Aside from Chen Shen, who was still being resuscitated in the emergency room at the County People’s Hospital, no one within the Public Security Bureau had any deep ties to Xiao Yujun or Fan Chunjiang. Naturally, none of them wanted to get dragged into this mess.

The so-called attempted rape case was flimsy at best. Apart from the conflicting testimonies given by He Hong, Xiao Yujun, and the others, the only physical evidence was a few torn pieces of He Hong’s clothing. There had been no injury examination at the time, and later tests had failed to find any biological evidence linking the suspect, Xiao Liang.

Meanwhile, the Yunshe Town Government had now filed a formal complaint accusing Xiao Yujun of embezzling assets from the Nanting Lake Juice Factory—a village-run enterprise under Nanting Village. The amount involved was enormous, possibly one of the largest such cases Dongzhou City had seen in recent years.

The Economic Crimes Investigation Unit had no choice but to open a case. That very night they sent officers to Yunshe Town to retrieve the factory’s financial records kept at the town’s Economic Management Station, along with the whistleblower’s materials.

When Yuan Wenhai and Sui Jing brought Xiao Liang back to the County Public Security Bureau, the Criminal Investigation Division argued internally for hours without reaching any conclusion. When they tried to ask Zhao Zhishan—the deputy chief in charge of criminal investigations—for instructions, he blasted them with a furious reprimand, cursing them for running to him over every trivial matter.

After being chewed out, the detectives understood the message.

Dropping the case outright was impossible—the bureau still had its reputation to maintain. But since Zhao Zhishan refused to sign off on it, they couldn’t send Xiao Liang to the detention center for formal criminal detention either. On the other hand, Xiao Liang had previously fled from the accident scene, so releasing him on bail wasn’t an option.

So the compromise was simple: lock him in the holding room for a couple of days and see whether anything new developed over in Yunshe.

Yuan Wenhai was dragged home by his wife Cheng Xia. Sui Jing headed to the holding area to inform Xiao Liang of the division’s temporary decision. But the moment she stepped inside, she saw something that made her stop cold.

Xiao Liang was alone in a small cell, his hands cuffed behind his back.

Her brows shot up in anger.

“What’s going on here?” she demanded sharply. “Who authorized restraints in the holding cells? And solitary confinement with his hands cuffed behind his back? Did we register him as a high-risk violent offender?”

By now it was almost certain Xiao Liang had been framed—and that Xiao Yujun had orchestrated it. It was also becoming clear that certain officials in Yunshe Town had been involved. On top of that, Sui Jing had already sensed serious irregularities in how Chen Shen, the Yunshe Police Station chief, had originally handled the case.

Seeing Xiao Liang treated like this, her first thought was that someone in the holding unit had been bribed.

Her temper flared instantly.

The two guards on duty weren’t formally sworn officers, but being dressed down so bluntly by a young woman barely out of the academy still stung their pride.

The younger guard muttered sourly, “Maybe you should take a look at the kind of people you send in here. The moment he came in, there was a fight. If we didn’t isolate him, he’d tear the whole place apart.”

Only then did Sui Jing notice the fresh bruising on Xiao Liang’s cheek and the long tear under the armpit of his jacket.

Her tone grew even colder.

“Don’t tell me he started picking fights with the regular troublemakers the moment we locked him up?”

In 1994 the government was pushing hard to invigorate the economy. People’s ambitions were rising, and huge numbers of young laborers were flooding from rural areas into towns looking to strike it rich. Social order had grown noticeably more chaotic.

The county bureau’s holding cells were almost always packed. Most detainees were petty troublemakers—street brawlers and habitual nuisances who didn’t quite meet the threshold for administrative detention. They were usually held for twenty-four hours before being released.

Each cell normally crammed five or six people together. Sometimes a dozen had to squeeze in.

There was no way Sui Jing believed Xiao Liang—barely one or two hours in custody—had started trouble with a bunch of seasoned hooligans.

The two guards fell silent.

After returning to the bureau, Sui Jing herself had personally delivered Xiao Liang to the holding area. With her temperament, she had simply logged him in according to procedure. She certainly hadn’t asked the guards to treat him kindly.

