122: Chapter 122 Punishing the Whistleblower

Liu Ruobing sat at the very end of the long conference table, her fingers unconsciously twisting the barrel of her signature pen.

In the vast conference room, only she and Zhu Wenhao remained.

Her heart was beating a bit fast.

Early this morning, her mother, He Mei, had sent her a text message saying that she would be sitting down for tea with Zhu Wenhao's mother in the afternoon.

Drinking tea was the excuse; the matchmaking was the real purpose.

Liu Ruobing had only replied with one sentence: "Mom, Zhu Wenhao and I are just ordinary classmates at the Party School. Besides, Zhu Wenhao has a girlfriend named Su Qinghan."

He Mei's reply: "Silly girl, do you really think a man's intentions are that hard to guess? Li Juan and I have already hinted at it; this marriage is set in stone. As for that Su Qinghan, a fallen family without any foundation, she can't stir up any trouble. In the future, we can just give her some money or arrange a dead-end job to send her away."

With her mother's words as a guarantee, when Liu Ruobing looked at Zhu Wenhao now, her eyes couldn't help but carry a hint of infatuation.

She even started to outline in her mind where they should settle their new home in Jingjiang after they got married, and how many children they should have.

Zhu Wenhao sat upright in the main seat, his peripheral vision having long since taken in Liu Ruobing's distracted posture.

He had sat in the Daming Palace for sixty years, with three thousand beauties in the harem; what kind of fawning beauties hadn't he seen?

This kind of superficiality, with all her thoughts written on her face, could not enter his eyes.

"Ahem."

A crisp sound pulled Liu Ruobing back from those unrealistic fantasies.

She hurriedly sat up straight, tidied the stray hairs at her temples, and tried to regain the poise of the "high-altitude flower" of the Provincial Party Committee organs.

"Zhu Wenhao, did you keep me here alone because there is some important work to assign?"

Zhu Wenhao did not beat around the bush.

"Student Liu Ruobing." He addressed her by her full name. "When you went out to call people, Study Committee Member Cao Rui chatted with me for a while. Guess what he said?"

Liu Ruobing replied casually: "Study Committee Member Cao Rui loves face the most; he must want to ask for your mercy. I guess he wants to downplay the usual disciplinary violations of Deputy Director Wang Qiang, Chen Fei, and the others?"

"You're thinking in the wrong direction."

"He wasn't asking for mercy; he was reporting you."

Liu Ruobing was stunned. "Reporting me?"

"Yes." Zhu Wenhao pressed his index finger on the tabletop. "He told me that you were privately spreading rumors in the class, saying that my leave wasn't because of family matters, but that I ran back to Linjiang to see my girlfriend. He also said that I fabricated reasons to deceive Minister Xiao and Principal Zhou, ignoring organizational discipline."

When these words were spoken, Liu Ruobing's mind went blank.

Spreading rumors at the Party School that the Party Branch Secretary was deceiving the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee—if this were verified, a serious warning would be considered a light punishment.

"Zhu Wenhao, I never said those things!" Liu Ruobing completely panicked. "How could I possibly badmouth you behind your back? You have to believe me!"

"I know!" She suddenly raised her voice. "Before the meeting, Class Monitor Liu Yu and Study Committee Member Cao Rui were whispering together; they were making a deal! Study Committee Member Cao Rui was afraid I would expose their private collusion, so he struck first!"

Zhu Wenhao leaned back in his chair, seemingly satisfied with this reaction.

"Not too stupid yet."

"Striking first. Study Committee Member Cao Rui's intention is very clear. He reported you to me to plant a thorn in my heart. When you come to expose his collusion with Class Monitor Liu Yu later, I will only think that you are all fighting like dogs."

"This person is quick-witted and knows how to use information asymmetry to set a trap. That's why I forcibly divided half of the homework collection work to Shen Zhe during the meeting just now. Decentralization is the best way to deal with him."

Liu Ruobing breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that you saw through it. Study Committee Member Cao Rui is truly too sinister."

"Leave his affairs aside for now." Zhu Wenhao didn't follow her train of thought, his gaze fixed directly on her face.

"Do you have no awareness of your own leaking of secrets?"

Liu Ruobing's heart, which had just settled, rose again.

"Leaking secrets? When did I leak secrets?"

"Why would Study Committee Member Cao Rui dare to use this matter to make a fuss?" Zhu Wenhao countered. "Because the core logic of this matter is true. I did return to Linjiang to visit Su Qinghan. If someone hadn't leaked this precise information, the rumors fabricated by Study Committee Member Cao Rui would have had no foundation."

"Think carefully about what you have done in the past few days, especially regarding matters related to my whereabouts."

Liu Ruobing remembered.

