Reborn as a Noble's Son

A thrill of joy surged within Li Jianghe. The angrier the old master was, the more displeased he would be with his eldest son and eldest grandson, Li Guohua. Even his eldest brother, Li Jiangshan, might be implicated this time. Wouldn’t he then be given more important responsibilities?

“Dad, please calm down, I think you are right; Yang Guangrong from the Yang family is currently the Deputy Minister of the Central Propaganda Department. It’s very likely that he is behind this.” Li Jianghe lowered his head, joining in the conjecture.

At this moment, Elder Li’s rage had subsided. At this level, his mentality had already been honed to an unparalleled fortitude. If it were not for the severe blow to the entire Li family, Elder Li could even remain calm as a mountain, hiding his emotions well.

After pondering for a moment, Elder Li spoke in a deep voice: “Jianghe, call Vice Minister Xing of the Central Propaganda Department immediately, and ask him to suppress these negative news reports at all costs. Also, arrange for some media to disclose that the Mayor of Liangxi City, Nie Zhenbang, lives a corrupt, polygamous life. We don’t need to catch Nie Zhenbang doing anything, we just need to shift the focus. That’s enough.”

Saying this, Elder Li gestured for his second son to leave and then dialed Li Jiangshan’s number. At this moment, Li Jiangshan was also under intense scrutiny. The moment the newspapers and media came out that morning, Li Jiangshan had felt that the members of the Standing Committee of the Hucheng Municipal Committee looked at him differently.

Inside the office, the secretary had already sorted the newspapers and documents according to their importance and urgency.

At a glance, to his surprise, he found that the Huaxia Youth Daily was at the top of the pile. This annoyed Li Jiangshan. What was going on? Even his usually reliable secretary had made a mistake today.

Just as he was about to call him in for a reprimand, the headline on the front page caught his eye: Li Guohua, Deputy Mayor of Liangxi City, apprehended for organizing an orgy! Is this a case of corruption among party members, or an isolated incident?

After reading the entire report, Li Jiangshan finally understood why everyone was looking at him strangely today. Li Guohua was his son, and this major scandal would undoubtedly impact him as well. This was a political stain on his reputation – if he couldn’t even manage his own son, then how would he manage the people? Don’t underestimate this stain; at a critical moment, it could cause his downfall.

At that moment, the telephone on his desk rang. As soon as Li Jiangshan answered it, Elder Li’s voice came through: “Jiangshan, concerning Comrade Huang Bingchun’s case from a while back, you need to intensify your efforts. Don’t worry, getting on someone’s bad side is inevitable in certain works. Whether they should be investigated or not, we must investigate.”

Li Jiangshan nodded and said in a deep voice: “Dad, I understand.”

Given that the Nie family dared to act this way, it meant that the Li family shouldn’t feel guilty for their actions either. It doesn’t matter whether this was an ordinary investigation by the police that happened to reveal something, or who Chen Le was subordinate to, everyone knew exactly what’s happening. At a time like this, if it’s you, it is you; if it’s not you, it’s still you; Nie Zhenbang and even the entire Nie family can’t escape responsibility.

After hanging up the phone, Elder Li immediately dialed the number of Shen Yanshuo, the Secretary of the Jiangbei Provincial Committee. By now, the Jiangbei Provincial Committee was also in chaos. When such a major incident occurred in his jurisdiction, Shen Yanshuo was extremely annoyed.

Meanwhile, at the same time the Li family was taking action, Nie Zhenbang also received a call from his uncle: “Zhenbang, what’s going on? How could you suddenly go after Li Guohua? Now the Li family has started to take action, and our cadres in the government system have all been somewhat affected.”

Uncle’s tone was somewhat accusatory. The Nie family’s roots within the government system were too shallow compared to the government monster that was the Li family. The moment the Li family fought back, the Nie family might even be in danger of collapsing.

Nie Zhenbang, however, was laughing at this moment, saying: “Uncle, don’t worry, there are risks for wealth, and the Nie family is now in a difficult situation. But, this is only temporary. In Jingcheng, there will be leaders who don’t want to see our Nie family fall. Rest assured. I know how to handle it.”

The next day, the front page headlines of many national media newspapers once again reported a bombshell news: Nie Zhenbang, the Mayor of Liangxi City was involved in polygamy, leading a corrupt and decadent life, filled with extravagance and debauchery. The article was extremely detailed, even reporting the name of Li Lixue. As for Dong Wan’s name, the Li family dared not reveal it at this time. If they provoked the anger of Elder Dong now, the Li family would have no way to deal with it if the Dong and Yang families joined hands.

The third day, the Jiangbei Provincial Committee held a press conference in Jiangzhou City, announcing the decision of the Provincial Committee to relieve Comrade Li Guohua from his duties as a member and standing member of the Liangxi City Committee. They requested the Jiangbei Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee to strip Li Guohua of his qualifications as a representative of the Provincial People’s Congress. They also requested the Liangxi City People’s Congress Standing Committee to remove Li Guohua from the standing deputy mayor of the Liangxi Municipal People’s Government. He received a serious disciplinary action within the party and was dismissed from his public position.

