Chapter 3: A Plot to Frame Her

Could the local armed forces have been compromised too? Meng Jianguo could scarcely imagine it. But Lin Ying’s next words left him little choice but to believe her. He had underestimated just how bad things were in Gaoshan County.

“That’s why I’d like to request personnel from the provincial armed police corps, or from the city detachment.”

“I respect your judgment. I’ll give you Lei Haishan’s number at the provincial corps. Contact him yourself. He can be trusted, and you’ve probably heard of him.”

Lin nodded. Lei Haishan? A smile touched her lips.

In Gaoshan County, Liu Yixiong smashed his teacup against the floor, then swept everything off his desk. A new police chief was coming? Damn it, he was nearly sixty and had worked in Gaoshan for almost thirty years. Surely it was his turn! Ma Guoliang, what the hell are you playing at? Hadn’t Ma promised to promote him once they had dealt with Chief Gao?

Liu ground his teeth. The top job at the public security bureau had been within reach, only for someone else to snatch it away.

He shook with anger. If he hadn’t been in his office, he would have gone out and hit someone. He had worked his whole life and still hadn’t landed a single top post before retirement.

Bitterness filled him. He stared at the door, his face dark. He couldn’t let this go. Over the years, how many capital crimes had he committed for Ma? If he couldn’t become police chief, he would stop following that man.

He was about to go and find someone when his cell phone rang urgently. “Director Liu, when are you planning to close Gao Lan’s case?”

“Who the hell are you to ask when I’ll close it? Are you my superior?” Liu snapped. A two-bit nobody with a little money thought he could shit on the deputy head of the public security bureau?

At the other end, Wang Dalong was furious. He snorted and snapped back, “Director Liu, don’t think everyone has to dance to your tune. If it weren’t for Brother Ma, you know perfectly well where you’d be right now.” He hung up. A mere deputy police chief dared act high and mighty with him? If it weren’t for Ma, he would have had someone put Liu away long ago.

Liu roared with rage, but there was nothing he could do. Wang might have been a private businessman in name, but he was Gaoshan County’s true underground king.

After thinking it over, Liu decided he had to demand an explanation from Ma. Otherwise, he had taken far too much on himself for nothing. He had struck three times in a row. If anyone found out, he would be sewing in prison, and he would rot there for the rest of his life.

He turned toward the office door, but before he could leave, the desk phone rang. “Lao Liu? It’s me, Ma Guoliang.”

“Secretary Ma,” Liu said reluctantly.

“Still thinking about the police chief’s job?” Ma’s voice was faintly mocking.

“Secretary, you gave me your word. I only have a few years left before retirement. If I don’t get promoted now, I’m afraid I won’t have another chance. So I’d like to ask you to help me out, give your brother a hand. What do you say?”

Ma fell silent. The news that Gao Lan had been raped could never be allowed to leave Gaoshan County. If it did, he was finished. For now, he had to keep Liu on his side.

“Lao Liu, give me a little more time. You know how closely the higher-ups are watching us right now. Don’t worry, I won’t forget. You’ve been with me for years; you know what our relationship is. As long as I’m secretary in Gaoshan, I’ll find a way to get you a top post. All right?”

Liu felt a little better. Whatever else happened, he still mattered to Ma Guoliang.

Hearing no reply, Ma quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

“Lao Liu, there’s a tricky matter I need you to handle.”

“Go ahead, Secretary.” Liu’s spirits lifted.

“The new police chief will be here soon. Think of a way to get rid of them—preferably right away.”

“Leave it to me. I guarantee the new chief won’t last a month in Gaoshan before being sent packing.” Liu was confident. It was only an outsider dropped into the police chief’s job; they had dealt with that before. Even county chiefs could be disposed of whenever they wanted. Remembering Gao Lan’s aloof beauty, he regretted never having had a taste of her himself.

“Don’t be so sure. This one may not be an ordinary transfer. I hear they’ve left the military, and they were in special forces.”

“A former special forces soldier? Even better. An inexperienced hothead with no background in local government. We’ll have no trouble handling them.”

“The appointee is under thirty, transferred at regimental level, and holds the rank of first-class police superintendent.”

“What?” Liu cried. “First-class superintendent? How is that possible?”

“There’s no mistake. Director Wu at the city Organization Department just called me. First-class superintendent, and apparently a senior colonel in the military.”

“What?” Liu nearly dropped the phone. A senior colonel? How was that possible? Weren’t regimental-level officers usually lieutenant colonels? And a first-class superintendent? Liu himself was only a third-class superintendent. A first-class superintendent could be director of a city bureau. What kind of connections did this person have?

“That’s why this appointment doesn’t feel right. Find a way to get the newcomer out.” Ma was troubled. The police chief’s position had been vacant, with Liu running the bureau in the meantime. Instead of a new county chief, they were getting a bureau chief who had been a senior colonel. It was alarming.

“Don’t worry. Whoever comes to Gaoshan, I’ll skin them alive. Prostitution, gambling, drugs, greed or lust—any one of those will be enough to make trouble for them.”

“The higher-ups say the appointee is a woman.”

“A woman?” Liu paused, then threw back his head and laughed into the phone. “A woman is perfect, Secretary Ma! Imagine a police chief arriving in the county where she’s supposed to work, only she’s here to sell herself instead of taking up her post. Wouldn’t that be the biggest scandal this county has ever seen? Ha ha ha!”