201: Chapter 201 A Move Made Remotely, Zhao Dehan Surrenders

Zhao Yang held his phone, scrolling through his contacts, his gaze resting on the name "Lu Yike," and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Lu Yike was in Handong Province, truly working others to the point of exhaustion—that deputy director of the anti-corruption bureau named Lu Liang had been worked until he fell ill, and Lu Yike had been handpicked by Secretary Gao Yuliang to temporarily fill Lu Liang's position.

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Yang dialed Lu Yike's number. Once the call connected, Lu Yike's pleasantly surprised voice came through: "Senior, what are your orders?"

"How have you been lately, Director?" Zhao Yang asked with a smile.

Lu Yike felt a bit embarrassed: "Senior, please don't tease me. I'm just an acting deputy director. Once Old Lu recovers, I'll have to step down and yield the position."

Zhao Yang laughed: "If anyone dares to make you step down and yield your position, come to me. I have several deputy bureau-level positions here that need people."

"Alright, Senior, you really are my great backer."

"Yike..." Zhao Yang's tone turned serious as he asked, "Did the Jingzhou Intermediate Court rule on the Dafeng Factory equity dispute case?"

"It seems so, how did you know?"

"The whole country is about to know; it's all over the internet," Zhao Yang said. "It's clearly a matter in Handong Province, but it ended up triggering alarms in our Shanghai public opinion big data System. What exactly is going on with that ruling?"

Lu Yike sighed on the other end and said: "Dafeng Factory owed money to Shanshui Group and couldn't pay it back, so they went through legal proceedings, and the Intermediate Court awarded all the equity pledged by Dafeng Factory to Shanshui Group. However, among those equities, there were shares belonging to the boss, Cai Chengong, and shares held by employees. The employees aren't having it, claiming the Intermediate Court is corrupt and biased towards Shanshui Group. Senior, some of us internally are watching this matter, but there is pressure."

"Regarding the pledging of Dafeng Factory's equity, did the employee shareholders know? Was there a shareholders' meeting?" Zhao Yang asked.

"Probably not. If a shareholders' meeting had been held, the employee shareholders' reaction wouldn't be this intense. Moreover, that area where Dafeng Factory is located is about to be demolished, and there are disputes over the demolition compensation. Shanshui Group said they transferred the compensation to the Dafeng Factory's public account, but it was immediately transferred away by the bank, and the workers didn't receive their resettlement funds either," Lu Yike said.

Zhao Yang frowned: "Shouldn't resettlement funds go through an independent account? And it should be a government-supervised account, right? Depositing money into a public account—what kind of resettlement fund is that?"

"Exactly, I find it strange too," Lu Yike said. "Senior, this matter has caused quite a stir in Jingzhou, and the social impact is very bad. Do you think I can intervene?"

"If I say no, will you listen to me?"

"Huh? Senior, you won't let me intervene?"

Zhao Yang smiled: "Look at you, getting anxious again."

"Uh... Senior..." Lu Yike's tone was somewhat coquettish, "Stop teasing me, what do you think should be done about this?"

"Right now, do two things," Zhao Yang said. "First, arrange lawyers for the Dafeng Factory employee shareholders to sue Cai Chengong for unauthorized representation. Once you win the lawsuit, his equity pledge contract will be invalid. Second, have the Dafeng Factory workers appeal the court's ruling to the Procuratorate, so the Procuratorate can intervene. Besides these two things, you must pay special attention to treating employee shareholders and ordinary workers differently! Their stances are completely different."

"Ah?" Lu Yike was stunned for a moment, "Senior, I don't quite understand."

Zhao Yang continued to explain: "Simply put, employee shareholders have the boss's stance; they care about their own equity and the assets of Dafeng Factory. Ordinary employees have the workers' stance; they care about their job placement and resettlement funds. Each has their own demands, so handle them separately! You must absolutely be vigilant against employee shareholders holding workers hostage to make exorbitant demands on the government. Once there is any sign of this, it must be stopped immediately! Otherwise, it is very easy for a mass incident to occur. You don't need to be at the forefront of this; just arrange for people to go, after all, you are a deputy director now."

Lu Yike digested this for a moment and said: "I've noted it. However, lawyers are not easy to find. As far as I know, some law firms here have interests involving the Intermediate Court, and news within their industry is all interconnected."

