Siheyuan: The Era of Struggle

Chapter 398 A guilty conscience
Seeing GA's actions, He Yuanchao knew without guessing that they were coming for him, and the matter of grain immediately came to mind.

No, the thought was rejected by He Yuanchao as soon as it came to mind.

It's impossible for Zhang Daya to inform on them, and they weren't caught in the act during the transaction...

While He Yuanchao was pondering, the four GAs had already walked up to him and stood in a tacit manner, surrounding the whole table of people in the middle.

The first person was a middle-aged GA officer. He glanced at the four people at the table, then looked at He Yuanchao and said in a stiff tone:
"Where are you from, and what are you doing here?"

The people eating in the restaurant were incredibly excited. Some had felt it was a pity they hadn't seen the fight earlier, but now they were about to witness a scene of the police catching robbers. They all felt that today's meal was worthwhile, as they not only had a good meal but also enjoyed a good show.

The middle-aged man who had just argued with Liu Caixia was particularly eager, his eyes shining with a desire for GA to punch and kick He Yuanchao in front of him and teach him a lesson so he could vent his anger.

"Comrade..."

"Shut up."

Zhang Lide had just stood up and uttered two words when the middle-aged GA, fearing that the others might misunderstand, turned around and sternly interrupted him, saying, "I asked him, not you. Sit down."

He Yuanchao was, after all, a GA on temporary assignment. Although he didn't know why the local GA was looking for him, he wasn't intimidated at all and stood up to reply:

"We are from Kyoto, and we are here to visit relatives."

"Visiting relatives?"

The middle-aged GA looked at He Yuanchao and his group of four with suspicion, and laughed, "Visiting relatives and not eating at their homes, eating out every meal, what kind of family is that! Who would believe you if you said that?"

After saying that, the middle-aged GA's face hardened, and he pointed to Zhang Lide and the others sitting at the table, threateningly saying:
“You lot, don’t act like nothing happened. Get up and come back with us right now, and explain what you did.”

He Yuanchao now understood why GA had contacted him; it was because he had been reported for being jealous of others' lavish lifestyle.

These days, nobody cares if you're just getting by, because everyone's pretty much the same. But if you're living a life of luxury, you'll attract a lot of envious people, with a "I'm not doing well, why are you doing so well?" attitude.

To confirm his thoughts, He Yuanchao spoke up:

"Comrade GA, I have no problem going with you, but you have to tell us why! What law have we broken? You have to tell us! We can't just go with you without any explanation!"

"Just leave when I tell you to, why are you arguing so much?"

Before the middle-aged GA could speak, a thin, dark-skinned young GA spoke first in a stern tone.

After scolding He Yuanchao, the dark-skinned GA didn't sit still either. He reached out and grabbed the driver Xiao Wang's arm, saying, "Get up."

Driver Xiao Wang looked at the cold-faced, thin, dark-skinned GA and felt a little intimidated. He thought that he was just a driver who was ordered to drive and that nothing had to do with him, so he did not resist and obediently stood up. His eyes subconsciously glanced at Zhang Lide and Zhang Zhao.

After being reprimanded, Zhang Lide sat down and remained silent, his face expressionless and calm.

Even Zhang Zhao, who is usually a bit impulsive, was very calm at this moment, as if the GAs in front of him were looking for someone else and had nothing to do with him.

He Yuanchao was somewhat surprised by Zhang Zhao's performance, but then he thought that his brother-in-law probably thought of the same thing he could think of, so he stopped thinking about it and turned to look at the middle-aged GA, waiting for a reply.

Seeing He Yuanchao, Zhang Lide and the others so calm, the middle-aged GA couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Could he have been misled by the whistleblower? Otherwise, these people wouldn't have shown no remorse whatsoever when they saw GA. Judging from their confident demeanor, he guessed he had been tricked, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that they were just putting on an act due to their strong mental fortitude.

With that thought in mind, the middle-aged GA made up her mind.

He waved to signal the thin, dark-skinned GA to release the driver, Xiao Wang, and then said to He Yuanchao:

"Don't rush to tell me what you did wrong, first tell me what you do?"

When he said this, the middle-aged GA's tone was much better, completely unlike when he had treated He Yuanchao as a suspect.

He Yuanchao had two work IDs on him. In order to resolve the immediate matter as quickly as possible, he took out his work ID from the East Branch of the Public Security Bureau and handed it to the middle-aged police officer.

Since we're in the same industry, it's easier to talk to each other and there won't be any messy situations.

As He Yuanchao had expected, the middle-aged GA took the work permit, opened it, glanced at it, and was first shocked, then smiled and said:

“I didn’t expect we were colleagues. Deputy Director He, right? We’re from the PC Institute in this jurisdiction. We came here after receiving a report from the public.”

After the middle-aged GA finished speaking, she handed the documents back to He Yuanchao, while also feeling a pang of envy.

Sigh! There's no comparison between people! He Yuanchao is only thirty-two and already a deputy director level official. Compared to him, I'm almost fifty and only a section chief level official. I've wasted my life, and I can't even compare to a young person.

Upon hearing what the middle-aged GA said, everyone in the restaurant, including Zhang Zhao and the driver Xiao Wang, showed surprise on their faces, and some even opened their mouths wide.

The other three GAs, in particular, looked at He Yuanchao with astonishment and disbelief.

He's so young! And he's already a deputy director? The director of the Yangqu County Public Security Bureau is only a section chief!

Ignoring the stares of the crowd, He Yuanchao shook hands with the middle-aged GA and said with a smile:
"It's our duty, I understand. If it's convenient, could you tell me what you reported about us?"

The person involved has the right to know. This matter does not violate any rules, so the middle-aged GA did not hide anything this time and responded readily:
"The informant noticed that you've been eating at restaurants almost every day for the past two days, so he reported you as bad elements who resell goods on the black market. He also said that you were going to resell a large amount of grain recently, so we came here to verify it."

He Yuanchao felt a bit scared after hearing this. If he hadn't acted quickly, he might have been caught red-handed if he had delayed for two more days. With more than a thousand catties of grain, in the current environment, he would probably have been seriously injured, if not killed.

Just as he was pondering this, He Yuanchao suddenly noticed a look of inquiry in the middle-aged GA's eyes and immediately realized that his expression might have aroused the other party's suspicion.

To gloss over the matter, He Yuanchao frowned, deliberately showing some annoyance, and whispered to the middle-aged GA:
"Can you tell me who reported it?"

The middle-aged GA officer hadn't expected He Yuanchao to ask about this. They were both GA officers; didn't they know that revealing a whistleblower's information was a disciplinary violation? He hesitated for a moment before awkwardly replying:
"I really don't know. The other party reported it by phone, and disclosing the informant's information is not in accordance with regulations. I hope Director He will forgive us."

The middle-aged GA felt he had already given He Yuanchao a lot of face by saying that. If they weren't colleagues and he wasn't kind enough to give the other party a chance to correct his mistakes, what he just said would have been a disciplinary issue.

Actually, the two of them made a misunderstanding and both guessed the other's meaning incorrectly.

He Yuanchao thought that the middle-aged GA had just suspected him of reselling grain on the black market.

In fact, it was the middle-aged GA who was wondering how He Yuanchao became the deputy director at such a young age, which had nothing to do with the black market.

This might be a case of a guilty conscience.

(End of this chapter)