Chapter 214 - 190: Someone Wants to Pick the Peaches

Chapter 214: Chapter 190: Someone Wants to Pick the Peaches

"It’s the secretary — something’s happened at his place."

Zhou Jianming said between ragged breaths.

"What happened at Uncle Bin’s?"

Chen Yuan’s expression shifted.

Ever since he’d come back to the village, Chen Wenbin had done nothing but help him — clearing the way at every turn, and their bond had only grown stronger with each interaction.

He genuinely thought of Chen Wenbin as an uncle.

"What happened to the secretary?"

Chen Jun and the others all started talking at once, every one of them worried.

Chen Wenbin was well-loved in the village. He hadn’t done anything earth-shattering, but as long as he was around, the place ran smoothly without so much as a hint of trouble.

Whatever problem any villager brought to him, he always found a way to sort it out.

So of course they were worried when they heard something had happened to his family.

"I was on my way back from town when I spotted a police car heading into the village. I got curious and followed it — turned out they went straight to the secretary’s house and took him away."

Zhou Jianming got it all out in one breath, then grabbed his water and took two huge gulps.

There was nothing he could do about a situation like this. The only person in the village worth turning to was Chen Yuan, so he hadn’t even gone home first — just came straight here.

"Taken away by the police — do you know what it’s about?"

Chen Kingdom’s face darkened.

The worry among the villagers like Xu Juan was even heavier.

The village women, ordinary folk, got rattled just hearing a police siren. Someone actually being taken away by the police? That was a huge deal in their eyes.

"No idea what it’s actually about, but the secretary definitely saw me. He said something like, ’A man who walks a straight path has no need to bow before slander.’ I think he meant that for Yuan."

Zhou Jianming looked over at Chen Yuan.

He knew his own limitations — Chen Wenbin wouldn’t have left any kind of message for him specifically. And what good would it do anyway? He was just a regular villager. It wasn’t like he could go up against the police.

"Yuan, what does that even mean?"

Chen Jun looked at Chen Yuan curiously.

He knew Chen Yuan and Chen Wenbin had gotten close — the two of them were always cooking something up together, and half the time nobody knew what they were up to.

Now Chen Wenbin had been arrested and deliberately left behind some cryptic remark.

What was going on?

"How would I know? Let me go check on Uncle Bin’s place first."

Chen Yuan shook his head — whether he genuinely hadn’t figured it out or was just keeping his mouth shut, it was hard to say.

But just as he was about to head over to Chen Wenbin’s house to check in with his wife, the courtyard gate was pushed open from outside, and two young uniformed officers walked in.

Chen Jun and the others went pale on the spot. Xu Juan and the other women were downright scared — were they going to haul everyone in?

"Which one of you is Chen Yuan?"

One of the officers scanned the people in the yard.

"I’m Chen Yuan. What can I do for you?"

Chen Yuan stepped forward, calm and composed.

"Someone has filed a report alleging financial transactions between you and the secretary of Yu City Village, with suspicion of bribery. We need you to come with us and cooperate with the investigation."

The officer moved to take Chen Yuan away as he spoke.

Tang Ying went white as a sheet the moment she heard it. Her legs buckled, and if Chen Jun hadn’t grabbed her fast enough, she would’ve crumpled to the ground.

Chen Jun himself didn’t look much better.

"You little punk — did you actually bribe someone?"

He stared at Chen Yuan, his face drained of color.

"Little bro~"

Chen Li was beside herself with worry too.

Chen Kingdom and Lin Cuiju both looked stricken. Xu Juan and the others stood there with their mouths open, not knowing what to say.

Some things you don’t think twice about — until you do, and suddenly they don’t hold up to scrutiny.

Ever since Chen Yuan had come back to the village and opened the fishing grounds, the secretary had given him an enormous amount of support.

The restroom facilities at the small pond, the Hot Spring Paradise now under construction at Old Pond, the planned aquaculture plots, the Flower Sea Fruit Forest, and Chen Wenbin personally lobbying for the rights to use the big pond.

