0133 142 Reinstated to original position

Perhaps fed up with the bullying by these thugs, and unable to bear seeing someone confront them or even resort to violence, many vendors from the farmhouses also stepped forward to stop the group. Some even took out their phones to record videos, shouting, "The police are beating people! The police are beating people!"

There was a great commotion.

Zhou Xiye shouldn't have fought back; she could have used self-defense as an excuse to hit and run. But one group of people attacked her one after another, and she couldn't just stand by and do nothing. She was holding an umbrella, and no one dared to get close.

When the police arrived, the two sides were fighting so fiercely that it was impossible to tell who was the bully and who was a legitimate businessperson.

"Alright, you can all go now."

After the police separated the two groups, they sent everyone present to the police station. This wasn't Zhou Xiye's first time at the police station, but his current position was a bit awkward—the municipal party secretary assaulting someone? But the assault was already done, and there was no use regretting it now.

Upon arriving at the police station, the police registered information and conducted questioning. Zhou Xiye, as a key person involved in the incident, was the first to be questioned. "Zhou Xiye?" The officer frowned, looked at Zhou Xiye, and then at the information on the paper.

"Zhou, Xi, Ye?" the young police officer asked again, stroking his chin and muttering to himself, "This name sounds familiar..."

Zhou Xiye smiled. "I am Zhou Xiye, the municipal party secretary who has been suspended from his duties and is under investigation."

As soon as she finished speaking, the surroundings fell silent, including the vendors arguing in the corner. Everyone's eyes fell on Zhou Xiye.

Is this woman the municipal party secretary?

Zhou Xiye didn't care about their gazes. "What do you want to ask?"

The police officer hesitated for a moment. "Um...I..." He was at a loss, unsure how to deal with the suspended municipal party secretary. After all, the secretary was the party secretary; even suspended, he wasn't someone the officer could interrogate. "Um, would you like some tea?"

Zhou Xiye pursed her lips. "You should ask him first. I went to ask that man why he made these business owners leave. As far as I know, the Public Security Bureau, the Urban Management Bureau, and the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government don't have this policy, so I went to ask them why. I didn't expect the leader to hit me. I instinctively used my umbrella to shield myself. The business owners probably couldn't stand seeing a woman like me being beaten by a group of men, so they came to help."

The police officer nodded after listening.

The person sitting next to Zhou Xiye was the henchman of the man who had been stabbed by the umbrella. Knowing that the woman next to him was the municipal party secretary, his imposing manner immediately diminished.

"Secretary Zhou, we didn't know you were the secretary, so we accidentally hurt you..."

Zhou Xiye sighed and shook his head. "Just because I'm not the municipal party secretary doesn't mean you can hit me at will. Who exactly are you people? Who gave you permission to do this?"

The younger brother didn't say anything, just leaned back in his chair with a pout.

The police officer smiled. "I understand, Secretary. You mean you want to find out who exactly is trying to drive these business people away, right?"

Zhou Xiye said with a hint of helplessness, "It's not that I want to figure it out, it's the government's responsibility."

Those around him laughed when they heard this. Zhou Xiye was taken aback, not understanding why they were laughing.

An older man walked up to Zhou Xiye and said, "You must be the Party Secretary of the Municipal Committee, right? Then I have to say a few words to you." He pulled up a chair from somewhere and sat down in front of Zhou Xiye.

Zhou Xiye nodded. "You can tell me whatever you're thinking."

“Secretary Zhou, we know that you’ve been actively developing the economy since you arrived, from agritourism to the health industry, road construction, and infrastructure projects. I don’t understand much about the others, but I just don’t understand how much you really know about the agritourism project. The policies from above keep changing, and we’re like a flock of sheep, forced to leave when told to leave, and forced to come when told to come. To put it bluntly, the government can’t force people to buy things, right?”

“Yes, policies cannot be changed overnight, I understand,” Zhou Xiye listened carefully to the man’s words.

"Getting back to the crucial point, everyone who runs a business at the agritourism establishment knows there's prostitution going on here... It's wrong for these criminal gangs to exist, but we can't just wipe them all out because they're there, can we? What are we supposed to do, the people who've come all this way? How are we supposed to survive? If the tree falls, the monkeys scatter, what are we supposed to do?"

Zhou Xiye narrowed his eyes. "You knew they were prostituting themselves, so why didn't you call the police? If this issue had been resolved sooner, perhaps the agritourism project wouldn't have been shut down so abruptly."

The older man paused for a moment, then shook his head after two seconds. “They’re pitiful too. You don’t know how hard it is for women who sell themselves. Some do it to send their children to school, some to pay for their elderly parents’ medical treatment, and some are forced into it by their families… They have it tough. We see those prostitutes with their families to support. They’re all hard-working people. How could we call the police? They’re already suffering enough. Why would we let them go to jail?”

Zhou Xiye understood and didn't want to say anything else, but simply asked, "I understand what you mean. Problems should be dealt with, and we shouldn't interfere with your business, right?"

The older brother nodded.

“As I just said, the municipal party committee, the municipal government, the public security bureau, and the urban management department have no intention of making you leave. The investigation into the human trafficking and prostitution case has indeed disrupted the normal operation of the agritainment business, but there is no intention to drive you away. You may feel that those prostitutes have a hard life, but those women and girls who were trafficked are innocent. They need the truth, and they want to return to the lives they deserve.”

