The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

Seeing that Chen Shi's teacup was empty, Jiang Yiqiu quickly refilled it, his smile vanishing and his mood turning somber.

Chen Shi asked, "Is anyone else causing you trouble?"

Jiang Yiqiu shook his head: "No one is causing trouble. It's just that for work, there are some things that have to be compromised."

The bullying of my younger brother has caused a huge uproar. The Education Bureau has set up an investigation team to investigate our school. The school leaders told me to keep quiet and not to cooperate, otherwise I might not be able to stay at the school anymore.

What are you thinking?

"I graduated from Donghai Normal University. It was not easy for me to get into the county's No. 1 Middle School. Now, when the No. 1 Middle School is recruiting teachers, they either need to be graduate students or graduates from 985 or 211 universities. People like me, who graduated from a key normal university, are no longer needed by the school."

Fu Li's background is extraordinary. No matter who the principal of No. 1 Middle School is, no one dares to offend him. They can only make things difficult for the teachers and students of No. 1 Middle School, let him stay in the school for three years, and then send him away.

The entire faculty and students of No. 1 High School are very grateful to you. You saved us from this predicament. At the same time, everyone hopes that this matter will end here. We are all ordinary people, and life must go on.

Feeling like I was the one meddling, I said with a wry smile, "Is that what you think too?"

Jiang Yiqiu remained silent, tacitly agreeing.

Chen Shi gently tapped the table: "Jiang Yiqiu, go back and tell the leaders of No. 1 Middle School that I don't manage everything."

I only arrest those who break the law and violate regulations. As for school management oversights, that's not my responsibility; the Education Bureau will investigate and provide an explanation to the public.

Jiang Yiqiu said sincerely, "Thank you, Chen Shi."

"Okay, that's all for today. I've been busy lately, so go home and get some rest."

Jiang Yiqiu escorted Chen Shi back before returning to his apartment. On the way, his thoughts were in turmoil. As long as Chen Shi didn't interfere, Yang Xiong's position as principal would be secure, and his position as dean of studies was practically guaranteed.

The bullying of his younger brother, from another perspective, gave him the opportunity to embark on a career in politics, so it wasn't a bad deal.

Chen Shi returned to his apartment and had just sat down when there was a knock on the door. He got up to open it and saw Xu Ping'an.

"Ping An, you're still awake."

Xu Pingan walked in: "I didn't drink tonight."

"Didn't drink it."

"When I got off work, I saw you get into a beautiful woman's car at the entrance. You have a girlfriend, so you can't make a mistake. There are a lot of people watching you now."

Chen Shi chuckled: "Why do I have the feeling that you're hiding in the shadows, watching me?"

"We're comrades in the same trench, we can't just stand by and watch you make a mistake."

"Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who's fickle. That's my junior high classmate, the student who was bullied by Fu Li. He's her younger brother. He's treating me to dinner to thank me."

Chen Shi's eyes lit up: "Hey kid, do you have a crush on that girl? She's a teacher at No. 1 High School and a graduate of Donghai Normal University. I think you two are a good match. Want me to introduce you?"

What do her parents do?

"She's an ordinary person. Her father seems to be a construction foreman who earns a lot of money. He bought her a car just a few years after she graduated. Her family is quite well-off."

"Forget it, the girlfriend I'm looking for, my future father-in-law, must at least be a section chief with real power. That's a must."

"You stubborn kid, try dating first. If it doesn't work out, break up. You have to find someone and get married right away. How will you know if you're compatible if you don't get to know each other?"

"Does compatibility matter? A shared interest is more important than compatibility. Marriage is essentially a result of weighing pros and cons. Love may change over time, but interests will not. As long as both parties have common interests, the marriage will last."

Chen Shi was speechless: "What kind of crooked and heretical ideas are these? In my dictionary, I can compromise on anything except my girlfriend. If I like her, I won't care if her father is a beggar. You're marrying a girl, not her father."

"If you don't pursue an official career, of course you can do whatever you want and marry whomever you want. But if you do pursue an official career, it's different. You will definitely have powerful support behind you, not a burden."

If you marry a father-in-law who has no power or influence, he will only drag you down and will not help you at all. In fact, he might even turn around and bite you.

Haven't you noticed? More than half of the high-ranking officials who went to jail were reported by people close to them, and the most frequent reports came from their wives' families. If you dared to divorce your wife, they would drag you down in no time, without any mercy.

But if you marry a father-in-law who is also pursuing a career in government, the outcome will be different. Since everyone is within the system, you have to be mindful of your image and reputation, and things won't get too tense.

Chen Shi agreed with this point. Take Wang Jianming, for example. If his wife wasn't a public official and his father-in-law wasn't the principal, they would definitely fight Wang Jianming to the death, and he wouldn't have been able to become the director.

Those who go barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes, but the consequences are endless.

"I won't argue with you on that point, but it depends on the person; you can't generalize."

Xu Ping'an had just bet on Chen Shi and really didn't want anything to happen to him. He kept a close eye on Chen Shi's actions and would intervene to persuade him if anything seemed amiss.

Seeing that the two hadn't done anything inappropriate, he felt relieved and got up to leave.

Chen Shi knew very well that women were not to be slept with casually; some could be deadly if you slept with them. He was very good at maintaining this balance.

I took a hot bath, lay in bed, chatted with Wang Yanhong, and then went to sleep.

The next day at work, around lunchtime, Chen Shi received a call from Zhang Hu, who said he wanted to come up and report to him. Only then did Chen Shi remember that he hadn't yet finalized the matter of Zhang Hu joining the criminal investigation team.

Zhang Feng, the captain of the criminal investigation team, is Lei Heng's man. Asking him to transfer Zhang Hu to the criminal investigation team is just asking for trouble.

The only solution is to ask Zhang Xiangdong for help.

Having made up his mind, Chen Shi went to Zhang Xiangdong's office after starting work in the afternoon.

"Director Zhang"

Zhang Xiangdong was busy with something and didn't even look up: "Sit down, make yourself some tea, I have something to do, you'll have to wait a bit."

When Chen Shi came to Zhang Xiangdong's place, he acted as if he were at home, rummaging through drawers and cabinets. He found two packets of fine tea in a drawer, took one out, opened it, brewed the tea, and took a sip. It was sweet and delicious, truly excellent tea.

"Director Zhang, who sent this tea from the drawer? It's very good. I'll take a packet home and drink it."

"You little rascal, coming here to freeload. Nobody's ever stolen anything from me before, you're the first."

This was tacit agreement, so Chen Shi didn't stand on ceremony and took out another unopened packet of tea to take home and drink later.

After finishing his work, Zhang Xiangdong sat down.

Chen Shi poured tea for Zhang Xiangdong, who looked at Chen Shi and said, "What do you want? Tell me quickly, I'm very busy."

"If it's about writing a self-criticism, then forget it, but it has to be 10,000 words, not a single word less."

"Director Zhang, what do you mean by writing a self-criticism?"

"Can you catch Fu Biao within half a month?"

Chen Shi then remembered that there were only two days left until the half-month deadline, and grinned: "I really have to write a self-criticism."

"You think I'm joking with you? Fu Biao escaped from your public security management brigade. You have to take responsibility for that."

The self-criticism needs to be written thoroughly; don't try to get by with a perfunctory response. All officers are listening; don't be careless.

Chen Shi gritted his teeth and nodded: "Alright, I'll give a thorough self-criticism and make sure the leader is satisfied."