This thought even made Secretary Lin restless. He paced back and forth in his office, and finally, out of desperation, he made another call for help to the garrison.

So, Cheng Chao was sent out again after only a few days back.

From beginning to end, no one considered whether their own people were involved.

The person who did it was so busy that he forgot about it within two days of returning home.

About half a month later, Liu Weimin returned from a meeting and solemnly conveyed a message: the village chief of Lijiazhuang had been infiltrating the country as a spy for many years, committing numerous evil deeds, disrespecting the wishes of women, harming the personal safety of many female educated youths and villagers, and robbing many people of their property, including many precious cultural relics, which had been moved without explanation of their whereabouts, resulting in huge and irreparable losses to state property.

After being arrested, he showed a poor attitude towards confessing his crimes and refused to confess. Faced with irrefutable evidence, all his sophistry was futile, and he has been sentenced to death.

As for Old Li's crimes, they were heinous and unforgivable, especially regarding the issue of the female educated youth.

It can be said that he deserved this verdict.

However, Jian Dan knew in his heart that he might not have actually betrayed the country, but his actions were certainly not clean either. It was just that the crime pinned on him was a false accusation, and he was indeed innocent.

It wasn't that Jian Dan was soft-hearted or sympathetic towards him; it was just that she had always been straightforward and rarely resorted to such underhanded tactics when seeking revenge. In her opinion, this method was somewhat beneath her dignity.

When Cheng Chao arrived, Jian Dan was still struggling with her feelings. It wasn't anything else, but she felt uncomfortable. She wasn't a good person, but she wasn't an utterly wicked person either. Even in her past life, she had a lot of blood on her hands, but there wasn't a single innocent person among them.

She always felt that taking one's anger out on the innocent was a sign of incompetence, and someone of her caliber wouldn't stoop to doing such a thing.

After transmigrating, perhaps influenced by this era, she transformed from an arrogant young lady who knew nothing of rules into someone who now considers everything carefully before acting. Even when doing good deeds, she has to think about the causes and consequences, fearing that if any part of the process goes wrong, she will be caught out.

She felt that over the past few years, all her ruthless methods had been used on wild boars, and she had become much softer towards people.

Cheng Chao had no doubts about her. After all, from beginning to end, this matter had nothing to do with Jian Dan. They were from different villages and didn't know each other. Lijiazhuang was still an unfamiliar village to Jian Dan. The only connection she could possibly make was with the person involved, who was also an educated youth sent to the countryside.

However, seeing that Jian Dan didn't seem very interested, I secretly wondered what this matter could possibly have to do with her.

"Hey girl, do you know that old man from Lijia Village?"

Just a casual thought: almost a month has passed, and the investigation still traces back to her?

"I don't really know him. I saw him once at the entrance of the educated youth office. He was said to have come from a bandit's den. Uncle Liu said he had done all sorts of bad things in the past and was not a good person."

"Yeah, this guy is rotten to the core. Well, he did it, so what? He did it openly and honestly. I even respect him as a real man."

I despise people like that the most, doing bad things and not admitting them, humph!

Liu Weimin only learned of this news briefly after a meeting, but he still didn't know the details and was quite curious.

"Why won't you admit it? It's a capital offense anyway, what's the point of holding a grudge?"

Cheng Chao observed Jian Dan's expression calmly, noticing only curiosity and confusion.

Who knows?

We all guessed there were only two possibilities: either he was protecting the person behind him, someone whose identity filled him with fear and awe, making him too afraid to speak out, or he couldn't bear to reveal it, knowing he was going to die anyway, and he wanted to protect the other person's identity.

"Huh? Are there really people this loyal? What does he get out of it? Will people remember his good deeds? Or will it help him be reborn into a better family in his next life?"

Cheng Chao flicked her forehead with his finger, a light flick that wasn't too hard.

"They dare to say anything!"

He instinctively covered his forehead and puffed out his cheeks in protest.

Cheng Chao chuckled.

"Another possibility is that he really didn't know anything, and that the evidence might have been deliberately used by his enemies or adversaries to frame him."

The hand that was simply rubbing his forehead paused.

"You know, that's still..."

"Then what? No matter which possibility it is, it cannot cover up the fact that he did commit a crime."

If it's the first case, and I've used all the methods I use on spies, and he still doesn't say a word, then he has no weaknesses on this issue and would rather die than speak. What clues can I expect from him?

If it's the second case, then he's not entirely innocent. Even if the charge is false, the banditry and bullying are real.

Moreover, there are undisclosed details.

In recent years, among the female educated youth assigned to Lijiazhuang, not counting the three who were murdered, and excluding the escaped Xiao Jiang, the other female educated youth have basically all fallen victim to their cruelty. Several of them have become playthings of him, his son, and the gang.

Some were afraid to speak out, others were locked up and couldn't get out. When we arrived, two female educated youths were in a room with ropes hanging from their necks, preparing to hang themselves. If we had arrived even half a day later, who knows what tragedy might have occurred.

Cheng Chao stared at her intently.

"No matter what, no matter which one it is, no matter whether someone did something in secret, the outcome of this matter is good. We have eliminated a major cancer in the country's development. Otherwise, who knows what terrible things might have happened."

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