Chapter 91: Whatever You Do, Don’t Let Yang Dong Find Out…

“What was the merchant’s name who bribed you?”

Lu Yike, who had spent many years working at the disciplinary commission, instantly grasped the implication and asked Gu Santong in a low, stern voice.

If they could identify the merchant, they could seize him first and squeeze more answers out of him.

“I’ve forgotten,” Gu Santong said at once, shaking his head and falling silent.

Lu Yike frowned. Gu Santong was already finished; it was obvious he would never walk out of the municipal disciplinary commission in one piece. Why was he still protecting some merchant?

What exactly was he afraid of?

Seeing Gu Santong like this, Yang Dong noticed that whenever the merchant was mentioned, there was even a trace of tension and dread in his eyes.

That made him smile.

The moment he smiled, Gu Santong’s heart tightened.

He kept feeling that Yang Dong was strange, extremely strange.

He was almost like a prophet, or like someone had installed a surveillance device on him. Whatever he did, Yang Dong seemed to know it all.

Could it be that he even knew which merchant had given him the villa?

“Gu Santong, I advise you to say it yourself. That would count as cooperation and leniency, and perhaps your punishment could be lighter.”

“But if you refuse to speak, then the outcome may not be so kind.”

Yang Dong looked at Gu Santong with a smile, speaking to him sincerely.

By now, what was the point of holding out?

There was no point at all.

“I... don’t know...”

For a brief moment, Gu Santong wanted to say it, but he still lacked the courage. In the end, he could only shake his head again.

“Gu Santong, I advise you to confess and receive leniency. The organization will deal with you mercifully.”

“You should at least understand how serious shielding a criminal is, especially as a bureau chief in the education system.”

Lu Yike’s delicate brows drew together, and a trace of anger surfaced in her voice.

Gu Santong was already like a duck destined for the pot, yet he still refused to budge and was still protecting someone else. What on earth was he after?

Her anger did nothing to loosen his resolve. He still shook his head and said nothing.

He could not say it. Truly, he could not say it. Even if it might earn him lenient treatment, he still could not.

“In fact, I know who this merchant is!”

Yang Dong straightened in his seat, leaned forward, and looked at Gu Santong as he spoke.

Gu Santong’s heart tightened immediately, but he forced a relaxed smile. “Really? Who is it?”

“Sorry, I can’t say it, or it would count as leading you into a confession. We handle cases at the municipal disciplinary commission step by step, with ironclad evidence.”

“The moment I reveal the merchant’s name, it becomes a matter of me prompting you.”

Yang Dong shook his head. He would not say it.

If the name came from him as an investigator, it meant something entirely different than if Gu Santong said it himself.

The former could be seen as inducing a confession; the latter would be the suspect’s own admission, and only that could serve as evidence.

“I know you’re just putting on a show,” Gu Santong sneered. Since Yang Dong had refused to give the merchant’s name all along, it was obvious he was trying to trick him into talking.

Unfortunately, he was not going to fall for it again. He had already been deceived once before.

“That’s fine. You can think of it as a performance if you like.”

“Then let’s take a look at the villa you have at 32 Youth Road.”

“Yike, call Shuangquan and Donglai over. Let Chief Gu take us to see his villa.”

As Yang Dong said this, he stood up with a bright smile.

Lu Yike nodded at once and rose as well.

Gu Santong instantly panicked and shouted at the two of them, “I’m not going! I’m not going!!”

“I’ve already been placed under disciplinary review. I’m staying right here in your hotel. I’m not going anywhere!”

In an instant, he lost his composure and struggled desperately.

Seeing how fiercely he resisted, Lu Yike’s years of investigative experience told her that this was no simple matter.

She rushed out to make two calls and summoned Hou Shuangquan and Hou Donglai, the two Hou brothers from the municipal procuratorate.

Twenty minutes later, Hou Shuangquan and Hou Donglai came hurrying in.

“Team leader, Comrade Yike, is there an operation?” Hou Donglai asked Yang Dong hurriedly, then turned to Lu Yike.

