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

The video feed showed only empty chairs and a slightly messy table. The Standing Committee members, both online and offline, looked at each other in bewilderment; a heavy silence filled the meeting room.

Everyone understood the weight of the "accountability call from higher-ups" that came so quickly.

In the temporary office next door, Sha Ruijin closed the door, took a deep breath, and then picked up the red secure phone and dialed back.

The call was connected almost instantly.

"Vice President, hello, I am Sha Ruijin." His voice was respectful but tense.

A calm, steady male voice, devoid of much emotion, came from the other end of the phone: "Comrade Ruijin, on behalf of the Cabinet, I am now inquiring about the mass incident at Dafeng Factory in Dongjingzhou last night."

“Yes, I understand. Please ask.” Sha Ruijin straightened up.

"The first question is about the incident information, especially video images, which spread rapidly across the internet in a very short time and quickly reached overseas, causing a negative international impact. Has the cause been identified? Which link in the chain went wrong?"

Sha Ruijin, already prepared, immediately replied: "The investigation is basically complete. The direct cause is the son of a retired union cadre from Dafeng Factory, who works in the online trolling industry and livestreamed the incident. Behind this is Comrade Chen Yanshi, a retired deputy chief prosecutor from our provincial procuratorate. He remains active even after retirement, and has long been involved in Dafeng Factory affairs, maintaining close ties with these employees' families. This time, it is very likely that under his influence or tacit approval, the employee's family member adopted this extreme method of online communication, intending to escalate the situation and put pressure on the government."

He did not hesitate to shift the main responsibility to Chen Yanshi.

Zheng Xipo and his son Zheng Qian are too insignificant to bear such a heavy burden.

Chen Yanshi's status as a retired high-ranking official made it easier to explain his "power," and his "opportunistic" behavior made it easy for Sha Ruijin to abandon him without any psychological burden—even with a hint of resentment at being "manipulated."

The preliminary report he received also showed that Chen Yanshi and Zheng Xipo had indeed been in extremely close contact.

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone before the question was asked: "Why would a retired deputy chief prosecutor, when faced with a problem, not report it through normal organizational channels, but instead incite employees to use the internet, even leading to the leak of information? Is this a sign of distrust of the organization, or is there another reason?"

This is a very pointed question.

Sha Ruijin certainly couldn't say "because no one paid attention to the complaints," because that would be a slap in the face to the entire Handong system, and even more so to him, the top leader.

He chose a "safer" direction for accusation:

"According to our understanding, after Comrade Chen Yanshi retired, his mentality changed somewhat, and he sometimes appeared rather... cynical. He made some extreme remarks on different occasions, such as questioning the impartiality of our province's judicial system and claiming that 'the courts and certain entrepreneurs are in cahoots.' This reflects that he may indeed have some distrust of the organization. This behavior is probably a continuation of this erroneous thinking."

He cleverly brought up what Chen Yanshi said during his conflict with Qi Tongwei, which not only confirmed that Chen Yanshi "had ideological problems" but also implied that his behavior was not accidental.

They also made sure the nails on his coffin lid were nailed in more securely.

"Hmm." The person on the other end of the phone remained noncommittal, only saying, "For retired comrades whose thinking has become skewed, who are unable to play their proper role, or who even interfere with normal work, their former work units and departments responsible for veteran cadres should strengthen education and management."

Sha Ruijin immediately chimed in: "Yes, our provincial party committee has also taken note of this problem. In fact, at a recent meeting, Executive Vice Governor Qi Tongwei had already seriously criticized Comrade Chen Yanshi's erroneous words and deeds, and instructed the provincial party committee's organization department and the bureau of veteran cadres to conduct special talks and education with him. However, it seems that the effect is not yet obvious, and his ideological transformation requires a process."

He instinctively didn't want to glorify Qi Tongwei, but since the matter was public, he couldn't hide it, so he might as well bring it up and make it seem like the provincial party committee had already taken action.

Qi Tongwei has connections, and he currently has no conflict with Qi Tongwei. Rashly taking credit would only worsen their relationship.

The person on the other end of the phone skipped over that topic and instead asked, "How does your provincial party committee plan to completely resolve the specific issues of demolition and employee resettlement at Dafeng Factory?"

Sha Ruijin's spirits lifted; this was the moment to demonstrate his control and decisiveness: "Please rest assured, leaders, I am currently presiding over a temporary meeting of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee to specifically study and deploy the follow-up work for the Dafeng Factory incident. We will form a special working group, led by provincial leaders, to thoroughly resolve the Dafeng Factory's property rights dispute and employee resettlement issues in accordance with laws and regulations, fairly and reasonably, and ensure that similar incidents never happen again."

The demolition of a factory with a thousand employees would not have even caught the attention of this level of authorities unless it had escalated to this extent.

