The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

After New Year's Day, the Spring Festival is just around the corner, which is another peak season for gift-giving.

After a year of hard work, the money I save isn't even enough to cover the cost of gifts.

Chen Shi was very poor, practically penniless. If he went home for the New Year, he wouldn't even be able to give his niece and nephew their New Year's money.

Fortunately, he found Wang Yanhong, a wealthy young woman, and stayed with her to help him get through the difficult time.

Wang Yanhong has been working for two years and has not had any social engagements or invited people to meals. She has also never given gifts during holidays and has always saved her money.

I started giving her gifts this year. On New Year's Day and Chinese New Year, I gave her more than a month's salary, which made me feel terrible.

Seeing that Chen Shi was penniless, he took out two thousand yuan and gave it to Chen Shi so that he could go home for the Spring Festival.

Chen Shi's Spring Festival holiday is only four days long, from New Year's Eve to the third day of the Lunar New Year. He has to come to work on the fourth day.

This is the benefit of giving gifts: if you don't give gifts, you'll be assigned to work during the Spring Festival, meaning you'll have to work even during the New Year.

This year, Chen Shi felt uneasy. The mining accident at the Huangchang Town coal mine had not yet been investigated and the results of the investigation were still pending. This was like a knife hanging over Liu Youguang's head, ready to fall at any moment.

At the same time, it was also a knife hanging over Chen Shi's head, as his career was tied to Liu Youguang.

During New Year's Day and the Spring Festival, Liu Youguang kept a low profile when giving gifts. He didn't accept any gifts and didn't meet with anyone. At this time, he kept a low profile and kept a low profile as much as possible.

Chen Shi went to the county town and looked for Liu Youguang two or three times, but he couldn't find him.

Of course, Chen Shi also went to his uncle's house in the municipal party committee compound to inquire about the situation. Wang Mingzhang still ignored him, and Li Nan was still enthusiastic, but she had no power and could not help even if she wanted to.

During the Spring Festival, the whole family squeezed together and prepared a big table of delicious food. After the New Year's Eve dinner, Chen Shi gave red envelopes to his niece and nephew, 500 yuan each, for a total of 1,000 yuan.

As for the rest of the New Year's goods, I have a job, so of course I can't let my brother and sister-in-law pay for them, let alone my parents.

Chen Shi personally experienced that ordinary staff members working within the system were truly poor, while others saw them as having stable jobs and no worries about food and clothing.

The reality is that with such a meager salary, it's fine if you don't want to improve yourself and ignore everyone, you can still save some money. But if you want to advance, you'll have to attend one social event after another, be treated to meals, and give gifts. If your family can't support you financially, you simply can't afford it with this salary.

Chen Shi has been able to make ends meet in the six months since he returned because he interned at the Public Security Bureau for a year and saved some money. With the help of the 10,000 yuan his mother gave him, he was able to survive.

Chen Shi was very distressed, having spent all his savings and dealing with the New Year's social obligations.

This year has been anything but happy.

With a bleak future and no money, building connections costs money.

Where to get money became the urgent problem for Chen Shi.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, his sister-in-law asked about his nephew's household registration. Chen Shi smiled and said, "It'll be soon. Just wait a little longer; there's still one procedure that hasn't been completed."

The sister-in-law seemed somewhat dissatisfied. They had been waiting for months, and every time she said it would be done soon, she doubted whether Chen Shi could handle it.

"I'm worried every day that your nephew hasn't registered his household. It's been so long, why are there still no procedures to complete?"

Chen Xing looked at his wife and said, "What's the rush? If Xiao Shi says he can do it, he definitely can. Whether it's sooner or later, it won't make a difference."

During the Lunar New Year, Chen Shi couldn't let his brother and sister-in-law start arguing, so he quickly said, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. The main problem is that it's difficult to get a birth permit for having an extra child. I'm in contact with the family planning office, and once they get it, we can register the child's household registration."

Chen Shi was sweating bullets. He wasn't familiar with the family planning office at all; they were just nodding acquaintances and couldn't really talk to each other.

This is national policy. If it has no practical value or can be exchanged for something of equal value, who would risk violating the rules to do it?

The sister-in-law pressed, "How much longer? Give me a definite answer, otherwise I won't feel at ease and won't be able to enjoy the New Year properly."

Chen Shi forced a smile and said, "The household registration can be completed in March."

He had made up his mind. At worst, he would take his work ID to the bank to get a loan, pay the 10,000 yuan fine, and get his nephew registered in the household.

This matter can't be delayed any longer. If we don't give my sister-in-law a definite answer, no one will be able to have a good New Year.

He didn't owe his sister-in-law anything, but he did owe his brother something. His brother had dropped out of school early to work and earn tuition fees in order to support his education.

My older brother was a very good student when he was in school. His homeroom teacher came to our house three times to ask him to come. It's fair to say that without my brother, he wouldn't have been able to finish university.

Parents can't even raise one college student, let alone two.

Half of my college tuition was paid for by my older brother through part-time work.

Even after I went out to work, I was still at the police station. In their eyes, settling down was a trivial matter, just a matter of a word. If they couldn't even do that, it would break my brother's heart.

Even parents might feel that they are ungrateful.

Everyone had their own difficulties; the fine for having more children than allowed had to be paid by themselves. At the time, without even thinking it over, I said I would take care of it.

Chen Shi thought about it and realized that his sister-in-law's confidence to question him stemmed from his brother's sacrifices for him.

If you don't give her a straight answer, she might really show you no mercy and call you an ingrate, and you won't dare to say anything.

Chen stayed at home for three days, but not many people came to visit or even bring gifts.

The villagers admire leaders. When they talk about officials, they don't mean just working within the system; they mean leaders, at least section-level cadres.

They'll only look up to you if you're just an ordinary clerk or a grassroots police officer. In their eyes, you're just someone who's working, only with a more stable job.

Last year during the Spring Festival, I was still at the Public Security Bureau. People came to visit me one after another. No matter what position I held in the Public Security Bureau, the name "Public Security Bureau" was enough for them to admire me.

There are no gifts given. In their minds, if I don't ask you for a favor, why would I give you a gift? If I ask you for a favor and you give me a gift, you still have to do it. If you can't, you have to return the gift.

Just like her mother, she was nothing but arrogant. Even though she had a half-brother in the municipal party committee, no one would actively try to curry favor with her.

Wang Guihua often says, "If he won't acknowledge me, why should I acknowledge him?"

That makes sense. If you were in the provincial government, people would come running to acknowledge you. But you're just an old farmer; you can't lower yourself and expect people to acknowledge you—that's just wishful thinking.

Wang Mingzhang doesn't owe you anything; it's your father who owes you something—it's a matter from the previous generation.

If Wang Guihua had humbled herself and acknowledged Wang Mingzhang from the beginning, he could have easily given them a small gift that would have made them extremely wealthy.

The poorer a person is, the more backbone they have. Without the strength to back them up, backbone seems so ridiculous.

Wang Xincheng is Wang Mingzhang's cousin. He fawns over Wang Mingzhang, allowing him to easily earn four or five million a year.

Wang Guihua and Wang Mingzhang are relatives after all, so they can't be any worse off than Wang Xincheng. Li Nan gave them a 10,000 yuan red envelope for visiting them, which is quite generous.

Chen Shi thought about all this and gave a bitter smile.

Humans live in reality; there's no way to survive without it.

In 2009, I experienced a lot. I fell from grace and was dumped by my girlfriend. I returned to the police station and became a lowly police officer, nothing special.

In everyone's eyes, he couldn't even handle something as simple as settling down, which was embarrassing to talk about.