231: Chapter 231 Why weren't you invited to the party?

Night stretched on, and the neon lights of the provincial capital slid across the car window glass in a rhythmic alternation.

Study Committee Member Cao Rui held the steering wheel with both hands, keeping the speed extremely steady.

Every now and then, he glanced at the backseat through the rearview mirror.

That phrase, "See you in Linjiang City in two days," had been churning repeatedly in Study Committee Member Cao Rui's mind since they left the Cao residence.

His mood was restless, and the pressure on the accelerator varied, causing the car to jerk ever so slightly.

"If you want to ask something, just say it."

In the backseat, Zhu Wenhao leaned deep into the leather seat with his eyes closed.

Study Committee Member Cao Rui finally couldn't hold it back: "Secretary, what is this about going to Linjiang City?"

"If a ruler is not discreet, he loses his ministers; if a minister is not discreet, he loses his life."

"If you shouldn't ask, keep your mouth shut. When it's time for you to know, the official documents will naturally be placed in front of you."

The words were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

Study Committee Member Cao Rui's grip on the steering wheel tightened, and his sister, Secretary Cao Xue's, instructions flashed through his mind: "Watch more, learn more, speak less."

He immediately suppressed his curiosity, focused on the road, and said no more.

Zhu Wenhao calculated in the shadows.

Deputy Secretary Cao Hang was a heavy hitter on the Jingjiang Municipal Committee, holding real power.

Placing Study Committee Member Cao Rui in Linjiang City and keeping him by his father, Secretary Zhu Tianhe's, side as a personal chief secretary—this wasn't just equipping his father with a blade-wielding guard with a background on the Jingjiang Municipal Committee; it was binding the Cao family's interests tightly to the Zhu family.

At a critical moment when the Li Faction was facing a reshuffle, having the support of a local tycoon like Deputy Secretary Cao Hang made the Zhu family's weight like Mount Tai, no longer easily discarded as a pawn.

His phone vibrated slightly in his hand.

Zhu Wenhao swiped open the screen; it was a text message from Su Qinghan.

"Finished the spa, going to get a late-night snack, then heading back to the hotel."

Immediately after, a message from Director Xu Jie popped up, though the content was much more detailed.

"Your girlfriend has quite a backbone, it's interesting. When General Manager Zhou Shutong went to pay the bill and wanted to get a VIP card for Su Qinghan, she flatly refused."

"Not only that, she insisted on paying for all the spa expenses tonight separately, not taking a single cent of advantage from capital. I stood by and watched her swipe her card, her face showing an unmistakable pain, yet she didn't utter a sound. It was truly amusing."

Zhu Wenhao looked at these two messages, his thumb rubbing against the edge of the phone.

Based on Su Qinghan's salary, the consumption at a top-tier beauty salon in Jingjiang was equivalent to her earnings since she started working.

She didn't want to owe General Manager Zhou Shutong a favor; she was trying hard to maintain her own standing.

He turned the phone face down and gazed through the car window.

Since General Manager Zhou Shutong wanted to bring capital down to Heishi Town, she couldn't be the one setting the rules.

Mining restructuring, repairing the old river embankment—these investments of real money had to be shackled by the rule of law.

The common people's rice bowls could not be wantonly harvested by capital.

A plan to counter capital and divert water to irrigate the fields began to take shape in his mind.

The car parked steadily in front of "Tingyuxuan."

Zhu Wenhao pushed the door open and got out.

Study Committee Member Cao Rui was about to turn the car around.

"Study Committee Member, you haven't eaten dinner yet, have you?" Zhu Wenhao stood on the steps.

Study Committee Member Cao Rui was slightly stunned.

"Since you're here, come in and have a hot meal together."

Zhu Wenhao didn't wait for his reply and walked up the steps.

Study Committee Member Cao Rui hurriedly locked the car and followed quickly.

On the third floor, in the "Bamboo Garden" private room.

Pushing open the wooden door, the room was steaming hot.

Shen Zhe and the students of the Spark Class had been waiting for a long time. Seeing Zhu Wenhao enter, everyone stood up in unison.

Zhu Wenhao pressed his hand down and walked straight to the main seat to sit.

"No need for formalities, everyone sit."

"I went to Secretary Cao Hang's home to listen to his teachings just now, which delayed things and kept everyone waiting."

It was a casual remark.

Shen Zhe was very quick-witted and immediately called the waiter: "Serve the dishes."

"There's a new member joining this gathering today. Everyone is no stranger to him, Study Committee Member Cao Rui." Zhu Wenhao pointed to the empty seat beside him. "From now on, we are brothers eating from the same pot. Sit."

Study Committee Member Cao Rui took his seat, picked up the teacup in front of him, and gestured to everyone with great humility.

Dishes and wine were served one after another; there were no rare delicacies, just authentic home-cooked stir-frys, exuding a down-to-earth atmosphere.

After the meal was well underway, the casual talk turned to the main topic.

This so-called dinner was actually a "governance" meeting.

Lin Yan and Wei Yi, clerks from the Department of Water Resources, were the first to put down their chopsticks, looking troubled.

