Chapter 140: You Fell Into the Ditch, I'm Coming Up

Of course, these were all finished products created after Jiang Xiwen used Photoshop on photos of himself and Gao Jie having a meal together at the Southern Hotel. Making these things took him a very long time; the image editing functions of this era were truly minimal, and getting it to look like this was quite a feat. If a professional were to see them, it would be easy to identify as fake, but to fool Gao Feng and his son, it was already more than enough.

"Damn it, someone is plotting against me!" Gao Jie raged furiously. "I've never even had a meal with Li Changtian."

Gao Feng immediately scolded his son to silence him, and then said, "Xiwen, Fang Sixiang's actions are obviously despicable. Since he can forge photos and denunciation letters, he can forge the video just as easily."

Clearly, unless Gao Feng saw the video with his own eyes, he would never believe Jiang Xiwen.

Old fox! Jiang Xiwen cursed inwardly while keeping a calm expression on his face, replying directly, "Uncle Gao, fortunately I prepared a copy of the video. I figured that Uncle Gao, being the Director of the Provincial Education Commission, must be very cautious in dealing with people and affairs, and would never easily jump to conclusions without investigating thoroughly. That's why I brought this copy to show you, Uncle Gao."

With that, Jiang Xiwen took the videotape out of his briefcase and inserted it into the VCR in the hotel room. After a simple switch-flipping operation, the screen displayed Gao Jie's back. Of course, this was created by Jiang Xiwen using software, grafting the footage of Gao Jie shot at the Southern Hotel together with a certain day's bank surveillance footage borrowed by Ning Yu, creating a seamless effect. Similarly, the moment this thing was subjected to forensic analysis, it would instantly be exposed as post-production composite work. Using this was purely a bluff against Gao Feng and his son.

Gao Jie stared dumbfounded at the television screen. After a long moment, he angrily cursed, "Son of a bitch Fang Sixiang, I never would've imagined he actually managed to sneak this footage out!"

Since Gao Jie himself had already admitted it, Gao Feng had no choice but to believe the videotape was real. Too lazy to scold his son anymore, he looked at Jiang Xiwen and asked, "Xiwen, Fang Sixiang's behavior is truly despicable. What do you think should be done?"

Naturally, Jiang Xiwen knew Gao Feng was testing him, so he replied, "Uncle Gao, initially I wanted to trick Fang Sixiang into handing over all his copies and then destroy them. Then, I wanted to use his forged photos and forged letters framing you and Brother Gao as evidence to sue him. But on second thought, wouldn't doing that make the investigation team equally suspicious about whether Zhang Yong was also falsely accused? Investigating it thoroughly would become very troublesome, so I didn't know what to do either. Following my police friend's advice, I disguised myself as a waiter to come here and ask you, and brought all these evidence materials here to you." He added a test text watermark here. "To let you take a look and figure out a way."

What Jiang Xiwen said was designed to lead Gao Feng into a trap, forcing him to think that only by abandoning the pursuit of Zhang Yong could he himself escape criminal liability. As long as they pinned everything entirely on Fang Sixiang alone, claiming he targeted Li Changtian and went so far as to falsely accuse Zhang Yong—and if that failed, they had prepared a backup plan involving the false accusation of Gao Feng—then Zhang Yong could clear his name, and Gao Feng himself would remain completely blameless.

Gao Feng had already unwittingly stepped into Jiang Xiwen's trap. Faced with such a complicated situation, the only thing Gao Feng wanted to do was to hunker down and bide his time. Although he could take all of Fang Sixiang's video footage and destroy it completely, along with the fabricated letters and photos denouncing him, and then pretend nothing had happened and continue investigating Zhang Yong's issues.

However, Fang Sixiang's slipperiness made him extremely uneasy. If, for the sake of a mere Zhang Yong, he were to condone Fang Sixiang's detestable plan to falsely accuse him, it would simply be too dangerous. There was no telling when this Fang Sixiang might cooperate with Zhang Yong again and turn around to bite him back. Gao Feng dared not take that risk any longer. Therefore, the only way to make everyone happy now was to send this pawn Fang Sixiang straight to prison.

Thinking thus, Gao Feng said nothing. Instead, he stared fixedly at Jiang Xiwen, remaining entirely silent. Jiang Xiwen feigned an embarrassed look, chuckled awkwardly, and said, "Uncle Gao, I suppose the method I thought of was indeed a bit naive. I must ask you, Uncle, to help think of a better one..."

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If he had reacted normally at this moment, it would have seemed unnatural instead. Anyone stared at like that by someone would feel uneasy, let alone a kid facing the Director of the Provincial Education Commission.

Seeing that Jiang Xiwen's reaction was quite reasonable, Gao Feng broke into a smile for the first time. Just as he was about to ask for the false denunciation letters, photos, and his son's video copy back from Jiang Xiwen's hands, intending to use his usual evasive rhetoric to promise that he would consider the matter for a few days, his son Gao Jie suddenly spoke up.

