Zhao Dehan's Downfall

Imperial Capital Garden, Yanjing.

Several black sedans drove into the residential compound and stopped in front of a mansion. Hou Liangping and the others got out with Zhao Dehan, director of a projects division at a central government ministry.

Hou Liangping looked at Zhao Dehan with a triumphant smile. "Director Zhao, you recognize this home, don't you?"

Zhao Dehan's body swayed almost imperceptibly.

He seemed to want to argue, to repeat the solemn assurances he had given at his office and his old home, to say he knew nothing about this place, to say Hou Liangping was falsely accusing him again.

From the moment the Anti-Corruption Bureau brought him through the gates of this compound, the defenses he had painstakingly built and the double life he had so carefully maintained had already come crashing down.

As he stood before this house, he knew that every self-deceiving hope of getting lucky had shattered completely.

He knew it was over. Before the ironclad evidence about to appear before him, any further sophistry would be pale and powerless, only making him more of a laughingstock.

He raised his head and looked at Hou Liangping. He neither cried out indignantly that he was innocent as he had before nor collapsed to the ground. He merely tugged at the corners of his mouth, revealing a bitter smile uglier than tears.

That smile was filled with self-mockery, regret, and the numbness that came after the dust had settled.

He met Hou Liangping's gaze, his voice dry and hoarse. "Director Hou, think this through. Once you open this door, your political life will have reached its end, too."

The abrupt change in Zhao Dehan's attitude suddenly left Hou Liangping a little at a loss. "Director Zhao, is there any point saying that now?"

Watching the change in Hou Liangping's tone and expression, Zhao Dehan knew he had misunderstood.

"Director Hou, you've misunderstood me. The evidence in here is piled as high as a mountain. I can't deny it. But have you considered why I was able to take so much in bribes? Can a division director like you blow open a case this big?"

"I'm not afraid to tell you, either. The amount in here may be more than you people will ever see in one lifetime, or even two. Are the people involved behind the scenes really people your Zhong family can handle?"

After that, Zhao Dehan said nothing more. He walked to the door alone, opened it, then stood there, waiting for Hou Liangping's next instructions.

Hou Liangping said no more either, merely nodding to the staff beside him. Investigators quickly entered the house and secured the scene.

When Hou Liangping pushed open the door to Zhao Dehan's study, even he, for all he had seen, was shaken by the sight before him.

Inside the safe built into the wall, bundles of hundred-yuan notes were stacked as neatly as bricks, filling almost the entire space.

Hou Liangping instructed the investigators to contact bank staff for assistance in counting the total.

Zhao Dehan said coldly, "Two hundred thirty-nine million, nine hundred ninety-five thousand, four hundred yuan."

The staff present could hardly believe it. Even a bank could not have kept such a precise count of so much money, yet Zhao Dehan had casually given the figure down to the hundreds.

Hou Liangping looked at Zhao Dehan, anger in his voice.

"Director Zhao, what a memory. You've certainly done a fine job as a farmer's son."

After that, he ignored Zhao Dehan and instructed the investigators to continue counting. With the bank staff's help, and at the cost of burning out three cash-counting machines, they finally finished. The amount matched what Zhao Dehan had said.

There was a provocative gleam in Zhao Dehan's eyes. "Director Hou, you've found the money. I admit it. But..."

He paused, strange rasping sounds rising from his throat, as though he were laughing and crying at once. "I also have a ledger recording some transfers of funds. Director Hou, do you dare look at it?"

That provocative tone instantly ignited Hou Liangping's fury.

What he hated most when handling cases was corrupt officials who put on mysterious airs and tried to frighten people with their connections. "Why wouldn't I dare? Bring it here!"

Just as Hou Liangping stepped forward, about to search for the ledger himself, the phone in his pocket began vibrating violently. The name on the screen made him pause slightly.

"Zhong Xiaoai."

He took a deep breath and answered. On the other end, his wife Zhong Xiaoai's voice was unusually grave, carrying an unquestionable urgency:

"Liangping, take him away immediately! The case stops here. Don't touch that ledger, and don't read it!"

