Guide to Rising to Power as a Wife in Beijing's Elite Circle

The lights on the sixteenth floor of the National Development and Reform Commission seem to have become standard in Fang Jingxiu's office.

The nights of deep winter come early. Before six o'clock, the city lights outside the window were already on, and the neon lights painted the night sky of Jingjing with a blurry warm hue, but they could not penetrate into this room filled with documents and cold data.

Fang Jing was reviewing a report on the security assessment of a key industrial chain, his pen tip hovering above the words "risk level: high," as he pondered his comments.

The Bai family has been increasingly active in the fields of new energy and key minerals recently, and its interests are more deeply intertwined with local interests. Several companies mentioned in this report have the shadow of the Bai family or its affiliated capital behind them to varying degrees.

Conventional supervision and inspection always encounter significant resistance when faced with such intricate networks of vested interests.

He rubbed his temples, about to ask Secretary Qin to retrieve more equity penetration data for related companies, when there was a gentle knock on the office door.

"Enter."

Secretary Qin pushed open the door and closed it tightly behind him. His expression appeared somewhat solemn under the cold white office light, even more so than usual.

He strode to his desk, but instead of reporting on other official business as usual, he lowered his voice and spoke in a somber tone:

"Director, news just came from Yongzhou... He paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully, "The Li family's youngest grandson... is gone."

Fang Jingxiu's pen, which was twirling in his hand, clicked and fell onto the open document, leaving a small blot of ink on the paper.

He raised his head, his gaze instantly sharp as a knife, shooting straight at Secretary Qin: "What happened? When we contacted each other the day before yesterday, didn't you say it was just a cold and you went to the community hospital?"

Secretary Qin's Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice lowered even further: "Yes, he went to the community hospital the day before yesterday afternoon. He was diagnosed with a common viral cold, prescribed some medicine, and went home. Yesterday, he was said to be in good spirits during the day, but suddenly complained of chest pain and shortness of breath in the evening. Before he could even call 120, he... was gone. He was found this morning."

"Suddenly?" Fang Jingxiu leaned back in his chair, his fingers unconsciously tapping the smooth mahogany tabletop, making a dull thud.

The pace wasn't fast, but it carried an invisible pressure. "What's the diagnosis? Myocarditis? Acute heart failure?"

Secretary Qin did not answer immediately.

He stepped forward, lowering his voice to almost a whisper to ensure every word reached Fang Jingxiu's ears clearly: "The surface diagnosis is fulminant myocarditis, sudden cardiac death. Both the community hospital and the district hospital that treated him reached this conclusion; it's clearly written in the medical records."

He specifically emphasized the appearance and the medical records.

Fang Jingxiu stopped tapping his fingers on the table.

He looked at Secretary Qin, his eyes unfathomable: "What did our people say?"

When Fang Jingxiu received news of Chen Nuo's attack, he quickly made arrangements in Yongzhou, planting informants in key departments through reliable channels, including the Municipal Bureau's Forensic Center.

"The information I sent out privately this afternoon," Secretary Qin's voice was almost inaudible, yet carried an iron-cold truth, "The initial autopsy showed no major abnormalities, consistent with sudden death from an acute illness. But..."

He paused, then said, word by word, "During the autopsy, we found a very regular, round defect about 3 millimeters in diameter on the posterior wall of the left ventricle, near the apex of the heart. The edges were smooth, as if... a small piece of myocardial tissue had been instantly removed by some precision instrument. The location was very hidden; it would have been impossible to find without a thorough examination of the endocardial surface, especially since a coagulation injection had been given beforehand. Old Song said that, in his experience, this couldn't have been caused by disease or natural death; it was more like... some kind of minimally invasive sampling or resection."

The air in the office seemed to freeze instantly, even the faint sound of the central air conditioning seemed to be frozen.

"Heart... defect?" Fang Jingxiu repeated slowly, his voice devoid of emotion, but the chill in his eyes was enough to frighten anyone who knew him.

"Round, smooth, machine-made." He chewed on these words, each pointing to a chilling possibility.

"The Bai family?" Fang Jingxiu asked, his tone more certain than questioning.

Secretary Qin cautiously replied, "To be conservative, there's no direct evidence pointing to the Bai family. The incident happened suddenly, the community hospital's surveillance footage is blurry, and there are gaps in the time the child was home alone. But..." He glanced at Fang Jingxiu,

"Director, do you remember Bai Jingqi, the eldest grandson of the Bai family, his research direction during his early years of studying abroad? And what about those seemingly insignificant biotechnology companies and high-end private medical clinics that he secretly invested in and controlled after returning to China?"

Fang Jingxiu certainly remembered.

Bai Jingqi is the most low-key yet most enigmatic member of the Bai family in this generation. He spends most of his time abroad, ostensibly in trade, but in reality, he studied biomedical engineering in his early years, with a very wide range of interests.

In recent years, the Bai family seems to be trying to infiltrate the gray areas of cutting-edge biotechnology, anti-aging, and quality of life management, using covert methods.

Combined with this bizarre heart defect...

It's hard not to make the worst possible associations.

"What's so special about that child?" Fang Jingxiu asked.

"Old Song secretly checked the child's medical records for the past year; they were quite ordinary. But about six months ago, due to a school-organized charity event, the child had a more comprehensive free medical check-up at the city's children's hospital, with more items than usual," Secretary Qin said.

"The records show everything is normal. But Lao Song was cautious and tried to retrieve the original test data backup through internal channels. He found that the relevant storage path had been accessed abnormally recently and some data had been blurred. The method was very professional."

Everything connected.

