Chapter 78: Maze and Deception

  Jiu Liang raised his sleeve and sniffed. Said! Is it that obvious? Zuo Jie, you're angry, Liu Ju Zhang just ran into a friend on the road and happened to give her a ride. You wouldn't say, but that aunt looks quite pretty, except she sprayed too much perfume.

  Liu Tianlai was indeed lying down and getting shot, seeing Zuo Yuxi's gaze swept over, smiled and said: "It's a friend of mine from the post office, his wife, just happened to be on the way."

  Listening to the two serious answers, Zuo Yu Xi's mouth corner overflowed with a faint smile, which disappeared in an instant. "I just casually asked, why are you so serious? Alright, let's get down to business."

  Wen Cheng wiped away a cold sweat. He casually asked what kind of expression was that? Wait for Liu Tian to leave before dealing with you!

  "Well, let's summarize. What's the situation like today? How about the Discipline Inspection Commission side?"

  Zuo Yuxi said: "This morning, Niu Guoqiang received a call from Wei Chenfeng, and the words were very clear. He wanted to plead for leniency for Wei Gang."

  Wen Qian coldly smiled and said: "Huh, this Qingzhou government is really not careful. Even as a deputy department head, they don't even wait for two days to observe the situation. They should have sent someone from the Discipline Inspection Committee's vice secretary to make some rounds first. Why are they in such a hurry? Are they eager to die together? What did Niu Guoqiang say?"

  Liu Tiancai took over the conversation: "Niu Guoqiang naturally said some polite words according to what we discussed beforehand, without giving any clear indication. He just said that they are still in the investigation and evidence collection stage, and everything will be handled according to the law. I think he's going to make Wei Chenfeng angry enough. Wen Shao, you're right, if he had found someone else to mediate, at least there would have been some room for maneuvering. But now that Niu Secretary has flatly refused him, the whole thread is broken."

  Zuo Yuxi shook his head. His body leaned against the sofa, with his long legs crossed over each other, making him look even more elegant and refined. With an air of dignity and nobility, he said, "Wei Chenfeng is not someone who doesn't pay attention to details, but rather, the current situation in Qingzhou has reached a point where everything that should be grand and everything that shouldn't be grand have all been exaggerated beyond reason. Wei Chenfeng had previously dared to cut off Xu Fuyan's speech after just a few seconds, so what does it matter if Niu Guoqiang is involved?"

  Liu Tianlai sighed and said, "Director Zuo is right. Wei Chenfeng went directly to Niu Guoqiang's office and no one knows what he said. But then I was urgently summoned to the Discipline Inspection Commission. To be honest, although I knew the script in advance, my heart still felt a little nervous when I entered the commission."

  Wen Qiang burst out laughing and pointed at him, saying: "Director Liu, you're getting nervous!"

  Liu Tianlai remained deaf to the conversation and continued, "It was in the secretary's office that Niu Guoqiang directly asked me if a rape case had occurred last night. I first looked at Wei Chenfeng with difficulty, then said no. Niu Guoqiang grabbed those few photos from the drawer and slammed them in front of me. It's not surprising that he was trained by the Discipline Inspection Commission. The momentum was frightening."

  Wen Cheng's head was about to split from listening, and he found that Liu Tian came to tell stories, liked to ramble on, and occasionally added some personal insights. He rambled on for half a day without grasping the key point. Big brother, if someone like you were to write books in the future, it would be a waste of paper, and they would definitely be scolded as a watered-down writer, or even worse, a pure water writer!

  The subsequent development was all within Wen Jian's expectation, and Liu Tianlai pretended to be overwhelmed by the pressure. He admitted that he had received a phone call from Wei Chenfeng last night, and then changed the rape case to prostitution, and handed over the confession signed by Wei to the authorities. However, he also quickly cleared himself of any responsibility, saying that he had only made temporary arrangements and had not closed the case. Personnel were assigned to follow up on the investigation.

  Before the promulgation of the 1979 Criminal Law Amendment, according to the 1950 promulgated Chinese Criminal Law, vagrancy was classified as a crime under Chapter 6 "Crimes Endangering Public Order" and was considered a serious threat to social order, with great corruptibility and spreadability, belonging to the key areas of criminal law enforcement. In 1983, during the first severe crackdown in New China, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress also passed the "Decision on Severe Punishment of Crimes Seriously Endangering Public Order" at the legal level, which stipulated six crimes with increased sentencing ranges, with vagrancy listed as the first. It was also in this year that the maximum penalty for vagrancy surpassed many predecessors and rose to the top, death penalty. That year, a woman surnamed Wang was sentenced to death for vagrancy because she had relationships with multiple men, and at the time of her death, she said:

  Sexual freedom is a lifestyle I choose, and this behavior may be ahead of its time now, but after decades people won't think so.

  A great prophet was thus killed, how can the beheaders of hundreds and thousands in later generations bear it? So, all those who transcend their times are a tragedy, this sentence applies to various fields and people of all colors.

  It's precisely because of this. In the Stone Year, bringing such a thing to the surface would be a fatal move for a young and rising star in the official circle. Niu and Liu performed a duet, and Wei Chenfeng knew that denying it would be useless. Since Liu Tianlai dared to say it, he must have secretly kept the phone recording, and he was strongly suppressing his anxiety. On the surface, he remained calm as usual, but immediately turned around and left. He didn't even have the courage to stay in the Discipline Inspection Committee for another minute. If he were to seriously pursue it, interfering with the judicial process would also be a significant responsibility. However, Wen Xiang's purpose in designing to bring Wei Chenfeng down was not about this. His goal was to take down Wei Wang. He needed to mobilize a considerable amount of power, and if he wasn't careful, he would expose the relationships between Zuo Yuxi, Liu Tianlai, Niu Guoqiang, and others. Once it reached the ears of Ba Xinzhong, Hui Fuyan, and others, it would be difficult to predict the consequences at this moment when the situation in the provincial capital was not clear.

