Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

At four in the morning, the lights in the small conference room of the Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission were blindingly white.

On the table sat a cup of cold tea, a half-pack of cigarettes, and several faxed replies to the investigation. Gao Yuliang sat in the head seat, his glasses beside him, his usual polite demeanor gone.

Qi Tongwei pushed the door open and came in, still carrying the cold wind from the bonded warehouse.

Lu Yike followed behind, placing the sealed list on the table. Li Dakang sat to the side, his tie half-loose, and snorted as soon as he saw Qi Tongwei.

"After a whole night of work, all you brought back was a bunch of blank numbers?"

Qi Tongwei pulled out a chair and sat down. "Secretary Li, a blank serial number is more valuable than a fake name. A fake name can be attributed to an entry error, but a blank number means someone has erased it by hand."

Li Dakang slammed his teacup down. "Stop beating around the bush. If we can't control Chu Pingshan at tomorrow's meeting, all the entrepreneurs in Jingzhou will be in trouble."

Gao Yuliang raised his hand and pressed down on the table. "Dakang, don't touch Chu Pingshan himself tomorrow."

Li Dakang suddenly looked up.

Wu Chunlin sat in the corner, remaining silent. He was the provincial party committee's organization minister, with half-gray hair, his buttons neatly fastened, and a sharpened pencil in his hand.

"Secretary Gao, this approach is prudent. If we went directly to Governor Chu, there might not be anyone at the Standing Committee meeting to follow suit."

Li Dakang glared at him. "Minister Wu, your organization is so good at keeping things stable, so stable that in the end, everyone gets poached."

Wu Chunlin put down his pencil, not annoyed. "Comrade Dakang, I'm in charge of cadre appointments and removals, not your insults. But tomorrow's meeting really can't turn into a private feud between Gao Yuliang and Chu Pingshan."

Gao Yuliang opened the document and marked the three characters "Team Leader Ma" with a red pen.

"Tomorrow's target is Team Leader Ma and Haiheng Consulting. We need to dismantle the outsourced audit execution chain and crack the bottom-ranking elimination system. If the system is suspended, Chu Pingshan's knife will slow down."

Lu Yike pushed the photos of the bonded warehouse hard drives to the center of the table. "The blank list can be combined with the criminal ledger. The outsourced team has provincial-level re-survey authority while also having dealings with coastal funds and highway checkpoint gangs. This is not a work error."

Qi Tongwei took over the conversation and opened a serial number printout.

"The brother-in-law of Team Leader Ma received three project coordination fees from Haiheng Consulting. Forty-eight hours after the money arrived, the roadblock gang on the national highway began to focus on intercepting the two logistics lines in Jingzhou and Luzhou. Whoever's rating is suppressed will have their transportation problems first."

Li Dakang's face darkened further.

He clutched the flowing paper, the edges crumpled. "These people treat my Jingzhou business like pigs to be slaughtered, and they still complain that the pigs aren't squealing loud enough."

Gao Yuliang looked at him. "So don't interrupt tomorrow. Save your temper for when you really need to."

Li Dakang sneered. "You're starting to boss me around?"

Gao Yuliang picked up his cold tea, took a sip, and frowned slightly. "If you're willing to be led around by Chu Pingshan, you can go to the provincial government right now and bang on the table. After you come back, I'll write your eulogy."

The room fell silent.

Qi Tongwei lowered his head to organize the materials, his lips pressed tightly together in a pained expression.

Lu Yike covered her mouth with her pen and coughed.

Li Dakang: "..."

He stared at Gao Yuliang for a long time, and finally cursed him as an "old fox," without arguing back.

……

At the same time, Chu Pingshan was also awake in the provincial government office.

Three documents lay spread out on the desk: a review of the political and legal system's funding, a list of companies in Jingzhou subject to protective inquiries, and a timeline of Gao Yuliang's interference in the provincial government's audit. Each document was neatly bound.

