Chapter 54: Three Three-Year Terms

As soon as the police arrived, they took the old scoundrel Yang Shouli away and placed him under criminal detention. If Liu Hong's injury assessment is determined to be minor injury or worse, the old scoundrel will have to serve time in jail.

This is a gratifying thing.

These flies rooted at the grassroots are no less hateful than those big tigers. Although their positions are low, they directly harm the interests of ordinary people.

Usually, when people are bullied, they dare to be angry but not to speak.

When Yang Shouli was handcuffed and put into the police car by the officers, many onlookering villagers whispered among themselves; it was obvious that everyone had long hoped this evil-doing, cowardly old scoundrel would be punished.

But Liu Hong couldn't feel happy.

Because her problem hasn't been solved yet, she doesn't know whether her husband Yang Tao is dead or alive; no one has told her so far.

Lin Dongfan is also completely at a loss about this.

In my memory, when the 9·28 Forest Fire Case entered the final stage of investigation, Yang Tao had already been poured into a concrete pillar of a building, a scene worthy of the opening of a major horror film.

But at this point in time, that building is still laying its foundation.

Right now, is Yang Tao dead or alive? Lin Dongfan cannot be certain either. For the time being, let's suppose Yang Tao might still be alive; then who is controlling him, and where is he being held?

These matters are useless if we rely only on speculation.

The only thing Lin Dongfan can do is to quickly uncover the truth of the 9·28 Forest Fire Case, net all the scumbags involved in the case, and perhaps pull Yang Tao back from the hands of death, saving his life.

Four o'clock in the afternoon.

Lin Dongfan summoned the nine households of the victims to the meeting room of Green Bamboo Village; the scene was somewhat like a public trial rally, and the atmosphere on site was extremely tense.

Mainly, there were three criminal detectives present to hold down the scene.

The leader was Yang Qing, captain of the Changming Branch Bureau Criminal Detachment; Lin Dongfan had specially summoned him today in order to leverage his presence to apply pressure.

The two subordinates under Yang Qing usually wear plainclothes when handling cases, but today they deliberately changed into police uniforms.

As the three of them stepped onto the stage, the venue fell dead silent.

The deterrent power of the criminal detectives is displayed here.

The faces of the nine relatives were somewhat tense; they were likely guessing why so many police had come—whether arrests would be made today, especially since the village head had already been taken away.

It seemed these relatives were very likely to confess before even being interrogated.

Li Hengbo hurriedly steadied the nine relatives: 'Don't be afraid, everyone; speaking frankly, the police need evidence when making arrests, and you haven't broken any law.'

Upon hearing this, Yang Qing gave him a white-eye stare.

The enemy of the brothers is also Yang Qing's enemy; Yang Qing opened his mouth to retort: 'Secretary Li, aren't you afraid of biting your tongue saying that?'

'Captain Yang, did I say something wrong?' Li Hengbo replied righteously: 'The people have given you power to maintain public order, not to intimidate ordinary folks.'

'You're heartless; whatever you say is right.'

Yang Qing couldn't be bothered to argue with Li Hengbo; it's not that he has nothing to say, mainly he doesn't want to steal the spotlight from his brother Lin Dongfan, after all this is Lin Dongfan's turf.

Yang Qing smiled at Lin Dongfan: 'How about… you first give a legal primer?'

"Cough cough!"

Lin Dongfan pinched his throat and cleared his throat twice, first raising his pretentiousness to the max.

Then he swept his gaze over the nine relatives present: 'Just now Secretary Li said the police need evidence when making arrests, which is correct, but—'

As he went on, Lin Dongfan suddenly intensified his tone.

The nine relatives present had their hearts in their throats, each staring fixedly at Lin Dongfan, nervously listening to what followed.

Lin Dongfan raised one index finger:

"One, falsifying the cause of death to cover up a criminal group's crimes may constitute the crime of harboring a criminal. If the circumstances are serious, the penalty is more than three years up to ten years of fixed-term imprisonment!"

