Chapter 89: The Night Interrogation of Gu Santong

At half past nine that night, Yang Dong returned to the secret hotel designated by the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The director of the Municipal Education Bureau, Gu Santong, was being held in Room 116 under shuanggui measures.

Passing the door of Room 109, Yang Dong saw several members of the Ninth Task Force, but he did not greet them and walked straight by.

Luo Jin watched Yang Dong’s retreating figure, his face twisted with frustration.

His performance in the Tian Guanghan case had not satisfied the leadership; instead, he had been criticized.

He had wanted to salvage the situation by getting hold of the law-enforcement recording pen.

Indeed, he had obtained it: Wei Chonghu handed him the backup law-enforcement recording pen.

But after he gave it to the superior behind him, he was met with a fresh barrage of curses, accused of meddling in matters that were none of his business and of joining in before making the facts clear.

In short, everything was his fault.

It left Luo Jin feeling wronged and unwilling, and at the same time he developed resentment toward Yang Dong.

Just what role had Yang Dong played in the Tian Guanghan case? What grave crimes had Tian Guanghan confessed to, to make the leadership so furious?

He knew the superior behind him well. Normally that person was almost never moved to anger, and only when something truly enormous had happened would he lose his temper.

It seemed that what was inside that law-enforcement recording pen had exceeded the superior’s expectations and control.

Yang Dong naturally did not know what Luo Jin was thinking, and he had no mind to analyze the difficulties faced by the Ninth Group.

Their Tenth Task Force still had a mountain of problems waiting to be resolved.

There was still a little over a month left before the two-month deadline set by the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection’s investigation team.

Within that remaining time, how to handle the Gu Santong case and resolve the newly assigned deputy-section-level cadre case was what Yang Dong had to consider.

In truth, with the identity of a reincarnated man, Yang Dong knew these cases inside and out; solving them would take only an instant.

"Team leader!"

When Lu Yike saw Yang Dong coming over, she immediately stood from her chair.

"Has Huzi not come back yet?"

Yang Dong was somewhat surprised. By rights, he should have been back already. He had sent him to dig up a body, even giving him the exact location. How had a whole day passed and he still had not returned?

"Huzi is back. He’s in Director Su’s office reporting on the body."

Lu Yike answered Yang Dong, but her gaze remained somewhat strange as it rested on him.

Jiang Hu had found the body, the body of Xiao Nana, the hostess from Caiyun Karaoke.

How had Yang Dong known the body was buried beneath Dongshan Bridge?

More than that, how had he known about this matter at all?

This secret had been sealed tight by Tian Guanghan and his son. Not even in the city had anyone been talking about it, and the karaoke place had paid out plenty of hush money. Everything had been calm and still.

If Yang Dong had not exposed it, who would have thought of it?

Who could have imagined it?

That a deputy municipal secretary-general would dare to shield his own son in such a monstrous crime?

She felt Yang Dong was mysterious. Ever since he had come to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection to serve as the leader of the Tenth Investigation Group, he had been mysterious.

Yet beneath that mystery lay a heart of justice.

The issue of A23 aside, since they had already handed it over to the Ninth Group.

Let’s talk about Gu Santong’s A20 case.

How far had the interrogation progressed?

Yang Dong felt that he, as group leader, was not very professional either. The Tenth Group was clearly responsible for two cases, yet he had been focusing entirely on Yin Tiejun and had forgotten all about Gu Santong.

But he had no choice.

If Uncle Yin’s case were not resolved quickly, he himself would be implicated as well, and he might even end up as he had in his previous life, kicked down into the countryside by Tian Guanghan.

Now there was no need to worry. Uncle Yin was fine, and his post would soon be restored.

As for Tian Guanghan, barring any surprise, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

And as for his only son, Tian Yuan, the law would see to him as well.

The grave menace at his throat had been removed, vengeance for his former life had been taken, and a measure of justice had been restored for the dead.

Yang Dong asked himself whether, as a mere minor official, he had not already done all he could.

But if he wanted to secure full justice for the dead and bring every murderer involved in the case to justice, then forgive him, but he did not yet possess that ability.

A vice director of the Department of Justice alone was someone he could not handle.

Moreover, this case also involved the sons of several leaders in Lingyun City, and even the son of a vice governor from the province.

In fact, the murderer was that vice governor’s son; it was he who had committed the killing.

So how much power could Yang Dong possibly have to resolve such a case?

Justice is justice; strength is strength.

