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

Liu Jun sat in the interrogation chair, his hands cuffed to a metal plate in front of him. His head was lowered, his eyes fixed on the table, and he dared not look up.

Zhao Gang sat opposite him, and Ma Jun sat next to him.

On the table were a voice recorder, notepad, and laptop, and a police officer was responsible for taking notes.

The light from the incandescent bulb shone directly on Liu Jun's face, making him look pale, with deep eye bags, chapped lips, and messy hair.

"Liu Jun, do you know why you're being arrested?"

Liu Jun lowered his head, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"have no idea."

"Don't know?" Zhao Gang sneered. "Then think about what you've done that you shouldn't have done recently."

Liu Jun remained silent.

Zhao Gang picked up a photo from the table and pushed it in front of Liu Jun.

The photo is a screenshot from the surveillance camera in the corridor of Liuhe Hotel—at 00:43 a.m., two men wearing black hoods appeared in the frame, one taller and one shorter.

The image was blurry, and faces were not clearly visible, but the figures and walking postures matched those of Liu Jun and Wang Lei.

"Is that you?" Zhao Gang pointed to the shorter figure with his finger.

Liu Jun stared at the photo for a few seconds, then lowered his head.

"Yes."

The sound was very soft, almost inaudible.

"Who is the other person?"

"Wang Lei".

"What are you doing at the Liuhe Hotel?"

Liu Jun fell silent again.

His hand slowly clenched on the metal plate, and Zhao Gang did not urge him.

After waiting for more than half a minute, Liu Jun finally spoke, his voice trembling slightly.

"Director Qian sent us."

"Director Qian? Qian Cheng?"

"Yes."

"What did he send you to do?"

"He said... someone asked us to do something." Liu Jun swallowed hard. "To teach someone a lesson."

"Who authorized you to do this?"

Liu Jun hesitated for a few seconds.

He said it was "Secretary Fang".

"Secretary Fang? Fang Zhiwen?"

Liu Jun nodded without saying anything.

Zhao Gang glanced at Ma Jun and the police officer next to him, and the two nodded slightly before continuing to speak.

"Tell me the whole story from beginning to end."

Liu Jun licked his chapped lips and began to recall the details of that time.

"That afternoon, Director Qian called me. He said, 'Something's going on tonight. Find someone and get ready.' I asked what it was, and he said, 'Secretary Fang wants you to do something.' He told me not to ask any more questions."

"and then?"

"I found Wang Lei. That night we went to the Liuhe Hotel, and Director Qian gave us a room key—no, a spare key. He said the person was staying on the fourth floor."

"Did he give you a spare key?"

"Yes. He said to wait for someone to come back before taking action, so as not to cause any major trouble."

Zhao Gang wrote it down in his notebook—Qian Cheng provided a spare key, indicating that someone inside the hotel was cooperating.

"and then?"

"We were waiting outside when we saw someone come out of the hotel and go to a convenience store. We followed him, intending to make a move outside, but he ran into the health center, and we couldn't catch him."

"And then you went back to the hotel?"

"Yes. We waited for him to come back in the corridor. We waited for a long time before he came back. We waited at the door for more than half an hour before we made our move. Director Qian said not to rush, to wait until they were all asleep."

"Who opened the door?"

"I."

"How did you open it?"

"The key. It was given to me by Director Qian."

"And then what?"

"I hit him. I held him down, and Wang Lei struck him a few times before leaving."

"Where did you hit?"

"On my face, on my body... I can't quite remember."

Zhao Gang asked, "What did Qian Cheng give you afterward?"

Liu Jun paused for a moment.

"Twenty thousand yuan. Twenty thousand yuan per person."

"cash?"

"Yes."

"When was it given to you?"

"The next day, Director Qian asked me to go to his office. The envelope was in his drawer, and he told me to take it."

Zhao Gang asked if there was anything else to add, but Liu Jun shook his head.

"signature."

The officer next to him pushed the statement in front of him.

Liu Jun's hands were trembling, and it took him a long time to finish signing, stroke by stroke.

Zhao Gang stood up and said to the policeman at the door, "Take him away."

When Wang Lei was brought into the interrogation room, his legs were weak and he was swaying as he walked.

……

After interrogating Liu Jun, Zhao Gang and the other two went to the second interrogation room.

He cut to the chase: "Wang Lei, do you know why you were arrested?"

Wang Lei met his gaze and answered dismissively.

"have no idea."

Zhao Gang sneered and, just like before, pushed the surveillance screenshot in front of him.

"Is this you?"

Wang Lei glanced at it and gave a calm reply.

"no."

"Wang Lei, are you still trying to deny it?!"

Ma Jun, who was standing next to him, stood up and slammed his hand on the table, making a "bang" sound.

Wang Lei was startled and shrank back.

Zhao Gang raised his hand, gesturing for Ma Jun to sit down.

"Liu Jun has already confessed that you were the one who did it. Wang Lei, how long are you going to keep denying it?!"

Zhao Gang picked up the interrogation record, waved it in front of Wang Lei, and his voice became stern.

"If you continue to resist, you should know what the consequences will be!"

Wang Lei looked at the interrogation record in Zhao Gang's hand, his lips trembled, his tone softened, and his voice shook slightly.

"He...he said it?"

"I told you. He was the one who held the man down; you were the one who did it. Qian Cheng instructed him, and Fang Zhiwen gave the orders. Twenty thousand yuan per person." Zhao Gang leaned back in his chair, looking at him. "Do you want to tell us too?"

Wang Lei remained silent for a moment before beginning to tell the truth.

"Liu Jun called me. He said Director Qian has work to do, worth 20,000 yuan."

"What kind of work?"

"Hitting someone."

"Who are you going to hit?"

"I don't know. We'll find out when he gets there."

"And then what?"

"Liu Jun said the target was a young man from the audit team. Director Qian said not to maim him, just scare him a little."

"Who did it?"

"I hit him a few times, and Liu Jun hit him too."

The officers nearby took notes in their notebooks—Liu Jun also participated; Liu Jun had previously said, "I held him down, and Wang Lei made the move," but their accounts differed.

"Qian Cheng said it was 'Secretary Fang' who said it, but you think it was Fang Zhiwen?"

Wang Lei nodded.

"In Liuhe Town, there is only one person who is called Secretary Fang."

Zhao Gang then asked about a few more details—what time he took the taxi, how long the ride lasted, where he went afterward, and how he received the money.

Wang Lei's account was basically consistent with Liu Jun's, and the details matched up.

"signature."

After Wang Lei signed the document, he was taken away.

Zhao Gang sat in the interrogation room, placing the two transcripts together and flipping through them page by page.

The two men's testimonies corroborated each other—Qian Cheng made a phone call saying, "Secretary Fang asked you to do something"; provided a spare key; paid afterward; the target of the assault was Chen Dapeng; and the assault took place at the Liuhe Hotel.

That's enough, that's enough to warrant Qian Cheng's criminal detention.

Zhao Gang stood up, walked out of the interrogation room, and said to Ma Jun, "Organize the materials. Report the arrest first thing tomorrow morning."

Ma Jun nodded.

Zhao Gang walked to the end of the corridor, opened the window, and lit a cigarette.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Su Wanqing: "They've confessed everything. Qian Cheng instructed them, and Fang Zhiwen gave the orders."

Less than half a minute later, Su Wanqing replied:

"Excellent, County Chief He has been waiting for this news."