  Wei Wang was looking for a way to die, and he was pushing people around. Wen Cen had had enough of him and decided to take a risk by walking on the steel wire, not only to bring Wei Wang down but also without alerting Zhou Yuanting.

  How can we grasp this fragile balance? It's almost an unsolvable problem, but Wen Xiang somehow managed to make it happen.

  After leaving the Discipline Inspection Commission, Wei Chenfeng went straight to find Zhou Yuanting. He vaguely sensed that there was a strange atmosphere surrounding the Wei case from start to finish. On the surface, he couldn't find any flaws. But every link had just one difference, and Wei would not have taken this step.

  Accidents reveal necessity!

  Wei Chenfeng couldn't figure out where the root of the problem lay, but it seemed that Wei Wang had somehow offended Liu Tianlai. This led to such revenge, and Niu Guoqiang and Liu Tianlai were both under Zuo Jing's command in the past, although their ranks were far apart, but at least they had some friendship. Helping him deal with people is also understandable.

  But there's no reason for that, the current situation in Qingzhou is such that many people can't even protect themselves, let alone Liu Tian coming to bully him, unless he suddenly got hit by a car and lost his mind.

  But why?

  Lu Chenfeng knew Zhou Yuanting's suspicious nature all too well, so he just pulled the strings lightly towards Xu Fuyan. Zhou Yuanting furrowed his brow and directly called over Niu Guoqiang. Niu Guoqiang knew it was time to show off his acting skills. He put the prepared materials in front of Zhou Yuanting and said: "The Discipline Inspection Commission has received multiple reports recently, saying that Comrade Wei Wang's lifestyle is not strict, and he has improper relationships with several female workers in the factory, and there are major economic problems. But I considered that the current focus of the city's work is on Qinghua Factory, and Nongji Factory still needs to prioritize stability, so I suppressed the matter for now, thinking of dealing with it later after some preliminary investigation. Unexpectedly, last night I received a phone call from a woman reporting that Wei Wang intended to rape her, but was caught by the police station and handled as a prostitution case by Liu Tianlai, who let him off lightly." At this point, Niu Guoqiang slammed his hand on the table in front of Zhou Yuanting, angrily saying: "Mayor Zhou, do you think the Discipline Inspection Commission should handle such things or not? Should we handle it or not?"

  Wei Chenfeng said: "Nor can we listen to her one-sided words."

  Niu Guiqing abruptly interrupted him, saying: "A family affair? Minister Wei, were the photos I showed you this morning also fake? Did Liu Tianlai not personally admit to it? Was your phone call to interfere with justice also fake?"

  Zhou Yuanting also finished reading the materials and comforted Niu Guoqiang, saying: "Secretary Niu, calm down. The municipal government has always strongly supported the work of the Discipline Inspection Commission. You can take care of Qingzhou's overall situation, and I should thank you. However, for cadres like Wei Wang, we also need to consider specific circumstances and pay attention to the impact. How about this: your Discipline Inspection Commission first comes up with a handling opinion, and I'll take a look before making a decision."

  Hearing Zhou Yuanting's hint, Niu Guoqiang felt a sense of relief in his heart, but he put on a gloomy expression on his face and turned to leave.

  After Wei Qing walked away, Wei Chenfeng anxiously waited for the result. This generation of the Wei family only has this one male heir. No matter what, nothing can happen to him. Zhou Yuanting didn't pay attention to him either. He made a few phone calls and quickly figured out the cause and effect. A few days ago, the agricultural machinery factory's office building was burglarized, and the list of names that Wei had secretly finalized was leaked, which caused many people to be dissatisfied, so the Discipline Inspection Commission received reports. This shows that Niu Guoqiang did not lie.

  Just then, Wei Wang's rape case came out. Previously, Zhou Yuanting really didn't know that he had problems in his relationships with women. Think about how many deputy department-level cadres there are in Qingzhou. As the mayor of a city, Zhou Yuanting was able to pause his gaze on him and remember his name, which was already a great recognition. Who would specifically understand his character? Moreover, everyone looked at Wei Chenfeng's face and only spoke well of him. If Wei Wang hadn't fallen into trouble now, Zhou Yuanting wouldn't have confirmed whether he could hear something real or not. This is also the sorrow of being in a higher position! But Zhou Yuanting understood in his heart that sometimes lower-level cadres are unscrupulous and can do all sorts of dirty things. The evidence for this attempted rape was solid. What else was there to say?

  At this moment, it's understandable that Niu Guoqiang is furious. It's also reasonable to catch Wei Wang. Shi Nian's rape crime is a serious offense, and Liu Tianlai's twice yielding to pressure can also be understood. So, things aren't as complicated as Wei Chenfeng said, with some complex background. Zhou Yuanting looked at Wei Chenfeng with cold eyes, obviously very dissatisfied with him.

  But Wei Chenfeng's vote at the Standing Committee meeting suppressed his discontent and even spoke up to plead for Wei Wang.

  This is both a gift to Wei Chenfeng's emotions and the last test. If Niu Guoqiang really turns against Xu Fuyan, this will be a good handle for them to borrow from. They will definitely use it to attack themselves and bring it to Wei Chenfeng's body, thus giving themselves a heavy blow.

  Just two hours later, the joint processing result of the Discipline Inspection Commission and the Public Security Bureau was sent over. Zhou Yuanting took a look and threw it to Wei Chenfeng, smiling: "Old Wei, don't catch wind and shadow for no reason, suspecting ghosts and gods everywhere. The Weibo is not in good shape either, with such a result it's not bad, you'd better not find trouble for yourself again, understand?"