Chen Wenbin’s fingerprints were on every single one of those things, and he’d thrown his full weight behind all of them. It did look like there could be something going on financially.

No wonder Chen Wenbin had left behind that cryptic remark even after being arrested.

"That’s completely false."

Chen Yuan spoke with firm conviction, shutting it down immediately. He wasn’t about to let that kind of mud stick.

"That’s not for you to decide. Now come with us."

The two young officers stepped forward to take hold of Chen Yuan.

"You’re detaining me?"

Chen Yuan fixed his eyes on them.

"Please cooperate with the investigation."

The two officers didn’t give him a straight answer.

"If you’re accusing me of bribery, show me the evidence. Or produce a detention warrant, a summons, or whatever applicable legal document. Without that, you have no authority to hold me."

"And I’ll remind you — I have a legal team. If you’re not operating within the law, if you’re going to make arrests without evidence, I will absolutely exercise my rights as a citizen and fight back through every legal channel available."

Chen Yuan demanded proof or a proper legal order authorizing his detention.

Police work required evidence. Even with a tip-off, proper documentation was needed before anyone could be summoned in for questioning. Without that standard, any random person could file a complaint and have someone dragged in — the whole system would fall apart.

The two young officers hesitated.

They knew this wasn’t by the book, but orders had come from above, and they had no choice but to carry them out.

"Are you still live? Get over here and let viewers across the country see how Silver Horse handles law enforcement. And ask Mr. Qin what the consequences would be for forcibly detaining a private citizen without a detention warrant or a summons. Help me draft the paperwork."

While the two officers were still hesitating, Chen Yuan called Qin Fen.

He wasn’t well-versed in the fine points of the law — this was exactly the kind of thing he needed Mr. Qin for.

The officers exchanged a glance, each seeing the uncertainty in the other’s eyes. This guy apparently really did have a legal team — and a live stream to boot.

If a forcible arrest got caught on camera, their superiors wouldn’t be able to contain the fallout. The ones who’d have to answer for it would be them.

"Boss Chen."

Just as the two officers were still wavering, another man walked in from outside.

Chen Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly when he saw him. He was starting to piece together the whole picture.

He didn’t know the man personally, but he’d seen him before — he’d been part of the inspection team that came down with the third-in-command earlier that day.

The two young officers quietly relaxed when they saw who it was. Someone higher up would handle this now. They wouldn’t have to stick their necks out.

"Boss Chen, could we have a word in private?"

The man looked at Chen Yuan.

"I’m afraid not. If you have something to say, say it here. As a citizen, I have a duty to cooperate — but I also have the right to protect my own interests."

Chen Yuan shook his head.

Now that he had a good idea of what was going on, Chen Wenbin’s words made sense, and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

There was no way he was going anywhere with them. Once he stepped into that mess, he’d never be able to wash his hands of it.

"Relax, Boss Chen, this is just routine."

The man’s brow flickered for just a moment before his smile returned. He stepped closer and murmured in Chen Yuan’s ear, "The leader also asked me to pass along a message — cooperate, and everything stays peaceful."

The "leader" he was referring to could only be the deputy secretary.

"Cooperate — absolutely, I’m happy to cooperate. If there’s evidence, or if you can produce the proper legal documentation, I’ll go with you without a word. But if there are no proper procedures, then I’m sorry, I can’t help you."

Chen Yuan said it loud and clear, standing his ground.

His voice rang out sharp enough to make the man wince and step back instinctively. The man’s eyes went cold as he stared at Chen Yuan.

"So Boss Chen is sure he won’t cooperate?"

"Officers, I’d like to file a report right now — this man is guilty of corruption and bribery. Take him in for questioning."

Rather than responding, Chen Yuan pointed directly at the man and turned to the two young officers.

"On what grounds? You don’t have a shred of evidence."

The officer let out a cold laugh.

Who did this guy think he was dealing with? Did he really think he could just open his mouth and start ordering the police around? Did he think he was their boss?

"Exactly. Not a shred of evidence."

Chen Yuan smiled back, cold and cutting.

