Chapter 107

Li Xuewu told everyone to pack up their tools and returned to the office building.

He went upstairs, drank a cup of tea, reviewed today’s materials, then went to the detention room.

Han Yating was on duty; he signaled her to open the door.

As soon as Li Xuewu entered the room, he turned on the light.

Xu Damao, wearing only his underwear, crouched in the corner; the sudden light stung his eyes, making them stream with tears as he frantically wiped them with clothes on the floor.

After several minutes of adjustment, he finally recognized Li Xuewu standing at the door.

“Xuewu, I... I really don’t remember what I did. Give me some water.”

Li Xuewu made Xu Damao put on his clothes, then had Han Yating open the inner gate, grabbed his shoulder, dragged him out stumbling, and shoved him into the interrogation chair.

Han Yating locked the chair and sat with Li Xuewu behind the interrogation table.

Li Xuewu looked at Xu Damao’s gloomy face and said: “Whether you did it, how many times, who was involved, where, how much you gave— you know all this yourself. Whether you speak or not is up to you.”

Xu Damao licked his lips and stubbornly retorted: “We live in the same courtyard— don’t you know me? How could I do such things? It’s just the neighbors jealous of our family, jealous that we eat well and dress well, slandering me.”

Watching Xu Damao still deny and shout his innocence.

Li Xuewu asked: “Is your wife slandering you too? We’ll take her statement. When that happens, I won’t listen to you anymore— and your confession won’t count as self-reporting.”

Hearing Li Xuewu planned to question Lou Xiaoe, Xu Damao hung his head silent, thinking: karma came fast— he’d just dug a pit for Li Xuewu, and now he’d fallen into someone else’s.

Xu Damao knew well: yesterday’s attitude from Lou Xiaoe had already shown she no longer valued him; his past deeds wouldn’t withstand scrutiny.

Li Xuewu didn’t rush him. He lit a cigarette, took his time, patient.

“The harder a man’s mouth, the harder his collapse. The more stubborn you are now, the more you’ll suffer later.”

Watching Xu Damao pretend to be dead, Li Xuewu finished his cigarette and had no desire to waste more time here.

Li Xuewu tapped off the ash, crushed the cigarette butt.

“Fine. If you won’t talk, someone else will. We’ll take He Yuzhu around the neighborhood to identify people door-to-door under the street office’s guidance. You keep your mouth shut and wait for transfer. I can’t help you anymore.”

He signaled Han Yating to unlock the door and send him back in.

Xu Damao begged: “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Xuewu, we live in the same courtyard— you’ve got to help me! Brother begs you!”

Li Xuewu and Han Yating sat down again.

Xu Damao glanced at Han Yating, fidgeting nervously.

Li Xuewu slammed the table and barked: “Do you think this is a restaurant banquet? You pick who you talk to?”

He couldn’t let Xu Damao dictate the terms— this guy had too many tricks.

Seeing Han Yating’s hostile gaze, Xu Damao thought: even this female officer in the Public Security Division is so fierce. He quickly blurted: “I’ll tell you... Third Workshop... Foundry Workshop... Labor Protection Factory...”

Han Yating grimaced, no longer watching Xu Damao’s timid posture, but focused on taking the interrogation record.

Li Xuewu knew Xu Damao had many romantic entanglements thanks to his smooth tongue and his in-laws’ wealth, but he hadn’t expected it involved several female workers from the steel mill, and even men— including Gu Dapiezǐ, whom he’d heard of before.

Good heavens, if this were just helping poor families, fine— but now he’s running an experience-sharing group?

Why does every case always turn up such absurd things?

Is this just the distortion of human nature?

The more names Xu Damao spat out, the wider the network became, reaching many rural areas.

This guy was a human rice-transplanter— avoided married women, targeted only the uneducated and poor widows.

Xu Damao thought: if I’m done for, no one else gets off either. Dragging more people down with me— if others played even wilder, then compared to them, my crimes wouldn’t seem so bad, just like Li Xuewu from the same courtyard said.

Hey! He actually believed Li Xuewu’s words— even though Li Xuewu didn’t believe his own.

