Rebirth of Corrupt Officials - Chapter 77

“Did Mayor Jiang meet anyone when you came?”

“Who did you want me to meet?”

At night, in Qiao Yusheng’s office, such a conversation took place.

Qiao Yusheng played with the scalpel, sat slanted on the chair, and said nothing.

Jiang Xiaochuan had just arrived, and the so-called good show didn’t seem to have started yet.

“It would be troublesome if you met someone you shouldn’t meet,” Qiao Yu shrugged, then looked at the calm Jiang Xiaochuan and suddenly said, “I think you had murderous intentions in your heart.”

Murderous intent.

Jiang Xiaochuan touched the center of his eyebrows. It was a habitual action. His nails were transparent. When he touched the center of his eyebrows, he moved very lightly. “People who have murderous intentions will suspect everyone else of having them too.”

“I didn’t know you and Yue Qingci were very close,” Qiao Yusheng didn’t respond directly to what he just said, but changed the subject to someone else.

Topics jumped from one to another rapidly, and Jiang Xiaochuan’s thoughts followed suit. He said, “We just know each other, we’re not really close friends.”

“It’s just an acquaintance. But you were with him during the day right after getting out of the hands of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection,” the subtext was, wasn’t that considered closeness?

Qiao Yusheng played with the scalpel again. Jiang Xiaochuan actually wanted to know where the knife came from. The knives in the hospital were all regulated, and they were probably brought in as contraband.

“It doesn’t matter what you think. I just have a relationship with someone in their family.” To be precise, Jiang Encheng was involved with Yue Huasheng.

“When you came back from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, did you find anything?” The file Xue Yan gave contained a clear list of corruption, along with some bank transfer details and real estate certificates, which were shocking to say the least. Qiao Yusheng also looked at the list. Others were fine, but he didn’t expect to find the names of senior officials from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection here. He wondered how Jiang Xiaochuan felt when he received the file and looked through it.

From Xue Yan’s perspective, Jiang Xiaochuan shouldn’t be as black as he had previously thought, and mixed with Rong Shaobai – Jiang Xiaochuan’s profile was very complex. He believed Jiang Xiaochuan was connected to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, but to what extent?

Jiang Xiaochuan knew Qiao Yusheng was referring to something mentioned in the file. “There’s indeed a problem.”

“Aren’t you disheartened?” Qiao Yusheng asked directly. He just wanted to know what Jiang Xiaochuan was thinking. Honestly, he suddenly felt unworthy of Rong Shaobai, although he didn’t know why.

“What can the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection do for you? Just letting you out?”

It wasn’t the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that released him, but Lian Cheng.

Jiang Xiaochuan didn’t believe Zhang Qing would agree with Lian Cheng’s decision.

Lian Cheng probably let him out first and then reported it. The timing of Yue Qingci’s return was too coincidental. At that time, he was released by Lian Cheng. During the previous investigation, Lian Cheng already knew the connection between Jiang Xiaochuan and Yue Qingci, and the mutual support between the two people had been beyond the limit. But when it came time to let Jiang Xiaochuan go, Lian Cheng notified Yue Qingci.

After the anti-gang operation, the underworld in Chengzhou was in a bleak situation. However, due to the previous counterattack, these originally well-organized underworlds had now dispersed. Some wanderers were dissatisfied with the government’s actions, causing trouble and disrupting social security, creating a big confusion. Chengzhou was in chaos and ordinary people dared not go out.

Jiang Xiaochuan knew that his mistake was too big, but – it had to be done for a new change.

However, reformers generally did not end well. He could not compare himself to Shang Yang, Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi, or even the Six Gentlemen of Wuxu. He just wanted to do something meaningful and kill two birds with one stone. If the gangsters in Chengzhou were not eliminated, they would be in serious trouble sooner or later. He was just taking advantage of the situation.

However, whoever touched the underworld was destined to suffer no good fruits, because the consequences would be very serious. But the difficulty would only be in Jiang Xiaochuan’s current term. The next term’s job would definitely be easy.

There were always people who had to be the pioneers and victims. This was politics. If no one was willing to stand up and be the first to reduce the existing interests of certain groups, then all the so-called reforms would be empty talk.

After Jiang Xiaochuan did such a thing, Lian Cheng wanted to protect him. However, due to the chaotic public security and the fact that he was in Chengzhou instead of Beijing, his only choice was to inform Yue Qingci.

After all, the person who had protected him was indeed Lian Cheng, not the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

“For people like Zhang Qing, I originally thought…”

“You originally thought that Zhang Qing had nothing to do with the mess in Chengzhou, right?” Qiao Yusheng said sarcastically. “His wife and children had an accident, but he did not. Don’t you think it’s too suspicious? His words are too polished. He makes it too easy for people to believe him.”

“Most people thought since his wife and children were murdered, he should be more hostile to those people, but – the information in the file really didn’t surprise me.”

Jiang Xiaochuan still remembered when he was being tried by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in his last life, Zhang Qing had also come forward. He had asked Zhang Qing: “Did you regret choosing officialdom?”

Zhang Qing had replied: “I have never regretted choosing justice.”

What was the yardstick of justice in Zhang Qing’s heart?

Although “I didn’t know until I got to Beijing that my official position was small,” Zhang Qing’s official position was very big, and he might have been able to climb to the position of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee. In fact, in his previous life, Zhang Qing had sat on it.

But in this life, Jiang Xiaochuan himself would only be the acting mayor, Zhang Qing – maybe this was how he would end his life?