Chapter 2: The Case (Part 1)

  The next day, Tang Yi finished the discharge procedures early and was packed up by the time Chen Ke came to pick him up. There wasn't much to pack anyway, just some toiletries stuffed into a black leather bag.

  Chen Ke was still dressed in her elegant and refined attire, with a light yellow windbreaker added on the outside, slightly covering up her slender and alluring curves.

  "Thanks for taking care of me these days, little...little Chen..." Tang Yi struggled to spit out the two words "little Chen", feeling an inexplicable awkwardness in his heart. Chen Ke smiled and didn't say anything, picked up a large black leather bag and said: "Secretary Tang is alone in a foreign land, unfamiliar with the local customs, it's all part of my job, no need to thank me."

  Tang Yi knew that not only the people at the grassroots level, but also the county and municipal committees did not know that they were from the Tang family. Chen Ke's care for him was purely out of concern and had no ulterior motives. Moreover, he was currently in a difficult situation, and others were eager to distance themselves from him, let alone try to curry favor with him. Tang Yi couldn't help but look up to his godmother again, thinking that at this time, she had just met his adoptive father not long ago and it was impossible for her to have taken a liking to him. Her care for his adoptive father must have been out of the kindness and sympathy of a young girl.

  As expected, when leaving the hospital, the director of the health center didn't show up at all. After leaving the health center, Tang Yidao took a deep breath of fresh air and looked back at the plastic red characters "Rescue the dying and heal the wounded, serve the people" on the glass door of the hospital, with a feeling as if he had been away from the world for a long time. It's been a long time since I've seen such slogans with socialist characteristics.

  The town health center is located in the westernmost part of Chenjiatun Town, which has hundreds of households. The asphalt road leading to the county seat runs through the entire small town, and the buildings are scattered around the asphalt road. The residential houses are all bungalows, except for some institutional units such as the Industrial and Commercial Bureau's police station, which is a few two-story small buildings.

  Just as they stepped onto the asphalt road, a hurried shout came from behind. Tang Yi and Chen Ke turned their heads to see a little girl wearing a white nurse uniform hastily pushing open the glass door and running out, shouting: "Secretary Tang, Secretary Tang, wait!"

  The little girl ran up close, panting for a few breaths, before saying: "Secretary Tang, your hospital bill hasn't been settled yet."

  Tang Yi slightly frowned, in 1991 the medical system had not yet undergone enterprise-style reforms, especially in a small town like this. The town leaders' medical expenses were always recorded and settled together at the end of the year when the financial summary was done, and very few people actually paid cash to see a doctor. Now having to settle on his own clearly made him think he would probably not be able to escape being removed from office.

  "Hey, Xiaxia, do you know what you're talking about?" Chen Ke raised an eyebrow.

  "Sister Chen, Secretary Tang's medical expenses haven't been signed by Secretary Liu, and the hospital director hasn't given any instructions. Please don't make things difficult for me, okay?" The little nurse was anxious, her small face flushing red, with tears welling up in her eyes. After all, she was just a young nurse, not understanding the subtleties of these personnel matters, only knowing that if they couldn't collect the hospital fees, she might be criticized, or even have to pay out of her own pocket.

  Tang Yi smiled and said, "Forget it, forget it. Why bother her?" As he spoke, he took out his wallet to prepare to pay, but Chen Ke suddenly glared at him with wide eyes and shouted loudly: "Xiao Xia, can a few hundred yuan scare you off? Is it worth your while to run out here and collect from Tang Secretary? These past few days I've been taking care of Tang Secretary, and the medication has all been handled by me. If you're going to charge, why didn't you charge me? Why are you running out here now to charge Tang Secretary?" Chen Ke's tone was severe, scolding the little nurse until her eyes reddened and tears streamed down. She wiped away her tears with one hand while choking back sobs with the other.

  "Xiao Chen, what are you doing?" Tang Yifei quickly took out a few hundred yuan bills from his wallet and handed them to the nurse, smiling: "Don't listen to her, take this money, but remember, be sure to send me the receipt, a few hundred yuan is nothing to Sister Chen Ke, but it's a big deal for me."

  The little nurse was amused and smiled, turned her head to glance at Chen Ke with a fearful look, said "Thank you Secretary Tang" and quickly ran away.

  Looking at her back, Tang Yi smiled and shook his head. Turning around, he saw Chen Ke still pouting with a resentful expression. He couldn't help but feel amused in his heart. His impression of his aunt had always been that she was elegant and composed, unaffected by fame or fortune, giving off the air of a noble lady from an ancient aristocratic family. He never would have thought that his aunt over a decade ago was such a silly girl. This unexpected discovery greatly alleviated the frustration he felt after being forced out of power.

  "Xiao Chen, is it useful for you to sulk with her?" Tang Yi smiled and shook his head. He called out "Xiao Chen" more naturally this time, because he suddenly realized that compared to himself, the woman in front of him was indeed a little girl.

  Chen Ke pouted: "What's the matter, you're all a bunch of selfish little people." She stomped her delicate foot in anger, and her exquisite black leather shoe kicked a small stone on the side of the road far away.

  Tang Yidao said: "Forget it, are you here to pick me up from the hospital or help me fight for justice?"

  Chen Ke then remembered his duty, stuck out his tongue and said: "Of course I'll see you off from the hospital, Secretary Tang. Don't worry, things will eventually come to light."

