"Secretary Cai, I suggest you question my subordinates. If we conduct interrogations simultaneously, we can speed up the process!"
Secretary Cai nodded in agreement—this way, they could produce results sooner and have an explanation ready if the county authorities demanded answers.
Nan Sheng turned to the others in the room. "Who here is close with Yu Gan? Stand up now. If no one speaks up, I’ll have everyone anonymously report instead."
Her suspicion of Yu Gan was blatant, without the slightest attempt to conceal it. As soon as Nan Sheng finished speaking, two people hesitantly rose to their feet.
"Good. I appreciate honesty. Gatekeeper, Deputy Director Zhang, you, and you—come to my office in the order I’ve called. Later, I’ll also ask privately who else is close with Yu Gan. If I find out you didn’t come forward voluntarily, I’ll automatically consider you a suspect in this poisoning case."
No sooner had Nan Sheng spoken than two more people stood up. "Director Nan, does it count if we only had a casual relationship with Yu Gan?"
Nan Sheng narrowed her eyes at one of them. "As I recall, you’re the one who keeps the keys, aren’t you? You, come with me too!"
Revolutionary Committee Office
"Gatekeeper, don’t be nervous. I just have a few questions for you. Think carefully—from midnight the night before last until the entire day yesterday, did any strangers come by, or did anyone ask you to unlock a door?"
The gatekeeper answered firmly. "No."
"I always carry the keys on me. No one asked for them these past two days, and every evening, I check that all doors and windows are locked before leaving."
Nan Sheng nodded. "Understood. You may go now. If you remember anything, come find me."
Upon learning of the poisoning incident, Nan Sheng’s first suspicion had fallen on Yu Gan. But for him to have pulled it off, he would have had to return to the government building to do so.
However, she had overlooked one detail—Liu Yun had stayed overnight in the office. There was no way Yu Gan could have sneaked in at night, leaving only two possibilities:
1. The gift had been poisoned before it was delivered, meaning the sender and Yu Gan had prior contact.
2. Someone had used the opportunity of delivering the gift to plant the poison.
This meant those who spent more time in the Revolutionary Committee office had the greatest opportunity to commit the crime—especially her subordinates, who might have conspired with Yu Gan.
Though her current theory differed slightly from her earlier assumptions, Nan Sheng decided to proceed with interrogating the people she had singled out to confirm her suspicions.
The next person called in was Deputy Director Zhang—the one with connections to the secretary.
"Director Nan, I swear, I had nothing to do with the poisoning!"
Nan Sheng smirked. "That’s not certain. Didn’t the secretary tell you? I already know your little secret. Aren’t you afraid I’ll expose everything?"
Deputy Director Zhang stiffened. Of course she was afraid—but not enough to resort to murder.
"It really wasn’t me! The night before last, I went straight home after work. My family can vouch for me—I never left. And during work hours, I was with the clerks the whole time. You can verify that easily."
Her explanation was logical, and she had nothing to fear from an investigation. But then, Nan Sheng dropped another bombshell.
"Let me be frank—I didn’t uncover your affair on my own. Someone deliberately leaked it to me. So even if you did this, killing me won’t save you."
Nan Sheng had hoped to unsettle Deputy Director Zhang, to crack her composure. But the woman only stared in shock, looking genuinely frightened.
It seemed she really wasn’t involved. What a waste of valuable information.
When Deputy Director Zhang returned to the office, her spirits were visibly crushed, further unnerving the others.
Nan Sheng called in the two who had admitted being close to Yu Gan. She got straight to the point. "Yu Gan hasn’t shown up for work. Did you try persuading him to come back?"
They nodded. "We did, but he said he was too ashamed to return. There was nothing more we could do."
Nan Sheng’s tone turned icy, pressing down on them. "So you’ve been meeting him after work?"
"Did you see him the night before last after shopping?"
"Did he ask you to help poison me?"
Her questions came rapid-fire, her eyes locked onto their reactions. But both denied everything firmly.
"No!"
"Absolutely not!"
They weren’t insane enough to throw away their careers—or their lives—for a colleague.
"Director, I did see him the night before last. He asked me about what was happening at the government office, but I didn’t bring any gifts with me. There’s no way he could’ve prepared poison in advance."
Nan Sheng seized on the key detail. "But did you mention the plan to give me a gift?"
"I did, but only in passing. He didn’t ask for specifics..."
His voice trailed off. If Yu Gan really turned out to be the culprit, wouldn’t that make him an accomplice?
Fearing for their futures, both men obediently recounted everything that had happened recently.
After the interrogations, Nan Sheng confirmed that everyone had planned to give her gifts yesterday morning. But Yu Gan had never interacted with Little Xie, the key custodian—further proof that he must have had an inside accomplice in the government.
She immediately went to discuss the next steps with Secretary Cai. Time was of the essence.
"Secretary Cai, I recommend arresting Yu Gan first. He holds a grudge against me, and the evidence suggests he’s been closely monitoring government affairs. The likelihood of him seizing the chance to poison me is high!"
She handed over the interrogation records, but Secretary Cai had another suspect in mind.
"I agree with your assessment—his guilt seems probable. But I also suspect someone else: Wen Min."
