Chapter Summaries

Dong Xuebin learned that Vice-Governor Jia had rejected his and several other family members’ plane tickets for an upcoming Macau delegation trip, which Xie Huilan suspected was a political warning. After Dong brought Xie her forgotten phone at the Municipal Party Committee, she introduced him to the cadres as her husband.

• Xie Huilan’s secretary told her that Vice-Governor Jia’s office had returned four late ticket requests, including Dong Xuebin’s, and Xie arranged for the tickets to be booked separately.
• Xie Huilan told Dong Xuebin she suspected Jia was displeased that she had been appointed Xiaxing City’s Municipal Party Secretary instead of his trusted subordinate.
• Dong Xuebin found the breakfast Xie Huilan had left for him and realized the milk was hers, then drank it and ate the egg.
• Dong Xuebin brought Xie Huilan’s forgotten phone to the Municipal Party Committee courtyard, where she was preparing to receive the visiting Vice Governor.
• Xie Huilan introduced Dong Xuebin to the gathered cadres as her husband, leaving many of them astonished.

Dong Xuebin visited Xie Huilan’s office at the Municipal Office Building and was treated with deference as the Municipal Party Secretary’s husband. As Xie Huilan attended to the incoming provincial leaders, local officials began visiting Dong Xuebin to curry favor and gain access to her.

• Dong Xuebin entered the Municipal Office Building, where a clerk escorted him to Xie Huilan’s office and offered to prepare tea.
• Dong Xuebin told the clerk that he and Xie Huilan would leave for a study and exchange trip after a few days.
• A Municipal Office employee named Wang Liang brought Dong Xuebin a fruit platter and offered to assist him while Xie Huilan was away.
• Gao Jie from the Propaganda Department came to Xie Huilan’s office, introduced herself to Dong Xuebin, and stayed to chat with him.

Dong Xuebin waited in the Secretary Office while Xie Huilan and Xiaxing City officials stood in the sun for the provincial inspection. Vice-Governor Jia finally arrived nearly two hours late, ignored the local leaders, and began the inspection with Director Zhou.

• Dong Xuebin chatted with Gao Jie and grew worried when he saw Xie Huilan and the city leaders waiting outside in the heat.
• Dong Xuebin suspected Vice-Governor Jia was deliberately slighting Xie Huilan because of a grudge over an earlier personnel decision.
• Xie Huilan, the mayor, and city officials waited nearly two hours for the provincial delegation, while some handled urgent work by phone.
• Vice-Governor Jia arrived with provincial officials, offered no explanation for the delay, and perfunctorily greeted Xie Huilan and the other city leaders.
• Vice-Governor Jia ignored the local officials and started the inspection with Director Zhou, leaving Xiaxing City leaders uneasy.

Vice-Governor Jia and Director Zhou used a sanitation complaint to criticize Xie Huilan and Xiaxing City's officials, while Dong Xuebin watched from upstairs. When Jia kept rejecting every proposed response, Dong Xuebin stepped in and challenged the provincial officials, leaving the courtyard waiting to hear what he would say next.

• Gao Jie picked up a paper ball and water bottle in the courtyard, but Vice-Governor Jia and Director Zhou seized on the litter and criticized Xie Huilan and the city officials.
• Vice-Governor Jia continued faulting the city over the cafeteria and sanitation, while Xie Huilan calmly accepted the criticism and proposed rectification measures.
• Dong Xuebin watched from upstairs, grew angry as Jia continued berating Xie Huilan, and went down to the courtyard.
• Dong Xuebin interrupted Vice-Governor Jia and asked whether he had finished talking, then told the provincial officials he would speak once they were done.

Dong Xuebin confronted Vice-Governor Jia, Director Zhou, and the provincial inspection team after they criticized Xie Huilan, and Xie Huilan refused to discipline or apologize for her husband. Dong then accused the team of throwing its weight around, arriving late, and obstructing Xiaxing City's work, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Dong Xuebin stepped forward and mocked the provincial inspection team for criticizing Xie Huilan.
• The provincial officials learned Dong Xuebin was Xie Huilan's husband, and Director Zhou demanded that she handle him.
• Xie Huilan said she could not handle her husband, surprising the provincial delegation and Xiaxing City officials.
• Dong Xuebin resumed speaking and accused the inspection team of abusing its authority and picking faults.
• Dong Xuebin rebuked the team for making Xiaxing City wait nearly two hours and told them to return to the province.

