PCJ – Chapter 702 Overcharging Customers

Bijiang City, after all, was a prefecture-level city, so naturally its situation was far more complicated than that of Daihua County. During Gao Zhanlin’s tenure in charge of Biyun District, he became sworn brothers with a man named Luo Sihai. In the underworld of Biyun District, Luo Sihai was known as “Fourth Master Luo.” In the past, he had his hands in both the underworld and legitimate businesses. Even the Public Security Sub-Bureau of Biyun District treated him with deference.

Luo Sihai had originally come from a criminal background and had been involved in many shady dealings. After he met Gao Zhanlin, he handed over the underworld operations to his men and reinvented himself as the boss of Chengke Taxi Company. Through his connection with Gao Zhanlin, Luo Sihai also became acquainted with Yin Yanmin. Over time, Chengke Taxi Company developed into the largest taxi company in Bijiang City, with over half the city’s taxis under its control.

After Yin Yanmin’s downfall, Luo Sihai’s Chengke Taxi Company remained largely unaffected.

The busiest spots in Bijiang City, such as the train station and long-distance bus station, were practically monopolized by Chengke taxis. Overcharging and price-gouging passengers happened frequently.

Liu Shuyang, who had heard of Bijiang City, came from Beijing intending to travel to Daihua County. He took a train directly to Bijiang City, planning to transfer to a bus bound for Daihua County.

“Taxi!” Liu Shuyang hailed a cab outside Bijiang City’s train station. Seeing that it belonged to an official taxi company, he didn’t think much of it and got in. “I want to go to Daihua County. Please take me to the bus station.”

“Sure thing.” The driver, a man in his early thirties named Geng Xingli, immediately realized from the passenger’s accent that he was from out of town—and began scheming. After leaving the train station, he drove Liu Shuyang in circles around the city.

The first time around, Liu Shuyang didn’t notice. But the second time, he realized something was wrong—he remembered a particular spot with a bent streetlight next to a bank. Yet before long, they passed the same place again.

“Driver, aren’t you making a mistake? We’ve been here twice already,” Liu Shuyang said angrily.

“What?” Geng Xingli pretended to be surprised.

“Stop circling around. Or I’ll report you!” Liu Shuyang snapped.

“Then go ahead and report me,” Geng Xingli said bluntly, pulling over to the side of the road. “That’ll be fifty yuan. You can find another cab from here. If you think I’m overcharging, go get one that doesn’t.”

He opened the door, intending for Liu Shuyang to get out.

Liu Shuyang, a tall and sturdy man, saw the driver’s unreasonable attitude. After getting out, he grabbed Geng Xingli by the collar and pinned him against the car. “I don’t want trouble, but if you don’t want a beating, you’d better take me to the station right now.”

Geng Xingli was tough himself. He immediately used his in-car radio to call in backup. A group soon arrived, beat Liu Shuyang severely, robbed him of his valuables, and left him lying on the street.

Geng Xingli had been a street thug before Luo Sihai started the taxi company. Many of Luo’s old gang members switched to driving cabs, but even with a legitimate job, they never changed their nature—they always sought crooked ways to make money.

When passersby found Liu Shuyang, he was barely conscious. He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors managed to save his life, but he had multiple fractures, severe contusions, and internal injuries.

Liu Shuyang’s older brother, Liu Min, was a journalist at a Beijing newspaper. When he learned what had happened, he immediately went to Bijiang City to investigate and report on the city’s taxi overcharging and abuse of out-of-town visitors.

Zhang Jiaohua knew nothing about the matter until he saw the newspaper article. Then he was furious. Bijiang City’s future development strategy was to build an ecological tourism city, but this news could completely destroy its image and seriously damage Daihua County’s prospects.

“In Bijiang City, for something like this to happen—this shocks me deeply. I can’t imagine such an outrageous incident happening in a city under our Party’s leadership. Some lawless people have treated Bijiang City as their personal playground. This isn’t an isolated case; it’s entrenched. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so brazen. Why have our relevant departments turned a blind eye? There must be deeper reasons! We just set our development strategy for building an ecological tourism city, and this case will be a devastating blow to it. Now the whole country knows our taxis overcharge and assault passengers. All our previous efforts to improve the city’s image will go to waste! The Municipal Party Committee has already requested that the Provincial Department send an elite team to thoroughly investigate this case. I expect our local departments to fully cooperate,” Zhang Jiaohua said angrily. “This behavior is simply unforgivable.”

Bijiang Public Security Bureau chief Yang Peiyun was sweating. He hadn’t expected Zhang’s reaction to be so extreme—actually inviting the provincial team to investigate. Normally, such cases were handled locally, finding a few scapegoats to take the blame. But Zhang’s move showed a complete lack of trust in him and a desire to escalate matters.

“Mayor Zhang, isn’t this perhaps a bit… inappropriate?” Yang ventured.

“How is it inappropriate? Chengke Taxi Company bullies the market, overcharges, and assaults customers! Is this something new? You mean to tell me the police never heard about this before? How did this become an accepted norm? Clearly there’s profit-sharing going on here, and some people are acting as protectors! So why not let the Provincial Department investigate thoroughly? Anyone who dares smash our rice bowl—I’ll smash theirs first!” Zhang shot back, glaring.

