Chapter 70: Benefits Cannot Be Reduced Even a Little

Following Wang Hong's confession, even though Liu Hong'e had a relatively strong psychological constitution, there was no point in persisting any further.

Chu Zhongxin pressed his advantage and soon secured Liu Hong'e's statement as well.

As the mastermind behind Wang Hong, Liu Hong'e knew more details and also revealed the motive for killing Liu Xinwen.

Liu Hong'e also threw caution to the wind; she stripped off her clothes on the spot, revealing the scars on her body, and sobbed, "He did all of this. That bastard is practically a beast. He didn't treat me like a human at all. Beating me wasn't enough; he tortured me too. When doing that thing, no matter what it was, whatever he could grab in his hands, he would shove it into my body... If I didn't kill him, I would have died at his hands sooner or later."

Ning Weidong and the few people present were all taken aback.

They had thought she was a Pan Jinlian, but they hadn't expected this situation.

Looking at the scars, what Liu Hong'e said was likely true; the new scars layered over old ones on her body were not formed in a short time.

Chu Zhongxin frowned; he did not ask why she didn't get a divorce or why she didn't seek help from the Women's Federation or similar organizations.

To some extent, this was also Liu Hong'e's own doing; her own backside wasn't clean, so naturally, she didn't dare to make a scene.

She only had two choices: either endure it and wait for Liu Xinwen to beat her to death, or strike first to gain the advantage.

She didn't want to die, so she chose to let Liu Xinwen die.

But she still held firm and did not betray the person who provided her with technical support.

Clearly, Liu Hong'e still held a glimmer of hope; as long as she protected that person, she still had a chance of salvation.

She had a history of being abused; as long as someone helped her maneuver, she could receive a lighter sentence.

If she betrayed that person, she would have no hope at all.

However, having said that, Liu Xinwen was already dead, and she had said everything; whether it was true or false, Liu Xinwen had no way to open his mouth to refute it.

Anyway, regardless of how it went, the two of them belonged to the category of dogs biting dogs.

At noon, Chu Zhongxin was in a good mood and called Ning Weidong to eat a private meal together in the factory canteen.

Two people, four dishes and one soup, in a small private room.

While eating, Chu Zhongxin asked, "Weidong, at this stage, what do you think should be done next?"

Ning Weidong was stuffing a pair of chopsticks of shredded potatoes in sour and spicy sauce into his mouth, chewed a few times, swallowed, and said, "Brother Chu, you are testing me; you must have already had a plan in mind, right?"

Chu Zhongxin smiled, which counted as an admission.

Ning Weidong organized his thoughts slightly and said, "I think it should be about enough; some things cannot be perfect. If we keep holding onto Liu Hong'e, I'm afraid that pulling out the radish will bring out an even bigger radish. By then, it won't just be a matter of losing face for the factory..."

Chu Zhongxin nodded; he had already reached a tacit understanding with Li Weibing and Wang Guoqiang to resolve this matter without affecting the factory.

If they were to dig any deeper, it would be equivalent to breaking that understanding, which would inevitably lead to obstruction and counterattacks from those two parties.

Chu Zhongxin simply could not withstand that kind of pressure.

When it came down to it, Chu Zhongxin was only a Section Chief, several ranks lower than Li Weibing and Wang Guoqiang.

The reason he was qualified to sit on equal footing this time was because of this case; Chu Zhongxin's power stemmed from the matter, not from himself.

So, from his perspective, the safest thing was to stop here.

With Liu Hong'e and Wang Hong, plus the line of speculation and profiteering, and the Wang Jingsheng gang that operated this line, it was already enough.

It was just that Ning Weidong could see that Chu Zhongxin was very unwilling to accept this result, but he tried his best to hide it on the surface, appearing calm and indifferent.

Seeing through it without pointing it out—if he really pointed it out, it would only make Chu Zhongxin feel more awkward.

The next day, following Liu Hong'e's arrest, the newly established Investigation Team was disbanded on the spot.