Dong Xuebin confronted the provincial inspection team over its lateness and its disproportionate criticism of Xiaxing City, while Xie Huilan remained composed. As Director Zhou began to rebuke him, Dong Xuebin claimed he was there to inspect too.

• Dong Xuebin publicly criticized the provincial inspection team for arriving late and making an issue of a fallen bottle.
• Provincial inspectors angrily challenged Dong Xuebin, while people in Xiaxing City worried about the consequences of his confrontation.
• Director Zhou asked whether Dong Xuebin was finished, and Dong Xuebin said he was temporarily finished.
• Director Zhou insisted that the inspection was none of Dong Xuebin's business, but Dong Xuebin interrupted and said he was there to inspect too.

Dong Xuebin challenged provincial officials during their inspection, while Xie Huilan calmly refused to intervene. When provincial discipline inspection staff threatened to report her, Dong revealed that he was a Zhengchu Level Inspector from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, sent to investigate Jiangnan Province.

• Dong Xuebin confronted Vice-Governor Jia and the provincial officials, insisting that he was there to inspect things too.
• Director Zhou accused Xie Huilan of letting her husband disrupt the provincial inspection, but she again said she could not handle him.
• A provincial discipline inspection official said he had recorded the incident and would report Xie Huilan to the provincial commission.
• Dong Xuebin challenged the official's account and said he would come looking for them himself.
• Dong Xuebin showed his Central Commission for Discipline Inspection work ID and identified himself as an inspector from its Eighth Inspectorate Office.
• The provincial officials and Xiaxing City leaders were stunned when they realized Dong Xuebin had come to inspect Jiangnan Province.

After revealing that he was a Zhengchu-level inspector from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Dong Xuebin silenced the provincial inspection team and criticized its handling of the visit. He left them agreeing to cooperate when he later checked cadres’ asset declarations.

• Dong Xuebin showed his credentials, and the city and provincial officials realized he was a Central Commission for Discipline Inspection inspector.
• Dong Xuebin challenged the young Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission official to report him, and the young man backed down.
• Dong Xuebin confronted Director Zhou about denying him the right to speak, and Director Zhou apologized for mistaking him for a cadre’s family member.
• Dong Xuebin criticized the provincial team for arriving late and wasting time on matters unrelated to its inspection.
• Dong Xuebin said he would visit the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission to conduct spot checks on cadres’ asset declarations, and the young official agreed to cooperate.

Dong Xuebin confronted Vice-Governor Jia and the provincial inspection team over their criticism of Xie Huilan and Xiaxing City, prompting them to end their inspection and leave. Afterward, Xia Hui formally met Dong, and Dong and Xie discussed how his position could protect her from provincial retaliation.

• Dong Xuebin told Vice-Governor Jia to treat his visit as an unannounced inspection, and Jia accepted the criticism before continuing the inspection.
• The provincial team completed a brief, perfunctory round and left Xiaxing City without staying for lunch.
• Xia Hui visited Dong Xuebin to introduce himself and apologize for not receiving him earlier.
• Xie Huilan praised Dong for confronting the provincial officials and said his position would deter them from causing her trouble.
• Dong Xuebin and Xie Huilan went downstairs together for lunch, joking about their teamwork and his having her back.

Dong Xuebin used his Central Commission for Discipline Inspection position to support his wife, Municipal Party Secretary Xie Huilan, and strengthen her standing in Xiaxing City. By the end of the chapter, news of his confrontation with the provincial inspectors had spread through the city government.

• Dong Xuebin received a call from the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and said he would contact them if he needed assistance.
• Xie Huilan introduced Dong Xuebin to Xiaxing City's leaders as her husband, and he urged them to treat him as family.
• At lunch, Dong Xuebin toasted the city leaders and thanked them for supporting Xie Huilan, prompting cadres to reconsider their attitudes toward her.
• Dong Xuebin saw that his show of support had helped Xie Huilan gain a firmer foothold and left the rest to her.
• Government officials heard that Dong Xuebin had berated the provincial inspectors and learned that he worked in the Eighth Supervision Office, which oversaw Jiangnan Province.

