Chapter 223: The Note Incident (Part 4)

Chapter 223 The Note Incident (Part 4)

At 2:20 AM, the shrill ring of the telephone tore Hou Weidong directly from his dreams.

“What? The evidence stored at the Procuratorate was burned?” Hou Weidong sprang from his bed as if his seat were on fire. He didn’t care that Ren Lindu was still sleeping soundly in the adjacent room. He scrambled down the nine steps of the staircase, two at a time.

Once the car engine roared to life, the vibration and noise helped snap him into full alertness.

When he arrived at the main gate of Shazhou College, the security guard was dozing in his chair. Startled by the car horn, the guard emerged with visible irritation. Seeing it was the familiar pickup truck that often came and went, he grumbled, “Going out this late? What are you up to? Do you want to let people rest or not?”

Hou Weidong tossed a cigarette out of the window. “I have an emergency. Sorry to trouble you.”

The guard caught the cigarette by the streetlight. Seeing it was a pack of Jiaozi cigarettes, his anger cooled by three degrees. He lit up, raised the barrier arm, and asked, “I see you coming and going here often. Where do you work?”

“I work at the County Party Committee.”

The guard looked at the pickup truck skeptically. “I used to work security at the County Party Committee. They don’t have pickup trucks there.” He spoke slowly, taking his time with his smoke.

Hou Weidong had no patience for small talk. He flashed his work ID. “I work in the County Party Committee Office. Here is my ID. Do you want to check it?”

The guard was very familiar with this kind of red booklet. His attitude shifted immediately. “You cadres are really busy, going out even this late. I’ll close the iron gate tonight. Just call me if you need to come back. My surname is Huang. Call me Old Huang.”

Hou Weidong tossed another cigarette to Old Huang. “I’ll trouble you again later.”

The county town of Yiyang at midnight had long lost its daytime bustle. Aside from the streetlights and the lonely outline lights of a few tall buildings, the city had plunged into darkness. He took out his mobile phone several times, but since he hadn’t seen the scene himself, he hadn’t called Zhu Yan. Seeing is believing. If he woke Zhu Yan in the early hours only to report inaccurate information, it would be embarrassing for everyone.

On the fifth floor of the Procuratorate, prosecutors stood packed together, their expressions tense. Li Du had also been startled out of bed; his clothes were disheveled, his hair messy. He stood at the front, his gaze fixed like a sharp sword on the burned-out filing cabinet.

Although the comrades inside the Procuratorate had rushed up to fight the fire as soon as they saw sparks, the filing cabinet was an old-fashioned, thick wooden unit. It was filled entirely with paper documents. The fire had burned with exceptional ferocity. The wooden cabinet had turned to black charcoal, and the documents inside had naturally turned to ash.

A prosecutor on the periphery saw Hou Weidong trying to squeeze in and blocked him. “Don’t push.”

“I’m from the County Party Committee Office,” Hou Weidong said.

Li Du heard Hou Weidong’s voice from outside and hurriedly called out, “Secretary Hou, please come in.”

By the light from the doorway and a few flashlights, Hou Weidong got a clear view of the situation inside. He took a bamboo pole from a prosecutor beside him and poked at the ashes a few times. Turning to Li Du, he asked, “Chief Li, was all the evidence in there?” Seeing the look on Li Du’s face, Hou Weidong stopped poking. He handed the bamboo pole back to the person beside him and asked, “Have you reported this to Secretary Zhu?”

Li Du said, “I called you and Standing Committee Member Ji first, wanting to hear your opinions. I haven’t reported it to Secretary Zhu yet.” He added, “Standing Committee Member Ji is already on his way.”

Hearing that Ji Haiyang was coming, Hou Weidong put his phone away. He didn’t say much more, just sat quietly in the burned-out archive room, waiting for Ji Haiyang’s arrival.

Seven or eight minutes later, Ji Haiyang appeared on the fifth floor of the Procuratorate. He was panting. “Chief Li, how did this happen? This is the Procuratorate’s archive room.”

