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

"Click".

Afu pushed open the heavy, carved solid wood door from the outside.

A rich and invigorating aroma of sandalwood wafted over me instantly.

The heating was on full blast, making it even a bit hot.

Sha Ruijin swallowed hard and forced himself to step over the high mahogany threshold.

With each step he took, his heart beat faster.

Yan Qingfeng was wearing a loose-fitting black silk dress with gold thread.

He was leaning back lazily in a rosewood armchair, his eyes half-closed.

On the huge wooden tea table in front of me, spring water in a purple clay teapot was bubbling and churning.

The swirling mist blurred Yan Qingfeng's cold and stern face.

"Mr. Yan... Mr. Yan."

Sha Ruijin rubbed his icy hands and took two steps forward, bending over.

His usual imposing presence as a regional governor had vanished completely.

He looked just like a junior employee waiting to be scolded.

Yan Qingfeng didn't even lift his eyelids.

He simply raised his long, slender finger and casually pointed to a low stool opposite the tea table.

The wooden stool was very low and didn't even have a backrest.

Sha Ruijin usually sits in the boss's chair, so making him sit in this thing is tantamount to slapping him in the face.

But he dared not utter a single complaint.

Sha Ruijin quickly lifted the hem of his military overcoat and sat down on the stool with half his buttocks touching it, like a punching bag.

Yan Qingfeng then slowly picked up the purple clay teapot.

Boiling water was poured into the white porcelain teacup, and a rich and powerful aroma of tea instantly filled the room.

"The mother tree's Da Hong Pao tea is something you can't buy even if you have money."

Yan Qingfeng used wooden tweezers to pick up the teacup and gently pushed it in front of Sha Ruijin.

"Warm yourself up, Secretary Sha."

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze, seen through the swirling steam, fixed on Sha Ruijin's face like two knives.

Sha Ruijin looked at the steaming, reddish-brown tea, feeling flattered.

He quickly reached out with both hands to take it, frantically trying to come up with a tactful way to phrase it.

"President Yan, regarding the matter in Handong this time, it was indeed due to the incompetence of the subordinates and their failure to understand the situation properly..."

"Bang."

Yan Qingfeng casually placed the purple clay teapot heavily on the tea table, interrupting his nonsense.

Sha Ruijin was so startled that his hand trembled, and he almost dropped the teacup he had just picked up.

"Secretary Sha, please stop with that useless bureaucratic jargon; it disgusts me."

Yan Qingfeng crossed his hands on his lower abdomen, a mocking sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

"I used to watch from below when you were on stage talking about the big picture and dedication."

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze piercing and imposing.

"Back then, I felt like you were a painted-face actor in a theatrical troupe."

"His appearance is quite impressive, and his singing is quite high-pitched, but he's full of scheming under the mask."

Sha Ruijin's face turned bright red, as if he had been slapped twice in the face out of nowhere.

He opened his mouth, but was silenced and couldn't utter a single word.

"Why aren't you singing anymore?"

Yan Qingfeng snorted coldly, each word piercing to the heart.

"Because the stage collapsed, even your opera costumes were taken away as junk by my Lingxiao Consortium."

"You've come here to beg for alms, or to beg for mercy?"

These words, like a rusty, dull knife, relentlessly tore at Sha Ruijin's pride.

His hands, holding the teacup, trembled like a leaf.

"President Yan, the bigger picture is what matters."

Sha Ruijin lowered his head, his voice dry as if he had swallowed a handful of sand.

"The capital is furious. Tens of thousands of civil servants are starving, and tens of millions of ordinary people are without fuel or electricity..."

"Don't try to intimidate me by using ordinary people as leverage!"

Yan Qingfeng slammed his hand on the tea table, making the teaware on the table clang loudly.

"The people have no food to eat because you brought in foreign investment but couldn't hold onto it!"

"The reason civil servants can't be paid is because you bunch of idiots allowed speculative capital to come in and dump stocks!"

Yan Qingfeng's voice wasn't loud, but every word carried an undeniable air of dominance.

"My Lingxiao Consortium conducts business normally, pays taxes legally, and engages in mergers and acquisitions in compliance with regulations."

"You yourselves created this mess that's impossible to clean up, and now you're coming to lecture me about the bigger picture?"

Sha Ruijin was thoroughly scolded, and large beads of cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

He had never been so humiliated in his life.

"This morning, all the vehicles belonging to the Jingzhou Public Security Bureau were broken down."

Yan Qingfeng pulled a report from the table and threw it into Sha Ruijin's arms without even looking at it.

"The Finance Bureau's account is cleaner than your face. The government canteen can't even afford a single vegetable leaf."

He pointed at the cup of tea, his tone chilling.

"Secretary Sha, the people outside can't even get a sip of hot water."

"Could you really drink this cup of Da Hong Pao tea from the original mother tree, which costs millions per ounce?"

Sha Ruijin shuddered, his face turning deathly pale.

He knew that Yan Qingfeng was forcing him to make a statement, forcing him to tear off the last fig leaf.

He lowered his head and stared intently at the clear tea in his hand.

His ashen, desperate, and even somewhat distorted old face was reflected on the surface of the tea.

"I...I'll drink it."

Sha Ruijin closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and brought the scalding hot tea to his mouth.

My hands were shaking so badly.

A small portion of the freshly boiled tea spilled out, landing on the back of his dry, chapped hands.

The excruciating pain was instantly piercing!

The skin visibly reddened and swelled, and two shiny blisters immediately appeared.

But Sha Ruijin didn't even dare to gasp.

He gritted his teeth and let the boiling water scald his flesh, not daring to even wipe it off.

He tilted his head back and drank the remaining half cup of tea in one gulp.

It's so hot!

The scalding hot tea burned its way down my esophagus, like swallowing a handful of shards of glass.

It slashed him so badly that his internal organs were bleeding.

Yan Qingfeng watched him swallow the tea quietly, the mockery in his eyes growing stronger.

"How does it taste?"

Sha Ruijin put down the empty teacup and gasped for breath.

The pain and humiliation caused a few bright red blood vessels to appear at the corners of his eyes.

"Good...good tea."

He was like an old dog with a broken spine, completely giving up the struggle.

This is hardly tea drinking.

Every bite is like cutting flesh and bleeding from Sha Ruijin's political life!

Yan Qingfeng chuckled softly, leaned back in his armchair, and took a hot towel to wipe his hands.

"Now that you've had the tea, you understand the rules. Tell me, how do you plan to clean up this mess?"

Sha Ruijin gripped the trouser legs above his knees tightly with both hands, his fingernails almost digging into his flesh.

He knew that once he opened his mouth, Handong would no longer belong to either the Sha or the Li families.

But the death order from the powerful figures in the capital hung over their heads.

If he doesn't back down, he'll have to spend the rest of his life in Qincheng Prison tomorrow, and he'll be condemned for all eternity.

Weighing the pros and cons, public power is as fragile as a windowpane that can be torn at the slightest touch in the face of the iron heel of capital.

Sha Ruijin let out a long breath, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

He slowly slid down from the low stool, his legs feeling weak.

After holding his head high for decades, he finally bowed heavily before Yan Qingfeng.

"President Yan... I admit defeat. The Handong Provincial Committee admits defeat."

Sha Ruijin's voice trembled, filled with utter despair.

"If you're willing to release the funding pool and energy supply, let Handong come back to life..."

He swallowed hard, his saliva stained with blood, and raised his bloodshot eyes.

"Name your terms, whatever you want, I'll give you."