Given the concrete evidence in hand, the Li faction dared not make any covert moves. At this time, it was clear that Li Guohua had been abandoned. Only in this way could Li Jiangshan’s reputation be preserved, his position secured, and his association with the matter cleared.

Meanwhile, Qin Shifeng, the Minister of the Central Propaganda Department, also made a stern criticism at the Central Propaganda Work Conference, targeting some newspaper media that were irresponsible, disregarding the facts, and reporting recklessly. He aggressively criticized their damaging reputation of the party and government leaders. He requested that all national news propaganda media should maintain a high degree of consistency with the central government, and should follow the party’s lead.

Qin Shifeng’s stance could be seen as President Yuan’s stance. As for Li Lixue, they could not find any information about her. Naturally, the media offensive against Nie Zhenbang had disintegrated.

This moment in the small meeting room of the Jiangbei Provincial Committee was extremely tense. The members of the Standing Committee were all sitting solemnly. The incident in Liangxi City had caused the Jiangbei Provincial Committee to bear the responsibility of misjudging characters. Although it was a collective resolution by the Provincial Committee, being ridiculed by the leaders of brother provinces and cities naturally left no one in a good mood.

Shen Yanshuo’s expression was very serious. He glanced around at everyone and said solemnly: “This is the second time we have held a standing committee meeting in the past three days. The incident in Liangxi city is a profound lesson for all of our provincial leaders. Now, with the continuous development of reform and opening up, the rise in wealth and the improvement of people’s living standards, some capitalist ideas are also emerging. Extravagance and decadence, corruption. Li Guohua’s case gave us a big lesson. I suggest that ideological education of party members and cadres should be carried out in the province, the cultivation of hardworking and simple work style should be strengthened, and justice should be promoted. The Provincial Party School is recommended to initiate thought education training classes for county and bureau-level cadre leaders, strengthen the ideological work of party and government leaders in the province, and firmly prevent similar incidents from happening.”

As for Shen Yanshuo’s words, all the standing committee members nodded slightly. Regarding such issues that involve serious matters, there would be no one who would dare to oppose them.

After the proposal was approved, Shen Yanshuo changed his tune and continued: “In the incident in Liangxi City this time, Comrade Nie Zhenbang performed very well. After the city government’s executive deputy mayor got into trouble, he quickly adjusted his work scope. He ensured the smooth progress of the old city renovation project in Liangxi City and signed a civil-military co-operation agreement with the Liangxi Airport and Jiangzhou Military District at the same time, which is a great thing for Liangxi City. Comrade Nie Zhenbang’s work ability and outstanding planning and guidance given to Liangxi City’s economic development process were excellent…”

As these flattering words were spoken, the expressions of the standing committee members varied. Wang Daan, the full-time deputy secretary of the Provincial Committee, seemed unperturbed, Nie Zhenbang had launched an attack against Li Guohua, completely offending the Li faction. Shen Yanshuo, as the leader of the Li faction in Jiangbei Province, had to step forward. He had seen such praise and criticism many times, and although he could not deny it, it was the most effective.

Wang Daan did not disclose this, if Nie Zhenbang were to leave, Zhu Zhuozhen, had the best chance to succeed in Liangxi City. Wang Daan would naturally not refuse such a good thing for himself.

Ning Shouchang’s brows also furrowed at the side. Everyone was well-aware of the true intention behind Shen Yanshuo’s words. However, at this moment, it was also not appropriate to say anything. Negating this achievement? Shen Yanshuo probably couldn’t wait for that. Moreover, even if this trick doesn’t work, there will certainly be other tricks.

Sure enough, Shen Yanshuo turned his words and continued: “Comrade Nie Zhenbang’s abilities are strong. The Central Committee has repeatedly advocated and reiterated that party officials should be younger and more educated. Comrade Nie Zhenbang is not yet thirty, making him one of the youngest provincial cadre officials in the country. In terms of educational attainment, he is a graduate student from Jingcheng University. His practical work ability is strong and such employees should be placed in more important positions. As superiors, we should give such employees more room to play. I suggest that this time, Nie Zhenbang is nominated by our Jiangbei Province to participate in the fall class of the Central Party School for provincial-level cadre officials.”

This is the revenge of the Li faction. Since the evil path doesn’t work, then you’ll have to walk the upright and open path. You have outstanding work achievements, right? In light of this, we fully affirm you, and then take this opportunity to send you to the Party School. When the study is over and you are transferred back to the province, they will arrange you a department at the provincial level, whether they freeze you or do something else, they will definitely not let you continue like this.

As his words fell, Ning Shouchang stood up at the side, hesitated for a moment and said, “Secretary Shen, let me say a few words.” (