Qiu Qin was clearly aware that the party and country would definitely not spare him or let him off regarding this matter.
Once he was found guilty, a dignified government official like him had to be imprisoned for more than ten years!
Qiu Qin could not endure this kind of shame and crime.
At the sight of how anxious Qiu Qin was and that this matter concerned the rise and decline of the Qiu family, Qiu Chenxi could not wash her hands off this even if she wished to.
Shi Peng, that biological uncle of hers, seemed to be doing well. After leaving the army, his work performance was even better than before. However, Qiu Chenxi was aware that Shi Peng disliked her mother and her. He was quite distant to and not on good terms with them.
In the past, when Shi Peng was severely ill and said that he needed a load of good food to nourish his body, her mother had turned her back on him. In the end, they did not even send him a short branch of small ginseng. Qiu Chenxi had not forgotten about this.
If something were to happen to the Qiu family, it was not possible that she could rely on Shi Peng for a good life.
Hence, Qiu Chenxi still had to work on Qiu Qin.
Qiu Chenxi wanted to destroy Qiao Nan such that it would become impossible between Qiao Nan and Zhai Sheng. She then wanted to appear as a victor in front of Zhai Sheng. Now, before she could do so, she was compelled to appear as the loser in front of Zhai Sheng first.
As soon as she met Qiu Chenxi, Zhai Sheng was extremely blunt. “You don’t need to say anything. You just have to listen to me. Go home and tell your dad that he only has two options now. First, be honest. Confess and explain everything to the government and party, and then take the initiative to solve the case and hand over the stolen items and money. Perhaps the country will consider being lenient and generous to him. Second, if your father insists on being stubborn, his punishment will be harsher when I pay your house a visit.”
These words of Zhai Sheng simply stunned Qiu Chenxi with fear. “Brother Zhai, you… What are you talking about? Why don’t I understand any of it?”
“You don’t understand?” Zhai Sheng laughed. “Do you know why I agreed to meet you today? The Qiu family even dared to take that kind of money. Don’t you find it difficult to do so? You are the most daring one. The fresh smell of that money has not even gone away and you had the gall to spend it! That being said, it’s all thanks to your cooperation. Without you, no one can guess how much loss the country would suffer.”
“…” Qiu Chenxi clenched her teeth. Her gums almost bled. “Brother Zhai, you’re joking with me, right?”
“What do you think?” Zhai Sheng just stared at Qiu Chenxi. “If I’m joking, don’t you find that I know too much and too many details? That I have guessed it too accurately?”.
Could this kind of matter be guessed without any basis?
Qiu Chenxi had been clenching her teeth so hard that she felt pain now. The actions that she took against Qiao Nan had unintentionally dug such a big hole for the Qiu family, a hole that was equivalent to a grave. “Brother Zhai, what can we do to make you let us off? Tell us your conditions. We will agree to all of them.”
Zhai Sheng had declared himself the host in the meeting even before Qiu Chenxi made herself clear. He took away all the initiative.
She was like a cow or lamb on the chopping board that could only await its slaughter.
“Conditions? There isn’t any. I only provided two honest and sincere options.” Zhai Sheng smirked. Playing dumb did not work, so it became dangling of carrots?
“Brother Zhai, after all… the two of us are childhood…”
The conversation that came up after was similar to what they had before.
“You still have the shame to mention Nan Nan. I can only say that you’re very daring.” Zhai Sheng’s face turned black. “Yes, without Nan Nan’s matter, it’s definitely impossible for me to notice the movements of the Qiu family so quickly. Nevertheless, this only goes to show that Nan Nan is the most suitable woman for me. And you… no, don’t mention that we’re childhood sweethearts. The Qiu family actually did something like that. I believe everyone in the quad will feel ashamed for the Qiu family.”
“You’re really not willing to let us off?” Qiu Chenxi could not bring herself to say anything else. If pleading was of use, she would have already done so. However, she knew that it would not work. “Besides the options that you have mentioned earlier, as long as you give the Qiu family a third option, I won’t pester you anymore from now onward. I will also not bother Qiao Nan anymore!”
Qiu Chenxi had a lot of difficulties saying the second part of her sentence.
“There is no third option!”
“If, I’m saying if, if my family is willing to hand over all those items, can you let us off?” If they handed over all the items and money, as long as her father was still around… If the matter was not blown up and her father was still a government official of a small town, he would still have the opportunity to rise in the ranks if he were to do well in the future.
If they could not bear to part with these items and money, her father would definitely be imprisoned when Zhai Sheng went by the books in handling this matter. Then, the Qiu family would become nonexistent.
At such a critical juncture, Qiu Chenxi was clearly aware that she had to save the people and not the items.
“Will the Qiu family still be able to make up for the sum of money?” Zhai Sheng threw a stack of documents toward Qiu Chenxi. After receiving this sum of illegal money, Qiu Chenxi squandered some of it. Even Qiu Qin did not keep a reign on them.
“He lied to us!” Although she had always known that it was not quite possible to believe it when her father said that he had broken up with that mistress, she did not know that her father actually bought a house for that mistress after he received the money.
She could let that go. That mistress was from the countryside, and she had elderly parents in her hometown. Using the identity as their son-in-law, he actually spent two thousand yuan to renovate the old house of that woman’s parents!
In short, her father had dumped a lot of money on this woman!
Qiu Chenxi had heard her mother mention how much wealth the Qiu family had.
Given her father’s spendthrift ways of buying houses and land, obviously aiming to become major property owners, the Qiu family did not have that much wealth for her father to squander.
Even if they wished to make up for this sum of money, it would not be enough even if her mother was willing to withdraw all the money that she had on hand.
“The information is all in your hands. What if my dad is willing to hand over these assets? As for that woman… That property of hers can also be handed over. The money that her countryside parents spent… I, I can make up for it!” Qiu Chenxi felt the taste of iron in her mouth.
Zhai Sheng could completely empathize with the injustice and rage that Qiu Chenxi was experiencing
Both Qi Minlan and Qiu Chenxi, this mother-daughter pair, were very headstrong and competitive.
Qi Minlan already felt unfair that her husband who relied on her to rise through the ranks dared to have a woman outside. Now, she even had to use her own money to make up for the shortfall that Qiu Qin spent on that woman’s parents. Any woman in her shoes in this world would not be willing to do so.
However, she could only save the overall situation and forgo the small stuff.
It was rare that the willful Qiu Chenxi would make such a decision that took into account the larger issues. Zhai Sheng was straight to the point as well. “My dad is aware of this.”
The Zhai family had always been scrupulous in separating public from private interests. They had never done anything that was illegal for the sake of private gain.
One year ago, Wei De’s matter was a very good example to prove this. Everyone had a renewed understanding of the character of the Zhai family then.