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

Meeting room of the Standing Committee of the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee.

Li Dakang sat in the main seat and slammed his thermos on the table with a dull thud.

"Sun Liancheng."

"arrive."

Sun Liancheng stood up. His hard hat was still tucked under his arm, and he hadn't had time to wipe the mud off his leather shoes. He had been notified an hour earlier and rushed over from Hexi District, only learning about today's agenda in the corridor before entering the meeting room.

"The Provincial Party Committee's Organization Department has approved your appointment as Secretary of the Guangming District Party Committee, concurrently serving as Vice Mayor of Jingzhou City." Li Dakang pushed the document forward. "You will serve as the chief commander of the Guangming Peak project, and I will take the lead. Effective immediately."

A commotion broke out in the conference room. Several deputy mayors exchanged glances.

Sun Liancheng jumped directly from the executive deputy head of Hexi District to the top position and deputy mayor of Guangming District, a promotion of two ranks at an absurdly fast pace. But no one present dared to say anything—everyone knew who had promoted him.

"Sit down." Li Dakang didn't give anyone time to process this. "Now, let's talk about the second matter. The resettlement fee for Dafeng Factory is 60 million, to be in place within three days."

The finance bureau chief's face turned pale on the spot.

"Secretary Li, the municipal finance department is now—"

"I'm not listening to anything now," Li Dakang interrupted him. "The municipal finance will provide 30 million, the Public Security Bureau's fines and confiscations account will provide 10 million, and the Guangming District government will match it with 20 million. Three days. If it's not in place, all three of you will be on my desk."

No one spoke again.

Sun Liancheng sat in the chair, his hard hat clenched so tightly it was deformed. Sixty million. Guangming District was already a mess left by Zhao Ruilong; there was less than eight million in usable cash on hand. Where was he going to find twenty million in matching funds?

But he didn't ask. Secretary Shen didn't put him in this position so that he could ask questions.

Two days later.

Sixty million yuan arrived. The director of the Municipal Finance Bureau ran his legs off, scraping together what he could from three special fund pools. Zhao Donglai of the Public Security Bureau transferred ten million yuan from the fines and confiscations account without hesitation. The twenty million yuan for Guangming District was the hardest to come by—Sun Liancheng cut the entire renovation budget for the district government office building and froze funds for three approved but not yet started landscaping projects, managing to squeeze it out.

The resettlement fees were paid out one by one according to the list of employees of Dafeng Factory. Zheng Xipo held his phone, looking at the bank's incoming payment notifications, and checked them one by one.

"Old Zheng, has the money arrived?" Wang Wenge came over to take a look.

"We've arrived." Zheng Xipo turned his phone screen around. "We've arrived at every household, and there's two hundred yuan more than what was written in the announcement."

Wang Wenge remained silent for a few seconds.

"That……"

"The factory security team should disband now." Zheng Xipo put his phone back in his pocket. "What about Old Chen—"

"Old Chen said that without the money for the shares, nothing matters."

Zheng Xipo opened his mouth, but said nothing more.

On the morning of the third day, Li Dakang led the demolition office staff straight to Dafeng Factory.

Three excavators followed behind, their yellow robotic arms gleaming blindingly in the sunlight. Li Dakang sat in the car, clutching his thermos, not having drunk a drop of water.

The car was parked at the entrance of Dafeng Factory.

Forty or fifty people stood in two rows, blocking the iron gate.

Wang Wenge stood at the very front, his arms crossed over his chest. The factory security team members wore matching blue overalls, each holding an iron pipe in their hands.

Li Dakang's face instantly darkened.

He pushed open the car door and strode over.

"Zheng Xipo!"

Zheng Xipo squeezed out from the back of the crowd, his head covered in sweat.

"Secretary Li, I—"

"Has the resettlement compensation arrived yet?"

"arrive."

"Have all the conditions stated in the announcement been fulfilled?"

"It has been fulfilled."

