Huayu: This director is pretty strong.

Chapter 158 The Yin-Yang Blueprints in the Detention Center

In the back seat of the Hongqi sedan, Chen Yan looked out the window.

The wheels rolled over the snow, making a dull, cracking sound.

At the edge of the field of vision were the high walls of the detention center, with electric fences strung on top. Several crows perched motionless on the concrete pillars.

The driver stepped on the brakes.

Chen Yan pushed open the car door, and the cold wind swirled snowflakes against the hem of his coat.

Liang Qinian from Laochang Street Police Station was already waiting outside the gate. He was wearing a police uniform. When he saw Chen Yan get out of the car, he put out the cigarette in his hand.

"The formalities are complete. Visiting Room Number Two."

Liang Qinian handed over the pass.

Chen Yan accepted it.

The two walked across the courtyard, the iron gate opened, and the hinges made a dry, grinding sound.

The corridor was filled with the smell of disinfectant mixed with tobacco, and the light from the incandescent bulbs above was dim and yellow.

Visiting Room No. 2

There is an iron fence and a bulletproof glass barrier in the middle, with a five-centimeter-wide passage gap left below the glass.

The stainless steel table is fixed to the cement floor.

Chen Yan pulled out an iron chair and sat down.

The iron gate opposite opened, and two prison guards escorted Lu Haiming in.

Lu Haiming was wearing a yellow prison uniform, with a shaved head and several brown patches on his scalp.

He had lost a lot of weight, his eyes were sunken, his cheekbones were prominent, and he was wearing handcuffs on his wrists.

The prison guard pressed his shoulder and made him sit in a chair.

The handcuffs slammed onto the stainless steel tabletop with a crisp sound.

Lu Haiming raised his head and looked at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan crossed his arms and placed them on the table.

Lu Haiming reached into his coat, but a prison guard stepped forward and pressed down on his shoulder.

Lu Haiming raised his hand, his fingers holding a folded A4 sheet of paper.

"Take a look at the document."

Lu Haiming said to the prison guard.

The prison guard took the paper, checked both sides to make sure there were no contraband items, and pushed it through the pass-through seam below the glass.

The paper slid down to Chen Yan's feet.

Chen Yan unfolded.

This is a photocopy, with the heading "1995 Jing-Tong Expressway Section 7 Construction Materials Acceptance Form".

The table was filled with building material models, batches, and quantities.

Chen Yan's gaze was fixed on the signature bar at the bottom.

Inspector: Chen Jianguo.

These three characters are written in a highly distinctive style.

The strokes begin with a heavy pause, the "walking" radical of the character "建" is dragged out very long, covering the entire character, and the upper right corner of the square frame of the character "国" is not closed, leaving a gap.

In my memory, my father was at his desk, head down, revising blueprints, his pen scratching across the paper.

Every time I write my name, I leave that gap.

This is Chen Jianguo's autograph.

Chen Yan looked at Lu Haiming across from him.

Lu Haiming coughed twice; he had phlegm in his throat.

"In 1995, you had just started high school, had good grades, and wanted to apply to the Beijing Film Academy's cinematography department, which was a money-burning path."

Lu Haiming leaned forward, the handcuff chains tightening. "Chen Jianguo is a stubborn engineer. He only makes three hundred yuan a month. He can't afford to support you."

Chen Yan did not speak.

"The seventh contract was a lucrative one. I replaced the C50 reinforced concrete with C30, and the price difference was two million."

Lu Haiming tapped the table with his knuckles. "Chen Jianguo found me. He wanted 300,000 yuan. He signed the acceptance form, and the batch of substandard building materials was successfully delivered."

Chen Yan turned the copy over; the back was blank.

There are traces of black toner left by the copier on the edges of the paper.

"You think you've won by sending Gu Changchuan in."

Lu Haiming leaned back in his chair. "Gu Changchuan is just a contractor. I have the original of this acceptance form; I've put it in a very safe place. As long as I give my approval, it will be published in newspapers across the country tomorrow."

Lu Haiming looked into Chen Yan's eyes.

"The Cannes Palme d'Or-winning director made a realistic anti-corruption film, only to find out that his own father was a corrupt official who took kickbacks. The construction project collapsed, killing twelve people. The money your father took was stained with the blood of those workers."

