In name only: I will break the chess game in Handong

"You're talking nonsense again. Qin Siyuan's father-in-law's brother is a retired chief prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, so they're related. But most importantly, he seems to be getting very close to Jiang Dehai, who has taken over the position of executive vice minister of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from your senior."

I heard that Qin Siyuan's daughter and Jiang Dehai's son are dating? I only heard him mention it briefly when I spoke with Lao Cao from the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the phone. I don't know if it's true or not, but his trip to Handong is basically confirmed.

"Uh, this relationship is really complicated..."

"It's normal for families to become in-laws. By the way, Lao Cao also mentioned that the secretary-general of your Handong Provincial Party Committee used to be Jiang Dehai's old subordinate. Be careful."

"Thank you, Professor Xu, for telling me all this!"

"Okay, that's all. I'm hanging up now."

Goodbye, Mr. Xu!

After Old Xu hung up the phone, Chen Luo finally let out a sigh of relief. The situation in Handong had changed so quickly, but he was already firmly in control and had nothing to fear from the storms.

Time passed by little by little.

A week has passed in the blink of an eye.

On Monday morning, Chen Luo went to Lüzhou to preside over the work, while in Jingzhou, in the office of the provincial party secretary, Sha Ruijin looked rather grim.

"Minister Jiang, do you mean I should persuade Comrade Yuliang to submit his retirement application to the organization ahead of schedule? Is this the order from above, or...?"

"Comrade Ruijin, this is the message from the meeting above."

Upon hearing this, Sha Ruijin frowned.

It wasn't because of Gao Yuliang's early retirement, but because the higher-ups hadn't asked him for the deputy secretary's recommendation. This meant that the higher-ups had already decided on the new deputy secretary, and the key point was that he was unaware of it.

"Minister Jiang, according to convention, could we in Handong recommend a candidate to the higher authorities to succeed the deputy secretary?"

"Comrade Ruijin, the notice did not ask Handong to make a recommendation. The task of working on Comrade Yuliang is assigned to you. I don't know anything else. Bye."

After hanging up the phone, Sha Ruijin was seething with anger.

"What's so great about being a vice minister in charge of daily operations? If it weren't for your powerful father, would you have gotten this far? You don't even know what's going on... You're kidding me!"

Although Sha Ruijin was grumbling and cursing, he couldn't slack off on the work assigned to him by his superiors.

After hanging up the phone, he asked Secretary Bai to communicate with Gao Yuliang's secretary to schedule a time. An hour later, Gao Yuliang arrived at Sha Ruijin's office.

"Secretary Sha, Secretary Bai said you wanted to see me?"

Gao Yuliang walked into the office with a smile, and then sat down on the sofa next to Sha Ruijin.

Looking at the gentle and refined Gao Yuliang, Sha Ruijin sighed, though he didn't want to speak, "Secretary Yuliang, I just received a call from the Organization Department of the Central Committee. They want you to retire early, but they didn't ask for my opinion on this."

The meaning is obvious: it was decided directly from above, and it had nothing to do with Sha Ruijin.

Unexpectedly, Gao Yuliang did not feel sad; instead, he smiled and nodded.

"This is a good thing. It's a month earlier, so I can rest for an extra month. Besides, I think it will be a blessing for tens of millions of people in Handong to have Comrade Chen Luo take over my job."

"???????!!"

Upon hearing this, Sha Ruijin stood up abruptly, his eyes wide and mouth agape, clearly shocked by the information Gao Yuliang had inadvertently revealed.

Chapter 343 Hesitation and Unintentional Remarks

"Secretary Yuliang, what did you just say? Comrade Chen Luo is going to succeed you as deputy secretary? How did you find out about this? I, the provincial party secretary, am unaware of this. Is this information accurate?"

Sha Ruijin asked several questions in a row, which surprised Gao Yuliang. However, he quickly took off his glasses and began to explain calmly.

