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

Hou Liangping felt a jolt, and cold sweat streamed down his spine.

He turned around abruptly and saw Lin Yubing walking gracefully out of the shadows in burgundy high heels.

Behind the gold-rimmed glasses, her almond-shaped eyes revealed an undisguised mockery.

"Lin...Lin Yubing?" Hou Liangping gritted his teeth and subconsciously took a half step back.

"Gotcha! Here it is!"

Before he could argue, several blinding beams of flashlight light shone directly into his face.

The light was so bright he couldn't open his eyes and could only desperately shield them with his arms.

"Run! Where do you think you're going?!"

Old Zhang, carrying a mahogany cane, led the way, breaking through the green belt.

Behind him followed dozens of fierce-looking young workers, forming a wall of flesh that completely surrounded Hou Liangping.

Two burly young men from the workshop handled it like it was a chick.

He grabbed Hou Liangping by the collar of his jacket and yanked him out from behind the holly tree.

"What are you doing! What do you want to do!"

Hou Liangping was strangled so badly that his eyes rolled back, his hands gripping his collar tightly, and his legs kicking wildly in the air.

"Let me go! I'm a state official! I'm from the Supreme People's Procuratorate!"

"Pooh!"

One of the workers spat out a curse, pointing the mop handle at his nose.

"Stop using your official position to intimidate us! Cai Chenggong has already confessed that you are the mastermind behind our rebellion!"

Inside a tricycle not far away.

Cai Chenggong, bound like a pretzel and with a dirty rag stuffed in his mouth, struggled desperately.

He let out a series of muffled "woof" sounds, as if nodding in agreement, afraid that his buddies would beat him up again.

Hou Liangping finally managed to put his feet on the ground, his chest heaving violently.

He felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the group of workers with fierce expressions, but his inherent arrogance resurfaced.

He straightened his collar, which had been pulled askew, and forced himself to adopt the air of a superior leader.

"Folks! Calm down!"

Hou Liangping waved his arms and shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to take control of the situation.

"You've been brainwashed by the sugar-coated bullets of capital! The paltry benefits Yan Qingfeng gives you are nothing but monopolistic exploitation!"

He pointed to the brightly lit Lingxiao Building not far away and continued his legal education with a pained expression.

"He's paying you high salaries now to squeeze out all the other companies in the industry!"

"Once he becomes the sole ruler of the entire Handong region, you'll be nothing more than fish on his chopping block, exploited however he pleases!"

Hou Liangping became more and more agitated as he spoke, his eyes gleaming with a self-righteous light.

"I'm here to help you! As long as you stand up and expose him, the country will stand up for you!"

"Ha, to make the decision?"

Old Zhang sneered, his withered cheeks twitching violently twice.

"Pooh!"

A mouthful of thick, yellow phlegm landed squarely on the toes of Hou Liangping's expensive leather shoes.

Hou Liangping looked at the thick phlegm on the shoe, his stomach churned, and his face turned ashen.

"What's wrong with you, old comrade...?"

"What did I do wrong? I'm still thinking of beating you up today!"

Old Zhang's eyes were wide open like copper bells, and his cane thumped loudly on the cement ground.

He pushed aside the young man in front of him, walked up to Hou Liangping, and spat at him.

"Exploitation? You, a bureau chief, make it sound so easy for you to talk about!"

Old Zhang's eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against glass.

"Two years ago, Dafeng Factory couldn't pay wages, and my wife was diagnosed with uremia and was lying at home waiting to die!"

He took his calloused hand and jabbed it hard into Hou Liangping's chest.

"I knelt down in the municipal government compound and begged you officials, but did any of you even give me a second glance?"

"You sit in air-conditioned rooms all day shouting slogans and talking about the big picture! Have you ever paid a single penny for my wife's dialysis?!"

Hou Liangping was so stung that he had to back away, his mouth agape as he tried to retort, but he couldn't utter a single word.

"It's Master Yan!"

Old Zhang suddenly raised his voice, his roar deafening in the cold night wind.

"It was Master Yan who bought the factory and gave me a job! He paid me three times my usual salary!"

He pointed back to the brand-new and impressive welfare community behind him.

"Not only did Mr. Yan allocate fully furnished apartments to everyone, but he also got my wife admitted to a hospital owned by Lingxiao Holdings, with all medical expenses covered!"

"This saved the lives of my entire family!"

