Gu Xiong and Gu Peijun were both natives of Nanting Village.

Although Gu Peijun still held the position of deputy secretary of the village Party branch, village cadres in 1994 earned meager salaries. In fact, the policy at the time encouraged them to run side businesses on the side.

So Gu Peijun had leased this storefront at the entrance to Xiwudun Village under his father Gu Xiong’s name. It served both as a retail shop and a small rural wholesale outlet. On ordinary days, the retired Gu Xiong and his wife ran the shop, while Gu Peijun handled purchasing goods and stayed overnight to watch the place.

“You really gave that material to Comrade Xiao?”

Gu Xiong stamped his foot in agitation. He didn’t even bother asking why Xiao Liang had dared to return to Yunshe. His first instinct was to question his son—had he truly handed the whistleblower documents to Xiao Liang?

Gu Xiong had known that Gu Peijun had been secretly collecting evidence against the juice factory. But he had firmly opposed reporting Xiao Yujun—even anonymously.

In his view, no matter whose hands that report landed in, it could never topple someone like Xiao Yujun, a man deeply entangled with the town’s leadership, with connections reaching into the county, and a reputation for doing whatever it took.

He had never imagined that his son had gone ahead behind his back.

The thought made his hands tremble with anger.

Xiao Liang pulled out a cigarette pack and offered one to both father and son.

Gu Xiong eyed him warily. When Gu Peijun reached out to accept, Gu Xiong slapped his hand away in irritation.

“Of all things to learn, you pick up smoking?!”

Xiao Liang simply lit one for himself and let it hang from his lips. Then he looked calmly at Gu Xiong.

“Station Chief Gu, I’m not trying to drag Peijun into this. The documents he slipped into my dorm were just photocopies. Unfortunately, I left them there. If my guess is right, those copies are probably already in Xiao Yujun’s hands.”

He exhaled smoke slowly before continuing.

“On one hand, I need another set of those materials from Peijun to prove my innocence. On the other hand, if Xiao Yujun catches me… even if I insist that the only copy I had has already been taken by them, do you think they’ll believe me?”

He gave a faint smile.

“Besides, Officer Sui doesn’t know Yunshe well at all, yet she’s already thought to come looking for Peijun. Station Chief Gu, how long do you think it’ll take before Xiao Yujun—after finding that copy in my dorm—starts suspecting your family?”

Gu Peijun was loyal and fearless, but Gu Xiong had spent most of his life navigating the murky waters of grassroots politics. He had only retired two years ago. Asking him to go head-to-head with someone as ruthless as Xiao Yujun was no easy thing.

But Xiao Liang couldn’t let Gu Xiong believe there was any safe way out.

If his previous life had given him anything valuable, it was this—the ability to read people and press exactly where it hurt.

Gu Xiong pulled a flattened cigarette pack from his pocket and placed one between his lips. His hands shook slightly as he searched his pockets for a lighter, but he couldn’t find one.

Xiao Yujun had been notorious for his brutal temper even in his early years. It was only natural for Gu Xiong to fear him.

Seeing the old man struggling, Xiao Liang stepped forward with his lighter and lit the cigarette for him.

“Before they manage to throw me behind bars,” he said lightly, “Xiao Yujun won’t have the spare hands to deal with you anytime soon. There’s no need to worry too much.”

Gu Xiong forced a bitter smile. In his mind, Xiao Yujun had already cast a dragnet across Yunshe, and Xiao Liang had walked straight into it. How was that supposed to reassure anyone?

Xiao Liang offered Gu Peijun another cigarette, insisting until he accepted, and then lit it for him as well.

“What’s the situation in town right now?” Xiao Liang asked calmly. “Has Officer Sui already come to see you before today?”

Gu Peijun glanced at his father before answering. Compared to Gu Xiong, his sense of justice burned much stronger. He had always been willing to stand up against men like Xiao Yujun.

“Officer Sui arrived in town yesterday morning. After reading the statements, she started verifying details of your case that very afternoon,” he said. “She did look for me, but I happened to be in the county buying goods. She probably heard about the wholesale shop and came early this morning.”