In the end, he didn’t need Li Xuewu to press him— Xu Damao spoke more and more fluently, confessing for over two hours, naming thirteen people: three men, all from the steel mill; five women, also from the steel mill.

He signed his name, pressed his fingerprint, then was sent back to detention.

Well, time to report and make arrests.

Li Xuewu took the interrogation report to the main building, knocked, and entered Dong Wenxue’s office.

Dong Wenxue waved him in and pointed to the documents on the desk: “You came just in time. We just finished the regular meeting— your appointment as Head of Security has been approved. The organizational procedures have started; the announcement should be posted on the factory bulletin board soon.”

Li Xuewu offered Dong Wenxue a cigarette and lit it for him. “Thank you, Master, for your guidance.”

Dong Wenxue chuckled and scolded: “Cut the Kuomintang nonsense! We don’t do that here. Anyway, why are you here?”

Li Xuewu handed over Xu Damao’s interrogation report. As Dong Wenxue began reading, he explained: “He’s from our courtyard. At first I ignored him. Later, Liu Haizhong, the courtyard manager and our factory’s Level-7 worker, brought him to me. Everyone in the courtyard— men, women, old, young— believes he deserves legal punishment. I interrogated him. The scope is too broad. I thought it needed caution, so I came to report to you.”

The Immortal Wood Miracle

Dong Wenxue smoked, reading the interrogation report, eyes half-closed, silent.

After five full minutes, he set the report down and said: “The last theft case hasn’t been resolved yet— the higher-ups are waiting for F Courtyard’s verdict. That incident put Factory Director Yang in a very weak position.”

Seeing Li Xuewu silent, he continued: “Our movie projectionist has always been our factory’s calling card— showing films for rural villagers brings us good reputation. We can’t let one rotten apple spoil the whole barrel, ruining the steel mill’s current momentum.”

Li Xuewu said: “I agree we should handle this cautiously— punish past mistakes to prevent future ones, heal rather than destroy. Remove the tumor, but don’t amputate the whole arm.”

Dong Wenxue nodded: “You’ve thought this through thoroughly. Last time, with Wang Jindong and Gu Ke, I wanted to crack down on this corrupt trend. For cases involving the factory, handle them internally; for those involving outsiders, investigate them as well. Judge the scale yourself—severe cases with minor impact on the steel mill should be handed over for legal prosecution. Crush this culture.”

Li Xuewu understood Dong Wenxue’s meaning: Xu Damao’s connections reached too many rural areas. Handing him over to outside authorities would ruin the steel mill’s reputation— it’s one for all, and all for one.

He nodded, extinguished his cigarette in Dong Wenxue’s ashtray, picked up the interrogation report, and left.

Li Xuewu called Xu Ning to take over detention duty, summoned Han Yating, and gathered eight factory security team members to search each workshop.

Worried that broad questioning of female workers might cause unnecessary panic, Li Xuewu first approached the workshop supervisors, who then called out workers— without explanation— and simply escorted them, two men gripping each arm, back to the office building.

Once everyone was gathered, they went to the temporary detention room and interviewed each person individually.

No handcuffs were used on the female workers— first, no summonses were issued; second, the general situation was already understood.

This was technically an interview, but formal: all female workers were interrogated in Han Yating’s presence.

As soon as the female workers entered the interrogation room, they all began crying— they recognized who else was detained.

Li Xuewu wasn’t in a hurry. They cried until exhausted, then spoke. He even stepped out for lunch.

Case handlers may have compassion, but they must not let emotion guide the investigation.

Li Xuewu’s interrogation wasn’t harsh; he focused on family circumstances— whether special conditions applied.

Of the five women, none were widows; all had disabled husbands and large families of children.

Li Xuewu understood their situation— his own courtyard had one such master of ambiguous relationships.

Any formal worker who could afford meals and had a steady job wouldn’t disgrace themselves like this— at this point, there was no wall without leaks.

After signing and fingerprinting, he let the female workers go without further trouble.

Before leaving, he issued a gag order.