Chapter 1009: You Are a Rare Good Official!

With Tang Ye's ability to read people, he quickly judged that this Ma Tao's brain did not seem to work very well.

According to his plan.

Once he became a hostage, he could find an opportunity to turn the tables and control Ma Tao...

Tang Ye was quite confident in his own physical skills!

However, he underestimated Ma Tao.

Ma Tao's strength was great; Tang Ye was choked by the neck, feeling as if his neck were bound by iron chains, breathing with difficulty, and suffering from severe oxygen deprivation.

The veins on his forehead popped out.

Tang Ye patted Ma Tao's arm, "Brother, relax, don't use so much force, I won't run away. I can tell that you aren't actually a bad person, why must you do such an extreme thing?"

Ma Tao frowned and said, "Damn it, don't try to get chummy with me, hurry up and release my brother."

Tang Ye realized that Ma Tao was difficult to communicate with and said to Shi Yao, "Secretary Shi, hurry and contact Xing Zhijun, have him bring Ma Yuan over."

Hearing that Ma Yuan was coming, Ma Tao indeed immediately loosened his arm.

Tang Ye felt a bit more comfortable then.

Shi Yao hurriedly took out her phone and dialed Xing Zhijun's number.

"Secretary Shi, is there anything you need to instruct?"

Shi Yao said, "There is a person named Ma Tao, who has explosives strapped to his body and is currently at the County Reception House, demanding the immediate release of his brother, Ma Yuan. Ma Yuan is a small mine owner who privately mined stone at Heiniu Mountain and was detained a few days ago."

Xing Zhijun had an impression of Ma Yuan and was shocked, "What? Explosives? Are you alright?"

Shi Yao said with great speed, "I am fine. He is currently holding Tang Ye as a hostage, and Tang Ye is trying hard to control his emotions. But this person's brain is a bit abnormal and he could lose control at any moment; you all need to bring people over quickly."

Hearing that someone had strapped explosives to themselves and taken Tang Ye as a hostage, Xing Zhijun felt his scalp go numb instantly.

"I'll be there immediately!"

After speaking, he immediately ordered his subordinates to take Ma Yuan out of the detention center and head straight to the Reception House.

Tang Ye was actually quite panicked too; he knew that although Ma Tao didn't seem very smart, the explosives on his body were certainly real.

At this moment, he had to adopt a stalling tactic.

"Xiao Ma, I see you aren't very old, are you married?"

"I'm not married, and I won't get married. What's so good about women? They only know how to lie."

Tang Ye continued to ask, "You and your brother are very close, right?"

Ma Tao said, "Yes, my parents died when I was very young, and my brother raised me. If you want to arrest my brother and sentence him to death, I will fight you to the death."

Tang Ye said very earnestly, "Xiao Ma, you must have misunderstood. Your brother's stone business procedures were not compliant before, and we only arrested him to investigate the situation; no one is sentencing him to death. You doing this will only bring him trouble. Your brother will be here in a moment. You might not believe what I say, but you will surely believe his words, right?"

Ma Tao began to hesitate at this point, "Rest assured, I know you aren't a bad person; once my brother arrives, I will release you."

Tang Ye asked in surprise, "How did you know I wasn't a bad person?"

Ma Tao said, "I heard my brother mention you. You are a cadre who came here for an exchange, you've done many good things for Dayu County, and you are a rare good official. I won't hurt you, otherwise the fellow villagers definitely wouldn't forgive me."

Hearing Ma Tao say this, Tang Ye thought to himself, you say this kid is a blockhead, yet he has some damn insight.

Shi Yao had been quite nervous at first, but seeing Tang Ye and Ma Tao chatting, her mood improved slightly.

They waited for another while.

Several police cars stopped at the entrance of the County Reception House.

Xing Zhijun walked out from a police car.

Seeing someone choking Tang Ye, a chill surged in his heart.

He bore responsibility for this matter.

Not long ago, the County Party Committee Office received a threatening letter containing a razor blade, and Xing Zhijun had arranged for people to shut down those illegal mines.

However, the matter had not been resolved completely.

Now it was no longer as simple as a threat.