The corners of Zhao Yang's mouth lifted: "I'll find the lawyers."

"Then I'll trouble you, Senior."

"We're on the same side, why talk about trouble?" Zhao Yang smiled, chatted about some work and life trivia for a while, and then hung up the phone.

Subsequently, Zhao Yang dialed Zhang Wei's number: "Great Lawyer Zhang, are you busy lately?"

Zhang Wei quickly replied: "Brother Yang, please don't call me that, I can't bear it. If you have any business, just give your orders."

Zhao Yang smiled: "Arrange it today, I want to see your Lawyer Zhuge; I have something to discuss with her."

"Alright, rest assured, I'll arrange it immediately."

In the show, the Dafeng Factory workers had aspects that were hateful, and aspects that were pitiful. Having worked at a factory for a lifetime only to have it disappear, and their equity also inexplicably gone—it's hard for ordinary people to remain calm when encountering such things.

Honestly, those workers only poured gasoline on the ground rather than running to the city government gate and pouring it on themselves; that was already considered calm.

Zhao Yang was currently in Shanghai, still an outsider with limited influence, so he could only do limited things to prevent the situation in Handong Province from developing into something as terrible as it was in the original show.

Otherwise, once the wheels of history started turning, the difficulty of Zhao Yang changing the situation in Handong Province would increase significantly.

He called Zhang Wei because he wanted to project the power of Dasheng Law Firm into Handong Province, letting the Dafeng Factory workers see the dawn of fighting for their rights through legitimate means, so they wouldn't end up like in the show, creating the "116" mass bloodshed incident.

After making the arrangements, Zhao Yang still felt uneasy—after all, the whip was long and could not reach; he had strength but couldn't apply it.

Three days later, Beijing, Zhao Dehan's home.

His wife was at work, his child was at school, the house had been empty for a while, but Zhao Dehan was still holding the phone, trembling all over, covered in cold sweat.

He had just received a phone call, and he remembered the voice on the other end. It was four years ago, when Ding Yizhen tried to bribe him, Zhao Dehan had received this warning from a stranger, telling him "Do not reach out, if you reach out you will surely be caught."

But later, he really couldn't resist and reached out anyway.

Now, that voice had come again, stating almost all of his bribery acts—though not 100%, it was 70%—and telling him to make a choice.

First, go to the Supreme Commission for Discipline Inspection to surrender; second, be reported by name with these Materials; third, find a high place and jump off.

With that demonic voice echoing in his ears, Zhao Dehan's mouth twisted, and he cried.

He regretted it, regretted not listening to the warning and reaching out anyway. In less than four years, he had embezzled 180 million, all hidden in a secret villa, without spending a penny.

After crying for more than half an hour until his throat was hoarse, he finally stood up and left his home trembling.

Suicide? He didn't have the guts. He chose to go to the Supreme Commission for Discipline Inspection to surrender, so he could at least get a lighter sentence.

Just as he went out, in a car near his house, Hou Liangping frowned slightly and asked in confusion: "Strange, what's wrong with Zhao Dehan?"

"Section Chief Hou," the Anti-Corruption Bureau's Little Liu couldn't help but say, "He seems to have just cried; his eyes are all swollen."

"Indeed." Hou Liangping frowned, watching Zhao Dehan hail a taxi, and immediately said, "Follow him."

The driver carefully followed behind the taxi. Before long, the driver said: "Section Chief Hou, Zhao Dehan is not on the way to his unit. He wouldn't be trying to escape, would he?"

Hou Liangping waved his hand: "Impossible, he didn't bring anything, where would he escape to?"

Little Liu had a strange expression: "Could it be his wife cheated on him? Is he going to catch an affair?"

Hou Liangping rolled his eyes at him: "Stop talking nonsense. This road... it seems to be heading to... the Supreme Commission for Discipline Inspection?"

"Ah?" Little Liu was stunned, "It seems it really is. Look, we're at the Discipline Inspection Commission. What does Zhao Dehan want to do? Could he be going to the Discipline Inspection Commission to surrender? If we knew he would go to surrender, why have we been watching him for the past few days? Isn't this a waste of effort!"

Amidst the confused expressions of the three, Zhao Dehan dragged his heavy feet into the gates of the Supreme Commission for Discipline Inspection.