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

At two o'clock in the morning, Fang Jingxiu wrote the last word.

The pen rested on the table with a very soft click. He leaned back in his chair, stretched his stiff neck, and heard a faint clicking sound from his joints. He stretched, picked up the stack of manuscript papers, and read them through from beginning to end.

He wrote very quickly, in just three days. But in those three days, he reviewed all the cases of wage arrears in the construction industry in Zhongzhou City over the past five years, analyzed seventeen typical cases, interviewed relevant experts from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and even had Qin Yang dig out an internal research report from ten years ago from the archives.

The title is "Several Suggestions on Implementing a Wage Guarantee Deposit System on a Trial Basis in the Construction Industry of Zhongzhou City and Including Malicious Wage Arrears in the Judicial Interpretation of the Criminal Law." It's a thick stack of papers, each page filled with dense annotations and data.

This is a knife, a knife aimed at the contract wages held by Sun Xintong and his associates. The workers signed contracts for 2,000 yuan with the foreman, the foreman signed contracts for 8,000 yuan with the general contractor, and the general contractor signed contracts for 20,000 yuan with the developer. Layer upon layer of subcontracting, layer upon layer of exploitation, leaving the workers with barely a fraction of what they actually received.

The workers went to demand their wages, but the contractor said the contract stated 2,000 yuan. The workers sued, and the court ruled the contract valid. The workers caused a disturbance, but the police said it was malicious wage arrears.

This is why Li Qiang knelt on the ground. Not because he was wrong, but because this system, from the very beginning, left him no way out. The goal is for everyone under this light to live with dignity. But dignity isn't given by one person; it's changed by the system. And the system isn't written by one person; it's implemented by a group of people.

He wrote it all by himself, but it's useless. If it's not submitted, it's just waste paper. If it is submitted but no one pushes it forward, it's still waste paper. What's needed is someone who can speak up at the top, raise it in meetings, endorse it to the leadership, and navigate the interests of all parties to turn this plan into a document, a document into law, and law into reality.

Fang Jingxiu's proposed solution was simple: before construction began, the developer must deposit all workers' wages into a third-party escrow account. No one could touch this money; it could only be used to pay wages. The contractors, general contractors, and developers couldn't access it. Workers would be paid according to the amount of work they performed, deducted monthly from this account.

At the same time, malicious wage arrears will be formally included in the judicial interpretation of the criminal law, and will be punished in the same way as malicious wage demands. If you owe wages, it is a crime. If you exploit workers, you will go to jail. In this way, the contract in the hands of Sun Xintong and others will become a piece of waste paper.

He stood by the window, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag. The smoke swirled in his lungs, then he slowly exhaled, condensing into a thin mist on the glass.

He thought of Ning Zetong. The man who sent Li Qiang to jail had also done many bad things, embezzled money from the people, and suppressed their interests for his own benefit. But Fang Jingxiu knew that Ning Zetong also had a sliver of conscience.

It wasn't because he was kind; it was because he was also human. People can feel compassion when they see an elderly person, a complete stranger, kneeling and kowtowing.

Just like Chen Nuo, seeing Li Qiang, with whom she had no vested interests or political ties, yet wanting to help him, he knew why she was asking him for help. It was because Li Qiang reminded her of her own father. The same age, the same vicissitudes, the same back bent by life yet still holding on.

She softened her heart; she shouldn't have.

But he didn't reject her. Not because he was soft-hearted, but because he had his own plans.

He picked up the plan again, flipping through it page by page, not to check the contents, but to do the math. He was doing the political math.

First, let's calculate: who benefits from this? Three hundred thousand construction workers. Three hundred thousand families, three hundred thousand votes. Representative Guo needs these things. Ren Yijun needs them too. Fang Jingxiu needs them too.

The National Economic Strategy Council oversees the major directions of national economic and social development. National Assembly Representative Guo Huaimin, in his fifties, has failed to produce a single decent proposal at every meeting over the years. If it weren't for his powerful connections and his cautious approach, he would have been ousted long ago.

In addition, no one provided him with decent materials. His staff was of mediocre quality; their writings were either too abstract, too concrete, too unrealistic, or too detailed. In short, they were unpresentable.

Fang Jingxiu knew what Guo Huaimin lacked most at this juncture: a substantial, solid, and compelling proposal. The policy recommendation he had was exactly what Guo Huaimin needed.

If Guo Huaimin can produce a powerful bill that shakes up the meeting, his position in the National Assembly will be more secure, and it will also lay the foundation for the political careers of his descendants.

Fang Jingxiu gave this proposal to Representative Guo, thus making Representative Guo owe him a favor. This favor could be useful in the future.

What will Ren Yijun think about the second point? Ren Yijun is the new chief of staff. On the surface, he is polite to him, but secretly he is observing him. He is observing whether he is obedient, whether he has the ability, and whether he can be used.

This proposal was his pledge of allegiance. He was proving to Ren Yijun that he was capable, responsible, and decisive. Would you dare not hire someone like that?

The third issue is, what if something goes wrong? The plan was submitted by Representative Guo, so if something goes wrong, Representative Guo will bear the brunt of the blame. Fang Jingxiu was the one who wrote the plan, but he works for the Central Economic Audit Bureau, and labor policy is not within his purview.

But if it succeeds, everyone will get a share of the credit. Representative Guo will say I pushed it forward, Ren Yijun will say I supported it, and Fang Jingxiu will say I drafted it. Everyone gets what they want, and everyone's happy.

The fourth debt is for Chen Nuo's eyes to never shed a tear.

He couldn't let her feel that there was no hope in the world. He couldn't let her feel that asking for help was useless. He couldn't let her feel that what was written in textbooks, taught by teachers, and what she once firmly believed were all false.

So he wanted to help her. To prove to her that there are still people in this world who will stand up for strangers. To prove to her that asking for help is still effective. To prove to her that the things she believes in are trustworthy.

All these factors combined benefit others, oneself, and the country. It's a win-win-win situation, so why not do it?

Undeniably, in officialdom, one cannot act based on soft-heartedness. Soft-heartedness is an emotion, and emotions are fickle. Being soft-hearted today might become a weapon used against you by your political enemies tomorrow. One must act based on self-interest. Self-interest is constant; it is eternal.

He helped Li Qiang not out of sympathy, but because helping Li Qiang served his own interests. He wanted to protect Chen Nuo's innocence, gain Representative Guo's trust, prove his abilities to Ren Yijun, and resolve the issue of unpaid wages for 300,000 workers in Zhongzhou City. All his interests aligned with the same goal, which is why he acted.