Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

Hou Liangping gripped the joint review report tightly in his hand, the edges of the paper were deeply creased.

He stayed up for three whole nights, his eyes were as red as a rabbit that had just crawled out of a coal mine, and his face was full of disbelief.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Hou Liangping slammed the report down on the table, pointing to the rows of green data, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper were grinding against glass.

"A business worth hundreds of billions, and the accounts are accurate down to the last decimal point?"

Old Li, the veteran inspector, took off his reading glasses with a wry smile, rubbed his sore eyes, and let out a long sigh.

"Director Hou, you're absolutely right. I've been doing financial auditing for thirty years, and this is the first time I've ever seen such absurd accounts."

Old Li pushed over a thick stack of receipts, pointing to the first page.

"Look at this, it's the land transfer fee paid by Guangmingfeng last year." Old Li flipped through the details.

"The 3.2 billion was all foreign exchange settled through legal overseas trusts. Every single exchange rate fluctuation, even a few cents, has a clear bank-stamped receipt."

Hou Liangping refused to believe it, grabbed the voucher, moistened his thumb with saliva, and flipped through it page by page.

The more he flipped through the pages, the more his hands trembled, and the paler his face became.

"What about the entertainment expenses! Yan Qingfeng usually comes into contact with so many provincial party officials, does he not spend money on meals and drinks?" He loosened his tie and gasped for breath.

A young clerk wearing black-rimmed glasses raised his hand and swallowed nervously.

"Director Hou, we've investigated. They don't have any regular accounts for public funds spent on meals and drinks; they only have a dedicated account for government and business receptions."

The clerk brought up the computer screen and enlarged an electronic invoice.

"Last month, when Secretary Li Dakang went to inspect the science and technology park, he had lunch in the canteen. It consisted of two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a seaweed and egg drop soup."

The clerk opened a screenshot of an invoice, which was accompanied by a surveillance video with a timestamp.

"It cost 22.5 yuan in total. Secretary Li paid by scanning the QR code himself. The invoices were all issued in Secretary Li's personal name."

Hou Liangping's vision went black, and he almost collapsed onto the table.

What's the point of investigating this? Other people who engage in collusion between officials and businessmen give gold bars and luxury watches.

Yan Qingfeng, on the other hand, treated the municipal party secretary to a 20-yuan boxed lunch and made him pay by scanning a QR code himself!

"Those executive bonuses! Employee benefits! And the subcontracting of projects! There's definitely something fishy going on!" Hou Liangping braced himself on the table, still making a last-ditch effort.

Old Li sighed and handed over the last report, his tone filled with deep despair.

"Director, their company's senior executives don't have the concept of reimbursement from public accounts. Yan Qingfeng himself doesn't even have a salary card in Handong."

"All his personal expenses were paid for with money from overseas private accounts, and he never used domestic corporate accounts."

Old Li paused for a moment, then pointed to a line of red text at the bottom of the report.

"There's also a perk: when the cleaning lady accidentally broke an antique vase, Yan Qingfeng didn't deduct any money from her pay. Instead, he transferred 10,000 yuan from his personal account as compensation."

Hou Liangping felt a throbbing vein on his forehead, as if he had a wad of cotton stuck in his throat.

"As for the project bidding," Old Li shook his head with a wry smile.

"The Guangmingfeng project had more than 100 subcontractors, all of whom went through open bidding. The bid evaluation committee even invited three notary offices to supervise the process on-site."

"The winning bid was not only not inflated, but was actually three percentage points lower than the market average, which was a concession made to the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee."

Hou Liangping slumped into a chair, his eyes glazed over.

They don't take kickbacks, they don't engage in underhanded practices, and they even offer discounts?

He has handled corruption cases for half his life, and he has encountered cases where cash was built into walls and embezzled money was buried in tree holes.

But I've never seen a capitalist like Yan Qingfeng who makes his account books look like materials for honoring moral exemplars.

Not only did they pay every penny of tax, they even overpaid local charity taxes!

The blond foreigner from PwC sat by his desk, coffee in hand, watching the show for most of the day.

"Mr. Hou, you're looking for a crime that doesn't exist." The foreigner shrugged, his Chinese pronunciation sounding very strange.

