Official statement: Tongwei is dead! You chose Ruijin, didn't you?

At this time, in a certain place in the capital city, hidden deep within red walls and green trees, lies a military compound.

There are no iron bars or interrogation chairs here. The suite is even elegantly furnished, with genuine leather sofas and fine pre-Qingming Longjing tea on the coffee table.

Sha Ruijin was, after all, a high-ranking official in charge of a region, and before the organization made a final decision, he still maintained all the proper decorum.

But the two expressionless bodyguards standing at the door, and the fact that all his communication equipment had been confiscated, constantly reminded him:

This is no longer the Hantong Provincial Party Committee compound, and he is no longer the "Secretary Sha" whose word is law.

Sha Ruijin held his teacup, watching the tea leaves rise and fall within it, and didn't sleep a wink all night.

The scene of Gao Yuliang leaping from the sixth-floor rooftop played on repeat in his mind like a nightmare.

He just couldn't understand how an old fox who usually spoke so shrewdly could have the guts to risk his life to overturn the table.

"Squeak—"

The solid wood door to the suite was pushed open.

An elderly man wearing a dark jacket walked in.

His hair was gray and he was slender, but his eyes, hidden behind frameless glasses, had a sharp edge.

The former leader of the discipline inspection department.

In the past, when meetings were held at the Jingxi Hotel, Sha Ruijin would go up to him, offer him a cigarette, and address him as "old leader".

But today, the old leader's gaze towards him lacked any of the gentleness of the past.

"Comrade Ruijin, please sit down, don't be so formal."

The old leader didn't go to the main seat, but instead casually pulled up a chair and sat opposite Sha Ruijin. "How's this pre-Qingming Longjing tea?"

"Old leader..." Sha Ruijingang tried to stand up, but the old leader pressed his hand down, and he sat back down, his back ramrod straight.

"I've been reflecting deeply on this for the past few days."

"Reflection is a good thing." The old leader slowly took out his thermos, unscrewed the lid, and blew on the steam.

"I heard that after you were parachuted into Handong, you really enjoyed going to the grassroots level and you especially liked singing 'Shajiabang'?"

Sha Ruijin's heart tightened suddenly.

In official conversations, the more casual the conversation, the bigger the potential pitfalls.

This question is even more insidious than directly asking him whether he received money.

"Yes... I wanted to quickly establish a working situation in Handong and unite most of my comrades through this method." Sha Ruijin carefully chose his words.

"Unite the majority?" The old leader laughed, the laughter sounding particularly jarring in the empty room.

"But the version we heard was that you turned this grand drama in Handong into a 'battle of wits'."

You dragged Li Dakang along to play the good cop, and even had the Liang family hand you cheat sheets behind the scenes, all to specifically target those you disliked, 'Hu Chuankui' and 'Diao Deyi.' Comrade Ruijin, the Central Committee sent you to Handong as a squad leader, not to set up a makeshift troupe and put on a show!"

Every word is piercing to the heart!

Cold sweat poured down Sha Ruijin's back, but he clenched his jaw tightly, trying to remain calm.

"I admit that in order to eliminate the remaining influence of Zhao Lichun, my work pace was a bit too hasty, and my methods may have been flawed. But I, Sha Ruijin, have absolutely no intention of forming cliques or engaging in factionalism, much less any political intent to divide or attack one side!"

"Flaws?" The old chief seemed to have heard a funny joke. He pulled a thin document from his briefcase and gently pushed it in front of Sha Ruijin.

"Then explain to me what this 'flaw' is all about?"

Sha Ruijin looked down and his pupils suddenly contracted.

That was a travel itinerary map.

The record clearly shows that during his time in Handong, his secretary had four "chance encounters" with Liang Qunfeng's two sons at a private restaurant in Jingzhou that was not open to the public.

The time, location, license plate number, and even what Xiaobai said to the hotel manager when he went to clear the place in advance were all recorded clearly.

Sha Ruijin knew that Handong was a sieve with holes on all sides, but he never expected that his supposedly secretive political plan was seen by the supervisory team and the higher-ups as if he were running naked in the square!

"This...this is all normal information gathering." Sarek's voice began to dry, but he was still making a last-ditch effort.

"I absolutely did not instruct the Liang family to collect incriminating material on Gao Yuliang, nor did I form any form of political alliance with them!"

"The word 'alliance' is too sophisticated; let's use a more down-to-earth term." The old commander leaned forward, his eyes sharp as knives, directly piercing through Sha Ruijin's preconceived notions.

"You didn't give any instructions? Then how come that 'imperial sword' you released, named Hou Liangping, always manages to precisely pick up the knife that the Liang family dropped on the ground?"

