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

Su Huaishan's office was silent at this moment.

After waiting a moment, Gao Yuliang stood up and straightened the collar of his Zhongshan suit. His emotions had returned to normal—his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses had regained their calm and composed demeanor, as if the rift from before had never existed.

"Principal, Principal Su, professors, I won't bother you any longer. I need to go back to Luzhou to convey the provincial directives, so I have to rush back." He stopped at the door, glanced back at Su Huaishan, and said, "Principal Su, I will continue to follow up on Qi Tongwei's matter, and I will let you know if there is any news."

Su Huaishan nodded.

Gao Yuliang pushed open the door and went out. His footsteps faded into the distance along the corridor and finally disappeared into the stairwell.

The office fell silent for a moment.

Wang Jianmin took off his glasses, rubbed his temples, slammed his hand on the table with a bang, and spoke in a sinister tone.

"Someone's not taking Handong University seriously!"

The voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a chilling aura.

"Being an undercover agent is nothing special." Wang Jianmin slammed his water glass on the table, splashing tea that soaked a stack of letters lying next to him.

"Why can everyone else go undercover but not students from Han University? But this practice of sending undercover agents without training or careful vetting to ensure their qualifications is utterly despicable!"

He paused, then raised his voice by half an octave.

"This is blatant disregard for human life! This is not only irresponsible towards Qi Tongwei's life, but also irresponsible towards the work of the political and legal system! This is simply child's play!"

No one in the office dared to speak. Yang Fan sat on the sofa, looking at the old principal's face—he had seen Wang Jianmin get angry before, but it was always just slamming the table and yelling at people, and that was it.

Today is different. Today, Wang Jianmin's voice contains no fire, only ice, layers upon layers of ice pressing down.

He was about to retire, a polite and kind person who always greeted everyone, yet he was so angered that he became like this.

Su Huaishan put down his teacup and leaned forward. "Principal, please calm down. This matter hasn't been confirmed yet. We don't know if there's more to the story. Let's find out more before drawing any conclusions."

"What are you asking about?" Wang Jianmin turned to stare at Su Huaishan. "If Yu Liang said something like this, how could it be false?"

Su Huaishan remained silent for a moment, then turned to look at Yang Fan.

"Yang Fan, you and Qi Tongwei had a good relationship back then. Do you think Qi Tongwei might volunteer to go undercover in the criminal investigation team?"

Yang Fan's fingers clenched tightly on his knees.

His mind was in turmoil. In the original storyline, Qi Tongwei did indeed apply for the undercover role himself.

After years of toiling away at Yantai Mountain, with no prospect of becoming a deputy section chief and no clear future, someone suddenly told him about an opportunity to earn merit and receive an award—he went. Later, his identity was exposed in a drug dealer's den, he was shot three times, survived, and became a first-class combat hero recognized throughout the province.

That was the turning point in his fate, and also the beginning of his tragedy.

But Gao Yuliang said that Liang Lu didn't know about this?

Yang Fan leaned back on the sofa, his mind racing.

Liang Lu didn't know—what about Chen Yanshi? Did that old chief prosecutor, who kept saying "young people should rely on their own efforts to be transferred to Beijing," know anything about it?

His daughter Chen Yang went to Beijing, and he kept Qi Tongwei under house arrest at Yantai Mountain. Did he say anything about this? Or is there someone else involved?

Gao Yuliang's analysis helped Yang Fan understand more about the issues.

Going undercover in a drug cartel requires systematic training!

How to transmit intelligence, how to deal with interrogations, how to escape in a crisis—if you don't know these things, even if you do, you won't know how to transmit the message discreetly.

Throwing someone like Qi Tongwei in without proper training is nothing short of blatant disregard for human life.

But he remembered last year at Yantai Mountain, Qi Tongwei standing by the river, clutching that crumpled ledger. Chicken sellers, grain sellers, winter quilt sellers—those crooked names and red handprints. Qi Tongwei said, "Brother, I haven't dared go home for two years, because I'm ashamed."

He said that those who supported my university education are still waiting for me to come back and bring glory to my ancestors, but what can I bring back?

Yang Fan's Adam's apple bobbed, and he spoke.

"It's probably true that he/she applied voluntarily."

He briefly recounted his encounter with Qi Tongwei at Yantai Mountain last year.

Speaking of the small notebook in Qi Tongwei's hand, which was full of debts, Aunt Zhang had thirty eggs, Uncle Li had fifteen yuan and sixty cents, and Granny Wang had sold a laying hen.

Speaking of Qi Tongwei, his father was paralyzed in bed, and his mother made shoe soles every day to earn money for food. He grew up eating food from many families and wearing clothes from many families.

Speaking of the old man in his seventies who walked two miles with a cane to see him off, he held his hand and said, "Tongwei, no one in our village has ever been a college student. You are the first. If you need anything, just say so!"

"He's quite sensitive because his family situation is poor. He's relied on the village for support since he was a child, and the pressure of those social obligations makes him feel suffocated." Yang Fan paused, wanting to smoke a cigarette, but looking at the surroundings, he didn't dare to take it out.

"He always wanted to make a name for himself and give back to the villagers. Although I advised him to calm down and do his job well, and he did work hard, I could see the resentment in his eyes, the anxiety that he felt he would never be able to repay those favors if he didn't give it his all."

At this point, Yang Fan seemed to be organizing his thoughts.

"For Qi Tongwei, it seems that even though his undercover mission failed, it's still better than what he's doing now."

Yang Fan then stopped talking, as the matter of going undercover without training was no longer something he could get involved in.

He was just a minor executive deputy county head, while sitting in this room were the president, vice president, and director of the building materials laboratory of Handong University—any one of them carried far more weight in the province than him. He wasn't even worthy of being a background figure.

Wang Minhua tapped her index finger on the table, angrily saying.

"Just apply voluntarily? If I apply to go to Iwata City tomorrow to go undercover, will I be sent out next week? That's ridiculous!"

Su Huaishan looked at yet another powder keg about to explode and shook his head helplessly.

"Principal, Professor Wang, let's not panic. Let me contact them and find out the details. If this is really the case, then some people truly don't deserve to be in leadership positions."

Sun Jiapei nodded and tapped his knee twice with his fingers.

"We still need to confirm this. If it's true, then we old folks from Handong are just old, not dead! Some people really don't value human life at all! We need to wake them up!"

Wang Jianmin took off his reading glasses and placed them on the table.

He stood up, walked to the window, and stood with his back to the crowd for a while. Outside the window was the old campus of Handong University, where the plane tree leaves shimmered golden in the afternoon sunlight.

He turned around.

"Okay then, Huai Shan, you contact people to confirm the specific information over there, and then ask Teacher Liang Lu about it."

He paused, his voice lowering.

"Although Teacher Liang Lu is probably being sensible, but..."

Su Huaishan nodded and stood up. His tone carried a murderous intent.

"Professor Liang Lu wouldn't go that far; after all, she's a teacher at Han University! If she did… hmph!"