In name only: The land of Handong, I shall rule its fate.

Looking at the bathhouse in front of me.

Hou Liangping was bewildered in the wind. Wasn't he supposed to be seeing that Deputy District Chief An? Why was he at the bathhouse?

"This is not a bath or change of clothes."

The burly man chuckled, put his arm around Hou Liangping's shoulder, and pulled him inside. "It's quite a coincidence, our Deputy District Chief An is from the same hometown as you."

"I don't drink or smoke, all I want is a good bath."

"It's 9 PM right now."

"They must have already finished get off work."

"The chances of meeting him here are much higher than there."

Let's go!

Hou Liangping's lips curled up. Come to think of it, he hadn't rubbed himself in the mud since arriving in Handong in the dead of winter. He usually didn't feel anything, but thinking about it made him feel really uncomfortable.

no way…

Although he was originally from Handong, he had spent twenty years in the capital, and many of his habits had changed.

The three burly men, half a step behind, exchanged glances and nodded behind Hou Liangping.

"Where is he? We haven't even seen a shadow of him."

After being scrubbed by the burly man, Hou Liangping felt light and refreshed. He walked around in a bathrobe, his eyes darting around.

"Yes! Yes!"

The burly, dark-skinned man said from the side:

"We're on the second floor. Deputy District Chief An is still on the third floor. Why don't you wait a little longer, brother?"

Third floor!

Hou Liangping exclaimed in disbelief, "So that's what the person who likes to scrub their back is doing!"

"Hey guys, tell me about Deputy District Chief An's hobbies! I'll try to cater to his interests later."

Hou Liangping pulled the three people over.

"This…"

The three looked at each other, and finally only managed to utter two words: "Be obedient!"

obedient?

Hou Liangping seemed to understand but not quite.

"Mayor Zhang likes long-term stability, so his subordinates like to obey him."

The burly, dark-skinned man whispered in his ear.

"What about Secretary Zhou?"

Hou Liangping felt a little strange; the Mayor Zhang was mentioned far too often by the three of them.

Although the government is in charge of finances, the municipal party secretary is ultimately the top leader.

But those words were pleasing to the ear.

The three of them laughed in unison.

"Brother, there's something I need to say in Chuzhou."

The burly man patted Hou Liangping on the shoulder. "Mayor Zhang is a constant, but the Party Secretary comes and goes. Do you understand what I mean?"

"This is Mayor Zhang's tenth year in office, and he will soon be entering his eleventh."

Oh?

Hou Liangping exclaimed in surprise.

"I don't really understand the ins and outs, but haven't I exceeded my term of office?"

Hou Liangping asked.

"Hey, this is a different story if it happens elsewhere."

"But this is Chuzhou."

The burly, dark-skinned man, with an air of pride and arrogance, gave a thumbs-up and raised it high. "Do you know who Mayor Zhang's former boss is? It's Old Chen, the pillar of Chuzhou and even Handong! The former chairman of the provincial association!"

"It's just a matter of Old Chen putting in a good word with his superiors."

"If everyone else turns a blind eye, this matter will be over."

"If the higher-ups really want to investigate, then they should mention the municipal party secretary."

Old Chen?

Hou Liangping frowned at the opportune moment.

"Brother, if you really want to settle down in Chuzhou, then you'd better not mess with the Chen family."

"Of the first-tier enterprises I mentioned before, the Chen family owns four. The others are either local state-owned enterprises or powerful outsiders."

"Among them, the Chen Group, controlled by the eldest son of the Chen family, was the most prosperous and spanned various fields. Hanyuan, Xunjin and Xiyangchuan were respectively engaged in real estate construction, finance and high-end overseas trade, and were all industry leaders."

"but…"

"In recent years, Mr. Gu of Hanyuan has devoted more and more energy to the development of Jingzhou."

"After all, it's the provincial capital, with a larger scale and more opportunities; there are one mega-project after another."

The burly, dark-skinned man spoke eloquently.

"etc!"

Hou Liangping frowned deeply, like a lost outsider in a forest. "Wasn't it the Chen family? Who exactly is this President Gu?"

"Hey, I forgot to tell you, bro."

The burly man scratched the back of his head and explained, "Including President Gu, the bosses of Hanyuan, Xunjin, and Xiyangchuan are all Chen Lao's adopted sons."

"They said the relationship was severed years ago."

"But you know what I mean."

The burly, dark-skinned guy raised an eyebrow and gave me a really irritating look.

"You two stop talking."

Another guy reminded him, "Deputy District Chief An is coming down."

"Wait, something's not right!"

"Why didn't Deputy District Chief An say goodbye to us today? He just left without saying goodbye."

"Could something have happened in the district?"

When Hou Liangping arrived, he could only hold onto the second-floor handrail and see a black figure hurriedly exit through the first-floor door, followed by a car speeding away.

"Usually, when Deputy District Chief An comes down from the third floor, he will chat with people on the second floor to build rapport."

The burly man said, "This is also an opportunity for us to improve our image and recommend newcomers."

"Brother, I'm not lying to you."

"You can ask other people; everyone in the business world knows."

"Thanks, brothers."

Hou Liangping turned around and headed straight for the locker room. "Since Deputy District Chief An is gone, I won't stay either."

"My treat tonight, bro!"

Hou Liangping put on his denim jacket and walked away swaggeringly.

"Brother Biao, is this kid alright?"

The other two huddled around the burly guy and asked, "This circle isn't so easy to get into; the entry test is a huge background check."

From the moment he arrived at the bathhouse, every step he took was a test. The bathhouse's habits, the details of Chuzhou—if he made even one wrong move, Hou Liangping wouldn't be able to leave the bathhouse that night.

"His accent is a bit strange!"

Brother Biao shook his head. "But his speaking habits and lifestyle are definitely from the North, and that's hard to change. Most importantly, there's that murderous aura about this kid. I'd believe it if you told me he crawled out of a pile of corpses."

"When I stood before him, I was like a docile little lamb."

The other two nodded, then hesitated:

"But I'm afraid Deputy District Chief An wouldn't accept someone like that?"

"That's none of our business."

Brother Biao waved his hand impatiently, "If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up; even the fiercest beast has a cage to confine it."

I changed my clothes.

Brother Biao swayed as he got into the car. When he looked up at the rearview mirror, his expression instantly transformed into a fawning smile. "Director Xia... Director Xia!"

"How did things go?"

Xia Wei, deputy director of the Chuzhou Public Security Bureau, asked with a smile, his round face resembling that of Maitreya Buddha.

"I will definitely handle the matter you entrusted to me perfectly."

Brother Biao almost knelt down in the driver's seat. "I have already explained the current situation and status of Chuzhou to Director Hou as you wished, and I have even specifically mentioned Deputy District Chief An Lai."

"Look!"

"I brought him directly to this bathhouse."

Row!

Xia Wei nodded. "This time, I'll count you for the favor. If Director Hou comes to you again, you can certainly help him out again."

"Okay."

When Brother Biao heard about the credit, his eyes lit up. "Director Xia, just watch me."

"I will definitely help Director Hou to thoroughly understand Chuzhou."