Since becoming the station chief and growing older, Ding Yishan hadn’t fought in years. Even though he occasionally exercised and never worried about food or drink, his physical condition was just slightly better than the average person.
Standing there for only a dozen seconds, Ding Yishan’s brows knitted tightly, clearly unable to withstand the cold air.
Half a minute, a minute passed. Raindrops hit their exposed upper bodies, turning their skin gradually red.
Yet Cheng Ye didn’t speak, just faced the window, his back straight like a statue unmoved by anything.
Achoo!
Another gust of even colder wind swept in with the rain, making Ding Yishan sneeze, his nose instantly turning bright red.
"This..."
Jiang Chuan, watching from the side, was dumbfounded, as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, wanting to urge the two to put their clothes on quickly to avoid catching a cold.
But just as the words were about to leave his mouth, he saw Ding Yishan’s tightly knitted brows slowly relax, the confusion in his eyes gradually dissipating, replaced by a thoughtful expression.
"Station Chief Ding, what do you think of this weather?"
Cheng Ye finally spoke, his voice carrying a clear, cold edge.
Ding Yishan shrugged his shoulders slightly and admitted, "It’s indeed quite cold, especially standing by the window, the cold wind is bone-piercing."
"If you were to set the rules, what would you do for the migrants in this weather?"
"Take shelter from the rain, keep warm, and wait for the weather to clear." Ding Yishan replied almost without thinking, the words slipping smoothly from his mouth.
"All the hundreds of thousands of people are to take shelter?" Cheng Ye pursed his lips, "It’s the rainy season, if it stays like this for half a month and people keep coming, should they all be cooped up?"
Ding Yishan fell silent, his brows furrowed again: "Then let the elderly, won, and children take shelter, and have the others take shifts to work on construction. If we wait until they’re all crowded in, it’ll be too late."
"Is that part of the rules?"
"Yes."
"What if so of the others are sick?"
"Let them rest."
"And if soone pretends to be sick to shirk work?"
"Test them." Ding Yishan answered more decisively, "If they’re truly sick, treat them. If nothing’s wrong, they continue to work."
"And if they’re tested and still refuse to work?"
"Everyone else is bearing the rain, and they want to hide?" Ding Yishan’s voice grew deeper, "Set punishnt asures, or cancel their priority settling eligibility."
"So you’re saying that even if these migrants traveled miles to Happiness City, even in this terrible weather, they’re not allowed to pretend to be sick to rest for a day, but must be forced by rules to work on Outer City construction as if they were slaves?"
Boom!
Cheng Ye’s voice, though not loud, struck like a thunderclap.
Ding Yishan’s heart skipped a beat, his throat felt as if sothing were lodged there, unable to utter a word for so ti.
He was stunned, his gaze unintentionally drifting towards the window, looking at the distant patrolling guards, at the scavengers in raincoats heading into the wilderness, those ideas blocked by power surged like a flood from opened gates.
Yes, how could he have forgotten?
These migrants were influenced by the Wanderer, hauling themselves to Happiness City for a chance to live, not to be laborers adding bricks to the Outer City.
The original intention of building the Outer City was to ensure their safety, for the long-term developnt of Happiness City.
Yet in practice, how had it turned into a matter of forcibly sending these people out into the rain to work?
How did it co to binding them with strict rules, punishing them for even wishing to rest in the cold rain for a day?
But...why did he forget?
Instinctively believing that setting enough rules would have everyone obediently follow his plans, achieving the goals he wanted?
"Making rules is to protect everyone’s interests, this is why they will acknowledge and follow them."
"If everyone acknowledges them, they will trust you, and be willing to work hard for you, even braving the cold rain in construction."
"But if there isn’t everyone, holding onto the construction of the Outer City is for your good, it’s for a beautiful tomorrow for everyone."
"Station Chief Ding..."
Cheng Ye smiled, raising his hand to shut the window, the glass instantly cutting off the wind and rain, "I can follow your orders to build, but so people might not be willing."
Man.
After struggling for so long in the mire of power, he’d forgotten who had bestowed this power.
And forgot who to use this power to shield from the wind and rain.
Only standing in this wind and rain to freeze, to wake up, will he know what he is truly doing.
