Official excuse: I've put you on patrol in Handong, and the whole province is in a panic.

He was going to see his father.

.......

at the same time.

The inspection team's residence.

Su Zhe sat at his desk, flipping through the official notification regarding Chen Hai's dismissal that had just been sent by the General Office of the Handong Provincial Party Committee.

Black ink on white paper, bright red seal.

The waters of Handong have finally been stirred up.

A knock sounded at the door, and Xu Ming pushed it open and walked in. He glanced at the report in Su Zhe's hand and smiled.

"The execution efficiency of the Hantong Provincial Committee is not slow."

Su Zhe closed the file, put it aside, and laughed, "The more sinister this place, Handong, the more we need to find a way to intimidate them, otherwise we won't even have a starting point! And these local bullies will look down on us even more!"

Xu Ming smiled and nodded.

"Well done! With Chen Hai dismissed, everyone in Handong will probably have to think twice before even going out for a meal! They'll either not act at all, or they'll strike hard!"

Su Zhe picked up another document on the table and flipped through two pages.

"Team leader, Chen Hai is just the tip of the iceberg... Ding Yizhen's case has uncovered far more than just Zhao Dehan. The Guangmingfeng project, the Jingzhou urban construction system, mineral resource approvals... the waters in these areas run very deep."

Xu Ming nodded and said with a smile, "If you doubt someone, don't use them; if you use someone, don't doubt them! You can figure these things out yourself! I'll just be your support! If you need any help, just let me know!"

Just as Su Zhe was about to speak, his phone vibrated.

He picked it up and saw that it was a message from Yang Hong—

"Team leader, Team Two just received a batch of land approval files for the Guangming Peak project from the Jingzhou Municipal Planning Bureau. Some data doesn't match. Would you like to come and take a look now?"

Su Zhe stood up and nodded to Xu Ming.

"Thank you for your support, team leader. I'll go over and keep an eye on things first."

Xu Ming waved his hand, signaling him to hurry up and go.

As Su Zhe opened the door, Xu Ming suddenly added a sentence from behind.

"Su Zhe, take it easy. The waters in Handong are deep, and the fish are clever."

Su Zhe didn't even turn his head.

"I'm afraid they'll be too naive and it won't be exciting enough!"

"Heh...you little brat!"

......

Suburbs of Jingzhou City.

Sunshine Nursing Home.

The courtyard is not large, consisting of several two-story buildings surrounding a not-so-spacious courtyard.

The courtyard is planted with some flowers and plants, and several elderly people sit under the veranda basking in the sun.

The environment isn't great, but it's quiet.

As Chen Hai carried a bag of fruit through the gate of the courtyard, he saw his father, Chen Yanshi, wearing a tattered straw hat, squatting by the flower bed turning over the soil.

The mother squatted down beside them, handing them shovels and pulling weeds; the elderly couple worked together quite skillfully.

Chen Hai stood a dozen steps away and watched for a while.

My father is over eighty years old, but his back is still so straight.

They worked with the same spirit they had when they went to the front lines back then, wielding their hoes one stroke at a time.

Chen Hai's eyes welled up with tears, and he quickly rubbed them a couple of times before carrying the fruit over.

"Dad, Mom."

Chen Yanshi didn't even raise his head.

"It's here? Put it there, I'll finish turning this row."

He looked at the old man and couldn't help but say, "Dad, you said you'd rather not live in your perfectly good house, but instead sell it and donate it, and then come to live in a nursing home. What's the point of all this? No matter how good the conditions in a nursing home are, it's still not as comfortable as living in your own house, right?"

Chen Yanshi snorted when he heard Chen Hai's words.

"What do you know!"

"What's so great about that house? It's big and empty! And you have to pay for a caregiver. The nursing home is so comfortable. There are people cooking and cleaning, and you can even grow flowers and grass in the yard. Old Wang next door asks me to play chess every day. Life there is much better than living in that apartment."