"Mr. Yan's financial model is a hundred times more compliant than Wall Street's."

The foreigner pointed to the skyscrapers outside the window, his eyes filled with undisguised awe.

"He doesn't need to bribe anyone, because he established the entire economic system of Handong. Any legal action he takes is enough to cause you trouble."

These words were like a sharp knife, precisely piercing Hou Liangping's heart.

He knew the foreigner was telling the truth.

But this kind of truth hurt him even more than being slapped in the face in public.

His prized anti-corruption bureau, with its procedures for seizing assets, arresting people, and interrogating them, became a laughable farce here.

You use your public power to pressure people, but they simply bounce you back with absolute legality and compliance.

"Fall back!" Hou Liangping gritted his teeth and slammed the report heavily onto the table.

The officers from the anti-corruption bureau felt as if they had been granted a pardon, and silently packed up their equipment.

Over these three days, they were also driven to a mental breakdown by the sheer cleanness of the account books.

Hou Liangping, carrying a black briefcase, walked heavily into the elevator, looking as if he had aged ten years.

The elevator went down and dinged as it arrived at the lobby on the first floor.

Just as I was about to push open the door and go out, Lin Yubing walked towards me in high heels.

She changed into a burgundy suit, holding a freshly made hand-drip coffee in her hand, her posture as elegant as if she were attending a cocktail party.

"Director Hou, are you leaving already?" Lin Yubing blocked his way with a smile.

"After investigating for three days and three nights, we haven't found a single penny of corruption. I wonder if Director Hou is satisfied with how law-abiding our General Manager Yan is?"

Hou Liangping stopped in his tracks, his face so dark it seemed to drip water.

"Attorney Lin, your methods of setting this up are indeed ingenious." He gripped the briefcase handle tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"But tell Yan Qingfeng that this matter of withdrawing investment is not over. He can't get rid of the label of disrupting the economic order of Handong."

Lin Yubing took a sip of coffee and let out a disdainful sneer.

"Director Hou, you've really gone mad from handling cases." She shook her head, looking at Hou Liangping as if he were a complete ignoramus.

"Freedom to invest and freedom to withdraw investment—that's what a market economy is. We just don't want to stay in Handong anymore, how does that constitute disrupting order?"

Lin Yubing took a half step closer, lowered her voice, and her tone was sharp and icy.

"Instead of wasting your time here labeling us, you should go back to your office and take a look around."

She raised her wrist and glanced at her Patek Philippe women's watch.

"Judging by the time, the people of Handong should be starving by now."

Hou Liangping's heart sank, and an ominous premonition instantly enveloped his entire body.

He didn't reply, pushed open the revolving door, and strode out.

As soon as he got into the car, his phone started ringing like crazy.

Caller ID: Ji Changming.

As soon as Hou Liangping pressed the answer button, Ji Changming's distorted, hoarse voice made his ears hurt.

"Liangping! Are you still at Lingxiao Building? Stop checking those damn accounts and come back right now!"

Hou Liangping frowned and loosened his tie.

"Inspector Ji, I'm heading back now. What happened?"

"Chu Yunfei has completely halted logistics! Seventy percent of the freight trucks in Handong are now on the national highway with their handbrakes engaged, taking a break!"

Ji Changming was so anxious on the other end of the phone that he slammed his fist on the table, and his rapid breathing could be clearly heard.

"Vegetables from other regions can't get in, and the agricultural product market is completely out of stock! In Guangming District, the price of a head of cabbage tripled this morning, and meat prices have doubled!"

Hou Liangping was stunned, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged out.

"Where are the price bureau? Where are the industry and commerce bureau? Why aren't they doing anything about such outrageous price increases?" he questioned loudly.

"Manage what?! What's the point of managing if there's no supply? Tens of thousands of elderly people who can't buy affordable vegetables are blocking the entrance to our provincial inspection station!"

Ji Changming's voice was filled with deep despair, and in the background came the muffled sound of bulletproof glass being hit by a hard object.

"The common people insist that our investigation of Yan Qingfeng angered the logistics manager, the 'God of Wealth,' and he's now threatening to storm into your office and smash it up!"