Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

Outside the gate of the provincial military district.

The wind blew in gusts, sneaking in through the collar and down the spine, making one's bones feel tight from the cold.

Li Dakang had his hands in his pockets, his ten toes curling and loosening inside his leather shoes, completely useless.

The veins on his forehead bulged outwards one by one.

Twenty-one minutes have passed.

Still twenty-two minutes?

He couldn't tell anymore; he just felt like he had never stood for so long in his life.

The warm yellow light from the guard booth shone through the glass window, and two guards stood like pen holders on either side, their helmets polished to a shine, rifle butts resting on their shoulders, their eyes not moving an inch.

"Buzz—"

The barrier rose, and a military green truck drove out. The soldier in the driver's seat glanced at Li Dakang, showed no expression, stepped on the gas, and drove off.

The exhaust fumes, accompanied by a wave of heat, hit my body.

Li Dakang's lips were pressed together until they turned white.

Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee.

The top official in Jingzhou.

Standing in front of someone's house in the middle of the night, exposed to the northwest wind, what's the difference between that and a petitioner?

The thermos was taken out of my pocket, the lid was unscrewed—the water was already ice-cold, I took a sip, and the coolness slid down my throat to my stomach.

Another jeep entered the gate, and the barrier rose and fell again.

No one notified him.

No one ignored him.

The numbness in the soles of my feet has spread to my calves.

Li Dakang screwed the thermos lid on, stuffed it back into his pocket, squatted down two inches with his legs together, and then stood up straight again, barely managing to regain some sensation through this action.

The briefcase was still tucked under his arm, its hard leather surface warmed by his body heat, becoming the only warm thing on his body.

Emperor Garden, Building 22.

The underfloor heating was working perfectly, making the whole living room warm and cozy.

On the coffee table sat an opened bottle of Lafite, two crystal glasses, one half-empty and the other almost untouched.

Ouyang Jing nestled in the corner of the sofa, her silk robe draped loosely over her shoulders, revealing a glimpse of her collarbone, while she swirled a nearly empty glass of red wine in her hand.

His nose was red; I couldn't tell if it was from drinking or crying.

"Dalu, do you think Li Dakang still sees me as his wife?"

Wang Dalu sat at the other end of the sofa, half a cushion away, and pushed his barely touched glass of wine forward.

"Dakang is a workaholic, you didn't just find out today."

"A workaholic?"

Ouyang Jing slammed her glass on the coffee table, spilling a few drops of wine that soaked into the white tablecloth.

"He treats this house like a hotel! How many times a month does he come back? Three times? Twice? Last time he came back, he didn't even say a word, just took a shower, grabbed a change of clothes, and left. My dog ​​doesn't even wag its tail when it sees him!"

Wang Dalu didn't reply, but took a grape from the fruit plate next to him and handed it over.

"Eat something before you drink alcohol on an empty stomach; it's bad for your stomach."

Ouyang Jing didn't answer, hugged her knees and shrank into the sofa, her voice becoming quieter.

"And then there's that thing about Dafeng Factory..."

"What big wind factory?"

"Jingzhou City Bank approved a loan for Dafeng Factory, which was a bridge loan, and the procedures were not very clean."

Wang Dalu paused for a moment while peeling grapes.

"Now that Dafeng Factory has been taken over by the military, if they trace it back to the loans, I, the vice president who signed off on it..."

The second half of the sentence remained unsaid.

Don't overthink it.

Wang Dalu placed the peeled grapes on a plate and pushed them toward Ouyang Jing.

"No matter what, Dakang is a member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee. Who would dare to investigate his wife? Don't worry, if anything happens, I'm here for you."

"We'll go to America then and take care of Jiajia."

Ouyang Jing looked up at him and sniffed.

"Dalu, over the years, you're the only one who's been kind to me."

The flames in the fireplace flickered twice, and the entire living room was quiet, with the curtains drawn tightly shut.

No one noticed that a dark-colored van had been turned off fifteen minutes earlier at the east gate of the villa area.

At the West Gate parking lot, a black SUV without license plates was blocking the exit, its windows rolled up and it remained motionless.

Behind the green belt on the north side, two men in sportswear squatted by the flower bed, pretending to tie their shoelaces. They squatted there for twenty minutes without standing up.

Inside the command vehicle.

Qi Tongwei leaned back in his chair, with a portable monitoring terminal in front of him. The screen was divided into four sections, showing all four directions of the Emperor Garden.

Warm light shone through the window on the second floor of Building 22, and two figures could be vaguely seen behind the curtains.

The walkie-talkie was picked up and a button was pressed.

"Each group reports."

"One team in position, seal off the east gate."

"Team Two in position, seal off the West Gate."

"Three teams are in position; the north passage is now closed."

"SWAT vehicles are on standby and can arrive at the target building within two minutes."

Put the walkie-talkie back on the stand.

Ma Guoqiang, who was in the passenger seat, handed over a manila envelope.

"Director Qi, the summons paperwork for Lü Liang has arrived; it was just delivered."

The envelope was opened, and two pages were pulled out. The summons was stamped with the red seal of the Anti-Corruption and Bribery Bureau of the People's Procuratorate of Handong Province, with Lü Liang's name signed below, and the date was today.

Qi Tongwei looked at the summons against the backlight of the terminal screen twice, checking it word by word, then folded it and put it into his inner jacket pocket.

The confession is in.

The evidence is there.

The summons procedures have also been completed.

This vote is in the bag.

He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the armrest, already picturing the scene of reporting to the provincial party committee compound after the deed was done.

The front of the navy blue police uniform was pulled up to make sure that every button was in the correct position.

The gate of the provincial military district.

The phone rang in the guard booth.

One sound. Two sounds. Three sounds.

The guard on the left stepped inside and picked up the receiver.

"Yes...I understand."

Hang the receiver back up.

The guard stepped out of his post, took two steps to stand in front of Li Dakang, touched him with his heels, and raised his arm—a standard military salute.

"Report: Secretary Shen has finished his business. Please invite Secretary Li to the reception room."

Li Dakang's knees bent forward slightly.

It's not that I'm leaving. It's just that I've been standing for too long, my legs are stiff, and I almost couldn't hold on.

He switched the briefcase from under his arm to in his hand, and his fingers, stiff from the cold, clenched it twice before he could hold it firmly.

The railing rose up with a "whoosh".

He stepped forward with one leg, the sole of his leather shoe scraping against the cement ground, his heel almost dragging as he walked.

Once inside the gate, the streetlights on both sides cast their light on my feet. The wind was still the same, but looking through this railing, it felt different.

twenty minutes.

A full twenty minutes.

Li Dakang's steps quickened, and he went from dragging his feet to striding forward.

With each step, the soles of the shoes made a dull thud on the concrete pavement.

The thermos was taken out of his pocket and then put back in.

I'm not drinking anymore.

It's cold.

The lights in the command building ahead were on, and a soldier was already standing next to the steps leading to the reception room.

Li Dakang rushed up the steps, his leather shoes barely touching the doormat before he pushed the door open and went inside.

At the end of the corridor, the door to the reception room was half-open.

All the anger and frustration that had been building up over the past twenty minutes surged up into my throat.

Today, Shen Zhong must give this statement.