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

Zhou Zhengming remained silent for a full half minute, then suddenly couldn't help but say:

"Qin Group Leader, what kind of mess is this! We're digging down Hou Liangping's trail, pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud along with it..."

The Chen family, the Liang family, the Zhong family, the Zhao family—which of them didn't devour state assets like a bloodthirsty maw? Billions of yuan were transferred out of their hands at every turn! And guess what happened?

Qin Yuanzhou raised his eyelids and glanced at him.

Zhou Zhengming gave a wry smile, his tone revealing a strong sense of absurdity:

"Let's look at the facts. Gao Yuliang, who was driven to desperation and nearly died jumping from the sixth floor... actually committed the least serious offense among this group!"

Qin Yuanzhou snorted coldly, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes: "That's right. Compared to the bottomless black money of the Lingang project, Gao Yuliang's problems are nothing in the murky world of Handong. He can actually be considered an 'honest official'."

"This is outrageous!"

Zhou Zhengming shook his head and sighed, "The one who committed the least crime was driven to jump off a building; those with hands full of ill-gotten gains are using the banner of justice to force him to jump! The officialdom in Handong is truly surreal!"

"Magical, this is Game of Thrones." Qin Yuanzhou stood up, handed the list to Zhou Zhengming, and said decisively, "Zhengming, take this list and go to the hospital tonight."

"Now?"

"Right now."

Qin Yuanzhou's eyes shone brightly. "Go and see this 'relatively clean' Secretary Gao. Now that he's offered up the knife to break the deadlock, and now that he has this list, won't he be strutting around like crazy? Go and put him on the defensive, see just how much cunning he really has up his sleeve!"

"Understood!" Zhou Zhengming took the list, turned around, and strode into the night.

……

Half an hour later, in the special needs ward of the Provincial People's Hospital.

Gao Yuliang is still awake.

He leaned against the hospital bed, his torso still wrapped in thick polymer plaster, like a terracotta warrior just unearthed.

A glass of warm water was placed beside her, and Wu Huifen was wearing reading glasses and sitting next to her, flipping through the newspaper.

With a creak, the ward door was pushed open.

Lin, the liaison officer of the supervision team, came in first and whispered, "Secretary Gao, Deputy Team Leader Zhou is here."

Gao Yuliang looked up at Zhou Zhengming, who walked in carrying the chill of the night dew. "Team Leader Zhou, coming at this hour doesn't seem to be to bring me midnight snacks. What's wrong? Did something happen in Beijing?"

Zhou Zhengming stepped forward, closed the door behind him, and stared at him sharply: "Secretary Gao, Hou Liangping has given us something very interesting."

Gao Yuliang did not respond immediately.

He glanced at Wu Huifen first.

Wu Huifen understood immediately, closed the newspaper, and stood up: "I'll go sit in the corridor outside for a while."

"Teacher Wu, there's no need to avoid this."

Zhou Zhengming raised his hand. "You can listen to this matter if you want. After all, it concerns Secretary Gao's future 'status'."

Wu Huifen paused, sat back down in her chair, and her palms were sweating.

Gao Yuliang's heart skipped a beat.

The fact that Zhou Zhengming personally visited in the middle of the night and made no attempt to conceal it from his family indicates that the matter is not only significant but also definitively proven.

He appeared calm and collected, but his mind was racing.

Zhou Zhengming pulled a photocopy from his briefcase and slapped it on the bedside table: "Take a look."

Gao Yuliang moved his plaster-coated arm with difficulty and looked down.

The very first line of text made the former secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Handong skip a beat.

Draft of Risk Warning for Handling Cases in Handling Cases in Handling East District (Red, Yellow, and Green Lists)

Look down again.

[Red (Absolutely Forbidden Zone): Chen Yanshi, Chen Yang, Lingang Old City Redevelopment Project, Wang Zonghui's related funding arrangements, and Zhong family's historical assistance matters.]

[Yellow (Sensitive Area): Li Dakang, Jingzhou Land Restructuring Project, Dafeng Factory, Ji Changming, Old Cases of the Economic Division of the Provincial High Court.]

[Green (a breakthrough point for political achievements): Gao Yuliang, Qi Tongwei, Shanshui Group, Gao Xiaoqin, Zhao Ruilong's peripheral industries.]

