Deputy Director Li didn’t seem to expect that Han Qingsong would openly refute him, so he looked at him as if he didn’t know why he was doing so, “Y-you, what are you saying?”
Han Qingsong said calmly, “I arrested the convict and I collected the evidence— I support the death penalty.”
“Ridiculous!” Deputy Director Li slammed the table, “Director Qin, Senior Director, you see, those who swapped into their current positions from a life of bloodshed are indeed different from us. They will not relent unless someone is killed as the death penalty is all but a trifle matter to them! If we were to kill the Brigade Leader, who else is going to have the guts to take the position? There was a lot of chaos in the past few years and it took so long for things to finally stabilise, so are we going to plunge into chaos once more?”
He seemed a little unscrupulous due to his enthusiasm on the matter, but he actually took the opportunity to say what he wanted to say.
His goal was to avoid and put down the death penalty as much as he could— at least for his own country, he wanted to do so.
He was undoubtedly showing favour to many people. At the very least, the cadres that work under him would like him more if he were to take a stand for them.
After all, no one wanted to be a cadre only to be held at gunpoint. It didn’t matter if the cadre wanted to serve the people, realise his own ideals and ambitions or make some dirty money to gain power— no one gave their lives up to achieve those goals.
Director Qin and the Senior Director hadn’t spoken, whereas Deputy Director Gao, who was sitting next to Deputy Director Li, was too tired from his previous arguments. Now, it seemed like the man was too exhausted to speak.
He was looking at Han Qingsong.
Luo Haicheng was sitting beside Han Qingsong and was terribly annoyed by Deputy Director Li’s words. What was wrong with those who changed their careers? Did they think that we killed others for sport? In the end, who are we to disobey military laws?
Besides, the people they killed were enemies that endangered the interests of the country and the people— not their own people!
This Brigade Leader that they were speaking of was the one that had seriously harmed the interests of the country and the people; he was the enemy of mankind!
He stood up, “As an evidence collector, I would like to remind Deputy Director Li that in five years, there were 32 women who fell prey to his attacks, including two girls aged 12 and three who were 13 years old.”
The air seemed to stagnate and for a while, no one spoke.
Suddenly, someone laughed.
Everyone immediately followed the sound and it turned out to be the voice of Han Qingsong.
Deputy Director Li sneered and stared at him sharply, “Deputy Director Han, what are you laughing at?”
Han Qingsong said, “We are all peasant soldiers who have never been educated, so we aren’t that ‘cultured’. In the army, we only heard from the officers that both rewards and punishments are clearly defined. One of the things we learnt was that killing one criminal would set an example for a hundred!”
Before he finished speaking, he looked directly into Deputy Director Li’s dissatisfied eyes.
Han Qingsong’s already stern expression became more serious and his dark eyes were as cold as a sharp sword, which actually made Deputy Director Li’s heart tremble to the point where he was unable to stop shivering.
It was no secret that Brigade cadres take advantage of their power to bully the youth and women.
This was the case with many other Brigades.
Not just the Brigade; even the sent-down youths of the city flaunted their ranks often.
Nonetheless, no one had ever been sentenced to the firing squad for it.