Beijing. The Wang Residence!
In the spacious living room, a large group of people sat gathered. In addition to Wang Anguo, Li Gang, Yin Jianping, and Wu Yue, An Hong, Jiang Longcheng, Ye Jianhua, and Lin Yi were also present.
However, with the exception of the uninformed Lin Yi, everyone else had furrowed brows, and the atmosphere in the living room was somewhat tense.
Just then, the wooden front door swung open, and Li Yi walked in, accompanied by two young men with upright postures.
Seeing this, everyone stood up, and Wang Anguo and An Hong, the couple, even came out together to greet them!
Stepping inside, Li Yi brushed the snow off his clothes and said with a smile, “Sorry, we ran into a bit of trouble on the way and got held up!”
Jiang Longcheng replied with a smile, “No problem. We just got here too. We heard that Nana’s in the hospital. How is she?”
“How did you know my sister was in the hospital?” Li Yi asked, somewhat surprised.
“Jianhua, Old Lin, and I had lunch at the Dong’an Market branch earlier. The only one there was that girl from the Long family—we didn’t see Nana or Dajun. When we asked, we found out she’d been hospitalized,” Jiang Longcheng explained.
Ye Jianhua chimed in, “We were actually planning to visit her at the hospital—we’d even bought the gifts—but then we got your call, so we came here first!”
Lin Yi said, “My vacation time is limited, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it to the hospital. When you guys head back later, please give my gift to Nana for me!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “Sure!”
Then, changing the subject, he turned to Wang Anguo and the others standing nearby and asked, “Brother Wang, Gangzi, Instructor Yin, how’s the investigation going on your end?”
Wang Anguo replied immediately, “We’ve made some progress, but we’ve run into significant resistance. Whether it’s the station or the district bureau, once they found out we were still investigating that bastard Liu Dongping, people started putting pressure on us—even to the point where…”
“Even what?”
“Some people have even sent us a direct message: if we back down and admit our mistake now, the worst that’ll happen is demotion—we won’t be expelled from the police force. But if we keep digging like fools, things won’t end so simply. We might even end up in mortal danger!” Wang Anguo said in a low, grim tone.
“Smack!”
Before Li Yi could speak, Jiang Longcheng, sitting nearby, slammed the teacup in his hand down hard on the coffee table, sending water splashing everywhere.
“Damn it, how come I never realized before just how arrogant that little bastard Liu is? That rat-like scumbag actually thinks he’s hot stuff now?”
Hearing Jiang Longcheng’s stream of profanity, Li Yi frowned and said, “Third Brother, you’re the CEO of a state-owned enterprise worth ten billion now. Watch your image!”
“Well… brother-in-law, I just got so pissed off by that bastard. I’ll be careful from now on, I promise!” Jiang Longcheng said with an awkward smile.
Seeing this, Yin Jianping, Wu Yue, and the others stared wide-eyed, their faces frozen in shock.
As members of the police force, they were well-connected and naturally knew the name of “Third Young Master Jiang.”
And through Wang Anguo, they also knew that Li Yi was the son-in-law of the Jiang family.
To be honest, they had always assumed that the Jiang family was Li Yi’s backer, and since Jiang Longcheng was a direct descendant of the Jiang family, it should have been Li Yi who was sucking up to him.
But now it seemed the reality was completely different from what they had anticipated.
Between Li Yi and Jiang Longcheng, it seemed Li Yi was the one calling the shots, while Jiang Longcheng appeared more like a sidekick… or perhaps even a lackey.
Li Yi didn’t dwell on the matter but turned his gaze back to Wang Anguo and said calmly, “It was to be expected. Word has come that the Liu family has noticed you haven’t given up. That’s a good thing!”
“Brother Li Yi, what should we do next?” Wang Anguo asked in a low voice.
“Ignore them. Keep investigating!”
With that, Li Yi pulled out a stack of documents and handed them to Wang Anguo and the others, adding, “This is some of the information I’ve had my people gather over the past few days. You’ll proceed with your investigation based on this!”
