"Uncle, your chance to take another step forward has come."
"What did you say? Another step forward? Xiao Ye, what do you mean?"
With just one offhand remark from Li Ye, Zhao Yuanchao's heart began to stir.
What man in China lacked ambition? Even those lazy fellows lying around at home dreamed every day of becoming marquises and prime ministers, let alone a practical man like Zhao Yuanchao, who had painstakingly climbed his way up from the bottom.
For a deputy bureau chief to take another step forward was not as simple as rising one rank. It meant a leap in status, power, and every other aspect.
Li Ye lowered his voice. "Uncle, tell me honestly. Of the other two people who drove into Old Song and overturned his car, was Guan Dasheng one of them?"
Zhao Yuanchao glanced at Li Ye and silently nodded.
They had investigation discipline. Strictly speaking, they could not reveal case details to an outsider like Li Ye. But when Section Chief Liu had questioned Li Ye earlier, he had repeatedly brought up Guan Dasheng. Since Li Ye had figured out the truth himself, it did not count as a violation.
Li Ye continued, "Good. Go interrogate Guan Dasheng now. Tell him that the Japanese man he killed eight years ago has been dug up by villagers. If he still refuses to confess honestly—"
Before Li Ye could finish, Zhao Yuanchao cried out in shock, "What? Guan Dasheng killed a Japanese man nine years ago? How did you know?"
"Old Song told me!"
Li Ye said smugly, "Didn't Old Song say just now? He said those two bastards were going to dig a pit at the west end of the village and bury them."
A string of scenes flashed through Zhao Yuanchao's mind, and his