Chapter 345: The Hearing

That night, someone had called Dugu Qiuhun from here. Although Dugu Qiuhun could not be sure that it was this call that told him to “besiege the Executive Committee,” Ji Xin believed that this unfamiliar call was the most suspicious.

However, judging from the filthiness of the phone’s protective cover, it was wishful thinking to try to extract any useful fingerprints from it. Besides, even if they were extracted, it would be meaningless—this place was bustling with people, and the foot traffic was extremely high.

The existence of this phone confirmed one thing for Ji Xin: Dugu Qiuhun was not innocent, but he had played a tragic role.

Ji Xin asked the transmigrator on duty that night who had come to the public entertainment room. The person on duty took out the equipment usage registration book for the public entertainment room, which could be used to check who had come here for entertainment that night. But the person on duty told him that people who did not use the entertainment equipment did not need to register, and their entry and exit were also very casual.

As for who had made the call, the person on duty could not remember at all. There was no charge for making a call, so no one would be interested in paying attention to the public phone.

This person was quite neat, Ji Xin thought. There was no need to investigate who had made the call. Even if he could find out who it was, this person could deny it. Besides, it was not illegal to call Dugu Qiuhun and tell him that “someone is besieging the Executive Committee.”

He finally went to the security company headquarters and paid a visit to Li Yiyang.

Li Yiyang still seemed to have lingering fears about what had happened that night. Obviously, the 12 hours spent at the Political Security General Bureau were not pleasant. At first, he was unwilling to say more, until Ji Xin showed him his letter of authorization.

“Dugu has ruined me!” Li Yiyang complained in his office. “I was questioned over and over again for almost a whole day. It almost drove me crazy.” He sighed. “My future is worrying.”

“You’re wrong about that,” Ji Xin said. “This is just a necessary procedure in the investigation stage. You insisted on your principles and refused to deploy the troops. You will definitely have a bright future.”

“I hope so,” Li Yiyang said. “What do you want to ask? I’ve told the people from the Political Security General Bureau a hundred times. The only thing I haven’t told them is what color underwear I was wearing that night.”

“It’s definitely not pink,” Ji Xin joked. “Tell me about what happened that night.”

So Li Yiyang recounted the events of that night again. Ji Xin, who had already read his confession thoroughly, listened and checked it in his mind—there were no discrepancies.

Finally, he asked, “Besides the people from the Political Security General Bureau, who else did you tell about the situation that night?”

“No one,” Li Yiyang shook his head firmly. “You are the second one. The Political Security Bureau told me at the time that I couldn’t talk about this outside until the matter was over.”

Ji Xin nodded. Li Yiyang had not said anything, and Dugu Qiuhun had no one to talk to. The materials of the Political Security General Bureau were also confidential. Yet Li Yunxing, who was neither familiar with them nor had anything to do with this incident, knew about it, and even said “it’s being spread everywhere”!

Ji Xin returned to his office and wrote a detailed investigation report based on the information he had gathered. Due to the lack of crucial evidence, he decided not to write any conclusions or speculative conclusions in the report, but only to list the results of his investigation truthfully—the facts themselves would speak.

He found Ma Jia and handed him the materials. After Ma Jia finished reading the materials, he asked, “What do you plan to do?”

“First, send a copy to all the committee members,” Ji Xin said. “Then to all the elders attending the hearing.”

“Damn it, a newspaper like this is no different from empty talk!” Shan Liang slammed the Lingao Times Internal Edition on the table.

Ding Ding had recently merged the Lingao Times and the original Internal Communications into one newspaper with two editions. The public edition was for the natives, while the internal edition was for the transmigrators. The internal edition was classified as secret, with only one hundred copies printed each day, and it was not allowed to leave Bairen City.

The internal edition published mainly theoretical articles on the system and future direction of the Transmigration Group, as well as government gazettes, current affairs news, and some entertainment content.

What angered Shan Liang was a long serialized reportage on the page, titled “The Sugar War,” which described how the Leizhou station had defeated the original “Haiyi Hall” in Xuwen. It had some thrilling plots. It was not clear who wrote it, but it was full of ups and downs and suspense, and it always left a “cliffhanger” every day.

This report was obviously the result of the Leizhou station’s public relations efforts in the local area. What angered Shan Liang the most was that the newspaper, which was clearly a tool for public opinion supervision, had now been reduced to a tool for whitewashing interest groups. Shan Liang did not know the specific process of the Leizhou station’s expansion of its territory back then, but he naturally believed that there were many fictional and exaggerated elements in it.

“The Leizhou station really wasn’t easy. It’s not a big deal for them to boast about their achievements,” Cheng Mo said. He had been deliberately getting close to Shan Liang recently and had become one of his close friends.

“But in this way, public opinion will be biased towards Chang Shide, and his actions will have a basis?” Shan Liang was very dissatisfied with this.

