Chapter 141: Showing Off

"Continue!" Gao Jie chimed in from the side. "My dad is just thinking things over, no need to hesitate."

Gao Feng remained silent, nodding slightly at Jiang Xiwen as a cue for him to go on.

Jiang Xiwen acknowledged with a hum, glanced at Gao Feng, and then "summoned" his courage to speak: "Why not detain Fang Sixing right now? Anyway, his anonymous whistle-blowing letter mainly claimed his wife was penalized due to the principal's abuse of power. We can say that Uncle Gao wanted to invite him over to discuss the specific causes of this matter, and happened to run into my friend investigating Liu Dashan's case, who discovered the letter reporting Gao Jie and the forged photographs hidden at Fang's house. Then, Uncle Gao and my friend put their heads together, found it highly suspicious, and cooperated to uncover Fang Sixing's true intentions. This way, we can detain him immediately, and then have my friend search his house before he has any time to hide those videotapes..."

At this point, Jiang Xiwen looked at Gao Feng. Seeing no response from the older man, he smiled shyly. "Did I say something wrong and make a fool of myself in front of Uncle Gao?"

"Xiwen, you are truly brilliant!" Gao Jie slapped Jiang Xiwen hard on the shoulder. "Dad, didn't I tell you this buddy of mine is amazing?"

*Sigh, he always lacks composure!* Gao Feng felt quite helpless about his son's habit of interrupting. Resigned, he could only manage a smile and said, "Xiwen, your idea is excellent. Let's do just that. I'll make a phone call to your friend next door right now. It won't seem too abrupt, will it?"

"Not at all. The timing is just right. Once the phone call confirms it, he can make the arrest. My friend knows about it; his name is Ning Yu, the undercover detective who cracked the Liu Dashan case."

"Ah, him. I've heard of that case. A hero!" Gao Feng praised glibly, then walked over to the telephone and dialed Room 1106.

As soon as the phone rang, Ning Yu knew Jiang Xiwen had succeeded. He smiled slightly and said to Fang Sixing, "Hold on, let me take this call..."

Soon, the call ended. Ning Yu told Fang Sixing, "Let's go. Things here are finished."

"Huh?" It was only then that Fang Sixing felt something was amiss, and hurriedly asked, "You brought me here just to show me this footage? Since you already have this video as evidence, what else do you need my help with?"

Qi Huanchang, who had been silent the whole time, snapped impatiently, "Let's go, why so much babbling!"

"Where to?"

"You'll know when we get there!" Ning Yu swept a glance at Fang Sixing.

That simple look sent an involuntary shiver through Fang Sixing. Having spent the entire previous night with Ning Yu, he found that this policeman, though sparing with his words, was bone-chilling. By now, Fang Sixing felt a subconscious terror of Ning Yu. Much of the anger he had suddenly unleashed earlier upon hearing Ning Yu say Gao Feng's father and son wanted to discard him after utilizing him stemmed from the oppression of the entire previous night. But the moment his outburst subsided, immediate dread set in—though the ingratiating smile that followed was something Gao Feng and his son in the next room could not see.

Fang Sixing nodded repeatedly, not daring to say another word, and followed Ning Yu downstairs. Qi Huanchang returned to the school. Fang Sixing and Ning Yu hailed a cab, and when Ning Yu told the driver to head to the police station, Fang Sixing's face instantly turned ashen. He stammered, "Off... Officer, didn't you say that if I cooperated, it would... it wouldn't concern me anymore?"

"You'll find out when we get there!" Ning Yu didn't even look at Fang Sixing.

Fang Sixing said nothing more. Throughout the journey, he was drenched in sweat, and all sorts of terrifying thoughts kept popping up in his mind. This short stretch of road was undoubtedly the most agonizing trip of his life.

Eventually, he grew to desperately wish they would reach the police station quickly, just so he could find out what this terrifying policeman intended to do to him.

