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

"It's mainly my problem. As I get older, my will weakens, and I become less firm in my previous decisions."

He paused, his voice suddenly becoming lighter, as if deliberately changing the subject: "Like—the day before yesterday, Haoran took his entrance exam. He got a perfect score in Chinese and 98 in math. He told me that his original answers were correct, but when he checked them, he wasn't sure, so he changed them, only to find they were wrong. He regretted it so much that he couldn't even enjoy his chicken leg."

Zhong Xiaoai smiled, but her eyes were a little sore.

A few days ago, she sent her son, Hou Haoran, to her parents' house. Before leaving, she held him and stood there for a long time. Haoran looked up at her and asked when Mom and Dad would be back. She said soon, soon.

Her father not only supported her career but also provided financial security for her.

"I regret it now, why didn't I stick to my views back then?" Zhong Zhengguo's voice grew even lower, "Seeing that your situation hasn't improved, and that I'm about to retire, I kept thinking about doing something more for you..."

He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "You've probably seen a lot of this during your years at the Discipline Inspection Commission—many officials have fallen from grace at my age, nearing retirement, their resolve wavering, starting to cling to old relationships and their children, which is when problems arise."

"Dad, please don't say that." Zhong Xiaoai's voice choked.

"Alright, that's enough." Zhong Zhengguo's tone became calm again. "Liangping has caused quite a mess this time; there's no hope for him to advance further in Handong. Given his personality, he'll probably cause more problems after I retire. Let him go back to the Supreme People's Procuratorate to study theory during next year's reshuffle, and stay away from this quagmire in Handong."

"You stay in Handong and focus on finishing your case. Don't worry about anything else. I'll handle things with Qi Tongwei. As long as he doesn't pursue the matter, the inspection team won't hold you accountable either."

"Dad, what exactly happened? Can't you explain it to me clearly?"

"I'm not playing games with you." Zhong Zhengguo paused for a moment. "Just focus on your case from now on. Whether you know it or not won't matter. If you can figure it out and handle it appropriately, I'll give you another push before I retire. If you can't, you and your husband, just like I said when you got married, should live a good life together."

After speaking, the phone call ended.

Zhong Xiaoai held her phone and sat quietly by the roadside for a long time.

Her mind was in turmoil, as if stirred by something, and she couldn't calm down for a long time.

She knew her father was giving her one last chance, and she knew that the door was still a crack open, but the light shining through that crack reflected a side of herself that she had never faced in all these years.

Not ruthless enough.

She silently repeated those four words to herself, then took a deep breath and started the car.

Back at the inspection team's temporary base, the team leader severely criticized her, and Zhong Xiaoai also made a profound self-criticism. But as she expected, there was no substantial punishment.

She knew that she was once again being protected by her father.

After finally getting off work, Zhong Xiaoai reported to the deputy team leader in charge of her work and left. Knowing that her husband worked in Handong, the deputy team leader readily nodded and let her go.

She drove to Hou Liangping's residence and knocked on the door.

In the few seconds of waiting, she sorted out her thoughts, thought about what to say as the first thing when they met, and how to ask about everything that had happened that day without missing a single detail.

The door opened.

Hou Liangping stood at the door, wearing a slightly comical floral apron, holding a spatula in his hand, his face beaming like a child just released from school: "Wife, you're finally here! Your favorite braised fish is simmering in the pot, almost ready!"

A familiar aroma wafted from the kitchen, steaming hot and full of the warmth of home cooking.

Zhong Xiaoai was stunned for a moment.

She stood at the door, looking at the man wearing an apron, grinning and urging her to come in. All the words she had prepared in her mind suddenly got stuck in her throat.

Everything that happened today—Qi Tongwei's cold rejection, Team Leader Zhang's barrage of questions, the father's words, "Not ruthless enough," and that door that was half-open and half-closed—

In an instant, everything sank to the bottom of my heart.

She took a deep breath, stepped over the threshold, and gently closed the door behind her.

"Eat first," she said, her voice gentler than expected. "After you finish eating, I have something to ask you."

Chapter 139 Optimal Solution

The broth from the braised fish was still hot, thickened, and had a dark brown color; its aroma filled the air.

