Chapter 63: Who was the family member?
Several black sedans carrying the Municipal Party Committee secretary and the inspection team pulled up outside the hospital one after another. At the sight of the students crowding around, Liu Lan frowned, but after glancing at Yang Dingsheng, the leader of the Provincial Inspection Team beside him, he said nothing.
Before heading upstairs, he remembered to turn and glance at the camphor tree outside the hospital entrance. Last year, he had come to the First People's Hospital to visit a former Party secretary, who had recently died after a serious illness. He recalled the glory of being surrounded by a crowd back then, and the gratification in the eyes of the old secretary who had single-handedly brought him up through the ranks. Looking back on his iron-fisted style since taking office in Xiahai City and the road that had brought him this far, he felt that although his methods had sometimes been rather forceful, he had also produced some tangible achievements.
He knew he had always had enemies. Such a forceful, uncompromising approach often drew too much attention and led to setbacks, but anyone who had come this far could truly feel the pleasure that power brought. That pleasure did not necessarily have to be rooted in personal desires. Simply being able to put one's own principles and ideas into practice could give a person that same addictive feeling.
Unfortunately, the situation had now taken a sharp turn for the worse. He had always considered Hong Xiaotian a fierce tiger lying low at his side, but he had believed himself capable of subduing dragons and taming tigers. Whoever tried to stir up trouble, he would bring his hand down and pin them firmly beneath it. Yet now, this sense of powerlessness was seeping