Chapter 48: Fatal Fall From a Building

When Zhang Jun saw the money filling the entire wall, he was truly shocked!

He had never seen so much money in his entire life!

Knowing there was no escape, Zhou Kang slumped down onto the floor in despair, clutching his hair with both hands.

His cell phone rang.

Answering the call, Zhou Kang roared, "What? What's wrong with my mother? Speak clearly! How could she not make it? Cerebral hemorrhage? Ah!"

He hung up the phone and bolted toward the door like a madman.

Zheng Qiang and the others rushed forward to apprehend him.

After running only a few steps, Zhou Kang was caught and hauled back.

"You still dare to run?" Zheng Qiang said in a deep, stern voice. "Confess honestly!"

Zhou Kang's eyes were bloodshot. "My mother is dead! My mother is dead!"

Startled for a moment, Zheng Qiang said, "Don't even think about escaping. You've already been subjected to shuanggui, and you will be handed over to the Anti-Corruption Bureau immediately."

With a violent wrench, Zhou Kang broke free from the grip of two officers and sprinted toward the balcony of the study.

As Zheng Qiang and the others stood there in astonishment, Zhou Kang climbed over the outer railing, his hands gripping the bars.

The balcony was unenclosed!

This was the 15th floor!

"Don't push me!" Zhou Kang screamed. "If you push me any further, I'll jump! None of the secrets you want to know will ever be found out!"

Remembering his boss's instructions, Zhang Jun thought to himself that Gao Hai's death had not been fully investigated yet!

However, at this very moment, he didn't dare to ask anything.

Zheng Qiang signaled the others to hold back, then walked slowly toward the balcony and said, "Zhou Kang, confess your wrongdoing and strive for leniency. You still have a long life ahead of you; don't throw it away over this! Come back inside first, it's too windy out there, don't accidentally slip and fall!"

Driven completely insane by grief and panic, Zhou Kang shook the stainless steel railing violently and roared, "My mother had high blood pressure and a cerebral hemorrhage! She's dying! Since you won't let me go to her, I'd rather die right here!"

Zheng Qiang reached the balcony and extended a hand. "Come back up first, and we'll go with you to the hospital!"

Zhou Kang's phone rang once again.

He freed one hand to answer the call, but in his flustered and chaotic state, his foot slipped. His entire body plummeted downward like a kite with a snapped string.

With gasps of shock, Zheng Qiang, Zhang Jun, and the others rushed to the balcony and looked down.

Zhou Kang's body fell in a state of free fall, plunging rapidly before hitting the roof of a parked car below with a deafening crash.

Witnessing this scene, Zhang Jun felt his legs turn to jelly.

He quickly took two steps back, terrified of falling over the edge.

Zheng Qiang and the others looked at each other in dismay; this outcome was completely unexpected.

The personnel from the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Disciplinary Inspection Commission stayed behind to handle the aftermath.

Zhang Jun returned to report to his boss.

With Zhou Kang's fatal fall, the lead into Gao Hai's death was broken once again!

What kind of inner secrets were hidden behind that bizarre car accident?

Descending to the ground floor and passing the scene of the fall, Zhang Jun saw Zhou Kang lying rigidly across the roof of the car, his eyes wide open and staring, blood streaming from his facial orifices, looking utterly terrifying.

Daring not to look any longer, he hurried away.

Back in the office, Zhang Jun reported everything he had witnessed to Ma Hongqi in detail.

Ma Hongqi furrowed his brow slightly and gave a gentle wave of his hand to indicate that he understood.

Ma Hongqi did not offer a single word of comment on the matter.

Returning to the secretaries' office, Zhang Jun sat down in his chair, lost in a daze.

A ringtone broke the silence.

Pulling out his phone, he saw that the call was from Liu Zhengjie.

Zhang Jun directly rejected the call without answering.

A text message from Liu Zhengjie quickly popped up: "Brother Jun, I heard Secretary Zhou had an accident? Is it true?"

