Nominal: Starting with an entrance exam for a PhD in Economics at Peking University

He couldn't figure it out, but the unease in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

He parked the car in front of the provincial party committee building, got out, straightened his coat, and went into the building.

Bai Jingwen was waiting for him downstairs. When he saw him, he quickly walked over and said, "Secretary Dakang, Secretary Sha is waiting for you in his office. Please come with me."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, Director Bai."

The two entered the elevator, the elevator doors closed, Bai Jingwen glanced at him, hesitated, and ultimately said nothing.

Li Dakang's heart tightened even more, and he quickly seized the opportunity to ask, "Director Bai, is there anything you need to tell me?"

Bai Jingwen shook his head: "You and Secretary Sha can talk to each other in person later."

The elevator stopped on the fifth floor, the doors opened, and Bai Jingwen led him toward Sha Ruijin's office.

Upon reaching the door, Bai Jingwen knocked twice and pushed it open, saying, "Secretary Sha, Secretary Dakang has arrived."

"Let him in."

Li Dakang walked in, and Sha Ruijin sat behind his desk, his expression calm, but there was an indescribable pressure in that calmness.

“Secretary Sha.” Li Dakang sat down in the chair opposite him, his back straight, but his posture was lower than usual, his hands on his knees, leaning forward slightly.

This is the posture a subordinate adopts when reporting to a superior, carrying a certain unconscious humility.

Sha Ruijin looked at him, paused for a moment, and said, "Comrade Dakang, I called you here because there are some things I need to tell you."

"Please give your instructions, Secretary Sha." Li Dakang's voice was steady, but there was tension beneath the steadiness.

“No rush,” Sha Ruijin picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then put the cup down. “I’ve already reported the Dafeng Factory matter to my superiors. The cleanup was handled very well, and this matter is considered resolved. The fact that you were able to clean it up in such a short time shows that the organization recognizes your work ability.”

Li Dakang listened and said with a wry smile, "This matter was caused by me. No matter how well it is handled, it is only a case of locking the barn door after the horse has bolted. I will summarize the lessons learned from this incident and write a report to submit to the Provincial Party Committee."

This is an attempt to take full responsibility for the January 16 Incident and to curry favor with Sha Ruijin.

Sha Ruijin nodded slightly, appreciating Li Dakang's tact and ability to change the subject:

"The Guangming Peak project is progressing very steadily. Jingzhou's GDP figures in the past two years have been among the top in the province. The organization has taken note of these achievements."

He paused for a moment, then changed his tone: "But, Comrade Dakang, there are some things I need to make clear to you."

Li Dakang's fingers tightened on his knee.

“The inspection team is investigating Wang Dalu’s case,” Sha Ruijin said. “The situation is more complicated than we previously knew. Your daughter, Li Jiajia, accepted money from Wang Dalu. The specific amount and nature of the money are still being verified. But no matter what, you must give the organization an explanation for this matter.”

Li Dakang lowered his head: "Secretary Sha, I really didn't know about this. Li Jiajia is in the United States, and I rarely contact her. Ouyang Jing has been handling things there for her all these years, I..."

“I know,” Sha Ruijin interrupted him, but his tone was not harsh. “The organization believes you are unaware of this, and from the current situation, you are not directly involved. However, Comrade Dakang, you are a leading Party cadre. Your immediate family member accepted money. Regardless of its nature, you must have an attitude.”

Li Dakang's voice was even lower: "I understand. I will definitely cooperate with the organization's investigation and I will not shirk the responsibilities I should bear."

Sha Ruijin stared at Li Dakang and asked, "Do you know how much money Wang Dalu gave your daughter? Do you have a rough idea of ​​the amount?"

Li Dakang shook his head, his face bitter: "No, but I know it's definitely not a small amount."

At this point, Sha Ruijin had no interest in playing guessing games with him and took the initiative to reveal: "Just the amount that has been verified so far is $510 million."

Li Dakang's body trembled, and he suddenly looked up: "What?"

Sha Ruijin’s eyes revealed a hint of pity: “Yes, you heard right, a full $510 million.”

While it's true that even the best men sometimes have wives who aren't virtuous and children who aren't filial, there aren't many like Li Dakang's wife and daughters.

Li Dakang quickly tried to explain, "Secretary Sha, I really didn't know about this, I..."

Sha Ruijin raised his hand to interrupt: "Comrade Dakang, whether you know about this or not is another matter. This money was given by a businessman and your daughter spent it. Husbands and wives can divorce, but the law does not recognize severing the father-daughter relationship. In any case, the money should be returned, right?"

Li Dakang was in a state of utter confusion.

510 million US dollars.

Even if he could produce it, it would still be considered a crime of possessing a huge amount of property of unknown origin.

