

"Come over tomorrow. Bring all information about your and your family's assets."

"No need for tomorrow." Chen Ping opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a manila envelope. "I prepared it the day I took office. Bank statements, property registrations, securities accounts, and housing provident fund details for myself, my spouse, and three generations of immediate family members are all in here. Not a single detail is missing from the time I started working until now."

Cheng Yuan paused for a moment on the other end of the phone.

"You anticipated this move?"

"It wasn't something I expected. It's just a habit."

Chen Ping turned the envelope over; there was a seal across the seam, stamped with the red seal of the Qingjiang High-tech Zone Discipline Inspection Commission.

"At the end of last year, the Qingjiang Discipline Inspection Commission conducted a routine integrity review of all members of the Management Committee. My asset disclosure materials were copies of the original documents submitted at that time. The original documents are archived by the Qingjiang Discipline Inspection Commission, and I kept a copy for myself. The seal across the seam can be compared with the original documents."

Cheng Yuan didn't say anything more.

"Also, Secretary Cheng, could you help me investigate something? The printing characteristics of that whistleblower letter—every laser printer has a unique toner code at the factory, invisible to the naked eye on the printed document, but can be extracted using specific equipment. If the characteristics of this letter can be matched with a specific printer, we can find out exactly where it was printed from."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Ping placed the envelope in the center of the table and weighed it down with a paperweight.

Three million eight hundred thousand. The choice of this number was deliberate. Too large, and it would easily trigger an investigation; too small, and it wouldn't be impactful enough. Three million eight hundred thousand fell right into a gray area—enough for the provincial discipline inspection commission to initiate a preliminary investigation, but not enough to directly file a case. The goal wasn't to send him to jail, but to stop him from going to jail.

As soon as the provincial discipline inspection commission begins investigating the deputy secretary-general's financial affairs, the historical bad debt liquidation plan must be suspended. If the person investigating the case is investigated himself, who would dare to push things forward?

Chen Ping turned the chair halfway around to face the window.

Outside the window is the provincial capital's skyline, hazy and gray, with the glass curtain walls of several office buildings reflecting the light.

This move wasn't particularly fast, but it wasn't slow either. From the time he blocked funding for the Laogan Center at the coordination meeting to the time he laid out the accounts of thirty-one companies at the governor's office meeting, less than two weeks had passed. The short reaction chain indicated that someone was watching him inside the provincial government building.

The next morning at ten o'clock, Chen Ping handed the brown paper envelope to Cheng Yuan in person.

Cheng Yuan unsealed the document and flipped through it page by page. The bank statements were over forty pages long, with the source of every income and expenditure clearly marked. Salary, bonuses, withdrawals from housing provident fund, and the occasional small transfer—all were living expenses for his mother.

Real estate: None.

Vehicle: A domestically produced sedan purchased in 2019, with a total cost of 74,000 yuan.

Securities account: Empty account, with zero trading records since opening.

Spouse field: Unmarried.

Cheng Yuan closed the document and tapped the cover twice with his fingers.

"You, a deputy director-level official, live a cleaner life than the clerk in my office."

Chen Ping didn't respond to that sentence.

"Have you found the print characteristics?"

Cheng Yuan took an A4 sheet of paper from the drawer and pushed it over. The paper contained an appraisal report issued by the technical department, with three lines of text.

The results of extracting the printout characteristics of the whistleblower letter are as follows: Toner code HP-CF258X, batch number 2023-JK-0714. The corresponding toner cartridge model for this batch is HP LaserJet Pro M404dn, which, upon comparison, is consistent with the toner cartridge batch of printer No. 3 in the public printing room on the fourth floor of the Jiangsu Provincial Government Office.

Provincial Government Office. Fourth Floor. Public Printing Room.

Chen Ping put the paper back on the table.

"This 'real-name whistleblower letter' was printed from inside the provincial government building. When did Jiang Tao, a former employee who left Huaxing more than six months ago, become qualified to enter the printing room of the provincial government office?"

Cheng Yuan took back the appraisal report and locked it in the filing cabinet.

"I'll continue to follow up on this matter. You, keep doing your work as usual, don't stop."

Chen Ping stood up, about to leave.

Cheng Yuan called out to him.

"There's one more thing."

Cheng Yuan's hand rested on the lock of the filing cabinet, and he paused for a moment.

"Wei Liangjun".

Chen Ping stopped at the doorway.

"He submitted a request through his lawyer last week to have an in-person meeting with you."

"What else is there for him to talk about? He already showed all his cards in the conversation room last time."

"This time is different." Cheng Yuan turned around. "He said he doesn't want any bargaining, he doesn't want leniency. He just wants to see you."

"reason?"

Cheng Yuan pressed his thumb on the lock, making a soft click.

He said he wanted to tell you what happened on the night of November 17, 1999.

The air conditioner vents in the office were humming, and the cold air was pressing down against the ceiling.

December 1999, 11.

The year of Gengchen. The day after my father submitted that report.

Chen Ping stood by the door frame, his right hand on the doorknob, his five fingers tightening one by one.