The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

"What's the point of spouting all this nonsense?"

Jiang Yiming said coldly, "Do you think you still have a chance to get revenge on me?"

"What do you mean? You don't actually think you can beat our Stellar Group, do you?"

Just as Lü Xing finished speaking, Wang Lin walked in from outside.

"It's so lively."

Wang Lin feigned surprise: "Isn't this Young Master Lü from Hengxing Group? What are you doing here?"

"Do you know?"

Lu Xing was completely stunned.

He also attended the project bidding meeting in the afternoon. Because he failed to win the bid, he was in a very bad mood and drank some alcohol.

Just then, one of his men reported to him that they had found Jiang Yiming's whereabouts, so he led his men over.

They never expected to run into the people who stole their Hengxing Group project this afternoon.

If Jiang Yiming was behind it, then we really shouldn't underestimate him.

"Kid, don't think that just because your family has some money and you have some connections with certain officials, you can look down on everyone."

Wang Lin patted Lü Xing's face and said, "There are plenty of people more powerful than you."

"You bullied my brother. I only stole one of your projects today. We'll see what happens next. I have plenty of ways to deal with you."

"Really? Then I'll wait."

Lu Xing looked down on Wang Lin, this outsider.

Then, he glared fiercely at Jiang Yiming and said, "This is not over. I, Lü Xing, keep my word and will make you pay the price. And Xia Shining, I will definitely make her my woman."

"Even if I can't win her heart, I'll still have her body! Hahaha..."

A murderous intent instantly filled Jiang Yiming's eyes.

Lü Xing has crossed his bottom line.

He punched him several times in the lower back, and the pain brought tears to Lü Xing's eyes.

"Never mind me, get them, kill them."

Lu Xing roared wildly.

Just as the two sides were about to clash, police sirens sounded outside.

Soon, more than a dozen fully armed police officers rushed in.

"We're from the Anping branch. Lü Xing, you're under arrest!"

The man in the uniform at the head of the group said in a deep voice.

"You dare arrest me? Does your Director Zou know about this?"

Lu Xing said without fear.

"Zou Ping has been taken away by the anti-corruption bureau."

The uniformed man leading the group said, "Cuff him and take him away."

Lu Xing then became nervous: "Wait, wait a minute, I need to make a phone call."

The man leading the group snatched the phone away: "Take your words to the station. Take him away!"

Soon, all five people, including Lu Xing's men, were arrested.

"What's going on? Wasn't it said that the joint investigation team was withdrawn? How come Lü Xing has been arrested again?"

Wang Lin asked, puzzled.

“My teacher is a law professor at Peking University and knows some people. She stepped in to find someone to resolve the issue.”

"No wonder."

Wang Lin suddenly realized and asked, "Yiming, ask our teacher if they need any more students. I also want to pursue further studies."

"..."

The following day, Jiang Yiming received a call from Yang Jing.

"Yiming, be prepared. It seems we can only deal with Lü Xing himself this time. We lack strong evidence against his father, Lü Heng, and the Hengxing Group, so we can't punish them. Plus, with Vice Mayor Lei's intervention, this is the only way things can go."

"Thank you, teacher. It's already quite an achievement to get this far."

Jiang Yiming said, "I will be more careful from now on."

He knew that Yang Jing was calling him not only to tell him the result, but also to remind him that Hengxing Group had not collapsed, and that as Lü Heng's only son, Lü Xing would definitely be retaliated against by Lü Heng.

But he had no other choice; he was forced to retaliate.

It seems that it's still necessary to maintain power. As long as you have enough power, let alone a small company like Hengxing, even a larger company wouldn't dare to do anything to you.

Inside a military compound in the capital.

"Grandpa, look what I brought you! Fish cake from Dongjiang. It's a local specialty of Dongjiang. It's chewy, melts in your mouth, and tastes amazing."

"Okay, okay, I like anything my dear granddaughter brings back."

The old man, with sharp eyes and an imposing presence, smiled and said, "Grandpa is very happy that you've come back to see him."