"Secretary, I've been responsible for reviewing the allocation of drought relief funds in the department recently. A special fund was allocated to the county bureau, but it has yet to be used for the irrigation projects in the fields. I went down to check the accounts, and the county bureau chief insisted that the funds were going through the circulation approval process, and he stonewalled me, a mere clerk."

Everyone listened quietly.

This kind of buck-passing under divided jurisdictions was a stubborn disease.

"When auditing, you can't just stare at the numbers in the ledger. Ledgers can be doctored, and funds can be moved. If you go down there to check on him, it's like looking for faults in someone else's private plot; he has a hundred ways to stall you."

"To kill a snake, strike at its seven inches; to fell a tree, find its roots."

"What was the name of the funds allocated by the Department of Water Resources? It's for engineering construction. Don't go checking the county bureau's books. Go back to the Provincial Department and flip through the third-party acceptance qualifications for all water conservancy projects in that county over the past years."

"If they dare to withhold funds, there must be an intricate chain of interests in project subcontracting. Most of those shell companies undertaking the projects won't stand up to scrutiny."

"Extract the underlying documents of these non-compliant qualifications and turn them into a circular report. You don't need to send it to the county bureau; send it directly to the county's Discipline Inspection Commission and the County Party Committee Secretary."

"Borrow strength to strike. Once the head of the County Party Committee sees that the Provincial Department of Water Resources has caught evidence of engineering corruption, for the sake of self-preservation, those withheld drought relief funds will be obediently allocated to the people's irrigation canals within three days."

Police Chief Zhao Gang nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "I understand. Pinch the weakness of their project subcontracting and force them to spit the money out themselves!"

Following that, Deputy Minister Li Ming from the Provincial Development and Reform Commission also began to vent his grievances.

"Secretary, the new director of the Development and Reform Commission is about to take office. The atmosphere is tense now; the original team that followed the old director has been cleaned out, and everyone is scrambling to perform in front of the new director. Someone like me, without a foundation, has been directly marginalized and assigned to manage the archiving of old projects from years ago. I've been sitting on the cold bench."

"New emperor, new courtiers; this is an ironclad rule."

Zhu Wenhao picked up a piece of green vegetable. "If he ignores you, you just sit quietly on that cold bench. The Development and Reform Commission is the dispatch center for the province's economy. Those old, rejected projects that others consider waste paper—you must treat them as gold mines."

"Using people is like using tools; take the best from each."

"You classify and dismantle the data of all rejected and abandoned projects in the province over the past five years and create a comprehensive economic model reference library."

"In officialdom, the winds of fortune change. In a year or so, the province will introduce new macroeconomic control policies, which will require massive amounts of past abandoned data for comparison and support."

"Only you will be able to produce this, and that is what will make you invincible."

Zhu Wenhao's gaze swept across the people at the table.

"Everyone, you are in provincial-level organs, remember one thing. Every document in your hands and every seal you stamp concerns the livelihoods of the common people below."

"We are planning here, not for petty gains or personal advancement. It is to use legitimate means to return those resources embezzled by greedy rats back to the people's rice bowls."

"You must be upright in your character and firm in your methods to stand firm in this torrent."

There was silence at the table.

The young people who had been full of grievances just moments ago now sat up straight in unison.

Some subconsciously clenched their fists, and some had a long-lost light ignited in their eyes.

That flame, which had been about to be extinguished by trivial matters and exclusion in the government compound, was reignited by these few statements mixed with strategy and morality.

Study Committee Member Cao Rui, listening from the side, felt his heart surging and finally couldn't help but throw out his own dilemma.

"Secretary, I am in the Jingjiang Municipal Government office, caught between my uncle and Executive Vice Mayor Wang Jianming. Executive Vice Mayor Wang Jianming's faction controls the overall situation, and I am walking on thin ice every day. I'm even afraid of being set up just by signing meeting minutes. How can this situation be solved?"

Zhu Wenhao glanced at him.

"Executive Vice Mayor Wang Jianming seeks stability; he wants to turn Jingjiang City into an iron bucket. You are in his iron bucket, so whatever you do will be wrong."

"To break the situation, you cannot struggle within it."

Study Committee Member Cao Rui looked at the teacup in front of him. The tangle of thoughts in his mind was cleared up by this sentence.

So, retreating is actually advancing.

The clock pointed to late at night.

Zhu Wenhao picked up his teacup, signaling the end of the meeting.

Everyone stood up one after another, putting on their coats, preparing to disperse.

Just at this moment, there was a "creak."

The heavy wooden door of the private room was pushed open from the outside without warning.

Everyone cast their eyes toward the door in unison.

A tall, upright figure stood outside the door, wearing a well-tailored casual suit, hands casually stuffed in his trouser pockets.

The person's gaze passed over everyone and locked directly onto Zhu Wenhao, who was sitting in the main seat.

"Such a lively Spark Class gathering."

"Why, everyone is eating, drinking, and chatting, and you didn't even leave me a message. Is it that you don't consider me a classmate, or do you think I'm not worthy of entering this door?"