Rebirth: My college entrance exam score was stolen? I turned the tables and made a billion.

"Didn't go to class?"

Su Qin froze on the spot.

"He didn't come home for lunch after school. I thought he'd gone to some classmate's house for a free meal again!"

Teacher Zhang was standing at the door, and was stunned when she heard this.

The parent doesn't know the situation either?

Where did that child go?

He quickly spoke up.

"Xiaofan's mom, Xiaofan is usually naughty, but he never skips class."

"Has...something happened?!"

Su Qin's heart skipped a beat.

Her intuition told her that something must have happened to her son.

She threw down the newspaper, rushed to the coffee table in the living room, grabbed the telephone receiver, and started spinning the dial pad.

……

At the same time.

In the county committee building, in the second conference room, an old-fashioned ceiling fan was spinning overhead.

Lin Weimin sat in the center of the oval table, holding a Zhonghua brand pencil in his hand, taking notes in his notebook.

Several heads of functional departments were sitting below.

Director Zheng of the county public security bureau was giving a report in a loud voice, holding the materials.

Suddenly, the black landline phone on the coffee table against the wall rang.

Secretary Xiao Wang quickly answered the phone.

After listening for a couple of sentences, his expression changed slightly. He covered the microphone, walked to Lin Weimin's side, bent down, and lowered his voice.

"Boss, it's your wife calling. She sounded very anxious."

Lin Weimin frowned.

He had specifically told Su Qin that there was a meeting this afternoon.

Su Qin, however, was always sensible and never called the conference room.

Unless there's some really urgent matter at home that you can't get through.

Could it be?

He put down his pencil and took the microphone.

"Old Lin! Xiaofan is missing!"

As soon as I brought the receiver to my ear, Su Qin's voice, trembling with tears, came through.

Lin Weimin moved the microphone slightly away, trying to calm him down.

"I'm in a meeting. We can talk about it when I get home from get off work."

"What's the point of having a meeting?! Teacher Zhang has already come to our house!"

Su Qin didn't listen to any of that and spoke very quickly.

"Xiaofan didn't come back at noon, and she didn't go to class in the afternoon either!"

"Even if he's usually a troublemaker, he wouldn't just disappear for no reason. Something must have happened!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Weimin frowned even more deeply.

"What could possibly happen to a young man, a teenager? He's probably just playing around and lost track of time."

"Alright, stop thinking nonsense at home. I'll send someone to look around the neighborhood right away."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Weimin waved to Xiao Wang.

"Go take a walk around the cinema plaza and help me find Xiaofan."

"Last night he kept saying he wanted to go there to buy shaved ice today."

"That brat, find him and bring him back to me immediately."

Secretary Xiao Wang received the task and jogged downstairs.

He borrowed a 28-inch bicycle from the security department, straddled it, and pedaled furiously.

A dozen minutes later, Xiao Wang arrived at the plaza in front of the movie theater, covered in sweat.

The sun was scorching at three in the afternoon.

The corner that should have been packed with people queuing up to buy shaved ice was now mostly empty.

Pools of red and green sugar water and watermelon juice bubbled under the sun, attracting a swarm of flies.

Xiao Wang felt a pang of doubt.

This stall looks like it's been robbed by bandits.

He pushed his cart to the other side and approached an older woman selling regular popsicles.

The old woman was fanning herself with a palm leaf fan, her eyes constantly glancing at the pile of mess.

"Auntie, I have something to ask you."

"Where did the young man who used to sell shaved ice go?"

Xiao Wang took a handful of sunflower seeds out of his pocket and handed them over.

The older woman didn't take the sunflower seeds; she waved her hand and leaned closer in, speaking in a low voice.

"Oh dear young comrade, you're late."

"What happened around noon was terrible. A bunch of police officers came, looking like thugs, and they just overturned the whole place!"

Xiao Wang was stunned.

The older woman pursed her lips and continued muttering.

"I heard them shouting that they were cracking down on some kind of hooligan gang and bullying! They handcuffed everyone, threw them into a three-wheeled motorcycle, and took them away."

"That shaved ice vendor was such a kind person, his food was delicious and clean, yet he was unfairly labeled a vagrant!"

"How many people were arrested?"

Xiao Wang asked casually.

He was about to go back and report that the stall had been shut down, and that Lin Xiaofan probably hadn't bought anything and had gone off to play somewhere else, so he would look for it again.

"Three!"