Xiao Liang nodded and asked another question.

“Just now I heard people outside saying that I caused the crash by grabbing the steering wheel while trying to escape during transport. Where did that rumor come from?”

Gu Peijun answered without hesitation.

“The accident happened late the night before last. Not long afterward, the town received a call from the county Public Security Bureau. Apparently the three Party secretaries held a meeting overnight. In the end, Vice Mayor Fan Chunjiang took charge of the manhunt.”

He paused.

“When they summoned village heads to town and assigned search tasks, Fan Chunjiang told them that version of the story.”

“I didn’t attend the meeting myself, but I heard that when Officer Sui arrived yesterday morning, she corrected that claim. Still, nobody cares about details like that. The first version had already spread everywhere.”

“Vice Mayor Fan really thinks highly of me,” Xiao Liang said with a dry laugh.

None of this surprised him.

It only confirmed the suspicions he had formed during his previous life’s investigations.

Fan Chunjiang had been rooted in Yunshe for eight years—first as propaganda officer, then vice mayor, later deputy Party secretary and mayor. His political skills were formidable. In many ways, he was the true local strongman.

He and Xiao Yujun had known each other since their days in the county. Xiao Yujun’s return to Yunshe in 1990 to become Party secretary of Nanting Village and take control of the Nanting Juice Factory had been backed directly by Fan Chunjiang.

In recent years Xiao Yujun had also borrowed heavily from the town credit cooperative under the factory’s name, squandering funds freely—and Fan Chunjiang’s involvement was impossible to separate from it.

In Xiao Liang’s previous life, as Xiao Yujun’s wealth ballooned, Fan Chunjiang’s career rose in parallel. From Party secretary of Yunshe to vice county magistrate of Shishan, then county standing committee secretary-general, then county magistrate—until he finally retired in 2015 as deputy secretary of Dongzhou’s municipal Party committee.

Soon after retirement, Fan Chunjiang emigrated overseas with his entire family, escaping the anti-corruption storm that would later sweep the country.

What bright and promising futures they had all enjoyed.

Too bad their destinies were about to change.

Of course, most of Yunshe’s key officials had close ties with Xiao Yujun.

For instance, Zhang Feili—the deputy director of the juice factory’s administrative office—was married into the family of Zhou Jianqi, the town’s deputy Party secretary. Zhou Jianqi ranked third in the town leadership hierarchy, behind Party secretary Wang Xingmin and Deputy Secretary and Mayor Fan Chunjiang, and he too was closely linked with Xiao Yujun.

But from what Gu Peijun had said, Xiao Liang could now narrow his suspicions squarely onto Fan Chunjiang.

Fan Chunjiang must have known—at least at this moment—that Xiao Liang had been framed. Yet he had still chosen to distort the truth, even personally stepping in to clean up Xiao Yujun’s mess.

Seeing Xiao Liang look so unconcerned, Gu Peijun couldn’t help worrying for him.

“Every village has been ordered to conduct inspections, and the town’s militia has been deployed everywhere,” he said anxiously. “Why did you come back to Yunshe at a time like this?”

But Xiao Liang’s focus remained on breaking down Gu Xiong’s psychological defenses.

Rubbing his chin, he spoke thoughtfully to the old man.

“Fan Chunjiang is Yunshe’s local strongman. He knows the lie about the steering wheel will eventually fall apart, yet he still went out of his way to pin the crash on me. That tells me two things.”

He held up two fingers.

“First, they’re afraid I’ll come back and retrieve the materials they think I’ve hidden somewhere.”

“Second, Fan Chunjiang’s control over this manhunt isn’t as absolute as it seems. Maybe there are already people in town opposing his aggressive tactics, so he had to exaggerate the story to justify it.”

He looked at Gu Xiong.

“Station Chief Gu, doesn’t that sound about right?”

Gu Peijun pondered the logic. Gu Xiong, meanwhile, stared at Xiao Liang with new curiosity.

