In officialdom: After she left, I rose rapidly through the ranks!

As soon as Sun Yikun's voice rang out, Li Feitu immediately understood why Zhao Mingyuan had pulled this stunt.

He really wanted to ask, was it necessary?

Even if Sun Yikun couldn't see this scene, he was still the one being targeted by Sun Yikun, and his fate was already sealed. What was the point of going through all this trouble?

Just to humiliate himself? To humiliate Chen Jingcheng?

But at this point, there's no point in saying all this.

Zhao Mingyuan hurriedly went to greet him.

"Secretary Sun, you've arrived."

"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry that you had to see this. Don't worry, I'll take care of it right away."

Sun Yikun walked over with an icy expression and said in a deep voice, "Deal with what? Cover up the problem and whitewash the situation?"

"Wasn't what I said yesterday in front of all the city's leaders and cadres enough?"

"How can you be a class monitor? Always playing the nice guy only leads to the team getting out of control. Sacrificing principles for the sake of unity, is that how one should act as an official?"

"Zhao Mingyuan, I'll talk to you about your problem later."

After saying that, Sun Yikun walked up to Li Feitu, his voice icy.

"Li Feitu, what do you want to do? Are you just throwing caution to the wind? Or is this just your true nature?"

"I knew you were lawless, but I didn't expect you to still not improve at all after becoming the county magistrate. Your elders are all officials, so you think you have powerful backers and connections, and that you can be above everyone else and that everyone has to listen to you?"

"Now you're even interfering with the disciplinary committee's investigations, huh? You're utterly hopeless!"

The words kept getting harsher and harsher; it was no longer criticism, but simply venting anger.

It's not uncommon for superiors to criticize subordinates, but it's extremely rare for them to do so in public.

This is more than just making someone sound completely worthless; it's a devastating blow to a person.

At this moment, Li Feitu could no longer tolerate it.

But he is still enduring it.

"Secretary Sun, I did not mean to obstruct the investigation. It was Wang Liye and his team from the Discipline Inspection Commission who were seemingly following the procedures, but in reality, they had their own selfish motives."

"It's true that Chen Jingcheng is my secretary, and I promoted him myself. If he has any problems, I will be the first to strongly demand that he be dealt with seriously. But as the county magistrate, his direct superior, am I not even allowed to say a few words when my own secretary is taken away?"

"In broad daylight, with disciplinary committee staff right there, did they expect me to fabricate a story? Or did they think I was really going to stop them from leaving with my people?"

"Secretary Sun, I think you've been here for a while now. You should know very well what happened. Do you think I, Li Feitu, have any intention of showing favoritism or covering up for others?"

At this point, Li Feitu smirked and said, "Besides, even if I, Li Feitu, wanted to protect Chen Jingcheng, would anyone listen to me?"

"Even my secretary didn't give me a heads-up before arresting me, what am I supposed to do? I'm probably next."

Sun Yikun could tell that Li Feitu was driven to desperation, which was why he was putting up this resistance that didn't seem like a real act of defiance.

But that's all I can do but vent my frustrations.

"Li Feitu, watch your attitude!"

"No matter how dissatisfied you are, you'd better just swallow it!"

"The Discipline Inspection Commission wanted to take your secretary away, and you just ran downstairs. What? Do you think that's appropriate? Alright, stop talking nonsense. Don't worry, even if I, Sun Yikun, wanted to protect you, Party discipline and the law wouldn't tolerate it."

"But you, so nervous about a secretary, what secret are you hiding?"

"Do you think that Chen Jingcheng will be a threat to you after he is taken away?"

As he spoke, Sun Yikun looked at Chen Jingcheng with a cold gaze and an air of superiority.

That makes sense. Who is Sun Yikun? He's the Party Secretary of Oasis City, a position at the provincial level. Not to mention his superiors, even his subordinates are county heads, county party secretaries, and bureau chiefs—all at the division level. Others, even deputy division-level cadres, wouldn't be qualified to report directly to him unless they held a very special position.

Who is Chen Jingcheng?

A deputy director of a county government office, a deputy section-level cadre, has no right to talk to Sun Yikun. It's normal that he can't see Chen Jingcheng.

It was because of Li Feitu's incident that Sun Yikun remembered Chen Jingcheng's name; otherwise, Chen Jingcheng would not have existed in Sun Yikun's eyes at all.

"You're Chen Jingcheng?"

If it were before, it would be a lie to say Chen Jingcheng wasn't nervous when faced with questions from the municipal party secretary, after all, this was such a high-ranking official.

But today, knowing that Sun Yikun abused his power for personal gain against Li Feitu, and knowing that Sun Yikun's visit was deliberately aimed at Li Feitu, and also at himself, Chen Jingcheng really had nothing to fear when facing Sun Yikun.

There was no question of being nervous.

"I am Chen Jingcheng."

"Secretary Sun, what's the matter?"

Sun Yikun looked at Chen Jingcheng and said calmly, "Your county magistrate really has no shame left for you."

"I have a general understanding of your situation. You have been working for less than a year and have been working in townships. After Li Feitu was transferred here, he suddenly transferred you to the county government office and promoted you to deputy section-level cadre, deputy director of the government office, within a few days. This is not how you are promoted, and it is not how you are exceptionally promoted."

"I'm quite curious, what method did you use to make Li Feitu look at you with such high regard, even disregarding everyone's objections and criticisms, and insisting on promoting you out of turn?"

This wasn't just Sun Yikun's question; it was a question many people had. But in fact, many people knew what had happened at the time.

Although they didn't know everything, they did know some things: promoting Chen Jingcheng was a step Li Feitu took to establish his authority.

Knowing this is enough.

Chen Jingcheng looked at Sun Yikun and said directly, "If Secretary Sun is curious, he can check the minutes of the Standing Committee meeting. Also, I would like to remind Secretary Sun that you are the Party Secretary of the Municipal Committee, and you should be more careful with your words."

"What you just said about County Chief Li can't be inapplicable to yourself, can it?"

"I admit that I was indeed promoted exceptionally, but my promotion was unanimously approved by the Standing Committee. No one obstructed it, and it was not County Chief Li who insisted on doing so despite the criticism from the public. Secretary Zhao Mingyuan is here, and the other members of the Standing Committee are also here to see this. You can ask me now."

Chen Jingcheng's statement is true, and the Standing Committee has also made a record of it.

However, whether Zhao Mingyuan and his group are truly sincere is another matter entirely.

Of course, a written record cannot be faked.

Ke Ren's words can be deceitful.

Zhao Mingyuan sighed and said, "Secretary Sun, what Chen Jingcheng said is true. He was a cadre that County Magistrate Li Feitu personally requested to be promoted exceptionally. In order to maintain unity within the leadership team, to reduce any misunderstandings County Magistrate Li Feitu may have about us, and to ensure that the Linchuan County Party and government leadership can smoothly advance its work, we agreed to his proposal."

"Although many of our Standing Committee members are opposed to this matter, we have no choice but to accept that County Magistrate Li Feitu insisted on it."

His words shifted all the blame, as if Zhao Mingyuan was the one who had swallowed his anger for the sake of unity within the Linchuan County leadership and for the smooth progress of the work.