Detective: From the Police Academy

Chapter 358 What a storm!
Fengshui County, Taihe Square, ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The square was surrounded by a one-meter-high guardrail, and the onlookers stood on the periphery, looking at the flowers and flags waving in the square.

Because there were so many people and there were also celebrities present, the security guards wore green reflective vests and held hands to prevent outsiders from entering the square.

The platform was covered with a red carpet, and the background wall was inscribed with "Taihe Real Estate Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony". There were long tables on both sides, and people of all sizes in the county were sitting in chairs with solemn expressions.

The male and female hosts stood under the platform, holding manuscript paper and microphone in their hands, preparing to go on stage.

"Excuse me, please make way."

"Sorry, please give way."

At this time, Tian Guanghan and Yang Bo pushed through the crowd in the front, making a path for Luo Rui, Cai Xiaojing, Lin Chen and others to come to the front.

Luo Rui and his team had just arrived at the Fengshui County Bureau. When they heard that all the leaders, big and small, were not there, they had no choice but to come here to see what was going on.

At this moment, no one had eaten yet. They had originally planned to have a bite to eat in the canteen of the county bureau, but now they didn't have the time, so they had to each take a piece of bread and a bottle of mineral water and eat while looking at the rostrum.

Tian Guanghan swallowed the bread and pointed to the left and right: "I was wondering why there was no one at the county bureau. Look, people are here to maintain order."

Luo Rui took a closer look and indeed saw police officers in uniform, working with security guards, seemingly keeping a watchful eye on the crowd.

Lin Chen took a sip of mineral water and pointed to a man with a flat head and a black shirt in the front left. "Team leader, that's Xu Chengzhi, Captain Xu from the Fengshui County Criminal Police Brigade."

Luo Rui narrowed his eyes slightly: "Are you sure it's him?"

"Sure. I've seen his profile. He looks exactly like the one in the photo."

Cai Xiaojing pointed to the podium again and said, "Over there, the guy wearing a blue shirt on the stage is Director Shen Huaimin."

Everyone quickly turned their attention to this man, and saw that he was bending over and talking to a man sitting on the podium.

This man should be someone extraordinary. He was sitting in the middle, giving instructions to Shen Huaimin.

Luo Rui just took a glance and then turned his gaze outside the venue. He saw two armed police cars parked on the left side of the square, with special police standing beside the cars.

Tian Guanghan also noticed it and couldn't help but sigh: "Who is this Taihe Real Estate? They have mobilized so many people. The whole county..."

Before he finished speaking, a bald old man holding a thermos cup next to him took over the conversation: "Taihe Real Estate is the pillar enterprise of our Fengshui County. 70% of our latest real estate developments are theirs.

To put it bluntly, if this company hadn’t provided assistance to the county and paid more than a billion yuan in taxes every year, our county would still be a poor county.”

Tian Guanghan frowned and said, "It's not that exaggerated, right?"

The bald old man glanced at them and said, "Judging from your accent, you are not from here, right?"

"I'm here for tourism." Tian Guanghan said perfunctorily.

"That's what I told you." The bald old man said, "Of course you outsiders don't know. Taihe is not just about real estate. In the past few years, it has also set up several factories in the county. The Taihe Food Processing Factory alone employs thousands of people. Don't underestimate them. This may not matter in your big cities, but in our county, it has indeed solved a lot of employment and boosted our economy.

We have to give face to the leaders above us. If they threaten to withdraw, our local economy will be in trouble. Who will invest in this remote and poor place?

It’s not just about how many people are unemployed. Even taxis on the street have to pick up passengers. Without the big factories like Taihe, who would have the spare money to take a taxi? You can ride a motorcycle and go around the county in less than half an hour.”

"So, isn't Taihe Real Estate the local tyrant of the county?"

"If you say so, it's true."

Luo Rui took over the conversation: "What's the name of the boss of Taihe Real Estate?"

The bald old man pointed to the podium and said, "The one in the middle wearing a white suit is called Bai Kangyong."

Luo Rui looked in the direction he pointed and saw such a man. He was tall, in his fifties, wearing an expensive suit and a Patek Philippe on his wrist.

The people sitting next to him were all very prestigious figures in the county. One of them was the person who had previously lectured Shen Huaimin. In addition, there was a young man who sat in a chair with a listless look on his face, picking his fingernails out of boredom.

Seeing that this person looked familiar, Luo Rui raised his hand and pointed: "Who is that young man?"

The bald old man replied, "Bai Kangyong's son, Bai Xianjin."

"Xinjin?" Tian Guanghan almost laughed out loud: "Is it still popular to call him that now? If I had only heard the name, I would have thought Bai Xianjin was the father and Bai Kangyong was the son."

The bald old man was amused by this: "Who said it wasn't, but I chose this name."

Hearing this, eight people including Luo Rui, Cai Xiaojing and Lin Chen were all shocked and turned to look at the bald old man.

He was wearing a white vest, bare-chested, holding a thermos cup in his hand with a large cup of red wolfberries soaked in it. His face was deeply wrinkled, and he looked like an ordinary old man taking a walk.

