Chapter 160: Turning Up the Pressure on Old Guo Again!

The group arrived at the residential complex.

Wan Ming held the keys, compared them with the door lock, and inserted them one by one.

With a crisp "click," the lock opened.

Chu Dongfa's complexion turned extremely ugly in an instant.

Entering the room, Wan Ming waved to the police officers around him and said loudly, "Begin the search!"

Tang Ye headed straight for the study.

Following the clues provided by Mo Xiaoyu, he found the safe without much effort.

Wan Ming stared straight at Chu Dongfa, his tone calm but beyond reproach.

"Chu Dongfa, open the safe."

Chu Dongfa had by now realized that Mo Xiaoyu had betrayed him; he felt a gnashing hatred for Mo Xiaoyu in his heart, yet he still refused to cooperate on the surface, bracing himself to say, "I don't know the password!"

Tang Ye gave Chu Dongfa a cold smile, said nothing more, walked to the safe, took a flashlight, and leaned down to observe carefully.

His gaze swept repeatedly over the buttons of the safe, attempting to find clues to crack the password.

Watching Tang Ye's actions, Chu Dongfa mocked him inwardly; even his own wife didn't know the password.

Just then, the safe suddenly emitted a "beep" alert sound.

Immediately following, Tang Ye gave a light pull, and the door of the safe slowly opened.

Chu Dongfa widened his eyes in disbelief, staring at Tang Ye with his mouth agape, stammering the word "you" several times.

Tang Ye looked at Chu Dongfa with a look that was not quite a smile.

"I didn't expect you to use your ID number to set the password."

Wan Ming was secretly amazed.

It was only through meticulous observation and logical deduction that Tang Ye had successfully cracked the safe's password.

The physical buttons of the safe looked normal at first glance, but with careful observation, one could see differences in the degree of wear between the frequently pressed keys and the rarely pressed ones.

Most people are accustomed to using familiar numbers as passwords, and Chu Dongfa was no exception.

Tang Ye had an extraordinary memory; having previously seen Chu Dongfa's ID information, he combined it with the subtle differences in the buttons and, holding the mindset of giving it a try, entered Chu Dongfa's ID number, not expecting that it would actually succeed.

Faced with the mountain of ironclad evidence before him, Chu Dongfa's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the floor.

The police officers gathered around, exclaiming one after another.

"So many 'little yellow fish'—the amount involved must be several million, right?"

"Being this greedy, can the school even be run well?"

Tang Ye immediately dialed the County Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary, Zhuo Ming.

After receiving the news, Zhuo Ming rushed over without stopping.

After a careful count, the total value of the cash and gold inside the safe reached over eight million.

This amount left everyone present dumbfounded.

"Town Mayor Tang, Bureau Chief Wan, thank you for your hard work. Leave the subsequent work to us at the Discipline Inspection Commission!"

Zhuo Ming had encountered heavy obstacles while investigating Chu Dongfa; although he knew there were problems, it had ended up being dropped for various reasons.

After finishing the handover with Tang Ye and the others, Zhuo Ming bid everyone farewell.

After getting into the car, Zhuo Ming made a call to Du Chengfeng to report the situation in detail.

Meanwhile, Wan Ming led the police officers in an overnight operation and successfully arrested Shang Deyi.

The next morning, at 10:30.

The small conference room of the County Party Committee office building held a Standing Committee meeting.

The atmosphere of the meeting was unusual; one could see the clues from the expressions of the Party and government leaders.

County Party Secretary Du Chengfeng's expression was grave, his gaze revealing a chill that made people shudder when they looked at him.

County Magistrate Guo Zhengting sat below him with his arms crossed, motionless, unlike his usual imposing manner.

After the meeting had been underway for over ten minutes, Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary Zhuo Ming took a file from his briefcase and handed it to Du Chengfeng.

Du Chengfeng frowned as he flipped through a few pages, sighed, and handed it to Guo Zhengting.

