The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 212 Slander! Utter slander!

The person has been caught, so the meeting room is no longer needed; the security department's interrogation room will come in handy.

With the appearance of Liu Zi, Ma Dehua's psychological defenses immediately collapsed.

He still wanted to struggle a bit more.

As a result, Liu Zi pointed directly at him and said, "It was him, it was Ma Dehua who instructed me to open the lock!"

"He told me at the time that he didn't steal money, he was there to steal some documents..."

"You son of a bitch Cheng Liuzi! You traitor!" Ma Dehua was furious and rushed forward to beat Cheng Liuzi.

But he had just been knocked unconscious and his legs were still weak when he woke up. So he hadn't run two steps before the security officer caught him, dragged him back like a pig, and pressed him firmly into a chair.

Cheng Liuzi was also furious, pointing at him and shouting, "Brother Ma! Brother Ma! What did I tell you last night? I said we can't steal money, right? But you're telling me it's some kind of information..."

"It's just documents! I didn't steal money. Last night, yes, yes, I went to the office with this Cheng Liuzi last night, but I didn't steal money. I just took some documents," Ma Dehua argued.

But that's a foolish excuse.

Zhou Jiqing chuckled, speechless: "Do you even believe your own words?"

He asked Cheng Liuzi, "What did Ma Dehua take away?"

"It's a brown paper bag, dark yellow, with the word 'finance' written on it!" Cheng Liuzi said with certainty.

Ma Dehua finally realized what was happening.

It's no use trying to argue now.

So he changed his story again: "I didn't mean to steal the money, Brother Zhou, you know me, we're friends, I'm a clean slate, I never steal..."

"Who the hell is your friend? Stop trying to pull strings here." Zhou Jiqing was annoyed.

"But I...I really...I just wanted to give the money to make things awkward!" Sweat began to pour down Ma Dehua's oily face. "Who knew that bastard Liu Zi would actually give the money..."

Wei Bin, who had come to observe the interrogation in person, couldn't help but slam his fist on the table: "Where's the money?!"

"It's... in my drawer..." Ma Dehua's collar was already soaked with sweat. "Not a penny has been touched! Really!"

The group marched in a large procession toward his home.

The kraft paper bag is indeed in the drawer.

Zhou Jiqing checked the money in the bag. He roughly counted it, and the amount matched.

So he happily took the money back to his workplace.

This is just great.

Although a major criminal case did occur in their unit, under his brilliant command and his insightful investigation, the case was resolved.

The security department successfully solved the case.

In this way, their security department will not only retain its honor of winning the award for five consecutive years, but will also receive bonus points in this year's evaluation.

Who knows, we might even win an award in the provincial security system's outstanding unit performance evaluation!
He was very pleased with himself.

The banknotes were taken back to the finance office.

Wei Bin said coldly, "Have Liao Chunfeng come and collect the money."

Sun Dehai received the money and prepared to reclaim it in his account. He began to verify the details.

But after checking for a while, he looked up with a strange expression.

Wei Bin asked, "What's wrong?"

Sun Dehai said, "We're short 1,000 yuan, here's 5,000 yuan."

Zhou Jiqing then interrogated Ma Dehua.

This time he resorted to underhanded tactics.

The slaps came one after another.

Ma Dehua burst into tears: "It's all this money! I didn't touch it! I stole it home in the middle of last night! Where am I supposed to spend it?"

"No, I didn't hide it anywhere else, and I didn't share the spoils with anyone—oh, right, I did share the spoils with someone, yes, it was Cheng Liuzi!"

He glared at Cheng Liuzi with anger and a sinister look: "I'll give him a thousand yuan!"

Cheng Liuzi hurriedly said, "He's talking nonsense! He must have assigned it to the leader behind him!"

"He only gave me one hundred yuan. I've already given the money to you. I just gave it to you. I didn't spend a single penny, just that one hundred yuan..."

Zhou Jiqing looked at Ma Dehua: "Xiao Ma, now I won't hide it from you anymore. You've made a big mistake and you'll definitely have to go to jail."

"But you are not at your wit's end. There is still a way out: confess honestly and try to get leniency."