"Then what do you mean by ordering the closure of agritainment businesses?!" the older man asked, his face flushed with anger. "Ah, they made a mistake, and your municipal party committee issued a document to shut down the agritainment businesses, and even said you would give the land to real estate developers to build houses. Not to mention us temporary business people, what about those of us who already own land? So you call in gangsters to beat people up?"

Zhou Xiye suddenly understood. After all the twists and turns, it turned out that someone had their eye on this place. It has to be said that the agritainment business is in a great location, with beautiful mountains and rivers, a good geographical location, subway and bus access nearby, and wide roads. It wouldn't be a bad idea to build villas for big bosses to live in.

It wasn't a wasted trip. Zhou Xiye smiled. She had figured out the cause and effect. All the scattered clues were connected by this key piece of information, and she understood everything.

“The stop is only temporary. No one can touch this place. If someone tries to kick you out, call the police. If the police can’t handle it, call the mayor’s hotline. Someone will always be there to solve the problem,” Zhou Xiye thought to himself. This land hadn’t even been put on the government’s auction list yet. The agritainment business had run into trouble, and once it stopped, everyone left.

To boost economic development, land was auctioned off and houses were built. The economy did indeed recover, but the money flowed in only one direction. If Zhou Xiye were in power, she definitely wouldn't have agreed.

"real?"

“Really, don’t worry, someone will definitely handle this,” Zhou Xiye paused, “Then are you familiar with the organizations behind these prostitution rings?”

Hearing such flattering words, the older brother naturally revealed everything. "Of course I know," he said, looking at the police officer. "Those prostitution rings are all the work of travel agencies. The services are all pre-booked with the travel agency staff and tourists, and then groups of people are taken to experience new things."

The police officer quickly jotted it down; the arrest hadn't been in vain. "Brother, could you say a few more words? I'll let you go after you're done. Consider this a minor offense in the line of duty..."

Zhou Xiye made room and listened for a while: The tourists coming to the agritourism projects, besides local individual travelers, are all in tour groups. Local tour groups cooperate with out-of-town tour groups, charging extra for special services. The initial problem arose when a drunk man at a barbecue stall raped a tourist. No one knew who was so malicious as to introduce prostitution. The travel agency also recruited many women for prostitution, splitting the profits 40/60—40% being protection money.

Individuals who came out to sell their wares were driven away by the groups, which gradually formed a large-scale operation.

The older man talked on and on, but it was mostly gossip with no key information, and the local police officer found it all quite entertaining.

Zhou Xiye interrupted at the opportune moment, "Do you know which travel agencies they are?"

The older brother thought for a moment, "Qihang Travel Agency, Dahe Travel Agency, Tengfei Travel Agency... I think it's one of these three..."

Upon hearing these three names, Zhou Xiye smiled. "Do you need me to provide any other information? If there's nothing else, I'll be going now." She pointed to the electronic shackles on her ankles. "I have a fixed time for my activities every day, otherwise it will automatically trigger an alarm."

As Zhou Xiye walked out of the police station, she let out a long sigh, all the pent-up frustration in her heart disappearing. Now that she had figured out the root of the problem, everything was easier to handle, and it was time for her to take action.

It is impolite not to reciprocate.

After getting into his car, Zhou Xiye drove home. Pei Zhiyu called again; he'd been calling a lot these past few days. "What are you doing?"

"I went to the police station to learn about the situation of the agritainment business."

Pei Zhiyu was silent for a while. The two hadn't been in contact for a long time. Zhou Xiye waited at a red light. "What's up? Go ahead."

"Don't be angry when I tell you."

Zhou Xiye pursed his lips and watched the green light turn on. "Fine, I know what you're going to say. I don't want to hear it."

Pei Zhiyu remained silent. "What's so good about Kunming?"

Zhou Xiye hung up the phone immediately. After walking for a while, the phone rang again. When he answered, the person on the other end said, "Secretary Zhou, Mayor Pei came to Kunming a while ago. Secretary Hu also said that he met with Secretary Liangyou and then got into a fight with Mayor Ling at the Shen family courtyard."

"What? A fight?" Zhou Xiye frowned. "What were they fighting about?"

"I don't know... but people outside are saying that it was because Mayor Pei discovered that your relationship with Mayor Ling was unusual, so a fight broke out..."

Why didn't you say so sooner?

"At the time, you were required to restrict your communications and were being monitored, so I didn't dare to make a call..."

Zhou Xiye sighed, "Alright, alright, hang up now, I'm home."

The car turned into the residential area.

Ling Xingzhi stubbed out his cigarette and watched Zhou Xiye go upstairs.

"Mayor, the Party Secretary is back. Would you like to go and say hello?"

Ling Xingzhi shook his head. "It's good that the person is back. Let's go."

Li Qingshan glanced at Ling Xingzhi out of the corner of his eye and started the car. Before the car had even left Zhou Xiye's residential area, Ling Xingzhi's phone rang.

It was Shen Yuhe who called.

"Old Ling, I have good news for you. Zhou Xiye can be reinstated to his original position."

Ling Xingzhi smiled and said, "That's good. She was fine to begin with, so it's only right that she came back." When she returned, Zhou Xiye was in much better condition, as if she knew she should return to the battlefield, or perhaps she had come to terms with it.

"Given Zhou Xiye's personality, I reckon the municipal party committee will definitely not be at ease."

Ling Xingzhi hummed in agreement, his tone much more relaxed. "We haven't done anything wrong. Zhou Xiye's enemy isn't us. Relax and just enjoy the show."

"Alright, I really want to see what Zhou Xiye is capable of."