In name only: The land of Handong, I shall rule its fate.

"Rent...rent a villa?"

The anti-corruption bureau officers in charge of the interrogation were stunned.

"yes!"

Wang Dalu replied matter-of-factly, then a feigned look of pain appeared on his face, "It was rented to Secretary Li for 20 yuan a year for 11 years."

"Now the market price has risen to 30 yuan a year. Could you please talk to Secretary Li and ask for a slight increase in rent for the next two years?"

Lin Huahua almost lost her composure, but was glared at back by Lu Yike.

"serious!"

"This is the Anti-Corruption Bureau's interrogation room, not a place for bargaining."

Hou Liangping forcefully steered the atmosphere back to interrogation mode, "You said Secretary Dakang paid you the first batch of rental fees."

"Um!"

Wang Dalu confirmed, "He called me on the 12th of last month. I remember it was 13000 yuan. He kept 500 yuan for himself, saying he wanted to save it to take Jiajia to dye her hair."

"At the rate of 13,000 yuan per month, Secretary Li would need to repay for 5 years."

"That's not something that happened in five years."

Hou Liangping softened his tone and replied with a smile, "If it's a commercial loan, then at least 30 yuan in interest will be added."

That's what they say.

Wang Dalu nodded, "But I've known Secretary Li and Ouyang for almost thirty years, so how could I possibly calculate interest?"

"A friend of thirty years!"

Hou Liangping exclaimed in amazement, "That's a friendship that's been through thick and thin. After all, a person's life is only two or three thirty-year periods."

"That's not true."

Wang Dalu said casually, "Back in Jinshan County..."

Speaking of which...

Wang Dalu seemed to realize where he was and quickly shut his mouth.

It seems Cai Chenggong was right; Wang Dalu really did take the fall for Li Dakang.

But Hou Liangping's expression remained unchanged as he continued to patiently persuade, "With Secretary Li's support, Mr. Wang's business should be going much more smoothly, right?"

"Director Hou, you can't just say things like that!"

Wang Dalu is still very vigilant.

"Isn't that right?"

Hou Liangping was not in a hurry at all. "Dalu Group used to only do food business, but now it has started to get involved in finance, real estate and wine."

"Take real estate as an example."

"Was Dalu Group's first project the one Secretary Li was working on when he was in Lincheng?"

"You mean that one?"

Wang Dalu suddenly realized, slapped his thigh, and exclaimed, "Director Hou, you have no idea!"

"Many people died when the Lincheng coal mine collapsed back then, and because there were many mine tunnels underground in Lincheng, many real estate companies were unwilling to take over the project."

"I only agreed after Secretary Li personally came to persuade me. I had staked everything I had on it, but thankfully it worked out in the end."

"President Wang did Secretary Li such a big favor, but Secretary Li didn't do President Wang any favors in return afterward."

Hou Liangping seized the opportunity to ask.

"What a load of crap!"

Wang Dalu, as if his tail had been stepped on, angrily said, "Li Dakang is a dog who only uses people when he needs them and then turns them away when he doesn't. As soon as the situation in Lincheng stabilized, he opened his arms to embrace those big real estate companies."

"I can only follow behind and drink the soup."

"but…"

Wang Dalu paused slightly at this point, then added, "It can't be said that I didn't get any benefits at all."

"Oh?"

Hou Liangping's eyes lit up.

After all that rambling, is the important part finally here?

"Director Hou, have you investigated any real estate cases? The waters here run too deep. Those big companies and local factions are completely inhuman; they'll use any dirty tricks they can think of."

"If it weren't for Secretary Li's connections, which gave Dalu Group a chance to compete on an equal footing, they wouldn't even have gotten a share of the profits."

Wang Dalu sighed.

That's it?

Hou Liangping frowned; this wasn't what he wanted!

What he wanted was for Li Dakang to make things easy for Wang Dalu because of personal feelings, which led to everything that followed.

"Director Hou!"

Wang Dalu complained, "If you really want to be corrupt, you should investigate the real estate industry thoroughly; the intricacies involved are fascinating!"

"stop!"

Hou Liangping understood that the old man was just playing with him, and said coldly, "We will investigate whether there are any problems with the real estate, but that's not the focus today."

"Is it because of what happened in Lincheng that you moved the headquarters of Dalu Group to Jingzhou, where Secretary Li is stationed?"

"That's one of the reasons."

Wang Dalu nodded honestly, "It's also because Jingzhou is the provincial capital of Handong, where policies and people are the most transparent, but then we ran into Ding Yizhen."

"Why!"

"Dalu Group's real estate business has always been in a state of barely making ends meet, but not starving either."

Hou Liangping felt a headache.

Wang Dalu's journey has led him to dead ends at every turn. Ding Yizhen, Ding Yizhen was arrested. People say the real estate industry is murky, and anyone who isn't an idiot knows how treacherous it is.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Wang."

Hou Liangping stood up. "Today's questioning can end here."

"However, there may be further communication needs, so please cooperate, Mr. Wang."

"OK."

Wang Dalu said, "Cooperating with the organization is the duty of every citizen, and I am also a member of the organization."

"Zhou Zheng, take President Wang back."

Hou Liangping gave instructions.

"Just give up like this?"

Lu Yike said unwillingly.

Besides catching corrupt officials, the only way to overturn the old case of Chen Hai and his son is to bring Li Dakang down, prove his connection with Ding Yizhen's illegal and criminal activities, and force the employees of Dafeng Factory to desperately resist.

"How else can we investigate?"

Hou Liangping retorted irritably, "This guy also came from within the organization. He knows the interrogation process, but he has no concrete evidence. He's as slippery as an eel. I can't get anything useful out of him."

"Actually, no."

Lu Yike retorted, "Didn't he say that the real estate market is very complex, and Li Dakang's best way to boost GDP is to engage in large-scale real estate development?"

"Just like Ding Yizhen, who fell from grace."

"Back then, as Li Dakang's confidant, I was in charge of the Guangming Peak project and the old city renovation."

"I don't believe that Li Dakang really had no involvement whatsoever. Even if there were no financial dealings, he must have benefited from it."

"And Ouyang Jing."

"We only investigated Li Jiajia's tuition fees, but we didn't investigate the kickbacks that Cai Chenggong mentioned."

"I checked the four bank cards provided by Cai Chenggong, and one of them still had 5,000 yuan that hadn't been touched."

Hou Liangping shook his head. "The kickback issue can't be investigated too deeply. That's why I went through a roundabout way to investigate Li Jiajia's tuition fee."

"The same applies to real estate."

"Director Hou, are you scared?"

Lu Yike asked in surprise.

The moment she saw Hou Liangping, she knew he was someone with connections and someone who wore his reputation on his sleeve for solving cases and making contributions, but she never expected him to be so wary of her.

Hou Liangping did not answer.

He used to be fearless, as long as he didn't provoke those special people and things, the Zhong family could guarantee that he could run rampant in the capital. But after experiencing Zhao Dehan's account book...

First came his father-in-law's harsh criticism, followed by Zhong Xiaoai's earnest admonitions.

Finally, he realized that there were so many things in the world that even the Zhong family couldn't touch.

Neither of them will work.

Hou Liangping suddenly turned around, his eyes shining, "But you've given me a new idea..."