Chapter 110: Almost Stabbing Him in the Kidney

Lu Xuesong was taken aback, his eyes flickered, and he opened his mouth as if to say something.

Ning Weidong, however, did not wait for him to speak, interrupting first: "Don't you dare say you don't have it; don't lie to me, it won't do you any good."

The cold tone, the sinister gaze—the person before him was like a different man from the one who had just given him a job, a house, and gold.

Lu Xuesong shivered, put away the thoughts of playing small tricks in his heart, and stammered: "Le-leader, I... I have it, it's kept in..."

Ning Weidong listened as Lu Xuesong began to stutter about the evidence he had secretly kept back then, as well as the series of circumstances from that time.

Ning Weidong and Zhang Dajun listened carefully.

When Lu Xuesong finished, Ning Weidong looked at Zhang Dajun: "Neglect of duty, illegal detention, intimidation... we can also reasonably suspect that the deaths of Lu Yong and Zhan Shengli are related to Wang Kaifeng."

The previous points were all fine, but this last one was a trumped-up charge.

But using it was perfectly fine; whether it was true or not would be clear once they investigated.

Immediately, Ning Weidong looked at Lu Xuesong and said in a deep voice: "I'm asking you to report Wang Kaifeng; do you dare?"

Lu Xuesong's heart skipped a beat; he had been good at his studies since he was young, and his mind turned quickly.

In fact, when Ning Weidong gave him three conditions in a row just now, he knew that today's matter was not that simple.

If he only wanted the evidence in his hands, or something else, there would be no need to give so much.

Ning Weidong had given too much, especially that heavy gold bar pressed into his hand at the end, which even gave him the feeling of 'hush money'.

Sure enough, what was being said now was the most critical part: Ning Weidong wanted him to report Wang Kaifeng in the capacity of a victim's family member.

Lu Xuesong fell into deep thought.

He was not afraid; at this point, fear was already useless—what was it called, being unable to get off the tiger's back?

He had already said so much; did he think Ning Weidong would let him go if he said he wouldn't do it? After being ground down by Wang Kaifeng for these two years, he had long since shed the naivety appropriate for his age.

He was weighing the odds of success and whether there would be any chance to get out once he was dragged into this.

Furthermore, were the three conditions Ning Weidong promised enough to make him risk his life for a gamble?

Lu Xuesong did not consider it for long; in just over a minute, he hardened his heart: "I'll do it!"

As the old saying goes, wealth is sought in danger.

Lu Xuesong had only thought about one question just now: if he backed down this time, would he ever have another opportunity like this in his life? His answer was: once this village is passed, there will be no more such shop.

This opportunity of his, to put it bluntly, was bought with his father's life, and he only had one biological father in this life.

Moreover, once the matter succeeded, what he obtained would likely not just be the three conditions Ning Weidong promised, but also something even more important that Ning Weidong hadn't mentioned: as long as he performed well and showed a certain talent, he could rely on Ning Weidong.

This was the most critical point! In Lu Xuesong's eyes, Wang Kaifeng was already an unreachable big boss.

Now that Ning Weidong wanted to topple Wang Kaifeng, they were at least figures of the same level, and besides, Ning Weidong was still so young.

Although Lu Xuesong did not know exactly what Ning Weidong's background was, it certainly wasn't simple.

Therefore, he decided to gamble this once.

If he succeeded, his life, and perhaps even the fate of his family, might change; as for losing... a severed head is nothing more than a scar the size of a bowl.

Ning Weidong met Lu Xuesong's fierce gaze and a smile appeared on his face.

He raised his hand and patted his shoulder, making Lu Xuesong stagger, and laughed: "Very good! That's the look. A real man born between heaven and earth must have a ruthless streak—ruthless to the enemy, and even more ruthless to himself!"

After speaking, he turned to look at Zhang Dajun: "Brother Zhang, you are the professional; do you think the situation we have grasped so far is enough to arrest Wang Kaifeng?"

Zhang Dajun frowned and pondered, clicking his tongue after a long while: "This is really hard to say. In principle, it is indeed enough, but... Wang Kaifeng's status is there after all, and it all involves work-related matters, so there will be a lot of flexibility. Normally, if I were handling the case, I wouldn't suggest arresting him. Once the other side exerts force, it will be very difficult for us to hold him, and we will be very passive, unless..."

At this point, Zhang Dajun stopped abruptly.

Ning Weidong picked up where he left off: "Unless there is a big enough name!"

Zhang Dajun nodded.