"Xiaoai, this..." Hou Liangping's brow furrowed, reluctance in his voice. "I've been following this case for a long time!"

"Listen to me!" Zhong Xiaoai interrupted, lowering her voice further.

"This isn't a discussion. It's a decision! It's what Dad wants! The people implicated by that ledger wield so much power that even Dad has to tread carefully!"

"Hou Liangping, do you want your son to lose his father? I don't want to have nothing to say when he asks about you someday!"

Hou Liangping clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.

He could feel his colleagues' gazes from behind him, and he could also sense the growing fearlessness in Zhao Dehan's eyes.

Those few seconds of struggle felt as long as a century.

Finally, he forced a few words through his teeth. "I understand."

Hanging up, he swept his hand sharply and ordered his subordinates, "Cuff him and take him away! Seal all the cash at the scene and wait for the comrades from the discipline inspection commission to take over!"

Two investigators stepped forward and handcuffed Zhao Dehan.

Just as he was being escorted out, Zhao Dehan suddenly turned his head and looked at Hou Liangping with the expression of someone pitying a fellow sufferer:

"Heh, Director Hou, it seems you and I aren't so different at heart. The only difference is that you have a good wife."

He paused, his tone turning strange. "Since we're fellow travelers who aren't masters of our own fate, before I die, I'll give you a big gift. Consider it a little help toward building up your record of achievements."

"What trick are you trying to pull?" Hou Liangping looked at him coldly.

"Let me go back in and have one more look around."

Zhao Dehan's gaze turned toward the study filled with cash, his eyes complicated. "Just once. I'll never have another chance to come back here in this lifetime."

Hou Liangping stared at him, rapidly weighing his options.

He loathed Zhao Dehan's manner, but he also keenly sensed that this so-called "big gift" might be crucial.

After a brief silence, he nodded. "All right. No tricks."

Under the guard of two investigators, Zhao Dehan walked back into the study.

His gaze swept greedily and painfully over those walls of money. His fingers trembled, as though he wanted to touch them but did not dare.

Suddenly, without warning, he collapsed to the floor with a thud. Facing this enormous fortune, more than he could spend in his entire life, he let out a heart-rending wail:

"Ahhh!!! Money! It's all my money! But I didn't dare spend a single cent!! I was afraid!!"

He pounded the floor, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Every month... every month, I only dared send my elderly mother in the countryside three hundred yuan! Three hundred! My wife fought with me about it every day, calling me useless! I'm a failure as a man! A failure as a husband! A failure as a son!!"

He jerked his head up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Hou Liangping, his voice distorted by utter remorse. "What was it all for?! What was it for?! Yes! Ding Yizhen!!" He shouted hoarsely, as though clutching at a lifesaving straw.

"Director Hou! I want to report someone! Ding Yizhen, deputy mayor of Jingzhou City! He was the first person to bribe me! Five hundred thousand! A full five hundred thousand! He gave me money six times, a total of fifteen million, three hundred twenty-six thousand yuan! And the bosses he introduced to me gave me more than ten million altogether! It was all him! He was the one who dragged me into the water!!"

Hou Liangping watched his display of collapse without expression, but waves surged within him.

Ding Yizhen! Like a key, that name instantly linked the Yanjing lead to the Guangming Peak Project in Handong Province.

"Take him away!" He waved a hand, his voice icy.

Zhao Dehan was dragged away, his despairing wails echoing through the corridor long afterward.

Hou Liangping stood where he was, took one last look at the roomful of red banknotes, then turned and strode away.

The vehicles from the discipline inspection commission had just arrived, with two vehicles flashing police lights clearing the way ahead. They passed directly by Hou Liangping and his team and went inside to secure the cash and the ledger.

Hou Liangping knew that the surface work on Zhao Dehan's case was over, but a deeper, more dangerous storm had only just begun.

And it seemed his battlefield would have to shift from Yanjing to the land of Handong, shrouded in even denser fog.