Chapter 344: Do We Even Have a Choice?

Politburo member Liu Peiqi’s account at UBS had been opened by the CIA.

That was precisely why Director Li Hunin was only wasting his breath.

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang knew perfectly well what result this would lead to, but he had no choice but to pretend ignorance.

No matter how hard Director Li Hunin tried to extract even the slightest bit of information, every attempt ended in failure.

Chairman Xi Jinping looked at him with an icy expression.

“Director Li, you’re an expert in financial crimes, aren’t you?”

Director Li Hunin desperately wanted to punch Xi Jinping right in that mocking face.

He had known from the very beginning that obtaining the information would be impossible.

He had only mobilized his intelligence network, despite his reluctance, because he could not disobey the order.

How could he not boil with rage in a situation like this?

Still, he could not defy a man who wielded absolute power.

Suppressing the anger surging inside him, he answered meekly.

“I... have no excuse.”

“Do you think simply apologizing means every mistake you make will be forgiven?”

“I deeply regret it. I truly have no excuse.”

“Enough. Minister He, if you have any useful ideas, speak up.”

Minister of State Security He Lifen felt like climbing the walls from sheer helplessness.

If even Director Li Hunin, an expert in financial crimes, had failed to learn anything, what exactly was he supposed to do?

“I’ll try to find a solution right away.”

“Ha. And how many years will that take?”

Realizing there was nothing more he could say, Minister He Lifen lowered his gaze to the floor.

Chairman Xi Jinping stared at him contemptuously for a while, then turned toward Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.

“Vice Chairman Tang, perhaps you have an idea?”

Tang Guochang had anticipated this turn of events and had already prepared a plan.

However, judging that the situation was developing in his favor, he decided not to reveal all his cards at once.

“There is one way, but I can’t guarantee success.”

“Do we even have a choice right now?”

“I understand. I’ll step outside, make a call, and come back.”

“Pretend we aren’t here. Make the call from here.”

Tang Guochang intended to ask Cha Jiham for help.

That was exactly why he had planned to leave the room—Chairman Xi Jinping absolutely could not learn of Jiham’s existence.

But the Chairman had ordered him to make the call right there.

If he refused, Xi Jinping would inevitably become suspicious.

Quickly weighing his options, Tang Guochang dialed a number.

[Vice Chairman Tang, I’m listening.]

“Mr. Berg, how have you been?”

[Are you with Chairman Xi Jinping right now?]

At that very moment, the last traces of doubt and anxiety in Vice Chairman Tang Guochang’s heart vanished.

Cha Jiham had instantly and flawlessly grasped the essence of his situation.

Considering that a tremendous stroke of luck, Tang Guochang continued.

“I’m in the same situation as you, Mr. Berg.”

[Understood. What exactly do you want to know?]

“A scoundrel transferred my funds to UBS, whose headquarters are in Switzerland. I’m calling because I want to check whether my money is still safe in the UBS accounts.”

[I’m very sorry, but I don’t have the means to resolve that issue.]

“Well, it seems I called the wrong person. Is there really no way to look into it?”

[Hmm...]

Jiham paused as though thinking something over.

Tang Guochang silently waited for him to continue.

A moment later, his voice came through again.

[Vice Chairman Tang, I know Jean-Philippe, Director of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service. I’ll try asking him for help.]

“You can do that?”

[Of course. I’ll do everything I can to make sure someone contacts you within half an hour.]

“I’ll wait for good news.”

Click.

The moment Tang Guochang ended the call, Chairman Xi Jinping immediately asked:

“Vice Chairman Tang, who is this Berg?”

“An acquaintance of mine who lives in Switzerland. He has tremendous connections.”

“I see. And how did he promise to help?”

“He said he would ask Jean-Philippe, Director of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, for assistance.”

Bzzzt—

As time passed, the phone in Minister He Lifen’s hands began to vibrate.

After looking at the screen, he asked Chairman Xi Jinping for permission and hurried out of the reception room.

Some time later, he returned looking deathly pale.

The moment he sat down, Chairman Xi Jinping urged him on.

“Minister He, report. What happened?”

“We analyzed the materials from Politburo member Liu’s office, his residence, the naval hospital, and the PLA safe house, but we were unable to find any information connected to UBS. I am deeply sorry.”

“Haa...”

Chairman Xi Jinping let out a heavy, crushed sigh and lit another cigarette.

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang and the others chose to remain silent so as not to add fuel to the fire.

After exhaling a cloud of cigarette smoke, Xi Jinping addressed Tang Guochang, this time almost pleading.

“Now all our hopes rest on you, Vice Chairman Tang.”

Brrr—

At that moment, Tang Guochang’s phone, lying on the table, began to tremble softly.

Picking it up, he saw an unfamiliar number, but he could hardly ignore it.

The screen displayed Switzerland’s country code, “41.”

After nodding toward Xi Jinping, he accepted the call.

“This is Tang Guochang.”

[Hello, Vice Chairman Tang. This is [N O V E L I G H T] Jean-Philippe, Director of the Federal Intelligence Service.]

“Hello, Director Jean-Philippe. Did Mr. Berg tell you about the situation?”

[That’s right. How can I help you?]

“A certain scoundrel transferred my funds, which had been held at HSBC, into accounts at UBS.”

[Goodness...] Jean-Philippe sighed sympathetically.

“Can I recover the money the criminal transferred to UBS?”

[I think the easiest way to clarify that would be to ask UBS management directly.]

“I see. Then is it possible to find out whether the money is still in the UBS accounts?”

[If you provide the account holder’s name and account number, I can check.]

Tang Guochang covered the receiver with his hand and addressed Director Li Hunin.

“Give me the information for the UBS account where the Chairman’s party funds are being held.”

