The group of people kept turning back to look at Zhang Aijun's trembling body, and a hint of disdain flashed across their faces.
Inside the room, the inspection team members, though not angry, exuded an air of authority, their faces cold as they stared intently at Zhang Aijun.
Zhang Aijun hurriedly wiped his sweat, his voice trembling, "I don't know what happened. Everyone said it was me who said that as long as they voted for me, I would give them ten yuan each."
"I had no choice, did I? They voted for me, then demanded money from me. When I refused, they beat me up. I'm innocent too." Zhang Aijun didn't dare look Feng Yuanyang in the eye, keeping her head down and stealing a glance at him.
Feng Yuanyang slammed his hand on the table and said, "Don't try to portray yourself as innocent! You don't know? How could you possibly not know?"
"When they asked you for money, if you were truly innocent, why didn't you tell the truth? Confess honestly!"
Zhang Aijun has made up his mind to deny it to the death. He was forced to give the money; he never did it voluntarily. Besides, in the end, it was his wife who gave him the money, and it had nothing to do with him.
Having made up his mind, Zhang Aijun said, "In that situation, if I don't give them the money, they won't let me off the hook! Look at my face!"
He pointed to the scars on his face and said, "My face is all scratched up! My wife borrowed money from her family to save me, but this has nothing to do with me."
"I am truly innocent. I have no idea how things were spread like that. Can I refuse to pay?"
Zhang Aijun sighed, feeling wronged, completely placing himself in the shoes of a victim.
The door was pushed open with a bang, startling everyone.
The young widow and the woman in the floral cotton-padded jacket walked in indignantly, especially the young widow who started cursing as soon as she opened her mouth.
"Go to hell! You've made yourself out to be the most wronged person in the world!" The young widow pointed at Zhang Aijun and cursed, "You promised to give us money before we voted!"
"If you don't want to, you can just say so clearly. We'll just not vote for you, okay?"
The woman in the floral cotton-padded jacket chimed in, "That's right! We only did this because you promised us. You say we threatened you? That we'd beat you up if you didn't pay us? You lied to us first, trying to take advantage of us. We just wanted to get justice!"
“Leader, if you don’t believe me, you can ask anyone in our village whether we are telling the truth.” The young widow pointed to the people at the door and said, “The village committee members were also there at the time, you can ask them too.”
"If we don't tell the truth, we'll die! We'll smash our heads against the big rock at the village entrance!"
These two women are known for their fierce and aggressive nature; they fear neither heaven nor earth. Now that they're in the right, what are they afraid of? There were so many people present at the time, and everyone can testify that they weren't lying.
A crowd gathered at the entrance, all drawn by the commotion to come and see what was going on.
Upon hearing the young widow's words, Feng Yuanyang asked with a stern face, "Is what she said true?"
Those present nodded, especially the village committee members, who immediately confirmed, "It's true!"
“It was freezing cold that day. A group of people just wouldn’t vote. They insisted on waiting for Zhang Aijun to come and give them the money. They finally reached an agreement and then they voted. I remember it clearly.”
"The Zhang family promised benefits; otherwise, do you think anyone would have voted for him?"
“The methods used are dishonest, and we do not believe them.”
Upon hearing this, the inspection team realized that it was obvious: Zhang Aijun had obtained the position of secretary through dishonest means!
"What else do you have to say!" Feng Yuanyang capped his pen, feeling that there was no need to continue the investigation; the facts and evidence were too obvious.
Zhang Aijun shook his head repeatedly in fright, "No! No!"
"It's none of my business. The money was given by my wife and my brother-in-law! It was them. I didn't admit to giving them any money!"
He immediately shifted all the blame onto Li Zhaodi.
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