“Sis, I’ll cover the shift at the nursing home for you tonight,” Gu Peijun said.

The town nursing home sat right next to the town clinic. The dormitories assigned to officials transferred from other places were just across a narrow alley from both the nursing home and the clinic.

Gu Ling worked at the town Civil Affairs Office and was mainly responsible for the nursing home.

When Xiao Liang had slipped into the clinic earlier to meet Yuan Wenhai without anyone noticing, it was largely thanks to Gu Ling’s cover—he had climbed over the iron fence from the nursing home’s yard.

The nursing home housed elderly residents who could no longer care for themselves. Someone always had to be on duty at night. If Gu Ling couldn’t take the shift, it was common for someone else to fill in.

Now Gu Peijun would wait at the nursing home with the documents in hand, keeping watch to see whether Wang Xingmin stayed in town that night.

Xiao Liang and Gu Xiong remained at the wholesale shop while Gu Peijun headed to the nursing home. At eight o’clock, he called to report that Wang Xingmin hadn’t left Yunshe by car that evening. After eating dinner in the town canteen, he had returned to his dormitory to rest.

There was another piece of news as well.

Late that evening, Yuan Wenhai’s wife had hired a car at considerable expense and rushed to Yunshe. In the clinic ward next to the nursing home, she was loudly demanding that Yuan Wenhai return to the county with her, scolding him mercilessly like a schoolboy. No one knew how Yuan Wenhai managed to placate her in the end, but she eventually sent the hired car away and decided to stay overnight at the clinic.

Gu Xiong gave a few instructions to Gu Peijun over the phone. Half an hour later, however, Peijun returned to the wholesale shop looking utterly dejected.

“Secretary Wang probably won’t get involved after all,” he said bitterly. “When I handed him the documents, he didn’t even let me explain. He flipped through a few pages, said he needed to rest, and practically pushed me out the door.”

Wang Xingmin’s reaction left him deeply discouraged.

“No need to rush,” Xiao Liang said calmly. “He needs time to weigh things. The fact that he accepted the documents already means something.”

Xiao Liang’s composure once again surprised Gu Xiong, a man who had weathered plenty of storms in his lifetime. He comforted his son.

“Secretary Wang didn’t let you linger in his dormitory because he probably already guessed the basics of what’s going on. Right now he’s being cautious—he doesn’t want anyone seeing you there and alerting Fan Chunjiang or Xiao Yujun. That’s not necessarily a bad sign. As for his real stance, whether he’ll step forward or not, we’ll know tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Director Gu is right,” Xiao Liang said with a faint smile. “We can at least wait until tomorrow.”

“…Maybe I was too anxious,” Gu Peijun admitted sheepishly, scratching his head. “Getting pushed out like that… it felt like my heart dropped into my stomach.”

Peijun still had to cover the night shift at the nursing home, so Xiao Liang stayed overnight at the wholesale shop.

Despite how critical the moment was, he didn’t lie awake worrying. He eventually drifted off in the early hours—only to be shaken awake by Gu Peijun while it was still barely dawn.

“What happened?” Xiao Liang snapped upright, fully alert. The sky outside the window was just beginning to pale as he swung his legs off the hard wooden bed.

Gu Peijun was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Wang Xingmin went to the clinic at first light! Ran into Captain Yuan’s wife in the courtyard. Said he’d gone out early for breakfast and thought of Captain Yuan staying here, so he brought some breakfast along to visit!”

He paused, eyes shining.

“See? He wasn’t ignoring things at all. It’s just that neither Su Jing nor I carry enough weight. He wanted to see where Captain Yuan stands on the whole case!”

Even after everything Xiao Liang had endured in his previous life, even though he had already predicted that Wang Xingmin would go to see Yuan Wenhai, he still couldn’t suppress the surge of excitement in his chest.

Having been reborn back to 1994—and having lived through the entire affair once before—Xiao Liang understood the situation far more thoroughly than Gu Xiong, Gu Peijun, or even Yuan Wenhai.

He didn’t just want to clear his name.

He wanted Xiao Yujun—the man truly responsible—to go to prison.

Going straight to the Provincial No. 14 Retired Cadres’ Sanatorium would never accomplish that. The old man there didn’t owe him such a tremendous favor; at most, he might intervene in the attempted rape investigation itself.

Besides, the old man hadn’t stepped in even now. Xiao Liang, pride still intact despite middle age in his previous life, had no intention of seeking that help unless absolutely necessary.

But if Wang Xingmin, the Party Secretary of Yunshe Town, dared to step forward and push for an investigation into Xiao Yujun and the Nanting Juice Factory—

then every seemingly impossible problem would unravel.

Once Xiao Yujun was dragged into a corruption investigation involving the embezzlement of collective assets, he would be fighting for his own survival.

And Xiao Liang, first of all, would be completely safe. No more risk of being locked away for half a year.

—

No one knew what Wang Xingmin and Yuan Wenhai discussed.