Zhong Xiaoai sat at the dining table, took a couple of bites of rice with her head down, but still finished what was in her bowl. She didn't have much of an appetite.

Hou Liangping sat opposite her, eating heartily with nimble chopsticks. He even picked up a piece of fish belly meat for her and placed it on the edge of her bowl: "This piece has no bones, eat more, you've lost weight."

Zhong Xiaoai took the bowl without saying a word.

There was a moment of silence at the dinner table.

Although Hou Liangping wasn't the kind of person who was good at social maneuvering or reading people's expressions, after being married for many years, he could still tell from her silence that she wasn't tired, but had something on her mind.

He put down his chopsticks, added half a bowl of soup to her bowl, and then waited.

After the dishes were cleared away, the two moved to the sofa. Zhong Xiaoai held a cup of hot water, her palm covering the cup, and turned to look at him.

“Liangping,” she began, her tone calmer than she had expected, “Tell me everything you’ve done in Handong during this time.”

Hou Liangping paused for a moment, then began to speak matter-of-factly: "You know about Ouyang Jing's matter, right? Cai Chenggong reported it, four bank cards..."

“I know about Ouyang Jing,” Zhong Xiaoai interrupted him. “What I’m asking is, what did you do, starting from your first day in Handong?”

Hou Liangping then realized this wasn't a normal chat and sat up a little straighter: "What's wrong?"

Zhong Xiaoai didn't answer immediately. She took a sip of water, put the cup on the coffee table, and looked up at him: "When you came to Handong, did you take the initiative to look for Qi Tongwei?"

"No."

"Today I went to the provincial government to see Qi Tongwei."

Hou Liangping frowned: "Why do you want to see him?"

“That’s not important.” Zhong Xiaoai’s tone was calm, but there was something in her eyes. “What’s important is that he won’t see me. Have his secretary relay his exact words—an inspector of my rank is not qualified to see him alone.”

Hou Liangping stopped holding his teacup.

"Then he personally called Zhang, the head of the inspection team, and complained about me," Zhong Xiaoai continued. "Zhang called me back and gave me a severe scolding."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Hou Liangping put down his cup, paused for a moment, and then said, "You went to see him because of me?"

Zhong Xiaoai neither denied nor nodded, but calmly said, "Liangping, have you thought about who you offended in Handong this time?"

"I haven't offended anyone." Hou Liangping frowned. "I'm handling the case according to procedure. There's evidence of Ouyang Jing accepting bribes, I—"

"Li Dakang is a member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee."

"So what?" Hou Liangping asked with a hint of stubbornness, "The wives of provincial party committee standing committee members can be overlooked?"

"Liangping." Zhong Xiaoai raised her hand to stop him, her voice tinged with weariness for the first time. "I'm not saying you made a mistake. I'm asking you, before you arrested Ouyang Jing, did you report to Ji Changming? Did you inform the Provincial Party Committee?"

Hou Liangping fell silent.

"No, I don't think so," Zhong Xiaoai said softly. "You made the decision yourself, turned on the sirens, intercepted the car at the highway exit, and took his ex-wife away from the car in front of Li Dakang. Did you even consider how Sha Ruijin would view this?"

"Secretary Sha praised me." Hou Liangping looked up. "He said I protected a key figure in the reform movement in Handong."

"Is he praising you?" Zhong Xiaoai retorted, but there was no smile in her eyes. "Are you not listening to what he's saying? What's the point of his sentence?"

Hou Liangping didn't respond immediately, paused for a moment, and then said, "This sentence... the key point is the reform general?"

Zhong Xiaoai sighed: "The key point is 'protection.' Ouyang Jing hasn't even interrogated you yet, and he's already characterizing your actions as protecting Li Dakang. As for whether Li Dakang is a reform general or an economic pioneer, that's not important."

Hou Liangping was stunned.

“You think Sha Ruijin is praising you, but actually he’s expressing his attitude towards Li Dakang to the outside world.” Zhong Xiaoai lowered her voice. “Li Dakang is someone he just took in. He just approved their divorce, and you publicly dragged Ouyang Jing away from Li Dakang’s car, forcing him to personally clean up the mess. You think he’s genuinely praising you?”

She paused, looking into Hou Liangping's eyes: "You've been in the system for almost twenty years, and you can't even see through this kind of superficial praise?"

