The Provincial Public Security Department and the Municipal Public Security Bureau sent capable and forceful officials to rural areas to become county police chiefs and township police station heads.

They were instructed to closely cooperate in the crackdown, aiming to clear out highway bullies, robbers, and bandits as quickly as possible.

At the same time, the government launched a new wave of anti-corruption efforts.

They demanded that officials adhere strictly to rules, promote integrity, and severely punish corruption, bribery, misconduct, and abuse of power.

Under these circumstances, Bian Haitao and his associates faced severe penalties.

After the Provincial and Municipal Public Security Departments, along with the prosecution, investigated, it was found that Bian Haitao illegally accumulated 480,000 RMB through his gallery and fortune-telling activities.

He was also implicated in several murder cases. Although he wasn’t the direct perpetrator, he used his power for personal gain, interfered with judicial fairness, and destroyed evidence.

The High Court sentenced ten of the implicated individuals to death and several others to prison terms.

Bian Haitao was sentenced to death.

Jiang Ling received a life sentence due to the massive amount of money involved, as a deterrent to others.

Meng Yiyi, involved in feudal superstitions and complicity in Bian Haitao’s illicit activities, was also sentenced to life imprisonment.

All the robbers involved were sentenced to death.

In total, 28 people were sentenced to death, a case that shocked the entire country.

The resolution of this case became a benchmark for similar cases across provinces.

The execution was scheduled for a month later, right after the harvest season, when the fields were bare and the trees had shed their leaves.

This timing aligned with the traditional saying, “autumn execution.”

During the crackdown, death row inmates were transported in groups or by the truckload to designated locations for execution.

The crowd of spectators was immense, rivaling the size of crowds at a temple fair.

As the execution day approached, the prison guards provided the death row inmates with their last meal: a bowl of rice, a bowl of meat stir-fry, and a plate of green onion scrambled eggs.

After eating, they would set out early the next morning.

Since entering prison, Bian Haitao had hardly slept well.

The sound of a gun being cocked haunted him, torturing him mentally.

That night, after eating his final meal, he managed to fall asleep and had a peculiar dream.

In his dream, he and Jiang Lin were a married couple who had obtained their marriage certificate but had not yet lived together.

She was still as beautiful as ever but also more assertive, capable, and tough.

He was a prestigious university graduate with a PhD, while she, with minimal education, had ended up in a technical school, later working in construction like a man.

Though she lacked formal education, she was hardworking, dedicated, and remarkably beautiful.

He admitted that he was deeply infatuated with her, but he secretly looked down on her, thinking she was of lower class, uneducated, and overly aggressive—just unbearable.

He preferred gentle, compliant women who flattered him, as it satisfied his vanity.

Although he had a doctorate from a prestigious university, Jiang Lin didn’t idolize him.

Instead, her own low educational background made her more driven and uncompromising, which displeased him.

When a gentle, similarly experienced junior appeared, he was attracted to her.

She admired him greatly, was completely obedient, and worshiped him, making him feel that the junior was far better than Jiang Lin.

Educated, with a high degree, and possessing a gentle and virtuous personality, she seemed like the perfect candidate for marriage.

So, they secretly started a relationship behind Jiang Lin’s back.

Originally, he wanted to have the best of both worlds: Jiang Lin, who could earn money, was beautiful, and would benefit his career in the future; and the junior, who was gentle and understanding, providing him with genuine satisfaction and making him feel very masculine.

Unfortunately, the junior became pregnant and changed drastically, forcing him to make a choice—her or Jiang Lin.

Compared to Jiang Lin, who had already been married to him but refused to live with him, his inner balance naturally tipped toward the pregnant junior.

Thus, when he had to make a decision, he steeled himself to confront Jiang Lin.

To his surprise, Jiang Lin immediately agreed to the divorce without hesitation.

This made him very dissatisfied and disheartened, feeling that Jiang Lin didn’t love him and even suspected she might have been unfaithful.

Why, with his outstanding education, didn’t she admire him at all?

Her friends and employees were all envious when they heard he was a doctor from a prestigious university.

He then started talking about the house. He genuinely wanted it.

Given his situation, buying a house in the city within five years was impossible.

The junior said that without a house, they couldn’t register the child or ensure proper schooling.

Thus, he asked Jiang Lin for the house, even if it was a loan!

Unexpectedly, she responded with a firm refusal.

In his rage, he pushed her, and her head struck the corner of the table and the wall.

Jiang Lin died.

He was instantly terrified and his mind went blank, especially with his head still bleeding from the injury.

Then he suddenly realized—this was self-defense!

Jiang Lin had hit him with a brick, and when she refused to stop and tried to kill him, he had no choice but to retaliate.

Then she had an accident, but it wasn’t intentional!

At most, it could be considered excessive self-defense, resulting in a two-year suspended sentence, and he wouldn’t need to go to prison.

He knew Jiang Lin’s father wouldn’t get involved, and Jiang Lin’s mother had a new family with a young son and was tightly controlled by her new husband and in-laws, so she couldn’t possibly manage this issue.

If Jiang Lin’s mother cared, Jiang Lin wouldn’t have ended up in a technical school.

Everything was going as he planned.

Their marital quarrel led to the accident, and he wasn’t going to reveal his infidelity.

He blamed everything on Jiang Lin, saying that she didn’t get along with her biological parents, so she didn’t want to invite them to the wedding.

He believed that both sets of parents should witness the marriage and give their blessing for a happy union.

They had an argument because Jiang Lin’s temper was always explosive.

When she threw the brick at him, he pushed her in a moment of panic, purely unintentionally.

Who knew that with just a little force, she would die from the impact?

Everything was going according to his plan, and he wasn’t even guilty of manslaughter; it was self-defense.

Little did he know that Jiang Lin’s employees had teamed up with her mother to hire a lawyer and sue him, accusing him of killing for financial gain.

His affair, borrowing money, and disputes were all uncovered, and even the insurance he had taken out in Jiang Lin’s name was used as evidence of his intent to kill for money.

His insurance benefitted his parents, while Jiang Lin’s insurance benefitted Bian Haitao.

He instructed his junior classmates to create negative public opinion about Jiang Lin online, accusing her stepfather and stepmother of neglecting her and then trying to seize her property after her death.

Later, a friend of Jiang Lin revealed her will, which was made half-jokingly among friends.

They had decided that if something happened to them, they didn’t want to leave their property to someone who didn’t care about them.

Jiang Lin’s will had conditions: if she and Bian Haitao were loving, the property would go to him; otherwise, it would be donated to charity.

Six months later, everything settled, and Bian Haitao was sentenced to death for intentional murder.

As the sound of a gun being cocked echoed, his fear reached its peak.

He wanted to escape but found no way out. When the bullet pierced the back of his head, he experienced an unprecedented, intense pain.

“Ah—”

He screamed as he woke up from the nightmare, and the day had already dawned.

The prison guards were outside the cell, counting the number of inmates and lining up those scheduled for execution today.

Bian Haitao, still in shock from his nightmare, was terrified when he heard the word “execution.”

He didn’t want to die again!! It was too terrifying!

But the prison guards didn’t give him a chance to escape and directly escorted him onto the truck.

“No, no… I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…” Bian Haitao, who had been trying to stay calm, was on the verge of a breakdown due to the nightmare of being executed.

No one wants to die twice!