Tian Guanghan took a breath, remained silent for a long time, and then said, "Excuse me, what is your name?"

"White northwest." The bald old man blinked, pulled out the origami fan inserted in his belt, and opened it with a "snap" to block the sunlight coming from above.

Then, in the midst of everyone's surprise, his pupils shrank, and the light in his eyes instantly lost its luster. He frowned slightly, and his expression suddenly became gloomy.

"What did you just say?"

Seeing his appearance, Tian Guanghan had a hunch that something was wrong: "I just asked you what your name is?"

The bald old man was stunned, muttering: "What's my name? Do you know my name?"

Tian Guanghan was startled, glanced at Luo Rui, and whispered, "Team Leader, this guy might be ill."

Luo Rui didn't say anything, but he saw a gaze shooting down from the podium. He looked up and saw that the man named Bai Kangyong suddenly jumped off the podium and ran towards him.

Seeing his actions, the female secretary and assistant around him followed.

"Dad, why are you here?" Bai Kangyong looked panicked, with a frown on his face.

The bald old man looked confused and had no idea what was going on.

"Old man, why did you come out?" asked the woman following Bai Kangyong. Even though she was wearing a summer dress, it was worth a lot of money. She had delicate makeup on her face. She looked to be in her forties and had a well-maintained figure.

"I..." The bald old man stammered, with a stupid expression.

Bai Kangyong shouted to his assistant, "What are you still standing there for? Help the old man away quickly."

The secretary and assistant climbed over the guardrail and helped.

After finishing the work, Bai Kangyong was still angry. He glanced at Luo Rui and his group and smiled: "Sorry to bother you all."

Luo Rui was about to reply, but Bai Kangyong walked towards the podium without looking back.

Tian Guanghan was angry and snorted coldly: "What a rude guy! Who does he think he is? Does he really think he is a local emperor?"

Lin Chen said, "You can say he is rude, but he has apologized. I think Bai Kangyong has his own set of rules. Although he talks about reason, he talks about his own reason. He is very opinionated, but at the same time he is intolerant of others."

"Oh, Officer Lin, you're analyzing it right away? That's amazing." Tian Guanghan teased her, ignored her roll of eyes, and turned to look at Luo Rui.

"Team Leader, what do you think?"

"I'm standing and watching, how can I watch?" Luo Rui shrugged. He didn't take Bai Kangyong's rudeness to heart.

Tian Guanghan choked, touched his nose in boredom, and buried his head in taking a bite of the bread he had not finished.

Afterwards, the ribbon-cutting ceremony began and the male and female hosts came on stage. They sang in unison and praised the Taihe Group. It seemed that with the arrival of Taihe Real Estate, Fengshui County had hope. As long as the Taihe Group existed, the lives of the people would be well-off.

After the announcement session, Bai Kangyong, the chairman of the group, naturally gave a speech. With a strong and deep voice, he talked about the development history of Taihe Group in Fengshui County.

Behind the background wall is the new Taihe Plaza, which is planned to be built into the most prosperous commercial plaza in Fengshui County, and a new 52-story commercial building will also be built.

In recent years, most cities have been following the example of foreign countries and building new skyscrapers, which are often called landmark buildings, such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the World Trade Center in New York. Of course, these things no longer exist.

A 52-story building is rare even in third-tier cities, which shows the importance that Fengshui County attaches to this matter. No wonder Shen Huaimin and others did not stay in the county bureau but came here specially to show their support.

But within half an hour, Luo Rui realized that his idea was wrong.

Old Shen actually has other plans.

When Bai Kangyong had been speaking for nearly half an hour, a group of people suddenly appeared as the people outside the square were waiting to receive rice and eggs.

These people, with white cloth wrapped around their heads and holding sticks, rushed directly into the square. The security guards and police officers on duty could not stop them.

Luo Rui took a closer look and saw that the leader was an old man with wrinkles all over his face. He was waving a shovel in his hand and shouting, "Bai Kangyong, get down! Get down right now. I will settle accounts with you today even if I risk my life!"

As he said this, dozens of people behind him started to shout. Behind these people, there was a mother holding a black-and-white photo frame in both hands. The frame was one foot square and contained a black-and-white photo of a boy.

She looked exhausted and stumbled as she walked. Several people gathered around her, all of them were very excited and looked like they wanted to fight to the death with Bai Kangyong.

The sudden incident attracted all the police officers in the square.

It was obvious that the police were well prepared and seemed to be preventing this from happening, with batons and shields in their hands.

Shen Huaimin and Xu Zhicheng had already run forward. They did not argue with the leader, but tried their best to appease him.

Shen Huaimin shouted loudly: "Master Xiang, please stop making trouble, okay?"

"Director Shen, I know you're in a difficult situation, but this matter is not directed at you or the police. We are here today for the child's matter. This Bai Kangyong is not a human being. I must make him give an explanation!"

