Era: Starting with the struggle to refuse being taken advantage of

Chapter 194 Swallowing Evidence
Upon seeing the receipt, Wang Chengpeng was actually somewhat disappointed.

I thought Zhou Xia's methods would be a little more sophisticated, but they turned out exactly as I had imagined. How incredibly foolish.

He had simply dug a pit for the other party, and the other party couldn't wait to jump in.

After briefly glancing at the receipts on the table, Wang Chengpeng nodded and said:

“I recognize this receipt; it’s the one I wrote and gave to Comrade Zhou Xia myself.”

Mao Weiming glanced at Wang Chengpeng in surprise, not expecting him to admit the authenticity of the IOU without even struggling.

He immediately slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Since you, Comrade Wang, also acknowledge the authenticity of this receipt, then quickly confess why you extorted so much money from Comrade Zhou."

“If you confess, you will be treated with leniency, if you resist, you will be treated with severity.”

"If you confess honestly, your crime might be mitigated a little."

Hearing Mao Weiming's words, Wang Chengpeng was somewhat confused and said:
"This receipt only proves that I received money from Comrade Zhou, but how does it prove that it was obtained through extortion?"

"If I really had extorted money from Comrade Zhou, would I be stupid enough to actually write a receipt?"

“It is perfectly reasonable for me to accept this money, there is no problem at all, and I do not admit to the extortion you are talking about.”

At this point, Wang Chengpeng looked at Zhou Xia with a half-smile and said:

"Comrade Zhou, do you really want me to tell you the truth?"

"You rushed to return the money to me, wasn't it just to shut me up?"

Facing Wang Chengpeng's "provocative" gaze, Zhou Xia ignored it and said:
“I, Zhou Xia, am upright and honest, and I have no fear of the story you have.”

"Come on, quickly make up a story and let me hear just how exciting it is."

Unless Wang Chengpeng has evidence, even if what he said is true, it can only become a story told by Zhou Xia.

Shaking his head slightly, Wang Chengpeng thought to himself that Zhou Xia really wouldn't shed a tear until he saw the coffin, and his mental fortitude was even more outstanding. He was a master at turning black into white.

However cunning and treacherous he may be, he is useless in the face of absolute facts.

Thinking this, Wang Chengpeng spoke to the two police officers:
"Officer, this matter cannot be determined solely based on Zhou Xia's one-sided account."

"Since he disregards his reputation and has done such a shameless thing, then I naturally have no need to continue to keep my promise and cover it up for him."

"Now I'll start making up a story, a good story."

"However, my story is supported by solid evidence, and I would appreciate it if you two officers could verify its authenticity."

Thinking this, Wang Chengpeng reached into his pocket and pulled out a photocopy of the IOU.

Although the original was given to Zhu Hong, Wang Chengpeng couldn't have been completely unprepared, so he naturally made several more copies of the IOU.

With such compelling evidence, Wang Chengpeng believed that as long as the two police officers in front of him weren't blind, they should be able to see the truth of the matter.

As for his initial promise to keep quiet?

Sorry, since Zhou Xia brought this upon himself, Wang Chengpeng has no reason to indulge him.

However, considering that he needed to buy Song Wenxin some more time, Wang Chengpeng did not start telling the story directly, but deliberately slammed the photocopy of the IOU on the table.

It was not only slapped on the table, but also placed extremely close to Zhou Xia, so that Zhou Xia could see the contents of the IOU copy at a glance.

Deliberately slowing down his speech, Wang Chengpeng calmly said:
"Since Comrade Zhou also wants to hear this story, then I will now begin to fabricate it."

"After hearing the story, the police officer can take a good look at the evidence I provided. The situation might take a turn for the better."

Upon hearing Wang Chengpeng's confident words, Zhou Xia was immediately startled and subconsciously looked at the photocopy of the IOU on the table. Sure enough, he saw the contents that were extremely familiar to him.

Familiar handwriting, familiar content, familiar handprints.
Although it was in black and white, the content was exactly the same as the IOU I had written back then.

Zhou Xia was shocked and cursed inwardly: Damn it, this bastard doesn't trust me and even left a copy as proof?

If the police see a copy of this IOU, not only will the extortion case not be prosecuted, but my reputation will also be ruined.

