Me! A high-ranking official!

"Yes." Zhao Jianguo gave a bitter smile. "My case with Cao Wenting... oh, that is, my ex-mother-in-law, is being investigated by the Discipline Inspection Commission. I'm staying in a budget hotel right now, penniless. If I'm late this afternoon, or if I don't submit the correct materials, and there's a problem with the division of those hundreds of thousands of yuan in assets, I won't even have money for rent or food. My livelihood is important, but if I don't have food in my bowl, I'll starve to death."

He placed the powerful Discipline Inspection Commission directly in front of Li Dafang's face. Everyone in the county knew about Cao Wenting's downfall. When the Discipline Inspection Commission handled cases, who dared to say "no"? Who dared to stop them?

As expected, Li Dafang's face twitched twice, clearly flustered, but he still stubbornly forced out a sentence: "Jianguo, personal matters are personal matters, let's focus on work first... Why don't you talk to the Discipline Inspection Commission and postpone the time? You can go after the meeting this afternoon?"

"Director Li, that's the Discipline Inspection Commission. You want me to negotiate with their special investigation team?" Zhao Jianguo looked at him with a half-smile. "Or, could you use the bureau's name to give the Discipline Inspection Commission's investigation office a heads-up? Just say the bureau needs to write some materials and ask them to wait?"

Li Dafang's face turned green. Even if he had ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare to make such a call to the Discipline Inspection Commission; that would be considered obstructing the investigation.

"What...what should we do..." Li Dafang wrung his hands anxiously, sweat dripping from his forehead and down his nose.

"How about this..." he "thoughtfully" suggested, "Wait for me a moment. I won't even eat lunch. I'll rush back to organize the bank statements and receipts the disciplinary committee needs. I'll hand them in as soon as we start work at 2:30 this afternoon, and then I'll rush back. No delays whatsoever. I'll sit here right now and start writing for you. How about that?"

I went to submit the materials at 2:30, and then came back to write them. By the time I finished writing, the daylilies had gone bad!

Li Dafang knew Zhao Jianguo was subtly rubbing salt into his wounds, but the reason was unassailable. He gritted his teeth and said, "This... there's simply no time to make it. Why don't you go and talk to Director Zhang yourself?"

Shifting the blame? No way.

Zhao Jianguo picked up the car keys on the table and walked out without looking back: "Director Li, what are you saying? You are the director of the newly established project office in our bureau, and I am just a junior staff member. Reporting to higher-ups is a big taboo. This is a small matter, so of course you should report to Director Zhang for overall coordination. I'm leaving now, the Discipline Inspection Commission is urging me to leave."

"Build a nation! Oh, build a nation!"

Li Dafang called out twice in a low voice from behind.

Zhao Jianguo ignored him and rode off into the distance.

Sitting in the taxi on his way to the Discipline Inspection Commission, Zhao Jianguo lowered the window, closed his eyes, and could already guess the gist of the matter.

Zhang Baocheng and Li Dafang must have taken that cobbled-together "report" to Zhou Qingyan to curry favor. Yesterday in the car, he deliberately didn't mention to Zhou Qingyan that he had been "reaped the rewards." That's called tact. If he had complained like a wronged woman yesterday, a strong leader like Zhou Qingyan would have only thought he was naive and weak. Leaders within the system only care about "results." Who did the work doesn't matter; what matters is that the work is done. But he deliberately entrusted the most core framework and the longest-term plan to Zhou Qingyan in advance, which is equivalent to setting an extremely high standard in Zhou Qingyan's mind.

Today, Zhang Baocheng brought a shoddy, flawed report to Zhou Qingyan. Zhou Qingyan immediately understood: Zhang Baocheng was clueless about the details and had no chance of success. The difference in their abilities was as obvious as a weed compared to a towering tree. In Zhou Qingyan's eyes, Zhang Baocheng would immediately be labeled with several fatal tags: impatient for quick success, greedy, oppressive to subordinates, and utterly useless.