Wang Anguo, Yin Jianping, and the others took the documents and began examining them closely.
After just a few glances, their expressions froze in astonishment.
The documents were incredibly detailed—far more comprehensive and thorough than anything they’d uncovered in recent days.
“Brother Li Yi, this information is already quite substantial. It’s more than enough to establish a chain of evidence. We can definitely use this to take down Liu Dongping—what else is there to investigate?” Wang Anguo asked, puzzled.
Li Yi replied calmly, “If we act now, there’s a high probability we can bring that scoundrel Liu Dongping to justice, but that’s all it will amount to—it won’t shake the Liu family in the slightest.”
“The reason I’m having you continue the investigation is to provoke Liu Dongping—or whoever’s pulling the strings behind him—into making a move. Of course, this might put you in a bit of a bind, but as long as the Liu family or their lackeys dare to act, we’ll have the chance to take them all down at once.”
An Hong, standing nearby, immediately frowned. “Brother Li Yi, are you suggesting we use An Guo and Gangzi as bait?”
“Exactly. Heaven lets the fool run wild before it brings him down!”
Li Yi continued, “As long as we keep provoking Liu Dongping and whoever’s pulling the strings behind him, they won’t be able to resist attacking you. At that point, I’ll mobilize the media to expose this whole affair.”
“Once we stir up the hype and create a public outcry that captures everyone’s attention, even the Liu family won’t be able to sacrifice the pawns to save the king.”
Li Yi had plenty of experience dealing with these children of officials and the wealthy.
Bowing down and backing down won’t work, and going head-to-head isn’t advisable either. The only way is to leverage the media… or the power of the people.
“Could that be dangerous? Might that bastard, cornered, resort to desperate measures and go all out against the State Security Bureau?” An Hong asked anxiously.
“It’s unlikely they’d go that far. They might find an excuse to lock Brother Wang and the others up, restrict their freedom, and force them to comply!” Li Yi said.
Wang Anguo thought for a moment and said, “It doesn’t matter if we suffer a little injustice, but the problem is that the Liu family’s influence is deeply entrenched. Even if we want to expose them, there’s no guarantee any media outlet would dare to run the story!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Jiang Longcheng interjected, “You can rest assured on that front. The Liu family isn’t powerful enough to control everything. Leave contacting the media to me—whether it’s the People’s Daily or the Workers’ Daily, it’s no problem!”
Li Yi suddenly glanced at him and asked, “Can we get it into the Internal Reference?”
Jiang Longcheng’s mouth twitched slightly as he replied, “Brother-in-law, you’re overestimating me. The Internal Reference is a major publication—it’s not something you can just get into. I’m afraid that’s out of the question!”
“Alright, then.”
Li Yi then continued, “Let’s divide up the tasks now. Brother Wang, Gangzi, Instructor Yin, and Wu Yue, you five continue the investigation and keep the Liu family’s attention. Ideally, you should provoke them into taking action against you.”
“Yes!”
Li Yi then turned to An Hong and said, “Sis-in-law, you need to keep a close eye on how things develop. As soon as the Liu family makes a move, you immediately take the kids to the Municipal Bureau to demand answers. The bigger the fuss in downtown Tokyo, the better.”
“No problem!” An Hong replied.
Li Yi turned to Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua and said, “Third Brother, Brother Jianhua, your task is to coordinate with all the reporters and media outlets. As soon as Sister-in-law An Hong goes to demand answers, have the reporters rush over immediately. Then, use this opportunity to stir up public opinion and draw the public’s attention.”
“Yes!”
“Brother Lin, since you’re in the military, keep a close eye on Liu Dongping and his old man’s movements for us. If necessary, you can help us submit some materials to the military’s disciplinary inspection department,” Li Yi said.
“No problem!”
Li Yi nodded and added, “Although our opponents are no pushovers, we’re no pushovers either. Everything is in place now—we just have to wait for the fish to take the bait!”
“Alright…”
………….