After reading it, Gao Yuliang's gaze lingered on the glaring "green" for a full ten seconds.

He neither laughed nor cursed, and his expression remained largely unchanged.

But only he knew that at that moment, he felt like a hundred thousand alpacas were singing loudly in his heart.

Ok!

After all that, it turns out I lost to a traffic light!

It turns out I wasn't unlucky, I was just labeled as "Welcome, feel free to rip me off"!

These gentlemen from Kyoto don't even bother to hide their eating habits!

Gao Yuliang took a sip of warm water to moisten his dry throat before raising his head and looking intently at Zhou Zhengming: "Where did this come from?"

"Hou Liangping confessed that the old hard drive was organized by Zhong Xiaoai. The central task force had just completed its preservation in Beijing a few hours earlier, and the data was confirmed to be genuine after technical recovery."

Zhou Zhengming stared intently into his eyes. "Secretary Gao, what are your thoughts after reading this?"

The ward fell silent.

The huge weight that had been hanging in Gao Yuliang's heart for so long finally settled down.

This list is crucial!

It was simply the perfect "get-out-of-jail-free card" puzzle piece that God had given him!

"What do you think?"

Gao Yuliang chuckled, a laugh brimming with shrewdness and sarcasm. "Team Leader Zhou, it seems I, Gao Yuliang, have spent most of my life teaching law and politics, and in the end, I didn't lose to the law, but to traffic rules! Hou Liangping's come to Handong with a Beijing driver's license to take his driving test!"

Xiaolin, who was taking notes, kept his head down, his shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter.

Secretary Gao's mouth is truly amazing.

Zhou Zhengming snorted coldly, suppressing the twitching at the corner of his mouth: "You don't need to pretend to be confused. Your problems can't be cleared up by the list."

"Then I'll be frank."

Gao Yuliang's smile faded, his eyes becoming deep and sharp. "This list shows that Hou Liangping didn't come to Handong to investigate a case at all; he came to carry out a 'targeted elimination' mission! Who can be touched and who can't have been clearly arranged in the courtyard long ago."

He pointed to his plastered chest and declared emphatically, "What am I, Gao Yuliang? I'm just someone who's been relegated to the 'safe zone,' specifically reserved for Director Hou to gain experience and meet his anti-corruption KPIs!"

My meager earnings are nothing compared to the bottomless black holes of the Chen and Liang families!

You're investigating me not because you're so clean or righteous, but because you've made me the dish you can safely eat!

Zhou Zhengming laughed in exasperation: "You old comrade, you're so blunt it's outrageous. What, feeling wronged, trying to take this opportunity to negotiate with the supervisory team?"

"It's not about negotiating terms," ​​Gao Yuliang shook his head, his gaze frank. "It's about discussing my value."

"I'm already lying here looking like this, why bother going around in circles? Going around in circles wastes oxygen."

Gao Yuliang spoke confidently, then changed the subject, pointing precisely at the yellow area on the list, "Team Leader Zhou, there's a very interesting yellow figure on the list—Li Dakang."

Upon hearing this name, Zhou Zhengming's eyes sharpened.

Gao Yuliang keenly grasped this detail and continued to press: "Li Dakang hasn't fallen yet, not because he's clean, but because he's still useful. He can stabilize the economy, manage Jingzhou, and most importantly, he can be a shield."

He looked at Zhou Zhengming and said, "Next, Governor Liu's term is coming to an end. The position of Governor of Handong Province will inevitably trigger a new round of open and covert struggles."

The people behind the Zhong family and Sha Ruijin will never stand idly by and watch the newly appointed Secretary Lu Chengzhou completely take control of Handong.

They urgently need someone familiar with the local situation in Handong, experienced, and capable of keeping Lu Chengzhou in check.

Zhou Zhengming frowned: "Do you think they'll push Li Dakang to the top?"

"It's not that I think it's wrong, it's that someone is bound to have this idea."

Gao Yuliang spoke with certainty, as if he had already seen through the game in Kyoto. "Li Dakang has big problems with Dafeng Factory and Ding Yizhen, but the wonderful thing about him is that he has not been completely tied down by the Zhao family and the Liang family."

