Chapter 342: The Puzzle Finally Comes Together

Minister He Lifen, accompanied by Director Li Hunin, an expert on financial crimes, hurried toward Zhongnanhai, where Chairman Xi Jinping’s office was located.

Looking out the window, Director Li Hunin cautiously asked him,

“Minister, why did the Chairman summon me?”

“The Chairman didn’t summon you. I decided to bring you along.”

“I see. But still, why did the Chairman summon you?”

Minister He Lifen recalled his phone conversation with Zhang Hui, Chief of the Central Committee Secretariat.

Without offering any explanation, Zhang Hui had ordered him to immediately bring a financial-crimes expert to Zhongnanhai.

When He Lifen asked why, he received no answer, only the curt reply, “Chairman Xi requires your presence.”

At least in China, Chairman Xi Jinping’s word was law.

Who in his position would dare object?

“If I knew the reason, I would have told you already.”

“Right, now that I think about it... Oh!”

As though suddenly remembering something, Director Li Hunin slapped his knee.

Minister He Lifen stared at his subordinate, not understanding his reaction.

Noticing the look, Li Hunin immediately explained,

“At dawn today, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang and Commander Wang Dazhong were admitted to the naval hospital with gunshot wounds.”

“What?! Is that true?!”

Minister He Lifen actually flinched in shock.

“The chief physician at the naval hospital is a friend of mine.”

“Then the information is reliable. Do you know what condition they’re in?”

“The bullet only grazed Vice Chairman Tang’s side, while Commander Wang was wounded in the left thigh.”

“So neither of them is in mortal danger. Who the hell was crazy enough to do something like that?”

“When they were brought to the hospital, the bodies of Politburo Member Liu Peiqi, his younger brother, and Dandong Public Security Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua were brought in with them.”

“Whaaat?!”

Screech!

Minister He Lifen shouted so loudly that the startled driver slammed on the brakes.

After ordering the driver to keep going, the Minister asked again in disbelief,

“Politburo Member Liu is really dead?”

“My friend saw it personally.”

“Listen... Could Vice Chairman Tang himself have eliminated Liu?”

Director Li Hunin shook his head.

“Vice Chairman Tang and Liu were found in the basement of a People’s Liberation Army safe house on the outskirts of Beijing. If Tang had eliminated him, he would have cleaned up the evidence first instead of heading straight to the hospital.”

“That makes sense. But why did Liu go to a PLA safe house in the first place?”

“According to my friend, everyone in Liu’s group had signs of beatings on their faces and bodies.”

“You mean Vice Chairman Tang detained and interrogated them because of some incident?”

“That’s the conclusion I’m leaning toward as well, Minister.”

“What crime could they have committed for Vice Chairman Tang to torture them?”

“I have no idea. But Tang sternly warned my friend to keep quiet about it.”

In other words, Li Hunin was hinting that they should not go around talking about this.

Minister He Lifen instinctively rubbed his neck before continuing.

“Of course.”

“It looks like the Chairman may assign us to investigate Liu’s death.”

“Isn’t investigating murders the responsibility of Public Security?”

“A high-ranking Public Security official was involved in last night’s killings.”

Bzzzt, bzzzt...

At that moment, the phone in Minister He Lifen’s hand vibrated.

He quickly glanced at the screen and immediately answered.

“Director Zhang, I’m listening.”

[Minister He, when will you arrive?]

“The roads are congested. It’ll take about another twenty minutes.”

[The Chairman wants to see you as soon as possible.]

“Ah. We’ll push as hard as we can.”

[Do that. By the way, is the financial-crimes expert with you?]

“I’m bringing Director Li Hunin.”

[If Director Li is with you, then everything is fine. The Chairman is waiting for you in the reception room.]

That struck Minister He Lifen as strange.

Meetings were normally held in Chairman Xi Jinping’s office.

But for some reason, this time they were being received in the reception room.

He wanted to ask why, but the atmosphere felt too tense for unnecessary questions.

“Understood. We’ll be there soon.”

Click.

After ending the call, Minister He Lifen ordered the driver,

“Ignore the traffic lights. Get us to Zhongnanhai.”

***

The reception room.

Minister He Lifen and Director Li Hunin bowed respectfully to Chairman Xi Jinping.

“Chairman, you summoned us?”

“This will be a long conversation. Sit down.”

They quickly took seats on the sofa.

Chairman Xi Jinping took a sip of the tea served by a secretary and addressed He Lifen.

“How is the investigation into Minister Feng Chengxin’s disappearance progressing?”

The mere mention of that case made Minister He Lifen’s temples throb.

Ukrainian intelligence agents had reduced the kamikaze drone factory in Fengcheng to ruins.

Russia had dispatched Deputy Defense Minister Dmitriev to discuss the consequences of the factory’s destruction.

Minister Feng had gone to Dandong to meet him, where unknown individuals kidnapped him.

Despite every effort, the investigators had failed to find even a single lead.

“The case... has made no progress so far.”

“I’m disappointed. Is that really all the Ministry of State Security is capable of?”

“I have no excuse, Chairman.”

“Fine. Why do you think the unknown perpetrators kidnapped Minister Feng?”

“Judging by the disappearance of the party fund he managed, their objective was money.”

