0127 135 Accepting survey "in progress"

Everyone present, including those outside the meeting room, was astonished. Zhou Xiye stood up and looked at Chen Hui and the chief prosecutor, his face showing no emotion whatsoever.

"Chief Prosecutor Chen, Team Leader Shen, I have some work-related matters to explain. You can stay here or wait for me outside."

Shen Yuhe and Chen Huihe exchanged a glance. According to the rules, the person should be taken away immediately.

Seeing their expressions, Zhou Xiye knew they were in a bit of a predicament, so she smiled and said, "I only have two sentences to say." She turned to the new secretaries and said, "Wang Xiaodong, based on the travel agency information provided by the victim, find the travel agencies in Kunming that are connected to them and determine what kind of tourism projects they offer."

"Pan Yun, go find the documents related to the land projects that Secretary Hu signed off on before, organize them, and give them to Mayor Ling."

As for Bai Jialing and Qiao Senxi, Zhou Xiye's gaze moved back and forth between them. "You two, you can wait for me to come back, or you can go to Secretary Hu's place," she said, then turned to Chen Huihe, "I'm ready."

Chen Hui walked over. Because of Zhou Xiye's special status, she was not handcuffed. Several people behind her followed her out of the municipal party committee building.

As Zhou Xiye walked out and got into the police car from the procuratorate, people in the municipal party committee building leaned out of the windows to watch him being taken away. Even the people who had been waiting outside the municipal party committee compound stood on tiptoe to watch. Some people took out their phones to film and livestreamed the scene on different apps, explaining as they filmed.

"Did you see that? The Party Secretary of Kunming has been taken away by the procuratorate. That's great news!"

Zhou Xiye sat in the middle of the back seat, feeling tired, and closed his eyes. Not long after the car drove off, Chen Hui, who was in the front seat, turned to look at Zhou Xiye with his phone in hand. "Secretary Zhou, it's your wife calling," he said, reaching for the phone, but Zhou Xiye shook his head.

She didn't want to accept it.

Chen Hui hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Okay... I'm sorry, Mayor Pei, Secretary Zhou is not available to answer the phone."

Zhou Xiye kept her eyes closed, neither angry nor flustered, until she was taken into the interrogation room, at which point she broke out in a sweat. Chen Huihe had seen people like Zhou Xiye before; they were fearless on the road, but once they were actually sitting in the chair and the board pressed down on them, they realized they were afraid.

This is what they call not shedding tears until you see the coffin.

"Zhou Xiye, do you know why we invited you here?"

Zhou Xiye said frankly, "You just told me that I was guilty of embezzlement and bribery, so I came in."

Did the embezzlement and bribery occur?

Zhou Xiye shook his head, "I don't know. Please explain what constitutes embezzlement and what constitutes bribery. How much money is considered embezzlement and how much money is considered bribery?"

Chen Huihe sighed. Zhou Xiye was difficult to interrogate; he needed to present evidence to her. Chen Huihe pulled out a piece of paper from the folder. "This is a tip from an informant. He said that some shops in the agritainment business gave you money in order to get a good location and easier approval."

"And then there's the matter of Luo Yiming giving you ten million as a meeting gift. Do you acknowledge all of that?"

Zhou Xiye shook his head. "I did inspect the agritainment project, but I did not engage in any illegal activities. Even Secretary Liangyou said that I 'rode around in a car, looked through the glass, and then had a meal.' If I wanted to collect money, I could only pay the toll."

Chen Hui frowned, while Zhou Xiye tilted her head, her black hair hanging straight down her shoulders, and looked at her with a smile, saying, "I say, Chief Prosecutor Chen, you brought me here in front of so many people, you have to produce evidence. If you don't have evidence, you just produce a confession for me to plead guilty. Isn't that making a mountain out of a molehill?"

"How can there be no evidence!" Chen Hui slammed his hand on the table. "I'll show you a video, and you'll understand after you watch it!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhou Xiye narrowed his eyes. Video?

Sure enough, when I opened the video, it was the first time I met Li Mingzhe. When we were waiting for Yu to have dinner at the Taoist temple, he took out five million yuan in cash.

"Director Zhou, isn't that you, the one taking the money in this video?" Chen Hui pointed to the woman in the video, then pointed to the man next to her. "That's Luo Yiming's henchman, Li Mingzhe, right?"

Zhou Xiye nodded. "They did give me ten million, but that money wasn't for me personally; it went to the government. They did good deeds, and they did it through legitimate channels. If you don't believe me, you can check my account and look at the transfer payments from the Finance Department."

"Who is Luo Yiming? You dare to take his money?"

Zhou Xiye shrugged. "He's a citizen of Kunming, doing good deeds. Why can't I take his money? You don't know what Kunming's finances are like. I'm the Party Secretary, I know it very well. Using his money to build the country can be considered a solution to the municipal government's funding difficulties." Zhou Xiye spread his hands. "What's the problem with that?"

Chen Hui sighed. It was true that Zhou Xiye had given ten million to various working groups of the municipal government, but perhaps this was only part of Luo Yiming's bribes. "Do you have any evidence to prove that this is all the money he gave you?"

"Do you have evidence that he gave me more than ten million?" Zhou Xiye laughed out loud. "Chief Prosecutor Chen, fabricated charges are notorious. I don't think you'd like to pin something on me too, would you?"

Chen Hui's face darkened, and someone in her earpiece reminded her, "Don't ask about the 50 million anymore, ask about the bribery of the agritainment business owners."