He said…

Lin Dongfan then raised a second finger:

"Two, falsifying the cause of death to mislead the special case team's investigation direction may constitute the crime of failing to report or falsifying a safety accident. If the circumstances are serious, it also carries a minimum of three years."

As these two criminal law heavy sticks came down, the nine relatives present felt as if sitting on pins and needles.

Below, an old gentleman counted on his fingers, noting that falsifying the cause of death consists of only four characters; he couldn't understand how just four characters could constitute two major crimes.

The old gentleman hurriedly stood up: 'I need to urinate, I want to go to the toilet...'

'Go ahead, I'll send two criminal detectives to escort you to the toilet.' Lin Dongfan's words had just fallen.

The old gentleman then glumly sat back down: 'I suddenly don't feel urgent anymore; I can hold it a bit longer.' Uh, this perfectly fine escape plan was thus nipped in the bud.

Lin Dongfan smiled, feeling that these uncles and aunts were still rather cute.

At this moment, Jian Siming handed Lin Dongfan a list detailing the information of the nine victims, all of whom were not on the official death roster.

Lin Dongfan glanced at it briefly and shouted down to the crowd: 'Who is the relative of Hu Ying?'

"Me."

The gentleman who had just wanted to go to the toilet raised his hand and stood up: 'Hu Ying is my wife.'

Lin Dongfan looked at the materials in his hand and asked again: 'You say your wife died of cancer; do you have a death certificate issued by a hospital?'

"This..."

The old gentleman was momentarily at a loss for words.

Seeing the old gentleman about to slip up, Li Hengbo hurriedly interjected to guide him:

"Your wife Hu Ying, when she was critically ill, didn't you lack the money to go to the hospital? Since you didn't go to the hospital, you probably don't have a hospital death certificate; isn't the death certificate issued by the village?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Under Li Hengbo's guidance, the old gentleman suddenly realized: 'It's the death certificate issued by the village, bearing the seal of the village committee.'

Lin Dongfan calmly reminded the uncle: 'Falsifying a death certificate is also a crime; if the circumstances are serious, it also carries a minimum of three years.'

As soon as he finished speaking, the uncle broke out in a sweat of black lines.

He bowed his head and counted on his fingers: falsifying the cause of death carries two three-year minimums, falsifying a death certificate adds another three-year minimum, adding up to three times three years...

Not knowing this is no excuse; upon careful calculation, it feels chilling to the bone.

Is this a human's life?

Really fucking weird!

I'm already over sixty; if I get arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison, I might die behind bars, and even if I have money, I won't have a life to spend it.

The old man nervously asked, "If I tell the truth, will I still be able to get compensation?"

"Yes, it will only be more than now, not less." Lin Dongfan patted his chest and assured everyone: "If in the future you don't get compensation, come find me, Lin Dongfan."

"Okay." The old man frankly said, "My wife Hu Ying was burned to death in the fire. When the fire brigade carried her down from the mountain, I couldn't even recognize her; she was burnt to charcoal. Police comrades, you need to investigate clearly—I didn't break the law. This matter truly isn't something I wanted to hide; it's mainly that they won't let me speak."

Saying that, the old man turned his head to glance at Li Hengbo standing at the door.

But he quickly withdrew his gaze.

He seemed a little afraid of Li Hengbo.

Actually, Li Hengbo's mood was more gloomy than anyone's; he was the most tense person on scene, having suppressed the truth for so long, but in the end he couldn't keep it down.

Li Hengbo turned around, intending to inform Bai Wentao.

Lin Dongfan suddenly snapped coldly, "Chief Secretary Li, where are you off to? Remember to tell Bai Wentao—no matter if even the Heavenly King and his old master come today, they can't stop me from blowing the lid off this!"

"Showing off, that's you!"

In a cold sneer, Li Hengbo turned his head and gave Lin Dongfan a thumbs-up, the sarcasm turned up to the max.