Chapter 671 - 558: Emergency Avoidance?

Chapter 671: Chapter 558: Emergency Avoidance?

It was the same construction site.

Yang Guofa worked in silence. He had an assistant.

He reached a hand back, asking for the electric planer.

Someone handed it to him. When he turned his head to look, Yang Guofa’s expression changed. He frowned and said, "Why are you here again? I already told you, my name is Qian Jincai. I’m not the Yang Guofa you’re looking for."

Zheng Chengbao smiled. "I never said you were Yang Guofa."

Yang Guofa grunted, said no more, and went back to his work with his head down.

Zheng Chengbao didn’t bother him either, just waited quietly to the side.

Before long, it was lunchtime, and everyone clocked out.

Yang Guofa grabbed the lunchbox he had brought from home, found a random corner, and sat down to eat.

Only then did Zheng Chengbao approach, carrying a food container.

It was takeout from a nearby place.

Yang Guofa glanced at the two homemade sandwiches inside, hesitated for a moment, then took the container.

Zheng Chengbao had his own portion. He opened it and started eating, chatting casually with Yang Guofa.

"Oh, by the way, your nephew’s wife had a baby before the New Year. It’s a girl. They named her Yang Ziqi. I saw a picture—she’s so chubby and fair."

Zheng Chengbao pulled out his phone as he ate, starting up some small talk. He found a photo and showed it to Yang Guofa.

It was a family portrait from the baby’s one-month celebration.

Yang Guofa had an older brother, who had a son and a daughter.

In the photo, the whole family was beaming.

Yang Guofa’s parents were in the center, dressed in festive clothing.

The old man was holding the baby, grinning from ear to ear.

The background was Yang Guofa’s nephew’s home, a newly built house. Lanterns hung from the eaves, adding to the joyous atmosphere.

"Your father has a bit of a liver problem and needs to be on long-term medication, but it’s not serious."

"Your mom’s health is still good, she’s just a little farsighted."

"Your brother’s auto repair shop is doing well. He can take good care of the family."

Zheng Chengbao casually relayed the details of Yang Guofa’s family situation, as if making small talk.

They weren’t fabulously wealthy, but they were ordinary and happy.

Yang Guofa shoveled rice into his mouth, his pace quickening. He couldn’t help but steal glances at the screen in Zheng Chengbao’s hand.

"We’ve also looked into your situation."

Zheng Chengbao continued, "We’re outsiders, of course. As the saying goes, only the person drinking the water knows if it’s hot or cold."

"Sometimes it might seem like you have no way out, no choice. But in reality, there’s always a choice. It just depends on whether you’re willing to make it."

Yang Guofa’s hand, holding his chopsticks, paused for a fraction of a second before he resumed eating.

Zheng Chengbao saw this and smiled. "We’ve been in contact for a few days now. From what I can tell, you’re not a bad person."

Back in China, Zheng Chengbao was an interrogation expert and a master at cracking cases.

He had essentially joined this case halfway through.

Over the past few days, besides making contact with Yang Guofa, he had also spent many sleepless nights studying the case file.

He had already formed some of his own ideas and judgments.

First, there was the matter of Yang Guofa himself.

Having dealt with so many criminals, Zheng Chengbao saw Yang Guofa as just an ordinary man.

He was honest, his values were sound, he was a diligent worker, and he tried hard in life.

His only weakness was his timid personality, with a tendency to be somewhat passive and resigned to his fate.

Therefore, Zheng Chengbao made a bold conjecture.

Prior to this, the task force’s assessment was that Yang Guofa had been an accomplice back then, that he and Wang Shulin had assaulted Li Suhua together.

But Zheng Chengbao felt this point deserved a question mark.

He believed there was another possibility: that Wang Shulin had threatened Yang Guofa and Liu Baoli.

Zheng Chengbao didn’t think Liu Baoli seemed like the type to have malicious intentions either.

So it was possible that after Wang Shulin conceived his evil plan, he threatened both Yang Guofa and Liu Baoli, who were also at the scene, forcing them to participate in the assault on Li Suhua.

By the same logic, the best way to ensure Liu Baoli and the other man wouldn’t talk afterward was to turn them into accomplices.

If that were the case, all of Yang Guofa’s criminal actions might have occurred under duress.

In that case, the sentencing would be a completely different matter.

Zheng Chengbao brought this idea to the task force. After some discussion, they decided to probe from this angle to see if they could make a breakthrough.

If the theory was correct and Yang Guofa had been coerced...

...then it might be possible to persuade him to return to China.

Right now, he was trapped. He didn’t dare to get a divorce, and he didn’t dare to return to his country.

It was all because he was afraid of being sentenced if he went back; the consequences were too severe.

But if those consequences weren’t so severe, perhaps he’d be willing to escape his current predicament and cooperate fully with the task force to convict Lu Weihong.

Zheng Chengbao continued, "We’re still verifying what happened back then. There are some details we don’t fully understand yet."

"If you were coerced back then, I think there’s a lot of room for discussion regarding your case."

He spoke cautiously, silently observing Yang Guofa’s reaction.

When he mentioned the word "coerced," Yang Guofa’s gaze clearly wavered, and a conflicted, thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

Zheng Chengbao felt a flicker of confidence.

He felt certain there was a hidden story behind what happened that year, something people didn’t know.

"Look, let me explain a few legal concepts to you. Anyway, there’s been a lot of discussion and progress on this front back home these past few years."

Zheng Chengbao was now giving Yang Guofa a primer on the law.

He talked about concepts like necessity, accomplice under duress, and justifiable defense.

He particularly emphasized the criteria for determining a major threat.

He even used a few examples to illustrate his points, trying to make Yang Guofa understand.

For instance, he brought up scenarios like a train on two tracks, one with a shepherd boy on it and the other with a mentally handicapped woman.

"The core principle here is that the legal interest being protected must outweigh the legal interest being harmed."

Zheng Chengbao spoke about these things effortlessly, as if they were second nature.

Without realizing it, Yang Guofa was drawn in, listening intently.