Chapter 79: Even If He Rises Again, Crush Him Back Down
Once Xiao Yujun was mentioned, no one had much mood left for drinking.
They left Gu Ling to pack up the leftovers and take them back, while Xiao Liang, Gu Xiong, and Gu Peijun first saw Yuan Wenhai back to the police station by the township road. On the way, they also stopped by the Cultural Center building for a look.
Yunshe had been a major town along the salt transport river as early as the Ming and Qing dynasties. The old street intersected the township road to the south and bore the elegant old name Meiwou Street. Its stone slabs had been worn smooth by countless footsteps, marked by the passage of years.
Aside from a few privately built new houses from recent years, most of the buildings on either side of the stone-paved street were old residences. Some even dated back to the Ming and Qing periods.
There were many shops along the street. In the summer heat, people kept walking in and out.
Unfortunately, in Xiao Liang’s previous life, Yunshe never had the fiscal strength to carry out protective restoration of the old street.
As the town was redeveloped and residents improved their own living conditions, the buildings on both sides of the old street were demolished one after another. In the end, only a few old courtyards remained. It was deeply regrettable.
Otherwise, Yunshe Old Street, paired with Suyun Mountain to the south, and the many lakes scattered across Yunshe and Xikou towns—not to mention its proximity to Dongzhou’s main urban area—would have been an exceptionally rare cultural tourism resource.
“You really don’t have any other thoughts about Xiao Yujun’s case?”
Gu Peijun kicked a pebble along the roadside, still unwilling to let it go. Seeing Xiao Liang sink into thought, he assumed he was also considering Xiao Yujun’s case.
Gu Peijun thought Xiao Liang had spent this whole period focused on market sales in Xijiang and might not have had the energy to pay attention to the case’s complexity. As they walked toward the street entrance, he briefly explained what the county public security bureau’s Economic Investigation Brigade had uncovered so far.
Before Xiao Yujun became Party secretary of Nanting Village, he had already made a name for himself in Shishan.
After taking control of Nanting Lake Juice Factory, he had used people like Zhu Jinqi to set up another juice factory in Xikou Town. But his real goal hadn’t been to get rich from that factory—it was to transfer assets. Afterward, he had successively acquired or founded four or five entities in Shishan County.
At present, the county bureau had basically investigated the assets under Xiao Yujun’s control. Including the building materials business and gravel yard he had started before becoming Nanting Village Party secretary, the total assets he actually controlled might add up to thirty or forty million yuan.
In 1994, that was a terrifying figure.
Gu Peijun had also spent time studying legal books recently. He knew very well that even if the court ruled fairly and ordered Xiao Yujun and his people to return all misappropriated assets, Xiao Yujun would still inevitably retain a substantial foundation.
He worried that if Xiao Yujun got out of prison in just two or three years, he might retaliate against them.
Xiao Liang smiled. His understanding of Xiao Yujun was beyond anything Gu Peijun could imagine.
With two or three years, Xiao Liang was confident he could pull far ahead of Xiao Yujun. He wasn’t truly afraid of what Xiao might do to him then.
What he couldn’t accept was Xiao Yujun spending only two or three years in prison, then coming out to rise again.
The headache was figuring out what method to use next so that people like Xiao Yujun would receive real punishment.
“We can’t expect Xiao Yujun to spit everything out this time. But the people under him aren’t exactly clean either. They’re all meat-eaters. Otherwise, birds of a feather wouldn’t flock together.”
Xiao Liang didn’t avoid speaking in front of Yuan Wenhai or Gu Xiong. After thinking for a moment, he said to Gu Peijun,
“I think that although the investigation and interrogation of Xiao Yujun’s case are being led by Economic Investigation and the Township Enterprise Bureau, the Nanting Village Committee can’t remain completely silent. Among Xiao Yujun’s subordinates, Zhu Jinqi should be the one with the strongest personality, the least willing to stay beneath others. If the Nanting Village Committee wants to speak up in the Xiao Yujun case, it can leave Zhu Jinqi some room. Station Chief Gu, Old Yuan—what do you think?”
In his previous life, apart from the infamous figures in both the underworld and official circles who had colluded with Xiao Yujun, Xiao Liang had also studied several important members of Xiao’s group.
Zhu Jinqi, who had once served as deputy director of Nanting Lake Juice Factory, had been Xiao Yujun’s most capable assistant for a time. But after the Xiao Group grew stronger, he had also become the person with the deepest conflict with Xiao Yujun.
Zhu Jinqi died in a car accident in 2002, one of Dongzhou’s famous unsolved cases. His children had once reported online that Xiao Yujun had hired someone to kill him, also exposing many unverified internal secrets of the Xiao Group.
If Xiao Liang wanted to plant a mine for Xiao Yujun after his eventual release from prison, Zhu Jinqi was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate he could think of.
Nanting Village might not have much say in Xiao Yujun’s conviction or in determining the amount of misappropriated funds, but it couldn’t be completely voiceless either.
Xiao Liang thought the village’s influence could be used on the charges and sentencing of several accomplices—pushing as much as possible for Zhu Jinqi to receive a lighter sentence, or even a suspended sentence.
If Xiao Yujun was still in prison while Zhu Jinqi got out early, would Zhu repeat Xiao’s own methods and transfer Xiao’s assets into his own name?
Xiao Liang felt that was something worth looking forward to.
It might even become a brilliant move that would eventually tear apart the forces behind Fan Chunjiang and Zhou Jianqi.
He didn’t mind laying out this calculation for Gu Xiong, Yuan Wenhai, and Gu Peijun.
Yuan Wenhai had long been excluded from the Xiao Yujun case and took a relatively relaxed attitude. Aside from occasionally hearing small details at the police force, he hadn’t deliberately asked around.
Hearing Xiao Liang’s suggestion, he merely spread his hands indifferently.
Gu Xiong, however, clapped his hands in approval.
“Xiao Liang has thought this through. This is exactly what we should do. We can’t give Xiao Yujun a chance to turn things around.”
Gu Peijun suddenly understood Xiao Liang’s intention, but still asked in surprise, “You can do that?”
“We want to do serious work. We can’t actually go around fighting and killing like social scum. So we can only put more thought and effort into this sort of thing,” Xiao Liang said with a smile.
“What else can we do? To be honest, I really don’t take someone like Xiao Yujun seriously. But if I had to watch someone like him come out later and strut around again, I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable.”