That night, because she couldn't contact Zhu Wenhao, she was so anxious that she called her father, Deputy Director Liu Qiang, in the dormitory. At the time, to look for a document on the table, she had put her phone on speaker.

"Zhu Wenhao... I remember now." Her voice trembled. "That day in the dormitory, I answered a call from my dad asking about your whereabouts. My dad told me on the phone not to spread it. At that time... my roommate Zhang Yan was right next to me."

The more she spoke, the more she felt afraid.

Zhang Yan was a section member sent from a city below. Ever since Liu Ruobing became the meeting recorder for the Spark Class, Zhang Yan had been incredibly attentive to her. Every morning she helped her get hot water, and every few days she would bring some cosmetics and small snacks, full of flattery. Liu Ruobing had always been surrounded by this fawning and thought she had made a close friend at the Party School.

"It was Zhang Yan... It must have been her who turned around and sold this to Study Committee Member Cao Rui and the others." Liu Ruobing gritted her teeth.

"If the ruler is not secret, they lose their ministers; if the minister is not secret, they lose their lives; if affairs are not secret, they lead to disaster."

"In the political arena, how can there be such deep sisterhood? Someone gives you a few nice words and a few boxes of cosmetics, and you treat them as a confidant?"

"What they wanted was just the information you leaked from your mouth. This isn't called being innocent; this is called being stupid."

Liu Ruobing was scolded thoroughly, tears welling up in her eyes.

"That's how it will be."

Zhu Wenhao didn't give her any room for defense and directly handed down the verdict.

"You don't need to do the work of meeting recording anymore."

Liu Ruobing raised her head abruptly: "Zhu Wenhao, you... you want to remove me from my position?"

Although the position of meeting recorder involved hard work, in the Spark Class, it was the only position that could fully participate in the core decisions of the class committee and access classified documents.

Many people were jealous of this position. Zhang Yan was only fawning over her because of this position.

Without this identity, she would become a marginalized person in the Spark Class.

"Organizational discipline cannot be treated like a child's play." Zhu Wenhao's tone was cold.

"You don't even have the most basic sense of confidentiality. Keeping you in the core circle will sooner or later lead to a major disaster. From now on, focus on completing your studies; do not interfere in the miscellaneous affairs of the class committee again."

"But..." Liu Ruobing wanted to save the situation urgently, "I can change! I promise I will never speak carelessly again."

"Go back and pack up the meeting materials." Zhu Wenhao didn't listen to her promises at all. "Once I have decided on a candidate, you will immediately complete the handover."

Liu Ruobing looked at that stern face and understood that there was no room for maneuver in this matter.

She bit her lip, and tears finally fell onto the conference table with a plop.

She wiped her face messily, eyes red, head bowed, pushed open the door of the conference room, and ran out quickly.

The wooden door closed again, isolating the faint sounds in the corridor.

Zhu Wenhao sat in his original seat, quietly watching the direction where Liu Ruobing disappeared.

He shook his head slightly.

However, Liu Ruobing's lack of observation and leaking the bottom line was just a minor detail.

Zhu Wenhao's fingers tapped slowly on the table.

The one who really committed a major taboo was Deputy Director Liu Qiang of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

Since Old Master Li had issued a gag order, strictly forbidding the disclosure of the real reason for his departure from the school, this was a red line.

As a deputy department-level cadre, how could Deputy Director Liu Qiang not understand the stakes involved? Yet, to appease his daughter's emotions, he revealed the information in a private phone call.

This was called having no restraint in speech and no rules.

There was a reason why Deputy Director Liu Qiang hadn't been able to advance after suffering in the position of deputy director for so many years. Old Master Li said he was "too steady," but in reality, his vision was too small, and he couldn't distinguish between priorities.

If this matter were allowed to develop, it would surely become a major problem in the future.

But after all, Deputy Director Liu Qiang was an elder and a core force of the Li Faction. If he, a younger generation, were to criticize him directly across ranks, or run to Old Master Li to report him personally, it would be called insubordination, which was against the rules and easy to provide gossip material.

Zhu Wenhao glanced at the wall clock.

It was almost time for the afternoon; he had to drive to the teahouse to pick up his mother, Li Juan, and take her home.

Then, on the car ride back, he would explain the whole thing to Li Juan.

On one hand, it would let Li Juan clearly see the true colors of Liu Ruobing.

On the other hand.

Although Li Juan was a woman, she had been struggling in the courtyard for so many years and was extremely sensitive to taboo matters. Once she learned that Deputy Director Liu Qiang was so loose-lipped and treated Old Master Li's prohibition as a deaf ear, with her temperament, she would surely find an excuse to add fuel to the fire and spread it into Old Master Li's ears.

Having Old Master Li personally come forward to discipline Deputy Director Liu Qiang was the most reasonable and effective way to establish authority.

Zhu Wenhao stood up, pulled open the door of the conference room, and walked out.