"The problem is very serious, County Magistrate Guo, take a look."

Guo Zhengting raised an eyebrow and said in an icy tone, "Secretary Du, such cadres must be dealt with severely; we must never tolerate evil. What does everyone think?"

After he finished speaking, the file was passed among the Standing Committee members; this dozen-page investigation report involved several officials in the Tianling County education system, namely Director of the County Education Bureau Gao Wenchun, Deputy Bureau Chief Sun Ming, and several principals of township primary and middle schools.

That Gao Wenchun was involved was the most unbelievable; his reputation as an official was good, and he was considered the most incorruptible cadre in Tianling, and during his time as principal of the Tianling County High School, he had taught and nurtured many young talents.

He not only lived a simple life but also did not drink or smoke, did not host banquets or give gifts, and was humble and polite, leaving an excellent impression on the outside world.

It was just unexpected that he was implicated because of the problems with Chu Dongfa of Pinghu Middle School.

As for the problems of the Deputy Bureau Chief and the other principals, they were also very serious.

After everyone read it, they cast their gazes toward Guo Zhengting.

Everyone knew in their hearts that with problems in the Education Bureau, Secretary Du was once again turning up the pressure on County Magistrate Guo!

Cheng Lin clearly stood with Du Chengfeng, "The situation with these few people is already very clear; they must be subjected to 'internal disciplinary investigation' and a thorough investigation. I have also studied their promotion materials. The materials submitted at the time were almost flawless; according to what was written in the assessment materials, it seems it was a waste of talent for them to even be County Education Bureau Directors—they should have been Municipal Education Bureau Directors. Such organizational assessment is too irresponsible. As the Organization Department, we must reflect in time. At the same time, as recommending leaders, we must also be vigilant!"

This move by Cheng Lin could be considered advancing by retreating.

Guo Zhengting had originally intended to muddle through, but Cheng Lin pointed the finger at him, "Comrade Cheng Lin, your criticism is correct. For those irresponsible cadres within the Organization Department, we must deal with them severely. Comrade Gao Yang, you previously served as the head of the Organization Department; would you explain the situation of Gao Wenchun to Comrade Cheng Lin?"

Gao Yang thought to himself that Guo Zhengting was shifting the blame, sneered inwardly, and had already prepared his rhetoric, "Comrade Gao Wenchun was strongly recommended by County Magistrate Wei previously. He was good at hiding and disguising himself, and was deceptive. For us, this is indeed a lesson worth reflecting on."

This move by Gao Yang could be called clever.

He directly dumped the pot onto the outgoing Wei Jian.

Seeing that the timing was about right, Du Chengfeng said meaningfully, "In our work, we must see the essence through the phenomena, rather than just treating the head when the head hurts or the foot when the foot hurts. We must grasp the root of the problem; otherwise, if one Gao Wenchun goes down, a second and a third will appear. Even if the Discipline Inspection Commission had three heads and six arms, they wouldn't be able to catch them all."

Guo Zhengting picked up his cup and silently took a sip of tea, "Back when it came to the issue of cadre appointments, Wei Jian would not listen to anyone else's dissenting opinions and promoted a batch of cadres, which caused great losses. As his deputy, I did not withstand the pressure at the time and made many compromises against my will; in this regard, I have an unshirkable responsibility..."

Seeing Guo Zhengting lower his head, Du Chengfeng did not press him further.

"The leadership team of the County Education Bureau must be adjusted; let us discuss the candidates next."

Guo Zhengting silently took a sip of tea.

Unsurprisingly, the Director of the County Education Bureau would be replaced by one of Du Chengfeng's direct subordinates.

He could only make a move regarding the candidate for Deputy Bureau Chief.

Facing the setback in the education system's situation, Guo Zhengting felt a strong sense of defeat.

He understood in his heart that the root of everything came from Pinghu, and from Tang Ye...