Chapter 347: Hai Lin's Conspiracy

He stared hard at Shan Liang for a while, then raised his voice and said loudly, “I don’t think so.”

“The whole incident is a slander and frame-up against me personally,” Dugu Qiuhun shouted, proclaiming his innocence. “Someone has premeditatedly framed me! From beginning to end, I have not destroyed any public property! I didn’t even enter Bairen City—who broke the bamboo at the entrance of the Plantation Café? Controlling the telecommunications building was just a precaution. How can you say I intended to destroy public property? This is a trumped-up charge!”

This charge is indeed a bit tricky, Ma Jia thought. In fact, it would be better to say he “intended to disrupt public order.”

As for “intent to cause bodily harm to transmigrators,” Dugu Qiuhun also denied it.

“I have always been as warm as spring to my comrades and as cold as winter to the enemy…” Dugu Qiuhun’s words were met with a chorus of boos before he could finish, but he insisted on continuing, “I would definitely not lay a hand on my comrades.”

Immediately, an elder questioned him, why did he order the police force to bring rifles into the city? As everyone knew, more than 90% of the population in Bairen City were transmigrators. Who were the rifles brought in to deal with?

Obviously, he had too many things he could not explain, and there were many testimonies in the file that were not in his favor. Especially the testimony of the native police about the order to carry guns—not just one person, but the testimony of several people, which was almost irrefutable evidence.

The elders were obviously furious—someone had actually attempted to bring armed natives to suppress the transmigrators! The thought of the transmigrators fleeing in all directions under the batons of the native police, or even being shot dead, would mean that the prestige the transmigrators had painstakingly built up among the natives would be completely gone.

Under the barrage of questions from the elders, Dugu Qiuhun was at a loss for words and had to give up his defense, only repeatedly saying that his loyalty to the Transmigration Group was “as clear as the sun and moon.” At this time, someone stood up to speak:

“The Dugu Qiuhun incident, although it seems accidental, actually has deep-seated factors,” the person spoke eloquently. “I personally believe that Dugu Qiuhun is a person without much cunning and is relatively loyal to the Transmigration Group. However, sometimes, a simple-minded person can easily turn their loyalty to the organization into a personality cult…”

Ma Jia frowned. The person speaking now was named Hai Lin, a fat man in his thirties who now worked in Wu Kuangming’s forestry department, specifically in charge of the woodworking factory.

Hai Lin’s words were quite malicious. The person Dugu Qiuhun admired the most was naturally Ma Qianzhu. Ma Jia had been waiting for someone to fire this shot—and it had finally come. His eyes turned to Ji Xin’s face, and the two exchanged a look.

“…this incident fully shows that the first Executive Committee made a serious mistake in its use of personnel. I can’t help but wonder: how did Dugu Qiuhun, a person with no military or police background, not even at the level of an amateur enthusiast, and without even the most basic concept of respecting the system and obeying orders, climb to the position of director of the East Gate Market police station? Not to mention that he also held the important position of the outer perimeter security commander of Bairen City.”

The elders present all heard the gunpowder in Hai Lin’s words. Xiao Zishan shifted uneasily in his seat.

“—severely punishing Dugu Qiuhun is meaningful, but it is a palliative, not a cure. Dugu Qiuhun is just an ordinary transmigrator. Why did he come to this point today? What kind of thinking supported him to have the concept that ‘everything I do is right’? Comrades, this is very worthy of our deep thought!”

As he spoke, his eyes turned to Shan Liang, but Shan Liang pretended not to see and avoided them.

Hai Lin’s speech caused a wave of whispers among the elders. Hai Lin stood there, seemingly waiting for someone to respond to him and second his motion, but no one asked to speak. Ma Jia asked, “Do you have anything else to say?”

Hai Lin had no choice but to continue: “To prevent a second Dugu Qiuhun from appearing in the Transmigration Group, we must thoroughly investigate this incident from the root and dig out the root cause. Only then can we ensure the stability and unity within the Transmigration Group. My speech is over.”

Hai Lin was a little disappointed. His speech was all suggestive. He had originally expected that Shan Liang, this street politician, would take the initiative to jump out and demand an investigation into the leadership responsibility for Dugu Qiuhun’s appointment, or better yet, directly demand to “dig out the black hand behind Dugu Qiuhun.” He had expected that Shan Liang and several others who had strong opinions on the cadre appointment system would come out to respond, but to his surprise, no one stood up.

Then a few more people spoke, the content of which was nothing more than a denunciation of Dugu Qiuhun’s “lack of organization and discipline.” No one mentioned anything about a “black hand behind the scenes,” as if the elders present had all colluded, and resolutely did not mention the four words “leadership responsibility.”

