Official title: Refused to stay at the university, started his career in a rural town.

On May 10th, Yang Fan was flipping through the county party committee office's document circulation list for the month, signing off on the information reports submitted by various departments, when the phone rang. Yang Fan answered it casually.

"Yang Fan, the quality of your materials is far from satisfactory!"

Yang Fan put down the red pen and sat up straight. "Senior Brother Fang, please speak freely, what do you say?"

"Let me read you the data."

"The free calcium oxide content is 9.3%, far exceeding the national standard limit. The f-CaO content is nearly ten times that of ordinary cement concrete. Expansion rate testing—we soaked the sample in a constant-temperature water bath for a week, and its volume expanded by 0.21%. Do you know what that number should be for normal concrete?"

Yang Fan remained silent.

"The normal value is below 0.03." Fang Ping paused for a moment on the other end of the phone.

"The inflation rate of your sample is more than seven times the normal value."

Yang Fan's knuckles turned white as he gripped the microphone.

"And there's another situation with Yang Fan," Fang Ping said in a low voice.

"This time we took samples from the load-bearing columns on the first floor of the teaching building—that is, the shallow, low-pressure area."

"Under normal circumstances, the expansion coefficient of low-pressure areas should be smaller than that of high-rise areas, because the larger load can suppress some of the expansion. But in your sample, the low-pressure areas already show a clear expansion trend."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that the steel slag concrete used in this building is of even lower quality than similar cases we've seen before."

"The refining process is crude, and the residual amount of free calcium oxide is seriously excessive. Considering that the rainfall in your Ninghe County last year was nearly 40% higher than the average for previous years, I suspect that the foundation may have already started to expand."

The sound of turning pages came through the microphone.

"If the foundation's expansion coefficient is synchronized with that of the first floor, the actual safe service life of this building is—"

"How much?" Yang Fan asked.

"Optimistically, it will take five years. Visible structural cracks will begin to appear in the third year. If we were to give a conservative estimate—"

Fang Ping paused for a second.

"A large-scale eruption is inevitable within three years."

Yang Fan switched the microphone to his other hand and took a deep breath.

These people are really risking their lives for money! Are they going to cover it up when something happens?!

"Senior brother, are you sure?"

With the possibility that the data might be faulty, Yang Fan, unwilling to give up, asked again.

"The data is right here, and I don't want to talk to you about this," Fang Ping said with a hint of helplessness.

"Your building was only completed about half a year ago, right? Who supplied the concrete? This is not steel slag from a regular steel mill at all. It's probably just some small workshop that casually ground up waste steel slag and mixed it in. The free calcium oxide content is so high, which means it hasn't undergone any aging treatment, and the proportions were even wrong when it was added."

Yang Fan stared at the completion and acceptance report of the Ninghe County Teachers' Training School Complex Building on the table.

qualified!

Two words, plus the government's red seal.

"Yang Fan, I suggest taking a few more samples from the foundation and testing them again. If the foundation expansion rate exceeds 0.18, then this building should be taken out of service immediately."

Yang Fan closed his eyes briefly.

When he opened his eyes again, his voice was very calm.

"Senior, please keep the test results confidential for now."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Don't worry, I conducted this experiment myself. Even the junior students in the lab don't know the specific source of the data."

"I only prepared one copy of the report; the rest of the data is locked in my office cabinet. I'll mail the official version to you later, using express mail; it should arrive in about two days."

Yang Fan held the microphone.

"Thanks, senior brother. I'll treat you to drinks next time I go to Jingzhou."

"Don't offer me drinks." Fang Ping's voice finally softened a little.

"Last time, Teacher Song said that you treated him to the first harvest of tea buds from your tea plantation in Qingping, but I only received two boxes of your Qingping mountain delicacies. Junior brother, the difference in treatment is quite significant."

Yang Fan's lips twitched slightly. "Alright, I'll save two pounds for you from next year's first batch of shoots."