Zhang Jun did not reply.

A former friend had now become a vat of boiling oil!

It looked calm on the surface, but it was untouchable—to touch it meant instant death!

Zhang Jun had no idea what kind of dealings existed between Liu Zhengjie and Zhou Kang, but now that Zhou Kang was dead, perhaps it came as a relief to Liu Zhengjie?

Panicked, Liu Zhengjie sent several more messages in quick succession.

Annoyed beyond endurance, Zhang Jun finally replied with a single sentence: "Zhou Kang is dead."

Liu Zhengjie finally quieted down and stopped bothering him.

That evening, Zhang Jun returned home.

His wife, Liu Yujie, had already prepared dinner.

Facing a table full of rich meat and fish dishes, Zhang Jun had no appetite at all.

"What's wrong with you? No appetite? These are braised pork ribs, your absolute favorite," Liu Yujie said, placing a rib into his bowl.

The moment Zhang Jun saw the meat, he was reminded of Zhou Kang's ghastly corpse.

Suddenly retching, he scrambled up from his chair and rushed to the bathroom, clutching the washbasin and dry-heaving for a moment.

Liu Yujie chuckled. "If you weren't a man, I'd suspect you were pregnant!"

Glaring at her, Zhang Jun turned on the faucet, washed his face, rinsed his mouth, and said, "Zhou Kang is dead. After being subjected to shuanggui, he fell from the balcony and died. He died right in front of me, plunging straight down from the 15th floor with a loud thud. It was terrifying!"

Liu Yujie, however, wore a completely unfazed expression. "People die all the time, what's there to make a fuss about? People die in our hospital every day; don't I see dead bodies all the time? I've seen every kind of death imaginable."

Seeing his wife's calm demeanor, Zhang Jun paused, thinking to himself that she had a point—what was so terrifying about a dead person anyway?

Letting out a long sigh, he sat back down at the dining table, forced himself to push the image of the scene out of his mind, and began to eat heartily.

After the meal, a thought occurred to Zhang Jun, and he asked, "Is Yuda still in the medical device business?"

Liu Yujie smiled. "Of course he is! He's been doing tremendously well lately and made a fortune."

Sensing something was amiss, Zhang Jun asked, "Is he cooperating with your hospital? Is Jiang Changxing helping him out with his business?"

With a sweet smile, Liu Yujie replied, "Yes! Vice President Jiang happens to be in charge of that area. After Zhou Wenbin was placed under shuanggui, all the previous suppliers cooperating with our hospital were cleared off the whitelist. Yuda managed to step right in and became a hospital supplier."

Closing his eyes, Zhang Jun thought to himself: It's over!

Liu Yujie walked over and said, "Don't worry, Yuda is a sensible and reasonable person. He knows Jiang Changxing is only taking care of his business because of you. So, every time he makes a profit, he gives us a cut."

Opening his eyes, Zhang Jun stared hard at his wife, pulling a stern face as he demanded in a low voice, "You took his money? How much did you take?"

Failing to realize the gravity of the situation yet, Liu Yujie said, "Let me calculate... it's over two hundred thousand! The money for our apartment and car will be within reach soon!"

Raising his hand, Zhang Jun struck his own thigh hard and exclaimed, "You reckless, family-ruining woman! Didn't I tell you that you are not allowed to take money?"

"Hey, Zhang Jun, you have to be reasonable. I didn't take money from a stranger, I took it from my own younger brother!"

"Yuda may be your brother, but have you ever thought about how he made that money?"

"He made it through legitimate business! Why can't I take it?"

"Do you know why Zhou Kang died?"

"Why? Offended someone, I suppose."

"He embezzled a room full of money—at the very least tens of millions! Maybe even a hundred million!"

"Good heavens! He embezzled that much money?"

"The balcony he jumped from was the study where he hid his money! He hoarded all that wealth yet didn't dare to spend a single cent of it. He bought a luxury apartment but didn't dare to live in it! Are you trying to get me killed too?"