"Where did that thousand yuan go? Who instructed you to do this? You need to explain all of this clearly."

Ma Dehua's eyes darted around, and he confessed the truth without hesitation: "It was Liao Chunfeng who told me to do it."

"Yesterday before I left work, Liao Chunfeng went to the finance department and came back to me. He told me that Qian Jin had taken the department's activity funds and put them in his office drawer. He asked me to steal them so that I could embarrass Qian Jin later!"

"He hopes that when the president and other leaders find out that Qian Jin lost a huge sum of money, they will remove Qian Jin from his position as director and let Liao Chunfeng take his place."

"And he even promised me benefits. He said that once he became the director, he would make me the deputy director!"

When important leaders such as Wei Bin and Yi Xuebing learned of this news, they were furious.

But Yi Xuebing did not rush to lose his temper, and tried his best to remain calm and composed:
“Ma Dehua doesn’t tell the truth. We can’t believe everything he says. We need to investigate first. We can’t wrong a good comrade and let our own comrades feel disheartened.”

Wei Bin nodded and said, "That makes sense, but there are two things that are really strange."

"The first thing is that only the comrades in the cashier group of the finance department knew that Qian Jin had taken the money and was going to keep it in his office."

"Section Chief Zhou has already investigated the comrades in the cashier group. They did not disclose this information to the outside world, but after Qian Jin left, Liao Chunfeng did come to the cashier group to inquire about relevant information."

"Therefore, Ma Dehua could not have known that Qian Jin had hidden their department's activity funds in his office for no reason. Someone must have told him. Who could that person be?"

Yi Xuebing hesitated before guessing, "Could it be that Ma Dehua himself saw Qian Jin bringing money back to the office?"

Sun Dehai shook his head: "It's unlikely. Director Qian came with a satchel. He put the brown paper bag in his satchel before he left."

"Unless Ma Dehua went to his office, no one on the street would notice that he brought money back to his office, let alone know that he would keep the money in his office—"

“Normally, even if someone saw Director Qian withdraw a large sum of money from our department, they would only assume he deposited it in a bank, not that he would keep it in his office, right?”

After analyzing the situation, the group nodded in unison.

Wei Bin added, "There's another thing. I learned about the loss of event funds from the Foreign Business Office as soon as I got to work today."

"Who told me? It was Comrade Liao Chunfeng!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiqing understood the leader's meaning and said, "I'll go investigate Liao Chunfeng right away!"

The Foreign Investment Office was quite lively today.

Even when no one is in the big office, people can still work; they all gather in small groups and whisper to each other.

Ma Dehua was taken away.

They began to speculate whether Ma Dehua had stolen the money.

Then someone saw Zhou Jiqing return, his expression even more serious.

This sent a chill down their spines, and they all lowered their heads and pretended to be working.

In fact, everyone was glancing at Zhou Jiqing out of the corner of their eye, wondering what he was doing back there.

But no one could have guessed that he would walk up to Liao Chunfeng and say, "Comrade Liao Chunfeng, you are now suspected of illegal and criminal activities. Come with us."

Liao Chunfeng's face turned red.

He said, "Section Chief Zhou, do you know how much your words have affected my reputation in the unit? You..."

"Stop with the 'you' and 'me'." Zhou Jiqing said impatiently, "Old Liao, we've known each other for a long time. You know my temper, and you know I won't touch you without evidence."

"So stop trying to pull any tricks on me and just come with me cleanly. I don't want to drag you out like I did with Ma Dehua; that would only ruin your reputation!"

These words intimidated Liao Chunfeng.

Liao Chunfeng had no choice but to cooperate and follow him out of the office.

He turned around and looked at his colleague by chance.

Everyone was staring at him with wide eyes.

His eyes held shock, disdain, and disbelief.

He felt even more helpless about this.

It seems he'll have to resort to some more tactics to win back his reputation.

Fortunately.

He was prepared for this.

The interrogation room of the security department had no windows, and the light bulb was crackling, casting a pale light in the damp air.

When Liao Chunfeng was brought in, his leather shoes made a sticky sound on the terrazzo floor. He subconsciously pushed up his black-rimmed glasses to try to calm himself down.

