I slept with my sister's classmate, and she turned out to be my boss.

2:50 p.m.

Zhao Zhengping's car was parked at the entrance of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection compound.

He didn't let the driver go in; he opened the car door and got out himself.

The security guard in the duty room saw him stand up and greeted him. He didn't say much, wrote his name and the time in the register, and then walked across the courtyard into the building.

The corridor was quiet. When he reached the door of the interview room on the third floor, the door was open.

Chen Yuanda sat on one side of the table, and Hu Yuheng sat next to him with a notebook open in front of him, already waiting.

Zhao Zhengping went in and sat down in the chair opposite Chen Yuanda.

Chen Yuanda skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point: "Governor Zhao, I've invited you here today to double-check a few details about the provincial capital project."

Zhao Zhengping nodded: "Go ahead and ask."

"You mentioned last time that you signed an attachment to meeting minutes, saying it was part of normal work filing. We checked the original's archiving records and approval process and found that the attachment's processing time was almost two months later than the normal filing deadline. Did you notice the date discrepancy when you signed it?"

Zhao Zhengping paused for a moment: "I didn't notice at the time."

Chen Yuanda jotted down a few notes in his notebook, then asked, "That attachment concerns an explanation of a fund adjustment. After being diverted from its original purpose to another stage, the funds ended up in the account of a project in the provincial capital's development zone. This project had financial dealings with a company under Zeng Guosheng's name. Were you aware of the specific destination of these funds at the time?"

Zhao Zhengping's finger paused on the edge of the table: "When I handled that fund, I only knew that the decision to adjust its use had been approved, but I did not further verify its specific destination."

Chen Yuanda didn't press further, but continued, "During Wei Yuan's activities in the provincial capital, did he contact you through any intermediaries?"

Zhao Zhengping remained silent for a moment before speaking: "There was no direct contact."

Chen Yuanda wrote it down in his notebook, without asking any further questions about the "indirect contact".

"Have there been any financial transactions between the company under your daughter Zhao Yike's name and the project in the provincial capital?"

Zhao Zhengping's hand, resting on the edge of the table, remained still, appearing very calm: "I am not aware of the business situation of her company."

Chen Yuanda turned a page in his notebook, his tone as flat as before: "Your daughter sent you a message asking if you needed help leaving the country. We intercepted that message. Did you receive it?"

Zhao Zhengping was startled, and after a few seconds of silence, he said, "Received it."

Would you consider her offer?

His answer was straightforward: "No."

Chen Yuanda didn't press further, closing his notebook: "That's all for today. We'll contact you again if there's anything else that needs verification."

Zhao Zhengping stood up and paused at the door.

He turned to look at Chen Yuanda: "All the situations I know are written in the submitted explanations, nothing is omitted."

Chen Yuanda neither nodded nor shook his head, but simply said, "Okay."

Zhao Zhengping walked out of the interview room, the door closing behind him.

Hu Yuheng looked at Chen Yuanda, his tone somewhat cold: "Director Chen, Zhao Zhengping questioned him twice, but he didn't reveal any substantial information."

"The main problem is that we don't have enough evidence..." Chen Yuanda paused for a moment, "Next, we need to find crucial evidence, especially regarding his daughter Zhao Yike."

"But..." Hu Yuheng said helplessly, "Zhao Yike is overseas..."

Chen Yuanda was silent for a few seconds before speaking: "At this stage of the case, pursuing the fugitive overseas is unavoidable."

Hu Yuheng looked at him: "Director Chen, what do you plan to do?"

"I'm preparing to return to Beijing to report in person. The key to breaking through this case lies overseas, not just with Zhao Yike, but also with Zeng Guosheng..."

Hu Yuheng nodded without saying anything.

She knew all too well that pursuing fugitives overseas was very difficult and time-consuming, and she didn't know when this case would be resolved.

After a moment of silence, she spoke again: "Director Chen, I suggest that the pursuit of fugitives overseas and the investigation within the country be carried out simultaneously, and that we take down the people on the periphery first."

Chen Yuanda nodded: "Okay. You take the lead in compiling all the evidence we have so far. I'll return to Beijing tomorrow. You'll be in charge of the task force here."

……

That evening.

Hu Yuheng convened a meeting with members of the special task force.

There were more than a dozen people in the meeting room. In addition to Chen Dapeng, Liu Chang, Wang Zhi, Lao Zhou and others, there were also people who had been newly transferred from the public security, auditing and other departments.

As the workload of the case increased significantly, Wang Qingquan reported to Han Qiming and added manpower to the task force.

Several stacks of neatly prepared materials were piled on the conference table.

The confession of Zhou Haibo, the account of Qian Yongming, the copy of Liu Guixiang's account book, the communication records of Wei Yuan, the testimony of Gu Xinming, the memorandum provided by You Yuanming, and the written testimony of Liu Yuanzhou.

Each document was arranged in chronological order, with the source and date indicated on the cover.

Hu Yuheng stood by the table and counted the stacks of materials one by one:

"These are the pieces of evidence that have been secured so far, involving personnel from within the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, project management in the provincial capital, and fund transfer processes."

From the perspective of timeline and correlation, a complete chain of evidence has been formed; what is lacking is verification of the flow of overseas funds and direct evidence of Zhao Zhengping's personal involvement in the case.

She paused for a moment: "Director Chen will return to Beijing tomorrow to report. Going forward, we'll proceed with both the overseas pursuit and the domestic investigation simultaneously. Domestically, there's still one important figure who hasn't been apprehended—Yang Xiujiang."

Chen Dapeng looked up at her but didn't say anything.

"The news that Zhao Zhengping was summoned for questioning for the second time this afternoon should have already reached Yang Xiujiang."

Hu Yuheng continued:

"What he does next depends on how he assesses the situation. What we need to do is not wait for him, but continue to move forward with the work at hand."

After the meeting, Chen Dapeng returned to his seat.

He opened his notebook and wrote a line below the record of Zhao Zhengping's interrogation: "Yang Xiujiang—Knowing that Zhao was questioned—Did he voluntarily surrender?"

Then close the notebook.

……

Meanwhile, at Yang Xiujiang's home.

He was sitting in the living room, his phone screen lit up, displaying a message he had just received from an old connection in the provincial capital: "Governor Zhao went to talk to the special investigation team again this afternoon."

He stared at that line of text for a long time.

After he was questioned last time, the task force did not contact him again.

He thought the storm had passed, at least temporarily.

But Zhao Zhengping was called in for questioning again, at the same time—the last time Zhao Zhengping voluntarily submitted materials, this time the task force called him in.

The short interval between the two conversations suggests that the task force likely has new information.

He stood up and walked to the window, looking at the darkening sky outside.

He was pondering a question—whether to wait for the task force to come to him or to go there himself.

He was well aware of the consequences of both options, but he still couldn't make up his mind. He just kept looking at the darkening sky outside the window.

He was thinking to himself:

"There shouldn't be any major breakthroughs yet with Zeng Zhiyuan."

"Otherwise, the task force would have come to my door long ago."

"Wait a little longer..."