As long as the name is big enough, even if the other side uses their power to try to fish him out, they will have to wait until things are investigated clearly. If there really is some situation, who would take the responsibility!

Ning Weidong smiled; didn't they have just such a pretext right now?

Chu Zhongxin was currently investigating the case of Deputy Factory Director Liu. If there were any clues pointing to a relationship between Wang Kaifeng and Deputy Factory Director Liu... both were from the same factory, seeing each other every day, one a deputy factory director, one a Deputy Division Chief, colluding together—wouldn't that be very reasonable?

Of course, if after some investigation it turned out Wang Kaifeng really had no connection to Deputy Factory Director Liu, it wouldn't matter.

Just using this name to trap him and make the other side afraid to act rashly would be enough.

Using the time gained, they could then substantiate the other charges.

It was just a matter of whether Chu Zhongxin would be willing; after all, once this was done, Chu Zhongxin would be under no small amount of pressure.

Fortunately, Ning Weidong now had a buff, which was the message Wang Fu relayed through Wang Yuzhen's mouth: let Ning Weidong go ahead and do it, and if anything happened, he would cover it.

Regardless of what considerations the old man had in saying this, Ning Weidong could use his feather as an arrow.

"No time to lose, we leave now!"

Having made up his mind, Ning Weidong waved his hand and immediately set off from the guesthouse without stopping.

He had Ning Wei give his bicycle to Lu Xuesong, and had Ning Wei take Liu Dong back to follow up on He Yongbiao's situation.

Ning Weidong and Zhang Dajun took Lu Xuesong, and the three of them went overnight to retrieve the evidence Lu Xuesong had hidden, then headed straight for Chu Zhongxin's home.

At the same time, on the other side, before Ning Wei and Liu Dong returned, Wang Weiran had already led people into action.

Including Wang Weiran, a total of six people from the Security Division were lying in ambush in an alley in the family residential area outside the Red Star Factory.

Although strictly speaking, this was already outside the factory area, in reality, the public security of the nearby family residential area was also the responsibility of the Security Division.

The factory area was mainly for the factory's employees and their families, and the Security Division was more effective than the Police Station.

After all, the Police Station only had two methods: either arrest or detain.

But once it reached the Security Division, there were far too many methods.

Wang Weiran felt eager to try.

As one of the four-man group from the Fourth Workshop, he had the least presence.

Liu Dong had made a gamble and was now Ning Wei's follower, having established himself by Ning Weidong's side.

Xia Dongqiang has the seniority, and he also holds some prestige in the Security Division, so these dozen or so newly assigned staff are all willing to get along well with him.

On the contrary, Wang Weiran has not shown his face in front of Ning Weidong until now, other than buying a few packs of cigarettes.

Although he looks carefree, he is not stupid, and he also wants to find an opportunity to plot a better path for his future.

Just as he was worrying about having no opportunity, he was suddenly called over by Ning Wei just now and told to lead a team to arrest He Yongbiao.

Wang Weiran immediately perked up, realizing that this was an opportunity.

The factory residential area is different from the Dazayuan in the city.

Dazayuan are mostly high-gated compounds from the past, while the factory family quarters were built in the fifties and sixties; each family's courtyard is not large, but they are independent households, making them more comfortable to live in than a Dazayuan.

Wang Weiran led his men along the alleyway to the outside of a house in the middle.

The lights were on inside the room, and even though it was winter, one could hear people shouting inside even with the windows and doors closed.

Wang Weiran said to those behind him: "According to the plan, follow me!"

He then charged forward, arrived outside the room door, lifted a foot, and kicked the door open directly.

There were about a dozen people in the room, mostly from the Fourth Workshop, and two outsiders.

The group was gathered around two tables, still shouting and slamming down poker cards when Wang Weiran led his men in.

The huge commotion of kicking the door open startled everyone, and they looked toward the doorway all at once.

Wang Weiran roared: "Security Division! Everyone, squat down!"

The people in the room suddenly reacted; unable to care about anything else, those with quick reflexes slammed into the windows, intending to break through and escape.

But just as they pushed the windows open, they saw two people blocking the outside, holding police batons, who had been waiting there for a long time.

Inside the room, Wang Weiran pulled out his gun and shouted loudly: "All of you damn well squat down for me! Whoever moves again, I'll blow them away!"

When this bunch saw that guns were actually being used, they were immediately flustered, not understanding why they were being treated like this just for playing poker; in fact, Wang Weiran was just bluffing, and if someone were truly stubborn, he wouldn't dare to fire.

But it was enough to intimidate them; it was just playing poker, not some capital crime, so it really wasn't worth taking that risk.