You're an outsider, unfamiliar with Handong, yet your investigation leads seem to be guided by some kind of Beidou navigation system. Comrade Ruijin, are you insulting the intelligence of our supervisory team, or are you insulting your own political competence in governing this area?

Sha Ruijin felt as if an invisible hand was tightly gripping his throat, preventing him from uttering a single word.

This is precisely the most insidious and deadliest part of the whole affair.

He did not sign, approve, or even give Hou Liangping a clear verbal order to "kill Gao Yuliang."

But he acquiesced.

He tacitly allowed Hou Liangping, that hothead, to abuse his power and run rampant in Handong, ignoring procedural justice.

He tacitly allowed those two vicious dogs in human skin from the Liang family to continuously pass on damaging information behind his back.

In order to suppress Gao Yuliang's position in the political and legal system, he tacitly allowed the use of a personal feud between old factions to undermine the foundation of the entire local faction in Handong.

At the time, he felt that this was a superb political tactic, a swift and decisive move to use someone else's strength against them.

It wasn't until the moment Gao Yuliang jumped off the rooftop that he suddenly realized: that wasn't a wrist at all, but a noose that someone had handed him to hang himself!

Sha Ruijin not only accepted it, but also willingly put it around his own neck.

"Comrade Ruijin," the old commander's voice suddenly turned cold, carrying a stern tone of disappointment and frustration.

"You forgot the most important point! When you used the Liang family's knife to stab Gao Yuliang, did you ever think about how this knife drove Qi Tongwei to a dead end?!"

Are you telling all the cadres in Handong that your anti-corruption campaign, Sha Ruijin, is just a change of personnel, continuing to play the old trick of "those who obey me prosper, those who oppose me perish"?

What do you take the sacred organizational review for? Do you use it as a chamber pot to eliminate dissidents?!

The moment the word "chamber pot" was uttered, Sha Ruijin's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

His face was ashen, and his lips trembled for a long time before he finally managed to speak: "Old leader... I admit that I seriously underestimated the complexity of the cadre team in Handong. The supervision of Hou Liangping was also completely out of control. I... have an unshirkable leadership responsibility."

"That's all?" The old commander remained unmoved, took out a small voice recorder from his pocket, placed it on the coffee table, and pressed the play button.

"How many times have I told you? I'm not going!"

"While he was alive, I was disgusted by him for half my life! Now that he's committed suicide out of guilt, I'm expected to go and collect his body?!"

"Go find his poor relatives back in those remote, impoverished villages! Let those distant, poor relatives take him back to the muddy ditch!"

Liang Lu's sharp and sarcastic voice echoed in the quiet conversation room, sounding particularly jarring and even nauseating.

Sha Ruijin's face turned from white to red in an instant.

The old leader turned off the recorder with a soft "snap," but it struck Sha Ruijin's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Did you hear that, Comrade Ruijin? This is the family style of that old comrade in the political and legal system you mentioned who 'needs to understand the situation'! This is the 'ally' you secretly rely on!" The old leader stood up, looking down at him condescendingly.

"You used a poisoned, broken knife to perform surgery on the officials of Handong. And what happened? The patient didn't die on the operating table, but the surgeon himself contracted sepsis!"

The old leader walked to the door, stopped, and delivered his final verdict: "You lost. You didn't lose in terms of tactics, but in terms of vision. You treated the cadres of Handong like inanimate objects on a chessboard, to be manipulated at will. But you forgot that chess pieces are also people; when driven to a dead end, they will overturn the table. You stay here and write your self-criticism."

The door closed.

The room was eerily quiet.

After an unknown amount of time, the water delivery personnel pushed open the door and quickly replaced Sha Ruijin's tea with a fresh pot of tea.

Although this person was dressed plainly, he was a shrewd and perceptive person who could serve in a place of this level. He was also the only outside contact that Sha Ruijin could currently get in touch with.

Sha Ruijin picked up his teacup and, under the guise of drinking water, asked in a very low voice:

"Who's in charge of things in Handong right now?"

The staff member continued working, speaking in a low voice: "Team leader Qin Yuanzhou will preside over the meeting."

"What about the new secretary?" Sha Ruijin's hands trembled slightly.

"I heard... it's already been decided, and the announcement will be made once the procedures are completed. It wasn't a promotion from within Handong, but a 'tough guy' directly parachuted in from above."

The staff member picked up the old teapot, turned to leave, and just before going out, casually uttered a remark.

"Comrade Ruijin, don't worry about things outside. The higher-ups have given the order that Handong has to be completely rebuilt."

Sha Ruijin slumped back on the leather sofa and closed his eyes.

His schemes in Handong, his envisioned "Sha-Li pairing" reforms, his grand ambition to cleanse the officialdom of Handong...

Before anything could even truly begin, Gao Yuliang leaped and smashed it to pieces.