"Secretary Sha, I actually heard about Comrade Chen Luo taking over as my deputy secretary from Secretary Guo Fu, who in turn heard it from Comrade Chen Luo himself."

Comrade Jia Renli's arrival in Handong is related to whether Comrade Chen Luo can succeed him as deputy secretary.

"Old Jia? Hiss! No wonder! Wait, you all knew, and I was the only one kept in the dark?"

Only Sha Ruijin truly understands the bitterness he has felt, from his initial shock to his current sense of unease.

"Ahem, Secretary Sha, it's probably because I'm closer to Comrade Chen Luo and the others on a regular basis..."

Furthermore, we won't spread rumors about things that haven't happened. Currently, only Comrade Guofu and I know some things, and Comrade Dakang and Minister Chunlin might also know some.

"Alas, Comrade Chen Luo doesn't trust me!"

"It's not that serious. It's just that the fact that there hasn't been a formal appointment is just a matter of probability. Perhaps that's why Comrade Chen Luo didn't tell you, Secretary Sha."

Sha Ruijin shook his head, but overall he could accept the news. He couldn't control Handong anyway, and Chen Luo basically had half the votes. The fact that Chen Luo was taking over as deputy secretary wouldn't make his situation any worse.

Conversely, if a deputy secretary who doesn't get along with him comes along, he'll really have a headache.

After all, Handong already has enough with Zhou Jianjun and Zhao Dagong, who sometimes can't distinguish between friend and foe. With life like this, the absolute authority they once had is long gone.

"Wait, something's not right!"

As Sha Ruijin pondered this, he suddenly realized a blind spot: it was one thing for Chen Luo to take over as deputy secretary, but he couldn't possibly also serve as secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, could he? Holding three positions simultaneously? That just didn't make sense!

But if someone doesn't hold all three positions, who will fill the vacancy as Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission?

Huang Ming? No, he lacks both experience and achievements. Whether it's the High Court, the Provincial Public Security Department, or the Provincial Procuratorate, the current top leaders are all newly appointed. The probability of him becoming the Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission is extremely low.

Who would that be?

Seeing Sha Ruijin frowning and deep in thought, Gao Yuliang was also curious about the reason, so he asked directly, "Secretary Sha, what's wrong? Do you think Comrade Chen Luo is not suitable to take over as deputy secretary? Or do you think the decision made above is unreasonable?"

Sha Ruijin rolled his eyes at these words. Question the higher-ups? Would he dare? He must have a death wish.

“Secretary Yuliang, you’ve retired and can speak freely, but I still want to work for a few more years. I’m thinking about who will become the Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission after Comrade Chen Luo takes over as Deputy Secretary.”

"After all, he's a member of the Standing Committee. Getting to know him beforehand is an important work requirement for me, the provincial party secretary, and it's necessary for maintaining unity among the team members."

"Well, why doesn't Secretary Sha just call Comrade Chen Luo and ask him directly? I think Comrade Chen Luo is aware of this, after all, Comrade Chen Luo has 'friends' all over the country."

"Should I just call and ask?"

Sha Ruijin clearly felt that this behavior was inappropriate.

"Why not?"

Gao Yuliang was speechless. Why not just ask directly? Why play these roundabout games and act all coy like a woman? He was exasperated.

"I think it's a bit too direct..."

Gao Yuliang pursed his lips, took out his phone, found Chen Luo's number, and dialed it.

Sha Ruijin did not stop what he saw; instead, he felt a surge of gratitude towards Gao Yuliang.

"Comrade Chen Luo, good afternoon. Are you busy with work at this time, Comrade Chen Luo?"

"Secretary Yuliang, I just finished a municipal party committee meeting and I'm not busy right now. Is there something you need from me?"

Gao Yuliang glanced at Sha Ruijin across from him, then smiled and replied to Chen Luo, "I'm fine, but Secretary Sha is sitting right across from me now, and he has some questions he'd like you to answer."