His public persona was that of a "reform pioneer," a highly capable worker. Promoting him to the position of provincial governor, ostensibly "for the economic stability of Handong," was actually a way to plant an unremovable thorn in the side of Secretary Lu Chengzhou and the central government in Handong!

The ward fell silent once again.

Zhou Zhengming didn't speak, but his gaze toward Gao Yuliang held a mixture of admiration and deep wariness.

Gao Yuliang knew perfectly well that Qin Yuanzhou and Zhou Zhengming must have already anticipated his words.

But he had to say it himself.

He said it, which made the supervisory team realize that Gao Yuliang was not only a "living archive" who could explain past mistakes, but also a "top advisor" who could accurately predict new situations and analyze opponents' strategies.

This is his life-saving trump card, which he used to save himself in dire straits!

Zhou Zhengming finally spoke, his voice low: "Do you think the Central Committee will agree to Li Dakang taking over as governor?"

Gao Yuliang pondered for a few seconds before giving a profound answer: "Without this red, yellow, and green list, Li Dakang would indeed have had a chance. But now that this list exists, his chance has become a hook used by others to test the central government's bottom line."

"Whom should we hook?"

"The old leader behind Ruijin is also hooking the Zhong family, who are eager to get out." Gao Yuliang revealed the secret in one sentence.

A fierce glint flashed in Zhou Zhengming's eyes. He then put the copy back into his briefcase and stood up.

"Gao Yuliang, you're very smart. Tomorrow afternoon, the supervisory team will continue their special interview with you. The focus will be on the follow-up issues concerning Li Dakang, Liu Ruian, and the Provincial Party Committee's reception office, as well as..."

Zhou Zhengming looked down at him, his tone suddenly turning cold: "Back then, Sha Ruijin's adoptive father was involved in the core clues for coordinating the outer perimeter of Lingang."

Gao Yuliang's heart skipped a beat.

Sha Ruijin's godfather.

Comrade Chen's comrade-in-arms.

The supervisory team is finally about to officially touch this most sensitive and deadly high-voltage line!

Gao Yuliang remained expressionless and slowly nodded: "Okay. But this line of work is too complicated, I need to think carefully about how to say it first."

Zhou Zhengming frowned and warned sternly, "Don't think you can keep us hanging on with this lead for too long. Do you think you can play the 'squeezing toothpaste' game with the supervisory team? Now, you're not the only one with the clues."

Gao Yuliang sighed sincerely, "Team Leader Zhou, I'm not being picky, I'm just afraid of saying the wrong thing!"

"If I say something inappropriate that involves an elderly comrade from Kyoto, all that plaster in my cast will be for nothing, and I might be silenced tomorrow morning for 'stepping out of bed with my left foot first.'"

Zhou Zhengming snorted coldly, too lazy to pay attention to his banter, and turned to walk out of the ward.

The door closed, and the footsteps faded into the distance.

Only the couple remained in the ward. Wu Huifen let out a long sigh of relief, feeling her back soaked in cold sweat.

She stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Yuliang, Li Dakang...does he really have a chance to become the governor?"

Gao Yuliang leaned back against the headboard, exhaled a soft breath, and sneered, "Someone just wants to give him a chance, to put him on the hot seat."

"And what about you?" Wu Huifen looked at her husband. "Do you want him to go?"

Gao Yuliang said softly, "I hope he gets busy. Ideally, he should work hard, fight for, and perform well for the position of governor."

Why?

"Because in officialdom, when people are busy or anxious, they are more likely to make mistakes," Gao Yuliang said quietly, looking at the ceiling.

Wu Huifen remained silent for a moment, looking at the shrewd and resourceful man before her, and sighed:

"Yuliang, you're becoming less and less like the person you used to be."

Gao Yuliang closed his eyes, concealing the weariness in them.

"I used to want to win."

He whispered, "Right now, all I want is to stay alive."

After a pause, he added with utmost sincerity, "Of course, it would be even better if we could get a two-year reduction in the sentence based on this intelligence."

Wu Huifen was amused and exasperated by his nonchalant attitude: "You're really terrifying now."

Gao Yuliang did not refute.

It's better to be practical.

In this game, whoever pretends to be virtuous and righteous will be the first to be sacrificed.

Hou Liangping is the best example.

At this moment, Li Dakang probably had no idea that he had been spotted by a pack of hungry wolves on that yellow list and was about to be served as the next main course.