By morning, the news that Liu Xinwen's death was not a production accident but that he had been murdered had already spread throughout the factory. By comparison, the disappearance of Xu Jinshan didn't make much of a splash.

Yesterday, Chu Zhongxin sent people to arrest Xu Jinshan, but they came up empty-handed.

Ning Weidong was not surprised by this result; don't look at Xu Jinshan as just a gatekeeper Squad Leader, his position was quite important and could implicate quite a few people.

He might have escaped, or he might be dead, but he was the only one who could not be caught.

Today, Ning Weidong specially wore new clothes and came to the unit, heading straight to Li Peihang's Office.

Seeing Ning Weidong, Li Peihang beamed with joy, stood up to greet him at the door, and said "Not bad," "Not bad" twice in a row.

Ning Weidong said, "It is because of your leadership..."

After some professional mutual flattery, Li Peihang finally brought up the subsequent arrangements for Ning Weidong.

Previously, Li Peihang had put Ning Weidong into the Investigation Team to "mix in sand," but he hadn't expected the matter to end so quickly.

It was also a twist of fate; originally, Li Peihang had estimated that Wang Guoqiang would use this accident to make a big fuss, and the two sides would pull at each other for at least a few months.

He hadn't expected the situation to be far more serious than anticipated, turning directly from an accident into a murder.

This forced Li Weibing and Wang Guoqiang to change their plans, shifting from confrontation to cooperation, to cover up the lid, cut the Gordian knot, and end this matter.

As one of the pawns in this, Ning Weidong was an incidental benefit of Li Weibing showing goodwill to the Wang Family.

Although the situation had changed and the Investigation Team had only been established for two days in total, Ning Weidong's benefits could not be reduced at all.

Li Peihang personally took Ning Weidong to the first office next to the stairs.

It was the room that was always open, the one where Ning Weidong had been called over the first time he came.

"Old Chen~" Li Peihang said to the middle-aged man in his forties inside the office, "This is the Ning Weidong I told you about." He then said to Ning Weidong, "Weidong, call him Chen."

Ning Weidong called out, and Old Chen hurriedly said, "What Section Chief, just call me Old Chen." He then said to Li Peihang, "Section Chief, you can rest assured putting Comrade Weidong here with me~"

Li Peihang didn't stay long; he said a few simple words and left.

Besides Old Chen, there were two other people in the office; Ning Weidong had a vague impression of them. When he first came, he had glanced inside, and these two were there too.

Old Chen introduced, "Weidong, let me introduce you, this is Feng Wen..."

Ning Weidong reached out his hand: "Hello, Comrade Feng Wen." It was indeed the young man who had chased him out of the room to question him last time.

Today he was still wearing a Zhongshan Suit and black leather shoes, with arrogance in his eyes. Seeing Ning Weidong reach out his hand, he first looked him up and down before shaking it: "Hello, Comrade Ning Weidong."

Ning Weidong was not surprised; just now in the office, Li Peihang had already said that Feng Wen was a person of Deputy Division Chief Wang Kaifeng, and it was said that he was Wang Kaifeng's nephew.

Old Chen then looked at another female comrade: "This is Comrade Wen Aiying, she is the famous pen-pusher of our division."

Ning Weidong hurriedly called out, "Hello, Sister Wen."

Wen Aiying was of medium build and quite good-looking, roughly twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with a perm of wavy hair that was quite fashionable for this era.

She was very enthusiastic toward Ning Weidong, with a somewhat bright and easygoing manner: "Comrade Ning Weidong, welcome."

While shaking hands with Ning Weidong, she gestured toward her own head with her left hand: "Little Ning~ you really are tall, are you one meter ninety?"

"I'm not that tall, barely one meter eighty-five," Ning Weidong answered with a chuckle.

Wen Aiying was very good at socializing, closing the distance between the two in just a few words, as if they were old acquaintances.

She then added: "That's tall enough; you must sign up for the Manager basketball tournament this year."

Feng Wen, standing to the side, curled his lips without much attempt to hide it; though he didn't use sarcasm, a flash of schadenfreude crossed his eyes when he looked at Ning Weidong.

(End of this chapter)