When Xiao Liang had first arrived in Yunshe for work, Gu Xiong had just retired. They had only crossed paths twice. Earlier in the shop, he hadn’t even recognized him.

Yet after decades in local politics, Gu Xiong had met all kinds of people. Still, he found it difficult to reconcile the calm young man before him with the image of a fugitive accused of attempted rape.

The boy had escaped custody, walked straight back into Yunshe despite knowing a dragnet awaited him—and now stood here coolly analyzing the situation as if it were someone else’s problem.

Xiao Liang’s composure began to affect him.

Truthfully, Gu Xiong’s earlier panic had come from fear that Xiao Liang—desperate after being framed—might act rashly and drag his son down with him.

His silence had been a way to stall, to figure out how to keep things under control.

Xiao Liang continued.

“You said those two thugs outside were sent by Xiao Yujun to harass Officer Sui. Doesn’t that mean she hasn’t been following Xiao Yujun’s script since arriving in Yunshe? Maybe she’s already discovered some suspicious details, which forced Xiao Yujun to resort to this kind of tactic.”

“And another thing—Officer Sui managed to find you this quickly. Could it be that someone behind the scenes pointed her in the right direction?”

Gu Xiong replied slowly.

“I did hear that Officer Sui started investigating the doubts in your case as soon as she arrived. It’s made Xiao Yujun uneasy. As for someone secretly guiding her… unless they step forward openly, it doesn’t mean much.”

He looked directly at Xiao Liang.

“Peijun can give you another copy of the materials. Take them straight to Officer Sui. Your case shouldn’t be that hard to explain.”

Even now, Gu Xiong’s instinct was still to keep his son out of trouble.

Xiao Liang simply smiled.

Handing the materials to Sui Jing was only a fallback plan.

He wasn’t even particularly eager to contact the Provincial No.14 Cadre Retirement Institute yet, nor did he want to drag his father and brother into this situation too soon.

Getting the documents from Gu Peijun wasn’t enough for him either.

What he wanted was to pull both father and son fully into the game.

Partly because he needed their help to stir the waters of Yunshe even further—and to keep track of the town’s movements in real time.

But there was another reason.

Once Xiao Yujun and his allies were dealt with, Xiao Liang intended to take control of the Nanting Lake Juice Factory himself.

Whether Gu Peijun, the deputy Party secretary of Nanting Village, stood with him or not would make an enormous difference.

After all, now that he had returned to 1994, was simply clearing his name and sending Xiao Yujun to prison really enough?

Even if Xiao Yujun were convicted of framing him and embezzling collective assets, how many years would he actually serve?

Two or three, perhaps—before reducing his sentence or securing medical parole.

To be fair, aside from his ruthlessness and corruption, Xiao Yujun did possess genuine business instincts.

He had ventured out of Yunshe early, building connections in the county—running clothing stalls, operating a building materials business, partnering in gravel pits, gradually accumulating capital.

When the previous Party secretary of Nanting Village died in a car accident in 1989, Xiao Yujun used his connections with Fan Chunjiang to step in and take over the village leadership and control the Nanting Lake Juice Factory. From there, he siphoned off collective assets and borrowed heavily from the Yunshe credit cooperative under the factory’s name.

Still, not all that money had been wasted.

Much of it had been invested in other businesses outside Yunshe—several of which had developed quite successfully.

Which meant that even if Xiao Yujun were imprisoned and forced to repay the assets he had stolen from Nanting Village, he would still retain enormous wealth by the standards of the era.

And across Yunshe and Shishan County, many officials he had corrupted would still occupy influential positions.

When he emerged from prison a few years later, he would have every chance to rise again.

Perhaps even enough power to seek revenge.

Was that really the outcome Xiao Liang wanted?

If he truly intended to settle the score—to make Xiao Yujun and his accomplices pay the price—then merely sending them to prison would never be enough.

Especially not when his own family was still struggling to emerge from the shadow of the Chen Fushan scandal that had rocked the city two years earlier.