"Sit down." Zhou Jiqing stood in front of him, looking down at him from above.

Liao Chunfeng sat down and complained, "Section Chief Zhou, you..."

"I'll ask you a question, you answer it. Don't waste time with nonsense," Zhou Jiqing interrupted him forcefully.

Liao Chunfeng said sullenly, "Fine, fine, you ask, I'll answer."

"How did you instruct Ma Dehua to steal the department's activity funds that Director Qian had locked in his office drawer? I don't want to waste my energy on you, Comrade Liao Chunfeng. You're a smart man, so just confess and you'll be treated leniently."

"What am I going to confess? I never ordered him to do anything!"

"The finance department staff have admitted that you inquired with them about Director Qian taking away the activity funds and temporarily locking them in his office..."

"Wait, I admit, I did ask Director Qian what he wanted to do at the cashier's office so late out of curiosity, but I didn't ask where he locked up the activity funds..."

"Stop talking nonsense. You know about this. Your former colleague told you about it, and then you told Ma Dehua!"

“Ma Dehua has revealed everything!” Zhou Jiqing added emphatically, then picked up a tape recorder and pressed play.

The cassette tape hissed, and Ma Dehua's voice, trembling with sobs, came through: "...It was Deputy Director Liao who made me do it. He said he had already asked his former colleagues and found out. Director Qian took the money back and locked it in the drawer..."

"He taught me how to pick locks and steal money, and then he helped me find out the security guards' night patrol patterns. He also told me that the security guards would be conducting a major patrol of our foreign business office in the latter half of last night, so I had to be careful..."

"He wanted to use this to bring down Qian Jin and take his place. He didn't want the money, but I still gave him a portion after it was all done..."

Liao Chunfeng remained calm. After listening, he sneered, "Slander! Utter slander! This is a defamation of my character!"

Zhou Jiqing clenched his fist.

He wanted to increase the intensity. Liao Chunfeng was very stubborn, and he figured that if he didn't increase the intensity, the other party wouldn't tell the truth.

However, Liao Chunfeng's situation is different from Ma Dehua's. Ma Dehua already has witnesses and physical evidence, so he can take as much pressure as he wants to get a confession.

Liao Chunfeng only has witnesses but no physical evidence, so the possibility of him being slandered cannot be ruled out.

He couldn't directly escalate the situation, otherwise it would be difficult for him to explain if it turned out that Liao Chunfeng had been slandered.

One of his security officers gave him a suggestion: "Section Chief, Ma Dehua said he gave Liao Chunfeng a sum of money. We need to find this money. Once we find it, we can convict him."

Zhou Jiqing looked at him impatiently: "Isn't that obvious? I don't want to find this money, but where am I supposed to look?"

"If Liao Chunfeng did take the money, he would definitely have hidden it; he wouldn't have carried it with him, would he?"

"How are we supposed to find him? He won't tell us how. Are we supposed to search his house?"

The security officer chuckled and said, "Then we can search him on his person or his briefcase on his desk; maybe we can find some clues?"

Zhou Jiqing had no other choice but to try his luck: "Let's search first, search carefully, and try to find some clues."

"Go search his desk, bring his briefcase, I'll search it myself."

Soon, Liao Chunfeng's briefcase was brought over and placed on the table.

The leather surface of the bag was still wet with rainwater.

Zhou Jiqing said menacingly, "Come on, open it first."

Liao Chunfeng was very cooperative.

The briefcase buckle clicked softly before being opened.

To express his dissatisfaction.

Instead of taking things out one by one, he dumped everything out of his bag at once—documents, a pen, a small abacus, a calculator, half a bag of Daqianmen cigarettes, and a lighter.

There was also a bulging envelope.

Upon seeing the envelope, Liao Chunfeng froze, his eyes bulging slightly.

Zhou Jiqing noticed this detail and hurriedly reached for the envelope.

The envelope was opened, and a stack of brand-new ten-yuan notes slid out.

The smell of ink from the brand-new banknotes immediately filled the small interrogation room, standing out prominently amidst the musty and smoky smells.

"This, this isn't mine!" Liao Chunfeng suddenly stood up, the chair legs scraping loudly on the floor.