Wang Zongxian cleared his throat. “Mayor Zhang and I discussed this. The reason we didn’t wait for a Municipal Committee meeting before reporting to the province is simple: for a taxi company to have such influence, it must be connected to many people. If we let this slide, it’ll leave a huge hidden danger for the future. Luckily, our ecological tourism strategy has just begun, so we still have time to salvage our city’s image. But first, we must send a clear signal: Bijiang’s government will not tolerate corruption, and we have the determination to eliminate ugliness from our city.”

Yang Peiyun said nothing. His own dealings wouldn’t withstand scrutiny. Once Chengke Taxi Company was investigated, his shares and profit-taking from it would be exposed.

What Yang didn’t know was that the provincial investigation team already had substantial evidence. As he rushed to meet Luo Sihai to discuss countermeasures, several unfamiliar police officers stopped him.

“Director Yang, there are some matters we’d like you to clarify back at the station.”

The set time and place for “clarifying” meant only one thing—his heart sank. They must already have enough evidence. Now Yang understood why Zhang Jiaohua and Wang Zongxian had been so firm—they already knew his crimes were in hand.

Realizing resistance was pointless, Yang silently got into a provincial police car and was driven away.

After the meeting, Zhang Jiaohua and Wang Zongxian left the conference room together.

“Secretary Wang, I’ve clearly overlooked far too much. This is a huge lesson. If I’d discovered the problem earlier, it wouldn’t have escalated like this,” Zhang said.

Wang shook his head awkwardly. “Actually, I’d heard whispers about this before, but I didn’t take them seriously, which let it get this bad. Luo Sihai is no ordinary businessman. For years he’s been a frequent guest of many officials here. How else could he have become so influential?”

“If Bijiang wants to grow and achieve our development strategy, we can’t ignore any detail. I’m going to carefully review every sector of this city to see if there are other problems like Chengke Taxi Company,” Zhang said.

“You can’t do it alone. Bijiang’s development can’t rely on just one person. We need every level of government to act so our city can move into the fast lane,” Wang replied.

Not long afterward, Luo Sihai was also arrested. Though a well-known businessman, his criminal history was soon uncovered, including ties to several murder cases. Yang Peiyun was also exposed as a protector of criminals, a shareholder in Chengke Taxi, and guilty of massive embezzlement and bribery.

Bijiang seized the opportunity to launch a sweeping anti-crime campaign, eliminating multiple gangs and improving its public image almost overnight.

The incident, instead of harming the city’s reputation, earned praise for the authorities’ decisive action.

Luo Sihai’s four chief henchmen—Zhao Shunquan, Liu Mingjun, Hu Zongwen, and Ma Jinggui—had caught wind of the crackdown and gone into hiding in their hometowns. Only after the campaign ended did they return to Bijiang.

“It’s all because of this Zhang Jiaohua! We’ve lost everything. Fourth Master’s in prison and won’t be getting out anytime soon. He didn’t betray us, and that’s the greatest favor he could give us. We owe him, so we must settle the score with Zhang!” Zhao said grimly, pointing at Zhang’s photo in the Bijiang Daily.

“Let’s get him! Brother Quan, I can get us guns. We’ll find a chance to take him out and avenge Fourth Master!” said Liu Mingjun, a former soldier who knew firearms well and had contacts who could make them.

“We’ve all benefited from Fourth Master. If we do nothing, we’re not men. I’m in! Mingjun, get the guns, and we’ll find the right chance to do him in!” Zhao agreed.

Hu Zongwen, more cautious, said, “I’ve spoken to a lawyer. With those murder cases, Fourth Master isn’t getting out. Even if we take Zhang down, we can’t get caught. I’ll think of a way to do it and still get away.”

Ma Jinggui nodded. “Even if we can’t escape, at least we’ll have no regrets.”

They waited several days before finding a good opportunity: Zhang was to attend a public event with a large crowd—perfect for blending in.

Hiding weapons under borrowed clothes, they mingled with the audience, ready to strike once Zhang started speaking.

“Now, please welcome Mayor Zhang Jiaohua to the stage for his speech.”

Zhang walked up and began: “…The City Ecological Forum aligns with our strategy for an ecological city. In the future, society’s concern for the environment will only grow. A city’s development must not come at the cost of its environment, or we’ll pay a terrible price…”

The four exchanged glances—time to act.

Unaware, Zhang continued speaking.

Zhao Shunquan suddenly moved, pulling a gun from his pocket. But before he could aim, someone nearby moved faster, touched him lightly, and Zhao froze like a puppet.

A young man took the gun from Zhao’s hand and quietly led him out. Liu Mingjun didn’t notice and assumed Zhao had abandoned the attack. Reaching for his own weapon, he found it gone—and suddenly froze in place.

Hu and Ma saw Zhao and Liu stop and grew confused.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t they moving?” Hu asked.

“How should I know? Maybe they called it off?” Ma said.

“They could’ve told us,” Hu muttered.

“What do we do?” Ma hesitated.

“Let’s pull out. I’ve got a bad feeling,” Hu said, scanning the crowd.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Ma agreed.

But as they reached the edge of the crowd, they too found themselves unable to move.