Usually, the district head can handle it, but if the municipal party secretary gets involved, it's considered that he or she is taking it seriously.

The other party was clearly not interested in this either, and after receiving Sha Ruijin's promise that it was "being handled," they stopped asking questions.

However, the tone on the phone immediately turned slightly somber, and a question was asked that made Sha Ruijin's heart tighten:

"Furthermore, we understand that when the incident occurred last night and the situation was unclear, Comrade Gao Yuliang, the Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, urgently called you to report, but your secretary stopped him on the grounds that you were already resting. Is this true?"

Sha Ruijin's heart sank. He knew that the accountability line within the political and legal system was independent, and Gao Yuliang had certainly already been questioned.

Gao Yuliang had no reason or need to take the blame for this "concealment," and telling the truth was the most natural choice.

He took a deep breath and answered cautiously, “Yes, that did happen. It was around dawn… My secretary has the exact time recorded. When Comrade Gao Yuliang called, I was indeed already resting. My secretary, considering that I was very tired from days of grassroots investigations and had already gone to sleep, and based on what he had learned from Comrade Gao Yuliang at the time—that Comrade Li Dakang, the secretary of the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee, was already on the scene and the situation was under initial control—both he and Comrade Gao Yuliang misjudged the seriousness and urgency of the subsequent development of the situation. Therefore, after my secretary explained to Comrade Gao Yuliang that I was resting, Comrade Gao Yuliang did not insist that I be woken up immediately.”

His statement was extremely deliberate: he emphasized that Li Dakang was present and "controlled the situation," attributed the "misjudgment" to the secretary and Gao Yuliang as a joint responsibility, and finally pointed out that it was Gao Yuliang himself who did not insist.

Logically, it seems to make sense.

However, the person on the other end of the phone is not so easily fooled.

"The organization will investigate Comrade Gao Yuliang's case separately." The other party's voice remained calm, but the following question was as precise as a scalpel, hitting the core issue: "Let me rephrase the question: If last night's incident had not subsequently spread online or overseas, in your opinion, was it appropriate for your secretary to block Gao Yuliang's report?"

Sha Ruijin choked up, momentarily speechless.

The brilliance of this question lies in the fact that it strips away the "outcome" (the media frenzy) and only questions the rationality of the "behavior" itself.

No matter how you answer, it will be wrong.

He did make a mistake this time, and he can't completely absolve himself of responsibility with just a few words. Even the most skilled strategist can only choose to take a relatively minor responsibility through words.

Answering "not suitable" would be tantamount to admitting the secretary made a serious mistake, and the root cause of the secretary's mistake lies in the leader's misjudgment in personnel selection and ineffective management. This directly points to serious problems with his leadership ability and control as the top leader. As the top leader, if he cannot even manage his own close and trusted secretary, how can the organization believe that he can manage the 30 cadres and 8300 million people of Handong?

It's not that secretaries can't make mistakes, but rather that as the leader's closest confidant, when a secretary makes a small mistake, the leader should guide him to correct it or even replace him directly, rather than giving him the opportunity to make a big mistake.

If a secretary is sent to another post, it has nothing to do with the leader anymore. For example, when Chen Qingquan was arrested, it had virtually no impact on Gao Yuliang. However, if a secretary in office has problems, the current leader cannot get away with it and will be directly questioned about his leadership ability.

Even if the answer is "appropriate," there is still a problem, and it will be directly considered that the person lacks the ability to understand and judge the event.

Sha Rui's forehead was slightly sweaty as his mind raced. He knew he had indeed been careless last night, and deep down he even felt some resentment towards Gao Yuliang for his "lack of persistence." But at this moment, he had to choose the lesser of two evils.

Misjudging the speed at which online public opinion ferments is a mistake that many officials may make (as did Gao Yuliang and Li Dakang?), which falls under the category of "limited understanding".

He gritted his teeth and chose the latter: "Leader, I deeply regret my actions. This has exposed that we, especially myself, seriously underestimated the speed and potential harm of public opinion fermentation in the current new media environment, and were complacent and took chances. Based on the initial feedback from the scene, we mistakenly believed that the situation was under control and did not foresee the possibility of its chain reaction and public opinion outbreak. This was a serious misjudgment."

He attempted to disguise his act of "intercepting reports" as a result of "collective misjudgment" and "insufficient ability."

However, the voice on the other end of the phone didn't let him off the hook; instead, following his logic, it launched into even harsher questioning:

"So you mean that if a deputy secretary of the provincial party committee reports to you late at night about an emergency involving a gathering of thousands of people and a standoff with serious safety hazards, as long as you 'judge' that public opinion won't explode, the urgency of the matter isn't enough to interrupt your rest?"

This isn't to say that Sha Ruijin is stupid. He's used to being stubborn and domineering, and he's used to being in charge and having his own say. When he was in charge, he didn't even respect the second-in-command. Now that he's managing a major economic province, he subconsciously doesn't take such trivial matters to heart.