They had not yet realized that this situation was different from the past.

If it were in the past, being caught by the Security Division would just mean criticism and education, and a fine of two months' bonus would be about it.

But this time, the goal was not to catch them, but to target He Yongbiao.

He Yongbiao was squatting among the others, cursing his bad luck in his heart; he had a good hand just now, and if he could have finished playing, he definitely would have won big, but now it was all ruined.

Wang Weiran put away his gun and swept his eyes over the few people, his gaze lingering on He Yongbiao for two seconds.

When He Yongbiao looked up and saw it was him, he still wanted to smile and try to get close, but Wang Weiran looked elsewhere with an expressionless face. Confirming that He Yongbiao was among these people, Wang Weiran sent the person to the Police Station as planned without saying another word.

During this process, the person previously arranged to deliberately incite He Yongbiao to come today would disappear quietly.

The commotion just now was not small, and when they were escorting the people out, quite a few people gathered outside; they were all nearby residents, discussing and pointing fingers.

Just at this moment, Ning Wei and Liu Dong rode over on a bicycle.

Seeing Wang Weiran and confirming that He Yongbiao had been caught, the two breathed a sigh of relief.

……

At the same time, inside the Cadre building of the Red Star Factory.

Wang Kaifeng was draped in a cotton-padded jacket, setting up a chess manual on the coffee table in the living room.

Just then, the telephone in the study rang.

Wang Kaifeng frowned, put down the chess piece in his hand, and got up to answer it.

"Hello, this is Wang Kaifeng." His voice was steady and deep.

Feng Wen's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello, Uncle, this is Xiaowen. I just heard that the Security Division is raiding gambling tonight and caught He Yongbiao from the Fourth Workshop."

Hearing this, Wang Kaifeng was not surprised, but instead chuckled and said: "Ning Weidong's actions are quite fast; he cut it off as soon as he let him out."

Feng Wen said: "Uncle, what should we do? Should we..."

Wang Kaifeng said indifferently: "What does He Yongbiao gambling have to do with us? If they want to catch him, let them. If they have the ability, they can arrest everyone in the Fourth Workshop."

Feng Wen only then realized that Wang Kaifeng had already abandoned He Yongbiao, and subconsciously said: "But He Yongbiao is our person after all, are we just going to ignore him?"

Wang Kaifeng sneered: "Our person? Who admitted that? A gambler with a brain full of mush, since when did he become our person?"

On the other end of the phone, Feng Wen immediately went silent.

Wang Kaifeng said: "Is there anything else?"

Feng Wen said "Uh," and hurriedly said: "Right, Uncle, they didn't bring the people back to the Manager after catching them; it seems they sent them directly to the Police Station."

Wang Kaifeng frowned, but did not say much more, only saying "I know" before hanging up the phone; he did not return to the living room, but lit a cigarette on the spot.

Ning Weidong dealing with He Yongbiao this way was not unexpected.

He had even anticipated that he would use He Yongbiao's weakness for playing poker.

It was just that Ning Weidong acted so ruthlessly, sending him directly to the Police Station, which was somewhat surprising to him.

In the past, such matters were all handled internally by the Manager, as family scandals should not be made public.

Ning Weidong doing this was equivalent to breaking the tacit understanding of the past and committing a major taboo.

Normally, not only his side, but even Factory Director's side would not agree.

Because once the past tacit understanding is broken, it is equivalent to handing over the jurisdiction of the family quarters outside the factory to the Police Station.

And accompanying power are interests; there are several thousand households around the factory area, and counting the family members, that is fifty or sixty thousand people—how could they just let go of that?

If it were normal times, Wang Kaifeng could have crushed Ning Weidong with this one blunder alone.

It is a pity that it won't work now; the current dispute has long since exceeded the scope of the factory.

Whether it is Li Weibing or Wang Guoqiang, neither is the protagonist or the chess player in this game.

Now the issue has risen to a higher level; as the two sides of the game, they simply do not care about the Red Star Factory's own interest structure, nor do they care if these interests are damaged.

And it is precisely because of this that Ning Weidong dared to let Ning Wei's side catch people and send them directly to the Police Station.

To put it bluntly, those who care don't manage things, and those who manage things don't care.

Wang Kaifeng narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze directed out the window.

Although he did not care at all about whether He Yongbiao lived or died, Ning Weidong's strike this time was so fast, accurate, and ruthless, and he had completely disregarded the original unspoken rules, which left him somewhat puzzled.

Was Ning Weidong truly seeing through everything, or was it simply a lucky strike?