Old Zhang became more and more agitated as he spoke, tears mingling with the cold wind and streaming down his face.

He raised his cane, pointed it directly at Hou Liangping's nose, and roared out a sentence with unwavering determination.

"In Handong, whoever pays the people's wages and feeds us is the god!"

"Whoever is in charge is God!"

Dozens of workers raised their shovels and wooden sticks, and roared in unison.

The overwhelming roar was like a heavy hammer, slamming into Hou Liangping's chest.

His proud belief was in the set of laws and rules ingrained in his very being.

Faced with the most genuine and raw public opinion at the grassroots level, it shattered into a pile of broken glass.

"You...you are utterly foolish!"

Hou Liangping broke down. He covered his ears and roared like a madman whose sore spot had been hit.

"The law won't let him get away with this! You bunch of legal illiterates, you've all been brainwashed by capitalists!"

"Wash your mother's legs! Beat this black-hearted bastard to death!"

On the outskirts of the crowd, several middle-aged women who had just finished their shift at the logistics canteen happened to be passing by, pushing their swill carts.

Upon hearing that this grandson in the baseball cap was there to ruin their livelihoods, the women immediately became furious.

The plump woman rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a handful of rotten cabbage stalks directly from the swill bucket.

"You're just asking for trouble! I'll slap you to death!"

"Splat!"

A clump of rotten vegetable leaves, emitting a sour and foul smell, hit Hou Liangping squarely in the face.

Dirty water streamed down his gold-rimmed glasses, obscuring his vision.

This completely ignited the workers' anger.

"Smash it! Don't let him get away!"

The remaining eggshells, rotten tomatoes, and even tree bark and grass roots covered in mud.

Like hail, it rained down on Hou Liangping.

"Ouch! Don't hit me! I'm a government official..."

Hou Liangping screamed repeatedly, crouching on the ground with his head in his hands, like a rat running away in the street.

Where is even a trace of the prestige of the head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Supreme People's Procuratorate?

A few hot-blooded young men couldn't stand it, so they secretly kicked him twice more, making his eyes roll back in his head.

"Alright, alright, don't actually kill him, or you'll dirty our neighborhood!"

Old Zhang waved his cane, stopping the elderly women who were about to rush forward.

He looked disdainfully at Hou Liangping, who was covered in sour smells and huddled in the corner.

"Get lost! If you ever dare to hang around our Dafeng Factory again, I'll beat you up every time I see you!"

Old Zhang spat on the ground and waved his hand.

"Brothers, let's push that bastard Cai Chenggong over there, and go back inside to continue playing mahjong!"

The vast crowd receded like the tide.

All that remained were rotten vegetable leaves scattered all over the ground, along with a strong, sour, and putrid smell.

Hou Liangping slumped in the mud, his whole body trembling.

He took off his glasses, which were covered in dirty water, and stared blankly at the backs of the group of workers.

His pride and arrogance were shattered tonight.

"Slap, slap, slap."

A series of crisp, slow claps came from the shadows nearby.

Lin Yubing came out again at some point, holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.

She covered her nose in disgust, looking at Hou Liangping on the ground with the same look she would give someone trash.

"Director Hou's legal education lesson was truly vivid and moving."

Lin Yubing's red lips curled slightly, the mockery at the corners of her mouth seeming to pierce through people.

Hou Liangping gritted his teeth, propped himself up against the wall, and slowly climbed up, his eyes filled with venomous resentment like a poisonous snake.

"Yan Qingfeng may be able to win over these few hundred ignorant commoners, but can he win over all the people in the world?"

He screamed in frustration, his voice cracking.

"This isn't bribery; this is the will of the people."

Lin Yubing straightened the hem of her burgundy suit, not even bothering to glance at him.

"But you, with all that lofty ideals and integrity, were driven out by the common people with rotten eggs. That must have been a bitter pill to swallow, right?"

Hou Liangping was hit where it hurt, his face turned purplish-red, and he trembled with anger.

He limped toward the alley entrance, his back view looking disheveled.

Watching the stray dog ​​disappear into the night, Lin Yubing gave a cold laugh.

She took her phone out of her bag and gracefully dialed a number.

The phone was answered after only one ring.

"Master Yan, Director Hou was chased away by the common people's rotten vegetable leaves and slunk back to the capital."

A chilling glint flashed in Lin Yubing's eyes.

"Now that those people in the capital have resorted to underhanded tactics, which family should we send our next big gift to?"