Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

Tang Weidong did not deny it outright like Xing Laosan, nor did he rush to defend himself like Wen Jingyao.

He remained silent for a long while, then spoke in an unusually calm tone, as if he were presenting a pre-prepared performance report:

"Director Jiang, I have worked in the Mining Management Section for more than 20 years. When I took over this position in 2002, sand and gravel mining in Shiqiao County was still in a primitive state—illegal mining, unlicensed operation, and frequent safety accidents. I spent nearly 10 years bringing the county's sand and gravel mining into a standardized management track, establishing a public bidding system, and improving the mining rights transfer procedures."

The sand and gravel market in Shiqiao County has transformed from disorderly competition to orderly management, with annual output value increasing from several million to tens of millions, and fiscal revenue increasing more than tenfold.

The mining rights for every sand and gravel pit in Xiahe Town were transferred through a public process, with bidding announcements, an evaluation committee, and a notification of the winning bid. There were no procedural problems.

"The fact that there were no procedural problems means that three of the four companies participating in the bidding were your brother-in-law's accomplices. Their technical proposals contained large sections that were identical word for word. As the head of the relevant department, were you truly unaware of this level of bid-rigging and collusion, or did you tacitly approve it?"

Tang Weidong's eye twitched very slightly, but he quickly regained his composure, his tone remaining steady:

"Bid collusion is illegal, and I have never participated in any bid rigging or collusion. As for the similarities in the bid documents, that is a problem with the bidding companies themselves; the approval department can only review the formal requirements."

"What about river channel supervision and actual mining volume verification? Tang Weidong, over the years, how many sand and gravel pits in the county have you and your enforcement team inspected? How many illegal mining licenses have you revoked? How many orders to cease production have you issued to companies mining beyond their boundaries? But when has your enforcement team ever been to Fusheng? As the head of the mining management department, did you really not discover even once the problems that Fusheng sand and gravel pits were causing damage to farmland, destroying river embankments, over-mining, and affecting the safety of villagers' drinking water?"

Tang Weidong's fingers, which were resting on his knees, tightened slightly.

Jiang Ruolan didn't wait for his reply. She opened the documents in front of her and began to read them one by one.

The transcript of Fan Zhixing kneeling on the ruins, Liu Cuifang's account of pushing a tireless tricycle for three miles, and the corroborating evidence of Ding Dazhuang being cornered in an alley and threatened, "Next time your wife goes out, you'd better watch out"—after reading the last document, she closed the folder and said in an extremely calm and cold tone:

"The root of all these people's misfortunes lies in your pen. You approved the best section of the river for your brother-in-law, who then used your permit to seize other people's land. Xing Laosan used the scraps left over from your brother-in-law's meals to bulldoze other people's pig farms. Behind every house they demolished, every piece of farmland they destroyed, and every tire they cut, there was your signature and your stamp. Did you think that just using your pen without getting blood on your hands meant you weren't committing a crime? While Fan Zhixing was kneeling on the ruins, digging bricks and tiles with his bare hands, you were making tea in your office. While Liu Cuifang was pushing her tricycle three miles to get a tire repaired, you were approving You Chuanfu's fourth mining license. Your brother-in-law's sand and gravel pit occupied 70% of Xiahe Town's sand and gravel resources. The riverbed was riddled with holes, the riverbanks collapsed, farmland was destroyed, and the people's drinking water was polluted. You didn't have a drop of blood on your hands, but every document you signed was more deadly than Xing Laosan's bulldozer."

Tang Weidong lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.

The only sounds in the interrogation room were the hum of the fluorescent lights and his heavy breathing.

Then he spoke, his voice hoarse and low, as if he were saying to himself:

"I have never accepted cash from anyone. You Chuanfu is my brother-in-law, and it's normal for relatives to have financial dealings. He paid my son's rent, and I accepted it if I wanted to. He renovated my house, which was his way of showing his appreciation as a brother-in-law. If you want to consider all of this as bribery, I have nothing to say. But I have never actively asked for a single penny."

"You never actively solicited anything, but you never refused. You tacitly allowed You Chuanfu to do these things for you, and then gave him the green light in the approval process. This isn't a matter of kinship; it's an exchange of benefits. You used your position to seek benefits for your relatives, and the amount involved is exceptionally large, which constitutes the crimes of bribery and abuse of power. Did you think you could escape legal sanctions by not using cash transactions? Did you think that by disguising everything as loans and gifts between relatives, no one would be able to find out? Tang Weidong, you've been calculating your whole life, but you miscalculated from the very beginning."

Tang Weidong slowly raised his head and looked at Jiang Ruolan.

His lips moved several times, and finally, in a dry voice, he said something that surprised everyone in the interrogation room:

"I have a record of it."

He took a key from the pocket of the white shirt he was wearing when he was taken away, placed it on the table, and pushed it towards him.

The key was made of brass, very small, and worn. There was a small piece of medical tape on the key handle, with a number written on it in ballpoint pen: "3A".

He said the key could open the underground safe at the county branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which contained detailed records of every illegal approval he had handled over the past twenty years—including the person who made the request, the beneficiary company, the falsified data on sand mining volume, and the profit-sharing ratio within the mining management system behind each mining rights approval.

He kept these notes not to report anyone, but to protect himself.

He knew this day would come sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to come so soon.

Jiang Ruolan picked up the key; the brass handle felt cool and heavy in her palm.

The key teeth were worn smooth, clearly a sign of long-term use.

She looked into Tang Weidong's eyes and asked him one last question:

"When you were writing these things down, did you ever think about the farmers whose houses were bulldozed?"

Tang Weidong remained silent for a long time, then said something that surprised even himself:

"I've thought about it. Every time I go down to the village and see those collapsed riverbanks, I take a detour. I don't want to see those people's faces. I know they hate me, but they won't know my name; they'll just curse Xing Laosan and You Chuanfu. I thought that if no one knew, it wouldn't be a crime."

He gave a wry smile, took off his silver-rimmed glasses, and slowly wiped the fog off the lenses with the hem of his shirt, his fingers trembling slightly.

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