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

Li Dakang grabbed the military telephone and dialed the number quickly and accurately.

"Zhao Donglai!"

There was a slight thud on the other end of the phone, and Zhao Donglai's voice sounded hoarse, as if he hadn't woken up yet.

"Secretary Dakang, what do you mean—"

"Stop talking nonsense. Go to the Civil Affairs Bureau right now, bring the staff on duty, and then pick up my sister, Li Xingzhi. Meet me at the entrance of Dihao Garden within fifteen minutes!"

Zhao Donglai was clearly stunned for a moment.

"Secretary Dakang, the Civil Affairs Bureau? At this hour—"

"I said fifteen minutes, and that's fifteen minutes! Turn all the traffic lights along the way green. Not a single car is allowed to block the road from the military area to Dihaoyuan!"

Did you hear me?

"All cleared! I'm leaving right away!"

Without hanging up, he pressed his finger against the flip-flop, released it, and dialed a second number.

The director of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau received the call even faster than Zhao Donglai.

"Take your people, the more the better, and go to Dihao Garden to inspect the community's fire safety facilities. Once you get there, set up lines and traffic cones around the perimeter. If you can't find any problems, you don't need to come to work tomorrow!"

"yes!"

The microphone was slammed back down, and the base wobbled twice.

Li Dakang turned and walked towards the door, but stopped after taking two steps and looked back at Shen Zhong.

"Secretary Shen, I, Li Dakang, will remember this favor from tonight."

Shen Zhong held the cup without saying a word, and gestured with his left hand towards the door.

The meaning is clear—stop arguing and get out of here.

Without saying a word, Li Dakang opened the door and rushed out.

The footsteps in the corridor were hurried and heavy, the soles of leather shoes tapping on the terrazzo floor, the sound could be heard throughout the entire building.

Car number 9 downstairs had already started moving. Xiao Jin saw Li Dakang rush out of the building entrance and quickly opened the back door.

"Emperor Garden, quick!"

The moment my bottom touched the seat, the car lurched forward, the back door slamming shut by inertia.

The gate barrier of the military district rose with a "hum," and the black Audi plunged into the empty streets of Jingzhou.

All the traffic lights along the way were green, and the road was clear; there wasn't even a chance to slow down.

The streetlights outside the car window flew past one by one. Li Dakang sat in the back seat, his briefcase resting on his lap, his hands on the bag, motionless.

Ouyang Jing, twenty-two years old.

I met her in Jinshan County back then. She had just graduated from the Finance and Economics College and was assigned to work as a teller at the county credit union. She had a ponytail and two small tiger teeth when she smiled.

Twenty-two years.

From Jinshan County to Lincheng, and from Lincheng to Jingzhou, from a small county town so poor that it didn't even have running water, to the cockpit of the economic engine of Handong.

He wasn't forgetting how many years of hardship she had endured with him.

But tonight—

If it's not cut clean, tomorrow morning's headlines will be Li Dakang's obituary.

A political obituary.

Eleven minutes.

The gatekeeper of the Dihaoyuan villa area appeared in front of the windshield, and the entrance was in complete chaos.

A police car was parked diagonally on the side of the road. Zhao Donglai jumped out of the driver's seat, followed by a civil affairs bureau staff member carrying a briefcase and a middle-aged woman in a dark trench coat—Li Xingzhi.

Next to them, a white official vehicle from the Housing and Construction Bureau arrived, and three staff members wearing reflective vests were unloading traffic cones from the trunk.

In the distance, the dark-colored van parked at the east gate of Dihao Garden was still there, with a crack in the window. The person inside was staring blankly at a black-screen terminal display.

Further away, two riot control vehicles were parked at the intersection, motionless, like two lumps of iron—the special police inside couldn't contact the command vehicle and didn't know whether to advance or retreat, so they could only sit there helplessly.

Qi Tongwei's command vehicle was parked fifty meters behind the green belt on the north side. The antenna on the roof was tilted, and all the windows were closed. A dark blue figure could be vaguely seen moving back and forth inside.

He was holding the walkie-talkie that had turned into a brick, cursing at the dashboard.

Car number 9 came to a stop, and Li Dakang got out of the car.

The moment my foot touched the ground, I froze for two seconds.

Emperor Garden, Building 22. The lights on the second floor were still on, and warm yellow light shone through the gaps in the curtains.

The house I bought, the place where my wife lives.

Two seconds later, the coolness on my trousers chased away all my other thoughts.

He strode forward, and Zhao Donglai stepped forward to say something, but was stopped by a gesture.

People from the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau have already started setting up traffic cones and cordoning off the area, and they are doing it very efficiently.

"Bang bang bang bang bang——"

The fist slammed into the security door, causing the metal door to vibrate and hum.

Upstairs, I heard the sound of a cup shattering on the floor, followed by the hurried thud of slippers on the floor.

The door opened from the inside.

Wang Dalu stood at the door, two buttons on his shirt were askew, his belt was loose, and his hair was a mess like a bird's nest.

"Da, Dakang... let me explain—"

No one cares about him.

Li Dakang squeezed past him, his shoulder bumping into the door frame without him even feeling it, and walked all the way to the living room.

On the coffee table next to the sofa was the opened bottle of Lafite, and two crystal glasses, one empty and the other barely touched.

Ouyang Jing came down the stairs from the second floor, wearing a silk robe with a trench coat over it, which she had just put on. Half of her makeup was smudged, and her nose was bright red.

"Dakang? What brings you here so late—"

"sit down."

Two words, squeezed out from between his teeth.

Ouyang Jing's legs went weak, and she slid down the stair railing to the last step, landing directly on her bottom.

A staff member from the Civil Affairs Bureau walked around the coffee table in the living room and slammed a document with black text on a white background onto the table.

Divorce agreement.

"Are you crazy?"

Ouyang Jing's voice was so shrill it could scratch glass.

"Li Dakang, are you crazy! Bringing a bunch of people in in the middle of the night, what do you think you're doing?! Are you even human?!"

"Twenty-two years, and this is how you treat me?! A divorce agreement? You didn't even say a word to me—"

Tears streamed down her face, snot was coming out of her nose, and she curled up into a ball, crying so hard she could barely breathe.

Li Dakang walked up to her and squatted down.

One hand pressed down on her wrist.

He brought his mouth close to her ear, speaking in a voice so low that only the two of them could hear.

"There are special police everywhere outside. You have been arrested. Qi Tongwei is personally leading the team."

The sound effect of Ouyang Jing crying was stuck.

"If you don't sign this agreement, you'll be taken away tonight, and Jiajia will never see her mother again in her life."

"If you sign, you'll still have a chance to get away."

When she said the word "Jiajia" in the second half of the sentence, Ouyang Jing's body trembled.

All the crying, cursing, and hysteria stopped in that instant.

Tears still clung to her face, but her eyes were different now.

It wasn't anger, nor was it resentment.

It is a story about a mother whose life was taken by someone.

"Inkpad, where's the inkpad?"

A staff member from the Civil Affairs Bureau handed me an inkpad box.

Red inkpad.

Ouyang Jing pressed her right index finger in, and then pressed it into the box on the last page of the agreement.

The fingerprints were clearly visible, and the red color was striking.

The staff from the Civil Affairs Bureau took out a steel stamp from their briefcase, stamped it with a "click," and left the date column blank.

The agreement was folded and put into an envelope, which Li Dakang snatched and stuffed into his briefcase.

Legally speaking, from this moment on, Li Dakang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, and Ouyang Jing, the vice president of Jingzhou City Bank, are no longer related.