Me! A high-ranking official!

Hearing his resolute guarantee, Luo Haitao on the other end of the phone seemed to finally have a huge weight lifted off his shoulders, letting out a suppressed sob: "Secretary Zhao... come to my house. My dad told me about it, and I watched your live broadcast today from the workers' shed. I think you're different from those other officials; you're a good official who wants to do practical things for the people. I want to beg you... to uphold justice for me! Help me! If you feel it's difficult after hearing this, then just pretend I never made this call tonight. Please, please don't tell anyone..."

"I promise you, tell me, what exactly happened?"

Luo Haitao took a deep breath, his voice filled with intense hatred, and said, word by word, "Secretary Zhao, my wife, Wang Xiujuan, is not mentally ill at all... she was raped!"

"The man who raped her was Luo Zhiyong, the son of our village chief Luo Ming!"

What?!

Zhao Jianguo's heart sank suddenly, and he was so shocked that he almost stood up.

Luo Ming? He had met Luo Ming twice in the past two days. He was just a timid, submissive middle-aged man who was completely under Luo Shuishan's control. He seemed honest and simple. His son had actually committed the beastly act of raping his brother's wife from the same village?!

"Haitao, calm down and tell me slowly. What exactly happened? When did it happen?" He lowered his voice and picked up the notebook and pen from the table.

"That was five years ago..." Luo Haitao's voice was filled with endless sorrow and despair, slowly tearing open that long-buried tragedy.

It turns out that Wang Xiujuan and Luo Haitao were high school classmates. Wang Xiujuan was very beautiful back then. The two fell in love and had a very good relationship. After marrying into the Luo family, the young couple lived a sweet and happy life. However, because the family was poor and there was a younger sister with mental illness who needed medication, Luo Haitao could only work in other places all year round, and they rarely saw each other.

One night five years ago, Luo Zhiyong got completely drunk in town and broke into Luo Haitao's house by climbing over the wall in the middle of the night. That day, Luo's father had gone to visit relatives in a neighboring village and had not returned. Only Wang Xiujuan and her crazy sister who knew nothing were at home.

Taking advantage of his drunkenness, Luo Zhiyong raped Wang Xiujuan.

"The day after the incident, Luo Ming brought Luo Zhiyong, carrying gifts, and knelt down to apologize..." Luo Haitao gritted his teeth, looking like he wanted to devour someone: "Secretary Zhao, you don't know, Luo Ming and my family are related by blood, and according to seniority, I have to call Luo Zhiyong my cousin!"

"My dad is old-fashioned; he values ​​family ties and reputation more than his own life! Luo Ming took out 50,000 yuan, crying and begging. My dad felt that if this got out, the Luo family would lose all face for generations. Plus, out of consideration for our kinship, he actually... he actually accepted that 50,000 yuan!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jianguo couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, feeling surprised.

Luo Haitao said with a wry smile, "My dad took the money and, to keep it from me, locked Xiujuan in the house with the door locked from the outside. He wouldn't let her call the police or contact me. I couldn't get through to Xiujuan on the phone for half a month, so I felt something was wrong, took leave from work, and rushed home. That's when I found out what happened!"

"When I found out, I felt like stabbing Luo Zhiyong with a knife! I had a huge fight with my dad, and then I dragged Xiujuan to the town police station to report it, but..."

Luo Haitao paused for a moment, his tone filled with grief and helplessness: "When the police came to the village to investigate, Luo Ming panicked and went to the village secretary, Luo Shuishan, for help."

"Luo Shuishan called my father over and gave him a dressing down, saying that I disregarded clan ties and was trying to ruin the reputation of Luo Family Village. Those old geezers teamed up, using a combination of coaxing and intimidation, and in the end... in the end, my father actually changed his story in front of the police!"

"My dad told the police that Xiujuan couldn't stand the loneliness and that her relationship with Luo Zhiyong was consensual!"

