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

Zheng Qian remained unconcerned, spouting nonsense about a society governed by the rule of law, and telling Zheng Xipo not to worry.

Zheng Xipo's heart skipped a beat, and he vaguely sensed that the matter was not simple and was by no means an ordinary dispute.

He immediately thought of his biggest backer and ran breathlessly to Chen Yanshi's house to explain the situation.

Chen Yanshi hung up the phone from his son Chen Hai, his face somber.

After listening to Zheng Xipo's words, he raised his eyelids, his voice distant: "Little Zheng, I understand you're anxious. But you can't just eat whatever you want, you can't just say whatever you want. What do you mean by 'everything was done as I said'?"

Zheng Xipo snapped to attention and quickly corrected himself: "Yes, yes, Mr. Chen, I was confused and misspoke! I only have one son, Zheng Qian, and he's been arrested, most likely because of the Dafeng Factory incident... Mr. Chen, you have to help me, please save him!"

Chen Yanshi sighed heavily, his face showing a helpless exhaustion: "I want to help too, but now... I'm powerless to do anything about it."

Zheng Xipo grew anxious. Was this old man going to abandon him after using him? He couldn't help but bring up the "trump card" he had overheard: "Old Chen, don't you...don't you have a past with the newly arrived Secretary Sha Ruijin? If you say hello to him, say a few words, it will definitely work!"

"Nonsense!" Chen Yanshi's face hardened. "Who is Secretary Sha Ruijin? Who am I? Can I just go and say hello to him like that? There are established procedures within the organization!"

Seeing Zheng Xipo panic, Chen Yanshi's tone softened slightly, but the content was more somber: "You may not know this, but I just received news that my son, Chen Hai, has been demoted from the director of the provincial anti-corruption bureau to the director of the enterprise inspection office. He was implicated in this matter."

He deliberately downplayed the impact of the Ding Yizhen incident, or perhaps in his eyes, the Ding Yizhen incident was nothing at all.

After all, in the eyes of this father and son, laws and regulations are not meant to be obeyed.

"What?!" Zheng Xipo was genuinely shocked. A big shot like Chen Hai, just moved like that?

Chen Yanshi pressed on, subtly pointing upwards with his finger: "Your little Zheng is so reckless! I asked him to spread the word, but he went and leaked it overseas! It caused extremely negative international repercussions! Now, everyone knows! Secretary Sha has been severely reprimanded by his superiors!"

Upon hearing "above" and "accountability," Zheng Xipo instinctively felt fear, shrank his neck, and dared not utter another word.

Chen Yanshi: "This matter must be investigated thoroughly! I've ruined my son's future because of your Dafeng Factory! Zheng Qian is the direct transmitter, the evidence is conclusive, what can I do now?"

Concerned for his only son's safety, Zheng Xipo's paternal love briefly overcame his fear, and he couldn't help but argue, "Old Chen, back then... back then you were the one who said the bigger the impact, the better..."

“But I didn’t tell him to leak it abroad!” Chen Yanshi immediately interrupted, his tone tinged with annoyance at being “misunderstood.” “This affects the image of the nation! How can the two situations be the same?”

This is simply being unreasonable and cheating.

Zheng Xipo dared not speak his anger, and could only turn to ask for help: "Then... what do we do now? How about we organize the workers to go to the provincial government gate..."

"Absolutely not!" Chen Yanshi exclaimed, startled. "We absolutely cannot escalate the conflict now! That would be adding fuel to the fire, courting death!"

"Then tell me, what should we do?" Zheng Xipo was completely at a loss, his face contorted with despair.

Chen Yanshi remained silent for a moment, as if he had made a difficult choice, before slowly speaking, his voice heavy with the weight of shared suffering: "The only way out now is to resolve the demolition issue of Dafeng Factory as soon as possible and thoroughly. If we settle this matter, perhaps... we can atone for our crimes and strive for leniency."

He looked at Zheng Xipo, his eyes "sincere": "Right now, we feel the same way. You want to save your son, and I want to save my son too! Chen Hai is in the prime of his life, with a bright future ahead of him. If it weren't for me... actively getting involved in the Dafeng Factory matter, how could he have been implicated like this? Sigh..."

