Rebirth: My Dear Little Wife Is So Scheming

Chapter 316 - 316 316 I Can Prove It

?Chapter 316: Chapter 316: I Can Prove It. Chapter 316: Chapter 316: I Can Prove It. Rows of police uniforms, holding weapons, got off the car, and even Boss Xu was a bit confused—why had the police arrived?

And they hadn’t notified him beforehand.

Usually, he was quite friendly with the chief of the police station that governed their area, calling each other brothers. Although the chief was impartial, he wouldn’t just come by for no reason.

An Zhiyuan watched as the leading police officer approached them.

“We are from the city’s public security bureau, and we have received a report from the public that illegal activities are occurring here, including the restriction of personal freedom and even disregard for human life. We are here to investigate the case. May I ask who you are?” The person was from the city’s criminal investigation team, and this kind of major operation was something nobody had expected.

Boss Xu was stunned. He was just a coal mine boss, who might have some money and connections behind him, but if both the police and local authorities got involved, and looking at the way they showed up, it seemed unlikely they’d bend the law for favors. Cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead.

This was the city’s public security, along with local personnel; it seemed that this time, the trouble had gotten a bit too big.

He didn’t know whether his backing could cover him now.

“Officers, you’ve come at just the right time. We were also on a mission. We came to look for our missing comrade, but we didn’t expect to find these people armed with weapons and clubs upon arrival here. There were reports that personal freedoms were being restricted here, and it’s perfect that you’ve arrived so that you can take over; we would be happy to help.” An Zhiyuan understood that they were not police and could not exercise police powers. They could use a high-sounding excuse, but of course, the subsequent matters should be handled by the police.

Otherwise, it would amount to overstepping boundaries, not only making it easy for others to catch a handle, but also more likely to attract criticism.

Boss Xu’s last struggle; he knew that the situation had turned against him. Half an hour had already passed; if that person wanted to save him, he wouldn’t have failed to appear by now. Not appearing meant that they had already chosen to preserve their own safety.

What other choices did he have apart from saving himself now?

“There was no report at all, officers, don’t listen to his nonsense. This so-called Captain An has brought people to extort from me. If I don’t pay him the hush money, he uses this kind of pretext to shut down my business. You’ve seen it, the envelope his man is holding contains the money I gave him.

Captain An, I have already given you the money, and yet you still do this. Are you afraid that the officers might accuse you of accepting bribes, so you turn around and falsely accuse me at once? There were no reports, it’s just an excuse you made up. If you look at all these workers standing here and don’t believe me, let me ask them for you, to see who here has had their freedom restrained by me.” Boss Xu was very adept at distorting the truth.

Moreover, what was crucial was that he had great confidence in his capability to intimidate. These workers had long been scared by him; they definitely wouldn’t dare to stand up and say anything against him, knowing full well how he would retaliate against them.

Boss Xu shouted at all his workers: “Brothers, you all come to work in my mine for a monthly wage of two hundred yuan. Now that the public security officers are here, alleging that I have restricted your personal freedoms, I will ask you all in front of everyone here: Have I ever restricted your personal freedom? If not, then answer loudly, so that the officers can know how these soldiers are falsely accusing me.

Would you slander a good person?”

All the workers looked at each other, no one daring to speak out. They had long been cowed by Boss Xu’s ferocity and had lost the desire to struggle, even though they were now faced with police officers. With so many people under Xu’s control, who knew if they could all be arrested thoroughly? If anyone spoke out first, who could tell if the next day, they might be the ones found dead?

More than one life had been disposed of in those abandoned mine shafts; nobody wanted to die.

Thus, the scene fell into an eerie silence.

Triumphantly, Boss Xu laughed, “Officers, now you see clearly, don’t you? There is no such thing as restricting anyone’s freedom here. My mine is simply a workplace that provides jobs for workers. I hire workers and pay them; that’s all there is to it. What’s the point of restricting the workers’ freedom? Imprisoning them can neither be eaten nor drunk.

I am a law-abiding, exemplary citizen. The taxes I pay to the local government are significant every year. How could someone like me knowingly imprison others and violate the law? Why would I take the risk of breaking the law?”

Laughing wildly, laughing arrogantly.

He knew these people would absolutely not dare to stand up.

This situation put the police in a difficult position. They had received orders from above that there was illegal detention of persons here, an infringement of personal freedom. But this was just an order; if there was no solid evidence or powerful witness testimony, their actions would have no foundation.

The law demands evidence.

“I can prove that not only did Boss Xu restrict all of our personal freedoms, but they also disregarded human lives. The so-called payment of wages, the work we did for him was just a facade. If you don’t believe me, you can investigate—has anyone here ever received a single cent of wages? We are treated like slaves here, toiling for him for nothing, not even provided enough food. Look at what we’re wearing in this cold weather, then look at where we live.

Comrades in the police, we were all deceived into coming here. Since entering this place, none of us has ever been able to leave. The high walls are lined with electric fences and barbed wire. I want to ask Boss Xu, whose mine needs such things? How many people have your guard dogs killed? In that abandoned mine shaft over there, countless souls have died. To my knowledge, just in this half year alone, three lives have been lost.

But I’ve only been here a little over half a year. There are people here who have been here for five years. Over these five years, how many people have died? How many tortured spirits are buried here?” The resounding voice terrified Boss Xu.

Someone actually dared to stand up. He turned around abruptly and saw He Wei helping Old Hu limp out, with He Wei holding a fire poker in his hand, fresh blood still clinging to it, a sight that startled everyone present.

Boss Xu screamed hysterically, “He’s talking nonsense, he’s just bearing a grudge because I didn’t give him a raise, this is just him retaliating against me. Police comrades, you can’t just listen to his side of the story. Look, there are so many workers here, why is he the only one speaking? This is proof enough of the problem.” He tried to argue further.

“I can testify too. I’ve been cooking here for five years, lured here by you five years ago and never able to leave since. I just want to go home. After five years, my family probably thinks I’ve died out there,” Old Hu shouted, pointing at Boss Xu.

“It’s this heartless Boss Xu. How many of the workers he tricked here five years ago are still alive? Over the years, I’ve seen one worker after another brought in by deceit, each of them dying one by one. This place is simply hell. Don’t you all want to speak up? Don’t you want to prove that you can leave here alive, leave like a human being?”

All the workers became agitated. Perhaps it was because someone had taken the lead, or perhaps these words really stirred something deep in their hearts, suddenly intensifying their desire to go home. Who would want to wait for death in this living purgatory? If they really could go home, why would they remain silent?

“We can testify.”

“I can testify too.”

“We can all testify.”

“All of us here were deceived into coming.”

“Forget wages, we haven’t seen a single cent.”

“Police comrades, you can’t let this demon off.”

Suddenly, the atmosphere turned intensely passionate.

Boss Xu collapsed on the ground, petrified by everyone’s fervent emotion.

The workers, unable to contain their rage, picked up chunks of coal from the ground and hurled them with force at Boss Xu and at those bragging enforcers who usually strutted around them.