A seemingly charitable in-depth physical examination may have already completed the screening process. A routine visit for a cold might be a signal or an opportunity.

Then, a tiny, unhealable hole appears in the heart of a healthy young child.

Fang Jingxiu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, all that remained in his eyes was a cold resolve and an almost cruel clarity.

"Where is that old lady?" he asked, his voice eerily calm.

Secretary Qin looked distressed: "The child is her only remaining family in the world. Her husband died the year before last, her eldest son was in a car accident last year, her youngest son committed suicide, and now her grandson... According to the brother who was watching, after the old lady heard the news, she didn't cry or make a fuss. She just sat by her grandson's crib, motionless, with a blank stare, as if... her soul had left her body. The situation is very bad; she might collapse."

Families were destroyed, lives were lost, and bloodlines were severed.

This is the most complete destruction.

Fang Jingxiu remained silent for a few seconds.

He is neither a saint nor a compassionate moralist. Having climbed the pyramid of power to this point, he has stepped on countless people's shoulders, taken advantage of countless opportunities, and even tacitly approved countless gray-area rules—he himself has lost count.

Human nature is often fragile and selfish when faced with interests and survival. His initial motivation for helping Old Mrs. Li and her grandson was certainly a sense of justice and resentment towards Chen Nuo's attack, but wasn't it also to strike at his opponent, consolidate his own position, and gain fame and leverage?

In this world, pure good and pure evil are too rare. More common are mortals like him, struggling forward in the gray mire, wanting to grasp something while having to get their hands dirty.

But at this moment, faced with a family that had been completely crushed, faced with the strange hole in that heart, faced with the darkness that the Bai family might touch, which far exceeded the bottom line of ordinary power struggles, the bottom line that had not been completely extinguished in his heart and the desire for control that belonged to the strong were completely enraged.

"Secretary Qin," he said, his voice low but carrying an unquestionable command.

"Director."

"First, immediately mobilize all our reliable personnel in Yongzhou, bypass the possible infiltration of the Bai family into the Yongzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, and directly intervene to control the child's body. Do not allow anyone, especially the Bai family or those they can influence, to approach or move the body for any reason. Tell Lao Song that I need the most detailed examination report and imaging data on the heart defect, absolutely reliable, and able to serve as the starting point of the chain of evidence." Fang Jingxiu spoke slowly and clearly.

"Second," he continued, his eyes sharp, "contact the media outlets we trust in Jingjing and Yongzhou, especially senior reporters covering legal and investigative news. We don't need to tell them everything, just hint that there's a bizarre, unnatural death of a child in Yongzhou, the family is destitute, the cause of death is questionable, and the local handling might be opaque. Get them to pay attention, to interview, to dig deeper. First, stir up public opinion, put the matter on the table, let everyone see. No matter how powerful the Bai family is, under public scrutiny and potential media pressure, they'll have to think twice before acting."

Secretary Qin felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this.

This move was both ruthless and precise.

Controlling the body means preserving the most crucial physical evidence, eliminating the possibility of the other party destroying evidence or altering the conclusion.

Introducing the media, while seemingly making a big fuss, is actually a way to erect a public barrier before the Bai family can cover it up.

Public opinion is a double-edged sword, but if used well, it can be the best shield and tool for exerting pressure.

Director Fang is forcing the Bai family to either completely back down or continue the game in a more complex situation. In any case, the initiative in the investigation has begun to shift.

"Third," Fang Jingxiu stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the dazzling yet cold city lights outside, "notify our people at the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection to initiate a preliminary inquiry procedure based on a report filed by a member of the public with their real name, alleging possible dereliction of duty or more serious issues in the unnatural death of a child in Yongzhou. We don't need to directly target the Bai family; we should start with the hospital that treated the child, the police station that responded, and the compliance of the initial forensic procedures. This will serve as a warning, putting pressure on them and buying us time and space for a deeper investigation."

He turned around, his face somewhat blurred in the backlight, only his eyes shining brightly: "Doesn't the Bai family like to play dirty tricks? Like to pull strings under the rules? Then we'll play along, using the rules, the procedures, and methods in broad daylight, to peel back their skin layer by layer. Let's see if their hands are faster, or if our net is denser."

Secretary Qin solemnly accepted the order: "Yes, Director! I will take care of it immediately!" He was once again deeply impressed by the young superior's methods and decisiveness.

This is not just a counterattack, but a meticulously planned, multi-pronged encirclement and suppression.

Fang Jingxiu may not be a kind person in the traditional sense. He is ruthless, calculating, good at using all resources and rules, and even ruthless in retaliating.

But at this moment, Secretary Qin felt that, faced with the potentially inhumane darkness that the Bai family might be involved in, perhaps what was needed was someone like Fang Jingxiu, who possessed both sufficient power and the necessary skill and decisiveness.

Only those ruthless individuals who are not afraid to use drastic measures can open a crack and give that poor grandmother and grandson a justice that may be late, but must be pursued.

Having spent many years navigating the complexities of the system, Secretary Qin understood all too well the importance of speaking too much, making mistakes, and prioritizing self-preservation.

But following Fang Jingxiu, he saw a more advanced wisdom of survival and struggle: using power to the maximum extent within the rules, striking precisely, and at the same time cloaking himself in the guise of legality through procedures and public opinion.

This is not reckless action; it is a dance in shackles, a game on the edge of a knife.

He strode out of the office and began making tense arrangements. Every instruction had to be precise, confidential, and delivered through absolutely reliable channels.

Fang Jingxiu sat back down at his desk, picked up the report smudged with a pen, and looked cold.

Bai family... your reach has gone too far.

Then don't blame me for chopping off your fingers one by one.