His fingers began to tremble uncontrollably, knocking his glasses askew: "Someone framed me! Someone framed me! Someone must have put it in there when I wasn't looking!"

Upon seeing this, Zhou Jiqing pressed the doorbell on the table.

A security officer poked his head in from outside: "Boss?"

"Let Old Sun from the finance department come over and check this money." Zhou Jiqing's heart was pounding.

He couldn't believe that he had obtained such important evidence so easily.

A few minutes later, Sun Dehai, the senior accountant from the finance department, arrived with an umbrella.

He held a thick register in his hands, in which most of the money that passed through his hands was recorded.

He showed the banknotes in the envelope, looked at their serial numbers one by one, and nodded.
"That's right, these are the new banknotes from yesterday."

He opened the register, his withered fingers poking at a line of numbers. "Look, it's recorded here, it matches."

Liao Chunfeng's face turned deathly pale instantly, and sweat streamed down his temples, leaving water stains on his white shirt collar.

"Impossible! This morning when I was going upstairs, Xiao Zhang from the administration department bumped into me, and my briefcase fell to the ground..."

Zhou Jiqing looked at him with amusement and then laughed loudly, "Did you think before you said that? What do you mean? Did Xiao Zhang frame you?"

"No, no, it wasn't Xiao Zhang!" Liao Chunfeng stood up excitedly. "I know, I know what happened!"

"Section Chief Zhou, you can believe me. This morning when I was riding my bike to work, I collided with a bicycle coming from the opposite direction. As a result, we both fell down, which in turn knocked down the bicycles behind us."

"My briefcase was thrown quite a distance, and someone went to pick it up for me. He must have slipped this envelope into my briefcase around that time!"

"This is a frame-up!"

Zhou Jiqing looked at him mockingly and said, "And you didn't check your bag all morning? Didn't you find that there were extra things inside that didn't belong to you?"

Liao Chunfeng explained, "I didn't work all morning. I had just sat down when Director Qian said he had lost some money, and then I was just watching the commotion!"

Zhou Jiqing curled his lip: "Watching the show, you really have a good attitude. Your department lost money, and you're not worried at all, but you still want to watch the show?"

Liao Chunfeng no longer cared about concealing his hostility towards Qian Jin; his immediate priority was to clear himself of suspicion.
"Everyone in the office was watching the commotion, not just me, but I really didn't steal the money. How could I possibly steal this money?"

"Old Liao, it seems you won't shed tears until you see the coffin." Zhou Jiqing tapped the table with his pen, each tap feeling like a blow to Liao Chunfeng's nerves.

"Let me tell you, Cheng Liuzi and Ma Dehua have both backed out. It's no use for you to be stubborn now."

"You know I'm an old hand, and you're already in my hands. If I want you to talk, I have plenty of ways to get you to talk."

"But we've been colleagues after all, I don't want to do this. Lao Liao, just confess, let it go, stop daydreaming and stop trying to resist!"

Liao Chunfeng was both anxious and aggrieved. He pounded his chest and began to roar, "Old Zhou, Old Zhou! You know we're colleagues, don't you understand what kind of person I am?"

"In all my years working in the finance department, have I ever embezzled a single item?"

Zhou Jiqing waved his hand casually: "Self-harm is useless, Lao Liao. I know you're not a ruthless person, but I also know you're not after money this time. If you were after money, you wouldn't have just accepted this little bit."

"You want to be the director of the foreign investment office!"

"If you still deny it, then I have nothing more to say. I will have no choice but to hand you over to the criminal investigation team of the Public Security Bureau for further action."

The security officer next to him also looked up and said, "Yes, Deputy Director Liao, your intentions are obvious to everyone."

Liao Chunfeng said dejectedly, "I admit it, to be honest, yes, I want to be the director."

“But I didn’t steal the money. To be honest, I’ll tell you everything. I did find out from the finance department that Qian Jin had deposited money in his office, but I had no intention of doing so. I just mentioned it casually to Ma Dehua…”

Hearing this, Zhou Jiqing perked up, lit a cigarette and handed it to him: "Go on, you've gotten to the point."

