Chapter 3: Collateral Damage?

She cried out sharply, “Jiang Zhaoyang, you— you!”

“You can be sloppy and feckless, fine. But now you’ve even learned to be slick-tongued and frivolous, making a jest of me as if the whole thing were a game!”

Yet reason told her that this boy truly had nothing of value to say.

He was just talking nonsense.

“You want me to account for myself? I honestly can’t think of anything that needs accounting for.”

“I can only dig through my memory and dredge up those old, old incidents.”

“You, get out of here!”

“Get as far away as possible! I never want to see you again!” Zhao Shan said, half angry, half humiliated.

“Fine, I’m leaving!” This was exactly what Jiang Zhaoyang had been hoping for.

He bolted without looking back, vanishing in an instant.

The disciplinary officials outside were stunned speechless by the sudden turn of events.

They looked at one another, their eyes full of confusion and doubt.

“Director Zhao, you’re letting him go?” one of them finally could not help asking.

Zhao Shan gave him a faint sidelong glance.

With a note of helpless fatigue in her voice, she said, “After being locked in that dark room, he couldn’t take it anymore and started talking nonsense.”

“If we keep him any longer, I’m afraid he’ll start biting at random.”

“If he fabricates things out of thin air and invents facts, he’ll put us in an even more passive position.”

“Besides, even among the closest secretaries, it’s common enough not to know a leader’s secrets.”

“Let alone him—he isn’t even a secretary.”

...

Jiang Zhaoyang got on his motorcycle and raced home like the wind.

When he returned to the dormitory in the township government compound, sweat was streaming down his face.

He grabbed the towel hanging on the wall and wiped his face carelessly, shaking off the exhaustion from the road.

Then he rummaged deep in the cabinet and found a packet of instant noodles.

After a quick soak in boiling water, he wolfed down the simple meal in just a few mouthfuls.

After eating, an irresistible drowsiness surged over him like a tide.

Jiang Zhaoyang struggled to resist, but in the end he gave in.

He fell onto the bed and soon sank into sleep.

No one knew how long had passed.

A series of urgent, heavy knocks jolted him awake from his dream.

Jiang Zhaoyang rubbed his bleary eyes and looked dully at the watch by the bedside.

In that instant, his gaze sharpened suddenly—the hour hand had already crept past four in the afternoon.

He had slept through an entire night and most of the day after it.

Jiang Zhaoyang sprang out of bed at once.

He did not even have time to put on his slippers before stumbling to the door.

He opened it in a flurry of confusion.

It was He Di, the deputy director of the Party and Government Office.

Unlike his usual courteous self, He Di’s tone carried a hint of displeasure. “Director Jiang, why were you sleeping so dead to the world?”

“It would have been one thing if you were simply absent during working hours, but you weren’t even answering your phone?”

“I thought something urgent had happened to you!”

“Who would have thought you were just buried under your blanket, fast asleep in the dormitory!”

Jiang Zhaoyang’s face flushed red and then turned pale.

He explained, “I was truly exhausted. I never expected to sleep that long...”

“The township head has been looking everywhere for you.”

“I was almost about to put out a notice for a missing person!”

Jiang Zhaoyang was a little dazed at the words and scratched his head. “What’s the matter? Is it that urgent?”

“How should I know about a leader’s business?” He Di smiled slyly, his meaning somewhat opaque.

“Still, you’d better hurry. Don’t keep the township head waiting too long.”

“Right, I’ll go at once.” Though puzzled, Jiang Zhaoyang did not dare delay and quickly agreed.

“Good.” He Di said no more and left directly.

Jiang Zhaoyang washed his face.

Just then, his stomach growled loudly.

It was reminding him that he was already ravenous.

He no longer had time to make noodles.

He knew the township head, Lin Weiquan, would certainly not be able to wait.

But what on earth did he want to talk to him about?

Lin Weiquan was now, in effect, the man in charge. His word carried the weight of law, and the more than a hundred cadres in the township had to bow their heads and obey.

Not to mention that he was the fatherly official of a population of one hundred thousand.

Jiang Zhaoyang left the building.

Along the way, he ran into many colleagues.

Everyone looked at him with strange expressions and whispered among themselves, as though all of them were guessing what he was about to face.

At last, he arrived at the door of Lin Weiquan’s office.

He knocked lightly.

After receiving permission, he pushed the door open and went in.

He did not know what awaited him.

Yet when Lin Weiquan saw him arrive, he was almost too warm.

The Lin Weiquan of ordinary days, always steady, reserved, and seldom smiling, suddenly rose from behind the desk with a broad grin on his face.

He strode to the water dispenser, expertly picked up a delicate porcelain cup, and carefully brewed a cup of fragrant green tea for him.

“Sit, sit!” Lin Weiquan said, gesturing him toward the sofa.

That enthusiasm made Jiang Zhaoyang’s heart tighten.

He had a bad feeling.

Jiang Zhaoyang sat down uneasily.

Lin Weiquan handed him the steaming tea, then returned to his own seat.

But he did not speak immediately. Instead, he studied Jiang Zhaoyang with a look full of deeper meaning.

“Have some tea. Let’s talk slowly, no need to rush.”

“No need to rush?” Jiang Zhaoyang found this quite strange. Judging from He Di’s expression, it had seemed extremely urgent.

But never mind. He would adapt as circumstances demanded.

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Zhaoyang decided to set aside his doubts for the moment and focus on the tea before him.

He blew gently on the steam and took a small sip.

The tea’s fresh fragrance burst across his tongue at once, easing his mood a little.

Seeing this, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curved at the corner of Lin Weiquan’s mouth.

“Xiao Jiang, there are some matters I think we need to discuss frankly...”

Lin Weiquan took a leisurely sip of tea.

Then he said, “Xiao Jiang, you are very talented.”

“After all, you graduated from a top university. It was not easy for you to come and work in our remote township.”

“Only...” He paused slightly, as if choosing his words.

That hesitant look made Jiang Zhaoyang’s heart rise to his throat.

His pulse quickened like the beating of a drum.

He could feel a faint sweat breaking out in his palms.

He was someone Fu Zhengliang had taken a liking to. Ever since he had come to the Party and Government Comprehensive Office, he had been branded as “Fu Zhengliang’s man.”

Everyone thought so, even though his own relationship with Fu Zhengliang was only a working one.

Within Luli Town, the two top leaders of the Party and government had always been outwardly harmonious but inwardly divided.

Caught in the middle, it was hard for him to please either side.

He had no choice but to take a stand.

In such an environment, there was no doubt that Jiang Zhaoyang could only stand with Fu Zhengliang.

Now that Fu Zhengliang had fallen, when the city gate caught fire the fish in the moat were inevitably doomed to suffer. It would be difficult for Jiang Zhaoyang not to be dragged into it.

To emerge unscathed was almost impossible.

He had only barely slipped through the disciplinary commission’s net.

Now this hurdle before him might not be so easy to pass either.

When one ruler ascends, the ministers change with him. How could Lin Weiquan possibly keep someone from Fu Zhengliang’s camp close at hand?

Jiang Zhaoyang knew very well that his days were unlikely to be easy.

Being squeezed out and pushed to the margins was the most probable outcome.