The Rise and Fall of a Political Career

A political earthquake rocked Binyang. The county Party secretary and magistrate were both brought down in quick succession. Zheng Yi, who had spent six years on the bench at the Development and Reform Commission, was thrust into the line of fire. As clean as a blank sheet of paper, he was the perfect candidate.

On his first night in office, a kraft-paper envelope was slipped under his door. Inside were photographs of his wife and daughter. On the back, a line was written: “Your sister-in-law and little niece are both beautiful. Be careful on the road.”

Someone in the shadows had set their sights on him. All he could rely on was a cleaner who had swept the streets for twenty-three years, the scraps of evidence she had salvaged from a shredder, and a notebook a young man had left behind with his life.

The road had been broken for eighteen years. The dead had been gone for eighteen years. What needed rebuilding was not just the road, but the conscience too.