Yes, if he hadn't always displayed such an attitude, Bai Jingwen wouldn't have been influenced by him and made the decision to stop him.

Sha Ruijin's face flushed, and he quickly protested, "Sir, that's absolutely not what I meant! I always remember..."

He was verbally defending himself, but inwardly he was even a little dissatisfied, feeling that this trivial matter was being blown out of proportion.

"Alright." The other person interrupted him, their tone seemingly softening a bit, but the content remained heavy. "I noticed you've visited quite a few places this time, which is good. But when conducting research, you can't just listen to reports from officials; you need to go down to the front lines and listen to what the workers in the workshops, the farmers in the fields, and the shopkeepers on the street have to say. Get closer to the people."

"Yes! The leader's criticism is spot on, I fully accept it, and I will definitely reflect deeply and make immediate corrections!" Sha Ruijin knew that arguing was pointless, and the only option was to admit his mistake completely.

"Write a detailed report on this incident, including the process, causes, responsibility analysis, handling, and your reflections, and submit it directly."

"Yes, I will definitely write it carefully."

The call ended. Sha Ruijin stood there, holding the receiver, for a full minute, his face so dark it seemed to drip water. That phrase, "connect more with the people," stung like a whip across his face.

He had never been criticized so directly and mercilessly, especially regarding his work style and stance towards the masses.

A mixture of shame, anger, and an indescribable sense of suffocation surged in my chest.

When he returned to the online meeting room and appeared in front of the camera, everyone noticed the oppressive atmosphere emanating from him.

The Standing Committee members, who had been exchanging opinions in hushed tones, immediately fell silent; the meeting room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Sha Ruijin didn't slam his fist on the table or raise his voice, but his cold gaze and even more concise tone created an immense sense of oppression. He scanned the room, his gaze finally settling on Li Dakang:

"Comrade Dakang, let's continue with our previous topic. How does the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee plan to completely resolve the Dafeng Factory issue? I don't want temporary appeasement, I want a solution to eradicate the problem."

Li Dakang had already prepared his speech: "Secretary Sha, the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee and Government will establish a special working group, which I will lead, to properly handle the resettlement and compensation of the employees of Dafeng Factory. We will study and formulate a plan, with the government allocating a portion of the funds, while coordinating with relevant enterprises to jointly solve the livelihood and security issues of the employees and ensure a smooth transition."

This plan is basically based on the idea of ​​"buying peace of mind with money," which is also a common approach to dealing with similar thorny issues.

Sha Ruijin pondered, seemingly weighing his options.

Just then, a calm but clear voice broke the silence:

"I think this is inappropriate."

Chapter 116 The Relocation of Dafeng Factory

The one who spoke was naturally Qi Tongwei.

In an instant, all eyes, whether on-site or on screen, were on him. The young executive vice governor sat there, relaxed, but his slightly forward-leaning posture and the firmness in his eyes naturally made him the center of attention.

Qi Tongwei didn't care about the stares and continued in his unhurried tone: "Last time I went to Jingzhou to hold an on-site meeting for the Guangming Peak project, Comrade Chen Yanshi came to the site and raised the issue of Dafeng Factory's equity. I then looked into this matter in detail."

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, and continued, "My basic assessment is that Dafeng Factory is currently a private enterprise. Although it has an employee stock ownership plan, its equity dispute with Shanshui Group, and even the resulting obstruction of demolition, are essentially economic disputes between private enterprises. The government's role is to adjudicate and supervise the execution of the law. It has no obligation, much less the right, to use public funds to 'back up' or 'pay the bill' for either party."

His tone grew increasingly serious: "Once this precedent is set today, and it is acknowledged that 'making a scene' can earn extra compensation, then throughout Handong, whenever land acquisition, demolition, enterprise restructuring, or interest adjustments are involved, people will follow suit. The government will be forever tied down in endless 'compensation' negotiations, development costs will rise indefinitely, and the rule of law will be undermined. This precedent cannot be set."

As soon as he finished speaking, several members of the Standing Committee nodded slightly, indicating that they could discuss the matter.

The propaganda minister added, "I agree with Secretary Dakang's approach of calming the situation as soon as possible. Public opinion is still fermenting, especially the distorted reports from the internet and some unfriendly overseas media, which are very detrimental to us. We must come up with a 'solution' stance and plan as soon as possible to guide the direction of public opinion."

Organization Minister Wu Chunlin adjusted his glasses and said cautiously, “From the perspective of organizational procedures and overall stability, Comrade Dakang’s plan is feasible. The number of employees at Dafeng Factory is large, and their emotions are running high; simply resisting is not the solution. Appropriate economic compensation, if it can ensure the smooth progress of the project and social stability, is a cost… worth considering. The key is that the plan must be thorough, and the compensation standards and scope must be strictly limited to avoid setting a bad example of ‘distribution based on who makes the most noise.’”