It's a deal.

Click. The phone hung up.

Yang Fan put the microphone back, stood up, and paced around the office.

He had anticipated the problem with steel slag concrete—he had read the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development's report in his previous life and knew what the consequences would be if it expanded.

But what Fang Ping just said wasn't "there's a problem with the steel slag concrete," but rather "the batch of steel slag concrete you used is even worse than the already substandard steel slag concrete." That's alarming!

Tofu dregs within tofu dregs!

The free calcium oxide content exceeded the standard by ten times, the low-pressure area has begun to expand, and the foundation is suspected to be expanding synchronously.

This is no longer a debate about historical limitations, but a clear case of shoddy construction caused by corruption!

This is because someone used substandard building materials to cheat on the project, reducing the lifespan of a building that could have been used for decades to a maximum of five years.

No, three years!

Fang Bowen's conservative estimate is three years.

Yang Fan picked up the enamel mug on the table and took a sip; the tea tasted bitter.

He put down the jar, picked up the receiver, and dialed the number of Liu Xiangdong's secretary, Zhao He.

"Secretary Zhao, is the Party Secretary available right now?"

"Director Yang, the Party Secretary has no appointments scheduled for the next half hour."

"I'll be right there. If anyone comes, please hold them off for a bit."

Yang Fan hung up the phone, picked up the handwritten test data, folded it, put it in his pocket, and strode out of the office.

Liu Xiangdong's office was on the far east side of the third floor. When Yang Fan knocked on the door and went in, Liu Xiangdong was sitting behind his desk. He glanced at Yang Fan and put down a document in his hand.

"What's wrong? You look terrible. Fang Bo called? How did it go? Ten years, or eight?"

Yang Fan sat down in the guest chair, took out the draft data from his pocket, and placed it on the table. "Senior brother, I've roughly noted down the data that Senior Brother Fang mentioned."

"The testing of the steel slag concrete samples showed that the free calcium oxide content exceeded the national standard by ten times, and the expansion rate was more than six times the normal value—this is the data from one of our sample layers. In Fang's own words, 'Optimistically speaking, it will take at most five years; cracks will definitely appear in the third year. Considering the above-average rainfall last rainy season, the foundation may already be expanding, and its lifespan may be significantly shortened.'"

Liu Xiangdong picked up the draft data and read it from beginning to end, while Yang Fan sat in a chair watching him.

After Liu Xiangdong finished reading, he put the paper on the table without saying a word. Then he stood up, walked to the window, and stood with his back to Yang Fan for a few seconds.

He suddenly turned around.

"Oh shit."

He slammed his hand on the desk. The enamel mug bounced, spilling tea that soaked a document lying next to it.

"I'm now the Party Secretary of Ninghe County," Liu Xiangdong said in a low, deep voice, "So, if you hadn't discovered this, I would have been the one to take the blame when the building collapsed in two years?"

He paced back and forth a couple more steps.

"I thought they were just forming small cliques and controlling cadre appointments at most—I never expected them to be so ruthless towards their own hometown! Aren't they afraid of being condemned by everyone?!"

Yang Fan remained silent.

He remembered seeing a news report in his past life.

A building in a certain place cost hundreds of millions of yuan to build, but ten years after its completion, it still cannot pass various inspections.

Contractors came and went, each one skimming off a piece of the project funds. In the end, the building didn't collapse, but it was never used.

Bad people can be found everywhere!

But this time he happened to run into them.

These people handled projects beyond just this teacher training school; they were involved in numerous public buildings throughout the county.

If every building uses this substandard concrete, the impending collapse will not only be physical, but also political—the exposure of numerous substandard projects will inevitably lead to a collapse of the cadres in Ninghe County.

"This matter can no longer proceed as originally planned."

After Liu Xiangdong finished speaking, he picked up the phone and started dialing.

"I am Liu Xiangdong. Please have Secretary Zheng come to my office immediately!"