Li Du looked quite embarrassed. “We are investigating the matter. The Criminal Investigation Division has also sent people.”

Ji Haiyang had served as the Director of the County Party Committee Office for four years. He knew the entanglements and conflicts between Ma Youcai and Zhu Yan better than anyone. He thought to himself, If Zhu Yan finds out about this, he will definitely hold it against Li Du. He rubbed his hands together. “This is a major incident. No matter how late it is, we must notify Secretary Zhu.”

Ji Haiyang dialed Zhu Yan’s home number and reported the matter concisely. Zhu Yan asked one follow-up question: “Were all the evidence destroyed?”

“Yes.”

“Are there any copies?”

“No.”

Zhu Yan was silent on the phone for a moment. “Have Li Du come to my office tomorrow.” With that, he hung up.

Ji Haiyang listened to the “beep, beep” sounds of the disconnected line and gave a bitter smile. “Chief Li, Secretary Zhu has asked you to come to his office tomorrow.”

Li Du was no longer young. He no longer harbored ambitions to rise to the next level. He only wanted to serve another term in Yiyang. If he could serve one more term, he would move to a non-leadership position at age fifty-seven, rest for three years, and then retire. That was the ideal scenario. If he were forced to step down just after turning fifty, it would mean he would have to stay at the Procuratorate as a researcher for nearly ten years.

“Ten years. A long, long ten years.”

Li Du coughed twice. His demeanor suddenly aged five or six years. He said to Bai Ning, “You accompany Captain Li to investigate the case properly. Come to my office at seven o’clock sharp tomorrow morning.”

Hearing the title “Captain Li,” Hou Weidong looked around. Sure enough, he saw Li Jianyong standing nearby, whispering to someone.

Li Du returned home in a daze. He went straight into the bedroom. Looking at his increasingly plump wife, he couldn’t help but mutter, “All you do is eat. You’re as fat as a pig.” His wife was sleeping deeply, her snoring rhythmic. She rolled over, opened her eyes, and said, “It’s so late. What are you fussing about? Go to sleep.”

Li Du didn’t wash his face or feet; he just climbed into bed. His mind replayed the faces of Bai Ning, Tang Xiaowei, and others over and over. Damn it. These people looked respectable enough usually. How could they be moles?

Who is this person?

The case involving the Agricultural Products Company was quite ordinary. It only became a major case because it involved high-level officials in the County Government. Li Du had been very careful about confidentiality. Aside from the special task force, other comrades in the Procuratorate had no access to the case. Therefore, when he received the report of the fire, he immediately concluded in his heart that the arsonist was a member of the “828” Special Task Force.

Everyone who could enter the “828” Special Task Force was someone Li Du considered a trusted confidant. But you can’t see through a person’s belly. If one of these so-called confidants had destroyed the Procuratorate’s crucial evidence, they might have also destroyed Li Du’s career as Chief Prosecutor. After all, the County Party Secretary had considerable say in the selection of the Chief Prosecutor.

Hou Weidong walked out with Ji Haiyang. Ji Haiyang asked, “How did you get here?”

“I drove this pickup truck,” Hou Weidong replied.

“Drive me back. Let’s chat.”

Once in the pickup truck, Ji Haiyang didn’t waste words. He asked directly, “What do you think of this matter?”

“Someone set the fire. It should be an insider.”

“Who is the mastermind behind it?”

Hou Weidong didn’t hesitate. “It’s simple. The mastermind is the biggest beneficiary.”

Ji Haiyang’s mind was as clear as a mirror. “This matter started with an accidental search and ended with a suspicious fire. It’s not a big deal. Tomorrow, the sun will still rise as usual.”

After driving for a while, Ji Haiyang suddenly said, “You didn’t go to pick up Secretary Zhu this morning?”

“I used to. But last week, Secretary Zhu said he didn’t need to be picked up in the morning, so I didn’t go.”

