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

In the quiet of the night, the sound was extremely abrupt.

Gao Yuliang's hand trembled, and the phone fell onto the thick wool carpet with a dull thud.

He glanced at the clock on the wall. 3:30.

Professor Wu was resting in the master bedroom on the second floor, as usual at this time. Xiao He, the secretary on duty at the Foreign Languages ​​Department, didn't call the internal line to report it, indicating that the person who rang the doorbell had simply walked past the guard post to the villa's gate.

There are very few people in the entire Handong who can walk directly to the door of the Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee at this time without prior notification.

Gao Yuliang stood up from the chair. Wearing only a thin nightgown, he felt a chill run down his spine.

He even forgot to put the photo back in the hidden compartment, and just grabbed a thick book, "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli," and covered the photo with it.

He left the study and walked down the wooden stairs. With each step, his unease grew stronger.

Upon arriving at the entrance, he didn't open the door immediately but instead looked out through the peephole.

The motion-sensor light in the porch is on.

A man was standing outside. He wore a dark, old-fashioned jacket over a long, windproof overcoat, and a pair of glasses perched on his nose.

Sha Ruijin.

Gao Yuliang placed his hand on the doorknob and paused for a full five seconds.

He had imagined countless possibilities for why Sha Ruijin would come to him late at night, but none of them could explain why the other party would come alone, without even a secretary.

The door lock made a crisp click.

Gao Yuliang opened the door.

A cold autumn wind, mixed with drizzle, swept into the warm room. Gao Yuliang shivered.

"Secretary Ruijin?" Gao Yuliang put on his usual gentle smile. "It's so late, why did you come all the way here? If it's anything urgent, just give me a call, and I'll come find you."

Sha Ruijin stood outside the door without saying a word. He looked Gao Yuliang up and down in an extremely unusual way.

It was a condescending, predatory scrutiny.

"Comrade Yuliang, won't you invite me in for a seat?" Sha Ruijin finally spoke, his tone devoid of his usual official airs, instead revealing a hint of casualness.

Gao Yuliang quickly stepped aside to make way.

"Please come in. Professor Wu has already retired for the night. Let's talk in the study."

Sha Ruijin stepped inside without changing his shoes, leaving a trail of muddy, water-stained marks on the polished marble floor.

The two went up to the second floor one after the other.

Pushing open the study door, Sha Ruijin didn't sit on the leather sofa for guests, but went straight to the mahogany desk where Gao Yuliang usually worked.

He stopped in front of the desk, put his hands behind his back, and scanned the surface with his eyes.

Gao Yuliang followed behind, his heart pounding faster and faster. He noticed that the copy of "Fifteen Years of Wanli" didn't completely cover the photo, revealing half of Gao Xiaofeng's shoulder and a section of the baby's tiny hand.

"Secretary Ruijin, let me make you a cup of hot tea. It's freshly delivered pre-Qingming Longjing tea." Gao Yuliang walked quickly to the tea cabinet in the corner, trying to hide his inner panic with the action of pouring tea.

"I won't drink the tea." Sha Ruijin turned around and looked at Gao Yuliang, who was picking up a tea canister. "Comrade Yuliang, things aren't going to be peaceful in Handong tonight."

Gao Yuliang's hand, holding the tea canister, froze in mid-air.

"Which aspect is Secretary Ruijin referring to? What trouble has Li Dakang caused this time?" He followed up on Sha Ruijin's question, trying to make his response appear watertight.

Sha Ruijin smiled.

He walked up to Gao Yuliang, so close that he could see the fine beads of sweat on Gao Yuliang's forehead.

"Comrade Dakang is a serious man now, what kind of trouble could he possibly cause? I'm talking about Hong Kong Island."

"Comrade Yuliang, you've kept this well hidden." Sha Ruijin turned and walked back to his desk, tapping his finger twice on the cover of the book "Fifteen Years of Wanli." "You think that just because Shen Zhong sent a few retired soldiers to guard that Mid-Levels apartment building on Hong Kong Island, the mother and child are completely safe?"

Gao Yuliang's defenses were completely shattered at this moment.

Shen Zhong sent men to guard it?

He knew absolutely nothing about it! He had arranged for Gao Xiaofeng to go to Hong Kong using his own network of hidden connections. He had always believed that Gao Xiaofeng and her son were living safely in seclusion and had no ties to any power in Handong.

Now Sha Ruijin tells him that the heavy men have been watching the mother and child!

Gao Yuliang's breathing became extremely heavy, his chest heaving violently. This huge information gap caused him to lose his last bit of composure.

If Shen Zhong had been secretly controlling Gao Xiaofeng all along, then Gao Yuliang's so-called self-preservation at the Standing Committee meeting was nothing but a joke in Shen Zhong's eyes!

"Where...are they now?" Gao Yuliang's voice was hoarse when he asked.

Sha Ruijin was very satisfied with Gao Yuliang's current reaction.

The old fox finally shed his composed facade, revealing his panicked and frightened state.

"I don't know," Sha Ruijin answered readily.

Gao Yuliang took two quick steps, approaching Sha Ruijin. "Secretary Sha, let's not beat around the bush. You didn't come here in the middle of the night just to tell me someone's missing."

Sha Ruijin did not back down, and his tone became extremely cold as he met Gao Yuliang's questioning.

"Comrade Yuliang, understand your current situation. The person isn't in my hands. But if you want him to return safely, you'll need to know which hand to raise at the Standing Committee meeting next time."

"Secretary Ruijin, I don't understand what you mean."

"You think you can just throw dirty water on me with a photo that's been photoshopped from who-knows-where?"

Gao Yuliang straightened his back, adopting the demeanor of a deputy secretary of the provincial party committee.

She even picked up the cold tea on the table and took a sip to hide the trembling in her wrist.

"You came to my house in the middle of the night without a secretary or following any procedures."

"Using such unfounded accusations to threaten a senior party official."

"This is a serious violation of discipline."

"If this matter escalates to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, let's see how you handle it!"

Sha Ruijin stood in front of his desk, completely ignoring this high-sounding rhetoric.

He pulled a thick kraft paper envelope from the inside pocket of his large trench coat.

Use your wrist to generate force.

The envelope whistled through the air and landed squarely on Gao Yuliang's chest.

The pages scattered, and a thick stack of documents clattered onto the expensive wool carpet.

Gao Yuliang looked down.

The top one is a photocopy of his divorce certificate with Wu Huifen.

Next to it are Gao Xiaofeng's entry and exit records for her trips to and from Hong Kong Island over the past three years.

Next to each record, the corresponding fund flow, flight information, and property payment receipts for the hillside apartments were clearly marked in red pen.

Gao Yuliang stared intently at the papers on the carpet.

Dry, rattling swallowing sounds came from his throat.

The composure he had just feigned crumbled completely in the face of this irrefutable evidence.

My head was buzzing.

He always thought he had done the perfect thing.

All fund transfers went through underground banks.

How did Sha Ruijin obtain these things?