Song Guanchao had just arrived home and hadn’t even managed to take off his coat when he received the call.
Earning a reprieve by admitting guilt?
What’s that all about?
"Tell him to stay put."
Song Guanchao was ready to hang up the phone, plainly uninterested in what was called earning a reprieve by admitting guilt.
His finger touched the end call button, but then he halted, bringing the phone back to his ear and asked, "Did Yao Jinsheng come by tonight?"
"He left half an hour ago."
"Good, I’ll be right there."
The fact that Yao Jinsheng had just left and now this person wanted to earn a reprieve by admitting guilt suggested that he was probably planning to accuse Yao Jinsheng.
Song Guanchao didn’t ponder further; he would know once they met.
When he arrived at the detention center and saw Hou Wen, the wizened old man was smoking.
"Heh, County Magistrate Hou, living the good life, smoking Da Zhonghua now," Song Guanchao said with sarcasm.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Hou Wen flicked off some ash and said, "You know whom I want to report."
"Can it change my sentence to life imprisonment?" ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥
"Hard to say, I’m not the judge, but I’ll submit your report. It should certainly count as merit."
Hou Wen nodded. If Song Guanchao said he could guarantee a commutation, he would be less inclined to believe it.
"Yao Jinsheng guessed you were going to arrest him and came to me for help."
"Came to you for help?"
That sounded quite odd.
Hou Wen roughly explained the situation, and after hearing it, Song Guanchao came to an understanding.
He found it rather odd that Yao Jinsheng, of all people, was so clever—a fact he hadn’t anticipated.
"I told him to transfer the money into an account of a company I used to own—thirty million in illicit funds that you can seize at any time."
"Thirty million..." Song Guanchao said, "You’re ruthless enough, giving up millions just to reduce your sentence. The man sought your help, and you turn around and report him."
"The wealth is like passing clouds to me," Hou Wen said. "As for reporting, Secretary Song shouldn’t mock me. I’m hardly able to save myself, sinking like a clay Bodhisattva across the river. Since I’m in here, I’ve accepted my fate. But I’m still human, and if there’s a chance to get out, I naturally won’t give up."
"Every man for himself, or heaven and earth will condemn him! I’m just trying to survive."
"Who’s any better than anyone else?"
Song Guanchao nodded, then asked, "Tell me, what’s your plan to save him tomorrow?"
"The day you move to arrest Lu Xiaotian is the perfect opportunity to escape."
"County Magistrate Hou, impressive," Song Guanchao admired. The man had a precise grasp of timing, just as he did when he fled earlier, arranging a return ticket in advance. No one expected him to choose that moment to escape.
And it’s the same this time.
He would suggest to Yao Jinsheng to escape on the day of Lu Xiaotian’s arrest operation.
On that day, the department would be pulling a lot of policemen, creating a noticeable gap in the police force, making it indeed the ideal time to flee.
"I’ll inform the police about your report..."
"Tell Director Liang," Hou Wen said. "I only trust Liang Jianfeng."
Song Guanchao’s expression turned peculiar, and he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Indeed, the one who understood Director Qin best was always one of his own.
It was precisely because he knew Director Qin too well that he dared not entrust his own case to him.
Song Guanchao got up and said, "Tomorrow, I’ll arrange for someone to come here with a recording pen, is that okay?"
"Got any cigarettes?"
"Don’t you have some already?"
"Half a pack won’t last long."
Song Guanchao handed him a cigarette: "It’s not a good brand, don’t be too picky, County Magistrate Hou."
"Having something to smoke is good enough."
Leaving the detention center, Song Guanchao sat in his car and carefully replayed the meeting they had that afternoon.
He had originally thought that Yao Jinsheng wanted to salvage Dujiang City’s face and that it was Chen Guanyun who had arranged for him to come.
Now it seemed that it was Yao Jinsheng’s own idea.
The guy is suggesting they investigate Lu Xiaotian’s crimes now, and he’s suggesting they question Hou Wen.
His real purpose was to meet with Hou Wen and seek a way out for himself.
Song Guanchao truly hadn’t expected that this man with bushy eyebrows and large eyes would have such a sharp mind.
It’s just a pity that he wasn’t sharp enough.
The man would probably never guess that his trusted former leader sold him out in an instant.
After departing, Song Guanchao immediately found Liang Jianfeng, told him about the situation, and reminded him to plant a recording pen the next day.
Liang Jianfeng asked, "So we’ll arrest him directly at that time?"
"Yes," Song Guanchao said, "leave it to Captain Hu."
"He’ll be nominated to take over as the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee in Dujiang City soon, let this merit be his. With Yao Jinsheng’s downfall, the Public Security Bureau Chief position will be vacant, and it’ll be perfect for him to take on both roles."
"He’s going to Dujiang City?"
Liang Jianfeng was surprised; he knew nothing about this.
"Yeah, he’ll move there soon. Don’t tell him just yet."
Yao Jinsheng returned home that night and immediately began contacting his contacts.
Thirty million wasn’t a small sum for him, and it took him until late at night to gather it and transfer it to the company Hou Wen had designated.
He couldn’t freeze it just yet, to prevent anyone from catching on.
But since Hou Wen brought it up proactively, it’s unlikely he’d deceive him.
If he really swindled him, Hou Wen would have to worry whether Yao would go to the USA to retaliate against his wife and son.
The next morning, Yao Jinsheng was awakened by the phone ringing.
He glanced at the time—it was only eight-thirty.
When he saw the caller ID, he became apprehensive; it was a call from the provincial department!
Immediately, he was wide awake and thought of many possibilities.
Was it the transaction from last night that had been discovered?
He quickly dismissed the idea.
If they had discovered it, they wouldn’t call but rather come straight to arrest him.
"Director Yao, some comrades from the provincial department are heading to Dujiang City this morning, they need your cooperation to authenticate some evidence."
"Evidence? What evidence?"
"The gun of the drug dealer who kidnapped you last time, we are tracking down the source of that gun."
"Oh, okay, I’ll head to the office right away."
"Don’t hurry, the provincial comrades won’t arrive for a while."
At nine-ten in the morning, the police from the provincial department arrived.
It was a forensic police officer. They handed over a gun wrapped in a plastic bag.
Such a matter normally only required a phone call from Yao Jinsheng for notification.
But as Yao Jinsheng was personally involved in this case, that’s why they sought him out.
Yao Jinsheng took them to the forensics department.
Each service weapon has a unique serial number that is stored in local records.
The provincial department noticed a serial number while inspecting the gun and suspected that it was a police firearm.
However, such records are usually stored locally, which they could not access from the provincial department, so they had to come in person.
Seeing the gun’s serial number, a colleague from forensics immediately said, "This is a gun from the Dujiang City Police Department."
The serial number indicated it was local.
Yao Jinsheng felt puzzled.
As the Chief, he strictly managed gun issues; there had never been a missing police handgun from the department.
This gun was indeed rather strange.
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