Liao Chunfeng, her face filled with grief, said, "What did I say? There's nothing left, nothing at all! That's all!"

"Last night, all I did when I got home was eat and watch TV. Then I went to bed on time. When I woke up this morning, I found it was raining. So I left early and braved the wind and rain to go to work. That's all!"

Zhou Jiqing laughed heartily: "Oh dear, didn't you drink with your brother-in-law before? What? You've changed your mind again?"

Liao Chunfeng was taken aback.

My mouth immediately filled with bitterness!

He said that in the office just now to deflect Ma Dehua's slander; it was just something he said casually.

At that moment, filled with grief and indignation, he completely forgot about the whole thing.

Seeing that he had stopped talking, Zhou Jiqing threw away his cigarette butt and sneered, "You son of a bitch, it seems you won't turn back until you hit a brick wall."

"Go, bring Ma Dehua here!"

The interrogation room door was then kicked open.

Ma Dehua was escorted in by two security officers, staggering as the handcuffs on his wrists rattled: "It's him!"

As soon as he entered, he pointed at Liao Chunfeng and roared, spitting everywhere: "Liao Chunfeng said that Director Qian blocked his way, and he was going to teach him a lesson! That thousand yuan, that thousand yuan was given to him, but he hid it!"

He's now desperate and has no choice but to deflect responsibility for this.

So he's like a rabbit in a corner, biting anyone he can catch and refusing to let go.

Liao Chunfeng suddenly turned to Ma Dehua, his eyes behind his glasses bulging out: "You're spouting nonsense!"

His voice was shrill and inhuman, “It was you who wanted to take revenge on Qian Jin. You were the one who told me that Qian Jin caused your cousin to go to jail and that you wanted to prevent Qian Jin from becoming an official…”

Zhou Jiqing stood by with his arms crossed, watching the spectacle.

Dogs fighting is the most fun.

He ordered the deputy section chief to guard the interrogation room, and then went to Wei Bin to ask for credit.

Wei Bin was very satisfied with his performance and, following his instructions, made the phone call on the spot. Then he turned around and said:
“I have applied for a search warrant from the court. Go get it right away and take Liao Chunfeng to his house for a thorough search.”

"Oh, bring Comrade Sun Dehai with you. He has registered the serial numbers of the money. Once we find the Liao family's money, we'll check it against their records."

"Remember, you can't wrong your colleagues, but you also can't let bad guys get away with it!"

Zhou Jiqing immediately saluted: "Yes, sir!"

He excitedly returned to the interrogation room and relayed the message to Liao Chunfeng: "Old Liao, this is your last chance, confess."

"Let me be frank with you. If you admit now that I'm doing you a favor by turning myself in, okay?"

Liao Chunfeng remained silent, only laughing with grief and indignation.

The rain outside was getting louder and louder.

His mind calmed down.

We've taken the wrong road!

It's wrong to have any hope in a scoundrel like Ma Dehua. This kind of incompetent teammate will not bring you any benefits, but will only harm you!

He knew his career at work was over, and he might even lose his job altogether.

He's like someone with a lump of yellow mud sticking out of his crotch; people will just think he's taken a dump.

However, knowing that his house was clean, he calmly said, "Go ahead and search, I'll cooperate with your search."

Zhou Jiqing shook his head: "Sigh, you're so stubborn! You're going to resist to the very end!"

Liao Chunfeng stated frankly, "I will not admit to things I did not do. Afterwards, I will write to the provincial and central organizations to seek justice."

Zhou Jiqing was furious.

He waved his hand violently and shouted, "You won't give up until you've reached the Yellow River! Go, take him to search for the rest of the money!"

When Liao Chunfeng was led out of the interrogation room, it was raining heavily in autumn.

There were people watching him from behind the windows of every department office in the office building.

He saw Xiao Zhang from the administration department shaking his head, and Lao Sun, the accountant, sighing. He also saw several of his former subordinates pointing at him and cursing him from behind the window.

Finally, he saw Qian Jin.

Qian Jin's window was open, and a figure stood there but didn't look at him. Instead, the figure was leisurely drinking hot tea and enjoying the cold rain.

It's September again.

I've been here for a year now.

Time flies!
(End of this chapter)