Chapter 460: The Truth Comes to Light

Just as I was nearing the provincial capital, I received a call from He Jiaxiao. My aunt had indeed gone to him.

He Jiaxiao told me that as soon as she arrived, she was impatient, urging him to take her to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.

I felt a surge of anxiety and shouted, "Don't you dare go! Keep her steady, I'll be there immediately."

After hanging up, I slammed on the gas, speeding down the road like a mad horse.

When I pushed open He Jiaxiao's door, my aunt was so startled she nearly jumped.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Aunt," I asked with a forced smile, "what are *you* doing here?"

"I have business."

"I have business too." I sat down across from her. Seeing my aunt standing before me, safe and sound, a weight lifted from my heart.

"What business could you have?" my aunt asked suspiciously. "Why didn't I hear you were coming to the provincial capital?"

"I didn't hear you were coming to the provincial capital either," I said with a grin, putting on an air of simple-minded innocence.

My aunt sighed. "Xiao Feng, did you follow me here?"

I signaled to Huang Weiwei. She understood my meaning and immediately walked over to my aunt, hugging her shoulders. "Aunt, sit down and let's talk. Are you angry?"

A faint smile appeared on my aunt's face. She patted Huang Weiwei's hand gently and said, "I'm not angry."

"Since everyone is fine, why don't we make Chen Feng treat us to dinner tonight? Let's have a good time in the provincial capital," Huang Weiwei said, clapping her hands.

"You two go have fun. I still have things to do; I won't be joining you." My aunt rejected Huang Weiwei's suggestion and turned to ask He Jiaxiao, "Jiaxiao, have you made the contact?"

He Jiaxiao put on a troubled look, hesitating for a long time before saying, "Aunt, I'm just a small fry at the Cultural Relics Research Institute. I don't know the people you're looking for."

"You don't even know which way their front gate faces?"

"I do know that. It's inside the Provincial Committee compound. But without credentials, we can't even get through the gate." He Jiaxiao signaled to me.

"Exactly. The Provincial Committee isn't like our county; people can't just come and go as they please. It's very strict." I chimed in, as if suddenly remembering something. "Wait, Aunt, why are you going to the Provincial Committee?"

"Don't play dumb with me." My aunt shot me an annoyed look.

I put on an innocent face. "I'm really not playing dumb."

"Fine, fine. Stop hiding things. Since you followed me here, I won't keep it from you. I'm going to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection to report someone." My aunt brushed back the hair hanging by her ear, revealing her beautifully curved earlobe.

"Report whom?" I asked, appearing nonchalant.

"You know."

"I don't know."

"Fine!" My aunt seemed to have made a firm decision. She pulled a stack of papers from her small bag and threw them in front of me. "See for yourself."

It was a social relationship map. Prominently placed in the center was Vice Provincial Governor Lin Shengmao.

As I opened the map, the content became increasingly shocking, to the point where cold sweat broke out on my forehead and my heart began to tremble.

On this paper, some unknown things were recorded in detail.

I scanned it and discovered that, aside from Liu Qimeng, every official in Chunshan County, big or small, was on the list. My own name was among them.

Behind each person's name was a string of numbers, identical to the list I had found in my aunt's baby carrier. The only difference was that this list was clearly labeled "Gift List."

Anyone with a discerning eye could see at a glance that this was a list of bribes.

At the top of the list was Lin Shengmao's name, with the number five thousand written behind it.

Is it five thousand yuan, or fifty million? I muttered to myself.

"Aunt, where did this come from?" I asked, clutching the list as if it were a ticking time bomb.

"None of your business!" My aunt glared at me with dissatisfaction.

"It has to be my business," I said heavily. "Aunt, do you know what you're doing? If you release this list, I don't know how many heads will roll."

"That's exactly it—to kill off these corrupt officials," my aunt said indignantly.

"But these things alone aren't enough to bring them to justice."

"What do you suggest we do?" my aunt asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" I took the list and prepared to put it in my pocket.

My aunt was stunned. She came over, snatched it back, smoothed it out carefully, and put it back in her small bag.

I didn't try to take it back. I turned to He Jiaxiao and said, "Jiaxiao, are you doing alright now?"

He Jiaxiao smiled weakly and said, "Brother, I'm okay."

"And the child?"

"At Mengmeng's place."

"What are you planning to do?"

"What else can I do? Wait," He Jiaxiao sighed. "I can only wait."

"Wait for what?"

"Wait for Mengmeng to soften her stance."

I said "Oh," and a thought suddenly struck me. "Has Mengmeng started work?"

"She has."

I said "Oh" again, and an idea formed in my mind.

"Let's not just sit here, everyone. Let's go out to eat. After we eat, we can discuss how to spend the night," I said. I stood up, walked over to my aunt, and said with a smile, "Aunt, I never realized you were such a chivalrous woman."

