Official Career Storm
Chapter 469

Chapter 469: Chapter 469

Tick, tick, tick...

The second hand jumped with each tick.

Song Guanchao’s smile was playful; he could tell that Hou Wen was getting nervous, doubting himself.

Yet, he remained rational; although he sensed something was off, he didn’t know what it was.

He trusted the terms of the overseas bank.

The two members of the Disciplinary Committee also sensed a subtle change in the atmosphere of the interrogation room.

The identities of Song Guanchao and Hou Wen had quietly shifted.

Hou Wen, who initially seemed to be in control, now found himself on the defensive.

And Song Guanchao... he appeared to have always been in control, at least that’s how it seemed.

"Five minutes have passed."

Song Guanchao stood up and said, "Secretary Hou, you should rest early tonight. Starting tomorrow, you will be transferred to the prosecutor’s office, and prosecution will be initiated."

"I will submit a report to the prosecutor’s office stating your uncooperative attitude during the investigation of this case, and I will request a severe penalty."

"I’ve consulted a lawyer, and given the particularly large amount of embezzlement and bribery, without any surprises... oh, there won’t be any surprises, you are definitely facing the death penalty."

"Alright, I need to go to the celebration banquet now."

"Secretary Hou, be more careful in your next life and try not to run into me again."

"Bang."

The door of the interrogation room closed.

Hou Wen felt increasingly uneasy.

The book in his hand was gripped so tightly it had warped, but he was completely unaware.

Time seemed to stand still, and yet it seemed to fly by.

Suddenly, Hou Wen raised his head: "What time is it?"

His eyes were bloodshot, and his face was flushed from tension, making him look quite off.

The two Disciplinary Committee members were surprised by his transformation, clearly not expecting Song Guanchao’s words to have such a significant impact on him.

Glancing down, a member of the committee said, "It’s 10:29 PM."

"10:29... half an hour to go."

Hou Wen’s hands trembled as he struggled to light a cigarette, succeeding only after several attempts.

Through the burning of the cigarette, he was finally able to grasp the passage of time.

"The money is in my account, he can’t take it, it’s not possible..."

But why was he so sure?

Hou Wen wanted to tell himself that Song Guanchao was just bluffing.

He hadn’t left; he was waiting right outside the interrogation room door, waiting for him to change his mind.

But he was experienced in reading people, and he could tell the real from the fake.

Song Guanchao’s confidence wasn’t feigned.

And there are things that can’t be faked.

For instance, Song Guanchao didn’t use the promise of a lighter sentence to get him to hand over the illicit funds.

He never mentioned it!

That alone sent him into a panic.

Where had he gone wrong?

Hou Wen became increasingly irritable, his inner turmoil growing.

He didn’t even notice the cigarette burning down to the filter until it burnt his fingers, and he flicked it away reflexively.

Grabbing another cigarette, he lit it but didn’t smoke, just holding it between his fingers. The faint scent of the smoke helped him focus his thoughts.

Where did Song Guanchao’s confidence come from?

If he didn’t need me to recover the money, how could he accomplish that?

Unless he knew from the beginning that I was going to transfer these funds...

At that thought, his heart skipped a beat.

Almost as soon as the idea surfaced, he tried to dismiss it from his mind.

It was impossible.

Yet he forced himself to consider it again.

He thought it over, circling back to the same conclusion.

It seemed the only explanation that made sense.

He suddenly realized that Song Guanchao had volunteered to take on this case.

The leaders thought that Song Guanchao was doing it just to curry favor in the province.

And since Song Guanchao had just been reinstated, he might have wanted to use this opportunity to make a splash.

It indeed made sense.

But now, Hou Wen didn’t think so.

Based on Song Guanchao’s performance tonight, Hou Wen felt a fear that Song Guanchao might have really known beforehand about his plan to flee and move the embezzled money...

This could be indirectly confirmed by the fact that he managed to capture all the suspects involved within just one day.

However, these were not the real reasons for his thoughts.

The real reason that came to his mind, was a point he had always overlooked, an important point.

Wang Shujing!

The Director of the Dujiang City Finance Bureau!

Why would he suddenly turn himself in?

And why did he choose to do it during the Standing Committee meeting, going personally to the City Committee to report himself?

Didn’t he know what would happen to him if he reported himself?

He was no good person; his illegal activities, if not deserving of a suspended death sentence, were enough for a life sentence.

Even if he was truly afraid and terrified by the 7 billion yuan transfer, the right move should have been to flee, not to report himself!

Unless, someone was forcing him to do it.

As for who, it goes without saying.

Hou Wen took a deep drag on his cigarette and exhaled slowly.

He figured it out, he knew what was going on.

Song Guanchao wasn’t bluffing, he himself was the clown.

Despite not knowing how Song Guanchao found out, Wang Shujing’s unusual act of whistleblowing and Song Guanchao’s overly accurate grasp of the case made him certain that Song Guanchao could indeed recover the money.

He stubbed out the cigarette he had taken only two puffs of, and asked calmly, "What time is it now?"

The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown.

Now that he had roughly figured out the sequence of events, he was less afraid.

A Disciplinary Committee officer responded, "It’s 10:43 PM."

Hou Wen said, "I want to see Secretary Song."

"Are you going to confess?" they asked.

"Yes, I’m going to confess!" Hou Wen said, "I want to see Secretary Song. I am willing to cooperate actively, I am willing to return the embezzled money immediately!"

The two officers were stunned by his sudden willingness to cooperate.

What had gotten into Secretary Hou?

Such a drastic change in attitude.

The surveillance team, including Captain Hu, was equally astonished.

"What’s gotten into the old fox, suddenly willing to cooperate?"

"His erratic behavior, isn’t he afraid of angering Mayor Jiang?"

Liang Jianfeng chuckled; the old man did have a sharp mind, too bad it wasn’t used for the right purposes.

"Contact Secretary Song..." Before he could finish his sentence, his phone rang - it was Dujiang City Public Security Bureau’s Deputy Director Zhang Chuncheng.

As soon as the call connected, Zhang Chuncheng’s excited voice came through, "Director Liang, we’ve got the money, the embezzled funds transferred by Hou Wen, it’s in the treasury account!"

...

Dujiang City Finance Bureau, the staff refreshed the page every minute.

At 10:45 PM.

When the employee refreshed the treasury account page again, the glaring change in the figures didn’t register with him immediately.

It took him a few seconds to realize that something was off with the treasury account balance.

He clicked to check the account transactions and found a deposit of thirty million had been made just seconds before.

He paused, refreshed again, and another thirty million appeared.

On refreshing again, yet another deposit...

The employee’s mouth opened wider bit by bit, wanting to say something to Secretary Zhang and other leaders from the city behind him, but he couldn’t utter a sound.

His hand holding the mouse was trembling fiercely.

Zhang Meilin asked, "Liu, what’s the matter? Are you feeling unwell?"

Liu shook his head, his face flushed with excitement, his voice trembling, "Sec-Sec-Sec-Secretary Zhang, the money, the m-money..."

He pointed at the screen, unable to speak a full sentence.

Zhang Meilin realized something, looked at the screen, and asked, "Has the money been deposited?"

Liu changed his shaking head to an enthusiastic nod and finally blurted out, "It’s in!"

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