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

three days later.

Provincial Government Building, Governor's Office.

Liu Changchun stood in front of a full-length mirror in the corner of the office, slowly tugging at his cuffs with both hands.

The mirror reflected the new suit I'd picked up yesterday. Navy blue fabric, subtle stripes, and a perfectly tailored fit. The tie was a gift from Tian Guofu, delivered by someone the day before yesterday, supposedly from Kyoto.

"Wearing this to a meeting, you'll look impressive enough."

He turned to the side and examined the outfit from a different angle. The lining of the suit was made of silk; the fabric alone cost nearly twenty thousand yuan. Normally, he would never be so ostentatious, but today was different.

Today is the day that Liu Changchun has been waiting for for most of his life.

The position of the top official in Handong Province was vacant, and the entire officialdom was watching. Liu Changchun, the current governor, was senior enough, had a solid resume, and had chosen the right side in this purge.

People from the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China arrived in Handong today.

Liu Changchun nodded slightly to his reflection in the mirror. Decades had passed; it was finally his turn. He had risen from vice-governor to governor, from third-to-last in the standing committee to where he was now. Zhao Lichun had suppressed him for so many years, always giving him a hard time during performance reviews, but he had endured it.

Zhao Lichun is now in the military's detention room, while Liu Changchun is still standing here.

The internal phone on the desk rang.

Secretary Xiao Sun's voice was very low. "Governor, the comrades from the Organization Department of the Central Committee have arrived at the Provincial Party Committee compound and have notified all Standing Committee members to assemble in Conference Room No. 3 at 10:00 AM sharp."

"understood."

Liu Changchun responded and pushed his tie knot up a little higher. He picked up the blue-and-white porcelain teacup on the table, which he had used for seven or eight years, and took a sip of warm Longjing tea.

Everything is under control.

Meeting Room No. 3 of the Provincial Party Committee.

The long table, which could seat twenty people, was already full on both sides. Every incumbent member of the Standing Committee of the Hantong Province and the head of all the major departments was present.

Liu Changchun sat in the seat closest to the head of the table, his back ramrod straight. His new suit made him look much more energetic.

He glanced at Tian Guofu across from him.

Old Tian nodded slightly; the unspoken understanding between the two needed no further explanation.

The main seat is empty.

Zhao Lichun has sat in that seat for over a decade; his buttocks have practically worn through it. In a few minutes, that chair will change hands.

The meeting room door was pushed open from the outside.

Two middle-aged men dressed in standard Zhongshan suits walked in. The one in front wore gold-rimmed glasses and was carrying a red folder.

I know Liu Changchun, the Vice Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. We met when I last came to Beijing for a meeting and even had a meal together.

He subconsciously straightened his chest.

Without exchanging pleasantries with anyone, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses walked straight to the head of the table, stood there, and opened the red folder.

"Comrades, entrusted by the organization, I will now read out the organization's decision regarding the adjustment of the main leaders of the Handong Provincial Committee."

Liu Changchun picked up his teacup, preparing to moisten his throat. He would have to make a statement after the reading was finished; he had drafted the speech last night.

"After organizational review and decision—"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses looked down one line.

"Comrade Sha Ruijin was appointed Secretary of the Handong Provincial Party Committee and will take full charge of the work of the Handong Provincial Party Committee."

The teacup stopped at his lips, but didn't fall.

Liu Changchun thought he had misheard.

Sha Ruijin?

Which Sarcophagus?

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses continued reading, spouting off about organizational discipline, overall awareness, and resolute support. These platitudes felt like a dull knife pulling back and forth in his ears.

But he could no longer hear clearly.

He wasn't promoted locally, nor was he recommended within the system; he was parachuted in directly from outside.

He lost his grip and the teacup slipped through his fingers.

A dull thud.

The blue-and-white porcelain shattered into three pieces on the dark brown carpet. Tea splashed out, leaving a dark puddle on the expensive imported carpet, and a few drops also landed on his brand-new trousers.

The entire room fell silent for a moment.

Several pairs of eyes swept over at the same time, then looked away within half a second.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses paused for a moment, then continued reading without making a sound.

Liu Changchun didn't bend down to pick it up. He just sat there, his hands on the table, his fingers trembling slightly.

Tian Guofu across from him was also dumbfounded. The old fox's mouth was half open, his eyes darted left and right, and he quickly lowered his head to stare at the notebook in front of him.

The reading is finished.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses closed his folder and politely invited each member of the Standing Committee to make their statement.

Tian Guofu was the first to speak.

"I fully support the organization's wise decision and will resolutely obey the organization's arrangements."

After saying that, he turned and glanced at Liu Changchun, his meaning clear—it's your turn.

Liu Changchun felt as if there was a wad of cotton stuck in his throat.

"I support...I support the decision of the Central Committee."

The meeting ended abruptly.

As Liu Changchun walked out of the meeting room, people in the corridor greeted him. "Hello, Governor." "Governor Liu, you've worked hard."

These words were exactly the same as they had been three days ago. But he felt that everyone's faces now held a hint of schadenfreude.

Back in his office, he locked the door.

A man sat in the boss's chair, staring at the administrative map of Handong Province hanging on the opposite wall.

He stared at the picture for a full twenty minutes.

One thought kept running through my mind—why should I?

He should have been the biggest beneficiary of Zhao Lichun's downfall. Everyone knows how much sweat and risk he shed in this game.

As a result, Kyoto erased everything with a single piece of paper.

Sha Ruijin. He knew very little about the name, only vaguely hearing that he was transferred from a western province, had a tough style, and powerful connections. He was parachuted into Handong to reap the rewards.

He picks the fruit from the trees that others planted.

Liu Changchun tugged at the collar of his new suit. This outfit, specially made for the coronation ceremony, looked glaringly out of place on him now.

He slowly took off his coat and casually tossed it onto the sofa.

The phone on the table rang three times, but he didn't answer it.

Secretary Xiao Sun knocked on the door twice, but he didn't answer.

a.

Problems began to emerge in the daily administration of the provincial government.

Several urgent documents requiring the governor's approval sat untouched on Liu Changchun's desk for three days. The vice governor in charge called to urge him on, and his secretary, Xiao Sun, could only awkwardly reply—"The governor hasn't been feeling well lately; let's wait a bit before dealing with them."

It's not just about documents.

The special funding plan submitted by the Provincial Department of Finance could have been approved simply by going through the process at the Governor's Office meeting, but Liu Changchun rejected it on the grounds that "further research is needed."

The project proposal for the highway reconstruction and expansion project submitted by the Provincial Department of Transportation was also suppressed.

The approval process doesn't hold you back, but they just won't sign it. They won't sign it, but they won't say it's no good either; it's just sitting there.

The entire provincial government's administrative system slowly came to a standstill, like a rusty old machine.

Some things don't need to be openly confronted. Non-cooperation is the biggest form of confrontation.