Chapter 4

Ye Ming reacted extremely quickly. The moment Chen Yi burst in, he immediately closed the QQ space page and looked up, surprised, at Chen Yi, who was sobbing on the desk. Seeing her hair a bit disheveled and the shoulder badges on her uniform twisted, as if she had just been in a fight, he immediately guessed what had happened. It must have been that bastard Li Li, taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to her, and making inappropriate advances. She must have struggled hard to end up in this state...

Thinking of this, Ye Ming felt a surge of righteous anger rise in his heart. He stood up with a "whoosh," eyes wide, and asked Chen Yi, "Sister Chen, did Li Li bully you?"

Chen Yi lifted her head, sobbing, and said, "He's not even human! He's a beast..."

Ye Ming's eyes blazed with fury, his fists clenched so tightly that they made a "cracking" sound. Suddenly, he turned around the table, opened the door, and was about to rush out.

Seeing his grim expression, Chen Yi hurriedly grabbed his waist and asked, "Yezi, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to beat that bastard up! If I don't beat him until he's crawling on the ground, I won't be able to quench my anger!"

Seeing Ye Ming's eyes blazing with fury and his veins bulging, and hearing him say he was going to beat up Li Li, Chen Yi's face turned deathly pale. She knew Ye Ming's martial arts skills. If he went to beat up Li Li in a fit of rage, it wouldn't take more than a few punches to cripple him.

She remembered when Ye Ming first started working in the office. One time, Chen Yi and he were working overtime, and later, they went out to have some night snacks. At a barbecue stand, a few drunk hooligans saw Chen Yi's beauty and Ye Ming's gentle appearance, thinking they would be easy to bully. The hooligans surrounded Chen Yi, making lewd remarks and trying to molest her. Two of them even reached out their greasy hands, which had just touched fried chicken legs, and touched her chest and face without any restraint.

At that moment, Ye Ming, who had been standing silently on the side, suddenly moved. He spun his body, like a ghost, and inserted himself between the two hooligans and Chen Yi. He then threw both fists, hitting the two hooligans in the face.

With two muffled "thuds," the two hooligans were hit as if by a thousand-pound hammer. Their faces were a mess of blood, saliva, snot, and tears, and they let out painful cries, falling backward to the ground...

After knocking down the two hooligans, Ye Ming spun around and charged into the circle of hooligans who were preparing to attack him with knives. With a few punches and kicks, he quickly knocked them to the ground. However, during the fight, he didn't use excessive force. Instead, he used incredibly fast movements, striking left and right, or grabbing their knives and beer bottles to hit their heads.

Even though he didn't use lethal moves, the hooligans still couldn't withstand his attacks. Each time he hit or kicked them, it felt like being hit by a thousand-pound hammer. They either fell backward or forward, and almost no one could stand up to him for more than two moves.

In just a moment, all the hooligans were lying on the ground, some with bruised noses and faces, others with injured hands and feet, all rolling on the ground in pain...

Because she knew Ye Ming's skills, when Chen Yi heard him say he was going to beat up Li Li, she was both shocked and afraid. She buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed, "Yezi, you mustn't act rashly! Li Li is the head of the county bureau and a close confidant of the city bureau chief, Mr. Qiu. He also has good relations with the leaders of the public security, procuratorate, and other legal departments. I've accompanied him to dinners with the police chief and the anti-corruption chief several times. They all call each other brothers at the dinner table. If you beat him up and seriously injure him, not only will your career be ruined, but you might even end up in jail... Yezi, listen to your sister, don't do anything foolish!"

Ye Ming was breathing heavily, his chest heaving. He pried her hands off his waist and was about to rush out to find Li Li when he saw the office director, Chen Weiping, standing at the door with a grim face, blocking his way.

"Ye Ming, what's the matter with you, looking so agitated? Come in, I have a task for you!"

Ye Ming suppressed his anger and retreated to his desk.

Chen Weiping glanced at Chen Yi, who was still tear-streaked, and then looked at Ye Ming, saying, "Ye Ming, the bureau's party group has decided to hold the annual meeting on party conduct and anti-corruption today. The report by Group Leader Zou has already been written by the Supervision and Audit Office, but Director Li also wants to give a summary speech on our bureau's anti-corruption efforts. I'm assigning you to write this speech. I want to see the first draft by 5 PM."

Ye Ming looked coldly at the short, fat man who had secured his position through flattery and said with a sneer, "Director Chen, I'm sorry. According to the provincial bureau's training schedule, I don't need to report for work today. For Director Li's speech, please find someone else."

With that, he turned and walked out of the office without looking back.

The next morning at 8:30, the annual meeting on party conduct and anti-corruption of the Xinleng County Local Tax Bureau was held as scheduled.

According to the agenda, the first speaker was the bureau's party group member and discipline inspection commissioner, Zou Wenming, who gave a report on party conduct. Then, the bureau's party group secretary and director, Li Li, gave an important speech.

Li Li's speech, written by someone from the Supervision and Audit Office, was full of grandiose, hollow, and cliché statements, with no substantial content. It seemed to be copied and pasted from some website.

Li Li, perhaps feeling the speech was boring, suddenly dropped the script when he reached the part about work style and began to improvise: "Comrades, when it comes to work style, I have something important to say. Now, we have a few young cadres who are overly proud and unrealistic. They can't handle big tasks and refuse to do small ones, and their work style is not solid. Their lack of dedication and commitment has already caused a very bad influence in the bureau."

As he spoke, he cast a sharp glance at Ye Ming, who was sitting in the middle, and emphasized, "Comrades, I'm not making this up or fabricating it. There is a factual basis for what I'm saying. Just yesterday, a young cadre who attended the provincial bureau's training returned to work. Our office director Chen assigned him to write a speech for today's meeting. Not only did this comrade refuse to accept the task, but he also acted arrogantly and rudely, telling Director Chen to find someone else. From his words, it seemed as if he was the only one in the entire Xinleng County Local Tax Bureau who could write, as if the bureau would collapse without him."

Hearing this, Ye Ming's face turned red with anger. He stared at Li Li, his eyes already showing a fierce and murderous look...

Li Li continued, undeterred, "I've heard from some cadres that this young comrade often boasts about being the top talent in the Xinleng County Local Tax Bureau and even the K City Local Tax System. He frequently complains that we, the leaders, don't appreciate talent and haven't promoted him in time, as if all five members of our bureau's party group are blind to talent. However, in my view, we don't have any great talents in our bureau, just a few misfits. If a young cadre doesn't work hard and act honestly, he will eventually hit a wall and may end up with a bloody nose and a broken head..."

Ye Ming couldn't bear it any longer. He suddenly stood up from his seat, eyes wide, and shouted, "Li Li, you beast with a human face, what right do you have to talk about work style from up there? You're sitting on a pile of shit and don't even know it, yet you have the nerve to talk about anti-corruption and integrity. Don't you think your face is thicker than leather? Tell me, who is the young cadre you're talking about?"

Li Li didn't expect Ye Ming to dare to name and shame him in front of over a hundred cadres. He turned pale with anger, slammed his hand on the table, and stood up, his face red and neck swollen, shouting, "I'm talking about you today! What? Do you think you can get away with it?"

"I'll show you what it means to get away with it!"

With that, Ye Ming rushed to the stage, grabbed Li Li by the neck, and dragged him off the stage like an eagle catching a chick. He slapped him several times, then threw him to the ground, stepped on his chest, and growled through gritted teeth, "Today, I will act on behalf of heaven and teach you a lesson, you beast in human clothing, for all the people you have bullied and humiliated."