Eager to distribute the spoils before the project has even been launched, kicking out the truly knowledgeable people, this kind of person is basically sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in the county party secretary's political account. Once this thorn is planted, will Zhang Baocheng be able to advance any further? Dream on.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jianguo's lips curled into a cold smile. Since he was going to lie, he had to play the part completely. He took out his phone and called Wang Pingping's brother, Director Wang of the Discipline Inspection Commission's case office. He proactively arranged a time to meet at the Discipline Inspection Commission's compound, where he handed over the detailed property division materials for Cao Wenting's case that he had prepared beforehand. He even drank half a cup of tea in Director Wang's office, making his "alibi" an ironclad case.

He didn't return to his workplace until 3 p.m.

Upon entering his office, he first checked the county government website for the report. The results of yesterday's accident at Linhai Construction Site were in: two people were killed instantly, and two others were seriously injured. Zhao Jianguo secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a bit worried for Zhou Qingyan. The difference between two deaths and three deaths within the system is like night and day. As long as it didn't reach the red line for a major safety accident, the blame was covered, her position in the county was secure, and Zhou Qingyan's political life was saved. No wonder she had the leisure to listen to the meeting report from the Culture and Tourism Bureau this afternoon; she had recovered.

I casually opened a WeChat group, and several gossip groups in the bureau were already in an uproar.

"Have you heard? Du Long from the county party committee office got his application returned!"

"Damn, he's only been Secretary Zhou's secretary for twenty days, right?"

"They've replaced him with Jiang Haitao, that new guy from the General Affairs Department."

Looking at these messages, he wasn't surprised at all. That day at the hospital, Zhou Qingyan was lying inside, and Du Long, who was the chief secretary, actually went to the corner of the corridor to smoke. The defenses were practically non-existent, allowing him, an outsider, to sneak into the ward. This kind of clueless idiot who couldn't tell what was important and what wasn't important, was lucky to have been able to stay by Zhou Qingyan's side for twenty days.

After working until the end of the day, he left and first went to check on the supermarket that Liu Tao had taken over. The construction team had already started demolishing the walls, leaving it in ruins. Then he went to check on the progress of the construction site of his newly purchased house. When he returned to the budget hotel, he had just taken off his shoes and was about to make himself a bowl of noodles when his phone vibrated.

Zhang Baocheng's phone number.

"Jianguo, come to my office right now." The voice was harsh and carried a hint of anger.

He hung up the phone, gave a cold laugh, and knew without a doubt that the afternoon would end badly. He'd better go find him to put out the fire. He put his leather shoes back on, returned to the compound, and pushed open the door to the director's office. The room reeked of smoke. Zhang Baocheng sat in a large boss's chair, his face so gloomy it could drip water. When he saw him come in, he forcibly suppressed his anger, cleared his throat, and forced out a smile that could only be described as benevolent.

"Jianguo, come, sit down."

He obediently sat down on the opposite side, his back ramrod straight.

Zhang Baocheng sighed, speaking in a candid tone: "It's like this, at the county meeting this afternoon, Secretary Zhou expressed high expectations for our Xiaozhai Village project and also issued new requirements. The original plan was a bit conservative. The secretary instructed that we can't just focus on our current small plot of land; we also need to consider future expansion plans. We need to broaden the blueprint. This is a heavy responsibility. After considering all the options, the bureau still thinks you, with your powerful pen, are the one to take on this task. Please work overtime tonight to finish the materials. If you need any data or assistance, just have Li Dafang run the errands!"

Hearing Zhang Baocheng say this, he knew perfectly well what Zhang Baocheng meant by "making expectations." It was clear that Zhang Baocheng had been scolded by Zhou Qingyan that afternoon and had no choice but to shamelessly come to him for help.

He immediately adopted a flattered expression and nodded emphatically: "Don't worry, Director, I'll go back and write it right away."

Seeing how cooperative he was, Zhang Baocheng's eyes lit up. He decided to go all out, leaning forward slightly and lowering his voice to throw out the bait: "Jianguo, I've always had high hopes for you. Your department's Director Li's health is getting worse and worse. He just mentioned to me a couple of days ago that he's considering retiring due to illness. The bureau is in dire need of capable backbone personnel. Do your job well. The bureau's party committee has discerning eyes."