He sighed and played the "emotional card."

Although Zheng Xipo vaguely felt that Chen Yanshi's motives for getting involved were impure, his political insight was so keen that he couldn't see through the complex power struggles behind it.

If Zheng Xipo were truly that perceptive, he wouldn't have ended up in this state.

Chen Hai's dramatic fall from the powerful anti-corruption bureau chief to the lowly corporate inspector was so real that it made him believe in Chen Yanshi's "selflessness" and "shared misfortune."

"Mr. Chen..." Zheng Xipo's voice was hoarse, "Then tell me, what should we do specifically?"

Chen Yanshi looked directly at him and said, word by word, "Make the workers accept the demolition voluntarily, the sooner the better."

Zheng Xipo: "Then... what about compensation?"

Chen Yanshi said expressionlessly, "There is no compensation."

"No compensation?!" Zheng Xipo jumped to his feet as if his tail had been stepped on. "How can that be?! The workers will never agree to that!"

Chen Yanshi looked at Zheng Xipo's "petty" and "unable to see the big picture" attitude with disdain, but the demolition still needed to be pushed forward by him, so he had to patiently "encourage" him: "Little Zheng, you have to face reality. Dafeng Factory has long been insolvent, and your little bit of equity is worthless in bankruptcy liquidation."

“But that piece of land is valuable!” Zheng Xipo said anxiously.

"The land belongs to the state, not Dafeng Factory!" Chen Yanshi emphasized, his tone carrying a reprimanding tone. "I intervened because I couldn't stand Shanshui Group's embezzlement of state-owned assets, hoping to help the workers snatch some scraps from the capitalists' mouths. Now, this matter has blown up too much; it's reached the highest levels! Secretary Sha personally called me, and Shanshui Group has proactively contacted the city, willing to pay an additional 1 billion yuan in land transfer fees!"

"Ten...hundreds of millions?" Zheng Xipo was stunned by this astronomical figure, his mouth agape, speechless for a moment.

Chen Yanshi continued, "Now, that piece of land was bought from the government by Shanshui Group for a billion yuan, which is legal and legitimate. It has nothing to do with your Dafeng Factory anymore!"

Zheng Xipo's face was ashen, and he stammered unwillingly, "But...but what about the 60 million yuan bridge loan that Cai Chenggong borrowed from Shanshui Group? At least half of it was secured by our workers' shares! That money should be..."

"That 60 million was used to pay off the factory's old debts and bank loans!" Chen Yanshi interrupted impatiently. "It wasn't swallowed up by Cai Chenggong personally, so how could it be distributed to the workers? Even if the company goes bankrupt, the debts must be paid off first, and only the shareholders can receive dividends if there's any left over! With the current hole in Dafeng Factory, if it weren't for limited liability, you shareholders would have to put money into it to pay off the debts!"

Zheng Xipo fell silent, collapsing back into his seat, utterly dejected. Was the cause he had dedicated himself to, the one he considered his final stage in life, about to crumble silently like this? A profound sense of loss and resentment gnawed at his heart.

But what could he do? Chen Yanshi, his biggest backer and "flag bearer," had clearly backed down, and his own son was still in someone else's hands.

Chen Yanshi knew the time was right and delivered the final blow, which was also the real threat: "Zheng Qian's matter could be big or small, depending on the follow-up impact. If the Dafeng Factory matter can be resolved quickly and smoothly, his problem might not be so big. If it continues to be deadlocked and dragged on... then it's hard to say what the outcome will be."

Zheng Xipo harbored resentment: Wasn't all of this instigated by you, Chen Yanshi? Now that the storm has blown too big, you want to back down and even use my son as a hostage to force me to submit?

But Zheng Qian was his lifeline, his only weakness.

He seemed to have his spine removed, his head drooping low, all his struggles, pride, and resentment vanishing in that moment. He said in an almost resigned voice, "Old Chen... I'll listen to you. Tell me, what should we do next?"

