Zhao Yongbin felt he had accounted for everything, blocking almost every avenue through which Zhou Yi could pose a threat.
But as the saying went, even the wisest could overlook something.
Zhao Yongbin had still failed to realize that Zhou Yi had more than Jian Wanyan, the Provincial Party Committee Secretary who held power in Liaodong, behind him. He also had the formidable backing of the Shan Family.
What he could never have imagined was that his opponent was a Reborn with foreknowledge and public-opinion warfare techniques more than a decade ahead of their time.
Zhou Yi had not been joking when he said he would make the enemy "lose his wife, his sisters, and his sister-in-law into the bargain."
With a casual wave, he played the "public intellectual" card once again.
Thanks to timely tips from her enthusiastic fans, Too Much Sugar and One-Leaf Boat, Liaodong Province's celebrated public intellectual Lin Fang rushed in with her like-minded comrades like a frenzy of sharks scenting blood.
They then unleashed a series of signature public-intellectual skills on the Changtian Municipal Public Security Bureau, the Changtian Municipal Party Committee, and the Municipal Government: "I cannot help but ask," "Even if I lose control of my bladder, I must ask," and more.
First, they asked why the Changtian Municipal Public Security Bureau had released the suspect Zhao Xuanwen, son of Zhao Group Board Chairman Zhao Yongbin, without charges, and whether a hidden web of collusion between officials and criminals and exchanges of money for power lay behind it.
Second, they asked why the Changtian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government were so eager to promote Zhou Yi, who had only recently arrived as executive Deputy Director, to deputy secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and whether there was some ulterior motive.