"Where is Ma Yuan? Let Ma Yuan come over," Tang Ye shouted loudly.

Xing Zhijun ordered his subordinates, "Let Ma Yuan out."

Subsequently, Ma Yuan was escorted out of the car.

Seeing Ma Tao strapped with explosives and holding the Deputy County Party Secretary as a hostage, Ma Yuan felt both moved and angry.

"Ma Tao, what kind of madness are you committing? Why are you doing this? Hurry and release Secretary Tang."

"Brother, I, I, I wanted to save you," Ma Tao said stutteringly.

"I was only detained, and I would have been out in a few days. Now look at you, you've blown this matter up. Hurry and let go of Secretary Tang, and untie the explosives on your body," Ma Yuan ordered helplessly.

"Mm, brother, I'll listen to you." After saying this, Ma Tao released Tang Ye and then untied the explosives.

Subsequently, he obeyed Xing Zhijun's command, held his head with both hands, and squatted on the ground.

The Police swarmed forward, quickly stepped up, and brought him under control.

Explosive ordnance disposal personnel placed the explosives into a specialized container and took them away for destruction using professional methods.

Shi Yao hurriedly walked toward Tang Ye, "Are you alright?"

Tang Ye shook his head, "I'm fine. This Ma Tao actually doesn't count as a bad person; he was just misled by others. He simply wanted to save his brother."

Shi Yao nodded slightly, "It is said that officials force the people to rebel. Ma Tao's behavior today was certainly crazy, but it also sounded an alarm for me. When we make certain decisions, we still need to be more cautious. We must respect the thoughts of the common people and cannot only consider problems from our own standpoint."

Tang Ye said, "Secretary Shi, if you can think this way, then that is excellent."

Shi Yao glanced at Tang Ye's neck, seeing beads of blood seeping out, and asked with concern, "You are injured."

Tang Ye wiped his neck, "It's nothing, just a bit of a scrape."

Seeing the crisis resolved, Zhou Minshan walked over to Shi Yao, "It was truly too dangerous just now. I shouldn't have drunk so much alcohol today; at the time, I felt like I couldn't even move."

Shi Yao rolled her eyes fiercely at Zhou Minshan, "Who told you to drink so much alcohol? You'd better say a few words less!"

Zhou Minshan knew that Shi Yao was truly disappointed in his behavior just now.

He felt that was his instinctive reaction.

However, he still admired Tang Ye quite a bit.

Tang Ye had actually been willing to exchange hostages with Shi Yao just now.

Even if he were in a clear state of mind, it would be very difficult for him to make that decision.

Shi Yao and Zhou Minshan returned to the room at the Reception House.

Because Shi Yao had been ill these past few days, the two of them had been sleeping in separate rooms.

Zhou Minshan wanted to explain the evening's events to Shi Yao and tried to open the door, only to find it locked from the inside.

"Are you asleep?"

"I'm planning to sleep; is something the matter?"

"I want to talk to you about what happened just now."

"It's nothing, I don't blame you. You have to return to Yanjing tomorrow morning, so get some rest early!"

Hearing Zhou Minshan leave, Shi Yao sighed to herself.

She closed her eyes, and for some reason, Tang Ye's image appeared in her mind.

One scene.

During the time with the fake County Party Secretary, when the fake Xiao Deng had pinned her to the ground and grabbed her by the throat, Tang Ye had appeared in time, overturned the fake Xiao Deng, and helped her escape from the jaws of death.

Another scene.

That was today, when Tang Ye faced Ma Tao, who had explosives strapped to his body, and took the initiative to propose a hostage exchange, using verbal skills to steady Ma Tao.

Both times, she had been trapped in a desperate situation.

If it weren't for Tang Ye, she surely would have met with misfortune.

She would likely find it very hard to forget these two experiences.

Shi Yao could not help but compare Zhou Minshan's reaction when facing danger.

Usually, Zhou Minshan always put on a high and mighty air, but when it truly came to a critical moment of life and death, judging by his on-the-spot reaction, he could not be relied upon at all!

Shi Yao suddenly felt a doubt: was Zhou Minshan really the right person?