"Station Chief Ding, look, the line in Zone B for quarantine is long."
Cheng Ye walked over to the cabinet, picking up the towel from earlier, wiping the water off himself, "I must hurry over to be on duty, or they’ll have to wait in the rain for this inspector."
"Well said."
Ding Yishan sighed deeply and reached his hand towards the side.
Jiang Chuan hurriedly handed him a dry towel.
"Inspector Cheng is only in the intern phase, yet he keeps his responsibilities well in mind, whereas I, as the station chief, feel sowhat ashad." He laughed self-deprecatingly, "I even forgot it’s ti for duty."
"The chief handles so many tasks every day, if you had to consider everything thoroughly, how tired you’d be."
Cheng Ye put on his sweatshirt, grinning, revealing a sharp and youthful vigor, "It’s a bit cold outside, we young ones can endure it, you’d better put on clothes, don’t catch a cold."
Saying this, under Jiang Chuan’s amazed gaze, Cheng Ye pushed open the door, bringing in a gust of wind, his figure quickly vanishing at the end of the corridor.
Wait.
How did it end just like that?
The plan, the process, how did I not understand a single thing?
Jiang Chuan’s mind was a tangled ss, he even forgot he still held the pen he used to take notes.
"Chuan."
"Hey!" Jiang Chuan shivered, quickly responding.
"Aren’t you going to close the window?"
Ding Yishan’s voice carried a bit of a shake, yet it was much clearer than before.
"Oh, oh." Jiang Chuan jolted to action, quickly closing the remaining windows in a hurry.
When he turned around, he saw Ding Yishan had already dried himself and sat back on the sofa.
He didn’t put on his clothes imdiately, just stared intently at the proposal on the table.
After a pause, he picked up the proposal, folded it, folded it again, then tore it decisively.
Rustle.
The sound of tearing paper was exceptionally clear in the quiet office.
The shredded pieces were crumpled into a ball and accurately thrown into the garbage bin in the corner.
"Sir, this..." Jiang Chuan watched with shock, this was the docunt Ding Yishan had stayed up all night to write.
And just, tore it apart like that?
"Sigh..."
Ding Yishan let out a long sigh, his voice carrying a sense of heaviness, a mix of relief and inexplicable feelings, "All these years, who would’ve thought I too would be assimilated by those twists and turns."
He picked up the shirt from the sofa and slowly put it on.
In the end, he sluggishly put on his sweater, sinking into the sofa, his gaze sowhat unfocused as it rested on the rain outside the window.
"Chuan, do you think the inspectors’ struggles for power over the years have sothing to do with as the station chief?"
His sudden question was like a stone thrown into the water.
"Uh..." Jiang Chuan was taken aback, instinctively stamring, "How could it be related to you, it’s all them for the sake of power..."
Halfway through the sentence, he stopped, unable to continue.
As the station chief, Ding Yishan had turned a blind eye to the inspectors forming factions over the years, even deliberately ignoring the chaos at its peak, how could he not be culpable?
"You didn’t have a choice..." Jiang Chuan tried to smooth things over, but his voice grew increasingly faint.
"Wrong!"
Ding Yishan took a deep breath, his chest heaving, "I always had choices, I could set rules, dismantle small groups, reclaim power and redistribute it, but I was afraid, afraid of causing a ss at the slightest move, afraid the higher-ups would sense instability at the checkpoint and seize the opportunity to reclaim this power, so I let it drag, waiting for the next opportunity to appear!"
"But when such an opportunity finally appeared before , I realized, so power is not even given by the higher-ups, they... can’t give it!"
"We need to fight for it, ourselves!"
He spoke, standing up.
Looking towards the queue for inspection outside, looking at the few Big Golden Cups waiting at the door.
Seemingly still a convoy, maybe from surrounding strongholds.
And the figure already wearing a raincoat, walking in the rain.
"Let’s go, it’s ti for the 9 o’clock eting."
"But you said before that without Director Liu, this eting..."
"He has his matters, and I have mine..."
Ding Yishan took the coat hanging on the rack, skillfully putting it on, "Wrong again, this ti it’s not just my issue, it’s a matter for all inspectors!"
...
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