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

The Jingzhou South City Agricultural Wholesale Market has gone completely mad.

"Get out of the way! I grabbed this cabbage first!"

An older woman with permed hair was clutching a leaf of vegetables tightly, howling at the top of her lungs.

The old man in the red down jacket across from me didn't let go either, the veins on his neck bulging.

"Did you pay? Why do you claim it's yours?!"

With a "ripping" sound, the perfectly good cabbage head was torn in two.

Old Liu, the vegetable stall owner, squatted on the cutting board, waving a calculator in his hand, sweating profusely.

"Stop fighting! Cabbage is ten yuan a pound! No bargaining!" Old Liu shouted in his hoarse voice.

The crowd erupted in chaos.

"Are you robbing me?! It was only one dollar and fifty cents yesterday!" The old man slammed half a cabbage onto the cutting board.

"That was 1.5 yuan yesterday!"

Old Liu slapped the empty vegetable basket behind him hard, sending dust flying.

"Not a single truck from Boss Chu came today! No new vegetables have arrived in the entire Jingzhou area. Ten yuan, take it or leave it!"

The panic of not being able to buy vegetables spreads faster than the plague.

The old men who usually disliked fatty pork were now circling the meat stall with their eyes practically glowing green.

"Boss, I'll take that half-plate of pork belly! How much?"

"Eighty! Cash or QR code?" The butcher swung his knife, the cleaver rattling loudly against the wooden chopping board.

"Eighty? Are you crazy? He was only thirty yesterday!"

"Lingxiao Logistics has completely shut down; all their refrigerated trucks are broken down! You won't be able to buy this meat for 100 yuan tomorrow!"

On the other side, an older woman was pointing a bunch of wilted scallions at the vegetable vendor and cursing him.

"Your scallions are all yellowed, and you still have the nerve to sell them for five yuan? You wouldn't even buy them for free!"

The vegetable vendor rolled his eyes, snatched the scallions, and threw them back into his basket.

"Auntie, why don't you go look elsewhere? This is just some stock I pulled out from under the cold storage yesterday."

He pointed to the empty truck parking area outside, full of grievances.

"Once Lingxiao's truck stops, the vegetable farmers from outside the city can't get in. You won't even see these yellow onions tomorrow!"

At the chain supermarket across the street, the line of people waiting to pay stretched all the way into the traffic lane.

Rice, noodles, cooking oil.

Everything that could be eaten was swept away by the frenzied citizens.

This run on banks, triggered by capital flight, completely shattered the facade of prosperity in Jingzhou.

Nobody cares about the macroeconomic game.

Ordinary people only care about whether there will be rice in the pot tonight.

At the same time, at the Lingxiao Logistics Dispatch Center in the northern suburbs of Jingzhou.

Chu Yunfei was dressed in a dark blue Tang suit, and he was twirling two lion's head walnuts in his hands, which made a "crackling" sound.

In front of him was an entire wall of electronic maps, the screen densely covered with red dots.

Each red dot represents a Lingxiao heavy truck parked on the side of the road.

The telephones in the dispatch room rang incessantly, and the operators were extremely busy.

"Mr. Chu, the highway patrol has called us more than a dozen times."

The vice president strode over, carrying a folder, his forehead shiny.

"The municipal party committee asked us why our cars were all stuck at the service area and tollbooth exit."

Chu Yunfei didn't even lift his eyelids. He picked up the blue and white porcelain covered bowl on the table and blew on the tea foam.

"What did you reply?"

"As you instructed, all trucks in the province will undergo legal annual inspections, and drivers will be given three days of paid leave."

The vice president grinned, his smile as sly as a fox caught stealing fish.

Chu Yunfei nodded in satisfaction, put down the teacup, and made a crisp clinking sound.

"Our Lingxiao Logistics controls 70% of Handong's freight volume. Usually, with Master Yan's generosity, we all get along peacefully."

He sneered, extended his hand adorned with a jade thumb ring, and pointed at the city of Jingzhou on the screen.

"Isn't Li Dakang capable? Aren't the Anti-Corruption Bureau arrogant? Today I'll teach them a lesson."

The vice president took a half step closer and lowered his voice.