Yet he did not know that while he was still struggling with this matter of He Yongbiao, Ning Weidong's knife was already about to stab into his kidney.

……

It was nearly ten o'clock at night.

Ning Weidong, Zhang Dajun, and Lu Xuesong arrived at the Municipal Bureau family quarters.

Ning Weidong did not rashly go in; he let Zhang Dajun and Lu Xuesong wait while he went in alone.

Everyone in the family quarters was from the same unit; there was no telling what kind of intricate and complicated relationships might exist inside.

Many things failed precisely because of the details.

Therefore, the more critical the moment, the more cautious one must be.

Arriving here for the second time, the procedure was much the same as last time: first register at the entrance, then make a phone call.

However, this time Ning Weidong did not go inside, but instead called Chu Zhongxin out directly.

"Fourth Brother~" Seeing Chu Zhongxin, Ning Weidong immediately stepped forward to greet him.

Chu Zhongxin asked with a serious expression, "What's the situation?"

Just now on the phone, Ning Weidong had said he had a very important matter to find him for, but hadn't said what it specifically was.

Ning Weidong pulled Chu Zhongxin to one side, away from the gate of the family quarters, and under the street trees, he concisely explained it once.

Finally, he said, "Fourth Brother, whether this succeeds or fails, I am counting on you."

Chu Zhongxin's brows were tightly locked; although Ning Weidong had spoken concisely just now, the meaning within was expressed very clearly.

He said in a deep voice, "You want me to use the name of the Special Investigation Team to arrest Wang Kaifeng?"

Ning Weidong nodded and said bluntly, "Right now, relying solely on Lu Xuesong's testimony, it is very difficult for us to detain Wang Kaifeng. I need a hat with enough weight so that no one can plead for him."

Chu Zhongxin said in a deep voice, "In that case... it's not impossible, but it's only an expedient measure. Without sufficient evidence, I can only hold him for two days, three days at most."

Ning Weidong let out a breath of relief; he hadn't expected Chu Zhongxin to be so straightforward. He had originally prepared quite a few arguments to persuade Chu Zhongxin, which had gone to waste.

Ning Weidong said, "Three days is enough! Fourth Brother, as long as you can hold out for three days, we can finalize the situation with Lu Xuesong. By then, even if Wang Kaifeng can clear his relationship with Deputy Factory Director Liu, it will be too late."

Chu Zhongxin said, "There is no time to lose. We will prepare overnight and arrest him first thing tomorrow morning!"

The two of them reached an agreement in less than ten minutes, then immediately met up with Zhang Dajun and Lu Xuesong and headed straight to the Municipal Bureau.

……

Early the next morning, the news of He Yongbiao and his gang being caught playing poker yesterday spread through the Manager.

When the arrests were made last night, many people were watching, so naturally, it was no secret.

But after the arrests, sending them directly to the Police Station caused quite a bit of controversy.

There were many in the Manager who criticized the Security Division; everyone was from the same factory, so why take things to the extreme?

Besides, it was just playing poker; it wasn't a big deal.

Those who generally said this were the ones who played themselves, only they were lucky enough not to be caught this time and were terrified that it would fall on their heads next time.

There was also another version of the story: it wasn't the Security Division that sent them, but rather that this time it was primarily the Police Station, and the Security Division was only assisting. The Police Station taking the people away was completely faultless.

This was news Ning Weidong had people release to confuse the public and avoid forming a one-sided public opinion that could be exploited by those with ulterior motives.

However, the discussions of the people below did not affect the inside of the Factory Office Building in the slightest.

Although they entered the same gate and were in the same factory area, there existed an invisible chasm between the inside of the Factory Office Building and the workshop workers.

Even when coming to work this morning, many people in the Office Building had no idea about what happened last night.

On the other hand, the several factory directors on the top floor had received the news long ago.

……

Inside the Factory Director's Office.

Li Weibing stood by the window out of habit, smoking a cigarette while watching the workers at the South Gate swarming in.

This was a habit he had cultivated for over a dozen years; seeing those people pouring into the factory, he could feel a sense of power.

Li Peihang sat on the sofa watching him.

After a long while, Li Weibing stubbed out the finished cigarette butt into the cymbidium flowerpot on the windowsill and said in a deep voice, "Handing He Yongbiao directly to the Police Station, what are Ning Weidong and the others trying to do?"

Having spent many years together, Li Peihang could hear the suppressed anger in Li Weibing's voice.

——————

A brief note: I have to go to the hospital for a couple of days, so updates might be a bit unstable. I will return to normal in three days at most.

(End of this chapter)