Gao Yuliang sat with his hands crossed on the table, calmly looking at Sha Ruijin on the screen, then scanning the crowd before slowly speaking: "Comrade Dakang's eagerness to advance the project and stabilize the situation is understandable. However, 'special handling' requires extreme caution. The equity issue of Dafeng Factory is legally ambiguous, Cai Chenggong's forgery of signatures is a fact, and the employees' emotions have a source. If we simply use public funds to fill the gap in a dispute between private enterprises, what is the legal basis? What are the policy boundaries? If we fill the gap in Dafeng Factory today, will there be a 'small Dafeng Factory' or a 'medium Dafeng Factory' tomorrow? This loophole is easy to open but difficult to close. I believe that in handling this matter, the bottom line of law and policy cannot be broken; we must find a solution within the framework."

Gao Yuliang's words were subtle yet incisive, pointing out the risks of Li Dakang's plan while also implicitly clarifying his stance of "following the rules," which aligns with his recent increasingly detached attitude.

Standing next to Sha Ruijin, Tian Guofu's voice came through the microphone, carrying the caution characteristic of a discipline inspection cadre: "Secretary Yuliang's reminder is very important. Where will the compensation come from? How will it be used? Will the audit pass? These are all questions. More importantly, we cannot let the outside world get the misconception that 'the bigger the fuss, the more compensation we get,' as that would encourage a bad trend and discourage our colleagues working on the front lines. The solution must stand up to scrutiny."

Li Dakang's face darkened slightly as he interjected, "Governor Qi, that's the logic. But the reality is, higher-level leaders have already held us accountable. The Guangmingfeng project has been delayed by Dafeng Factory for far too long, resulting in huge losses every day! These are extraordinary times. Paying some economic price to ensure the project's smooth progress and rapid stabilization of the situation is an acceptable cost! This is also for the overall development of the province!"

The discussion seemed to have reached a stalemate. One side advocated for a flexible approach to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible; the other side emphasized adhering to rules and bottom lines to avoid future troubles.

Qi Tongwei slowly shook his head, his sharp gaze fixed on Li Dakang, and also seemingly on Sha Ruijin behind the screen: "Secretary Dakang, it is precisely because of the accountability from higher-level leaders that we must be more cautious, and our handling plan must withstand more scrutiny. Last night's incident has already damaged our image in front of our superiors, leaving the impression of 'no prior warning and slow response.' If we continue to use such a simplistic and crude approach, even bordering on 'paying to avoid trouble,' what will our superiors think?"

He leaned forward, his voice low but carrying a powerful sense of pressure: "How do you write the report? The leaders don't even need to conduct an in-depth investigation. They only need to ask one question: Since Jingzhou City could solve the problem by paying for it itself, why didn't it do so earlier? Why wait until the matter escalates, becomes a mass incident, and alarms the whole country and even overseas before thinking about spending money?"

He looked directly at Li Dakang and posed the fatal question: "Secretary Dakang, how will you answer that? Does our Handong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government act without regard to Party discipline and national laws, only considering the magnitude of the pressure?"

Li Dakang was speechless for a moment, his face turning red.

The meeting room was completely silent.

On the other side of the screen, Sha Ruijin's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table. The anger and unease from his stern questioning by his superiors had not yet subsided, but after hearing Qi Tongwei's analysis, the scales in his heart had already tipped.

Li Dakang's plan might be able to resolve the problem quickly, but it could have endless consequences, especially since he's already being watched by his superiors, and any procedural flaws could be magnified.

What he needs is a solution that can stand the test of time and withstand scrutiny.

"Comrade Tongwei is right," Sha Ruijin finally spoke, making a definitive statement. "The current handling must be extremely cautious, and we cannot leave any more incriminating evidence. Comrade Dakang, your plan is well-intentioned, but it is indeed flawed."

He turned to Qi Tongwei, his tone expectant: "Comrade Tongwei, since you've considered this so thoroughly, you must have even more comprehensive ideas? Share them so we can discuss them."

Qi Tongwei nodded slightly, sat up straight again, and explained clearly: "I believe that to completely solve the problem of Dafeng Factory, we must grasp three key points and deal with them in order."

"First, control the source. The reason this incident has had such a negative impact is that some people have fueled the flames, using the internet to amplify the situation instantly, even spreading it overseas, putting us in a very passive position. Therefore, the premise of all subsequent actions is to quickly cut off illegal and malicious online channels of dissemination, investigate and punish those who spread rumors and incite others, and regain control of public opinion. Before we control this 'amplifier,' any major actions may be distorted or exploited, and should not be taken rashly."

The Standing Committee members present nodded in agreement. They might not be familiar with the information warfare of the internet age, but they had already experienced its power firsthand.