As Chen Yanshi spoke, he pointed to a small vegetable patch in the corner of the yard.

"Look, those scallions are from last month, they're growing so well! And those tomato plants, they'll be ready to harvest in another two weeks. Try planting them in your apartment building and see!"

Chen Hai was both amused and exasperated.

"Dad, growing vegetables isn't the point..."

"How is that not the point?" Chen Yanshi said sternly. "A person has to be grounded in reality to live. Living upstairs all day, taking a car when you go out, sitting on a sofa when you come home, and never even stepping on the soil, what kind of life is that? Back when I was carrying explosives during the Huaihai Campaign, I was lying in the trench with my mouth full of dirt. At that time, I thought that after the war, I would definitely farm the land for the rest of my life."

Wang Fuzhen chimed in from the side.

"After the war, you didn't farm; you became a prosecutor for decades."

"That's because the organization needs it!" Chen Yanshi glared at his wife, but his tone carried a hint of smugness. "Now that I've finally retired, I can finally grow a few vegetables. Are you still stopping me?"

Seeing the elderly couple bickering, Chen Hai decided not to bring up the topic again.

Wang Fuzhen sat down next to Chen Hai and peeled an orange for him.

"Don't you know your dad's personality? He's as stubborn as a mule, stubborn from his youth to his old age, and no one can persuade him. Anyway, your dad and I have enough retirement pensions, and living in a nursing home won't cost much a month, so don't worry about us."

"Exactly!" Chen Yanshi echoed, then muttered under his breath, "Speaking of which, that apartment isn't anything special, it's old and dilapidated. But the location is indeed excellent..."

Wang Fuzhen shook her head and smiled at Chen Hai.

"Back then, you were the executive deputy chief prosecutor of the provincial procuratorate, a leading cadre at the ministerial level. Naturally, the house allocated by the organization wouldn't be bad..."

Wang Fuzhen sighed, and the smile on her face faded a little.

"What a pity, it's all Zhao Lichun's fault, he's utterly wicked. Before you retired, the province was going to raise your benefits by one level, to the level of a vice-provincial level official. The report was all prepared, just waiting for approval. But that Zhao Lichun stubbornly refused to approve it, dragging it out for more than half a year, until you retired without any result, and in the end it was all dropped. Otherwise, your benefits..."

Chen Yanshi snorted.

"That Zhao Lichun, he'll get what's coming to him sooner or later! A corrupt official!"

After Chen Yanshi finished cursing Zhao Lichun, he took a sip of tea, and his emotions calmed down a bit.

Chen's mother looked her son up and down.

"Why do you look so pale? You've lost weight, haven't you? Did you stay up late working overtime again?"

Chen Hai smiled, but the smile was more like a grimace.

"No, Mom, it's just that I've had some work-related issues lately."

Chen Yanshi finally finished turning over the last shovelful of soil, patted the mud off his hands, took off his straw hat, and fanned himself twice.

He glanced at Chen Hai and frowned.

"You're usually so busy you're practically running around like a headless chicken, but you came to see me in broad daylight today. What brings you here?"

Chen Hai opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to start.

Chen's mother handed over a water glass, smiling as she tried to smooth things over.

"You need a reason to come see your parents? What kind of father are you? You interrogate your child when they come to visit."

Chen Yanshi snorted, plopped down on the stone bench by the flower bed, and gulped down a mouthful of water.

"I know my son. He never asks for leave unless something's wrong, and he doesn't avoid problems when they arise. Look at him like this; something's clearly happened, and it's not a big deal. Tell me, what happened?"

Chen Hai remained silent for a few seconds.

He spent the entire car ride thinking about how to bring it up with his father. When they arrived at the nursing home, he sat in the car for another ten minutes, rehearsing several different ways of speaking.

But when you're actually in front of them, no amount of talking will help.

"Dad... I've been dismissed from my post."