Hou Liangping remained silent for a while before saying in a low voice, "If I had reported it, they definitely wouldn't have let me investigate."

Zhong Xiaoai shook her head: "If you don't report it, and put Sha Ruijin in a passive position, do you think he'll have a good impression of you? You got the results, but you offended your superiors. You solved the case, but you took the blame. Who gets the credit in the end?"

She paused, her voice dropping half an octave: "If it weren't for Dad, you'd probably be dealt with very soon."

This is where Zhong Zhengguo and Zhong Xiaoai's information gap came in. What they didn't know was that Ji Changming was fully aware of Hou Liangping's every move and had already reported it to Sha Ruijin. Therefore, Hou Liangping's actions were carried out with Sha Ruijin's tacit approval.

Therefore, Sha Ruijin would not have much of a problem with Hou Liangping.

However, when the inspection team arrives and Zhong Xiaoai seizes Ouyang Jing and tries to take action against Li Dakang, Sha Ruijin will inevitably take his anger out on Hou Liangping, and Hou Liangping will end up with the same result.

This is also an unusual case where the process is completely wrong, but the result is completely right.

After saying this, Hou Liangping did not immediately refute it.

He stared at the coffee table, his fingers twitching slightly.

He had always felt that he was doing something, solving a case, using his brain and methods to force people out and take the initiative. But after Zhong Xiaoai said that, he suddenly realized that he had never had the initiative from beginning to end.

“But at the time I didn’t know Sha Ruijin’s attitude, nor did I know that he had approved Li Dakang’s divorce.” He lowered his voice, with a hint of defense.

“That’s not important.” Zhong Xiaoai’s tone was not harsh, but firm. “No one will investigate your ignorance, only what you did. There is no such thing as ignorance being a crime in officialdom.”

She paused, then added, "That's why I went to see Qi Tongwei today. I was hoping to get him to officially accept you. His position in Handong is unparalleled; with his protection, you can at least gain a foothold."

"But he refused," Hou Liangping replied calmly.

“The rejection was thorough.” Zhong Xiaoai nodded. “They didn’t even bother with a perfunctory response.”

He had long recognized the huge gap between himself and Qi Tongwei, but subconsciously he was unwilling to admit it. If he had a choice, he would rather choose Sha Ruijin.

But now, neither side wants him.

Hou Liangping was silent for a while, then noticed something was wrong and frowned as he asked, "Even if he didn't want to take me in, he could have found an excuse to send you away. Why did he have to be so ruthless and even call to complain?"

“I just figured this out myself.” Zhong Xiaoai said slowly, her expression complicated. “Our senior has an extremely keen political sense. No wonder he has gotten to where he is today.”

"What do you mean?"

“Because the first thing the inspection team did upon arriving in Handong was to take Ouyang Jing away.” Zhong Xiaoai looked at him. “This shows that we came prepared, that we have informants in Handong, and that we are very likely to take action against Li Dakang. If he meets me, and Sha Ruijin finds out, what will Sha Ruijin think?”

Hou Liangping slowly came to his senses, his voice a little dry: "He wants to prove his innocence."

“Yes.” Zhong Xiaoai nodded. “So not only will he refuse to see me, he will also make a big fuss about this and tell everyone that he has nothing to do with this. Making a phone call to complain is the most straightforward way to cut ties.”

They both remained silent for a while.

Then Hou Liangping spoke, his voice low but direct: "Is your inspection team going to investigate Li Dakang?"

Zhong Xiaoai did not answer immediately.

"Xiao Ai," he called her again.

"I can't say." Her tone was flat, but she didn't avoid his gaze.

Hou Liangping lowered his head, and after a while, he spoke, his voice somewhat heavy: "You're in the inspection team, and I'm the one who arrested Ouyang Jing. If you make a move against Li Dakang, the whole of Handong will think I'm your informant. How can I maintain my position in Handong?"

“Neither Sha Ruijin nor Qi Tongwei will take you in.” Zhong Xiaoai’s voice was soft, but her words were blunt. “You were already unable to establish yourself, Liangping.”

Hou Liangping looked up at her, his lips moved, but the words he didn't say remained hanging in the air.