Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

He slowly stood up, looking down at Chen Jianguo, who was still searching for the "official seal" on the ground, his eyes as cold as if he were looking at a corpse.

"Whether you're truly insane or faking it, since you want to live such a shameless life, then so be it."

Li Yuanchao's voice was flat, "You can stay here and spend the rest of your life in the garbage dump like a dog."

After saying that, he turned around, stepped over the mess on the ground, and strode towards the door.

Just as his hand was about to touch the doorknob, Li Yuanchao suddenly stopped.

He didn't turn around, but instead turned his back to Chen Jianguo in the corner and calmly uttered his last sentence.

"There's something else I feel I should tell you in person."

"The province already has a clear plan for the next leadership team in the city. If nothing unexpected happens, I will officially take over from you, sit in your former position, and manage this city in my own way."

Inside the room, Chen Jianguo's frantic wailing abruptly stopped for half a second upon hearing those words.

His withered fingers, which were gripping half a broken aluminum lunchbox, suddenly froze in mid-air, his finger bones turning a deathly pale white from the excessive force.

But it only lasted for half a second.

The next moment, Chen Jianguo hugged the aluminum lunchbox stained with leftover soup tightly to his chest and let out an even more shrill and neurotic laugh.

"Hehe... the official seal... I've found my official seal... I'm the Party Secretary... no one can take my position..."

He drooled as he huddled in a dark corner, desperately protecting the tattered lunchbox.

Li Yuanchao listened to the maniacal laughter coming from behind him, his face expressionless.

He knew that Chen Jianguo understood.

This man, who had wielded immense power in the city for over a decade and valued power more than his own life, was now bleeding inside, but he could only swallow it down and continue to play the role of a mad dog wagging its tail and begging for mercy.

"Squeak—"

Li Yuanchao flung open the door, and blinding sunlight streamed in through the corridor.

He stepped out of the room without looking back, coldly instructing the guard outside, "Keep an eye on him. No one is allowed to visit except the doctor."

"yes!"

The heavy wooden door slowly closed behind Li Yuanchao with a "bang," completely sealing Chen Jianguo and the era that once belonged to him into boundless darkness and madness.

……

Nine o'clock in the morning.

The backyard of the Municipal Public Security Bureau Detention Center.

The torrential rain from last night has finally stopped. The accumulated water is flowing down the drainage ditch at the base of the courtyard wall, making a muffled sound.

The early autumn sun pierced through the clouds, shining brightly on the wet cement ground, making one's eyes sting.

Zhao Shanhe stood alone outside the rusty black iron gate.

Lao Hei, Da Zhuang, Hou Zi, and a dozen or so men from Kao Shan Tun stood silently behind him like a wall of flesh.

These rough men, who used to curse every other sentence, were now all tightly shut.

All eyes were fixed on the iron gate.

Dazhuang, like a bear that had been holding back its breath, paced back and forth a couple of times before Lao Hei grabbed him by the collar.

"Stop fucking shaking," Old Black cursed in a low voice, his throat feeling like it was full of sand. "You've practically trampled holes in the ground."

Da Zhuang, his eyes red, broke free from him: "Why aren't you out yet? Didn't Director Li say he'd release them first thing this morning?"

"Ask me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

Old Hei retorted irritably, but his own eyes were fixed on the crack in the door, and his hands, hanging by his sides, were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Zhao Shanhe remained silent throughout.

He stood firmly at the front like an old pine tree, his right hand, tucked into his coat pocket, slowly tightening and then gradually loosening.

Sudden.

A heavy, muffled sound of door hinges turning came from behind the door.

"Creak—"

The backs of more than a dozen men from Kaoshantun instantly tensed up like fully drawn bows.

The black iron door, which had been tightly closed for many days, finally slowly opened to both sides.

Two guards came out first.

Behind them followed a man as tall as an iron tower, but with a slightly hunched back.

Da Niu has clearly changed his appearance.

After only a few days in jail, his once thick, dark cheeks became deeply sunken, and his chin was covered with messy stubble.

The worn-out cotton-padded jacket he was wearing hung wrinkled on his body, making him look as if most of his energy had been drained away.

He stepped out of the iron gate and subconsciously raised his arm to shield his eyes from the glaring sunlight with his sleeve.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the light, Da Niu slowly lowered his hand.

Through the gaps in his fingers, he could make out the row of people standing outside the door.

Old Black.

Dazhuang.

monkey.

All the brothers who came into the city with him are still here. Not one is missing.

Standing at the very front was Zhao Shanhe, whose eyes were deep and thoughtful.

Da Niu suddenly stopped, as if he had taken root in the ground.

He stood there dumbfounded in the middle of the iron gate, watching his brothers who had practically turned the entire city upside down in their efforts to get him out.

His chapped lips trembled several times, and his Adam's apple bobbed violently, but he couldn't utter a sound.

Until the guard behind him gently pushed him.

"Let's go."

The warden said calmly, "The case has been solved, and you are innocent. Go home."

Come back home.

These two seemingly insignificant words were like a heavy hammer blow, shattering the hard shell that Da Niu had been holding up for so many days.

Those bull-like eyes instantly turned red.

Da Niu staggered forward two steps, looked at Zhao Shanhe, and his voice trembled as if it were leaking air.

"Brother Shanhe..."

