Chapter 17

Part One: Turbulent Waters of Officialdom. Chapter 17: Loss of Speech

Xu Xueping pointed to the sofa beside him and motioned for Jin Guohai to sit down and talk.

As Jin Guohai sat down, he sized up Zhang Zhixing and his son, Zhang Ke, thinking, Is this the boy who saved Xu Xueping's granddaughter? He felt even less certain why Xu Xueping had summoned him so late.

"You're the procuratorate official overseeing the case involving Haizhou City's executive deputy mayor. Tell me how far the investigation has progressed." Without introducing Zhang Zhixing or his son, Zhang Ke, Xu Xueping asked directly about the progress of Tang Xueqian's case.

Jin Guohai collected his thoughts and briefly reported on Tang Xueqian's detention and investigation over the past few days. It was much as Zhang Ke had surmised.

Zhang Ke turned to look at Xu Xueping, whose expression was grave. Without the material in Zhang Ke's hands, the information the Provincial Inspection Team had gathered was very unfavorable to Tang Xueqian. The key lay in the exhibits and certain evidence provided by Jiang Mingcheng and Xu Si.

Xu Xueping asked calmly, "Has the inspection team reached any preliminary conclusions?"

"Based on the team's investigations over the past few days, along with the testimony and certain evidence supplied by Xu Si and Jiang Mingcheng, we can provisionally conclude that Tang Xueqian and Xu Si had an improper sexual relationship. In addition, Tang Xueqian's household accounts contain 330,000 yuan in savings, and there was more than 40,000 yuan in cash at his residence. This differs somewhat from what the couple's income would account for. We can also provisionally conclude that Tang Xueqian used Xu Si to solicit bribes from Jiang Mingcheng on three occasions, totaling 270,000 yuan. Of course, our work is still far from thorough, and the evidence we have is still rough. There is a great deal of work left to do..."

Xu Xueping waved a hand, cutting him off, then remained silent, his face grave.

Once they had provisionally determined that Tang Xueqian had engaged in an illicit sexual relationship and solicited and accepted bribes, the usual next step would be to dig deeper for further crimes. They would probably never consider the possibility that he had been framed. Seeing how unsettled Xu Xueping's reaction had made Jin Guohai, Zhang Ke asked, "The inspection team should have established the dates of those three bribes, shouldn't it?"

Jin Guohai wondered why the boy was interrupting at a moment like this. Then he thought of how Zhang Ke had saved Xu Xueping's granddaughter, and, seeing that no one else objected, answered, "According to the transfer records supplied by Xu Si and Jiang Mingcheng, the first was in mid-November last year..."

"What exact date, and how much?" Xu Xueping's sudden question startled Jin Guohai.

"November 11, 120,000 yuan. The second was February 6 this year, 80,000 yuan. The last was June 9, 70,000 yuan..."

Xu Xueping picked up Zeng Jianhua's notebook from the table, turned to the last few pages, and handed it to Jin Guohai with a solemn expression. "Take a look at this material..."

Zhang Ke had already folded the pages recording Jiang Mingcheng's withdrawals from Xinfeng Group's off-the-books funds, so Jin Guohai found them quickly. His expression grew graver as he read, particularly when he reached the last three amounts and dates, which matched the amounts and dates of Tang Xueqian's three demands for bribes from Jiang Mingcheng. The "Jiang" in this notebook was Jiang Mingcheng. This indicated that Jiang Mingcheng was concealing a major case, which meant his voluntary testimony to the inspection team about Tang Xueqian's demands for bribes was no longer so reliable...

Watching fine beads of sweat appear on Jin Guohai's forehead, Zhang Ke smiled inwardly. If a case as important as Tang Xueqian's became a wrongful conviction, how much responsibility would the procuratorate official overseeing it have to bear? That thought alone was enough to make Jin Guohai tremble.

"Zhixing, explain the situation to Jin..."

Hearing Deputy Secretary Xu address him so warmly by his given name, Zhang Zhixing felt a surge of pleasure. He wanted to give Zhang Ke another chance to show what he could do, hoping Deputy Secretary Xu would like him even more. Besides, judging by his performance over the past few days, the boy had no stage fright at all, so there was no need to worry about him. "Zhang Ke discovered much of this..."

"Zhang Ke can explain it just as well..." Xu Xueping nodded his agreement. He wanted to see whether the boy really was that quick-witted.

Hearing Xu Xueping address Zhang Zhixing by name, Jin Guohai immediately remembered who he was. The inspection team had been searching everywhere for him to bring him back to assist with the investigation into Tang Xueqian, but he had suddenly vanished. This had made the team suspect he might also be implicated in a case, and they were debating whether to issue a wanted notice. Yet here he was, bringing his son to Xu Xueping's home. Had he given Xu Xueping this notebook?

