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

Chen Shi took a sip of tea and asked, "How many years has Mr. Duan been the general manager of Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd.?"

Duan Yanping's heart skipped a beat. Was Chen Shi going to replace him? Other deputy county heads didn't have that power, but Chen Shi did; he was Zhang Xiangdong's confidant, and a single word from him could get him replaced. "It's been over three years."

"Has the audit bureau not audited Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd. in the past three years?"

Duan Yanping didn't know what Chen Shi meant, but he forced himself to hum in agreement.

Chen Shi continued, "It's almost the end of the year. Let the audit bureau move into Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd. to audit its debts and financial transactions."

Duan Yanping was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. This wasn't a replacement for him; they were sending him to work on a sewing machine. Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd. was in a state of chaotic debt and couldn't withstand any investigation.

Chen sneered inwardly. Now they know fear. I've been the executive deputy county head for so long, and they never come to report to me. They treat me like I don't exist.

I'm going to deal with you. Even Zhang Kaizhi can't save you, and he wouldn't dare to.

Duan Yanping composed himself and quickly said, "County Chief Chen, I want to apologize to you. It's been so long since I've taken the initiative to report to you. It's my dereliction of duty. From now on, I will follow your lead and do whatever you ask me to do."

Chen Shi said sternly, "General Manager Duan, what are you saying? You're the general manager, not a party member. You can only do what the organization tells you to do. Don't you have any awareness?"

"Chen County, you represent the organization. If I listen to you, I am listening to the organization."

Chen Shi looked at Duan Yanping: "Go back and prepare a report on the company's debt situation, and send it to me before the end of the year."

Duan Yanping quickly agreed.

Chen Shi glanced at his watch: "Go ahead and get busy, I have a meeting later."

Duan Yanping left the office with trepidation and returned to the company to instruct the finance department to prepare a debt report.

The next day, when Chen Shi got home from get off work, Jiang Yiqiu was back and cooking in the kitchen. Chen Shi saw two bottles of good wine in the living room and asked, "Who sent these?"

"I had just arrived home when the general manager of Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd. delivered the wine. He put it down and left. I told him to take it back, but he said it was just a small token of his appreciation and quickly left. I couldn't catch up with him."

Chen Shi took the wine, opened it, and found two bottles of fine wine and over 100,000 yuan in cash inside.

Chen Shi took out his phone, found Duan Yanping's number in his contacts, and dialed it.

"County Chief Chen, please accept this small token of my appreciation."

"Duan Yanping, you know perfectly well what you sent me. Come and take it back right now. You have ten minutes. If you don't come and take it back, I'll send it directly to the Discipline Inspection Commission."

Chen Shi spoke sternly and hung up the phone immediately, startling Duan Yanping so much that he quickly drove to Jingtai Garden.

There are also leaders who dislike receiving gifts from subordinates. He thought Chen Shi was going to punish him because, apart from not taking the initiative to report to him, he had not received any gifts since taking office.

Hesitantly knocking on the door, Chen Shi opened it and said coldly, "Take your things away. If you do this again, I'll send you straight to the Discipline Inspection Commission."

Duan Yanping said with a troubled expression, "County Chief Chen, I was wrong, please forgive me."

"Take it away quickly."

Duan Yanping took the wine away, and Chen Shi slammed the door shut.

Jiang Yiqiu came out and said, "Why are you so angry about giving me just two bottles of wine? What leader doesn't accept gifts? This makes Duan Yanping lose face."

"Besides the alcohol, there was also over 100,000 yuan in cash inside, which is illegal."

Jiang Yiqiu quickly said, "I didn't open it to look; I thought it was just wine."

Chen Shi sat in the living room, and Jiang Yiqiu asked, "What would you like to eat? I'll make it for you."

"You decide what to do."

Two days later, Duan Yanping delivered the debt report of Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd., which showed that the total external debt was more than 11 million yuan.

As Chen Shi looked at the report, Duan Yanping said, "When I took over the company, there were already more than five million yuan in debt. In recent years, the county has been carrying out infrastructure projects, but other companies are unwilling to undertake them, so we have to do them. We basically don't make any money and even have to lose money in the process."

The company has over a hundred employees to support, and external debt is unavoidable.

The county government established Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd. to assume government debt. It's normal to have debt, and the debt will be even greater in the future.

Chen Shi put down the report in his hand: "A debt of more than 11 million is nothing. Urban development companies in other counties have debts of hundreds of millions. This shows that Chunyang Infrastructure has done very little."

Duan Yanping had no idea what Chen Shi was up to; one minute he wanted an audit, the next he said the debt was too low.

Chen Shi looked at Duan Yanping: "President Duan, the Zhongshan Subdistrict Office has already acquired the land in Dawandi. Go and contact Secretary Wang to arrange for the land in Dawandi to be converted into industrial land and transferred to Chunyang Urban Development Co., Ltd. at a price of 150,000 yuan per mu. Go and contact a commercial bank to arrange a loan of 700 million yuan, using the land as collateral."

We need to expedite the process after the New Year, and the money should be deposited into the account of the Zhongshan Subdistrict Office in March.

The county has decided to develop the Dawang area into an economic development zone.

Duan Yanping then understood Chen Shi's intention: a debt of over 11 million was far too little compared to 700 million.

"Chen County, I'll go down and investigate."

"Get this done quickly; I want to see the money in my account by March."

"I did my best to complete it."

"It's not just about trying your best, it's about being certain. This is a political task. If you can't complete it, someone else can."

Duan Yanping understood Chen Shi's words very well: if no money came in in March, the general manager position would have to be replaced.

Duan Yanping left and immediately went to find Wang Jianming to finalize the land transfer contract.

At the last Standing Committee meeting in 2014, the Greater Bay Area was designated as the Chunyang Economic Development Zone, and the decision was submitted to the city government.

As 2014 drew to a close and 2015 arrived, Chen Shi took a few days off at home for New Year's Day, as he had been too tired lately.

Jiang Yiqiu wanted to return to Fushan, and Chen Shi told her to go back and see her parents.

Jiang Yiqiu bought down jackets for Chen Yanshi and Wang Guihua to take back with them.

She didn't buy it for her parents; she gave them money to buy it themselves.

Chen Shi stayed home alone, very quietly, and refused all invitations to meals unless Zhang Xiangdong invited him.

Chen Shi lay on the sofa playing games, needing to relax.

His phone rang, and he was about to hang up when he saw it was a Kyoto number, so he answered it.

"Feed"

"Brother, it's me."

Shen Xiaorong and Chen Shi sat up: "You're back?"

"No, I'm in Kyoto. I missed you, so I called you."

Are you coming back for Chinese New Year?

"I'm not coming back. During winter break, I plan to study at Harvard in the United States for a while."

"When you have time, go out and socialize more; it can broaden your horizons."

"Brother, you haven't called me since I went to Kyoto to study. Is it because if I don't call you, you'll never call me again and have forgotten me in the past?"

"Xiao Rong, I'm sorry, I'm very busy..."

"That's all an excuse. Does making a phone call really take up that much of your time?"

Chen Shi didn't know what to say, so he remained silent. Since Shen Xiaorong hadn't called, he had already forgotten about her.

"Brother, I'm an adult now, I don't need your protection anymore. Maybe we'll meet again someday."

Chen Shi was about to speak when Shen Xiaorong hung up the phone.