The letter mentioned the mahjong parlor incident, in which Director Yang of the meat processing plant was also involved. The most valuable item, the Red Star watch, was something he deliberately placed there as a gimmick.
The watch, which was stolen along with the money, has now reappeared in Songjiawan, in the hands of an educated youth named Deng Jie.
It was truly a case of "after the darkest hour comes the dawn." Upon receiving this news, they rushed to Songjiawan and arrested Deng Jie without delay.
They then asked employees from the meat processing plant to identify it. Upon seeing the watch on Deng Jie's wrist, they confirmed that it was indeed the same watch that Director Yang had been wearing for the past few months, so they also called in the director of the meat processing plant.
Convinced that Deng Jie was definitely in cahoots with those people, the police subjected him to a rigorous interrogation.
Deng Jie was taken to a small room. As soon as he sat down, the policeman opposite him slammed his fist on the table and said, "Hurry up and confess! How did you get involved in this? Where is the ringleader who ran off with the money?"
"What? I didn't know!" Deng Jie was stunned; he had gotten himself into such a big mess.
To clear himself of any wrongdoing, he readily explained the entire story of how he obtained the item.
But things were not so easy with Director Yang. After he came in, he insisted that the watch was a gift from someone else and that he lost it later, and that he didn't know what happened.
Considering his status, they couldn't be too impolite, and the situation reached a stalemate.
We wanted to find someone with inside information who delivered the message to gather more clues, but even if it was anonymously sent, no one saw it. Finding the person was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The truth can only come out after we catch the head of the card room and interrogate him.
So before that, Deng Jie and Factory Director Yang could only stay in the detention center.
Fortunately, Director Yang had a wealthy family and connections, so even though he couldn't leave, he lived quite comfortably. But Deng Jie was in a terrible situation.
This place is a small society, full of cliques and factions. After going in, Deng Jie lost count of how many conflicts he had with people because of his impulsive personality.
Two fists can't beat four hands. Even if he's good at fighting, he can't fight against a crowd. Now his body is covered in wounds and bruises.
Even his face was slashed, this kind of life is unbearable.
He had already spent nearly a hundred yuan, and Deng Jie was terrified that the missing amount would be discovered, but he still hoped that the person could be caught soon. He really didn't want to stay in the detention center for another day.
After Deng Jie endured ten days of unbearable suffering, Liu Wei, who had absconded with the money, was finally caught.
This man was very dishonest after he came in; eight out of ten sentences he uttered were nonsense. He kept trying to implicate Director Yang, saying that he was instructed to do so.
Factory Director Yang naturally objected, and the two argued back and forth for several days, leaving the police in a state of utter confusion, unable to determine who was lying.
This gave Deng Jie another opportunity.
When faced with interrogation about discrepancies in the amounts, he insisted that what the police found was everything he had picked up, and vehemently denied any extra expenses he had incurred.
This caused even more chaos, and it took several people two or three days of wrangling before they finally got to the bottom of things.
Liu Wei and Factory Director Yang were childhood friends from the same village, but their fates took very different paths.
As Liu Wei grew up, he mingled with all sorts of people, sometimes even struggling to get by on his own. Meanwhile, Director Yang became the son-in-law of a high-ranking official and later became the director of a meat processing plant. These two people, so different from each other, met by chance and sat down together for a few drinks.
Factory Director Yang poured out his feelings to his old partner from many years ago about how hard it was to make a living under his father-in-law, while Liu Wei saw the benefits that Factory Director Yang's position could bring.
Thanks to his years of hard work and experience, Liu Wei was good at winning people's hearts, and Director Yang was a money-loving man. The two quickly decided to open a mahjong parlor.
Factory Director Yang had extensive connections, and Liu Wei was smooth and adept at handling things, so their business was booming, and they amassed a considerable fortune in a short time.
They were always cautious and their hideout had never been discovered.
But as the saying goes, "He who walks by the river will eventually get his shoes wet," and in the end, the truth came out. Even the money Liu Wei had embezzled, which he intended to leave to his lover, was exposed.
In the end, it was all for naught, like trying to draw water with a bamboo basket.
Director Yang and Liu Wei were both sentenced to many years in prison, while Deng Jie was basically cleared of suspicion.
But since the amount was small, we couldn't leave it unresolved, so we agreed on a middle ground and made him pay half.
To scrape together 50 yuan, Deng Jie used all his savings, and now he's so poor he doesn't even have pants to wear.
Deng Jie finally walked out of the detention center.
Continue along the main road, past the people coming and going on the street, and the hustle and bustle that used to fill the streets is gone.
Deng Jiecai finally realized that everything had settled down and the previous few months had just been a dream.
The life of being able to buy whatever he wanted, and the respect others had for him, all vanished with the loss of money.
These are all things that Deng Jie cannot accept.
Why is my life so miserable? Can't God be kinder to me?
Just as he was lamenting the unfairness of fate, Deng Jie felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and fainted.
The two men dragged him to a secluded alley.
Seeing Deng Jie lying motionless, the blond-haired young man said, "Why isn't he awake yet? Could it be that he was beaten too badly?" He then checked Deng Jie's breathing.
"Who cares what he does? If he hadn't messed things up, we would have already brought down that factory director." A bald man said, kicking Deng Jie twice.
"This isn't a good idea. Brother Zhang didn't say anything, and the matter has already been settled, so why bother?" Huang Mao earnestly advised.
"Pah!" The bald man was annoyed by his behavior. "A good-for-nothing like him, not a man at all."
After talking for a while, Deng Jie slowly woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw someone staring at him with an unfriendly expression. "What do you want?"
Seeing that he was awake, the bald man kicked him again, saying, "Of course I'm teaching you a lesson!"
Deng Jie was utterly furious; how could he be the source of all this trouble?
However, his experiences inside these past few days have led to a qualitative leap in his fighting skills.
Deng Jie suddenly got up and elbowed the bald man, then ran away as fast as he could.
The bald man realized what was happening and tried to chase after them, but when he turned around, the blond-haired man grabbed him.
"What are you doing? Get out of here right now!" The bald man yelled angrily at the blond-haired man.
The blond-haired man shook his head at him and mouthed: "Don't say anything."
"Who should get out of here?"
Just as he was wondering what was going on, someone suddenly tapped him on the back of the head. The bald man turned around and asked, "Brother Zhang, what are you doing here?"
"How did I end up here? If I weren't here, you'd turn the world upside down!" Brother Zhang yelled at him.
If Shen Shi were here, he would know that his message wasn't in vain; this Brother Zhang is the same chubby Director Zhang.
Although Director Zhang was chubby, he was a true old fox. He had known about Director Yang's affairs for a long time, and the watch incident was something he orchestrated by taking advantage of the situation.
"I just wanted to teach this kid a lesson, didn't I? He's the one who caused you to lose your watch." The bald man was still trying to explain awkwardly.
"Why are you worrying about this? It's just a watch. You should stay out of these things." Director Zhang said, then smacked him on the back of the head.
"It's not that I'm unwilling to accept it, but rest assured there won't be a next time," the bald man said, raising his hand to swear.
After receiving the assurance, Director Zhang didn't say anything more, and the three of them walked together onto the main road.
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