Zhao Shanhe remained silent.

He strode forward and stood in front of Da Niu, his cold, sharp eyes scanning him carefully from head to toe.

"Did the people inside do anything to you?"

Da Niu shook his head vigorously: "No."

"Are any bones broken?"

"no."

Zhao Shanhe stared at his face for two more seconds, his gaze lingering on Da Niu's deeply sunken cheeks and stubble.

"You've lost a lot of weight."

Zhao Shanhe exhaled a very light breath, and his tense shoulders finally relaxed completely.

He nodded slowly.

"It's alright... When we get back, I'll ask your sister-in-law to make more sauerkraut and pork dumplings, and stew two pheasants to help you recover. You'll be back to your old self in a few days."

With a "thud".

The tears that Da Niu had been holding back for so long finally fell heavily to the ground.

He raised his dirty sleeve and wiped his face haphazardly. This 1.9-meter-tall man was crying like a child who had suffered a great injustice.

"Brother Shanhe, I'm sorry..."

Da Niu sobbed, his face full of guilt, "It's all because of me... If it weren't for me... the brothers wouldn't have suffered so much..."

"Alright."

Zhao Shanhe reached out and grabbed his shoulder, interrupting him before he could finish speaking.

Da Niu trembled and stared at him blankly.

Looking at the tear-streaked face, Zhao Shanhe squeezed the other person's much thinner shoulders twice.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Everything you did was for the sake of these brothers under your command. When I wasn't around, it was because you were there holding the line that we weren't bullied and scattered."

"If we're really talking about who's been implicated, it's not you who's dragged them down."

Zhao Shanhe raised his eyes and glanced at the men from Kaoshantun behind Da Niu, whose eyes were red-rimmed.

"I'm the one who brought you into the Red Star Factory."

"It's also because I didn't protect you properly that these bastards took advantage of the situation."

"Brother Shanhe, no..." Da Niu hurriedly shook his head, about to speak in his defense, but Zhao Shanhe grabbed his shoulder.

"Let me finish."

"From the day we brought our brothers into the Red Star Factory, we've been bound together."

Zhao Shanhe pressed down on Da Niu's shoulder and stared into his eyes.

"When I'm here, I'll be at the forefront. When I'm not here, you'll be there to watch over everyone. If anyone is bullied, you'll fight for them."

"So remember this clearly."

"This time it wasn't your fault, we'll clean up your mess."

"You were in trouble, so the brothers brought you back."

"You used to risk your life to protect them, and now they're risking their lives to protect you. That's only right."

Da Niu stared blankly at Zhao Shanhe.

Zhao Shanhe's voice wasn't loud, but it was like heavy stones, completely suppressing the guilt surging in his heart and solidifying the group's confidence.

"We entered the city together."

"We have to go back together, everyone."

"It's not complete without anyone."

So don't say sorry anymore.

Da Niu's lips trembled violently. He tried to hold back, but large tears still streamed down his face.

"Brother Shanhe..."

Da Niu gritted his teeth and nodded forcefully.

"I've got it."

Zhao Shanhe looked at him and smoothed out the wrinkled collar of his cotton-padded jacket.

Then, he turned around, his gaze passing over the crowd to the wide street outside the backyard, and to the warm early autumn sun that had completely broken through the clouds in the sky.

Golden sunlight poured down, evenly bathing the group of brothers behind them, covered in mud and with bloodshot eyes, yet full of energy, giving each of them a warm halo.

Zhao Shanhe watched this scene quietly.

In that instant, the gloom, scheming, bloodshed, and exhaustion that had been weighing on my chest for so many days vanished in an instant under the scorching sun.

Looking at his brothers standing before him, all of them intact, Zhao Shanhe felt as if a raging fire was burning in his chest.

The worries, frustrations, and exhaustion that had been weighing on my heart these past few days were finally broken open by the warm sunshine before me.

The person has been brought back.

Not one is missing.

At this moment, all he wanted to do was shout it out loud.

Zhao Shanhe took two big steps forward, then suddenly stopped.

He raised his right arm, threw a powerful punch in mid-air, and roared at everyone behind him:

"The person has been picked up!"

"Let's go home!!!"

Da Niu was stunned.

Lao Hei and Da Zhuang were also stunned.

In their minds, Brother Shanhe will always be the backbone who will never change his face even if the sky falls.

They had never seen Zhao Shanhe laugh so flamboyantly and so heartily before.

But after only a second of hesitation, Dazhuang raised his thick arm and roared at the top of his lungs:

"Damn! Time to go home!!!"

But he only paused for a second.

Da Zhuang suddenly opened his throat and roared, raising his thick arms, "Damn! Time to go home!!!"

"Go home and eat meat!!!"

The monkey, its eyes red, joined in the howling.

The dozen or so men from Kaoshantun were instantly ignited, all their repression, frustration, and lingering fear exploded at that moment.

They howled and laughed, grabbing Da Niu and pulling him into the crowd, kneading and punching him like a pack of wild wolves breaking free of their steel cage, rushing chaotically and noisily toward the sunlight outside the gate.

Laughter, curses, and shouts broke through the iron gate of the police station's backyard and echoed throughout the street.

Zhao Shanhe walked at the front, his eyes slightly squinting from the early autumn sunlight, and he could no longer suppress the smile on his lips.