Chapter 595

In the rear garden of Lü Mansion, rockeries stood in layers, winding water corridors meandered, exuding the elegance of a Jiangnan garden.

Peng Tianhua led several officers, searching every nook and cranny inside and outside the courtyard, even probing the bottom of the ornamental pond and poking several holes in it.

They found none of the imagined gold and silver mines.

Peng Tianhua walked toward Lv Yizhi, who was under guard in the pavilion, brushed off the dust on his clothes with a smile, and said, "Old Lv, you've kept this garden spotless. Where's the wealth? Exactly where is it hidden? Come clean."

Lv Yizhi sat smiling on the stone bench.

His handcuffed hands rested naturally on his knees; at a glance, he bore the composed poise of one unmoved by the eight winds.

He calmly replied, "Peng Team leader, I, Lv Yizhi, have worked for decades with clean sleeves. The total in my personal bank accounts is under five hundred thousand, which you can check anytime. This residence was funded by my daughter Lv Shuting; every plant and tree here is her lawful property, unrelated to me."

"'Lawful property?'"

Peng Tianhua snorted, walked two steps around Lv Yizhi, and said, "I've heard you used to work overtime, and when hungry you'd skip delicacies for instant noodles at the late-night canteen behind the office. That down-to-earth act is convincing enough, but who believes your claim of clean sleeves?"

"'If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do; investigate however you like.'"

Lv Yizhi adopted a weary posture, as if too tired to argue further.

Peng Tianhua said with a half‑smile, "If we had no clues, we wouldn't have brought you here. Earlier you had Wu Changsheng look for a hitman to take out Director Lin, offering a hundred million upfront, and if that didn't work, upping it to two hundred million. Such lavish spending doesn't match someone living on instant noodles."

"'Peng Team leader, I truly have no idea what you're talking about.'"

Lv Yizhi still maintained the pose of the innocent claiming innocence, as if the hiring of hitmen with huge sums had never happened.

All of this was within Peng Tianhua's expectations.

Peng Tianhua smiled faintly, saw no need to argue, and turned his gaze to the ancient arhat pine in the courtyard, its branches twisted and vigorous.

"'They say this arhat pine is over a thousand years old; with its appearance and age, its market value would surely be tens of millions.'"

Saying this, Peng Tianhua once again fixed his gaze on Lv Yizhi.

He smiled meaningfully and asked, "Where did the money for this multi‑million‑dollar arhat pine come from? Please explain; I'm all ears."

"'As I just said, every plant and tree in this garden belongs to my daughter; it has nothing to do with me.'"

Despite the multi‑million‑dollar arhat pine being right before him, Lv Yizhi didn't even glance at it, acting as if the tree had nothing to do with him.

Precisely because he avoided looking at it, Peng Tianhua grew more convinced that he was hiding something.

Lv Shuting does have 【the wealth】.

But Lv Shuting only returned from studying abroad in the West over a decade later, having been 'infected' by Western culture, and she scoffs at domestic feng shui superstitions!

How could she possibly raise feng shui koi and plant feng shui trees in the courtyard?

Peng Tianhua calmly advised, "Lv Yizhi, after so many years navigating officialdom, you should know that those who resist investigation usually end badly."

!!!

Lv Yizhi fell silent, making no further reply.

This stalemate made Peng Tianhua unable to resist glancing again at Lv Yizhi—truly a seasoned old fox, unflinching even if Mount Tai collapsed before him.

Just then, footsteps echoed from the corridor.

Lin Dongfan approached with two prosecutors, one of whom held a brand‑new electric saw. Yu Chenghai also followed.

"'Old Peng, any luck?'"

Lin Dongfan glanced at the scene and already understood seventy‑to‑eighty percent of it.

Peng Tianhua shook his head: "He's stubborn, pushing everything onto his daughter."

"'Father does the wrong, daughter takes the blame? Interesting.' Chatting, Lin Dongfan strolled toward Lv Yizhi, who sat calmly in the pavilion."