  Tang Yi didn't make a sound, but the stone had been cast into the water. In his own world, the Li Wenhe case was an ironclad case that had been nailed to the board. The big hat of "torture and extortion, forcing people to death" had been worn on his foster father's head for a lifetime. Thinking of the Li Wenhe case, Tang Yi's mood became heavy again.

  "Let's go back, Secretary Tang." Chen Ke walked ahead with her bag, but after a few steps, she found that Tang Yi hadn't moved and turned around to ask in confusion: "Secretary Tang, what's wrong?"

  Tang Yit thought for a moment and said: "Little Chen, you go back first, I'll make a trip to Niujiapu."

  Chen Ke was stunned: "Are you going to Li Wenhe's home?"

  Tang Yi nodded slightly, his godmother's thinking was still very agile.

  Chen Ke furrowed his brow and thought for a moment, then said: "I'll go with you, the two of us can keep each other company, and if something happens, we won't have any trouble explaining things."

  Tang Yi originally intended to go with her, and nodded in agreement. After all, he was now a "fugitive", and if something happened again, he would be framed once more - the lesson of the Li Wenhe case was still fresh.

  The Niujia village is not far from the Chenjiadun town, a three or four-mile dirt road. Chen Ke borrowed two bicycles from somewhere, and Tang Yi hadn't ridden this old-fashioned bicycle with a horizontal beam for a long time. At first, it felt a bit awkward to ride, but Chen Ke was very skilled. As she pedaled, the white cowboy pants revealed her slender ankles, black leather shoes, and slightly rolled-up light yellow socks. Tang Yi's heart skipped a beat when he saw this, as he suddenly remembered how tempting his aunt's bare feet were when she wore pajamas. It's strange to say, but his aunt was always the object of his fantasies at night, yet if he really had to have physical contact with her, Tang Yi would rather die. This is probably the difference between humans and beasts, as everyone has their own moral bottom line. So even now, facing Chen Ke, Tang Yi didn't dare have any improper thoughts about her.

  Riding on a bicycle, Tang Yi vaguely recalled the conversation between his foster father and stepmother about the Li Wenhe case. Apparently, even after more than a decade, the Li Wenhe case was still an unsolved mystery in their hearts.

  Li Wenhe was a villager from Niujiapuzi Village, who was detained by the police station for posting reactionary slogans on the wall of the town government. He was interrogated together with his adoptive father, Chen Da, and the director of the police station, but due to insufficient evidence, he was released the next evening. However, shortly after returning home, Li Wenhe hanged himself. The forensic analysis by the county public security bureau concluded that it was a suicide without any suspicion, but Li's body had many bruises. When questioned, Li's wife, Ma Jinlian, immediately became agitated and claimed that her husband had been tortured and forced to confess at the police station, leading him to take his own life in shame. The incident caused a huge stir, and with the help of the town secretary, Liu Dazhong, who was dissatisfied with Li's adoptive father, the latter became the target of public criticism.

  Tang Yi sighed, fortunately it's not the internet age now, only the county committee leaders are paying attention to this "wrong case", otherwise Fang Tie would have become a villain who was scolded and criticized by netizens.

  Her adoptive father and mother-in-law did not hold a grudge against Ma Jinfeng. A few years later, they even inquired about her news as an orphaned widow. After hearing that she had married a young man named Chen Dazhuang, they finally put their minds at ease. However, they couldn't understand why Li Wenhe died. Her adoptive father thought it was probably because the police station's director, Chen, had used torture during interrogation after he left. Everyone knew about the methods used by the police stations in the 1990s to interrogate suspects. He believed that he hadn't done a good job and bore some responsibility for Li Wenhe's death. This is why he always felt extremely guilty towards Ma Jinfeng, which was also the main reason he didn't want to continue his career in politics.

  Past events flashed through his mind one by one, but there was no clue about the Li Wenhe case. Tang Yi sighed and could only take things as they came.

  Li Wen's home was at the east end of the village, and like all northern rural areas, Li Wen's home was also a three-room house facing south and north, surrounded by red brick walls, with green iron gates. Not long after the funeral, there were still sparse white papers on the gate that had not been torn off.

  Tang Yi and Chen Ke parked their bicycles, and Chen Ke walked over to knock on the door. Before long, a faint rustling sound and a slightly hoarse woman's voice came from inside the courtyard: "Who is it?"

  "Ma sister, it's me, Little Chen." Ma Jinlian had been called by Secretary Liu several times to solve problems and had become familiar with Chen Ke.

  The iron gate creaked open from the inside, revealing a pale woman's face, quite decent in appearance, wearing a small floral jacket, showing a few hints of coquettishness.

  Tang Yi didn't have much impression of her, but he knew this woman must be Ma Jinlian, the widow of Li Wenhe. Given his current identity, he should have met her before, so he walked over and said, "Sister Ma, are you doing well?"

  Ma Jinlian's face changed slightly, and Tang Yi thought she would scold him severely, but instead she just calmly said: "What are you doing here?"

  "Quickly, Sister Ma, Secretary Tang is here to see you and ask if there's anything you need. Let's go inside and talk," Chen Ke said, squeezing through the doorway bit by bit. Ma Jinlian couldn't do anything about Chen Ke's mischievousness, so she stepped aside. Tang Yixin was secretly amused; fortunately, he had brought Chen Ke along, or else it seemed like he wouldn't have been able to get past Li Wenhe's doorstep himself. Looking at Chen Ke's silly expression, he was actually quite useful at this moment.