61: Chapter 61 The Grand Show is About to Begin in Cairo

"Father, it's hard to explain in a few words over the phone."

Zhu Yuntong's voice was as calm and steady as ever.

"Put down everything you're doing right now and go to Mingxing Tea House."

"And by the way, bring Mother along as well."

"The three of us need to meet up and plan this out properly."

Hearing the words "Mingxing Tea House," Secretary Zhu Tianhe immediately understood the gravity of the situation.

That place was Li Juan's private property, hidden in a quiet alley in the old city, with tight security that kept ordinary people from even finding the entrance.

"Alright."

Secretary Zhu Tianhe did not hesitate for a second.

"I'll arrange a car immediately. We'll meet at the tea house in half an hour."

After hanging up, Secretary Zhu Tianhe put on his coat. Without even alerting his secretary, Secretary Gao Ming, he hurried downstairs alone and drove off.

Half an hour later, at Mingxing Tea House, in the private room marked 'A'.

The sliding door was gently opened by a waiter, and Li Juan walked in last, her high heels clicking.

She had just arrived from the mall and was still carrying several shopping bags, which she tossed casually onto a nearby cushioned bench.

The waiter served tea, bowed, and retreated, the door closing silently behind him.

Zhu Yuntong sat to the right of the main seat, picked up the purple clay teapot, and poured a cup of freshly brewed Pu'er tea for each of his parents.

"Father, Mother."

He set down the teapot, looked up, and calmly surveyed his two elders.

"It's done. We have the evidence firmly in our grasp."

"Now, we have reached a critical moment where we must make a choice."

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Father, if this evidence were left entirely to you to handle, what would you do?" Zhu Yuntong asked first, tossing the first test question to Secretary Zhu Tianhe.

"Most likely, I would call my old leader."

"After all, this involves the leak of the unified exam questions from the Provincial Organization Department. This is too big; I must report it truthfully to Minister Xiao and await his decision."

Seeking backing when encountering problems and reporting matters up the chain of command—this had been his survival philosophy for half his life.

Zhu Yuntong nodded slightly, offering no comment.

He shifted his gaze to Li Juan.

"Mother, if it were you, how would you handle this hot potato?"

Li Juan scoffed softly, picked up her teacup, and blew away the tea foam.

"How else would I handle it?"

"I would naturally take the photos and physical evidence and contact Liu Haiping directly."

"His precious daughter has done such a disgraceful, shady thing, and we've caught her red-handed. If Division Chief Liu Haiping doesn't want his dirty laundry aired and his future ruined, he'll have to kneel down and negotiate terms with us."

She took a sip of tea and continued to lay out her bargaining chips.

"The condition is simple: make Liu Xiaolei claim illness and withdraw from this selection exam."

"And while we're at it, we can use this solid evidence to squeeze even more out of Liu Family! Exchange it for other resources!"

Exchanging interests, maximizing profits. This was the game rule most familiar to the children of high-ranking officials.

After listening to their strategies, Zhu Yuntong picked up his teacup and took a shallow sip.

"Mother, you see further than Father; you understand how to use the cards in your hand to trade for money."

He set down the cup. "However, you have both forgotten one ironclad rule."

"If you cut the grass without removing the roots, it will grow back when the spring breeze blows."

Both Li Juan and Secretary Zhu Tianhe were stunned.

"Power struggles are never about polite dinner parties."

"They are always a battlefield where it's either you or me."

"If you let Liu Family go today and trade the evidence for benefits, that's drinking poison to quench thirst."

"Once Division Chief Liu Haiping recovers, he will definitely do everything in his power to bite back."

"Leaving such a hidden danger is like burying a bomb next to yourself that could go off at any moment."

"I have devised a comprehensive plan."

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the yellow rosewood tabletop, his aura of an emperor on full display at that moment.

"But it requires your full assistance."

"Mother." Zhu Yuntong called out.

"You must act as the liaison, set off immediately, return to the provincial capital, and ask Old Master Li to step in personally."

"This matter involves the upper echelons of the Provincial Party Committee and must be coordinated by Old Master Li. At the provincial level, he must firmly suppress the old man from Liu Family who has already retired."

"He is the anchor stabilizing our rear."

Li Juan's expression turned solemn; she cast aside all her previous nonchalance and nodded heavily.

"Father." Zhu Yuntong turned his gaze to Secretary Zhu Tianhe and issued instructions, analyzing them point by point.

"On your end, you need to follow a strict, interlocking procedure."

"First, have Minister Zhou of the Municipal Organization Department take the original exam papers sealed in the confidential room to the Xingfu Street Police Station to compare them face-to-face with the physical evidence of the exam papers we seized on the spot."

The teacup in Secretary Zhu Tianhe's hand paused in mid-air.

"If the two sets of exam papers match perfectly upon comparison, immediately instruct Director Li to report all currently held clues and testimonies directly to the Provincial Public Security Department and have Director Qi Shan take over personally."

"This matter involves core personnel within the Provincial Organization Department participating in the leak; the municipal public security has no authority to investigate officials managed at the provincial level. We must have Director Qi Shan step forward to contact the case investigators from the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and have the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection intervene with thunderous force."

"Not only that." Zhu Yuntong pressed on, step by step, leaving no room for the other party to breathe.

"Father, you must also invite the Director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the Minister of the Municipal Organization Department, the Secretary of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the people from the Provincial Inspection Team to the scene at the Police Station."