Finally, they arrived at the police station. Exchanging a few words with his colleagues, Ning Yu led Fang Sixing into the interrogation room. It was a small room containing only a desk, chairs, and a high-intensity spotlight.

However, Ning Yu had no intention of using that lamp to torture Fang Sixing; he could already tell that this bribed head of discipline could no longer handle any psychological pressure. Now, he only needed to ask questions, and the fellow before him would surely answer truthfully.

Ning Yu pointed to the suspect's chair, and Fang Sixing understood, hastily sitting down.

Ning Yu said with a stern expression, "Fang Sixing, only one path lies before you: implicate Gao Feng and his son. Detail completely how they conspired with you and your wife to secretly take photographs, make prank calls, and frame Li Changtian and Zhang Yong!" With that, he handed the pen and paper on the desk to Fang Sixing and continued, "Write down the whole affair with your usual hand. After I report to our bureau chief, leaders from the provincial department should be coming to hear the testimony—though that will be a matter of a few days."

From the moment Ning Yu began speaking, Fang Sixing's expression flickered uncertainly. When it ended, he suddenly stood up and practically roared, having clearly suffered a mental breakdown: "You! What on earth do you people want? Why should I listen to you? We already agreed that if I cooperated with you and Fatty Qi, you wouldn't arrest me! Now you want me to confess to all this—won't I still go to prison? How is that any different from you directly exposing my acceptance of bribes from Liu Dashan?!"

The more Fang Sixing spoke, the more agitated he became. Though his voice lowered slightly, his facial expression grew almost as distorted as his wife's: "Do you take me for a fool? I won't confess to these things. I'm telling you right now, I didn't write that whistle-blowing letter, what can you do to me? As for taking bribes, since you already have the evidence, go ahead and report me!"

***

Ning Yu remained unperturbed, saying coldly, "Stop acting crazy. Either you face only the charge of false accusation, serve a few years, get expelled from the Party, and be done with it; or you face joint punishment for false accusation and bribery, which is far beyond a few years. The sum Liu Dashan gave you is not small at all, not to mention the gifts, like the digital camera you used for covert photography!"

"What a joke! What evidence do you have to prove that I wrote the whistle-blowing letter, or that it was a false accusation?" Fang Sixing raised his voice again. "This is a setup, pure entrapment! Besides, I see you're very familiar with the police here! You're not from the provincial department at all; you're just an officer from the Yangjiang Police Bureau! What on earth are you and Fatty Qi plotting?"

"Do you know who was on the phone with me just now in the Yangjiang Hotel?" Ning Yu said evenly. "The Director of the Provincial Education Commission, Gao Feng, Gao Jie's father, and one of the leaders overseeing the investigation of Zhang Yong's case. He was right in the room next to ours, and every crucial word you shouted just now reached his ears.

"Remember the four identical copies of the new whistle-blowing letters we asked you to write? Our man was in the next room just now and has already told Gao Feng and his son.

"The four letters you prepared to falsely accuse their father and son, along with the photos of Li Changtian and Gao Jie at the Zhenxing Teahouse that we produced using the same method, have all been given to Gao Feng. Once Gao Feng saw them and heard your raving in Room 1106, what do you think he will think?

"Originally, he had no intention of discarding you after use. But now you are finished. Knowing that you kept these things, he has already begun investigating the fact that you falsely accused Zhang Yong and Li Changtian. He will simply say that you orchestrated a series of fabricated letters and fake photos targeting Li Changtian..."

Ning Yu recounted the plan Jiang Xiwen had induced Gao Feng to think of. Fang Sixing gnashed his teeth in fury. He was about to roar in anger again when a sweep of Ning Yu's gaze caused him to slump heavily back into his chair, a sense of helplessness sweeping through his entire body.

Ning Yu continued, "You don't need to struggle in vain; do you still think your little tricks can save you? In any case, whether you accuse Gao Feng and his son of framing you or not, you will face the sanctions of the law. If you don't agree to me, the result is we expose your bribery, and Gao Feng and his son push all the blame onto you, leading to concurrent sentencing for both crimes.

