Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

3:20 a.m.

When Qi Tongwei came out of No. 17 Cuihu Road, he had the black file folder tucked under his arm and walked twice as fast as he had come.

He opened the car door, got into the driver's seat, tossed the file folder to the passenger seat, started the engine, and sped off.

In the rearview mirror, the lights of the beige building were off, and even the streetlights in the yard were turned off, as if no one had ever been there.

Zhao Lichun is always clean and efficient in his work.

Office of the Deputy Director of the Provincial Public Security Department.

Qi Tongwei locked the door from the inside, took out the files from the file folder, and spread them out on the desk page by page.

Bank statements, transfer vouchers, and approval forms—each document is numbered, and each transaction is timestamped.

Secretary Zhao spent at least half a year preparing this set of things.

He picked up the internal phone on the desk and dialed three extension numbers in a row.

"Old Ma, bring Old Zhou and Little Chen to my office now."

Five minutes later, three people filed in.

The leader, Ma Guoqiang, was the deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Provincial Public Security Bureau. He had followed Qi Tongwei for six years, and the other two were also Qi Tongwei's protégés.

The door closed, the curtains were drawn, and Qi Tongwei pulled out three copies from the pile of documents and pushed them in front of the three people respectively.

"Ouyang Jing, vice president of Jingzhou City Bank, is suspected of accepting bribes."

Ma Guoqiang glanced down at the paper, his finger tapping the paper for a moment.

"Director Qi, Ouyang Jing is Li Dakang's wife."

"Of course I know whose wife she is."

Qi Tongwei put the remaining documents back into the file folder and zipped it up.

"This is a case personally assigned by Secretary Lichun. You just need to carry it out. If the sky falls, someone will hold it up."

Ma Guoqiang exchanged a glance with the other two people and didn't ask any more questions.

"Old Ma, take some men to investigate the heads of these companies involved in the case, and keep a close eye on them."

A finger points to one of the pages, where a name is circled in red.

"Wang Moulin from Jingzhou Hongda Building Materials, this man gave money to Ouyang Jing, so we should take him into custody first."

"Old Zhou, go to the IT department and get Ouyang Jing's communication records and travel history for the past month. I need to see them within half an hour."

"Xiao Chen, contact Captain Lu of the Special Police Detachment and have him assemble and stand by. There might be an operation tonight."

The three of them nodded in unison, then turned and left.

The office fell silent again.

Qi Tongwei leaned back in his chair, pulled out an address book from the drawer, flipped to the H column, and swiped his finger across a string of numbers.

Lü Liang, Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Handong Province.

A member of the Han University gang.

The phone rang four or five times before being answered.

"Who is it, in the middle of the night...?"

The voice from Lü Liang was muffled, clearly indicating he had been pulled out of bed.

"Old Lu, it's me, Qi Tongwei."

"Director Qi? Do you know what time it is?"

"Isn't this because good things are happening and I'm thinking of you?"

Qi Tongwei pulled his chair forward and rested his elbows on the table.

"There's a case that requires your cooperation. It involves a bank vice president who accepted bribes. I need you to issue a summons."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Which bank's vice president?"

"Jingzhou City Bank, Ouyang Jing."

Another silence followed, this time even longer.

"Tongwei, are you kidding me? Ouyang Jing is Li Dakang's wife. I have to report this kind of case to Ji Changming first, and then he has to report it to the provincial party committee—"

"Old Lu."

Qi Tongwei interrupted him.

"How many years have you been in the position of deputy director? Seven years? Or eight? Aren't you tired of it?"

There was no response on the other end of the phone.

"To tell you the truth, this is Secretary Lichun's idea. Your bureau chief, Chen Hai, is still being held in the military detention center and won't be out anytime soon. Seize this opportunity; once it's done, I'll take you to see Secretary Lichun."

Lü Liang's breathing became clearer through the receiver, and the sounds of him turning over in bed stopped.

Chen Hai.

Chen Hai, who was seven or eight years younger than him, had been promoted rapidly thanks to his father Chen Yanshi's connections, and now sat above him, pointing fingers and giving orders.