That single line left both officers red-faced, and the man’s expression turned dark — but seeing Chen Li holding up her phone to record, he held himself back.

"My little grudge buddy, I’m here! What’s all the excitement? My viewers are dying to know."

Qin Fen came rolling up on Chen Nan’s three-wheeler, live streaming gear in hand, face lit up with excitement.

"We’ll get the evidence — but by the time we do, you won’t like how this ends."

The man gave Chen Yuan a long, hard look, told Chen Li to stop recording, then turned and walked out with the two officers before Qin Fen could even make it over.

Clean and decisive.

"Wait, what happened?"

By the time Qin Fen ran over, the police car was already gone.

"It’s fine. Were you streaming?"

"Obviously not — you mentioned law enforcement, I wasn’t going to just go live. And if this gets tied to your fishing grounds, it’s going to affect things no matter what."

Qin Fen took out his phone. The screen hadn’t even been turned on.

"Smart man."

Chen Yuan gave him a thumbs up. He wasn’t particularly worried about the trouble itself — but if his fishing grounds clients caught wind of it, there was no telling what they’d think.

If he’d actually been taken away by the police, things would’ve been far worse. It could easily have hurt business.

"Yuan, what is going on? Did you actually bribe someone or not?"

Tang Ying was barely steady on her feet, her face still pale as she grabbed Chen Yuan’s arm, eyes searching his.

"Mom, relax. None of it is true."

Chen Yuan steadied her and kept his voice gentle.

The only financial exchange he’d ever had with Chen Wenbin was the envelope that morning — and that wasn’t a bribe. It was just a profit-sharing arrangement.

Strictly speaking, whatever that involved was Chen Wenbin’s business anyway.

But the way Chen Wenbin had said "a man who walks a straight path" — he was clearly saying the envelope was clean. They had nothing on him.

"I think I’ve got a pretty good idea what this is all about."

Chen Yuan said quietly.

"So what is it?"

Chen Jun pressed impatiently.

Chen Kingdom, Zhou Jianming, Xu Juan, and the others — along with Qin Fen and Chen Nan, who had just arrived — all turned to look at Chen Yuan.

"Someone’s trying to swoop in and take credit."

It was pretty clear when you laid it all out.

The county officials had come down today to inspect the changes in Yu City Village. The combination of the fishing grounds and the rural development had caught the deputy secretary’s eye — he saw political achievement there and wanted a piece of it.

He’d probably tried to negotiate with Chen Wenbin first, and when that went nowhere, he switched to hardball.

A village secretary was replaceable. If one wouldn’t play ball, you got another.

From what the man had whispered earlier, what they really wanted was for Chen Yuan to step forward and pin everything on Chen Wenbin. That would be the quickest, cleanest way to handle it.

On the surface, this looked like someone trying to steal credit for Chen Wenbin’s track record. But beneath that, they wanted to sweep Chen Yuan up in the same net — which was exactly why Chen Wenbin had warned him not to bow his head to slander.

Not that he would ever sell Chen Wenbin out — they were in this together. But even purely for his own sake, there was no way he was handing his fate over to someone trying to pick his pockets.

"That counts as political achievement?"

Zhou Jianming couldn’t wrap his head around it.

"Political achievement comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes just bringing about change is enough to count as one — it’s not like you need to show a profit for it to matter."

Chen Yuan smiled.

Zhou Jianming and the others still didn’t fully get it, but they at least understood that someone was out to get Chen Wenbin. Whatever lingering doubts they’d had a moment ago evaporated completely.

"As long as there’s no bribery. As long as there’s no bribery."

Tang Ying didn’t have the energy to think through all the politics. All she needed to know was that Chen Yuan hadn’t broken the law.

She didn’t ask for wealth or fame. She just wanted her family safe and sound.

"Alright, everyone back to what you were doing — eat if it’s mealtime, get to work if you’re on the clock. Poop-sprayer, go fish. I’m heading over to Uncle Bin’s."

Chen Yuan called out to the group, hopped on the three-wheeler, and headed straight for Chen Wenbin’s house.