"If you cooperate with us, we won't bring out the evidence of your bribery. You and Gao Feng and his son will face legal punishment for false accusation together, meaning you will only be penalized for a single crime. I'll give you ten minutes to think about it. I'm going out for a cup of tea."

Ning Yu stepped out of the interrogation room, locked the door, and went straight to the police bureau chief's office. He knew Fang Sixing could not refuse his proposal.

As for the evidence of Fang Sixing's bribery, they were merely bluffing and didn't actually possess it; even the audio recordings could not be used as court evidence, making it impossible to prosecute Fang Sixing on that front anyway. Using this illusory threat as a chip to force Fang Sixing into confessing to Gao Feng and his son's wrongdoing was the most profitable move possible.

That little kid Jiang Xiwen was truly formidable!

Naturally, Ning Yu did not tell the bureau chief how he had bluffed Fang Sixing. He merely stated that while investigating Liu Dashan's leftover case files, he discovered suspicions of Fang Sixing falsely accusing Zhang Yong, and a brief interrogation had made the fellow confess to the entire truth.

Since the whole affair involved Gao Feng, the Director of the Provincial Education Commission and head of the inspection team, the bureau chief praised Ning Yu profusely upon hearing it, and immediately reported the matter up to the Provincial Public Security Department.

By the time Fang Sixing saw Ning Yu again, he had calmed down. Prison time was inevitable, but he wisely chose cooperation. By the afternoon of the following day, Provincial Party Secretary Zhao Changfeng received the news and let out a long sigh of relief. As it turned out, Zhang Yong truly was the son of his old leader and had done nothing dishonorable to his father; he had merely been framed out of jealousy.

By evening, Gao Feng was busy distributing the letters falsely accusing him to the Secretary of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission and the Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission, bluntly stating that Fang Sixing had falsely accused both Zhang Yong and himself.

Little did he know that those two secretaries had already received phone calls informing them that Fang Sixing's actions were merely for self-preservation, and the only reason he kept the evidence of the false accusations was to guard against Gao Feng and his son discarding him after use.

Of course, following Ning Yu's instructions, Fang Sixing made no mention of the fabricated videotape.

The next day, Gao Feng offered heartfelt condolences to Zhang Yong, uttering many polite pleasantries. Just as he brought up Fang Sixing's false accusations, the police stepped up to his side.

That afternoon, Gao Feng and his son crossed paths, though it was inside a police station.

A few days later, the father and son finally learned the official reason for their arrest: Fang Sixing had gotten wind in advance of their plan to cut him loose after utilizing him, and in his fury, he resolved to drag them down with him by confessing everything.

During the interrogation, Gao Feng tried to act clever, claiming ignorance of his son's actions. But Gao Jie was tripped up by the interrogator and let slip the fact that his father had known about it days before the arrest. With that, neither of them could escape the punishment of the law.

Before formally entering prison, the father and son finally got the chance to chat face-to-face. Gao Feng had lost his usual composure, and Gao Jie was boiling with rage, venting all his hatred into curses against Fang Sixing.

Yet, he still held immense gratitude toward Jiang Xiwen, believing that the video evidence of someone impersonating Li Changtian to make bank transfers never appearing in court must mean Jiang Xiwen had found and destroyed all of it, thereby allowing him to pin the blame for impersonating the remittance entirely on Fang Sixing while merely admitting that he knew of the matter and condoned Fang Sixing's actions.

"Gao Jie, you are still young. You're only serving a few years. When you get out, you must shed this restless, bad habit of yours, understand?"

"Don't worry, Dad. We'll serve our time together and start fresh!" Gao Jie looked at his aging father with a touch of emotion, then added, "After we get out, we must properly thank Xiwen. He helped me a lot, but before I could thank him..."

Remorse filled Gao Jie's heart. He had fallen out so badly with Jiang Xiwen over Yu Qicheng, never imagining that the one who ultimately helped him would be Jiang Xiwen.