Dong Xuebin headed to Macau to join Xie Huilan on a provincial inspection trip and unexpectedly reunited at the airport with his university roommate Hou Wen. They boarded the same flight, eager to catch up after three years apart.

• Dong Xuebin called Xie Huilan and learned that Vice-Governor Jia had withdrawn from the trip because he was reportedly unwell.
• Dong Xuebin checked in for his flight to Macau and waited in the airport lounge.
• Hou Wen recognized Dong Xuebin, and the former roommates teased each other about losing contact after graduation.
• Dong Xuebin and Hou Wen reminisced about their college days and agreed that their old friendships had felt more genuine.
• Hou Wen revealed that he and Dong Xuebin were taking the same flight and planned to switch seats so they could talk during the journey.

Dong Xuebin and Hou Wen reunited on a flight to Macau and caught up about their college days and current lives. They learned they were both traveling to Macau, and Dong Xuebin promised to introduce Hou Wen to his wife if they got the chance.

• Hou Wen argued with his mother after she criticized him for wanting to sit with Dong Xuebin.
• Hou Wen switched seats with a passenger so he could sit beside Dong Xuebin.
• Dong Xuebin and Hou Wen reminisced about a college fight in which Dong Xuebin stood up for Hou Wen and their dormmates.
• The two friends discussed their civil-service and state-owned-enterprise jobs and laughed about the demands of their work.
• Hou Wen learned Dong Xuebin was married and traveling to Macau with his wife, while Dong Xuebin learned Hou Wen was traveling with his mother.

Dong Xuebin reunited with his old classmate Hou Wen in Macau, and the two planned to spend time together after arriving. Their families were staying at the same hotel, and Hou Wen praised Xiaxing City Party Secretary Xie Huilan without realizing she was Dong Xuebin’s wife.

• Dong Xuebin told Hou Wen that his wife had recently given birth to a boy, and Hou Wen eagerly claimed the child as his godson.
• Dong Xuebin and Hou Wen agreed to go sightseeing together, while Dong Xuebin told Xie Huilan he might join her for dinner later.
• Mother Hou objected to Hou Wen going out, but Dong Xuebin carried her suitcase and joined them in a taxi to the Royal Hotel.
• Dong Xuebin discovered that he and Hou Wen were staying at the same hotel and joked with him about meeting his beautiful wife.
• Hou Wen praised Xie Huilan’s beauty and charisma, and Dong Xuebin revealed that she was his wife.

Dong Xuebin told Hou Wen and Mother Hou that Xie Huilan was his wife, but they assumed he was boasting. At the Royal Hotel, they met Xie Huilan, who said her husband was arriving on the next flight, leaving Dong Xuebin’s claim still unrecognized.

• In a taxi, Dong Xuebin told Hou Wen that Xie Huilan was his wife, but Hou Wen laughed it off and Mother Hou warned them not to damage Secretary Xie’s reputation.
• Dong Xuebin helped Mother Hou with her luggage when they arrived at the Royal Hotel, where they found Mayor Hou and other officials.
• Xie Huilan came out of the elevator and told Mayor Hou and Mayor Wang that her husband was on the next flight.
• Hou Wen pointed out Xie Huilan to Dong Xuebin, but he continued to insist she was his wife, and Hou Wen and Mother Hou told him to stop.
• Mayor Wang noticed Mother Hou and Hou Wen, and Xie Huilan greeted them and shook hands with both Hou Wen and Mother Hou.

At the hotel, Dong Xuebin reunited with his university classmate Hou Wen and met the city leaders and their families. When Xie Huilan revealed that Dong was her husband, Hou Wen and Mother Hou were stunned after dismissing his earlier claim as a joke.

• Xie Huilan and the other leaders chatted about family, and Hou Wen joked about delaying marriage until he was thirty.
• Dong Xuebin waited apart from the group, then approached with the luggage while Hou Wen introduced him as a close university classmate.
• Mother Hou judged Dong Xuebin for claiming that Xie Huilan was his wife, while Hou Wen warned him not to say anything improper.
• Father Hou and Mayor Wang asked when Xie Huilan's husband would arrive, and she said he was already there.
• Xie Huilan linked arms with Dong Xuebin and introduced him as her husband, leaving Hou Wen and Mother Hou stunned.