Wang Xingmin had come so early, using the excuse of bringing breakfast, precisely because he didn’t want anyone to know he was probing the matter before making a final decision.

What he hadn’t expected was that after delivering the documents to him the night before, Gu Peijun had stayed overnight on duty at the neighboring nursing home—keeping watch the entire time.

By the time Xiao Liang and Gu Peijun reached the nursing home, Wang Xingmin had already left.

Without hesitation—and without caring that Yuan Wenhai’s wife was present—Xiao Liang climbed over the courtyard wall while the clinic staff had yet to arrive for work.

“Sister-in-law, you’re here…”

He knocked lightly and stepped into the ward.

Cheng Xia—head nurse of the obstetrics department at the county hospital—was briskly hanging an IV drip for Yuan Wenhai. She glanced suspiciously at Xiao Liang.

Yuan Wenhai gestured for her to step outside.

Muttering under her breath, Cheng Xia reluctantly left the room.

“You’ve got some nerve,” Yuan Wenhai said, studying Xiao Liang. “Still hanging around Yunshe instead of running?”

“Better to stay still than make the wrong move,” Xiao Liang replied with a faint smile.

“How did you know Wang Xingmin would come see me?” Yuan Wenhai asked, clearly intrigued.

“What’s so hard to guess?” Xiao Liang said lightly. “Right now his biggest concern is how deeply Zhao Zhishan is tied to Fan Chunjiang.”

“If Zhao Zhishan were involved in framing me, Wang Xingmin would most likely retreat.”

“And how do you know Zhao Zhishan isn’t deeply involved?” Yuan Wenhai asked curiously. “Fan Chunjiang got him to Yunshe with a single phone call yesterday.”

“I know a little about how things work in the police system,” Xiao Liang said. “If Zhao Zhishan were deeply tied to Fan Chunjiang, he could’ve simply ordered Su Jing back to the bureau with a phone call and cleared the way for Fan Chunjiang.”

“But he didn’t.”

“Instead, he left you here.”

“That tells me he’s trying to avoid getting his hands dirty—pushing the responsibility onto you.”

Yuan Wenhai stared at him, astonished.

This kid had only been working two years, mostly stuck in a township office—and yet he spoke like a seasoned bureaucratic operator.

Shaking his head, Yuan Wenhai said with a bitter smile,

“Inside the bureau, Zhao Zhishan and Chen Shen are fairly close. Your case never really met the threshold for filing. Even if it had, the station should’ve handled the supplementary investigation first.”

“But Chen Shen insisted. Zhao Zhishan probably didn’t think much of it and simply gave the order to the Criminal Investigation Division.”

“Now Chen Shen is still lying in intensive care, and your case has so many holes in it that anyone not deeply involved would rather stay far away.”

“Still, Su Jing’s failure to prioritize apprehending the suspect after arriving in Yunshe does break procedure. When Fan Chunjiang complained, Zhao Zhishan couldn’t just ignore it.”

“So when Wang Xingmin asked, I told him the truth.”

Seeing how straightforward Yuan Wenhai had been, Xiao Liang felt genuinely grateful.

“Has Chen Shen regained consciousness?” he asked.

“He’s conscious, but still in serious condition,” Yuan Wenhai said. “The bureau is already discussing candidates for a new Yunshe station chief.”

People lost their influence quickly once they were out of the picture. Chen Shen’s injuries meant he would almost certainly never return to duty.

Yuan Wenhai suspected Zhao Zhishan had brought him to Yunshe not to suppress Su Jing, but to quietly clean up the mess Chen Shen had made.

But what startled him most was how clearly Xiao Liang had already predicted all this.

A twenty-two-year-old seeing the situation this clearly—it was unsettling.

“You can go turn yourself in to Su Jing now,” Yuan Wenhai said.

Xiao Liang shook his head.

“There’s one more person I need to see first.”

“The last domino hasn’t fallen yet,” he said with a smile. “The collapse will be far more spectacular once it does.”

“But don’t worry, Captain Yuan. It’ll only take another day or two. I’ll surrender myself to Officer Su. I won’t leave you stuck here getting scolded like a grandson by your wife.”

“Get lost!” Yuan Wenhai snorted. “Since when does your sister-in-law have the nerve to scold me?”

Just as Xiao Liang stood to leave—

The door creaked open.

When he saw who Cheng Xia had brought in, Xiao Liang froze.

Su Jing had come to report work to Yuan Wenhai, and Cheng Xia had no reason to warn anyone in advance.

Su Jing had seen Xiao Liang’s old black-and-white graduation photo in the files but had never gotten a clear look at him before. Naturally, she didn’t recognize him.

But the two men walking in behind her did.

Xiao Liang’s father and older brother.

They spotted him in the ward and shouted in shock and joy:

“Xiao Liang! So you’re here with Captain Yuan! We thought the people framing you had already caught you!”