Seeing that Wang Chengpeng was about to speak, seeing that the bad things he had done were about to be exposed, and seeing that he was about to fall into an abyss of no return, Zhou Xia made a difficult decision.

A glint of ruthlessness flashed in Zhou Xia's eyes as he muttered, "You forced me to do this!"

Just as Wang Chengpeng was about to speak, Zhou Xia made a move that shocked everyone.

In front of the police and Wang Chengpeng, he actually took advantage of the moment when everyone's attention was drawn to Wang Chengpeng to snatch the photocopy of the IOU that Wang Chengpeng had placed on the table.

Not only that, he tore the IOU to shreds, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it, finally swallowing it with relish.

By the time Mao Weiming realized something was wrong, it was too late; the photocopy of the IOU was nowhere to be found on the table.
How delicious can paper be?
But compared to the benefits of eating the photocopy of the IOU, Zhou Xia gritted his teeth and swallowed the shredded paper in his mouth.

Eating this paper won't kill you, but if you don't eat it, you'll probably regret it for the rest of your life.

With a livid face, Mao Weiming slammed his fist on the table and stood up, shouting angrily at Zhou Xia:
"Zhou Xia, what are you doing?"

"You actually dared to destroy evidence right in front of us. I think you think you're living too well."

Faced with Mao Weiming's roar, Zhou Xia adopted a nonchalant attitude, saying indifferently:
"What evidence? I didn't see anything at all, and the claim of destroying evidence is utter nonsense."

"Even though you're a police officer, I won't accept this baseless slander."

"How could I, a law-abiding citizen, possibly do something like openly destroying evidence?"

After saying that, Zhou Xia looked at Wang Chengpeng provocatively and said:
"Weren't you just going to make up a story? Now you can start your performance."

"But if you don't have any evidence, be careful, or I'll sue you for defamation!"

Zhou Xia's actions were entirely within Wang Chengpeng's expectations; in fact, it could be said that this was the result of his own orchestration.

However, Wang Chengpeng looked utterly panicked, glancing at Zhou Xia in disbelief, before turning to the two police officers beside him for help:
"Officer, I only chose to hand over the evidence because I trust you."

"But now Zhou Xia has eaten the evidence right in front of you, what do you think I should do?"

"I believe the truth is already very clear. If he didn't have something to hide, how could he have done such a thing?"

After saying that, Wang Chengpeng added, "If I snatch this receipt now and keep it, will I be free of any problems?"

At this point, Wang Chengpeng seemed to have made up his mind, slowly reaching out to grab the receipt on the table. In the blink of an eye, Mao Weiming snatched the receipt from the table and carefully protected it.

Are you kidding me? If this kind of blatant acceptance of evidence were to happen twice in a row in front of him, would he care about saving face?
To prevent Wang Chengpeng from misunderstanding, Mao Weiming patiently explained:
"Many people have already seen this receipt. Even if you eat it, it won't change the fact that it exists."

Then, with a gloomy face, he said to Zhou Xia, "Comrade Zhou, look at the mess you've made."

"I believe you know the truth better than we do."

"I'm too lazy to hold you accountable for destroying evidence, but don't go too far."

“Let’s both back down. You don’t report Comrade Wang, and Comrade Wang doesn’t accuse you of spreading rumors. Let’s just let this matter go.”

In Mao Weiming's view, this was the best solution, and it could even be said that Zhou Xia had gotten a great deal.

After all, if he didn't have something to hide, how could he have done something like swallowing evidence whole?

Since Wang Chengpeng truly has evidence, then charging Zhou Xia with spreading rumors is absolutely no problem.

Moreover, the charge of destroying evidence is also quite serious.

Now that everything is peaceful, Zhou Xia has definitely made a fortune!

However, even with Mao Weiming's seemingly considerate plan for Zhou Xia, he was extremely dissatisfied. He frowned and said:
"What? Are you police officers planning to protect this scoundrel who's extorting money from me?"

"What makes you think I'm guilty? I didn't do anything; I'm just a victim of extortion!"

"Swallow the evidence raw? Why don't you cut open my stomach and see if there's any evidence inside?"

Faced with Zhou Xia's unreasonable arguments, Mao Weiming felt like his lungs were about to explode with anger.