Hearing his son's words, a trace of resentment flashed across Gao Feng's eyes. During his days in detention, he had replayed the entire process in his mind and found Jiang Xiwen deeply suspicious. Therefore, he did not share his son's sentiments, but he kept it to himself because Gao Jie's words had just shown that he was beginning to mature and understand gratitude. Striking down his son's hopes at this moment might cause him to completely collapse.

The father and son bid each other farewell with contrasting mindsets and began their prison journey.

At that very moment, Fatty Qi was excitedly chattering away with Jiang Xiwen, exclaiming how exhilarating these past few days had been. Jiang Xiwen had long since put aside this bothersome distraction that had delayed his progress on writing Photoshop by a few days. He was now worried that by the time Wang Xunfei took the initiative to join them, he wouldn't even have had a chance to meet Zhang Xiaolong, let alone talk about cooperation.

He had already planned it out: as soon as Wang Xunfei arrived, he would have him apply to companies in Silicon Valley, joining a high-tech venture to experience firsthand the management strategies of the internet era while developing QQ. Before 1996, he would register a company locally to seize the instant messaging software market. All of this required capital.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. Qi Huanchang, caught up in his excited chatter, asked irritably, "Who is it?"

"Me, Class 2-5, Li Huanwen!" The voice was magnetic, yet tinged with a provocative tone.

Jiang Xiwen was furiously pounding away at the keyboard. To exaggerate, everything around him had plunged into a state of void—including Qi Huanchang's passionate speech just moments ago, of which he hadn't heard a single word.

Qi Huanchang opened the door to reveal a handsome young man standing outside. He was about 1.75 meters tall, radiating a sunny and attractive aura, except that the moment his body moved, it gave a jarring sense of incoordination.

He was far too pretentious, as if terrified that people wouldn't notice how handsome he was.

Qi Huanchang recognized this person—not because of his looks, but because of his pretentious aura. He had been so glaringly showy in class, yet a bunch of girls still liked to hover around him with adoring expressions.

"What do you want?" Qi Huanchang felt even more displeased that this person was interrupting his conversation.

Li Huanwen tossed his head, lifting his chin slightly in an arrogant manner. Without even acknowledging the teacher, he demanded directly, "Is Jiang Xiwen here? I'm looking for him!"

Before Qi Huanchang could reply, Li Huanwen had already spotted Jiang Xiwen sitting before the computer. Brushing past Qi Huanchang, he strode over and said, "Jiang Xiwen, I have something to say to you!"

Jiang Xiwen remained immersed in writing his code. It wasn't just that he acted as if he hadn't heard; he genuinely couldn't hear a thing.

"Classmate Jiang Xiwen!" Li Huanwen raised his voice, solemnly warning him, "Don't pretend you can't hear me. I have something to tell you!"

With that, Li Huanwen brought a heavy slap down onto Jiang Xiwen's shoulder. In his mind, the blow should have been heavy enough to make the other person cry out in pain.

After delivering the slap, he placed a hand on his head, sweeping back his middle-part hairstyle—popular in that era—as he prepared to watch Jiang Xiwen make a fool of himself.

Yet Jiang Xiwen turned his head as if nothing had happened, staring blankly at him with a puzzled expression. "Huh? You're looking for me? Who are you? When did you come in?"

*Damn it!* Li Huanwen felt as though he was being played. Maintaining his composure for the sake of his image, he suppressed his rising anger and said, "Classmate Jiang Xiwen, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you right here!"

"What is it? Hurry up and say it, I'm busy here," Jiang Xiwen replied casually, turning his head back and fixing his eyes entirely on the code scrolling across the screen.

A sensation of being slighted and mocked washed over Li Huanwen. Unable to endure it any longer, he shouted angrily, "Damn it, I'm giving you face and you're throwing it away! I'm telling you, stay away from Zhang Ya, or you'll regret it!"