N-A-A Chapter 644 Jiang Hu has some doubts
Chapter 644 Jiang Hu has some doubts
He Feng then turned to Lao Li, took out his ID from his pocket, and snapped it open. The words "He Feng, Director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau" on the ID were particularly clear in the morning light, and the gold-plated national emblem gleamed coldly: "Municipal Public Security Bureau, He Feng. I want to see your mine manager Jiang Hu. Go and call him now."
Old Li's face turned as white as a sheet, and his hands began to tremble. Lately, Mine Manager Jiang had been whispering to his confidant behind closed doors in his office, saying, "It seems like someone's watching us," and had warned him to be wary of strangers coming in and out. He never expected it to actually happen, and it was a bureau chief no less. Old Li didn't dare stop him, stammering, "Sir...sir, please wait a moment, I'll go report right away, I'll go right away..."
He had only taken two steps when he bumped into Zhang Chuan walking towards him. Zhang Chuan was wearing work clothes covered in coal dust, the cuffs worn shiny, revealing a faded undershirt underneath, his trousers rolled up to his knees, and his calves smeared with black mud. Seeing Old Li's flustered appearance, his heart skipped a beat, as if something had bumped into him, but he calmly asked, "Brother Li, what's wrong? You look like you're in a real emergency. Has something gone wrong at the mine again?"
Old Li, no longer caring about avoiding the issue, pulled him closer to the tool shed, his voice trembling and on the verge of tears: "The police... said the director is here and wants to see Mine Manager Jiang. Do you think... could this be related to the incident where Old Wang was beaten up last time?"
Zhang Chuan felt a weight lifted from his heart—Director He had indeed arrived, half an hour earlier than agreed. He suppressed the surging excitement in his chest and pushed Lao Li: "Stop dawdling, hurry up and go report. How can we dare to delay something like this? If we keep the leader waiting, we'll both be in deep trouble."
As if waking from a dream, Old Li took off running towards the office building, his leather shoes crunching loudly on the cinder floor, like a rabbit being chased and bitten.
Zhang Chuan watched his retreating figure, then quickly turned and headed towards the miners' dormitory. The dormitory area was located deep within the mine, a few rows of low, crooked brick houses with most of the windows shattered and covered with plastic sheeting. He needed to find a friend—the old miner whose ID had been confiscated by Jiang Hu and who had been forced to work underground for three consecutive months under excessive strain, also a key figure who held a copy of Jiang Hu's illegal mining ledger. The two had already agreed that once Director He's men arrived, they would immediately meet at the abandoned winch room behind the dormitory. Only by following the police could they escape this cannibalistic mining area with their families.
He walked quickly, coal dust falling from his work pants and leaving a trail of black footprints on the ground. As he passed the boiler room, a loud crash echoed from within—Jiang Hu's thugs urging the miners down the mine—but he didn't even turn his head—after today, those sounds would be gone forever. Only one thought occupied his mind: faster, faster! After waiting so long, he was finally going to see the light.
Inside the office building, Jiang Hu was roaring into the phone, spittle splattering onto the receiver: "That batch of illegal coal must be shipped out today! Forget about all that bullshit inspection, I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong! I've already spoken to the higher-ups, who dares to stop me?" Suddenly seeing Old Li barge in without knocking, he impatiently slammed the phone down, the receiver hitting the base with a jarring sound: "Is someone dead? Why are you so panicked! Have you lost your mind?"
“Mine… Mine manager, the police are here. They say they’re the director and they’re at the gate. They want to see you…” Old Li said, almost crying, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
Jiang Hu's face changed instantly, as if he'd been doused with ice water, draining all color from his face. He forced himself to stand up, smoothing the wrinkles in his shirt—a crisp shirt he'd bought last year with money deducted from his miners' wages. "What's the panic?" he forced a stiff smile. "I haven't broken the law. I have nothing to hide. Let me see you if I want." But as he turned away, a flicker of panic crossed his eyes, and his hand stealthily reached for the black briefcase under the table—it contained copies of the ledgers he'd just transferred and a stack of bank cards, his last resort.
Outside the iron gate, He Feng watched as the hands of his wristwatch struck eight o'clock, the second hand clicking past the mark. He spoke into his headset in a deep voice: "All units, take note, prepare for action."
The wind whipped up coal dust from the ground, like countless tiny grains of sand hitting your face, carrying a pungent sulfurous smell that stung your nostrils, making you want to cough. The sky over the mining area was always gray, as if covered by a dirty rag for most of its life. Even the sun seemed to be covered by a thick layer of glass, letting in a listless light that lazily shone on the dark coal piles, offering no warmth whatsoever. A long-brewing storm was finally about to erupt in this mining area that had been silent for far too long.
On the other side, Zhang Chuan circled the miners' dormitory area twice. The coal dust underfoot reached his ankles, making each step difficult. The rows of low brick houses were crooked, their walls peeling away to reveal the yellow earth beneath. The plastic sheeting covering the windows rattled in the wind, but he still couldn't find Zhao Ci. His heart skipped a beat—if he wasn't in the dormitory at this hour, he was probably dragged down into the mine by the foreman. The old mine shaft was bottomless, and the tunnels were always filled with ankle-deep black water, the stench of which could make one faint. Last month, an old miner surnamed Liu had slipped and broken his leg in there. Jiang Hu hadn't even given him a plaster, just had the accountant throw in two pounds of cornmeal, and sent him back to his hometown, saying, "It was his own carelessness, it has nothing to do with the mine."
Zhang Chuan clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white, his nails digging deep into the coal dust in his palms. Initially, they only wanted to investigate their fellow villager, Lao Wang, who had disappeared three months prior—the mines said Lao Wang had "run away overnight after being caught hoarding ore," but Zhang Chuan knew Lao Wang was an honest man who wouldn't take even a small piece of coal, and always carried a tin box with a family photo hanging from his belt. How could he possibly be hoarding ore? He suspected Lao Wang had discovered Jiang Hu's ledger of illegal coal mining and was silenced; the newly dug abandoned kiln always had a strange, inexplicable smell emanating from it.
Unexpectedly, the secret investigation over the past few months uncovered even more sordid practices: Jiang Hu not only colluded with local thugs to illegally mine state-owned minerals, but also used various methods to deduct miners' wages. At the beginning of the month, they were given IOUs printed with "owed by the mine," and at the end of the month, if they wanted to exchange them for some cornmeal, the accountant would rip them off again. Even worse, he forced miners to work overtime underground, requiring them to work twelve hours a day to be considered "full-time," and any slight disobedience would result in the foreman whipping them with his belt. A young man who had just been recruited from the countryside couldn't bear the suffering and tried to run away, but he was caught, his leg was broken, and he was left to fend for himself in an abandoned kiln. Zhang Chuan secretly went to see him once; the young man was curled up in a pile of hay, his leg swollen like a water bucket, and the light in his eyes had been extinguished.