Lin Dongfan chuckled, "Mr. Lv, since you don't know me well, let me introduce myself. I've dug up others' ancestors' graves and torn down their ancestral homes—care to learn how harmony brings wealth?"

"'Regarding my private life being improper, I admit I have a son out of wedlock. I also admit to illegal organ transplantation—I did it to save my son. Moreover, hiring a hitman to kill you, I don't deny that. But I cannot accept the accusation of bribery and corruption, for it is groundless.'"

Lv Yizhi stood firm, righteous and confident, maintaining throughout a demeanor of daring to act and take responsibility.

Lin Dongfan smiled, fixing his eyes on him.

"'You admit even to capital crimes, yet refuse to admit bribery and corruption.'

"'I'm being serious.'

"'For a moment, I truly can't fathom what's on your mind.'

"'Let me guess: you and Jiang Lin have both been caught, and your illegitimate son Qiao Xu is still lying in the hospital undergoing rehabilitation.'

"'Are you worried he'll have no support in the future and want to leave him some wealth?'

"'After all…'

"'Lv Shuting might not acknowledge that brother.'"

Before his words finished, Lv Yizhi's facial muscles twitched slightly—clearly his inner anxiety had been struck, and he clenched his teeth in hidden distress.

No matter how crafty an old fox you are, there will come a moment when you can't keep up the act.

Lin Dongfan laughed again, "Drop the act—you're not tired, I'm sick of it." Turning, he ordered his men: "Cut down that thousand‑year‑old arhat pine!"

"'Yes!'"

The prosecutor holding the electric saw pulled the trigger smoothly; the shrill roar instantly shattered the courtyard's tranquility.

Lv Yizhi's face turned ashen in an instant.

He sprang to his feet, shouting at Lin Dongfan, "Lin Dongfan! What exactly are you trying to do?! This is my daughter's private property—it has nothing to do with me!"

"'As I just said, I've dug up others' ancestors' graves and torn down their ancestral homes. Sawing a single arhat pine in your yard is child's play—stay calm.'"

Lin Dongfan lit a cigarette, then told the officers not to hold back—saw however they wished.

The saw's teeth bit deep into the trunk, wood chips flew, and the distinctive bitter fragrance of the arhat pine's resin spread through the air.

Lv Yizhi, eyes bulging with rage, lunged forward to stop it, but the officers beside him pinned him down.

He watched helplessly as the blade sank deeper into the trunk, his own face paling further, as if the saw were not cutting a tree but severing the roots and future of his ancestors.

Suddenly came a sharp 'crack'.

The saw blade seemed to have struck something hard, sending up a spark. The operator halted, looking puzzled at Lin Dongfan.

Lin Dongfan's eyes turned cold: "Keep sawing!"

"Okay."

The chainsaw roared again; this time the prosecutor officer handled it much more carefully, controlling the depth of the cut precisely, with no more sparks flying.

He planned to saw a mouth-shaped "window" into the tree trunk.

Lin Dongfan turned his head to look at the already panicking Lv Yizhi, who was breaking out in a cold sweat, and smiled: "To be frank, your nephew Lü Shuyong is a strong-outside-but-weak-inside, life-greedy and death-afraid worthless person. I casually used a bit of psychological warfare tactics, and he spilled everything. So please keep that stubborn dead-duck attitude you had before, and absolutely don't break down."

!!!

Lv Yizhi's legs went weak, and he slumped onto the stone bench right there.

He is not collapsing now.

But his heart is dead!

His heart is dead, but he's not dead—what now?

Regarding this question.

The furious great-nephew Lü Shuyong, who had just confessed, gave a textbook answer: silently greeting Lin Dongfan's ancestors eighteen generations over in his heart!

And he angrily wrote one character—grass!

I wish Lin Dongfan the grass on the vast plain—growing and withering each year, untouched by wildfires, renewed by the spring breeze—may he forever be a man of the grasslands.