On February 20, Zhou Yi returned to Linhai Province.
On the last day of that month, the second meeting of the current Standing Committee of the Linhai Provincial People's Congress voted to appoint Zhou Yi as Director of the Linhai Provincial Public Security Department.
On March 10, at a provincial conference for political and legal affairs leaders on strengthening political development and deepening reform, the young Public Security Department Director, wearing a police uniform with Police Badge Number 000001, once again became the focus of public attention.
Even saints, heroes, and leaders could not win everyone's affection, let alone unremarkable young officials like Zhou Yi.
So, both online and in real life, there were indeed people with all sorts of motives and agendas who fiercely questioned Zhou Yi's rocket-like rise over his six-year official career.
Their criticism and attacks focused on two main points. First, he was too young. Appointing someone not yet thirty to a full department-level leadership position, especially as Public Security Department Director, was entirely unprecedented.
The other was his connections. Although Zhou Yi's family circumstances, right down to his distant relatives, had already been thoroughly dug up and laid bare, determined investigators still uncovered a lead involving his fiancée.
Before the Zhou Yi Bar could launch a large-scale counterattack against the online criticism, renowned journalist Lin Fang, who had already made quite a name for herself and enjoyed the support and trust of countless internet users, decisively stepped forward. Joining forces with like-minded allies, she unleashed a barrage of criticism against the doubters, publishing a lengthy signed article titled "I couldn't help asking: what exactly were we questioning?"
"When we question someone, the first thing we should question is his conduct!"
"Take Zhou Yi, for example. Before questioning his age or his connections, we should first