"What about the bribery from the agritainment business owners?"

Zhou Xiye shook his head. "I didn't take any money. Some of them did want to bring their teams to set up farmhouses, night market streets, or various themed streets, but I didn't agree to any of them. These projects need to be controlled by the market, and the government shouldn't interfere. Besides, they gave me tens of millions of yuan. If the business doesn't make money but the shops can still stay open, there must be something wrong behind it. It means that opening farmhouses and homestays is just a front."

Finally getting some useful information from Zhou Xiye, Chen Huihe continued, "Which companies have contacted you?"

Zhou Xiye lowered his eyes and thought for a few seconds, then looked up at Chen Huihe, "Several companies, all travel agencies, and some insurance companies came to say hello. The travel agencies are called... Dahe Travel Agency, Tengfei Travel Agency, and our local Ping An Insurance Company, they all came to sound me out."

Chen Hui was at a loss when he saw that the company names on the two people's testimonies were different from those mentioned by Zhou Xiye. At this moment, the voice in his earpiece came on, "Read the list of companies and see what she says."

So Chen Hui covered up the documents in his hand and said, "The companies you mentioned are different from those provided by the whistleblower. Do you remember Xiangrui Travel Agency and Binhe Travel Agency?"

After speaking, Zhou Xiye remained silent with a sullen face. Chen Hui couldn't understand why Zhou Xiye's expression changed so quickly. The dim light in the room shone on her face, making her look like a Titan from hell.

She licked her lips, her eyes fixed on Chen Huihe, then a subtle smile appeared on her lips, her face looking even more ferocious under the lamplight.

"It was Qiao Senxi who reported me, wasn't it?"

The sound was very soft, as if it came from the darkness. Light peeked out from beside her shoulder and flashed by.

Chen Hui was stunned. She was overwhelmed by the woman's aura and could only look at Zhou Xiye, opening her mouth but unable to answer any questions.

"So it turns out one of my disciples is a Judas who accused me of embezzlement and bribery?"

The voice in the earpiece brought Chen Hui back to his senses. "Yes, that's right, it was Qiao Senxi who reported you, but if you hadn't done anything wrong, I don't think Comrade Qiao would have reported you."

Zhou Xiye laughed, "What do you know? He's someone I promoted myself. Anyone can report me, but he's the only one who can't."

Chen Huihe noted down the companies Zhou Xiye mentioned. "Is there anything else you need to tell me about their visit?"

“They didn’t come to me to do anything; they just notified me directly. I don’t understand why they were so arrogant. Later, I looked at their company’s accounts, and there were problems with their taxes. Before I could investigate, the human trafficking-prostitution case came out,” Zhou Xiye said, then lowered his head and muttered, “That ingrate Qiao Senxi…”

Hearing her curses, Chen Hui curled his lip. No matter what rank an official is, at this point, they will all show their true colors.

Zhou Xiye was no exception.

"Speaking of tax issues, Josenci also said that your strict control over the Department of Finance and the tax bureau could very well allow you to open back doors for some companies."

Zhou Xiye scoffed when he heard this, "You guys go investigate, don't ask me, I don't know anything."

"If you speak now, the consequences might be mitigated..."

“I did nothing and will not be punished. I’d like to say that your procuratorate is the same; you don’t arrest the people who should be arrested, but you arrest me, an innocent person. You’ll be laughed at one day.”

The interrogation ended quickly, but Zhou Xiye could not go home and had to remain detained at the procuratorate.

Shen Yuhe carefully reviewed Zhou Xiye's statement repeatedly. The tax authorities needed to be investigated, as did the company's accounts. Chen Huihe, seeing Team Leader Shen busy with his work, poured him a glass of water and placed it beside him. "Team Leader Shen, please have some water."

“Okay, thank you,” Shen Yuhe put down the documents, picked up her water glass and took a sip. “Chief Prosecutor Chen, what do you think of Zhou Xiye? What kind of person do you think he is?”

Chen Hui shook his head. "I don't know. Kunming has indeed become more vibrant since she came. But people are multifaceted. They can do good deeds and bad deeds. Embezzlement and bribery are normal occurrences. We'll investigate thoroughly."

Shen Yuhe nodded. "Investigating taxes and company accounts is a big deal. We also need to watch the municipal party committee's video to see who has been in contact with Zhou Xiye and is trying to get preferential treatment."

"Okay, we will cooperate fully."

Shen Yu smiled and picked up the documents to continue reading. Chen Hui tactfully got up and left the office, leaving the meeting room to the Central Inspection Team. Zhou Xiye was really unlucky; of all times, he had to get into trouble while the Central Inspection Team was there. Heaven can't always protect you.

Shen Yuhe and his team were going over the work schedule until noon. Just as they were about to go out for lunch, Shen Yuhe's phone rang. It was Ling Xingzhi calling. He answered, "Old Shen, busy?"

"Not busy at all, just finished reviewing the documents, is that all?" Shen Yuhe walked to the elevator entrance and pressed the down button.

Ling Xingzhi smiled and said, "It's nothing much, I just wanted to have lunch with you. Are you free?"

“Of course I’m free,” Shen Yuhe said as she stepped into the elevator. “Send me the address and I’ll drive there.”

"No need. I'm inviting you to dinner, so I can't trouble you to drive yourself. I'm already downstairs at the procuratorate. You can just come and find me."