"Here's what I think," Gao Jie said. "Let's push all the blame entirely onto Fang Sixiang. We'll keep these denunciation letters falsely accusing us and claim that Fang Sixiang was engineering a frame-up against Li Changtian. If he couldn't bring down Li Changtian by falsely accusing Zhang Yong, he planned to continue his goal of destroying Li Changtian by falsely accusing me instead.

"That way, we can also do a favor for Zhang Yong. We don't have any deep grudge against Zhang Yong, so there's no reason we can't do this. Once Fang Sixiang is in jail, there's no way he can overturn the case anymore. As for those videos, we can completely deny them, and just claim that Fang Sixiang found someone else with a similar build to mine, dressed them in the same clothes, and had them impersonate me.

"With both sets of letters and photos showing him falsely accusing me and Zhang Yong respectively, even if he jumps into the Yellow River, he won't be able to wash away the crime of false accusation. Besides, neither I nor Zhang Yong nor that Li Changtian have any conflicts; we had zero motive to frame them."

Gao Jie rattling off these arguments made Gao Feng feel both pleased and helpless. He was pleased because this speech showed substantial progress—his son had actually learned to be restrained. He was helpless because how could such things be said right in front of Jiang Xiwen? It was still far too impulsive.

Little did he know that Gao Jie only said all this because hearing about so many messy conspiracies was giving him a headache, and he figured it would be much more straightforward to just go back and smoothly chase girls honestly. Besides, Jiang Xiwen had already promised to help him handle Yu Ziqing, so there was no need to stir up further trouble. It was nothing like what Gao Feng imagined—that his precious son had finally grasped the art of keeping a low profile and biding his time.

Still, since it had already been said, so be it. Moreover, after testing him multiple times, Gao Feng had not sensed any problems with Jiang Xiwen. Picking up where his son left off, he said, "Xiwen, Gao Jie's idea is quite good. Thank you for this time. And as for your police friend, once this matter is over, I will thank him properly."

The second half of the sentence was obviously another test. Jiang Xiwen naturally understood that since Ning Yu had violated discipline and secretly taken the video out, he must be looking for some benefit; to say he needed nothing would sound entirely fake.

He nodded and said, "There's no need for that. My friend has always kept a low profile. It's just that when he comes to the provincial capital on official business in the future, I hope Uncle Gao can lend a helping hand."

"Alright! As long as it's something within my power, Gao Feng will certainly do my best." Gao Feng replied, though of course the attached condition was *within his power*—whether something was within his power or not was entirely up to him to decide. Leaving room in his words was also one of his techniques in dealing with people and affairs.

Jiang Xiwen's response left him very satisfied. This policeman was taking the risk of violating police discipline precisely because he wanted to curry favor by building a connection with him—this was a very plausible reason. Although he was in the education system, he was still a high-ranking provincial cadre after all, and he had friends in the Provincial Department of Public Security. It seemed this policeman understood how these mechanisms worked.

"By the way, Xiwen, how did he become your friend?" Gao Feng asked again. This wasn't out of suspicion, nor was it a test; it was simply his curiosity about this kid Jiang Xiwen, who could hang out with his son and also knew a policeman like that.

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This question happened to help Jiang Xiwen expose a childlike side of himself. His tone filled with smug pride, he said, "If I could become good friends with Brother Gao, then befriending that police officer was even simpler!"

He really is just a child! This side of Jiang Xiwen made Gao Feng feel even more at ease. Just as he was about to speak, Gao Jie chimed in again. "Right, I deposited thirty thousand yuan into Zhang Yong's wife's passbook. How are we going to explain that when the time comes?"

Hearing this, Gao Feng was slightly startled, thinking to himself that his son really was becoming more meticulous—even he himself had overlooked this detail.

Jiang Xiwen took over the conversation. "How about this? When the time comes, I'll say I asked Qin舒 to help buy a computer and that she wired the money. You can give a subtle hint to Zhang Yong, Uncle Gao, telling him that his wife sent word and that he should say the same thing.

"As for Qin Shuan's side, I have a way to handle it. Although I had a falling out with her daughter, I also saved her daughter from Liu Dashan, which was why Fang Sixiang came up with the idea of turning the tables by using that relationship to take photos of us dating early. In short, Qin Shu won't suspect me in the least..."

"Xiwen, this plan is brilliant! Thank you so much!" Gao Jie sounded genuinely grateful.

Gao Feng smiled and said, "Well, it's getting late. If someone were to discover you two here, it wouldn't look too good."

"Uncle Gao, how about..." Jiang Xiwen's face once again showed an embarrassed expression as he looked hesitantly at Gao Feng.

Gao Feng acknowledged him with a hum and replied, "What is it you want to say, Xiwen?"

"My friend didn't find any evidence regarding Liu Dashan's case, so he couldn't detain Fang Sixiang either. This time, we tricked him into coming to the Yangjiang Hotel under the pretext of spying on the inspection team's progress. Now, there's no way he'll be allowed to see your investigation. The moment he goes back like this, he's bound to get suspicious, and he might hide all the evidence away."

At this point, Jiang Xiwen stopped talking and watched Gao Feng's reaction. Seeing no expression on the other man's face, he smiled shyly. "Did I say something wrong and make a fool of myself in front of Uncle Gao?"

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