My aunt glared at me. "Xiao Feng, a person must have a conscience and a sense of justice. Have you forgotten everything since you became an official?"

I said earnestly, "Don't worry, Aunt, I haven't forgotten."

My aunt gave a light huff.

That sound made me feel very uncomfortable. My aunt was looking down on me!

"Aunt, with the evidence we have now, isn't fighting them like an egg hitting a rock?"

"Do you have a better way?"

"There will always be a way," I comforted her. "When the time comes, it will naturally be reported."

My aunt smiled noncommittally.

"Aunt, how did you get this thing?"

My aunt sighed. "After you told me last time, I kept trying to find a way to get it. Later, I found out the manager of the Public Security Reception House was an old classmate of mine. I went to find him.

This guy told me that the room you mentioned had been sealed off by the investigative unit and no one was allowed in. But who do you think your aunt is!"

My aunt laughed softly. When she laughed, I felt the whole room fill with sunshine.

"I invited him for drinks, and when he got drunk, I helped him to rest. People even thought I was his mistress!" My aunt giggled. "I demanded the waiter open that room. When the waiter refused, I said it was the room designated by their manager. In the end, he was sleeping on the bed like a dead pig, so I looked around everywhere. I knew that room had been searched countless times. If I wanted to find what you were looking for, I couldn't think like an ordinary person."

The three of us listened quietly to my aunt's story, our hearts rising and falling with her narration.

"In the end, do you know where I found it?"

"Where?" the three of us asked in unison.

"Right behind the door."

"Behind the door?" I asked in surprise. I thought to myself, isn't that the easiest place to discover?

"There's a fire safety evacuation map posted behind every door, right?"

We all nodded.

"I noticed his map looked a bit off. I touched it and felt the thickness was different. I tore it down and saw these things hidden inside," my aunt said proudly, then laughed. "Can I be a police officer now?"

"Of course you can," I exclaimed sincerely. "Aunt, you're cut out to be a master detective."

My aunt smiled sweetly, took a sip of water, and said, "Actually, I wouldn't have bothered with such a trivial matter. But the way they do things is so underhanded—arresting me! Hmph, I want them to know that ordinary people aren't so easy to bully."

At this point, I finally understood my aunt's purpose in coming to the provincial capital alone. She had been wronged, and she wouldn't let it go.

"But what about the list you hid in the baby carrier?" I asked suspiciously.

"Simple," my aunt said with a shallow smile. "After I got back, my classmate called me. He said the police would definitely give me trouble. So I hid the list in several places. I'm not stupid enough to put it all in one place, and they were definitely going to search my house."

I couldn't help but feel excited. My aunt was not only beautiful as a flower but also meticulous in her thinking.

"If it weren't for the list in the baby carrier, you might not have gotten out," I sighed. "These people often kill without using a knife."

"Since they want to wipe me out, I don't have to just sit there and be slaughtered," my aunt shouted. "I want to see how long this protective umbrella can hold up."

With things said to this point, everything was basically clear.

Vice Provincial Governor Lin Shengmao was the protective umbrella—the umbrella for Liang Tianxing. This umbrella of his covered up all sorts of unspeakable things, even things I knew nothing about.

No wonder Lao Can looked at me with such disdain! I thought bitterly.

Lao Can had left a contingency plan; these materials were the things he left behind before he died to save his own life. Who knew that the net of heaven is vast, and he ultimately couldn't escape the fate of losing his life.

Lao Can's death was no accident!

After analyzing it in my heart, I reached this conclusion.

They thought that with Lao Can dead, everything could be blamed on him. They never expected that Lao Can had left behind this lethal bomb. And this bomb, after Lao Can fell into despair, was left for someone who could clear his name.

Once they learned of this list, they began to live in constant fear.

Thus, Vice Provincial Governor Lin Shengmao made a secret visit to Chunshan County, and Secretary-General Wu Quanzi came in person to Hengyue City to guide the work.

They were all grasshoppers on the same string; none of them could escape the consequences.

Whether it was Guan Peishan, Lin Shengmao, Wu Quanzi, or the mastermind Liang Tianxing.

But what puzzled me was, how did Liang Tianxing end up in Chunshan County doing these things?

He had always appeared as a legitimate businessman, sparing no effort to invest huge sums of money into the renovation of Chunshan County. Could a small Qilin Villa have such great capability?

Did Vice Provincial Governor Lin Shengmao and the others know what Liang Tianxing was doing? Liang Tianxing printing counterfeit money, manufacturing and selling drugs—any one of these crimes was a capital offense!

The more I thought, the more confused I became, until my head felt like it was splitting, and I was in extreme pain.

Huang Weiwei sat down next to me, held my arm, and said softly, "Feng, I have an idea."