The woman held up three fingers and gestured.

"Two people selling shaved ice, and a young man buying something from next to the stall!"

"Oh dear, that young man was dressed neatly, in a white shirt and black pants, looking like a schoolboy, yet they dragged him into the car and drove him away! What a tragedy!"

White shirt, black pants! A schoolboy! Exactly three!

Xiao Wang's head was buzzing when he heard this.

Lin Xiaofan usually wears a white shirt!

The current situation is...

The only son of the executive deputy county head went to the square to buy shaved ice, but was mistaken by the local police as an accomplice of the stall owner and a social vagrant, and was arrested and put in jail.

Xiao Wang's legs went weak, and he almost crashed to the ground along with his car.

He didn't have time to talk to the old lady; he suddenly turned the bicycle around and pedaled away, leaving a blur in his wake.

……

Inside the conference room, Director Zheng was still reading from the manuscript in his hand.

"...During this period, we have launched a crackdown, focusing on vagrants and loiterers on the streets, which has curbed the signs of lawlessness and disorder at the source, and the social atmosphere has been significantly improved..."

"Bang!"

The two solid wood doors were suddenly pushed open and slammed against the wall with a loud bang.

All the cadres in the room were startled and turned to look at the door.

Xiao Wang was deathly pale, his shirt was soaked through, and he was panting heavily as he stumbled into the conference room.

Lin Weimin's face darkened.

Although Xiao Wang is one of our own, it's still quite improper for him to be in this kind of situation!

"Xiao Wang, what's wrong with you? You're so clumsy! Can't you see we're in a meeting?"

Xiao Wang doesn't care about any of that.

He lunged at the table, leaned close to Lin Weimin's ear, and his teeth chattered.

"County Magistrate, there's been a huge mess!"

"I just went to the square to look for it, and I asked the people nearby..."

"Xiaofan... Xiaofan bought shaved ice at a stall at noon and was arrested by the county police as an accomplice of hooligans, and taken to the detention center of the Chengguan Town Public Security Brigade!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Weimin's hand holding the pencil froze in mid-air.

Not only Lin Weimin was stunned, but everyone in the office was stunned.

The entire conference room fell silent, with only the buzzing of the ceiling fan audible.

"Snap!"

The Zhonghua brand pencil in Lin Weimin's hand was broken in two.

He suddenly stood up.

Lin Weimin, who was always polite and always smiling, was experiencing violent chest heaving.

Subsequently, in front of the heads of more than a dozen townships and bureaus across the county, the executive deputy county head directly swore.

"damn it!"

"When did my son become part of a gang of thugs?!"

Lin Weimin slammed the broken pencil in his hand onto the table.

Those below looked at each other in bewilderment, none daring to utter a sound.

Lin Weimin did not stop.

"To be honest, I've seen that young man selling shaved ice in the square before!"

"He has all the necessary licenses and permits, and he's running a legitimate business with a few people, earning his tuition fees with his own hands. He's a prospective college student!"

"How come in the mouths of these people down there, they've become local bullies and thugs who bully and harass the market!"

Upon hearing these words, Director Zheng, who was sitting to the side, felt extremely uncomfortable, and his face visibly fell down.

He was just reciting the results of the crackdown, saying that public security had improved.

As a result, his own men, lacking common sense, arrested the county magistrate's son, mistaking him for a hooligan?

They even arrested a college student who was seriously trying to start a business?

He quickly stood up, his voice cracking.

"County Magistrate Lin, this...this must be a mistake by your subordinates, there must be some misunderstanding!"

"I'll verify the situation by phone right away and make them release him immediately!"

"Verify?"

Lin Weimin suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Director Zheng.

"By the time you finish your calls and verify everything, who knows what kind of torture they'll have been put through in that cell!"

Lin Weimin had worked at the grassroots level and was very familiar with some underhanded methods.

Lin Weimin grabbed the briefcase from the back of the chair.

"This meeting is canceled today!"

He strode out, but stopped abruptly at the door and turned back to call out names.

"Director Zheng, you're coming with me right now!"

"I want to see for myself whether these people are using the power given to them by the state to maintain order, or whether they are settling personal scores, or even engaging in corruption and pushing innocent people to their deaths!"

Director Zheng dared not utter a single word of dissent. He grabbed his hat, wiped his sweat, and scrambled after him as he ran outside.

A few minutes later, a jeep roared out of the county government compound, kicking up a cloud of yellow dust.