A fleeting hint of satisfaction crossed Chen Yanshi's face, but he quickly suppressed it, replacing it with a serious expression: "Then I'll have to trouble you. Go back and persuade the workers to accept reality and agree to the demolition."

Zheng Xipo trembled all over.

This means that he has to personally play the role of the "traitor" and "scab" to announce that the workers' struggle for so long has ultimately yielded nothing.

His reputation and prestige, built up over decades at Dafeng Factory, will collapse in an instant, drowned in spit.

He spoke with difficulty, making a last-ditch effort: "Old Chen, it's not that I'm unwilling... it's just that the workers' appetites have been whetted, and Secretary Sha personally promised that 'the demolition won't happen if the workers don't agree.' Even if I go and talk to them, it's no use; no one will listen."

Because of that promise from Sha Ruijin, Chen Yanshi was even more determined to resolve the matter "cleverly," as this might be his only chance to salvage the bad impression he had of Sha Ruijin and atone for his mistakes.

He had already devised a plan, his voice calm yet ruthless: "It's not enough for just you to say it. Make a list of the workers who are the ringleaders, those with organizational skills, and those whose words carry weight. I'll give it to my friends in the public security system to check what companies their children and relatives work for. Then, I'll have leaders from the CPPCC or relevant departments 'have a chat' with their children's bosses, and then have the children go home and persuade their parents. As they get older, they should think about their children's future; their children's words carry more weight than ours."

Chen Yanshi's plan was simple yet extremely ruthless.

The so-called "persuasion" is, of course, a euphemism. In reality, it's a threat using the children's jobs and future prospects.

Zheng Xipo felt as if he were truly getting to know the gentle, upright old man before him for the first time. His previous resentment was replaced by a deeper fear. He cautiously asked, "Then... could we just let their children persuade them? I don't need to get involved. With their children's help, that should be enough..."

Chen Yanshi shook his head decisively: "No. We need someone to take the lead to persuade and organize us. Otherwise, if we keep doing this piecemeal, how long will it drag on?"

This isn't about being a leader; it's about making him take the blame and attract all the hatred and anger.

The workers' expectations for huge compensation were dashed, and their pent-up resentment needed a specific outlet.

Zheng Xipo, the former union chairman and liaison for the protests, was the perfect target.

He "betrayed" everyone; he used those "practical reasons" to persuade the other leaders. As long as the workers couldn't organize themselves and form a united force, things could be resolved "smoothly."

Zheng Xipo knew he had no choice.

Just as Chen Yanshi used the future prospects of workers' children to control those leaders, he also used Zheng Qian's freedom to firmly grasp his lifeline.

The thought of his life's work, his carefully cultivated network of connections, and his reputation, which he cherished as his lifeblood, about to be destroyed filled him with sorrow and despair, and tears welled up in his eyes. He lowered his head, like an old dog with a broken spine, and stammered, "Well... Mr. Chen, I... I'll go back and organize the list."

Chen Yanshi hummed in agreement, his tone calm: "Go ahead, and give it to me as soon as possible."

Watching Zheng Xipo leave with his back hunched, the forced toughness and coldness on Chen Yanshi's face slowly faded, leaving only deep exhaustion and frustration.

He leaned back in his chair, his age spots standing out starkly in the dim light.

Man proposes, God disposes. A meticulously planned game, on the verge of checkmate, was suddenly overturned by a higher force, resulting in the loss of even his own son.

The original intention was to present Sha Ruijin with a generous gift as a stepping stone to advancement, but now the gift has become a hot potato, and the surprise has turned into a shock.

Although it could be said that "good intentions led to bad results," would Sha Ruijin appreciate this favor? After not having any contact for many years, could he really expect someone to do something for him just because he said, "I held you when you were little"?

He smiled bitterly to himself, realizing that he had used Zheng Xipo and the workers' children's future to blackmail them, while Sha Ruijin was using Chen Hai's career path to warn him.

What's going on here?

Moreover, Sha Ruijin went even further. He threatened others, at least saying, "If you don't do it, I'll do this or that."

Sha Ruijin first hits you hard, making you see stars, and then tells you that if you don't do what he says, there might be even worse things to come, and you won't even see a hint of a sweet date.