Regardless of how the money is defined—whether it's a bribe, a loan, or a gift—it must be repaid.

Gao Yuliang returned the 12 yuan he earned from selling cigarettes to the oil and gas group when he protected Xiao Gangyu.

At this moment, Li Dakang was caught in a dilemma: if he retreated, he would have no money; if he didn't retreat, he would be unable to explain himself to the organization.

The huge office was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

Bai Jingwen pushed open the door and came in, holding a document in his hand. He walked up to Sha Ruijin and said in a low voice, "Secretary Sha, Secretary Tian just called and said that there are new important discoveries in the Wang Dalu case. He asked me to send the materials over immediately."

Sha Ruijin took the document, opened it, read a few pages, his brow twitched slightly, and then he looked up: "Comrade Dakang, please wait a moment."

“Okay.” Li Dakang sat there with his back straight, but he was extremely nervous.

The word "new discovery" hangs like a knife over our heads.

Sha Ruijin picked up the phone and dialed a number: "Comrade Guofu, this is Sha Ruijin. I've seen the new materials from the inspection team. Are you available now? I'd like to know the details... Okay, then come over right away."

After hanging up the phone, Sha Ruijin said to Li Dakang, "Secretary Tian is coming over right away. Let's listen to the latest situation from the inspection team together."

Li Dakang nodded without speaking, his fingers slowly tightening on his knee.

Zhong Xiaoai stood in the corridor outside the interrogation room, holding a forensic report in her hand, with an indescribable expression on her face.

The report was sent out yesterday and just came out this morning; its contents surprised her somewhat.

The two large suitcases that Li Jiajia brought back contained luxury goods—namely, expensive designer bags, jewelry, and clothing—but after professional appraisal, most of them turned out to be fake.

High-quality counterfeit goods.

The market value is far lower than the total amount recorded in the transfer records.

It's not even a fraction of those amounts.

She read the report three times to make sure she hadn't misread it, and then went into the interrogation room.

Wang Dalu sat inside, looking a bit more haggard than a few days ago, with bloodshot eyes, but his expression remained relatively calm.

Zhong Xiaoai placed the test report on the table and pushed it in front of him: "Wang Dalu, take a look at this."

Wang Dalu glanced down, his body stiffened slightly, and he looked surprised: "Is that so? It seems Jiajia was deceived by Zhang Xiaoxue in America."

Zhong Xiaoai: "How did you know that Li Jiajia bought her luxury goods from Zhang Xiaoxue?"

Wang Dalu trembled and remained silent.

Zhong Xiaoai asked calmly, "Wang Dalu, at this point, are you still going to keep holding on?"

Wang Dalu remained silent for a long time, so long that Zhong Xiaoai thought he would never speak again.

Then he raised his head, took a deep breath, as if he had finally given up: "Forget it, it's come to this point, there's no point in saying anything now."

“Then tell the truth,” Zhong Xiaoai said, “You transferred five million one hundred thousand US dollars to Li Jiajia, but how much did you actually spend?”

Wang Dalu closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. His voice was low but clear: "Around one million US dollars, including her tuition, some luxury goods, and some normal living expenses."

"What about the remaining four million?"

“It’s fake accounts,” Wang Dalu said. “I arranged for Zhang Xiaoxue to get close to her in the United States, guide her to develop a habit of high consumption, and then sell her those high-quality counterfeit items at high prices. The money was transferred to her account and then flowed back to the accounts I controlled through various channels.”

Aren't you afraid Li Jiajia will find out?

“The high-quality replicas I provided were extremely realistic, so Li Jiajia had no chance of noticing. When she was going to attend some important occasions, Zhang Xiaoxue would guide her to carry those real bags. In addition, many times when Li Jiajia was short of money, she would sell bags to raise funds, and Zhang Xiaoxue would also recoup some money from Li Jiajia.”

"With the internet so developed now, how can you guarantee that Li Jiajia won't verify it online?"

“When you buy something at a low price, you’ll definitely try to verify its authenticity, but when you buy it at a normal price, you’re less likely to think about authentication. Moreover, buying luxury goods has become a regular part of Li Jiajia’s daily life, and Zhang Xiaoxue has built trust with her, so she has no reason to doubt it. Furthermore, Zhang Xiaoxue told her that high spending would affect her father and asked her not to post it on social media, which was an extra layer of insurance. Anyway, up until now, Li Jiajia hasn’t found out.”

Zhong Xiaoai wrote this down in her notebook, remembering every single word carefully.

"Why do this? What's the point of manipulating such a complex situation?"