"President Chu, the news just came in that the warehouses of those state-owned supermarkets are completely empty."

"Just look for an empty space." Chu Yunfei was playing with the walnuts, his pace neither hurried nor slow.

"Without our cold chain storage, frozen pork from other provinces wouldn't even be able to reach the outskirts of Handong."

He turned around, looked at the rows of empty trucks outside the floor-to-ceiling window, and spoke in a cold tone.

"Trying to steal Master Yan's thunder? I'll smash your rice bowls first."

Meanwhile, on the second floor of the Handong Provincial Procuratorate building.

Ji Changming had just hung up the urgent call from Hou Liangping when his legs gave way and he collapsed into his large office chair.

His hands trembled as he braced himself on the edge of the desk, the skin on the back of his hands shaking.

The noise outside the window grew louder and louder, making people feel irritable and restless.

Ji Changming mustered his courage and moved to the blinds, then secretly peeked out through a crack with his finger.

That glance almost made him faint.

The area outside the provincial inspection station has been completely transformed into a vegetable market.

Hundreds of elderly people, carrying reusable bags and shopping baskets, shook the large iron gate, making it clang loudly.

Riot police set up a cordon, but no one dared to actually lay a hand on the group of elderly men and women.

"Get those anti-corruption officials out here! They need to pay us back for our groceries!"

"You guys have nothing better to do than investigate the Lingxiao Consortium, and now we can't even afford meat!"

"Bang!" Half a brick flew over the courtyard wall and landed solidly on the flower bed, splattering mud all over the ground.

Ji Changming was so frightened that he shrank his neck and pressed his back against the wall, gasping for breath.

These elderly folks, who usually can't even squeeze onto a bus, are now incredibly enthusiastic about buying affordable food.

Yan Qingfeng's cunning move put the government directly in the spotlight of public anger!

"We can't afford to mess with them, we absolutely can't afford to mess with them!"

Ji Changming gritted his teeth and paced anxiously in the empty office.

He opened the drawer and frantically rummaged through it, pulling out a white plastic medicine bottle.

He poured out two blood pressure pills, and without even drinking water, he tilted his head back and swallowed them dry.

The pill got stuck in his throat, making him choke and roll his eyes back. He had to pound his chest several times to catch his breath.

Sha Ruijin gave a firm order, demanding that the procuratorate and the court fully cooperate with the anti-corruption bureau to forcibly intervene.

But in this situation, whoever touches it dies!

Hou Liangping, that hothead, is willing to be cannon fodder, but Ji Changming hasn't lived enough yet.

The old fox's eyes darted around twice before his gaze was fixed on the red landline phone on the corner of the table.

With a loud bang, the office door was violently pushed open by Secretary Xiao Chen.

"Quarterly inspection! Something terrible has happened! People outside have started smashing the guardhouse windows!"

Xiao Chen was so anxious that his face turned red and his tie was askew on his shoulder.

Ignoring the noise outside, Ji Changming suddenly felt his knees buckle and collapsed onto the carpet with a thud.

Xiao Chen was terrified and quickly rushed over to hug his shoulders.

"Ji Jian! What's wrong with you?!"

Ji Changming clutched his chest tightly, his face contorted in pain.

He closed his eyes tightly and made a loud, labored breathing sound like a bellows.

His fingers gripped Xiao Chen's sleeve tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, his strength unusually great.

"Xiao Chen... I suddenly had a heart attack, and my chest hurts like it's being scraped by knives."

Ji Changming rolled his eyes, his voice barely audible, as if he were about to die.

"Quickly... call 120 for me and have the ambulance come in through the back door to pick me up."

Xiao Chen was so anxious that his hands were shaking as he pulled out his phone, dialing numbers and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Ji Jian, hang in there! I'll call Secretary Sha right away to report the situation!"

Ji Changming suddenly opened one eye and slapped the internal phone out of Xiao Chen's hand.

He gritted his teeth, stared into Xiao Chen's eyes, and delivered his last line in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"What reporting! Immediately notify the court administration that I suffered a sudden heart attack and need to rest in bed for an extended period! From now on, any case involving the Lingxiao Consortium is off-limits to Hou Liangping; he can go die on his own. I won't care even if the King of Heaven himself comes!"