"Oh? Secretary Sha is here too?"

Looking at the phone that Gao Yuliang handed him, Sha Ruijin took a deep breath and accepted it.

"Hey Comrade Chen Luo, good afternoon!"

"Good afternoon, Secretary Sha!"

"Comrade Chen Luo, I just received a call from Minister Jiang, who is in charge of the daily work of the Organization Department of the Central Committee. According to Minister Jiang, Secretary Yu Liang will retire early. I would like to ask if you, Comrade Chen Luo, will be the one to succeed him as deputy secretary."

Also, Comrade Chen Luo, after you take over as deputy secretary, who will be the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission? We didn't have any prior information about you!

Upon hearing this, how could Chen Luo not understand?

"Secretary Sha, since there hasn't been a formal appointment document from above, I can only tell you that there's a high probability that I will succeed Secretary Yuliang as deputy secretary."

As for the selection of the Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission... I heard that the higher authorities are inclined to send Comrade Qin Siyuan, the current member of the Party Leadership Group of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, to Handong.

"Comrade Chen Luo, I understand."

However, Comrade Chen Luo, I don't know much about Qin Siyuan. As you know, I'm the class monitor of Handong, and I need to unite every classmate. Comrade Chen Luo, do you know anything about Qin Siyuan?

Hearing this, Chen Luo frowned. Asking about someone's background is fine, but having to come up with a legitimate reason... in that respect... he's just as good as himself...

cough cough...

"Secretary Sha, I don't know much about Comrade Qin Siyuan either. However, when Secretary Xu was on the phone with Chief Prosecutor Cao of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Chief Prosecutor Cao mentioned that Qin Siyuan's father-in-law's brother was a former Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Also, it seems that Comrade Qin Siyuan's daughter and the son of that Minister Jiang you mentioned are dating."

"?? A political marriage?!"

"What? Secretary Sha, the signal here is not very good, I'll hang up now."

Beep beep... Beep beep...

Chen Luo died quickly, and everyone knew that, so why did you have to blurt out the words "political marriage"?

Shaking his head, Chen Luo had no idea that his few simple words would cause Qin Siyuan a lot of trouble.

Seeing that Chen Luo had hung up the phone, Sha Ruijin knew that he didn't want to talk about sensitive topics.

However, his mind was in turmoil.

"Good! I knew it! How could an ordinary person tear off a piece of flesh from Handong? Turns out, it was to sell his daughter..."

Jiang Dehai was so arrogant just now!

"Trying to make things difficult for me? Then I'll make sure you, my in-law, have a hard time in Handong!"

This was Sha Ruijin's thought. Logically speaking, a provincial party secretary shouldn't be so petty, but even a fool could see that after Chen Luo took over as deputy secretary, he might only be the nominal helmsman of Handong.

Of course, he also trusted Chen Luo, and everyone's interests were the same. But this way, he would be idle. If he didn't do something, would he still be called Handong?

Chapter 344 Giving Jiang Dehai a hard time

At 5:30 p.m., Gao Yuliang was packing his things in his office. Two hours earlier, he had submitted his retirement application to Zhongyang, and he figured the reply would be in the next couple of days. It was better to pack up and move Chen Luo in advance than to rush things in a few days.

I was tidying up when there was a knock on the door.

"Teacher, it's me!"

Turning around, Gao Yuliang smiled at the door and said, "Tongwei, come in. Come and help me tidy up and move some things."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door was pushed open, and there stood Qi Tongwei. After entering the room, he looked around and found that many of his teacher's belongings had already been packed up.

"Teacher, time flies... I just retired a few months ago, and now I'm a teacher again..."

Gao Yuliang maintained his refined smile, walked up to Qi Tongwei, patted him on the shoulder, and then asked, "Tongwei, how has your recovery been these past few months?"

"Thank you for your concern, teacher. My arms are fine for daily life now, but I can't lift heavy things."