Strange, when did Ma Qianzhu become so popular? Hai Lin thought to himself. He absent-mindedly opened the text materials distributed to him before the meeting. Unlike the other elders who read them carefully as soon as they got them, Hai Lin hadn’t looked at them at all—he had already studied many of the materials inside, which was why he was so confident.

A casual flip revealed a new material he had not seen before, the “Independent Investigation Report on the Dugu Qiuhun Incident” written by the Arbitration Tribunal. Hai Lin couldn’t help but be surprised—the Arbitration Tribunal also has an investigation report?!

He quickly read through it and immediately understood why the elders were not interested in his speech. This report only listed the entire process of Ji Xin’s independent investigation: interview records, on-site records… there was not a single word of conclusion, but the meaning revealed between the lines was very clear.

Everyone did indeed think Dugu Qiuhun’s behavior was detestable, but no one liked to be used as a pawn.

As the hearing came to an end, Hai Lin asked to speak again:

“Dugu Qiuhun’s performance during the mass demonstration shows that many people only have individual committee members in their eyes, not the entire Transmigration Group,” he emphasized the words “individual committee members.” “Power is corrupting the body of the Transmigration Group. Today, it’s just a small police station director who dares to use natives to suppress the transmigrating masses. Tomorrow, when we have established group armies, and a vast army and navy, the army we created with our own hands will take up arms and become a sharp knife in the hands of a small group of ambitious people with ulterior motives, and turn against us. To prevent this from happening, we must not be lenient with Dugu Qiuhun. We must give him a severe punishment, quickly and heavily. I suggest that Dugu Qiuhun be immediately removed from all his posts, stripped of his elder status, and ordered to reflect deeply until he is recognized by the second Executive Committee. But Dugu Qiuhun shall be permanently barred from holding any military, police, or other armed forces positions.”

No one expressed any objection. Ma Jia then announced the vote.

The result of the elders’ vote found Dugu Qiuhun guilty of “unauthorized mobilization of armed forces” and “intent to cause bodily harm to transmigrators.” The charge of “intent to destroy public property” was not established.

“Dugu Qiuhun is guilty of two charges!” Ma Jia banged his gavel. “He will be sentenced on another day. The court is now adjourned!”

Dugu Qiuhun shouted, “I object! I was framed!” and was then taken away by the people from the Political Security General Bureau. The elders who attended the hearing discussed among themselves and left the screening room in twos and threes.

Ji Xin was packing his things and preparing to leave. His task was over. He was not interested in what sentence Dugu Qiuhun would ultimately receive, or what inside story was hidden behind this incident. Ma Jia stopped him:

“Come back with me. We’ll talk on the way.”

On the way back to the customs building, Ma Jia talked about the verdict on Dugu Qiuhun. Because the incident itself involved too many things, Ma Jia thought it would be best to consult the Executive Committee before passing sentence.

“We need to provide a plan for the Executive Committee to review,” Ji Xin said.

“It’s nothing more than stripping him of all his administrative posts,” Ma Jia said. “As for stripping him of his elder seat, that’s a bit too much.”

“I think we should write it down, and then have a ‘grace from above’,” Ji Xin said jokingly.

“Haha, that’s a way,” Ma Jia said. He thought that this would fully demonstrate the unity of the Executive Committee. He was very clear that the hearing today could be held in this way was the result of Ji Xin’s implementation of his instruction to “not make a big deal out of it.” Ma Jia’s trust in him had risen a lot.

“What are your plans for the future judicial system?” Ma Jia began to ask about his career intentions. He had made up his mind to hold on to this talent and preferably make him his trusted advisor.

“I don’t want to hold a position in the judiciary,” Ji Xin said listlessly. “I want to go to the Ministry of Education to be specifically responsible for educating the native children. If you support it, I also want to set up a native rights protection association.”

Ma Jia was surprised. Working in education was surprising enough, but the idea of a native rights protection association was absolutely unthinkable—the transmigrators’ attitudes towards the natives were varied. Some regarded them as partners, while others regarded them as pure cannon fodder and labor. But he had never heard of anyone who put the rights of the natives on their lips.

“Isn’t there freedom of association now? If you want to establish it, I will definitely not object,” Ma Jia said. “But I’m afraid not many people will join your protection association—”

“It doesn’t matter if anyone joins or not. I’m enough by myself. The main thing is to have a name for external purposes,” Ji Xin said. “In the future, there will be more and more legal disputes between the natives and the transmigrators. I hope to help them protect their rights so that they are not bullied by the transmigrators.”

“That’s good. It can promote social harmony,” Ma Jia thought. This could curb the transmigrators from unscrupulously using their status advantage to arbitrarily bully the natives.

Ji Xin shook his head: “I don’t care about social harmony—with our power, we can make every native disharmonious—I just feel that people are born of mothers. They are also human beings and should have their own basic rights.”