In the Name of the People: Inviting Dakang for Tea from the Start

Everyone knows Han Dong's political landscape is about to change. Sha Ruijin arrives from above with a powerful mandate, and Gao Yuliang knows that as the core of the "Han University clique," he'll be the first target of the purge. Sit back and wait to die? That's not his style. This old fox of a law-and-politics veteran, who has reached the ceiling of deputy-ministerial rank, decides to make a desperate move to survive before the storm hits.

His first step is to invite his old rival Li Dakang for tea. One needs political achievements to rise, the other needs time to maneuver. After a lifetime of fighting, the two adversaries strike a fragile deal over fragrant tea. Gao Yuliang offers a key position as bait, all to buy himself a few months of breathing room. He knows Li Dakang too well: beneath his political ambition, there are no eternal allies, only absolute self-interest.

But the game is far more dangerous than he imagined. His prized student Qi Tongwei has become a rabid dog. The Zhao family, once his allies, bares its fangs. A string of deaths follows close behind, and crucial evidence keeps "disappearing." More deadly still, the sword from the capital, Hou Liangping, has already been drawn and is aimed straight at his weakest point.

Retreat, and he'll be doomed. Press on, and he might have a chance. Gao Yuliang has no choice but to become a shackled dancer, making his moves in the power vacuum before Sha Ruijin returns, acting as the player even as a condemned official. He recruits loose cannons, uses others to kill, and balances every side, with each step taken on the edge of a cliff. He'll show everyone that without Gao Yuliang, no one can bring the storm in Han Dong to an easy end!

This is the old fox's ultimate bid for survival, a game that begins over a teacup and ends with life and death. Watch Gao Yuliang put himself on the board and stir up the political currents of Han Dong from the depths of despair, in a power struggle for survival more suspenseful and full of twists than the original!