“A mistake is a mistake, and a contribution is a contribution. They can’t be confused. We just need to insist on this point at the hearing,” Cheng Mo advised. “We should seize on his issue of misappropriating public funds and have him explain it clearly.”

“Hmm!” Shan Liang was elected to the Standing Committee at this general assembly, which was a small gain. Although several of his motions were not passed, the right to procession and demonstration was a great victory. Shan Liang clearly realized that in a parliamentary struggle, he was definitely no match for the current ruling faction. Only the banner of “public opinion” could have a certain deterrent effect.

“Chang Shide is just a representative. In the entire dispatched station system, similar corruption will not be uncommon,” Cheng Mo said. “We should take this opportunity to demand a thorough investigation and rectification!”

“Right, their situation of using public property as they please cannot continue like this!” Shan Liang thought of the frequent and suspicious activities of the personnel of the Guangzhou-Leizhou station in Lingao before and after the meeting. He suddenly became suspicious. Could these people be engaging in bribery, buying off the committee members and elders?

He expressed this suspicion to Cheng Mo.

“It’s possible they’re giving some local specialties as gifts to build relationships, but bribery is not necessarily the case,” Cheng Mo said. Given the special circumstances of the Transmigration Group, bribing the committee members was a very difficult thing to do. Gold, silver, and treasures were meaningless to the transmigrators. The number of circulation coupons issued and their circulation scope were limited. Accepting a large number of circulation coupons was like admitting guilt without being asked—besides, there was nowhere to spend them. As for using women for sexual bribery, it was even more impossible under the watchful eyes of everyone in Bairen City.

“This building of relationships is essentially bribery. Bribery of millions or tens of millions starts with a few bottles of wine and a box of pastries! I think we must also nip this in the bud,” Shan Liang quickly wrote in his small notebook.

Cheng Mo thought to himself: Shan Liang is getting more and more into his role now. He didn’t expect the change to come so quickly. Seeing Shan Liang so actively involved in the political movement, Cheng Mo couldn’t help but feel ashamed of his own mission. People were engaged in an open and aboveboard “conspiracy,” while his group was somewhat secretive.

However, our goals are the same, he said to himself.

The hearing was officially held a few days later.

The venue for the hearing was set up in the small screening room of the public entertainment room. The tables were arranged in a horseshoe shape. The person being questioned sat in the middle of the horseshoe, in the center of everyone’s line of sight. Ma Jia thought that no matter who it was, this would not be a pleasant experience.

The 25 elders attending the meeting were selected by drawing lots from the 53 standing elders to ensure the relative fairness of the hearing. The selected elders could not refuse unless there was an emergency.

Whether the person being questioned was guilty or not would be decided by the vote of these 25 standing elders. The specific punishment would be decided by the Court of Honor or the Executive Committee.

According to the rules designed by Ma Jia: a guilty verdict required a vote of 19:6, while an acquittal only required 13:12.

Convicting an elder, although in most cases the crime was not punishable by death, would have a heavy blow on the elder’s personal development prospects, so it had to be treated with extreme caution. Therefore, the elders had no objection to this rule.

In addition to these 25 elders, there was also a three-person tribunal presiding over the entire meeting: it was presided over by Ma Jia, the representative of the Arbitration Tribunal—the position of president of the Court of Honor was currently held by him concurrently. Ji Xin, who was responsible for the investigation and trial of the entire incident, and Mu Quan, who was responsible for the records. The Executive Committee sent Xiao Zishan as its representative for this hearing. These four people had the right to speak but not to vote.

Ji Xin arrived at the venue early with all the materials. Ma Jia saw him carrying a large rattan box, which was heavy with documents, and he was sweating profusely.

“You should have asked a native clerk to help you carry it.”

Ji Xin said, “They are busy enough, and they are all underdeveloped children. I feel bad asking them to carry such a heavy box.”

“You’re quite merciful.”

“Not at all. People are born of mothers. Exploitation should also be done in moderation,” Ji Xin said, taking out a clean training uniform from the box and changing into it.

Ma Jia nodded. Appearance was very important in court. It could fully demonstrate the authority and seriousness of the law.

Chang Shide came to the scene surrounded by Yan Maoda and other people from the Guangzhou and Leizhou dispatched stations, as well as a few people Ma Jia did not recognize. He was neatly dressed, and had even changed into a well-ironed casual suit. He was also inexplicably wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, looking honest and reliable.

It seems someone has been advising Chang Shide, Ma Jia thought. This style is just like that of an American murder suspect in court.

Dugu Qiuhun looked much more miserable when he arrived. His hair was messy, and he was wearing a wrinkled training uniform. There were also two people from the Political Security General Bureau guarding him. He was taken to a seat in the back row to wait for the second hearing.