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

After leaving the Education Bureau, Chen Shi asked Yang Bin to drive to Lao Huang's farmhouse to wait for Zhang Xiangdong.

He arranged to have dinner with Zhang Xiangdong at Lao Huang's farmhouse restaurant, where they would drink fish soup. Guan Hui, the director of the Finance Bureau, would also be there.

Chen Shi's car pulled into Lao Huang's farmhouse, where Lao Huang was seen talking to Guan Hui. Upon seeing Chen Shi's car, Lao Huang quickly went over, opened the car door, and said with a big smile, "Director Chen."

Chen Shi got out of the car, nodded to Lao Huang, and smiled, saying, "Lao Huang."

Guan Hui walked over: "Director Chen."

Chen Shi also walked over to Guan Hui, and the two shook hands: "Director Guan, you've arrived quite early."

"I just arrived too."

Old Huang, all smiles, said, "Director Chen, Director Guan, let's have some tea in the private room."

Chen Shi said, "Let's wait for Zhang County outside."

Chen Shi chatted with Guan Hui, and Lao Huang could only accompany them. After waiting for more than ten minutes, Zhang Xiangdong's car drove into the farmhouse.

Guan Hui jogged over, opened the car door, and greeted him with a broad smile: "County Chief Zhang."

Zhang Xiangdong got out of the car: "Bureau Chief Guan."

He glanced at Chen Shi: "Director Chen has arrived too."

Chen Shi walked over quickly, smiled, and said, "I have to come early to have dinner with the leaders."

"You've become sensible, you even know how to respect your superiors."

The three chatted and laughed as they walked toward the private room.

Zhang Xiangdong was free today and wanted to drink fish soup, so he asked Chen Shi and Guan Hui to accompany him.

In the private room, the three of them drank a pot of fish soup and two bottles of baijiu (Chinese liquor) before the meal ended.

Yang Bin escorted Chen Shi back to the Education Bureau's staff quarters. He noticed that Chen Shi was slightly drunk. He had heard about the Education Bureau's affairs, but Chen Shi hadn't mentioned it, and he didn't dare to ask.

What makes a leader? A leader needs to have good mental fortitude. Even with such a big event, they can act as if nothing is wrong, eating and drinking as usual, and everything going on as normal.

Yang Bin asked himself, if he were Chen Shi, could he do the same when criticized by his subordinates?

If he can't do it, he'll definitely fly into a rage, become restless, and severely punish his subordinates.

The car stopped at the entrance of the residential building, and Yang Bin quickly got out and opened the car door: "Director Chen, we've arrived."

Chen Shi got out of the car, and Yang Bin said, "Director Chen, I'll take you home."

Chen Shi waved his hand: "No need, I didn't drink much tonight. You can go home early."

Seeing that Chen Shi wasn't drunk, Yang Bin prepared to go home after get off work. When he looked up at the Education Bureau office building, only the meeting room lights were on, and a democratic life meeting was still in progress, with the attack on Dong Xuexi being carried out.

He thought to himself, "A leader is a leader, he's really thick-skinned. His subordinates are practically pointing their fingers at him and yelling at him, but he's acting like nothing's wrong and going home to sleep."

When Chen Shi got home, under the influence of alcohol, he felt sleepy and fell asleep on the bed.

Chen Shi didn't wake up until after 7 a.m. the next morning. He took a shower and went to his office.

As usual, he first looked at the Minnesota Daily and the East Sea Provincial Party Newspaper. After finishing the newspapers, he casually picked up his thermos and drank some water.

The thermos was placed where he could easily reach it. Yang Xiaobo would change the water in the thermos every hour to ensure that the leader always drank hot water.

After reading the newspaper, Yang Xiaobo and Chen Shi took the records of each Education Bureau cadre's views on Dong Xuexi from the democratic life meeting, which they had compiled into a document and printed out.

Entering the office, he placed the meeting minutes within easy reach of Chen Shi: "Director Chen, these are the meeting minutes from the democratic life meeting, recording all the cadres' views on learning from Dong."

Chen Shi took the materials and read them carefully. They were all the same, criticizing Dong Xuexi.

