I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

The interrogation room fell silent. Zhou Zhonghai muttered through the one-way glass, "Scumbag."

Fu Sanjun smiled slightly. He enjoyed listening to Vice Governor Zhou scold people; it was so satisfying.

In the interrogation room, the police officer gave Li Jinlong enough time to think before slowly saying, "Li Jinlong, the fact that we were able to catch you during your transaction shows that we have all the information, including the person you mentioned who took the lion's share. Letting you talk is an opportunity for you to earn merit."

"Am I going to be executed anyway?"

"Your transactions were huge. The disciplinary committee will verify the specific amount. If you only took a small share and made meritorious contributions, you won't be executed. But if you took the whole thing, you're doomed."

The police officer's tone softened considerably, but Li Jinlong still felt a chill run down his spine.

"Can I...can I have a cigarette?"

The police officer conducting the interrogation gestured to the officer taking notes beside him, and the junior officer took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, stood up, and handed it to Li Jinlong.

Then came another long silence.

Behind the one-way glass, Zhou Zhonghai also reached out. Fu Sanjun quickly took out a box of Daqianmen cigarettes from his pocket, took one, and respectfully handed it to Zhou Zhonghai before lighting it.

"Fu Sanjun, notify the Discipline Inspection Commission to enter the fertilizer plant, seal the account books, and investigate the accounts! At the same time, invite Li Zhihao to rest at the Municipal Party Committee Guesthouse, assign someone to guard him, and forbid him from contacting anyone," Zhou Zhonghai ordered, taking a puff of his cigarette.

"But we don't have any evidence yet," Fu Sanjun said with some concern.

"Look at Li Jinlong, he'll be vomiting everything up in less than an hour. Hurry up and make a call, don't let Li Zhihao find out and run away."

"Yes, I'll take care of it right away."

Fu Sanjun left, and Zhou Zhonghai looked at Li Jinlong with disgust. If this kind of person went to the battlefield, he would definitely be a deserter.

On the battlefield, a division commander can execute deserters on the spot, but in the local area, they have to be interrogated slowly.

Li Jinlong finished his cigarette, threw the butt down angrily, and said with his head tilted back, "I confess."

During the silence, only one sentence kept repeating in Li Jinlong's mind: "Every man for himself, or the world will destroy him."

When death is imminent, what do brothers and sisters matter?

Besides, Li Zhihao is taking the lion's share, so why should I die for him?

Being afraid of death is not shameful.

The police officer perked up and said, "Let's begin."

Li Jinlong tossed his hair and said, "I was just the head of the agricultural technology station. Even with my cousin's connections, I could only get an extra 10 or 20 tons of fertilizer at most."

"Who is your cousin? Tell me his name," the police officer sternly reminded him.

"Yes, it was Li Zhihao, the director of the fertilizer plant. It was him who told me to resell the fertilizer at a higher price to the agricultural technology stations in various counties. At first, we only dared to take a few hundred tons, and we didn't dare to raise the price too much, just five or ten yuan per ton. Later, Li Zhihao thought the money was coming in too slowly, so he increased the amount, to thousands or tens of thousands of tons, and the price also rose accordingly, from five or ten yuan to twenty or fifty yuan."

Li Jinlong was sweating profusely. When exactly did he become so fearless?

Perhaps it was Li Zhihao's solemn promise; he always said that heroes emerge in chaotic times, and if you don't seize the opportunity now, you'll never have another chance.

It became a habit after a while; times have changed, but their mindset hasn't.

"How was the price difference handled?"

"Li Zhihao paid seven, and I paid three. To make accounting easier, we used bank transfers for people we weren't very familiar with, but after a few dealings, we paid the difference in cash."

"What did you do with the stolen money? Did you deposit it in a bank?"

"No, who would dare to deposit money in the bank? My family only has about 20,000 yuan in savings. I squandered that money."

Li Jinlong lowered his head; he didn't know exactly how much money he had made over the years.

"Twenty thousand yuan? Li Jinlong, in your eyes, twenty thousand yuan is just a small amount, right? But do you know how many families work hard their whole lives and only have one or two thousand yuan in savings?"

The police officer was inexplicably angry. He only earned 48 yuan a month, about 500 yuan a year. Even if he didn't eat or drink, it would take him forty years to earn 20,000 yuan.

Li Jinlong lowered his head and remained silent. Making money was too easy; in his eyes, 20,000 yuan was indeed not much.

Zhou Zhonghai threw his cigarette butt on the ground and cursed fiercely, "Damn it, they're treating state assets like their own family fortune? Ouyang Bian, you continue the interrogation. Investigate all the counties and cities that have dealings with Li Jinlong, and verify them one by one. I want to see just how much money they've embezzled!"

"Yes, boss, don't worry, we will increase manpower to verify."

Zhou Zhonghai's face was terribly dark, and Ouyang Bian lowered his head, not daring to look at him.

Zhou Zhonghai strode out of the audience room, his heart burning with anger. How many parasites like Li Zhihao had devoured the nation's wealth during the ten-year movement?

Former municipal party secretary Wu Zhengkai was already outrageous, but who would have thought that an even bigger corrupt official was hiding in the company.

Because farmers lacked fertilizer, their crop yields were low, and the fertilizer factory manager took advantage of the county and city's urgent need for fertilizer to resell it at inflated prices.

Just like Zhang Dabiao, if he had known that he could buy fertilizer at a higher price, he probably would have come knocking on his door long ago.

Are the county and city leaders at fault? They had no choice.

Downstairs, Fu Sanjun walked towards Zhou Zhonghai and, as usual, bowed: "Governor Zhou, aren't you going to listen?"

"If I listen any longer, I'll be so angry I'll explode. Did the Discipline Inspection Commission go to the fertilizer plant?"

"I've already gone there. Don't worry, Li Zhihao can't escape."

"Okay, let's go back and wait for news."

Such a big case can't be solved anytime soon. Let the public security organs and the discipline inspection commission handle the investigation.

At the entrance of the Public Security Bureau, Zhang Dabiao sat on a stone bench waiting for Zhou Zhonghai.

"Why didn't you go back?" Zhou Zhonghai asked.

"Governor Zhou, what about those two truckloads of fertilizer?" Zhang Dabiao asked hesitantly.

"The fertilizer can't be moved for now. Go back first. Once we find out more about this matter, we'll make sure the two truckloads of fertilizer are delivered to Liuxian. Zhang Dabiao, thank you for your hard work this time. I'll personally allocate an extra two tons of fertilizer to your commune."

"Really? Both tons of fertilizer belong to our commune?"

"yes!"

"Thank you, Governor Zhou. Please feel free to contact me if you need anything in the future."

Zhang Dabiao was overjoyed. With two more tons of fertilizer, each village could get at least five more bags of fertilizer.

Five bags, plus the original one, that makes six bags.

How can I not be happy when it's increased sixfold?

"Zhang Dabiao, you haven't had lunch yet, have you? Here's what you'll do: go to the guesthouse for lunch. Order whatever you want, and put it on the tab at the municipal party committee."

"Alright, Governor Zhou, I'll head back this afternoon."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

What's so hard about this? We're treated to good food and drinks, and we even get two tons of fertilizer. It's like a windfall; the more the merrier.

Zhang Dabiao only returned to the guesthouse after watching Zhou Zhonghai get into the car and leave.

On the way, I thought, since they let me eat whatever I want, why not order two bowls of shredded pork noodles?

No, no, the shredded pork noodles are delicious, but they're not filling. I'll order a plate of stir-fried pork with chili peppers and five bowls of rice.

Yes, that's settled then. At least let me have a full meal, right?