"Fine! Smoke!" Leng Xiangmei agreed.
She wanted to see what kind of tricks Qin Shou could pull.
She would be stationed in Changle County for a while; she had all the time in the world.
Since Qin Shou hadn't been formally arrested, merely brought in for questioning, his personal belongings hadn't been confiscated.
Qin Shou fished his usual smokes from his pocket—a ten-yuan pack of Hongmei—stuck one in his mouth, and lit it with a lighter.
After taking a drag, Qin Shou looked Leng Xiangmei up and down.
"Director Leng, you're surprisingly beautiful, and you have a hot body. A woman like you should have countless men chasing after you. It's just a shame you're a bit too fierce. That's why you're still unmarried at your age."
These words from Qin Shou made Leng Xiangmei grit her teeth in anger, wishing she could just slap him across the face.
"Qin Shou, just confess what you've done!"
Leng Xiangmei's chest heaved with anger, a rather fetching sight.
After admiring the view for another moment, Qin Shou continued to taunt her. "Director Leng, not only are you fierce, but you also have another fatal flaw: you're a bit dense."
*Smack!*
Leng Xiangmei slammed her hand on the table in a fury, roaring like a cornered tigress, "Qin Shou, I said, confess!"
"Look at that! Just look! I say you're fierce, and you immediately act fierce. Director Leng, are you trying to prove my point with ironclad facts? To show that every word I say can withstand the organization's scrutiny?"
"Qin Shou, stop smirking at me! That act won't work on me! Do you think you can just bullshit your way out of charges of corruption and bribery?"
Furious, Leng Xiangmei slammed the table again.
*Smack!*
This time, she used too much force and stung her slender palm.
Leng Xiangmei instinctively shook her hand to ease the pain.
"Director Leng, as a veteran of the Disciplinary Committee, you need to keep your cool. You can't get angry. Look, you slam the table every time you get mad. When you slam the table, your hand hurts. It may be your hand that's hurting, but it's my heart that's aching!"
"Qin Shou, just confess!"
"I'm telling you, Director Leng! My dear Director Leng! It's not that I'm unwilling to confess, it's that I have nothing to confess! You insist that I confess, but I don't even know where to begin!"
Leng Xiangmei shot him a cold glare and reminded him, "Start with that large suitcase. The gold bars, the cash, the foreign currency inside—who gave them to you?"
"Who gave them to me? I suppose it must have been Santa Claus."
"Qin Shou, you're still spouting nonsense! Do you think you can escape the law with this pathetic resistance?"
"Director Leng, I believe in the law! I believe the law only punishes the wicked, the criminals, the corrupt officials! Therefore, the law cannot punish me!"
"As expected of Sun Changsheng's hand-picked chief secretary, your composure is truly impressive! However, the evidence of your crimes is irrefutable! Your strong mental fortitude won't help you bluff your way through this!"
"What was that, Director Leng? You say that finding a large suitcase under my bed constitutes irrefutable evidence? If that's the case, I imagine there must be quite a few miscarriages of justice in the cases you've handled. I wonder how many people you've sent to prison wrongfully!"
"We caught you red-handed with the goods. How is that not irrefutable evidence?"
"Director Leng, let me ask you. If you took bribes, if you received a suitcase full of cash and gold bars, would you hide it under your bed? Unless you're a complete idiot, you'd at least find an isolated spot and bury it!"
What Qin Shou said made a lot of sense, and Leng Xiangmei had to agree. But she couldn't let this corrupt official lead her by the nose.
So, Leng Xiangmei said coldly, "That's precisely what makes you so cunning!"
"Director Leng, how is that me being cunning?" Qin Shou asked.
"When Sun Changsheng jumped, you knew you couldn't escape the blame. So, you deliberately planted a large suitcase under your bed for us to find. Meanwhile, you've hidden the rest of your vast, ill-gotten fortune elsewhere. If you confess to embezzling three million, you won't be sentenced to many years—three to five at most. If you behave well in prison, you could even get your sentence reduced. At the fastest, you could be out in two years. Then, you can take out your hidden assets and live out the rest of your life in comfort and freedom!"
Leng Xiangmei was, after all, a veteran of the Disciplinary Committee. She was all too familiar with the little tricks of corrupt officials.
Thus, she was convinced she had seen right through Qin Shou.
When dealing with corrupt officials, the most important thing was to play mind games, to break them down psychologically.
Once their spirit was crushed, these officials would confess everything.
By personally leading the team to Changle County and preparing for a long-term stay, Leng Xiangmei was clearly aiming for more than just Qin Shou.
She wanted to root out all the vermin in Changle County, one by one.
Qin Shou was just the appetizer. Her ultimate goal was to use him to pry open a crack and expose the festering sore of officials protecting each other in Changle County. This chapter is updated first at NovelPing.
Therefore, when it came to Qin Shou, patience was the one thing Leng Xiangmei did not lack.
"Director Leng, please watch the video!"
Qin Shou took out his phone, opened the surveillance video, and showed Leng Xiangmei the footage of Wan Defu and his men planting the large suitcase under his bed, framing him.
After watching, a flicker of suspicion crossed Leng Xiangmei's beautiful oval face.
She asked Qin Shou with uncertainty, "Are you saying you were framed?"
"Director Leng, you don't have cataracts, do you?"
"You're the one with cataracts!"
"Since you don't have cataracts, and your eyes were wide and glistening while you watched the video, you should have seen it clearly! It's an obvious fact that I was framed!"
"Do you know the men who put the suitcase under your bed?"
"The leader is Wan Defu, Wan Hongbing's son. They're all men who work for my ex-mother-in-law, the current Director of the County Committee Office, Ruan Xiangyu. Speaking of which, Director Leng, you and my ex-mother-in-law seem to be from the same generation. You both have 'Xiang' in your names, just with different surnames! She's Ruan Xiangyu, you're Leng Xiangmei. But she's a bad person, and you're a good one!"
This made Leng Xiangmei explode with anger. Was this guy saying she was old? So old she was in the same generation as his ex-mother-in-law?
*Smack!*
Leng Xiangmei slammed the table again and roared, "Stop with the irrelevant nonsense! Just confess!"
Qin Shou took a drag from his cigarette and said lightly, "Director Leng, as I've said, I've done nothing wrong. However, I do know some inside information that you might not. But if you're going to be so fierce with me, I won't tell you."
"Are you trying to bargain with me?" Leng Xiangmei asked.
"I'm trying to help you catch the vermin," Qin Shou replied.
"You're the biggest vermin of them all!" Leng Xiangmei snapped, exasperated.
She was a veteran of the Disciplinary Committee, yet today, this corrupt official was leading her by the nose.
"Since Director Leng refuses to believe me, then I'll say nothing more. Just go ahead and arrest me! I'm willing to spend my life in prison to add another miscarriage of justice to your record! You've handled plenty of those already, so one more won't hurt!"
Qin Shou adopted a posture of complete surrender, while simultaneously goading her.