Xiao Dongnan was stunned. “Secretary Chen?”
Secretary Chen was leading the inspection team, strolling along casually.
“Secretary Chen, I—” Xiao Dongnan still wanted to explain. He had no idea what was going on. How had he ended up being removed?
Many members of the provincial task force looked at each other in confusion.
However, Secretary Chen didn’t pay him attention and continued his inspection as planned.
Seeing that Xiao Dongnan was about to say something else, a provincial official tugged on his sleeve. “Old Xiao, that’s enough. The secretary has already decided—what’s the point of saying anything now?”
Xiao Dongnan finally calmed down a bit. “But this…”
The provincial official consoled him, “It’s just a team leader position. Doesn’t matter who does it.”
But now? Even though Dong Xuebing, a subordinate from a lower-level department, had clashed head-on with him, his superior, no matter the circumstances or who was right, it was still against protocol for a subordinate to challenge a superior in a government institution that valued hierarchy. Yet, after Xiao Dongnan reported it to Secretary Chen, not only did the secretary remove him, but he didn’t even explain—he just stripped him of the role outright. And Dong Xuebing? He didn’t receive any punishment at all.
Isn’t that entirely backwards?
Xiao Dongnan was furious and felt deeply wronged.
Dong Xuebing hadn’t expected Secretary Chen to dismiss Xiao Dongnan so decisively. But he knew the reason, so he wasn’t surprised. Without any change in expression, he glanced coldly at Xiao Dongnan and thought: “You show off, you report me, you shout. Look at you now—quiet as a mouse. Serves you right. You couldn’t even do your main job properly, yet you kept jumping in front of the camera to grab attention. You didn’t even inform us when such a big event like a leadership inspection was happening. You were sent here to work, not to stir things up. You got removed? Serves you damn right.”
Dong Xuebing felt quite satisfied. He was also growing increasingly disdainful of Xiao Dongnan. “Trying to chase after my Old Fang? Do you even look at yourself in the mirror? I used to think you weren’t good enough for her based on your background alone, but now I’ll add another reason—you’ve got character issues, too. Go ahead and report to Secretary Chen if you want. But don’t lie about how we were informed—claiming it was our county’s communication failure. That’s pure slander. You thought you could push all the blame on us and be done with it? Nonsense. Now what? Eating humble pie?”
Zhang Dongfang looked thoughtful.
Meng Hanmei and the others blinked in surprise.
Dong Xuebing didn’t spare Xiao Dongnan another glance. The provincial leadership was inspecting the site, and the county had to accompany them. So he quickly joined them, with Zhang Dongfang and others following behind.
“How’s the excavation progressing?” Secretary Chen asked as he walked.
The provincial staff turned and looked at the people from Jiaolin County.
Dong Xuebing suddenly remembered that no city-level officials were accompanying the provincial inspection then. Only their county was present. So, naturally, this question was for them to answer. He quickly stepped forward and said, “In theory, about ten percent of the excavation is complete. Around half of the burial chamber’s surroundings have been unearthed. The location of the main tomb has also been confirmed. Right now, we’re peeling back the layers of earth to reach it.”
Secretary Chen asked, “The main tomb chamber is ahead?”
“A little to the left, about six to seven hundred meters from here.” Dong Xuebing pointed into the distance.
Secretary Chen nodded. “Alright, let’s go take a look.”
One of the archaeologists glanced at them and reminded, “The soil layers are currently being removed at the main tomb. If too many people go, it might affect the process.”
A provincial official frowned. “This is Secretary Chen from the Provincial Committee, we—”
“Enough,” Secretary Chen interrupted with a smile. “You guys can look around here. He’s right—we can’t disrupt the archaeological work.” Then, scanning the crowd, his eyes landed on Dong Xuebing. “Xiao Dong, you’re familiar with the terrain here. Come with me and give me a briefing.”
Dong Xuebing didn’t hesitate. “Of course, Secretary Chen.” He then looked back at Zhang Dongfang and Meng Hanmei and gave them a slight nod.
They got the hint and stayed behind to accompany the other provincial officials and staff.
Dong Xuebing and Secretary Chen crossed the second security perimeter and headed toward the main tomb.
The ground in the woods was covered in footprints and machine tracks, but there weren’t many people. It took quite a while to spot a few scattered archaeologists.
Secretary Chen wasn’t in a rush and strolled along. “Xiao Dong, because of that tomb robber incident the other day, you missed your baby’s 100-day banquet, didn’t you?”
Dong Xuebing coughed. “Yeah, I didn’t leave here until everything was resolved. I didn’t get home until around two or three in the afternoon. Everyone had already left by then.”
Secretary Chen asked, “Did your family say anything?”
Dong Xuebing replied, “No, they were all very understanding. If I had really dropped everything and rushed home the day before, that’s when they would’ve had something to say, haha.”
Secretary Chen nodded slightly. “Good thing you hadn’t boarded the plane yet. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made it back. That tomb robbery incident wouldn’t have been handled as smoothly without you. The casualty count would have been much higher. Are the injured officers all okay now? Are any still in critical condition?”
“You flatter me, Secretary Chen,” said Dong Xuebing. “The seriously injured officer is now out of danger and in recovery. The other two lightly injured officers have already been discharged.”
“That’s good,” Secretary Chen said. “We’ve almost finished collecting evidence. The trial is about to begin. I’ll be following up on that too. We’ll ensure your county’s injured comrades get a proper explanation. These severe crimes must be punished harshly—can’t let these criminals feel like there’s no cost to their actions and become more reckless.”
They walked a complete circuit around the main tomb chamber area.
When they came out, it had been over half an hour.
Secretary Chen and Dong Xuebing chatted and smiled as they walked out of the woods. Many people saw them from afar but had no idea what they were talking about.
The provincial officials wore skeptical expressions.
The people from Jiaolin County stared at each other in disbelief.
Wasn’t their Secretary Dong famous for being unpopular? Hadn’t he already been blacklisted by the province?
But now… something didn’t seem right.
Since when was Secretary Dong this cozy with the provincial leadership?
Even Xiao Dongnan, who was still on site, was utterly baffled.