Zhang Ke could tell from Jin Guohai's expression that he had recognized his father. Not bothering with introductions, he said directly, "No one outside this room knows this notebook exists. We found it at Uncle Tang's home..." Zhang Ke paused to let Jin Guohai work out who "Uncle Tang" was. "Uncle Tang hadn't discovered the secrets recorded in it either. My father and I found these entries marked in pencil after we found the notebook. We were preparing to find its owner-Zeng Jianhua, Xinfeng Group's finance director-and ask him to verify its secrets, only to be told that he had taken four million yuan from Xinfeng Group's accounts and disappeared..."

At the end of his account, Zhang Ke handed Jin Guohai the four photographs.

Jin Guohai had no time to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Xu Xueping said nothing, merely stared at him, making his skin crawl. He said fearfully, "The last three sums recorded here match the three bribes Jiang Mingcheng voluntarily reported to the inspection team. This material is credible. And since our young... comrade saw Xu Si together with Ding Xiangshan, his deductions about the relationship between Jiang Mingcheng, Xu Si, and Ding Xiangshan are very reasonable. There may be a larger case hidden within Tang Xueqian's case. I request permission to lead a team to Haizhou personally to investigate..."

Xu Xueping shook his head. "This involves the top local official, and its nature may be extremely serious. Stay here tonight and carefully analyze the material we have again. Write up a report. I'll report this to Secretary Tao Jin first thing tomorrow morning. As for what measures to take, I'm afraid the provincial standing committee will have to meet to discuss them."

Zhang Ke, his father, Li Yijiang, Jin Guohai, and Jin Guohai's assistant, Chen Xiaosong, stayed up all night, compiling a report of more than twenty pages on the full course of Tang Xueqian's case and its suspicious points. Xu Xueping rested only briefly before dawn. At six in the morning, he called Provincial Party Secretary Tao Jin, then immediately took the report and left with his secretary, Li Yijiang.

Zhang Ke, his father, Jin Guohai, and Jin Guohai's assistant, Chen Xiaosong, remained at Xu Xueping's home to wait for news. Zhou Shuhui suggested they sleep for a while in the guest rooms. Zhang Ke knew the truth of the case would soon come to light, but seeing that his father and the others had no inclination to sleep, he stayed with them in the living room, struggling to keep going.

Zhang Zhixing, Jin Guohai, and Jin Guohai's assistant, Chen Xiaosong, were all far too keyed up to sleep, while Zhang Ke kept nodding off on the sofa. At any other time, Jin Guohai would simply have thought the boy could not handle staying up all night. But after last night, he knew that the enormous progress in Tang Xueqian's case could almost be credited entirely to this boy. Now he thought how easily the boy could put it all out of his mind. Seeing how sleepy he was, he said with a smile, "Young man, why don't you go and get some sleep?"

Zhang Ke opened his eyes and said to his father, "Shouldn't we call Uncle and Mom? They're worrying about us. I think Mom should take a few days off and come to the provincial capital too."

At around seven, Xu Xueping's secretary, Li Yijiang, hurried back and told them to get ready to report on the situation at the provincial standing committee meeting.

"I can barely keep my eyes open," Zhang Ke said. "Could I sit this one out?"

Li Yijiang knew Zhang Ke was not suffering from stage fright. It was rare for a young person not to want the limelight. He called Xu Xueping for instructions, then, without saying much more, went out and got into the car with Zhang Zhixing, Jin Guohai, and the others.

Appearing before the provincial standing committee was an extremely valuable opportunity for his father. Naturally, Zhang Ke could not think only of stealing the limelight himself. He had some rice porridge, then went to sleep in a guest room.

When Zhang Ke woke, his arm felt a little numb. He saw Zhitong sleeping soundly with her hands wrapped around his arm, her lips slightly pursed and her pretty cheeks rosy. She was utterly adorable. When Zhang Ke stirred, she woke. Her deep eyes looked at him as though she were afraid of losing him, a look that made his heart ache.

The sky outside was overcast, and he did not know how long he had slept. Hearing his father talking outside with Xu Xueping's wife, Zhang Ke carried Zhitong into the living room and discovered that her mother was sitting on the sofa too.

After hearing Xu Xueping's report on Tang Xueqian's case, Secretary Tao Jin had immediately convened an emergency standing committee meeting. His father had returned after reporting to the meeting, but the committee was still in session and had yet to agree on an emergency response plan. Zhang Ke thought, The emergency response is to establish the facts without alerting Ding Xiangshan, then act decisively. Now that matters had reached this stage, Zhang Ke had little left to worry about. The key was finding out how deeply Xu Si was involved. He thought he would never forget the sight of her face covered in tears.

Zhang Ke realized that Zhitong had stayed glued to his side for much of the day without saying a single word. He remembered how, before the accident, she had excitedly pointed at the ceiling fan and said, "Mommy, there's a breeze, there's a breeze..."

"She hasn't said a word since the accident," Zhou Shuhui said sadly, noticing the question in Zhang Ke's eyes. "She'll get better with time."