How many years have I worked in the anti-corruption bureau? How many cases have I handled? In the end, I still have to be the deputy of someone who got promoted through connections.

When are the paperwork required?

"Before this morning."

"OK."

The phone hangs up.

Qi Tongwei closed the address book and threw it back into the drawer.

Half an hour later, Lao Zhou returned from the information department, carrying a stack of printing papers.

"Director Qi, Ouyang Jing's communication records and travel history are all here."

Qi Tongwei took it and flipped through a few pages, his finger pausing on a line of records.

It's after get off work hours at Building 22, Dihaoyuan.

I go there quite often, at least three or four times a week.

Who lives in Building 22?

"Wang Dalu, chairman of Dalu Wine and Food Group, used to work with Li Dakang in Jinshan County before going into business."

Qi Tongwei put the paper down, tapped his index finger lightly on the table twice, and twitched the corner of his mouth.

Li Dakang's wife doesn't go home after get off work; instead, she goes to see other men.

The twists and turns here could fill a whole TV series.

"From now on, the IT department will conduct 24/7 location tracking on Ouyang Jing's phone and report her coordinates every half hour."

"Arrange for two groups of plainclothes officers to stake out the area around the Jingzhou City Bank building. Also send another group to Dihao Garden to keep an eye on Wang Dalu."

After writing it down, Lao Zhou turned and left.

Qi Tongwei glanced at the time; it was 4:10 a.m.

The internal phone rang again, and Ma Guoqiang's voice came through the receiver.

"Director Qi, Wang Moulin has been apprehended and is currently in detention."

"I will personally conduct the investigation."

Forty minutes later, in the detention center's interrogation room.

Wang Moulin sat on the iron chair, his shirt collar askew, still dazed from being woken up in the middle of the night.

Qi Tongwei sat opposite him and spread three transfer receipts on the table.

"On September 12th last year, your private account transferred 500,000 to this account."

He pointed to one of the photos with his finger.

"The recipient of this account is named Ouyang Jing."

Wang Moulin's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"You can explain the nature of this money, or you can choose not to explain."

Qi Tongwei pushed the chair back two inches and crossed his legs.

"But I have to warn you, if you don't explain, these three documents will appear in the prosecutor's office's case file tomorrow, and then the matter of 500,000 will no longer be a matter of 500,000."

Wang Moulin swirled his tongue around in his mouth twice.

"That money... was a kickback I gave to President Ouyang for helping me approve a business loan."

"The confession was printed out, and the person signed and sealed it."

The recorder's printer spit out two pages of A4 paper, and Wang Moulin's signature crookedly landed on the last line.

Qi Tongwei folded up his statement, put it in his pocket, and walked out of the interrogation room. It was already dawn.

When we returned to the provincial headquarters, there were six SWAT SUVs neatly lined up in the garage downstairs, with the police light covers on the roofs still up.

Captain Lu of the Special Police Detachment was standing at the front of the convoy. When he saw Qi Tongwei walking over, he jogged up to meet him.

"Chief Qi, the team of thirty-two men is fully equipped and ready to depart at any time."

Qi Tongwei stood at the window in the corridor and looked down. Six cars and thirty-two people—that was enough.

The confession is in hand, and the summons paperwork from Lüliang will be ready soon; the chain of evidence is tightly sealed.

Once this deal is done, the position of director that Secretary Zhao mentioned will be a sure thing.

Vice Governor?

It is not impossible.

The sky outside the window slowly changed from gray-blue to pale white, and the outline of Jingzhou City gradually emerged from the night.

Qi Tongwei turned around and went back to his office, taking out a brand-new navy blue police uniform from the cabinet.

After changing in front of the mirror, the man in the mirror looked smart, presentable, and full of vigor.

I took out my phone, scrolled through my contacts, and dialed a number.

"Teacher Wu, it's me, Tongwei."

"Tongwei, what's up calling so early?"

"I'm craving your braised pork. I'll come over tonight and bring you and Teacher Gao a bottle of good wine."