“Mu Yao, you’ve been gone for more than half a year without ever coming back to visit your grandfather. He talks about you every day.”

A middle-aged woman standing nearby said, "My own daughter has been away for a year, and he has never mentioned her like this before."

"I'm sorry, Grandpa. I was too willful. I'll come back to see you often in the future."

Li Muyao said apologetically.

"Don't listen to your aunt's nonsense. I think you're telling the truth, but I also hope you're happy. Since you don't want to stay in the capital and want to try your luck elsewhere, I fully support you."

The old man affectionately patted his granddaughter's head: "You are a lot like me when I was young, daring and enterprising, which is not a bad thing. You can't always stay by the side of an old man like me."

“Dad, I wanted to go out and make my own way in the world back then, but that’s not what you said. You insisted that I stay in Beijing, get married, and have children, and you even said that girls shouldn’t be crazy.”

"How can they be the same? Times have changed, and my mindset has changed along with them."

The old man laughed and said, "Alright, hurry up and prepare the food. I'm going to have a couple of drinks today."

"Okay, I'll go cook. You two can chat slowly, so I won't get in the way."

After the middle-aged woman left, the old man asked, "Mu Yao, did you suffer some injustice? Why are you back at this time?"

"Grandpa, you understand me best."

Li Muyao took her grandfather's hand and said, "A good friend of mine, he was a grassroots official with outstanding abilities and a very righteous character. He was also deeply loved by the people. A few days ago, he came to the capital on business but was assassinated and almost died in the capital."

"The other party has considerable influence, yet he is powerless to seek justice for himself. Grandpa, what do you think we should do in this situation?"

The old man chuckled and said, "So you want me to stand up for him?"

“Grandpa, he is a very good friend of mine. If this matter cannot be resolved effectively, I will expose it in my own way.”

“You said the other party has a powerful background, would any media dare to report on it? Besides, your Dongjiang Daily is a party newspaper, it won’t let you do whatever you want.”

The old man said, "I won't say I have to come forward, but you have to tell me whether the other person is male or female, and what your relationship is with them. Don't tell me you're just ordinary friends. I've lived to be this old, I've seen it all, you can't fool me."

“His name is Jiang Yiming. We met in 99, but we were just casual acquaintances at the time.”

Li Muyao said, "He and I are indeed just ordinary friends. When I was working in Dongjiang, I ran into him again and had more interactions with him. I felt his sense of responsibility, courage and perseverance, which were different from other officials."

“I have some feelings for him, but it’s just feelings; he already has a fiancée. It’s impossible for us. But that doesn’t stop me from helping him.”

Hearing his granddaughter's story, the old man shook his head and said, "My granddaughter has always been proud and arrogant. She looks down on so many outstanding boys in the compound, but she has a special fondness for this boy. It seems I need to find an opportunity to meet him."

"Grandpa, no, don't scare him."

Li Muyao quickly stopped her, saying, "Besides, we have no relationship. It's not proper for you to invite him here."

"Oh, Grandpa, I came to you to ask for your help, not to listen to your gossip. Just tell me if you'll help or not."

"Please help me, please help me! My granddaughter finally asked me for help, I can't just refuse."

After learning more about the conflict between Jiang Yiming and Hengxing Group from his granddaughter, the old man took out a dedicated phone line and made a call.

"Guoliang, isn't there a group company called Hengxing in our city?"

"Yes, sir. What are your instructions?"

A steady voice came through the microphone.

"Oh, it's nothing serious. I just heard that the boss of Hengxing Group is quite high-profile."

The old man said, "I just wanted to chat with you since I had nothing else to do, but you're busy, so I won't take up any more of your time."

"Yes, old commander. I'll come visit you after I'm done with this busy period."

After hanging up the phone, Hu Guoliang instructed his secretary, "Have someone investigate Hengxing Group."

"Okay, Secretary."

The secretary immediately set about handling it.

Soon, multiple departments were dispatched to Hengxing Group to conduct an investigation.

That evening, Lu Heng, the head of Hengxing Group, was taken away for investigation on charges of suspected illegal fundraising, bribery, intentional homicide, and organizing and leading a criminal organization.

