Chapter 1: The Big Leader

Early this morning, the section chief sent an urgent message to the group chat, asking everyone to arrive at work twenty minutes early to review and organize their ongoing tasks, ready to face a surprise inspection from municipal leadership at any moment.

They didn’t say which leader specifically.

But judging from the chief’s tone and urgency, it had to be someone at least at the bureau-director level or higher.

Gu Yao worked in the Projects Section, the core unit of the Economic Planning Department. Heavy responsibilities, high expectations—and a correspondingly high risk of error.

Especially during this delicate time: the former department head had just been taken away by the Supreme Procuratorate, and before everyone had time to recover from the shock, a high-level inspection was suddenly upon them.

With the new department head yet to take office, the team was essentially leaderless, and everyone felt anxious and uneasy.

At 10 a.m., a convoy of black government vehicles slowly pulled up in front of the government joint-office building. The director, along with several division heads, personally went down to receive the guests.

During lunch at the cafeteria, a colleague from the first-floor service hall revealed that the scene had been extremely serious. The entire leadership team of the commission had referred to the visitor as Secretary Zhou.

Secretary Zhou?

So the visitor’s surname was Zhou?

The staff in the Projects Section exchanged knowing glances.

Apparently, their initial guess had been far too conservative.

Back in the office, nobody felt like taking a nap. Someone started speculating about the real reason such a high-ranking official would visit the Development and Reform Commission.

“Let’s not forget why our former section head was—”

The comment was abruptly cut off by Xu Dongping, who had just entered. “If you’re bored, go clean something. The more critical the moment, the more you try to stress me out.”

Xia Wei refused to back down and stiffly asked, “If they really do decide to randomly inspect our Projects Section, and something goes wrong, will it be our ex-leader who takes the fall—or will it be us small fries who get thrown under the bus?”

“Don’t borrow trouble.”

Yang Lan interjected at just the right moment. “Leadership will handle things at their level. Secretary Zhou holds a high position—why would he target us at the grassroots?”

Just hearing the name “Secretary Zhou” seemed to snap Xu Dongping out of his daze.

As if something occurred to him, he quickly turned to Gu Yao at her desk. “Xiao Gu, I remember there’s a spare laptop in the section. Go check if it’s still usable.”

Of course it was usable.

With a background in computer science, Comrade Xiao Gu wasn’t just in charge of information retrieval and data modeling—she also handled the maintenance for every computer in the office.

After cobbling things together for a full year, the refurbished laptop she’d rebuilt was finally about to be put to use.

Once it booted up, Xu Dongping immediately assigned a task.

He asked Gu Yao to install all the relevant project systems onto the laptop, log into the necessary accounts, and get it ready—just in case.

Everyone understood what “just in case” meant.

If someone from the sixth floor summoned them, they had to bring something to show. Otherwise, Xu Dongping’s title as section chief would mean nothing.

But right at this critical moment, Gu Yao had to throw cold water on the plan. “The system can only be linked to two sub-IPs at the moment. If we want to connect a third device, we’ll need to contact the service provider. After completing all the necessary steps, the installation could take a few hours—probably too late.”

“Which company is the service provider?” Xu Dongping asked with a frown.

Gu Yao, being new, didn’t know the details.

From a corner of the room, Yang Lan spoke up. “A startup formed by a bunch of fresh graduates. Their business failed, and the company shut down half a year ago.”

Even more awkward was the fact that the development and bidding of the system had been entirely overseen by Xu Dongping himself.

In a city full of well-established tech companies, why had he chosen a fledgling startup?

Well, for obvious reasons.

Xu Dongping was famous for being “frugal”—he went with the lowest bid.

And with the low price came terrible quality. The system crashed multiple times a day, frequently froze, and occasionally refused to let users log in for no apparent reason.

As the saying goes: you get what you pay for. No truer words.

Realizing the problem lay with him, Xu Dongping gave a light cough and let the topic drop. After a few moments of silent thinking, he asked if Comrade Xiao Gu had a workaround.

She did.

Gu Yao said, “We can use remote access.”

A single sentence brought everyone back to life.

Genius idea.

Xu Dongping showered her with praise and turned to the others. “You all should learn from Xiao Gu. When faced with a challenge, use your brains. Don’t expect me to solve everything for you.”

Gu Yao: …

Much appreciated, sir.

—

At 4:30 p.m., almost time to clock out.

The sixth floor had remained unusually quiet, and Xu Dongping finally relaxed a little.

But just then, the landline on his desk rang. One look at the caller ID—it was a very familiar number.

No escaping it now.

After hanging up, Xu Dongping turned to the room, pretending to stay calm. “This is a great opportunity to make a good impression. Who wants to come with me?”

He made it sound like they were winning the lottery.

With how broken the system was, who’d want to show their face?

The office was dead silent.

Since no one volunteered, he had to start picking people.

Yang Lan was seven months pregnant and couldn’t move easily—ruled out.

That left only two newcomers: Xia Wei and Gu Yao.

Xu Dongping spoke gently. “Xiao Xia, you’re in charge of data entry, and you’re more familiar with the system. You’ll come.”

Xia Wei froze.

Then immediately waved her hands frantically. “No way, no way. I’ve got a terrible habit—whenever I get nervous, I need the bathroom. Let Gu Yao go. She’s always retrieving data from the system. I’m sure she’s more confident with the operations.”

Her reaction was exactly what Xu Dongping expected.

When it came to enthusiasm, the whole section was average at best. But in terms of actual ability, Xiao Gu was the clear standout among the new hires.