“Ah, right! That’s it!”

Suddenly, Zhang Hui, Chief of the Central Committee Secretariat, shouted and jumped up from the sofa.

Everyone in the room turned to stare at him.

Feeling their gazes, Zhang Hui hurriedly sat back down.

“Chairman, there is a very high probability that Politburo Member Liu Peiqi was involved in Minister Feng’s disappearance.”

“Why do you think that? Explain.”

“That bastard knew Minister Feng managed your party fund. On top of that, Dandong Public Security Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua was his trusted man.”

“Damn it! But they’re dead now, so we’ll never learn the truth.”

“Chairman, they died?”

Minister He Lifen already knew about Liu’s death from Li Hunin.

Even so, he feigned surprise.

Chairman Xi Jinping did not answer his question and merely turned his head toward Zhang Hui.

Understanding the Chairman’s meaning, Zhang Hui immediately said,

“Everything we are discussing here is strictly confidential.”

“I will take it to my grave.”

“So will I,” Director Li Hunin added after the Minister.

“I’ll trust you. Secretary Deng Zhiping and Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan were murdered.”

“What did you say?!” Minister He Lifen gasped in genuine horror.

Zhang Hui continued with an impassive expression.

“It has been established that Politburo Member Liu Peiqi was responsible for both murders.”

“What?! Politburo Member Liu? Why would he kill them?”

“Deputy Secretary Zhang intended to give the Chairman gold.”

Zhang Hui told He Lifen and Li Hunin everything he had heard from Vice Chairman Tang and Commander Wang without hiding anything.

Whenever details were lacking, Chairman Xi Jinping himself filled them in.

“...Vice Chairman Tang interrogated them to determine their motives.”

“So he eliminated them after failing to get the answers he wanted?”

“No. Public Security Bureau Chief Pu realized that he was doomed either way and decided to kill himself.”

Minister He Lifen felt that he now understood what had happened at the PLA safe house.

While attempting suicide, Pu Zhenghua must have tried to snatch a pistol from Tang Guochang or Wang Dazhong.

In the resulting struggle over the weapon, they had been forced to shoot Liu’s group.

And Tang and Wang themselves had accidentally been struck by stray bullets.

However, He Lifen had no intention of voicing his theory, since Zhang Hui had not said a single word about the gunshot wounds.

“Director Zhang, what happened after that?”

“After seizing Commander Wang’s pistol, Pu Zhenghua shot the Liu brothers.”

“The Liu brothers? Why would he do that?”

“According to Vice Chairman Tang, Liu betrayed him.”

“Well, Liu was certainly capable of betrayal.”

“Now I’ll tell you why I summoned you, Minister He and Director Li.”

“We’re listening.”

“Last night, the Chairman’s party fund vanished without a trace.”

“What?! Is that true?!” Minister He Lifen’s eyes widened.

Zhang Hui nodded and turned to Li Hunin.

“The Chairman wants to know who received those funds. Can you find out?”

“Until I see the accounts where the fund was stored, it’s difficult for me to say anything definite.”

Zhang Hui pulled a note from his pocket and handed it to Li Hunin.

After unfolding it, Li Hunin opened the laptop on the table and began checking the listed accounts.

Chairman Xi Jinping and the others watched his every movement intently.

After roughly ten minutes of checking, Li Hunin spoke.

“We’ve confirmed that the Chairman’s party fund was transferred to an account under the name Liang Zhenying at HSBC.”

“Who the hell is Liang Zhenying?!”

“Give me a minute.”

Li Hunin called someone and spoke with them for quite some time.

“Chairman, Liang Zhenying is a front.”

“Does that mean my fund can’t be recovered?”

“If the money is still in the HSBC account, it can be recovered.”

“You make it sound like it might already be gone. Am I right?”

“You are, Chairman.”

“...Explain why you think that.”

“In financial crimes, the first thing investigators trace is the accounts. The criminal would have known that perfectly well, so they would have immediately transferred the money to another account.”

At that moment, the atmosphere changed sharply.

Chairman Xi Jinping rose from the sofa and walked to the window.

Folding his arms across his chest, he sank into thought while staring out over the surface of the Zhongnanhai lake.

Zhang Hui and the others silently watched his back.

After quite a long time, the Chairman returned to his seat.

Taking a sip of tea, he asked in a hollow voice,

“Director Li, can you find the final destination of my fund?”

“I’ll do everything I can.”

With that, Li Hunin made a brief phone call and hung up.

Chairman Xi Jinping asked impatiently,

“Director Li, what is it?”

“We’ve sent an inquiry to HSBC.”

Bzzzt, bzzzt...

Soon, the phone in Li Hunin’s hand vibrated.

As though he already knew who was calling, he answered instantly.

“What did you find?”

[We’ve confirmed that the funds were transferred to UBS in Switzerland.]

“Whose name is the account under?”

[Uh... Politburo Member Liu Peiqi.]

“Understood. I’ll call you back later.”

Click.

The moment Li Hunin hung up, Chairman Xi Jinping immediately stepped toward him.

“Tell me, quickly! What did you find?”

“Politburo Member Liu Peiqi was involved in taking your party fund.”

“You son of a bitch!”

The Chairman’s vicious curse thundered throughout the reception room.