Chapter 1033: Blessings never come twice, misfortunes never come alone

Chen Bo said: "What should we do next? This lid will eventually be opened, won't it? Then wouldn't you again bear the infamy of an 'officialdom killer'? You just said this is very detrimental to your growth, do you have any ideas?"

"Moreover, in my view, even if these materials are submitted anonymously, at the critical moment someone still needs to step forward; otherwise, I'll have to be the one to play the bad guy. But such an officialdom shake-up, and a new personnel adjustment is required—this time, the county magistrate, deputy secretary, discipline inspection commission secretary, executive vice county magistrate… it's unimaginable."

Su Yang said with a smile: "You've been in our county for over half a year, just doing organizational work; I think if there really is a major personnel reshuffle, you should also have a chance."

Talking things over with a smart person is relatively simple; Su Yang said that, and Chen Bo naturally knew what to do.

What Su Yang could foresee was that Zhang Jiangbo would certainly try every means to push the problem onto Zhao Nanxing; that county magistrate Zhao Nanxing would surely be finished, the best outcome being a transfer. As for Zhou Yanru and Hou Junlai, they'd likely end up imprisoned. Thinking this way, I really am born under an evil star—wherever I go, there's no peace; I estimate that anyone who later works with him will get a headache upon hearing his name.

Chen Bo gave a hum of acknowledgement with a smile, saying: "Then please look after me more in the future."

Having said that, he suddenly thought of something: "Actually, county-level government departments have been experiencing one incident after another; it's not just our Yeshan County."

"In Xishan Province there is a county seat where incidents keep happening one after another; their county is engaged in coal mining, so there are naturally many matters. Several top leaders have encountered trouble in succession. Half a year ago, their Political and Legal Affairs Commission secretary died in a car accident, and the Public Security Bureau chief who followed also died."

"For this reason, the province parachuted in a Political and Legal Affairs Commission secretary who also served as deputy secretary; guess what happened? He jumped to his death from a building last night."

"A deputy secretary jumping to his death definitely indicates something behind the scenes; if the province starts an investigation, absolutely a batch of people will be implicated. So don't burden yourself with thoughts—this isn't something you deliberately did, but something you encountered. Your sense of justice, your conscience. If it were me, I'd certainly do the same, but I don't have your energy; I'd probably have been kicked into a corner long ago."

"Speaker unintentional, listener intentional. When Su Yang last returned to Jingcheng, he heard Old Zhou say that the local political ecology definitely has problems, and is far more serious than what Chen Bo described. Of course he was just thinking it over, not taking it too much to heart; they themselves still have a mess to deal with—who wants to bother with that?"

"Because the Sha He Road illegal mining incident has already claimed three lives, and this driver is likely to spend his life behind bars. Given the magnitude of this incident, everyone originally thought the municipal authorities would set up an investigation team, but nobody expected that this investigation team would be led by the deputy secretary of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission, with a very high specification."

"For a moment, the entire sky over Lieshan County was shrouded in dark clouds; staff of all units, especially cadres with some authority, were on edge, especially those who had once worked in Guantan Gou Zhen; of course, this also includes some cadres from the public security, procuratorate, and judiciary."

"That afternoon, the investigation team was already in place, starting with the clerks of Guantan Gou Zhen, nearly everyone was summoned for talks. Su Yang was one of the few county cadres with a clear conscience, yet he hadn't expected this sudden change, which also made his nerves tense."

"The call was from Zhou Ruohan: 'Su Yang, why has your county run into trouble again? Moreover, this time the matter has gotten somewhat out of hand.'"

Su Yang said: "This matter has nothing to do with me. Regarding the Sha He Road illegal mining, I had mentioned it before, and I had also advocated strict punishment, but you know the final outcome."

Zhou Ruohan said: "It's not this matter; it's about you."

Su Yang felt a bit dazed, thinking that the things happening in the county also concern me—do I really need to bring it up separately? But he didn't continue asking; instead he quietly waited for Zhou Ruohan to go on.

Zhou Ruohan said: "Over there, an authoritative media outlet reported on your Lieshan County's huge‑spending project to build Yingbin Avenue; the headline reads: 'A state‑level poor county with annual fiscal revenue under two hundred million yuan dares to construct a meaningless Yingbin Avenue and imitation ancient city gate—this is pure showmanship.'"

"It also raises various doubts, such as who initially decided to launch the project, where the funding comes from—if it's a loan, who will repay it? If current officials are transferred away, will the debt be left to the common people? Even just this authoritative media outlet in the Xiangjiang would be enough, but even two well‑known domestic media outlets in Jingcheng have reported this."

"Although the headlines differ, the substance is similar. Moreover, one of Jingcheng's two authoritative media outlets, throwing in a veiled jab, said that a vice magistrate of your county, relying on connections and background in Jingcheng, overrides the county party secretary and magistrate, monopolizing all administrative power in the county and becoming the true top leader. In response, party‑affiliated media have followed up with stern criticism."

At that moment, Su Yang finally understood completely—no wonder Chen Guolong said Zhang Jiangbo's move was a two‑birds‑one‑stone tactic, aiming to make Zhao Nanxing and others suffer while not letting himself off easy. It turns out this kid has been waiting for me here, indeed using his connections and means this time.

"Domestic media are still manageable, but they went straight to publish in the Xiangjiang media—what does that indicate? It shows that this time they first stirred up public opinion, pressuring government departments to respond under duress, and that response naturally would be a punishment against myself."

"Under such public‑opinion hype, the lightest outcome is likely removal from office; moreover, with public opinion inflaming at the critical juncture of the Sha He illegal‑mining death incident, Zhang Jiangbo and his ilk are truly ruthless—if they don't act, fine, but when they do, it's a grand move. Rather than say it's Zhang Jiangbo, it's more accurate to say Jia Guolong and company."

"While Su Yang's mind was still filtering things over here, Zhou Ruohan continued: 'This time the focus of public opinion isn't just you, because they explicitly said in the article that you're relying on connections and background in Jingcheng. So who are your connections, who is your background? They're absolutely ruthless.'"

Su Yang said: "This is completely beyond my expectation; they just want to attack me indiscriminately, but in fact this matter ultimately is a collective decision of our county standing committee—when the blame falls, we'll all share it. Anyway, I've been blamed before more than once, and I don't mind another round."

Zhou Ruohan said: "It's not that simple; I just learned that Jingcheng TV Station's evening 7:40 interview program has already set out, and it will likely conduct random interviews in your county tomorrow morning."

"Then they'll find some interested members of the public to complain to you, slapping the labels 'performance project' and 'overdrafting finances for false prosperity' on you; what follows immediately is a higher‑level investigation team. This is a combo punch—once they launch it, they don't intend to let you escape unscathed."