"Yiming, did you ask anyone else for help?"

Yang Jing called to inquire.

"No, what's wrong, teacher?"

"Lu Heng, the head of Hengxing Group, has been taken away for investigation."

Yang Jing said, "My feedback is that Vice Mayor Lei intervened, so they couldn't investigate further. Now that Lü Heng is under investigation, someone else must have intervened."

"I didn't invite anyone else."

Jiang Yiming shook his head.

"No matter who made the move, the Hengxing Group has collapsed this time, so you don't need to worry about Lü Heng retaliating against you."

Yang Jing smiled.

"Thank you, teacher. If you hadn't intervened, I don't know how things would have turned out."

Jiang Yiming expressed his gratitude.

"There's no need to be so polite with me."

Around June 10th, Jiang Yiming returned to Xinping County.

He was out of work for almost a month and a half, from attending the training to receiving his graduation certificate in the capital.

After more than ten days of rest, although I am not fully recovered, it does not affect my work.

After Jiang Yiming returned to the county committee compound, Jiang Xuangui and Zhang Yuntao came to visit him one after the other.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, they left one after another.

Following him were Chen Xujian, Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission; Chen Zixin, Standing Committee Member of the County Party Committee and Deputy County Head; Du Zhengqiang, Director of the County Bureau; and Qiao Xiaomai, Liu Sicheng, Wang Jiajia, and other heads of townships and county-level units who came to visit and greet him.

When Jiang Yiming's office was empty, Du Zhengqiang returned.

"Director Zhengqiang, you've returned. It seems you have something to discuss with me."

Jiang Yiming smiled and said, "Sit down and let's talk."

"Secretary Yiming, I do have something to report to you."

Du Zhengqiang said, "It's about the faculty and staff petitioning."

"Hasn't this matter basically come to an end?"

Jiang Yiming said, "I heard that Secretary Xuan Gui has been going to the city quite often recently. I don't know how the city will ultimately characterize it or what kind of punishment they will take."

"It was supposed to be over, but yesterday I received a letter from the Jiangcheng Public Security Bureau requesting assistance in handling the case."

Du Zhengqiang said, "It was a traffic accident."

"A traffic accident? And a traffic accident that happened in the provincial capital, what does that have to do with the petition from the teachers and staff of our county?"

Jiang Yiming asked, puzzled.

"The reason why this petition by faculty and staff has had such a great impact is mainly due to a teacher named Lu Huagang, who coordinated and organized it."

Du Zhengqiang said, "The Stability Maintenance Office has always kept a close eye on him. For a period of time, they even sent him to the police station for detention. However, I don't know if it was because of his good behavior or other reasons, but he was released early. That's how he got the opportunity to lead the faculty and staff to petition."

"He and others split up. He took some teachers to the provincial capital to petition, but they were intercepted by Wang Xuanzhong, a member of our bureau's Party Committee and director of the Political Department. They were taken back to the county, and the next day, it was said that he had suffered a stroke and could not be saved. Even more bizarrely, his family did not see his body before it was sent to the crematorium for cremation. The family made a fuss for several days, and finally Secretary Jiang intervened and had our bureau take 280,000 yuan from the stability maintenance fund to give to Lu Huagang's family, and that was the end of the matter."

"Although I felt something was amiss, Secretary Jiang assigned Wang Xuanzhong to be in charge, so I didn't say much. I thought that was the end of it, but yesterday the Jiangcheng Public Security Bureau's letter of assistance brought things back into turmoil."

"What's the specific situation?"

Jiang Yiming inquired.

"I called to inquire with them."

Du Zhengqiang said, "At the end of last month, on the day the faculty and staff petitioned, a man defecated in the bushes beside a secluded road to the left of the Lele Hotel. While defecating, he observed the road through the bushes to avoid being seen by anyone."

"Just then, he saw a middle-aged man running wildly down the road, with a police car chasing after him. Suddenly, a car came from the left, and the man instinctively swerved to avoid it, only to be hit and thrown into the air by the police car behind him."