Dong Xuebin’s college friend Hou Wen and his family learned that Dong was married to Municipal Party Secretary Xie Huilan, leaving them stunned by his status and success. Father Hou and Mayor Wang treated Dong with respect, while Father Hou became upset after realizing Mother Hou had let Dong carry her suitcase.

• Xie Huilan arrived arm in arm with Dong Xuebin, revealing to Hou Wen and his family that they were married.
• Hou Wen privately teased Dong Xuebin about his beautiful, powerful wife and demanded an explanation later.
• Father Hou and Mayor Wang greeted Dong Xuebin warmly, and Father Hou praised him for being Hou Wen’s college roommate.
• Father Hou noticed that Dong Xuebin was carrying Mother Hou’s suitcase and scolded her for making him do it.
• Dong Xuebin and Xie Huilan reassured Father Hou, who said he would settle accounts with Mother Hou later.

Dong Xuebin and Xie Huilan left the hotel lobby after an awkward luggage incident, while Father Hou tried to smooth things over with them. Upstairs, Father Hou explained to Hou Wen and Mother Hou that Dong Xuebin was a powerful Central Commission for Discipline Inspection inspector, leaving them shocked by how badly they had misjudged him.

• Dong Xuebin refused to take back Mother Hou’s luggage, and Father Hou quietly carried it instead.
• Dong Xuebin and Xie Huilan went upstairs, while Father Hou invited them to dinner and they postponed the invitation.
• Father Hou confronted Mother Hou in their suite, and Hou Wen defended her by explaining that Dong Xuebin had offered to carry the bag himself.
• Father Hou told them that Dong Xuebin had publicly rebuked Provincial Leaders during an inspection in Xiaxing City.
• Father Hou revealed that Dong Xuebin was a Zhengchu Level Inspector in the Eighth Inspectorate Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, shocking Hou Wen and Mother Hou.

After learning that Dong Xuebin was a Zhengchu-level cadre with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Hou family regretted Mother Hou’s earlier behavior and discussed his connection to Hou Wen. Hou Wen called Dong Xuebin and demanded to meet downstairs so he could hear the full story.

• Father Hou scolded Mother Hou for offending Dong Xuebin, then reassured her that Dong Xuebin had let the incident go because he was Hou Wen’s friend.
• Hou Wen told his parents that he trusted Dong Xuebin and could not understand how his former college roommate had risen so quickly.
• Father Hou confirmed that Dong Xuebin was a genuine Zhengchu-level cadre and linked his position to the tense atmosphere in the province.
• Mother Hou urged Hou Wen to explain her behavior and help the family build a connection, but Hou Wen refused to involve himself in their plans and left to find Dong Xuebin.
• Hou Wen called Dong Xuebin, demanded that he meet downstairs, and complained that he had hidden his rank and beautiful wife from his old friend.

Dong Xuebin met his old classmate Hou Wen for dinner and recounted how he married Xie Huilan and rose quickly through the ranks. Hou Wen recognized Dong as the official who had predicted the Fenzhou earthquake and saved many people, and the two ended their conversation drinking and joking as friends.

• Dong Xuebin left the hotel after telling Xie Huilan he was going to eat with Hou Wen.
• Hou Wen pressed Dong to explain his marriage to Xie Huilan, and Dong described meeting her and saving her from a river.
• Dong explained that his rapid promotions came from his own achievements rather than his connections.
• Dong told Hou Wen how he predicted the Fenzhou earthquake, helped evacuate people, and rescued survivors.
• Hou Wen recognized Dong from the news and praised his accomplishments, and the two shared drinks and traded friendly jokes.

Dong Xuebin reunited with his old friend Hou Wen and joined Xie Huilan and Jiangnan Province officials as they planned an evening outing in Macau. The group settled on visiting a casino, intending only to look around.

• Dong Xuebin and Hou Wen reminisced about their college days and agreed to search for their two former dorm mates.
• Dong Xuebin and Hou Wen met Xie Huilan and the Jiangnan Province officials outside the hotel lobby.
• Xie Huilan introduced Dong Xuebin to the officials, who greeted him after learning he was her husband and a Central Commission for Discipline Inspection official.
• The officials discussed possible places to visit while some left in smaller groups.
• The remaining group chose to visit a Macau casino and said they only planned to look around.