“Yes, one moment.”

After answering briefly, Li Hunin handed Tang Guochang a note.

Tang read the information written on it to Jean-Philippe.

After ending the call, Tang Guochang reported everything to Xi Jinping without concealment.

“...He’ll try to handle it as quickly as possible, but it may take an hour or two.”

“Well, we’ll have to wait. There’s no choice.”

“By the way, how much of your government funds did Politburo member Liu manage to move?”

Tang Guochang had already taken all 75.6 billion dollars from Xi Jinping’s secret fund for himself.

Nevertheless, he asked the question with an innocent expression, just to guard against any unexpected developments.

“About 30 billion dollars.”

‘What a liar. He could at least have the decency not to lie so shamelessly,’ Tang Guochang thought.

“That’s an enormous amount of money.”

“Tell me about it. All right, let’s talk about something else.”

“I’m listening.”

“When will you be able to restore the SD memory card that was damaged during Politburo member Liu’s interrogation?”

At last, Chairman Xi Jinping raised that sensitive issue.

Tang Guochang recalled Cha Jiham’s instructions and answered.

“I ordered them to restore it as quickly as possible.”

“Can it actually be restored?”

“Give me a moment.”

Tang Guochang took out his phone and called Triad Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

As though he had been waiting for the call, Wei Chen answered after the very first ring.

[Vice Chairman Tang, I’m listening.]

“General Wei, how is the task I gave you progressing?”

Tang Guochang had already coordinated their story with Wei Chen in advance in case anyone checked.

[We managed to recover part of the data.]

“When will you finish the rest?”

[The memory card is too badly damaged. I’m afraid the remaining data can’t be restored.]

“Would it be worth handing it over to specialists from the Ministry of State Security?”

In reality, the memory card had been destroyed by National Intelligence Service and CIA operatives.

So even if the leadership of the MSS itself took over the job, they would not be able to recover anything.

Tang Guochang only brought up the suggestion to eliminate any suspicion Xi Jinping might harbor from the outset.

[If we couldn’t do it, I doubt the MSS will have any better luck.]

“The MSS has greater capabilities than we do. Send me the restored video immediately, and hand the memory card itself over to the MSS.”

Click.

After ending the call, Tang Guochang turned to Minister He Lifen.

“You’ll receive the memory card today. Try restoring it.”

“If even PLA experts couldn’t do it, I doubt we can achieve anything more,” Minister He Lifen repeated Wei Chen’s words.

“The Chairman is extremely interested in the contents of that memory card.”

Bzzzt—

At that moment, Tang Guochang’s phone vibrated briefly.

After reading the text message, he asked Chief of the Secretariat Zhang Hui to bring a connecting cable.

Zhang Hui immediately hurried out of the reception room.

Meanwhile, Tang Guochang downloaded the video onto his phone.

Soon, Zhang Hui returned holding the cable, took the phone, and connected it to the television.

A second later, footage of the interrogation of Politburo member Liu Peiqi and his accomplices appeared on the large screen.

[We will now begin the interrogation. Do you admit to murdering Deputy Chief of the Secretariat Zhang Jinan and Secretary Deng Zhiping?]

[......]

[Politburo member Liu, should we interpret your silence as...]

Something struck Chairman Xi Jinping as strange.

Tang Guochang had claimed that he interrogated Liu Peiqi’s group together with Commander Wang Dazhong.

Yet Tang Guochang himself was nowhere to be seen in the footage.

The Vice Chairman immediately explained.

“Commander Wang joined later because he had to deal with the aftermath of the incident at Deputy Secretary Zhang’s safe house.”

“I see. But why did you have to beat Politburo member Liu so badly?”

“To frighten his brother and Public Security Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua into talking.”

“Ah, I see.”

Nodding, Xi Jinping turned his attention back to the TV screen.

After watching the recording for a little longer, Chief of the Secretariat Zhang Hui decided it was a waste of time.

The contents of the footage matched exactly what Vice Chairman Tang Guochang and Commander Wang Dazhong had already told them.

Pressing the pause button on the remote, he gave Xi Jinping his opinion.

“I know. I think the same thing.”

“In that case, I’ll stop the playback.”

Chairman Xi Jinping nodded and addressed Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.

“Tang Guochang, let’s not waste time on useless things.”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean, Chairman.”

“I mean there’s no need to hand the damaged memory card over to the MSS.”

Tang Guochang felt considerably lighter.

The last lingering doubt that had been tormenting him was finally gone.

Maintaining an impassive expression, he continued speaking with Xi Jinping.

“Are you sure that’s the right thing to do?”

“I don’t like repeating myself,” Xi Jinping snapped irritably before standing up and adding that he needed to use the restroom.

The moment the door closed behind him, Minister He Lifen hurried to express his gratitude to Tang Guochang.

“Vice Chairman Tang, thank you for getting us out of such a difficult situation.”

“Minister He, you understand the meaning of the phrase ‘one good turn deserves another,’ don’t you?”

“Of course, but...”

Tang Guochang immediately understood why He Lifen had hesitated.

“My nephew, Director Tang Chao, works at the MSS.”

“Ha-ha, understood! I’ll personally look after Director Tang.”

“I would be very grateful.”

Bzzzt—

The phone in Tang Guochang’s hands vibrated briefly once again.

Looking at the screen, he saw a message from Cha Jiham.

[Put the call on speaker when you speak with Director Jean-Philippe.]

“Can I take that to mean you’ve already arranged everything with him?”

[You are absolutely right, Vice Chairman.]

Click.

The reception-room door opened, and Chairman Xi Jinping returned.

Taking his seat at the head of the table, he impatiently asked Tang Guochang:

“Why don’t we stop waiting for Director Jean-Philippe to call and call him ourselves?”