In name only: I will break the chess game in Handong!

The phrase "resource-based city" left Zhao Dagong stunned for a long time before he finally exhaled a breath of stale air and said, "We are all intertwined, a tangled mess that's impossible to unravel."

"Let's not talk about that, Comrade Dagong. It seems that Li Shangli is quite easy to trap. He ran into Comrade Zhong Xiaoai from the Municipal Procuratorate on his very first day in Handong. It seems that luck is on our side!"

Zhao Dagong took a deep breath and then stood up.

"No rush, no rush. The situation in Guangming District is very complicated. Li Shangli's position as the district party secretary is not easy. It would be too early to act now. Let's keep calm!"

Hearing this, Qi Quansheng rolled his eyes. "Keep calm my ass! It's just that we don't have a chance, why are you making it sound so profound?"

"Alright, it's fine to wait. Some things don't weigh much until they're on the scale. But once they are, taking down a provincial governor isn't a problem, provided that the fish that bites the hook isn't a small whitebait but a big fish."

After finishing speaking, Qi Quansheng stood up, and Zhao Dagong did not try to stop him. The two of them were in tacit understanding, knowing that it was not a good thing for two standing committee members to spend too much time together.

The storms in Handong will not subside; they will only come one after another.

After returning to her apartment and finishing her work, Zhong Xiaoai finally had the time to call Hou Liangping to inquire about the situation.

The call was answered almost instantly.

"Hey, Director Hou, I asked you to come and help, and what did you do? You thought I didn't see you? You ran off from a mile away! Do you think I'm some kind of monster?"

Hou Liangping responded with complete confidence.

"Hey, Chief Prosecutor Zhong, do you want to listen to what you're saying? You didn't tell me that those two officials were the soon-to-be-appointed Party Secretary and District Head of Guangming District, did you?"

How can I help them with this? They are provincial-level cadres. Have you forgotten that Chen Hai was demoted by the provincial party committee for arbitrarily monitoring Ding Yizhen?

Now that I have such small arms and legs, I have to be careful!

Zhong Xiaoai wasn't really going to confront him, so she wasn't too bothered by it.

"Okay, that's settled then."

After hanging up the phone, Zhong Xiaoai realized that her mother was looking at her with a strange gaze.

"What are you looking at, Mom? Is there writing on my face?"

Mother Zhong looked serious.

"Your face isn't showing any signs of distress, but are you mentally unstable? How can you and Hou Liangping still stay in touch? I sensed something was off when you made that phone call at the airport. Now tell me properly, Xiao Ai, are you really alright?"

Zhong Xiaoai knew exactly what her mother was worried about. Who would be so harmonious with someone who was scheming against their wife?

Even if you fight until you're bruised and battered without meeting in person, that's considered restraint.

Zhong Xiaoai smiled with great relief.

"Mom, I really hated Hou Liangping back then. I thought, we've been husband and wife for over ten years! How could he give me to Zhao Ruilong?"

But after experiencing so much, what is there to hate in this world? It's all just about self-interest.

"What can I do to Hou Liangping now? Dismiss or suspend him? He hasn't violated any rules or laws. Transfer him to a sinecure? Even if I did, Hou Liangping would still get his salary, not to mention the hassle."

Mother Zhong frowned as she listened; she still couldn't understand.

"Xiao Ai, if you want, our family still has the ability to make him disappear..."

Zhong Xiaoai believed this, but she shook her head.

"No need, Mom. After all, he is Haoran's father. Besides, our family's most important thing right now is to protect ourselves. There's no need to do something that would give others leverage against us."

Besides, I'm quite free now since the divorce, really. After the baby is born, I'm even planning to date two college students.

Mrs. Zhong couldn't bring herself to smile; she could only reach out and smooth Zhong Xiaoai's hair, her eyes reddening.

...................................................

Also a pregnant woman, Mao Ya, lying in her hospital bed at the First People's Hospital of Jingzhou, had a sinister look in her eyes.

Although she was suspected of accepting a particularly large amount of bribes, her status as a pregnant woman allowed Mao Ya to be temporarily released on bail pending trial. Although her activities were restricted to Jingzhou, Mao Ya was not willing to accept more than ten years of imprisonment after giving birth.

Therefore, she wanted to fight for hope, and now the only person who had a chance of helping her was Darren Wang.

"Mao Ya, I told you, if the child in your belly is really my, Wang Dalu's, then you don't need to worry about the child's education and growth. You just serve your sentence in prison, and I will be there to watch the child grow up."

Wang Dalu had said this countless times, but Mao Ya's demands were clearly not that simple.

"Wang Dalu, I don't want to go to jail. I know you have connections to get me safely out of Jingzhou and abroad!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dalu's gaze turned icy.

Does he have any connections?

some!

However, the risk is too great. Once it is found that it was Wang Dalu who did it, no one can protect him. It is not worth taking such a risk for Mao Ya, and he will not do it!

But who can't lie?

"Mao Ya, you're thinking too simply. You're not a free person now. Besides, the child in your belly might not be mine. It's not impossible for me to help you. Get a paternity test done. If it really is mine, why shouldn't I help you?"

Wang Dalu's thinking was simple: if it really was his own child, then he couldn't help her even more, so he kept delaying, telling Mao Ya to give birth to the child and then not care whether she lived or died.

And what about Maoya?

She was terrified. She knew it was unlikely she could get anything out of him without his knowledge, unless the child really was Wang Dalu's.

But what are the odds of that happening?

If the value is close to zero, it's highly likely to be Chen Hai's.

In this situation, she is even less likely to accept the psychiatric evaluation.

"No, paternity tests now require blood samples, which is bad for pregnant women. I won't accept it. I'm an older mother; I can't take any risks!"

This reason was barely plausible, and Wang Dalu could only helplessly shrug his shoulders upon hearing it.

"What else is there to say? I didn't even know if it was my child, yet I risked sending it away to you?"

Let's wait until we can get the identification done before making any decisions.

After saying that, Wang Dalu got up to leave. Mao Ya wanted to try to persuade him, but in the end she didn't say anything. She knew that the nature of a businessman was to pursue profit.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket, Maoya. Your last chance is before the baby is born and during breastfeeding. Whether you can escape depends entirely on yourself!"

Wang Dalu has left. He's actually quite busy with work. Yi Xuexi's entry doesn't mean the Guangming District renovation project has stopped. The contract is with the government, and every day of work stoppage results in losses for Dalu Group and the Guangming District finances.

Even the landlords didn't have any surplus grain!

Wang Dalu plans to start the project as soon as the new Party Secretary and District Head take office in a couple of days. He'll be grateful if he can just break even and not make a profit.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

On Friday, Chen Luo returned to Jingzhou from Luzhou. He was used to this kind of life. The car stopped in front of the provincial party committee building. After getting out of the car, Chen Luo originally planned to go to the Political and Legal Affairs Commission to handle some documents. However, as soon as he entered the building, he saw Secretary Bai smiling at him.