And the holding unit had no idea about the complicated twists of the case. All they knew was that the man sent over was a rape suspect who had fled from a crash scene. By their usual methods, they tossed him into a cell with several notorious troublemakers, hoping he’d learn a quick lesson.

As it turned out, their wish had come true.

Less than fifteen minutes after Xiao Liang was locked inside, the entire holding room erupted in chaos.

By the time the guards wandered over to check, they found Xiao Liang bruised but standing, while the three local toughs who had shared his cell were battered black and blue and crouching meekly in the corner like quails.

No one had been seriously hurt, but the guards couldn’t allow Xiao Liang to look triumphant. So they slapped restraints on him and locked him in solitary.

Now, however, seeing Xiao Liang sitting up and staring at them with open mockery only made their tempers flare again.

The younger guard snapped at Sui Jing, “Whether a suspect gets restraints is our call. If you’ve got a problem, take it up with Deputy Chief Zhao or Captain Qi. You’re not our boss.”

Sui Jing’s eyes narrowed.

“So only Deputy Chief Zhao has the authority to talk to you, is that what you’re saying?”

She didn’t argue further. Instead, she grabbed the telephone mounted on the hallway wall and dialed.

“Deputy Chief Zhao? The holding unit has inexplicably put Xiao Liang in restraints and solitary confinement. I asked them for an explanation, and they told me only you’re qualified to talk to them. Sorry to bother you so late, but I guess you’ll have to handle this.”

The two guards froze.

It was the middle of the night, and over something this trivial, a rookie detective who hadn’t even served a full year had bypassed the entire Criminal Investigation leadership chain and gone straight to the deputy chief.

Was this woman fearless—or completely insane?

“Do you want Captain Qi to come answer the phone,” Sui Jing asked coolly, holding out the receiver, “or would you prefer to explain things to Deputy Chief Zhao yourselves?”

The older guard reluctantly took the phone. Hearing Zhao Zhishan’s voice on the other end—strained with suppressed anger—made his hand tremble.

He dared not admit they had deliberately tried to rough up the suspect. Nor did he want Sui Jing digging further. Pushing the blame onto Xiao Liang felt risky too.

So he stammered, “A few of the regulars in the cell saw the suspect Detective Sui brought in—young, easy target—and started provoking him. But we didn’t expect the suspect to be so good at fighting. When we arrived, the troublemakers had already been beaten up. No serious injuries though. So we separated them and placed him in solitary.”

“For hell’s sake!” Zhao Zhishan roared through the phone. “Why didn’t you just explain that to Sui Jing? Do you think my schedule’s so damn empty I should deal with this garbage at midnight? Tell Qi Hai to get his ass into my office tomorrow and write a report. What a bunch of idiots!”

The line went dead with a loud click.

“Thanks, Officer Sui,” Xiao Liang said, rising to his feet. “Otherwise tonight would’ve been miserable.”

He turned to the guard behind the bars. “Unlock the cuffs.”

“Try not to cause trouble,” Sui Jing said curtly. She told him about the bureau’s temporary decision and then left the holding area.

After she was gone, Xiao Liang glanced at the two guards, who now looked about as meek as quails themselves. Then he quietly sat down in the corner of the cell, drew his knees up, and closed his eyes.

Most people in the holding rooms were minor offenders. Even if someone tried to rough him up, enduring it for a while wouldn’t be a big problem.

But Xiao Liang had no intention of wasting time here.

If he wanted to get out sooner rather than later, certain people needed to understand that he was a thorn that couldn’t be easily smoothed over.

So when the three hooligans had made the first move, he beat them hard.

Inside the Public Security Bureau, some troublemakers were destined to be crushed—and there were plenty of ways to do it.

But others—like Sui Jing—were different.

Once someone completely ignored the rigid hierarchy of government institutions, even Zhao Zhishan, furious as he might be when dragged out of bed by a call like that, could only vent his anger on the guards responsible—or chew out Yuan Wenhai later.

And Xiao Liang was tied to the Xiao Yujun case, which might explode into a major scandal.

The more difficult he appeared to handle, the more eager Zhao Zhishan would be to get rid of this problem as quickly as possible—rather than keeping him around the bureau like a ticking time bomb.