Chen Shi looked up at Yang Xiaobo: "Old Yang, who has Dong Xuexi been getting closer to lately?"

Yang Xiaobo thought for a moment: "Director Chen, Dong Xuexi has a withdrawn personality and basically doesn't interact with the cadres in the bureau. He always keeps to himself."

His wife teaches at a rural primary school in Huangchang Town. Dong Xuexi had been trying to get her transferred to the county seat. Just last week, the personnel department issued a transfer order for his wife, Huang Feng'e, to be transferred to Zhongshan Primary School in September.

Yang Xiaobo's meaning was very clear: Dong Xuexi usually had no contact with people in the bureau, but after his wife was transferred to Zhongshan Elementary School, he suddenly started to make trouble for Chen Shi. It was obvious that this was related to his wife's transfer to Zhongshan Elementary School.

Chen Shi tapped the table lightly: "Old Yang, call Section Chief Guan to your office."

When Guan Ping from the Personnel and Faculty Affairs Department received a call from Yang Xiaobo asking him to come to Chen Shi's office, he was already prepared. Dong Xuexi hadn't made trouble earlier or later, but suddenly launched an attack on Chen Shi right after he transferred his wife to Zhongshan Elementary School.

Without a doubt, everyone would suspect that he arranged it.

Guan Ping went back last night and couldn't sleep all night. He tossed and turned, thinking about whether or not to call Chen Shi to report.

He felt it was too late, and since he had a clear conscience, he would report the matter to Chen Shi the next morning.

He was just about to go find Chen Shi when he received a call from Yang Xiaobo and rushed to Chen Shi's office.

"Director Chen, I was just about to come and report to you."

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Section Chief Guan, please have a seat."

The two went to the reception room, where Yang Xiaobo poured Guan Ping a glass of warm water before leaving the office.

Guan Ping quickly said, "Director Chen, half a month ago, Deputy Director Wang Zhikai came to me and said that Dong Xuexi's wife has been working at a rural primary school in Huangchang Town for many years. The couple has been living apart. Some people have reported that the leaders in the bureau do not care about ordinary cadres. Dong Xuexi and his wife often quarrel about this and have talked about divorce several times. If they really divorce, it will affect the leaders in the bureau."

That's why I transferred his wife to the county town. I haven't had any contact with him privately, not even a single word.

Chen Shi replied calmly, "Section Chief Guan, I understand. Go ahead and get back to work."

Guan Ping walked out of the office with trepidation. He didn't know if Chen Shi believed his innocence. He needed to act immediately to prove to Chen Shi that he had no dealings with Dong Xuexi and that it was Wang Zhikai who had instructed him to do so.

He immediately called the principal of Zhongshan Elementary School to cancel Huang Feng'e's transfer.

Li Zhe arrived at Chen Shi's office and said angrily, "Director Chen, we must severely punish Dong Xuexi's disregard for leadership. We must make them pay the price so that no one will follow suit."

For a unit as large as ours, spending over 500,000 yuan to renovate the cadre activity center is not excessive at all. Other units, on the other hand, spend at least two or three million yuan.

There must be someone behind Dong Xuexi. I looked into it, and last week, Dong Xuexi's wife, Huang Feng'e, was suddenly transferred by the personnel department to Zhongshan Elementary School.

Dong Xuexi had been begging and pleading for so many years without success. How could it be such a coincidence that he was suddenly transferred to the county town? And right after arriving in the county town, he made a lot of nonsense at the democratic life meeting.

I suspect that Guan Ping from the Personnel and Faculty Affairs Department is one of the people behind him, and there must be others as well.

Before Dong Xuexi's wife, Huang Feng'e, was transferred, Deputy Director Wang Zhikai approached Guan Ping. Guan Ping went back and immediately arranged the transfer. There's something fishy going on here.

I propose that we convene a meeting of the Party Committee of the Bureau to transfer Guan Ping to Fushan Town Central School as Vice Principal, transfer Dong Xuexi to Laoyan Town Central School as a staff member, and cancel Huang Feng'e's transfer.

"Kill the chicken to scare the monkey."