To know only that justice must be upheld, while failing to see the limits of one’s own strength, and charging ahead on nothing but blood and courage, only to waste one’s life in vain—that is the act of a fool.

Yang Dong had quietly taken note of this case in his heart. When the day came that he truly had the power, he would reopen it.

This was not merely about a hostess being raped and murdered.

It was about whether justice for those at the bottom could be upheld, about the continual improvement of our nation’s laws, and even more, about the finest way to strengthen the government’s credibility.

"Team leader, regarding the case, you’re aware of the situation. Gu Santong has only confessed to a few minor issues. He admits that while serving as deputy director of the Education Bureau, and later as director, over the course of six years, he failed to properly supervise teachers who were conducting illegal make-up classes."

"He also admits that in some educational subsidies and in the procurement of certain student textbooks, oversight was lax, which allowed corruption among the lower-level cadres."

"But he denies any acts of corruption on his own part, and denies using his position to help others secure benefits."

"He also denies orchestrating cheating in the transition from primary to middle school, in the middle school entrance exam, and even in the college entrance exam to gain profit."

"But behind all those acts was Gu Santong’s direction."

"From what we have learned, among all the junior high and senior high graduating candidates in Lingyun City, there were widespread cases of buying answers with money."

"As for the parents of the students, through acquaintances and friends around them, they would be introduced to a so-called high-tech bone-conduction earphone. It was immune to signal jammers, could be hidden in the teeth, and during the student’s exam, would transmit the answers into the ear."

"And this high-tech bone-conduction earphone sold for 18,888 yuan."

"Even so, despite the high price, many parents of graduating students were still willing to pay for it."

"After all, it concerned whether their children could enter high school, or even university. It was a matter of their future."

"Students who cheated by paying for answers generally saw their scores rise by twenty to thirty points over their real results."

"These problems are extremely egregious, but Gu Santong still refuses to admit them or explain them."

Lu Yike truly deserved to be a member of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection; in just a few sentences, she had clearly laid out the progress of the case and the violations and crimes Gu Santong was suspected of committing.

Disciplinary violations and criminal violations are not the same thing; the difference is clear from the names alone.

A disciplinary violation means breaching Party discipline, cadre discipline, or organizational principles, and belongs to a personal matter within the system.

But a legal violation involves the law.

Things like using one’s position to seek benefits for others, causing major accidents with casualties, manipulating finance, committing fraud, organizing gang-related crime, and so on all fall under criminal conduct.

If it were merely a disciplinary violation, then all that would be needed was double expulsion: expulsion from the Party and dismissal from public office.

But if it involved illegal acts, then it had to be handed over to the judicial authorities for further handling.

And Gu Santong’s actions were not only disciplinary violations, but also illegal. Once fully substantiated, the only thing awaiting him was prison.

So Gu Santong still refused to confess, stubbornly resisting to the end.

"I’ll interrogate him myself!"

Yang Dong signaled to Lu Yike.

Lu Yike nodded, then took the key and opened the door to Room 116.

The director of the Municipal Education Bureau, Gu Santong, shared a name with a character from a wuxia drama, but this bureau chief had no martial skills at all.

On the contrary, Gu Santong was extremely fat. The moment Yang Dong entered, he saw a mass of blubber; he had to weigh at least over two hundred pounds.

At one meter seventy and more than two hundred pounds, one could only imagine how fat he was.

For a man like that to serve as education bureau director, the parents of the students probably all knew he was no good.

Gu Santong sprang upright from the bed. He was now highly sensitive, his nerves already verging on breakdown.

As soon as he heard the door opening outside, he felt misery beyond words, because it meant another round of questioning.

If his mind were even a little slower, he would be led around by the nose by the investigators from the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and end up at a disadvantage.

He felt that being under investigation was even more exhausting than going out to a bathhouse.

"Gu Santong, this is Comrade Yang Dong, leader of the Tenth Task Force of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection’s investigation team."

After entering, Lu Yike introduced Yang Dong first.

As the group leader, Yang Dong had never before appeared in front of Gu Santong.

This was the first time.

And Gu Santong had no way of learning what was happening outside at the moment.

So he did not know that the young man before him had already become a figure of great influence in Lingyun City.

A figure watched by the Party secretary, the mayor, the secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, and the head of the Party Organization Department.

He glanced at Yang Dong, saw how young he was, and could not help looking down on him.

No beard on the lips, no surety in the craft.

It seemed he could breathe easy now.

Gu Santong thought this with great satisfaction.