Qi Tongwei at the start: Not relying on Liang Lu, but winning by a single move against Heaven.

Zarta was very efficient and quickly located Li Guofu's prison, and arranged a visitation time with him.

The following day, Qi Tongwei and Zharta also came to the city to visit Li Guofu.

The prison was very cooperative, arranging a separate room for visits and not restricting the time.

Around noon, Qi Tongwei finally met Li Guofu, who was serving his sentence.

Li Guofu looked much older. He wasn't handcuffed and entered the room accompanied by a prison guard.

Upon reaching the meeting table, Li Guofu glanced at Qi Tongwei but did not sit down.

He only slowly sat down in the chair after the prison guard gave the order.

From the moment he entered the room, Qi Tongwei observed his every move.

Seeing his former county party secretary in such a state, Qi Tongwei couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.

He watched as Li Guofu slowly sat down, frowned slightly, and asked softly.

"How are you? Are you getting used to it in there?"

Li Guofu glanced at him, gave a wry smile, and said softly.

"What's there to be used to or not used to... We're all paid by the government, just in a different place..."

His voice wasn't loud, and his tone carried a hint of mockery, yet it couldn't hide his heartache.

He paused slightly before speaking again.

"Don't pity me, I deserve this... There are benefits to being here."

To be honest, I haven't had a good night's sleep since the mining accident... Now I can finally sleep soundly.

Qi Tongwei sighed, unsure of what to say.

He steadied himself, glanced at Li Guofu, and asked in a deep voice.

"I came here today to ask you about something... The county has restarted the Bailong River water diversion project."

The application to resume work has been approved... I'd like to ask, what was the reason for the initial work stoppage?

Li Guofu was taken aback, glanced at Qi Tongwei, and his breathing became somewhat heavy.

"It's a good thing that the Bailong River water diversion project can resume... You're better than me, a good Party Secretary..."

He paused slightly, his voice becoming louder and even trembling slightly.

"Secretary Qi, I have to remind you... the original design plan has problems, don't use it anymore..."

Construction was halted because of design flaws, a misjudgment of the geological conditions, and the selection of the wrong direction...

The culvert collapse not only resulted in deaths but also caused significant economic losses...

Qi Tongwei didn't respond. Instead, he took out a piece of cement from his pocket and asked a prison guard next to him.

"Comrade, can I show this to him?"

The prison guard walked over, took the cement block, looked at it, placed it in front of Li Guofu, and said in a deep voice.

"Li Guofu, stop trying anything funny and cooperate properly..."

Li Guofu didn't respond, glanced at Qi Tongwei, and picked up the cement block on the table to examine it carefully.

Seeing him pick up the cement block, Qi Tongwei spoke again.

"This is a piece of cement that was pried out of the culvert... Can you spot the problem...?"

Before Qi Tongwei could finish speaking, Li Guofu was taken aback and immediately looked up at Qi Tong.

He unconsciously tightened his grip, crushing the cement block in his hand into several pieces, which fell onto the table.

He looked down at the cement block on the table and exclaimed in surprise.

"This...this is cement brought out of the culvert? It's cement used for reinforcement..."

He had only spoken halfway when he immediately looked at Qi Tongwei and asked with wide eyes.

"Why is this cement so bad... it crumbles as soon as I touch it... this, this isn't right..."

Qi Tongwei snorted coldly, squinted at him, and said in a deep voice.

"What's wrong? The cement grade is wrong, and a lot of lime has been added..."

"You're in charge of this project, and you've requested the reinforcements—how could you not know about them?"

Li Guofu was stunned again, his gaze towards Qi Tongwei filled with astonishment.

After a long silence, he rubbed the cement in his hand hard, and asked with a wry smile.

"The landslide back then...wasn't due to geological issues...but because of problems with the materials?"

Qi Tongwei frowned slightly as he looked at his expression and continued to ask.

"I went to the culvert site and found that not only is there a problem with the cement..."

Not a single steel bar was added during the entire reinforcement process... You really didn't know?

Li Guofu threw the cement in his hand on the table and said with a wry smile.

"Secretary Qi, do you have any cigarettes? Could I have one?"

Qi Tongwei didn't respond, but glanced at the prison guard beside him.

Seeing the prison guard nod, Qi Tongwei took out a cigarette and lit it for Li Guofu.

Li Guofu took a deep drag of his cigarette, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said in a deep voice.

"I remember the reinforcement plan very clearly... it was reviewed at least three times..."

We need to use 425 cement to build a cage-like reinforcement system... The entire reinforcement length is 4 kilometers...

At this point, he took another deep drag of his cigarette and looked at Qi Tongwei with a wry smile.

"I truly never expected... that Zhang Wei would dare to deceive his superiors and subordinates... to pass off inferior goods as superior ones..."

Qi Tongwei stared intently at his face and asked in a deep voice.

"Zhang Wei? You mean you don't know anything about the situation at the culvert site..."

"No one has reported the specifics to you; everything is Zhang Weiqian's doing?"

Li Guofu glanced at Qi Tongwei, let out a sneer, and his voice became dejected.

"Secretary Qi, I'm already this old... a sixteen-year sentence or a twenty-six-year sentence makes no difference..."

"I'll be spending the rest of my life here... I have no reason to lie to you..."

He paused slightly, took another deep drag of his cigarette, inhaling quite forcefully, which made him cough.

Seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, Qi Tongwei asked again.

"I saw log supports inside the cave...which means someone discovered the problem and took remedial action..."

According to you, the remedial plan wasn't decided by you either?

Li Guofu stopped coughing and spoke with a wry smile.

"Yes, back then, I was indeed the one who spearheaded the Bailong River water diversion project..."

To be honest, I treated this project as the final piece of my retirement project...

The time spent on surveying, designing, project approval, and securing funding took almost a whole year...

I really didn't expect Zhang Wei to be so bold... he even dared to tamper with public works projects...

At this point, he sighed, his tone becoming quite emotional and tinged with regret.

"Sigh... if I had just held on a little longer during the mine disaster... maybe things wouldn't be like this today..."

Qi Tongwei glanced at him, keenly noticing the unusual tone in his words, and immediately asked.

"What do you mean? What do you mean by telling you to hold on a little longer?"

Li Guofu was taken aback, glanced at him, shook his head with a wry smile, and changed the subject.

"I spearheaded the project, but Zhang Wei was responsible for the specific details of construction and procurement."

I really didn't expect him to dare to switch the goods... and then dare to conceal the cause of the accident after it happened...

After hearing what he said, Qi Tongwei curled his lip, snorted coldly, and said in a deep voice.

"If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. You've set a good example. You dared to cover up the August 13th mine disaster..."

Zhang Wei was even worse...not only did he cover up the accident, but he also dared to cut corners...

Li Guofu was speechless after hearing this, and could only lower his head and smoke.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Qi Tongwei continued to ask in a deep voice.

"Let me ask you again... where did the actual construction plan go?"

Why aren't the Water Resources Bureau and the Archives listed? Does anyone else know anything about this project...?

Upon hearing this, Li Guofu glanced at Qi Tongwei, his expression turning somewhat strange, and said in a deep voice.

"Can't you figure it out? Zhang Wei must have been afraid of being exposed... so he destroyed the plan..."

He paused slightly, stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and asked a question.

"Speaking of those involved, something comes to mind..."

Did you see a little girl named Tangyuan when you raided the Jinhu illegal coal mine?