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

Office No. 1, Hantong Provincial Party Committee Compound.

Provincial Party Secretary Zhao Lichun listened to Secretary-General Qian Guodong's report without speaking for a long time.

Qian Guodong carefully reported on the subtle changes in the officialdom of Handong recently, especially the shift in attitudes of various forces surrounding He Xia, the newly appointed district head.

Zhao Lichun's fingers tapped lightly on the mahogany desk.

Having been in charge of Handong for many years, he had long been accustomed to having everything firmly under his control.

He had been playing this game of chess in Handong for many years, and he knew the position of every piece on the board and the movements of every faction like the back of his hand.

But now, a chess player named Shen Zhong, or rather, an unpredictable chess piece, has been thrown directly onto the chessboard.

Before he even made a move, the balance of the entire game had already begun to crumble.

For the first time, Zhao Lichun felt that a variable he could not calculate had appeared in this game of chess that he had controlled for many years.

He Xia folded the last white shirt neatly and put it into her suitcase.

She zipped up the zipper with a crisp sound.

She straightened up and looked at Shen Zhong, who was sitting on the sofa flipping through documents.

The man's profile, clearly defined under the light, and his focused expression calmed her chaotic emotions.

Just then, the red encrypted phone on the coffee table emitted a low vibration.

It's not a ringing sound, but a dull vibration meant to alert the user.

On the screen, a string of encrypted numbers with no known origin is flashing.

Shen Zhong picked up the phone and answered it.

"explain."

His tone became brief and direct, a stark contrast to when he had spoken to his wife.

On the other end of the phone came a similarly sharp and capable male voice, which went straight to the point without any pleasantries.

"Report. Preliminary results have been obtained from the investigation into the mastermind behind the Hou Liangping incident."

Shen Zhong remained silent, listening quietly.

"Based on intelligence analysis from multiple channels, Hou Liangping's operation received explicit hints and intelligence support from Handong. We intercepted three encrypted communications: one from Handong to Beijing, and two from different base stations within Beijing."

"The source all points to Liu Xinjian, chairman of Handong Oil and Gas Group."

"Our people investigated and found that Liu Xinjian and Hou Liangping's father-in-law, the Zhong family, had some connections, but not enough to make him take such a big risk. The real motive was an exchange of benefits."

"Li Dacheng, the current executive deputy district head of Hexi District, used Liu Xinjian as a front to transfer some equipment procurement rights for the next large-scale refining and chemical project of Handong Oil and Gas Group to him. In exchange, Liu Xinjian was responsible for pushing him to the position of district head."

"Hou Liangping was a tool that Liu Xinjian borrowed through the Zhong family's connections. He probably didn't even know that he was just a pawn in this deal."

The report paused briefly before continuing.

"It needs to be emphasized that the other party did everything very cleanly. The communications were counter-tracked, the funds were transferred to overseas accounts, and there was no direct contact between Li Dacheng and Liu Xinjian."

Currently, all conclusions are based on technical analysis and human infiltration through irregular channels, and cannot form a substantial chain of evidence that can be directly presented to the court.

After hearing the report, Shen Zhong only replied with two words.

"receive."

He hung up the phone and put it back on the coffee table.

The warm atmosphere in the living room vanished the moment the phone call ended.

An invisible chill permeated the air.

Liu Xinjian. Li Dacheng.

The two names went through his mind once.

For personal gain, someone dared to reach out to the family of a major general with military merits.

One of them would stop at nothing to get a position.

well.

He Xia sat next to him and could clearly feel that his entire aura had changed.

It was an undisguised aura of slaughter, honed from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, that made the surrounding air thick and sticky.

"What's wrong?" He Xia reached out and gently touched his arm. "What did you find out?"

Her voice was filled with barely suppressed worry.

Shen Zhong turned his head, the chilling look in his eyes had faded, replaced by a gentle warmth.

He took He Xia's cold hand in his own and warmed it with his body heat.

"Yes, I found it."

His voice was soft, yet carried an unequivocal tone.

"We've found the person who's trying to sabotage you behind your back and pull you off your horse."

He Xia's heart was in her throat.

Shen Zhong uttered the name, word by word.

"Liu Xinjian".

He Xia was certainly familiar with this name. He was the chairman of Handong Oil and Gas Group, the secretary to Secretary Zhao Lichun when he was governor, and an absolute core member of the Handong "Secretary Clique." In Handong, his name, to some extent, represented the will of the Zhao family.

"Is Hou Liangping one of his men?"

"It's not his man, it's his knife." Shen Zhong simply recounted the intelligence, omitting the dirty details and only pointing out the key point: "A deputy district head in Hexi District wanted to climb the ranks and bribed Liu Xinjian. Liu Xinjian then used Hou Liangping as a knife to try and get rid of you."

"Liu Xinjian is backed by the Zhao family. I wonder if his actions were authorized by Zhao Lichun."

Shen Zhong didn't continue, but he knew He Xia would understand.

He Xia's face turned pale instantly.

She originally thought that Hou Liangping was just someone sent by a political enemy to cause trouble, and that once Hou Liangping was dealt with, the matter would be over.

She never imagined that before she even arrived in Handong, she would be caught up in the highest-level power struggle in Handong Province.

A deputy district head bought his position, and a state-owned enterprise executive facilitated the deal; behind this, it's very likely that the top figure in the province is standing behind him.

The net was much larger and darker than she had imagined.

When she went to Handong to become the district head, what she had to face was not some subservient subordinates, but an invisible yet unbreakable barrier of power.

Her fingers tightened unconsciously, and her fingertips turned slightly white.

Shen Zhong noticed her tension and fear.

He gently stroked the back of her hand with his fingers to soothe her.

"Scared?"

He Xia didn't speak, she just nodded. It wasn't that she wasn't strong, but the level of her opponent had exceeded what she could handle.

Seeing his wife's worried expression, he leaned close to her ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Don't worry, I have plenty of ways to deal with these rats hiding in the gutter."