"Furthermore, almost twenty days had passed by then, and the physical evidence at the scene and the injuries on my body had long since disappeared. Because of my father's false testimony, the police did not file a case on the grounds of insufficient evidence and the existence of emotional disputes..."

On the other end of the phone, Luo Haitao's suppressed sobs could be heard.

"I originally planned to take Xiujuan away from this village forever and never come back, but... but Xiujuan couldn't bear this humiliation, and she couldn't bear being falsely accused of being a slut by her closest relatives. She completely broke down."

"Her family had a history of mental illness, and this sudden shock caused her to... she went insane, completely insane."

"After what happened, my father was too ashamed to tell the truth to outsiders, and Luo Ming and Luo Shuishan also helped cover it up. Everyone in the village thought that Xiujuan couldn't stand our family's poverty and that it was due to hereditary factors that she suddenly fell ill..."

"I wish I could burn this house down! But the police won't file a case, Xiujuan is mentally unstable and needs someone to take care of her, and my sister needs someone to take care of her too. What can I do? I'll have to pay with my life for murder. If I go to jail, they won't even have money to buy medicine..."

"Secretary Zhao, I have no choice, I really have no choice! I can only leave that disgusting place, work hard to earn money, and let my father stay at home to take care of my two daughters, as atonement for his sins..."

After hearing these words, Zhao Jianguo sat in his chair, shocked. Although he had worked in grassroots government offices for several years and had heard many sordid things that happened in rural areas due to inadequate legal education and interference from clan forces, today, when such heinous crimes were vividly presented to him, he still felt a strong sense of suffocation and disbelief.

How foolish and cowardly can a person be to protect a rapist who ruined his daughter-in-law for the sake of so-called clan kinship, for that ridiculous face, and for 50,000 yuan?

She drove a perfectly normal woman insane, forced her own son to the point where he couldn't go home, and tore apart what was once a complete family into a living hell!

He took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said into the phone, "Haitao, I'm going to take care of this."

After hanging up the phone, he sat on the simple single bed, his face so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.

The matter Luo Haitao described was extremely thorny, involving not only village head Luo Ming and village party secretary Luo Shuishan, but also, most fatally, the long time span of five years. Any physical evidence had long since been destroyed, the party involved, Wang Xiujuan, had gone insane and was unable to provide testimony, and the only eyewitness, Uncle Luo, had already given false testimony out of concern for his family's reputation and because he had received 50,000 yuan in hush money, and would certainly not recant his testimony.

Based solely on Luo Haitao's testimony, the police had already refused to file a case five years ago due to insufficient evidence. Now, the difficulty of reopening the investigation and filing a case is virtually insurmountable.

Unless... Wang Xiujuan miraculously regains consciousness, clearly accuses the crimes of that year, and personally reports the case, and Uncle Luo Jiaxin also has a change of heart, voluntarily recantes his original confession, and admits to perjury, even so, without physical evidence based solely on confessions, it will still be extremely difficult to open a case and investigate, unless other strong hidden witnesses can be found.

This is almost a dead end.

He frowned, pondered for a moment, and then a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in his mind.

Yes, I have my own treasure trove!

He immediately closed his eyes, his consciousness instantly sinking into the system space, and quickly searched through the dazzling array of pills. Sure enough, in the medicine category, he found the specialization in mental illness!

Upon clicking on the details, he gasped in shock. To permanently purchase and learn this specialized skill, a whopping two hundred million yuan was required!

However, the system also offers loan experience services, which are divided into one hour, twelve hours and one day. If you only need to borrow one hour of mental illness expertise, the price is one million.

He considered the situation in his mind. One million was no small sum for his current wealth, and he couldn't afford to use it lightly. Wang Xiujuan's illness had dragged on for five years, so there was no rush. He decided to first explore other avenues and consider conventional methods. If he truly had no other choice but to bring Wang Xiujuan back to her senses to testify, then he would use this last trump card of one million!

Having figured this out, his tense nerves relaxed a little. He lay in bed and went over the three tasks he needed to undertake the next day in his mind. Before he knew it, he fell into a deep sleep.