Chapter 629: There's Something Fishy Under the Loquat Tree!

Discipline inspection personnel began a search inside the villa.

They first checked every room and piece of furniture, then searched the cellar, and finally, they did not even spare the edges and corners.

Areas such as the interlayer of the ceiling and the hidden compartments in the walls were all meticulously checked one by one.

Shen Mingcheng appeared exceptionally calm.

Although this villa was in his actual possession, the property rights were not registered under his name, and there were no documents that could prove his connection to the villa.

In his view, as long as the discipline inspection personnel could not find substantive evidence of a crime, not only would they be unable to report back to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, but his current predicament would also be easily resolved, and he could even turn around and accuse the Hanzhou Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection of conducting the investigation in violation of regulations.

On the other side, Tang Ye's mood sank to the bottom.

The commotion of this search was so great; if it ended with a lot of thunder but little rain and no solid evidence was found in the end, the situation would become very passive.

The intervention of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection was inevitable; if nothing went wrong, the person would have to be transferred over early tomorrow morning.

He had to obtain conclusive evidence before the transfer.

Otherwise, the initiative for the subsequent investigation would fall into the hands of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Shen Mingcheng was a cadre focused on by the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee; according to common logic, if it were only a matter of lifestyle and no economic misconduct, he might only receive a warning, and after being temporarily removed from his post, he could still be re-employed once the heat died down.

Therefore, he had to seize this opportunity to completely topple him, otherwise, there would be endless trouble.

With Shen Mingcheng's narrow-mindedness, he would inevitably wait for an opportunity to retaliate.

Tang Ye was not worried about himself; what he feared was that he would take action against those around him.

He must make Shen Mingcheng pay the price he deserved and let him understand how serious the consequences of committing a crime were!

During his one-year tenure in Hanzhou, Shen Mingcheng had accepted no small amount of bribes.

Since no clues were found in the house where he often stayed, the only explanation was that the stolen goods were hidden elsewhere, and this villa was the most suspicious.

"Secretary Du, the house has been searched thoroughly; apart from a few cases of liquor, no other suspicious items were found," a discipline inspection officer reported.

"Understood." Du Bin's expression was very gloomy, clearly very dissatisfied with this result.

Tang Ye rubbed his chin, walked out of the hall to the backyard, turned on his flashlight, and carefully examined the layout of the yard.

The backyard looked quite desolate at first glance; under the cold moonlight, a tall loquat tree grew on each of the left and right sides.

Because it was winter, the branches were bare, and the ground was covered with fallen leaves.

Suddenly, Tang Ye's eyes lit up, and he immediately called for Wan Ming: "I suspect there is something wrong with these two loquat trees."

Wan Ming looked at him in confusion: "What is wrong with them?"

Tang Ye analyzed: "Look, there are still loquat fruits hanging on the branches, but there isn't a single rotten fruit on the ground. Moreover, the rest of the yard is covered with fallen leaves and looks messy, but only under the loquat trees is it swept exceptionally clean."

Wan Ming reacted instantly: "You mean, something is hidden under the loquat trees?"

Tang Ye nodded slightly: "That should be it."

Wan Ming immediately called over a few police officers, found shovels, and began digging the soil at the base of the loquat trees.

Shen Mingcheng's expression instantly stiffened, his fists clenched tightly in front of his lower abdomen, and he could not say a word.

"We found something!"

After digging down a full meter deep, a police officer shouted with joy.

"There are several boxes!"

"Open the boxes!"

"The boxes are filled with many belts!"

"Belts...?"

Tang Ye jumped into the pit, picked up a belt and squeezed it, then found a knife and sliced the belt open.

There was actually an interlayer in the middle of the belt; he pulled out a deposit slip from inside, which showed an amount of 200,000.

Although the depositor was not Shen Mingcheng, it clearly had everything to do with him.

Subsequently, Tang Ye sliced open another belt, and inside was another deposit slip for 150,000.

Then came the third, the fourth...

As a box of belts was sliced open one by one.

Shen Mingcheng slumped to the ground with a pale face, cold sweat pouring wildly from his forehead, temples, and neck; his whole person looked as if he had just been fished out of water.

At the same time, news also came from under the loquat tree on the opposite side.

"A box was dug out here; besides gold bars, there is also an account book and several ID cards."

"Do the names on the ID cards match the depositors of those deposit slips?"

"They match!"

Seeing that Shen Mingcheng had finally collapsed, Du Bin cast an approving look at Tang Ye.

He had once heard Team Leader Li say that Tang Ye was extremely talented in investigating cases; seeing it today, it was indeed well-deserved.

"Shen Mingcheng, I will arrange for people to verify the identity information of these people one by one, and I believe there will be results soon. Do you have anything else to say now?"

"I don't know!" Shen Mingcheng was still trying to quibble, but he himself knew clearly that his defense at this moment was already pale and powerless.

This villa was one he had asked Gao Xiaoqing to help him occupy, and everything inside was arranged by him in secret.

Although he kept a low profile, there were so many eyes watching in the residential compound, and there were quite a few witnesses who had seen him entering and leaving the villa; this was an indisputable fact.

It was so dark, how could Tang Ye have discovered that something was hidden under the trees as if he had X-ray vision?

He had been too careless.

Every once in a while, he would dig up the pit to check if the things inside were intact, but when he reburied them, he forgot to spread some weeds and rotten fruit on the soil surface to cover the traces of digging!

Now that so much evidence had been found in the villa, the box of gold bars alone was enough to confirm his crimes, not to mention those deposit slips.

"Secretary Du, according to preliminary estimates, the total amount of the deposit slips reaches five million, and those gold bars are worth about ten million."

Du Bin narrowed his eyes and looked at Shen Mingcheng, saying coldly: "An hour ago, you were still swearing that you hadn't done anything illegal or undisciplined. To be honest, I was almost deceived by your confident appearance. Shen Mingcheng, you are an out-and-out corrupt element, blinded by money, power, and sex, forgetting your duties for the sake of selfish desires; being so greedy and selfish is truly disgusting!"

"Enough!"

Shen Mingcheng suddenly roared madly, glaring at everyone hysterically, his face filled with anger and unwillingness.

"You are framing me! This is a setup! I want to file a complaint against you!"

Tang Ye curled his lips and let out a cold sneer, his eyes full of disdain.

At this point, knowing full well he was completely finished, Shen Mingcheng actually still wanted to bite back!

……

It was already around three in the morning, but Du Chengfeng still hadn't rested; he was waiting for news from Hanzhou.

He knew clearly that this matter must have a definitive result; otherwise, once it was handed over to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, the subsequent situation would be very difficult to control.

At this moment, Tang Ye sent a message: "Dad, in a villa at the Shuangshui Town resettlement community, we found evidence of Shen Mingcheng's suspected illegal and disciplinary violations; the preliminary estimated amount involved reaches twenty million."

Seeing this message, Du Chengfeng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Mingcheng had disappointed him too much!

Tianling County originally had a good momentum of development, but after being handed over to Shen Mingcheng, it ended up being messed up by him.

To Du Chengfeng, this was like a meticulously drawn work of art being ruined in an instant.

Now that Shen Mingcheng had run into trouble, it was the perfect opportunity to legitimately get rid of him.

Next, Du Chengfeng needed to start planning.

Who would take over and become the new helmsman of Tianling County.