The Tempting Road to Becoming an Official

Before Chen Fang could speak,

Sun Shenru had already prepared his mental calculations.

He assumed that Chen Fang would definitely propose various conditions and was thinking of countermeasures.

However, he couldn't have anticipated,

that Chen Fang would ask about Tan Yandong.

"What did you say?"

Sun Shenru pretended not to hear clearly and asked again.

Chen Fang took a deep breath.

His journey from Fuguang Town to the swirling contexts of the county committee had been for this very day.

Now, he could finally ask this question in front of Sun Shenru.

"I'll ask you one last time, on the day Tan Yandong died, at 7:52 PM, you made a call to him that lasted less than a minute, after which he went to the Yinma River. I want to know, what was said in that last call?"

Chen Fang's words made Sun Shenru's eyes almost pop out.

Specifying the time of the call to exact minutes indicated that he already had detailed evidence in hand.

He paused, then said, "Well...it was just a routine work report, nothing else."

Chen Fang gave a cold laugh.

"A routine work report that required the deletion of your call records?"

This question made Sun Shenru even more nervous.

Sweat started to bead on his forehead.

Chen Fang noticed.

His hands, resting on the table, intertwined chaotically.

This was a sign of panic.

"County Magistrate Sun, I only want the truth. You should also know that the content on that USB drive is enough to send you, the county magistrate, to prison. I hope you'll think it over and answer my question seriously,"

Chen Fang issued his warning with those words.

Sun Shenru remained silent for a long time.

He sighed deeply, raised his head, and said, "Chen Fang, Tan Yandong's death is in the past. I hope you quit investigating. Whatever you want, I can give it to you."

"I want nothing but the truth, regardless of what that truth is,"

Chen Fang said resolutely.

Sun Shenru fell silent again.

After a long contemplation,

he raised his head again,

"Okay, you want the truth, I'll give it to you. Do you remember the April 19th mine disaster?"

"The April 19th mine disaster?"

Chen Fang shuddered slightly,

then nodded.

The April 19th mine disaster occurred last year, at 4 AM on April 19th, a copper mine in Lihezi Village, East Suburb Town of Changming County, experienced a water inrush accident.

After the incident unfolded, county magistrate Tan Yandong immediately rushed to the site and organized police, armed forces, firefighters, and emergency services to conduct a rescue. The timely rescue resulted in no casualties.

"The official report stated that there were no casualties in the April 19th mine disaster. Do you know the real situation?"

Sun Shenru asked.

Chen Fang shook his head.

Sun Shenru said, "The real situation is that the disaster caused 14 deaths, and an additional person went missing."

"What did you say?"

Chen Fang stood up in surprise.

You see, underreporting casualties in a mine disaster is a severe dereliction of duty. An accident involving 15 casualties, later reported as having caused no injuries, is indeed of a very grave nature.

"Lihezi mine has always failed to meet safety standards and has also engaged in illegal employment of disabled persons. This was known by everyone in the county office. Tan Yandong had always given special care to this mine. After the accident, he ordered the concealment of the death toll. At the time, no one objected since exposing such a major incident would inevitably shake up the political landscape in Changming County, so everyone tacitly agreed to protect themselves."

Sun Shenru explained.

Chen Fang quickly asked, "What about the family members of the deceased? Didn't they make any trouble?"

Sun Shenru shook his head.

He said, "After the accident, Tan Yandong secretly established a pacification team, which negotiated compensation with the victims' families. As long as the families agreed not to make a fuss, they could receive 1.6 million yuan. If they insisted on making a fuss, not only would they not get the money, but they would also face legal responsibilities."

So, the families of the 14 victims took the money.

And there were no more troubles afterward.

Logically, this approach should have worked fine as long as the authorities didn't investigate and they could muddle through.

But unexpectedly, a mistake still occurred.

The mistake involved the missing miner.

According to Tan Yandong's policy at the time, as long as it could calm the situation, any method would do. The family of the missing person was also compensated with 1.6 million yuan.

The family received the money promptly.

Then, about seven or eight days later,

the missing miner suddenly returned home. After the pacification team members learned of this, they immediately visited to understand the situation. Upon inquiry, they discovered that the worker was supposed to have gone to work in the mine that day but had shirked his duties and went out to solicit prostitution instead, ending up caught by the police station. He had spent the entire missing period in detention.

Since he was not dead,

the pacification team thought about retrieving the 1.6 million yuan.

The miner and his family did not agree to this.

They had an altercation with the members of the pacification team.

The team didn't pamper them; since the money was still untouched in the bank, they simply had the bank freeze it.

Upon learning this, the miner created a great uproar and finally, having no other choice, they gave him another 100,000 yuan as compensation to shut him up.

The issue settled down for an entire year.

Shortly before Tan Yandong's death,

the miner took advantage of the mayor's reception day, sneaked into the county committee compound, and met Tan Yandong. He told Tan Yandong that he was facing some financial difficulties recently and hoped Tan Yandong would give him some money to help him out. If not, he would expose the truth about the mining disaster to the city.

Tan Yandong just pacified him at the time.

Afterward, an investigation revealed that the miner was inherently lazy. He had squandered the 100,000 yuan in a year, and, being broke, concocted this crooked idea.

Given Tan Yandong's temperament, he was not one to indulge such a person. Therefore, he had someone warn the miner, saying that if he caused any trouble, they would certainly not let him off.

The miner was a rascal.

He was not afraid of threats.

He went directly to the city to file a complaint.

At this point,

Sun Shenru sighed.

He said, "The day I called Tan Yandong was after I had learned about this matter, and I reported it to him. I didn't expect that after receiving the call, Tan Yandong would jump from the building and kill himself. He truly feared that he couldn't keep this matter secret any longer and committed suicide out of fear of guilt."

After hearing what Sun Shenru had to say,

Chen Fang felt a surge of oppression.

He paused and then asked, "Who was in charge of the pacification team back then?"

"Gao Chuan, Tan Yandong's driver. He was fully in charge,"

Sun Shenru said.

Gao Chuan?

Gao Chuan had died in a bizarre car accident a year ago. Could his death also be related to this mining disaster?

"Does Li Duming know about this?"

Chen Fang continued to ask.

Sun Shenru thought for a moment and said, "He probably didn't know. When the mining disaster happened, Li Duming was away on an inspection. By the time he returned, the matter had already been dealt with. Since there were no casualties, I remember the city committee even issued a commendation notice."

Chen Fang nodded slightly.

Suddenly, he looked up.

and said to Sun Shenru, "County Magistrate Sun, was that miner encouraged by you to go to the city and report the incident?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Shenru became anxious.

He explained, "What are you talking about? I was aware of the 419 mining disaster. If I had incited him to report it, wouldn't I have been throwing myself into the fire?"

Chen Fang sneered.

He said, "My guess is that your intention wasn't to re-expose the 419 mining disaster. You just wanted to use the miner to force Tan Yandong to resign, right? That way, you could advance further yourself. But you never expected Tan Yandong would actually kill himself…"