Sha Ruijin sat on the sofa, holding a teacup in his hand, but didn't drink it.

"Hirayama, when did you prepare these materials?"

Chu Pingshan signed and annotated the last page: "From the day Qi Tongwei took over the Jingzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau."

Sha Ruijin stopped.

The light fell into the tea, casting a faint shadow.

"You didn't even tell me beforehand."

Chu Pingshan looked up, his expression calm. "Secretary Sha, restoring order in Handong requires more than just reminders. The old factions, the old political and legal system, and the local protective shells must all be cleared away."

Sha Ruijin smiled, but it wasn't a warm smile.

"In the end, what was left of the provincial party committee after all the purges?"

Chu Pingshan capped the pen. "The remaining rules."

Sha Ruijin put down his teacup, the bottom of which tapped on the glass coffee table.

Who made the rules?

Chu Pingshan looked at him but did not answer immediately.

In the hallway outside the office, the secretary's footsteps stopped at the door, then retreated. Both people inside heard it, but neither called anyone in.

Chu Pingshan stood up and packed the materials into his briefcase. "At tomorrow's meeting, I'll ask Gao Yuliang three questions first. What's the basis for the cross-provincial investigation? What's the basis for the Jingzhou government's allocation of funds? What's the basis for the Political and Legal Affairs Commission's obstruction of the provincial government's audit? As long as he doesn't answer clearly, Team Leader Ma won't be the focus."

Sha Ruijin leaned back on the sofa, his fingers resting on the rim of the cup.

"You want to drag Gao Yuliang down with you too."

Chu Pingshan's tone remained calm. "Handong can't just replace one group of people and then put another group in charge."

Sha Ruijin did not speak.

His gaze fell on Chu Pingshan's briefcase, where a thick bulge had appeared. Half of those documents weren't even on file with the Provincial Party Committee Office.

For the first time, he looked at Chu Pingshan not as an ally.

It's more like looking at a knife you can't quite grasp.

……

At five o'clock in the morning, the streetlights at the side gate of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission were still on.

A taxi stopped across the street. Team Leader Ma got out, wearing a mask and carrying an old briefcase. His steps were unsteady, as if he were walking on cotton.

Just as the gatekeeper was about to stop them, two plainclothes officers emerged from the shadows.

"Team Leader Ma, who are you looking for so early?"

Team Leader Ma was so startled that he took a half step back, his mask almost falling off. He recognized one of them as a field officer from the Jingzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, and his face turned even paler.

"I want to see Secretary Gao."

The plainclothes officer didn't move. "Do you have an appointment?"

Team Leader Ma gripped his briefcase tightly, veins bulging on the back of his hand. "I can testify, but I need to save my life."

Upstairs at the window, Gao Yuliang watched this scene.

Qi Tongwei stood behind him, his police cap tucked under his hand. "Sir, he's here. Should we detain him?"

Gao Yuliang shook his head. "He's not here to turn himself in, he's here to have his fortune told. Let him feel like he still has value first."

Lu Yike entered through the door, holding a temporary protection application. "If he really brought the key, all the blank numbers will be able to speak tonight."

Gao Yuliang turned around, the light reflecting off his glasses.

"Let him in. Tomorrow at this meeting, Chu Pingshan's sword will be broken in two."

Ten minutes later, Team Leader Ma was led into the small conference room.

He took off his mask, revealing his chapped lips. When he sat down, his knee hit the table leg with a dull thud.

Qi Tongwei pushed a glass of water over, but didn't let go.

"First, tell us if it's worth it for us to protect you."

Team Leader Ma stared at the glass of water, his throat bobbing. "Haiheng Consulting isn't here to make money for Governor Chu."

Li Dakang sat up straight in his chair.

Wu Chunlin's pencil stopped on the paper.

Team Leader Ma took the old USB drive out of his briefcase and placed it on the table as if it were a hot piece of iron.

"It's collecting asset maps of the entire Handong region for him."