The only sound in the visiting room was breathing.

Chen Yan folded the copy along the center line, pressing clear creases into the edges of the paper.

"condition."

Chen Yan spoke.

"Retract the charges against me in Gu Changchuan's testimony regarding my involvement in organized crime and murder, and replace them with charges of commercial misconduct."

Lu Haiming held up two fingers. "Transfer two million US dollars to the Swiss account I specify. I'll give you the original documents. You can continue being a great director, and I'll go abroad to retire."

Chen Yan looked at Lu Haiming's raised finger, noticing the black dirt under his fingernails and the bulging veins on the back of his hand.

Chen Yan stood up and pushed the iron chair back to its original position.

The sound of metal scraping against the ground is sharp.

"You've been in there too long; it's damaged your brain."

Chen Yan looked down at him. "If my father had taken your money, he wouldn't have reported you to the Discipline Inspection Commission in 1995. You wouldn't have needed to bribe the truck driver to cause that accident."

Chen Yan pushed the photocopy back through the transfer seam.

"Falsifying evidence will only make your crime more serious."

Chen Yan turned and walked towards the iron gate.

"Chen Yan!"

Lu Haiming stood up, causing the iron chair to tip over.

The prison guards stepped forward and pinned him to the table.

Lu Haiming's cheeks were pressed tightly against the cold stainless steel tabletop, becoming distorted from the pressure.

"Don't you care about your reputation? 'Broken Bridge' is still showing in theaters! If this gets published, your movie is finished! The audience will tear you to pieces!"

Lu Haiming's screams were cut off by the iron gate.

The cold air from the corridor rushed in.

Chen Yan walked out of the detention center gate.

The wind stopped, and the sky became overcast.

Liang Qinian stood next to the Hongqi sedan, smoking.

"The talks broke down?"

Liang Qinian stubbed out his cigarette.

"He obtained a fake acceptance form with my father's signature on it."

Chen Yan opened the car door.

Liang Qinian's hand, which was about to offer a cigarette, froze in mid-air.

"Has the signature been checked?"

"The handwriting is real, but the document is fake."

Chen Yan got into the car.

Liang Qinian opened the passenger door and got in.

Chen Yan's phone vibrated, and the screen displayed Su Wan's name.

When the call connected, Su Wan's voice came through without a single wasted word.

"The three print media outlets under the Southern Media Group, namely Weekend Entertainment, Southern Star, and Yangcheng Evening News, have released previews for tomorrow's front page."

The title is: The Mystery of the Background of Cannes' New Elite. The subtitle is: The Son of a Corrupt Official Profits from Human Suffering.

Chen Yan looked out the car window at the withered tree, its branches swaying in the wind.

"Has Wanda Cinemas made any moves?"

"Wanda, Jinyi, and Dadi, the three major cinema chains in southern China, just issued a joint statement rejecting our offer to acquire independent cinemas in the south, citing 'serious social impact.' At the same time, the screenings of 'Broken Bridge' in the south have been reduced from 15% to 3%, and all prime-time screenings have been cancelled."

"Lu Haiming has other people outside."

"Zhou Man".

Suzhou Evening News mentioned a name: "Former chief editor of Southern Media Group, who resigned two years ago to start a public relations company, with Lu Haiming as her biggest client. She wrote all the press releases this time, and she controls press release channels for more than 80 media outlets in Southern China."

"Investigate Zhou Man's financial transactions."

"We've sent people to investigate. Director Chen, the online public opinion has already taken off. There are a lot of online trolls on Tianya Forum and Tieba demanding that you publicly respond to the questions about your family background. Several sponsors have called to inquire about the situation."

"Don't respond, let the dust settle."

Chen Yan hung up the phone.

The car started and drove towards the city.

Liang Qinian turned his head from the passenger seat.

"I checked the case files from 1995, and Chen Jianguo had no record of accepting bribes. But once that acceptance form with his signature is exposed, the public won't care about its authenticity; they'll just want to watch the spectacle."

Chen Yan looked at the road ahead.

"Go to the Municipal Bureau's Archives Department," Chen Yan said calmly. "Don't check the engineering files for the Jing-Tong Expressway. Go directly to the report record from the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection in September 1995. I want the original copy of my father's report letter from back then."