He wasn’t playing favorites—just stating facts.

The young woman had only been in the Projects Section for a year. During her probation period, she was diligent, humble, and quick to learn anything.

Such a promising talent—whether she chose to stay in government, run a business, or pursue any other path—was sure to find success.

Unfortunately, she had no background and had chosen the hardest road of all.

Back to the matter at hand.

Xu Dongping had mentally prepared a whole speech and was about to speak, only to see Gu Yao quietly stand up, close her laptop, and open the remote access interface on her desktop.

She was already prepared to face the storm with him.

“Good, he wasn’t wrong about her.”

Three minutes later, after tidying up quickly, Gu Yao followed Xu Dongping out of the office under the curious gazes of her coworkers.

Inside the elevator, Xu Dongping couldn’t stop offering reminders:

“Xiao Gu, when you meet the top leader later, be polite. Smile.”

“When doing the system demonstration, focus on the modules you’re most familiar with. Skip over the incomplete parts.”

“Relax, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. If anything happens, I’ll cover for you.”

…

By the end, Gu Yao noticed something was off in his voice. She turned to look at him.

His forehead was beaded with sweat, his lips pale, his face tense.

She asked with concern, “Section Chief, are you feeling unwell?”

Looking at the calm and composed young face before him, Xu Dongping felt… thoroughly useless.

They arrived at the sixth floor. The elevator doors opened.

The door to the Director’s office was slightly ajar, and there were silhouettes moving inside—clearly the leadership group had yet to disperse.

Three knocks before entering—that’s the rule.

About two seconds later, a voice from inside said, “Come in.”

What met their eyes was a row of gray sofas in the reception area. Looking further in, there were four people in total.

It was May, a comfortable temperature. Most of the officials wore shirts and trousers. But even in similar attire, it was easy to spot who the main figure was.

In front of the large desk stood a tall potted plant, about half a person high.

Through the dense foliage to the right, a tall figure stood by the window with his back to them. From Gu Yao’s angle, she could make out the sharp, mature profile of a man.

Just as the rumors said—impressive looks and outstanding political achievements—Secretary Zhou was the kind of person who naturally drew the eye among the leadership team.

At this moment, the man casually rested his hand holding a document on the windowsill, quietly listening to a phone call. It was clearly an official call, and related to the document in hand.

The top leader was busy—it might not be the right time.

As expected, the Director’s smiling voice pulled them back to reality: “Looks like you came for nothing. Secretary Zhou is in a rush to get to the provincial party office. The project team’s briefing will have to wait.”

He then turned to a young cadre beside him and introduced, “This is the new Director of the Economic Planning Department, Meng Changjun. He’s just started, so please support his work. Especially with the problems left behind by the previous director, we need to resolve them quickly.”

The Director lowered his voice as he spoke, and everyone knew why.

Xu Dongping immediately stepped forward, a bit too eager: “Director Meng, hello, hello—finally, we’ve been waiting for you.”

They shook hands.

After that, Gu Yao also greeted him politely.

Seeing the laptop in her hands, Meng Changjun suggested, “Since you’ve already prepared, why not do a quick run-through? Let’s not discourage young people’s enthusiasm.”

Uh-oh.

Xu Dongping’s fleeting joy: …

Gu Yao didn’t react much. She obediently placed the laptop on the desk, connected to the internet, accessed the remote port, opened the project management system, logged in, and navigated through the modules. Her operations were smooth and precise.

Xu Dongping wailed inwardly.

Everything about this Xiao Gu was great—except she was too earnest and too impulsive. Couldn’t she check her superior’s cues before charging ahead?

The mouse clicked, but the screen froze.

“…”

Xu Dongping felt his face burn with embarrassment—until Comrade Gu Yao calmly said, “Just a moment. The connection’s slow.”

Blame the internet?

The Director’s office Wi-Fi begged to differ.

After about thirty seconds, the screen recovered. They proceeded as requested by Director Meng, reviewing newly initiated projects and their progress over the past six months.

Gu Yao was fully focused and followed through one by one.

Before they realized it, the room had gone pin-drop silent.

The young woman sat upright before the laptop, completely immersed in the system, unaware that the atmosphere had changed.

Until a deep voice suddenly came from above her—making her instinctively hold her breath.

Zhou Zhengliang’s gaze rested on the screen, his tone calm and measured:
“I remember the renovation of Huaxing Street in Futian District was fully completed in November last year.”

Though his voice was even, it lacked warmth.

No one in the room spoke.

Gu Yao, the operator, stared at the project info on the system. Besides being nervous, she was utterly bewildered.

Completion was recorded as last year, yet the approval and project initiation were listed as March this year.

Was it a simple data entry mistake—or something fishier? It was beyond her ability to explain.

Faced with this situation, Xu Dongping was in agony, drenched in sweat.

Knowing full well that this module was a disaster zone, how could Xiao Gu be so careless?

He struggled to compose himself and was about to speak—
—but the top leader gave him no chance.

“The purpose of this system is to automate workflows and improve efficiency. But as it stands, it seems more like a tool to mask problems and fabricate prosperity.”

Zhou Zhengliang’s tone turned cold. He handed the document to his secretary, then looked away from the screen and turned to the silent Meng Changjun.

“One month. I expect a full report on your rectifications.”

Having said this, the man said no more. His eyes briefly swept past the stiff figure of the young woman, then, with his secretary in tow, he strode out the door.

What was supposed to be a routine system spot check had turned into a major incident.

The Director’s face turned grim. He pointed at Xu Dongping, but had no time to say anything—he hurried after them.