Yang Dong nodded. “Yes. We’re taking this Chief Gu to see his villa.”

“What? A villa?” Hou Donglai stared wide-eyed, utterly stunned.

A department-level education bureau chief had actually embezzled enough to own a villa?

So that was how it was. It really was better to be a high-ranking official. The power in one’s hands could truly do anything.

Seeing the look on Hou Donglai’s face, Yang Dong could tell it was not quite right. Deep in those eyes there was even a flicker of yearning and envy.

That was not a good sign.

In his previous life, Hou Donglai had been taken down for corruption.

Could he end up walking that same road again in this life?

If in the past Yang Dong had held no goodwill toward Hou Donglai, and even looked down on officials like him who had been corrupted, things were different now. Hou Donglai had been diligent and responsible, and had helped him quite a lot.

Especially today, when he had interrogated Tian Guanghan, he had borne tremendous pressure.

To be honest, Yang Dong truly did not want to see a comrade like that end in disgrace and crime.

It seemed that when he had time, he would have to have a proper talk with Hou Donglai.

He could not let Hou Donglai release the beast lurking in his heart, or it would ruin the rest of his career.

“I’m not going, I’m not going...”

When Hou Donglai and Hou Shuangquan lifted Gu Santong to his feet, he still struggled and shouted desperately, but it was all meaningless.

How could a man in his fifties compare in strength to two men in their thirties?

Not to mention that Gu Santong’s legs had already begun to go weak.

“Well, well, and you haven’t even reached the villa yet, but your legs are already giving out?”

“Why has the old actor suddenly lost his nerve?”

Yang Dong walked up to Gu Santong with a smile, patted his shoulder, and teased him lightly.

“Put him in the car!”

With a wave of Yang Dong’s hand, the two Hou brothers immediately supported Gu Santong and headed out of the hotel.

Yang Dong and Lu Yike followed behind.

Lu Yike quietly asked Yang Dong, “Team Leader Yang, do you really know who the merchant is?”

She was extremely curious about Yang Dong’s uncanny prescience.

Where on earth did he get his information?

This was not the first time. From the moment Yang Dong cracked Yin Tiejun’s case, to when he knew the nightclub hostess’s body had been buried beneath Dongshan Bridge, and now to his knowledge of Gu Santong’s villa location—

These were things even their disciplinary commission had failed to uncover. How did Yang Dong know them?

Could it be that he had some powerful patron behind him?

But what patron would know all of this so thoroughly?

“I don’t know. I was just bluffing him,” Yang Dong replied with a shake of his head, then quickly stepped out of the hotel.

“Really?” Lu Yike looked at his retreating back with suspicion, then hurried to catch up.

Of course, Yang Dong did know who the merchant was. The many cases that had unfolded in his previous life were all etched in his memory.

He simply could not reveal it now. If he relied too much on foresight, people would inevitably grow suspicious.

Especially with a woman as intelligent as Lu Yike, he really could not say too much.

Even if he trusted her sense of justice and believed in her character, he still could not say too much.

There were some things one could not even tell one’s own parents, let alone Lu Yike.

Hou Donglai drove, and Hou Shuangquan sat in the front passenger seat.

Lu Yike and Yang Dong stood on either side of Gu Santong, whose whole body was trembling, and escorted him straight to the villa at 32 Youth Road.

Yet at the very same time that Yang Dong was acting that night,

in the office of Guan Mushan at the municipal disciplinary commission building,

all the standing committee members of the municipal disciplinary commission were seated there, their expressions severe.

Wei Chonghu sat in the first seat below Guan Mushan. He glanced at the colleagues in the office, then said in a low, heavy voice, “We can’t let Yang Dong keep investigating this any longer.”

Xu Yuncai’s heart stirred. He looked toward Wei Chonghu, somewhat surprised.

What was Old Wei getting at?

Wasn’t Yang Dong one of your people? Why stop him from investigating?