Ji Haiyang’s expression darkened. “Do you know what the duty of a secretary is? Every comrade in our County Party Committee Office must do our utmost to serve the leadership. You are the County Party Secretary’s secretary. The requirements are higher. You must stay by the leader’s side at all times, be ready for dispatch at any moment, and serve the leader at any time. In this regard, you should learn from Ren Lindu.”

He added, “Some things require intuition. You need to use your brain and think for yourself.”

These words made Hou Weidong’s face flush with embarrassment. He hurriedly said, “Standing Committee Member Ji, I understand. I will definitely correct this tomorrow.”

The next day, Hou Weidong got up early. He turned on his computer, browsed the news for a while, then took out Zhu Yan’s previous speech drafts and read them absentmindedly. At 6:40 AM, he shook Ren Lindu awake and made a phone call to Old Liu.

At 7:15 AM, two cars stopped downstairs from Hou Weidong’s apartment.

At 7:30 AM, Old Liu drove the black sedan to Zhu Yan’s building. Seeing Zhu Yan come down, Hou Weidong immediately went to greet him, took his briefcase, and quickly returned to open the car door for Zhu Yan. While doing these things, he secretly observed Zhu Yan’s expression.

Zhu Yan was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, clean and neat. He got into the car and said calmly, “Push off all morning appointments. Prepare some gifts.” He paused, then added, “Actually, don’t prepare gifts. Prepare five hundred yuan, put it in an envelope. I want to visit Comrade Li Yongguo.”

Hou Weidong reminded him, “Chief Prosecutor Li Du is coming to the office.”

“Tell him to come to my office at two in the afternoon.”

Li Yongguo was a cadre who had moved south during the liberation. When the Liu-Deng Army marched south, he stayed behind in the local area. He served as the County Party Secretary of Yiyang for twelve years and as the Director of the Shazhou Prefecture for eight years. After retiring, he insisted on living in Yiyang. He was the most influential retired veteran cadre in Yiyang County. Zhou Changquan, the current Secretary of the Shazhou Municipal Party Committee, had once been under his command.

The car arrived at the cadre retirement home. Here lived old comrades who had retired from county-level positions. Li Yongguo lived in a small, standalone courtyard. Upon entering the gate, one could see the entire yard planted with vegetables. Eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes were growing vigorously. An old man with a head full of white hair was watering the plants in the yard.

“Old Li, I’m going to mooch a meal off you today,” Zhu Yan said as he entered the courtyard. He looked instantly cheerful, as if joy were like tap water—just turn the switch, and it flows out.

“Oh, it’s Little Zhu. You are busy with state affairs every day. How do you have time to come here?” Li Yongguo placed the water ladle in the bucket. The ladle swayed in the bucket due to inertia.

Zhu Yan took out the envelope. “I come every year at this time. Happy birthday, Old Li. I wish you good health.”

Li Yongguo was an orphan who had joined the army in his teens. How would he know his actual birthday? When he enlisted, he casually reported a date, which became his birthday. After joining the Communist Party, he treated the day of his admission as his birthday.

The Veteran Cadre Bureau used the birthday recorded in Li Yongguo’s file. The latter birthday—the one marking his party admission—was something Secretary Zhou Changquan of the Shazhou Municipal Party Committee had specifically told Zhu Yan. In all of Yiyang County, only Zhu Yan knew this secret.

Li Yongguo took the envelope and chuckled. “Since you’re here today, you can only eat vegetarian. But don’t worry, Little Zhu. The vegetables in the yard haven’t used a single drop of pesticide. They are truly green products.”

Zhu Yan said, “The last time I visited you, Old Li, I was very inspired. Now, we are planting one thousand mu of pesticide-free vegetables on the outskirts of the city. This year, it has already formed a Yiyang brand.”

Li Yongguo looked very pleased. “Let’s go inside and sit.”

Zhu Yan instructed, “Little Hou, help Old Li water the vegetables.” He added, “You’ve been a township cadre for a few years. You should know how to water vegetables, right?”