"Then what does this mean?" Li Dakang pointed a finger at the factory security team. "What you, Zheng Xipo, guaranteed in front of hundreds of workers, is—bullshit!"

Zheng Xipo's face turned bright red.

Wang Wenge stepped forward. "Secretary Li, the resettlement compensation has arrived, but what about the equity compensation? The announcement said 'Shanshui Group will compensate according to market value after auditing the accounts.' Has the audit been completed? Where is the money?"

"The audit of Shanshui Group is still ongoing!" Li Dakang's voice rose two octaves. "The Discipline Inspection Commission and the audit department are investigating. Compensation will only be made when the investigation is completed; there's a procedure for that!"

"A procedure?" Wang Wenge sneered. "Secretary Li, the workers at Dafeng Factory have been waiting for a procedure for eight years. They said there was a procedure during the restructuring eight years ago, and what happened?"

Li Dakang's temples throbbed twice.

He took out his phone and dialed Zhao Donglai's number.

"Donglai, bring your men over. Dafeng Factory."

Forty minutes later, six police cars arrived with sirens blaring. Zhao Donglai led two squads, with more than eighty people standing in formation on both sides of the excavator.

The factory security team members began to shrink back. They gripped the iron pipes tightly in their hands, their knuckles turning white, but their legs were trembling.

Wang Wenge did not move.

Li Dakang looked at him. "Wang Wenge, I'll say this one last time. The resettlement fee has been received, the demolition procedures are complete, and the court's enforcement order is here." He pulled a document from his briefcase. "Move aside now, and we'll let bygones be bygones. If you don't move aside—obstructing official duties—you'll be detained."

Wang Wenge's Adam's apple bobbed.

Just then, an old voice rang out from behind the crowd.

"Who dares to move?"

Everyone turned around.

Chen Yanshi, wearing his faded Zhongshan suit and hunched over, walked out of the factory's back gate. Two elderly workers tried to support him, but he shook them off.

"Comrade Yan Shi." Li Dakang's voice lowered.

Chen Yanshi ignored him. He walked straight to the excavator, took a folding stool out of his pocket, unfolded it, and sat down.

Then he took out his phone.

A young man ran over from the side, holding up another phone and pointing it at Chen Yanshi.

Live broadcast.

The screen exploded with comments.

"Old Chen!"

"A 78-year-old retired cadre blocks an excavator!"

"Forced demolition! Another forced demolition!"

Chen Yanshi faced the camera, his voice not loud, but every word was steady.

"My name is Chen Yanshi, I am 78 years old, and I am a retired cadre from the Handong Provincial Procuratorate. I was the one who pushed for the restructuring of Dafeng Factory back then. Today, the Jingzhou Municipal Government wants to forcibly demolish it and take away the last jobs of hundreds of workers. I, Chen Yanshi, am sitting right here today—if you want to demolish it, you'll have to run over me first."

The number of viewers in the live stream exceeded 100,000 within three minutes.

The comments section was overwhelmingly negative.

"Where is the government's conscience in forcibly demolishing private businesses?"

"The resettlement compensation has been paid, but what about the shares? What about the hard-earned money of hundreds of people?"

"Li Dakang, get out of Jingzhou!"

Zhao Donglai's expression changed. He quickly walked to Li Dakang's side and lowered his voice.

"Secretary Li, we're going live. If we start now, it'll be headline news nationwide tomorrow."

Li Dakang's knuckles cracked as he gripped the thermos.

He looked at Chen Yanshi sitting on the folding stool, at the phone camera, and at the growing crowd of onlookers.

Fifteen seconds.

Li Dakang turned around and faced Jin Liqun.

"Call Sun Liancheng over."

Jin Liqun was stunned. "Secretary Li?"

"Sun Liancheng is the commander-in-chief of Guangming Peak." Li Dakang tucked his thermos under his arm and strode towards the car. "Tell him, three days. If Dafeng Factory isn't demolished within three days—"

He paused for a moment.

"Let's take the kids to the Children's Palace to see the stars."