“Because I want Li Dakang to pay the price,” Wang Dalu said, his voice carrying something that had been suppressed for a long time. “If it’s just one million dollars, he can grit his teeth, sell his house, and still pay it back. But if it’s five million, he will never be able to pay it back. This debt will stay with him for the rest of his life, becoming a permanent stain, and his career will be over.”

"You hate him?"

“Hate,” Wang Dalu said, something in his eyes. “In 1993, something happened in Jinshan County. I was implicated by Li Dakang and forced to resign from my position as deputy county head and go into business. Those years were very hard. My business was just starting out. I had to ask for help everywhere and kept running into walls.”

He paused, his voice lowering, but every word carried a real pain: "I tried to contact him, hoping he would put in a good word for me, at least meet with me, have a cup of tea, and let the outside world know that my relationship with him is still there, so that it would be easier for me to do business."

"But what about him?" For the first time, Wang Dalu's voice revealed obvious resentment. "He avoids me like the plague, not answering my calls or replying to my texts. When I asked someone to pass on a message, he made excuses about being busy with work. I waited outside his office once, and his secretary came out and told me not to make things difficult for their Party Secretary."

Zhong Xiaoai listened without interrupting him, letting him continue.

"Do you know what that feels like?" Wang Dalu raised his head, his eyes filled with an indescribable feeling. "We worked together in Jinshan County, worked overtime together, drank together, and handled many things together. I thought we were friends, or at least comrades-in-arms."

"But he avoided me like the plague. It wasn't just about avoiding suspicion; it was about humiliation, utter humiliation."

“I understand why he did this. He was afraid that I would implicate him or cause him trouble. He wanted to protect his career. I understand, but I still hate him.”

After writing down these words, Zhong Xiaoai paused for a moment and asked, "So you set up this scheme?"

“Yes,” Wang Dalu nodded. “I’ve thought about it for many years, figuring out how to get revenge on him. Then I realized that what he cares about most is his career, so I’ll ruin his career. Doesn’t he cherish his reputation? Then I’ll make sure he’s no longer clean. No need to lift a finger, no need to find anyone, just use money, use a debt he can’t repay, to trap him.”

"Is it just for revenge? Or are you trying to blackmail him into breaking the law to do things for you?"

Whether it was true or not, Wang Dalu would not admit it at this point, as it involved sentencing: "No, it was just for revenge."

Zhong Xiaoai didn't dwell on it at this point, lest she arouse Wang Dalu's resistance, and continued to ask, "When did you originally plan to start it?"

“Just recently,” Wang Dalu said, “the amount hadn’t accumulated to a certain level before. Besides, there were rumors that Li Dakang was going to become the governor. I’m planning to detonate this at a critical moment. If he can’t pass the test in terms of public opinion and discipline, he’s finished.”

Chapter 147 Li Dakang

In fact, Li Dakang couldn't even repay the $400 million. Zhong Xiaoai suspected that it was precisely the previous rumors of a "Gao-Li pairing" that made Wang Dalu postpone his actions—waiting for Li Dakang to become the second-highest-ranking official in the province so that he could seize more benefits.

Following Wang Dalu's train of thought, she guided him to say more:

"But Ouyang Jing got into trouble."

“Yes.” Wang Dalu gave a wry smile. “I didn’t expect Ouyang Jing to have an accident, and it happened so suddenly, disrupting all my plans. Li Jiajia wasn’t supposed to return to China. According to my plan, she would stay in the United States to work, and I would have someone leak the information when the time was right. But with Ouyang Jing’s accident, Li Dakang made Li Jiajia return to China, and the perfect plan was flawed.”

After Zhong Xiaoai finished writing down these words, she looked up at Wang Dalu and said, "Since you have the ability, why don't you use real money? No matter how perfect the plan is, there is still a possibility of something going wrong."

Wang Dalu smiled wryly: "What I said before about not lacking money was just bragging. Director Zhong, you don't know this unless you're in business. The most important thing for a company isn't assets, but cash flow. As long as the cash flow is flowing, the company can operate normally. Isn't that what happened to Cai Chenggong of Dafeng Factory? Once the bank withdrew its loans and the cash flow dried up, the suppliers and creditors rushed to withdraw their funds, and the company immediately went bankrupt."

“Although I am better off than Tsai Chenggong, I am also in a traditional industry. I have billions in assets on paper, but most of them are fixed assets and inventory—factories, equipment, and stock. These things cannot be converted into cash immediately. My cash flow has always been very tight. If I were to come up with five million US dollars all at once, my company would be in big trouble.”

“Originally, I was also planning to use real money, but Li Jiajia’s appetite is getting bigger and bigger. If we keep satisfying her demands, it may affect the normal operation of the company. So I decided to set up this scheme to let the money circulate on the books and actually come back to my hands.”