Recalling Sha Ruijin's phone call, his tone seemed warm, and he addressed him as "Uncle Chen" naturally, but between the lines were stern commands and unquestionable bottom lines, leaving no room for negotiation.

Even if he resolved the Dafeng Factory issue "perfectly," how much goodwill would he regain with Sha Ruijin? He wasn't sure. For a high-ranking official to be held accountable by his superiors for his own mess was practically a political capital offense.

Handong...where else can we make a fuss and redeem ourselves? He closed his eyes, his fingers unconsciously tapping the armrest of the chair, his mind racing through the known information and network of relationships.

"Dad! What on earth is going on?!"

A shout filled with anger and confusion interrupted Chen Yanshi's thoughts.

Chen Hai actually came back, standing at the living room door with a livid face.

Chen Yanshi opened his eyes and saw his son. Instead of feeling relieved, he frowned and said sternly, "Why are you back? What kind of behavior is it to be away from work at this hour!"

Chen Hai said nonchalantly, his tone dejected: "What else can I do at the bureau now? The handover is all done, and I'm just an eyesore sitting there, so I might as well come back."

"Foolish!" Chen Yanshi scolded. "The more critical the moment, the less we can afford to relax! If your work attitude is not proper, are you just waiting for someone to find fault with you and say that you are resisting the organization or have grievances against your superiors?"

Chen Hai smiled bitterly: "It's come to this point, what difference does my attitude make? Even if I sleep in the office, it won't change the fact that I'm being exiled."

Chen Yanshi felt a pang of pain in his heart as he looked at his son's dejected appearance, but his tone remained stern: "Things are different now! You need to be mindful of your influence, especially the opinions of your Chief Prosecutor Ji Changming! Don't give anyone ammunition to criticize you!"

"Old Ji?" Chen Hai was a little surprised. "I've always had a good relationship with him, and he's always been quite considerate of me..."

“Don’t underestimate him!” Chen Yanshi interrupted his son, his gaze deep. “Ji Changming is no simple man. He managed to maintain relative neutrality during the Zhao family and Han University factions' time, and ultimately rose to the position of chief prosecutor. This wasn’t just due to luck or seniority. Now that you’ve offended Qi Tongwei, you might have also alienated Sha Ruijin, and Gao Yuliang’s protection is no longer what it used to be. At this time, you must be extremely cautious in your words and actions, and proceed with utmost care!”

Chen Hai's impression of Ji Changming as a "nice guy" was deeply ingrained, and he didn't quite agree with it, but he was more concerned about another question: "Dad, how did I offend Secretary Sha? Why is he targeting me too?"

Chen Yanshi sighed and explained the situation to Chen Hai.

After listening, Chen Hai remained silent for a long time.

Although he had some flaws, he was always filial and respectful to his father, so he didn't complain about it. However, the disappointment and confusion on his face were even more pronounced, and he seemed to have lost all his strength.

Seeing his son like this, Chen Yanshi felt even more distressed. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind; he lowered his voice, a glimmer of light rekindling in his eyes:

"Xiao Hai, don't be too discouraged. Every cloud has a silver lining. This... might just be an opportunity."

"Opportunity?" Chen Hai looked up, his eyes filled with incomprehension and self-mockery. "What opportunity could there be after being exiled to such a place?"

Chen Yanshi leaned forward, lowering his voice to a whisper, his tone carrying a hint of guidance and planning:

I suspect Sha Ruijin will still take action against the Zhao family gang. The general manager of the Handong Oil and Gas Group you visited is Liu Xinjian, Zhao Lichun's former secretary. He definitely has dealings with the Shanshui Group.

"Once you get there, don't make a sound, don't alert them. Use the authority of the prosecutor's office to observe slowly and investigate carefully, gathering solid evidence. When you see the right trend, deliver a fatal blow; you might even turn misfortune into a blessing and advance further!"

Chapter 121 Liu Xinjian's Trouble

The next morning, the weather in Jingzhou was gloomy, like a gray cloth that couldn't be pulled open. The cold wind howled between the tall buildings, stirring up fallen leaves and dust.