"A four-party joint trial." Zhu Yuntong tapped his knuckles on the table, setting the tone.

"In front of these parties, have the people from the Municipal Organization Department compare the exam papers again and draft the meeting minutes on the spot."

"With this impeccable, solid evidence, you can then go report to Secretary Tian Limin."

He deduced Secretary Tian Limin's reaction.

"With ironclad evidence and multiple witnesses, even if Secretary Tian Limin wants to protect Liu Xiaolei, he would never dare to defy the will of the public."

"He will inevitably choose to sacrifice the pawn to save the knight at the first opportunity, cutting himself off completely from Liu Family."

"Only then will this fire truly reach the heavens."

"The Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection will have legitimate grounds to open a case and investigate Liu Xiaolei, and the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection will follow the clues to investigate Executive Deputy Minister Liao Changxing of the Provincial Organization Department."

Zhu Yuntong leaned back in his chair, delivering the final verdict for this impending storm.

"In this battle, we will deliver a devastating blow to the forces that Liu Family has entrenched in Jiangnan Province for years."

Silence.

Li Juan and Secretary Zhu Tianhe sat upright in their chairs, stunned into silence for a long time by this shocking and extraordinary layout.

Their twenty-four-year-old son's ruthlessness and depth of planning had completely exceeded their understanding of power.

This was no mere exchange for some benefits or a tearful complaint to superiors. This was clearly setting the stage to wipe out Liu Family's power from the map of Jiangnan Province in one fell swoop!

"Mother, did you take note of what I just instructed?" Zhu Yuntong spoke up to break the silence, urging Li Juan to act immediately.

"Set off for the provincial capital now and discuss it carefully with Old Master Li. We'll tentatively schedule the official launch for tomorrow morning."

"Go see if Old Master Li has anything to add."

Zhu Yuntong displayed extreme rationality and humility.

"After all, he has held high positions for many years and overlooks the entire situation in Jiangnan Province; he will always think more comprehensively than a junior like me."

Li Juan seemed to wake from a dream, hurriedly grabbing her bag, not even bothering to take the things she had just bought.

"I'm going right now! I'll call Old Master Li on the way!"

She walked to the door, then turned back to add one more thing.

"I'll have Old Master Li arrange to meet Director Qi Shan, so we can all discuss how to coordinate."

"Good, follow the plan, proceed." Zhu Yuntong gave a firm reply.

Scene change. The provincial capital of Jiangnan Province, the high-ranking official sanatorium in the southern suburbs.

A black Audi, like an arrow released from a bow, stopped just in front of a small building.

Before the car had even fully stopped, Li Juan pushed open the door and rushed into the small western-style building in her high heels, in a great hurry.

In the study on the second floor, the fragrance of ink permeated the air.

Old Master Li was holding a wolf-hair brush, copying Yan Zhenqing's "Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew" on the spread-out rice paper.

Hearing the chaotic footsteps outside the door, Old Master Li didn't even lift his head. His wrist remained as steady as ever, finishing with a powerful, vigorous stroke that pierced through the paper.

Seeing his daughter rush into the study as if her hair were on fire, Old Master Li set his brush on the inkstone and picked up a towel to wipe his hands.

"You're how old now, yet you're still so rash in your actions; there's not a hint of composure in you."

Old Master Li's tone carried a hint of reproach.

"You were shouting on the phone about some earth-shattering event, and it made me lose all interest in going to play chess with Old Man Wang this afternoon. What kind of mess has happened that you had to rush back here to tell me?"

Li Juan caught her breath, walked to the desk, and downed the cold water in the teacup in one gulp.

Afterward, without any wasted words, she recounted the entire plan that Zhu Wenhao had laid out at Mingxing Tea House, from the arrest of "Flying Monkey" to the "four-party joint trial," and then to the entire layout of the provincial and municipal commissions for discipline inspection working in tandem to strangle Liu Family, retelling it exactly as it was, without omission.

In the study, only Old Master Li's heavy breathing remained.

He didn't say a word for a long time, just walked to the window, watching the Buddhist pine swaying in the wind in the courtyard, standing there for a long time.

After a long time, he turned around.

Those cloudy but piercing eyes stared fixedly at Li Juan.

"This series of interlocking traps, using one force to strike another and leaving no path for escape..."

"Is it really something thought up by that good-for-nothing son of yours who used to only know how to hang around the streets waiting to die and had a rotten reputation?"

Li Juan nodded vigorously.

Old Master Li was silent for three seconds.

"Hahaha—" A roar of laughter, extremely loud and resonant, boomed through the study, making the window frames hum!

"Satisfying! Truly satisfying!"

He stood with his hands behind his back, his voice like a booming bell.

"Old Man Liu, oh Old Man Liu, relying on the residual prestige accumulated in your early years, you've been jumping around in the province all these years, arranging for your students and old associates, throwing your weight around!"

"You have this day coming to you!"

"This time, I will let you watch with your own eyes how the foundation you painstakingly built for decades is uprooted by others!"

He turned to look at Li Juan, his eyes full of admiration and impatience.

"Quick! Call Director Qi Shan! Tell him to cancel all his evening engagements and get over here to eat with me immediately!"

After Old Master Li finished speaking, he walked to the door of the study and shouted downstairs.

"Wife! Add a special dish for dinner!"

Old Master Li's voice was filled with irrepressible excitement and killing intent.

"The name of this dish is—"

"Catching! A! Turtle! In! A! Jar!"