Zhou Xia's behavior was practically blatant harassment; he clearly didn't respect Zhou Xia, a police officer.

Unfortunately, Zhou Xia's shamelessness had a very good effect. If Wang Chengpeng didn't have any other crucial evidence, and Zhou Xia forcibly judged him to be innocent, he really couldn't withstand the investigation.

This feeling of knowing the other party has a problem but being unable to punish them truly made Mao Weiming feel extremely frustrated.

Seeing that Mao Weiming was speechless after his retort, Zhou Xia burst into laughter and said:

“All the evidence points to Wang Chengpeng; he did indeed extort a large sum of money from me.”

"Resolve this matter immediately. I need to go home and sleep with my wife. Who has time to sit in this cold interrogation room listening to stories?"

Taking a deep breath, Mao Weiming forced himself to calm down and turned to Wang Chengpeng, saying:

"Comrade Wang, although we believe you are innocent."

"But the police are all about evidence. If you can't provide crucial evidence, frankly, it will be very disadvantageous for you."

Mao Weiming was practically implying that he should quickly produce new evidence, which made Wang Chengpeng breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Judging from the current situation, the other party has not been bribed by Zhou Xia; they simply want to end the case as soon as possible, which makes their stance slightly biased.

In this situation, deciding when Zhou Xia should die is entirely up to him.

However, in order to buy time, Wang Chengpeng decided to stall for time a little longer and enjoy the wonderful scene of making the other party fall from heaven to hell.

Chao Zhouxia gave him a thumbs up, and Wang Chengpeng said with a face full of admiration:
"Comrade Zhou really has good teeth; he actually swallowed that piece of paper that was so hard to swallow."

"If it were me, I probably wouldn't be able to eat even one piece."

In Zhou Xia's view, Wang Chengpeng's words were an absolute show of weakness, a sign that he had run out of options, and he immediately said smugly:
"What paper? I didn't see it at all. Don't try to spread rumors and slander me out of thin air, or I'll sue you for defamation."

"We're discussing your blackmailing of me right now, so don't change the subject."

"Bastard, your tragic end was already sealed the moment you chose to blackmail me."

“You can’t do illegal or disorderly things. I hope you can learn a lesson from this in prison.”

The thought of Wang Chengpeng's soon-to-be-defeat expression filled Zhou Xia with immense satisfaction.

Wang Chengpeng was cunning; he even prepared photocopies.

But it doesn't matter, he's still not smart enough. He just handed the evidence to me, and deserved to be outsmarted by me.

However, Zhou Xia was disappointed. Wang Chengpeng's expression showed no sign of frustration; in fact, he appeared quite calm, as if he had other trump cards up his sleeve.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xia's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly had a bad feeling.

As expected, Wang Chengpeng smiled slightly, and surprisingly reached into his pocket again, saying:

"Comrade Zhou, photocopying is just a matter of a little money. How could you be so naive as to think that I only photocopied one IOU?"

More than one?
Cold sweat began to trickle down Zhou Xia's forehead. He never imagined that Wang Chengpeng would be so shameless.

Not only did they secretly photocopy the IOU, but they also photocopied more than one copy.

Seeing the two police officers eyeing him menacingly, Zhou Xia knew that he no longer had the chance to snatch the copy of the IOU and swallow it as he had done before.

However, just as Zhou Xia's expression was uncertain, he saw Wang Chengpeng open his hand, but it was empty; there was no copy of the IOU.

He's just scaring himself. Wang Chengpeng is bluffing all along; he doesn't actually have a copy of the second IOU.

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Zhou Xia immediately felt his strength returning to his body, and laughed loudly, saying:
"Where's the evidence?"

"After all that rummaging, all you managed to pull out was a little air?"

"Using air as proof? I really admire your idea."

Faced with Zhou Xia's mockery, Wang Chengpeng chuckled and said:
"With someone as strong as you by my side, how could I possibly be foolish as to take out something so important again?"

"Officer, I request that Comrade Zhou Xia be removed from the interrogation room to prevent a recurrence of what just happened."

"It can be done once, but not twice."

"If this kind of outrageous thing could happen in the police station, right under the noses of the police officers, I would seriously question your professionalism."

(End of this chapter)