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

On a car heading towards Jiangdong.

"Tongwei, thank you for your help this time."

Gao Yuliang sat in the back row with his eyes closed, resting his head on his knee with one hand, tapping it gently.

"It was my duty to escort you to the Jiangdong Municipal Party Committee; Secretary Gao, you're too kind."

Qi Tongwei replied formally, but out of the corner of his eye, he inadvertently caught all of the other person's actions through the rearview mirror.

"That's not what the teacher meant."

Gao Yuliang opened his eyes and was caught off guard when he met Qi Tongwei's gaze in the rearview mirror. A sense of panic and fear welled up in Qi Tongwei's heart.

He didn't quite understand.

Gao Yuliang could have slowed down and didn't need to enter Jiangdong at this most dangerous time, but the other party took the initiative to contact him.

"The teacher is referring to your action of pressing down on Jiangdong."

Gao Yuliang pointed directly to the most sensitive core issue: "If the matter between Qian Laizhi and the Jiangdong Gang breaks out prematurely, it will inevitably affect the teacher, and the teacher's already bad situation will become even worse."

"You knew all that?"

Qi Tongwei trembled.

"Even the teacher doesn't want to call anymore?"

Gao Yuliang did not answer the question, but instead asked it as if he had gotten stuck on a thorny point.

"You taught me to use job titles when I'm at work."

Qi Tongwei replied after a moment of silence.

"You hate your teacher."

Gao Yuliang smiled and shook his head, then rolled down the car window, igniting a small spark in the dark car.

"You are the Director of the Public Security Bureau, but I served as the Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission for six years. Every piece of information you find has a copy on my desk."

Gao Yuliang answered Qi Tongwei's question, seemingly oblivious to his almost frozen expression, and continued, "The teacher knows everything clearly about Chuzhou before and Jiangdong now."

"Including every detailed step in the investigation."

"Of course I don't know now."

"Executive Director Lin is a shrewd man. He took over the Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission in just a few months and used that assessment system to cut off all contact with me from within. I will not, and dare not, access classified information again."

Just a few words.

But the impact on Qi Tongwei was no less than reshaping his worldview, and it also meant that the provincial department he had painstakingly built up had no secrets in Gao Yuliang's eyes.

even…

Qi Tongwei looked at the following vehicles in the rearview mirror. He didn't even know how many of the elite provincial department confidants he had brought out were actually his men.

Half? Or none at all?

Qi Tongwei's hands were trembling as he gripped the steering wheel; he couldn't bring himself to turn it down no matter how hard he tried.

"Tongwei, your teacher doesn't deny that he had the intention of obtaining confidential information from the provincial department, but his main purpose was to keep an eye on you."

Gao Yuliang's gaze remained calm and unwavering. "Your personality is too impulsive, easily angered and easily pleased. In addition, you are too close to Zhao Ruilong and the Shanshui Group. Your teacher must protect you."

Saying this at this time and in this setting is a bit too shocking.

"But the teacher never stopped you from cooperating with Director Lin's actions."

Gao Yuliang was completely hidden in the smoke, his voice low and menacing, "Just like how your teacher never stopped your teacher's wife's actions."

"Doesn't the teacher seem two-faced and hypocritical?"

Gao Yuliang laughed out loud, his reflection swaying in the other car window. "But there's nothing we can do. A teacher has to put in more effort than you can imagine to get where they are now, going from a university professor to where they are now."

"The Wu family is my first benefactor. They helped me establish myself at the school. In addition, I feel guilty towards your teacher's wife. I know about her misdeeds, but I am helpless to do anything about it."

"Secretary Liang was my second benefactor, giving me an increasingly bright future and even entrusting me with some of the Liang family's resources. I owe him a lot, so I just watched you sink into an unhappy marriage."

"Secretary Zhao was the third benefactor. After Secretary Liang retired, he went to Beijing to live out his retirement, and his influence in Handong shrank significantly. However, Secretary Zhao was kind and, for the sake of the overall situation, accepted the remaining forces of the Liang faction, including me. So I became the Zhao family's spokesperson in Handong."

"I achieved my goal and climbed higher and higher, but I became less and less like myself, like a puppet controlled by others."

"But the teacher's original intention was also to dedicate all his knowledge to society!"

Gao Yuliang sighed deeply, "Reason has told me time and time again that I should cut ties, but I can't bring myself to betray it, and I'm greedily trying to reclaim my original dream."

"On the one hand, I'm waiting."

"I'm waiting for the day when I can take over from Secretary Zhao. Once I become the leader of Handong, no one can stop me from implementing my plans. However, as I get older, the possibility is becoming increasingly slim."

"On the other hand, a plan was quietly taking shape."

"I can't abandon them, but it's enough if they abandon me or if they don't exist."

"I started to ignore it and even nurtured Chen Yanshi's ambition to provoke him."

"I know them too well."

"They couldn't suppress the greed and scheming that were ingrained in their blood, and sure enough, one family after another became wild."

"The same to you."

"But the process of nurturing your ambitions is painful. You and Zhao Ruilong are okay, you want more money, but Wu, Yao, Lin and Chen are different. They want people, land, money, and even more power."

"Moreover, this process also fostered the desires of others."

"This is not what I want."

"I should be a beneficiary of society and the people, not a source of harm."

"so…"

"I sent Comrade Jiang Anhu, whom I trusted, to Chuzhou, hoping to put pressure on them from the top, but perhaps I disappointed him, and he chose the most tragic way to end his life."

"..."

Gao Yuliang fell silent again, the spark extinguished and then reignited. "The arrival of Executive Director Lin shattered my first path, but it also marked the beginning of the second."

"I let you go."

"As expected, this domineering Executive Director Lin tore open the darkness of Chuzhou."

"Their methods were even more remarkable; by protecting Zhao Ruilong, they forced Secretary Zhao to completely abandon me."

"But I'm very happy."

"With the Luzhou attack orchestrated by Governor Tianhen, two major obstacles have been removed."

"In the end, only Secretary Liang was left."

Gao Yuliang's eyes seemed to gleam with a strange light in the darkness. "Secretary Liang was a true man of integrity and uprightness. He was selfless and devoted to public service while in office, and after retiring, he did not cling to power. He left Handong directly. I can only set my sights on you."

"I asked you to handle some dirty business related to the Zhao family, to be a 'black glove,' but you're not up to the task. For the sake of your future, you eagerly and proactively step forward."

"Can…"

"Seeing you improve step by step under Director Lin's guidance, becoming more and more responsible, as if you've rediscovered your former self, I'm truly happy for you."

"Teachers have hearts of flesh and blood too."

"What your teacher said when he invited you to his home for dinner before the New Year was all true."