Chapter 423

As the lead official tasked with resolving this incident, Zhang Hongtu had to not only be objective and consider the feelings of everyone involved, but also take the entire crowd into account.

Especially the fans in the crowd.

They had already made up their minds that Lin Jiji was right and Chenyang was wrong.

If he couldn’t present something convincing enough, they would undoubtedly become radical and stir up more trouble.

Zhang Hongtu wasn’t afraid of one person, or even a few, causing trouble.

But if it were dozens, or even hundreds, of people making a scene together, he’d have a real headache on his hands.

One misstep could lead to criticism, or even a demotion and official reprimand.

So he had to be certain that Chenyang’s counterattack would be effective!

Chenyang saw through him and said with a confident expression, “I will take full responsibility for everything I am about to say and do, including any legal consequences. Of course, while I present the facts, I hope all you officials can be truly fair and impartial.”

“You can rest assured on that point. We…”

“No, I’m not so sure about that!”

Chenyang cut Zhang Hongtu off. Rattling the handcuffs on his wrists, he sneered, “A moment ago, Lin Jiji presented a lot of evidence and witnesses. But under normal circumstances, shouldn’t you officials have first investigated whether the evidence was real and the witnesses weren’t hired before drawing any conclusions?

“But not only did you not send anyone to verify the evidence, you didn’t even give me a chance to speak before slapping these handcuffs on me. I read a few law books back in college, and as far as I know, handcuffing a suspect before the case is even determined—before there’s conclusive proof of a crime—is both illegal and a violation of procedure.”

Zhang Hongtu’s expression froze, a look of embarrassment spreading across his face. “You’re right, that was our oversight. We heard the crowd’s uproar, and I’m afraid our judgment was… biased.”

“Because you got a little emotional and biased, you illegally slapped handcuffs on me. Based on that alone, how can you expect us to believe you can be truly fair and impartial?”

“This…”

Zhang Hongtu was rendered speechless by the comeback.

Lin Yongkun patted his shoulder and said solemnly to Chenyang, “I give you my word. What just happened will not happen again.”

“Good.” Chenyang smiled. “Then may I begin my performance?”

“Of course!”

Lin Yongkun nodded, then turned to the crowd below and announced that he was giving Chenyang an opportunity to publicly state his case.

The citizens and fans below had been staring at them the entire time.

They had assumed that Lin Yongkun and Zhang Hongtu were scolding Chenyang. They expected them to turn around and announce his severe punishment.

So when they heard Chenyang was being given a chance to explain, the crowd instantly erupted.

“What’s going on? Weren’t they just furiously ordering the police to arrest Chenyang a second ago?”

“Yeah, from the looks of it, they were ready to have him publicly executed. How come this new official shows up and suddenly Chenyang gets another chance?”

“A chance? Bullshit! I bet that official is the backer who lets Chenyang get away with anything. Before his backer showed up, all Chenyang could do was run his mouth. Now that the big shot is here, you can bet he’s come up with some excuse to get Chenyang off the hook.”

“No! We absolutely can’t let this happen! It wouldn’t just be unfair to Lin Jiji; it would be unfair to all of us!”

“Exactly! We have to unite and stand against this twisting of the truth! Otherwise, tomorrow we’ll be the ones in Lin Jiji’s and the other victims’ shoes!”

After a round of angry murmurs, the crowd erupted in protest.

“Unfair! It’s a fix!”

“Hey, you, the official! Who are you to interfere? Did Chenyang bribe you?”

“We don’t agree! The evidence is ironclad! The physical proof and witnesses are all there—it’s more than enough to sentence Chenyang! We can’t let him keep making trouble and talking nonsense!”

“Vice Mayor Zhang, are you still a good leader who stands up for the people? Please, stop what Director Lin is doing! Otherwise, we’ll go file a complaint with your superiors!”

The voices of the crowd grew louder, filled with nothing but objections and accusations.

Of course, a few people tried to speak up for Chenyang, but they were too few and their voices too quiet. The words had barely left their lips before they were drowned in the tidal wave of curses and shouts.

Hearing this, the frown that had just formed on Lin Jiji’s face smoothed away.

He wasn’t afraid of anyone else here, but people like Vice Mayor Zhang and Lin Yongkun made him deeply wary. After all, the men who became the top leaders of a city were never ordinary.

Judging by Lin Yongkun’s stance, he was clearly already on Chenyang’s side.

If Chenyang were given this chance, he might pull some unexpected trick.

But seeing that the crowd was on his side, he breathed a secret sigh of relief. ‘As long as I have the people’s support, I’m invincible. After all, no matter how high-ranking Lin Yongkun and the others are, and no matter how much they want to protect Chenyang, they would never dare to make an enemy of this many people!’