After hearing this, Bai Kangyong was still standing on the stage, but the young man sitting behind the podium, Bai Xianjin, was not happy. He gave the security personnel a look and then jumped off the podium. A large group of security guards immediately surrounded him.

"You damn old man, what do you want? Who do you think you are? How dare you cause trouble for us?"

Seeing him swearing, Xiang Ye got so angry that his face turned red, and the people he brought with him wanted to rush forward.

The human wall formed by police officers including Shen Huaimin and Xu Zhicheng was caught in the middle. The two groups pushed and shoved each other, and they were almost squeezed into a roujiamo.

"What a kid! Your Bai family is really lawless, right?"

Mr. Xiang was older and more rational. He stopped the young man with a stick behind him and prepared to speak: "Director Shen, if Taihe Group won't give us an explanation, then you have to give us an explanation, right?"

Shen Huaimin's face turned the color of liver. He tried to turn sideways and raised his hands high, meaning that he would not take sides. He said loudly: "Master Xiang, I promised you that I would continue to investigate the case, and the city has also sent people to investigate. You all know about this, so why are you still making a fuss here?"

"What will happen if we don't make trouble?" Xiang Ye swallowed his saliva, pushed away the young man behind him, and asked someone to bring the gray-haired mother forward.

"Look, this child is only eight years old and has been missing for five years. For five whole years, we all thought that these five children were abducted by human traffickers. The children's fathers and mothers cried all day long. Five families have to go out almost every year to look for the whereabouts of their children.

We all thought there was no hope and we couldn’t find them, but who knew that Xiang Ke’s body was dug out from the wasteland in the southern suburbs. This child is so pitiful. We finally found one, but who would have thought that he had already died..."

At this point, the eyes of the people watching the excitement in the square were red. Everyone knew that on the Spring Festival in 04, five children who were playing together suddenly disappeared. The local county bureau organized police officers and street offices to search everywhere. Almost every mountain and every river were searched, but there was no trace of these children.

Luo Rui and his team were closely watching the two groups arguing. Only then did he realize that Shen Huaimin had not called in the special police and police officers to help the Taihe Group maintain order, but had already predicted that a conflict would occur.

In this regard, the director was wrongly accused.

Luo Rui listened attentively. In order to make things clear, he gave a look to Tian Guanghan and others, and the eight people dispersed and approached the two groups of people who were confronting each other.

The old man named Xiang Ye continued, "Everyone knows that the corpse was dug up in March, and the county bureau did something D in April..."

Shen Huaimin was immediately annoyed and tried to smooth things over: "DNA test."

"Yes, it was a DNA test. The police found that the body belonged to Xiang Ke. This child had a miserable life. He was murdered. Who was the murderer? The police haven't investigated yet. Who knew that the Taihe Group was so greedy that they used an excavator to dig up the scene. The police couldn't investigate. Everyone, could this be done by a human?

You, the Taihe Group, are so great, you are a local tyrant. No one can stop you no matter what you do, but we ordinary people must give you an explanation and apologize to the dead children!"

As soon as he said this, not only Shen Huaimin, but also the people sitting on the rostrum all looked unhappy.

Just as Shen Huaimin was about to speak, Xu Zhicheng beside him rushed over and said, "Master Xiang, we have explained this to you. We have checked and found that the workers on the construction site dug up the site without permission. We have also detained the excavator driver for obstructing the police investigation and destroying the crime scene. This matter is over. Why are we still arguing?"

Xiang Ye was furious. He took the portrait from the mother's arms and said to Xu Zhicheng, "You said this matter is over? Come on, tell this kid how you handled the case."

He pointed at Bai Kangyong on the stage and said, "This was clearly the work of that Bai. He was the one who ordered people to dig up the child's grave. He is so heartless!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Xianjin, who was being held back by Xu Zhicheng, flew into a rage, pointing at Xiang Ye and yelling, "You old fool, how dare you say that? Is that a grave? That's a construction site! That piece of land in the southern suburbs is going to be used as a residential complex. There are dead bodies buried there, which has already affected the reputation of our group. You even brought people to the construction site to burn paper money. What do you mean by that?"

"I'm telling you? If you keep arguing with me or causing trouble, I'll make sure you pay the price!"

"Oh my, this is terrible. Listen..." Grandpa Xiang held up the child's portrait and said, "Listen everyone. This Bai man admitted that they were the ones who ordered the workers to dig up the child's grave. They were also the ones who ordered people to destroy the scene. Lord, who will help us? One child died, and four more are missing. Children..."

When the people behind Xiang Ye heard him crying, the young men started to rush forward regardless of anything, pushing the human wall, wanting to fight with Bai Xianjin and his gang.

Bai Xianjin was no pushover either. He snatched the baton from the security guard and wanted to hit Xiang Ye on the head.

"Fuck you, you're looking for death!"

At this critical moment, Bai Kangyong, who had been standing on the podium, shouted through the microphone: "Stop! Stop it!"

The sound transmitted through the microphone resonated in the square.

Seeing him speak, everyone stopped shouting.

Bai Kangyong's face turned pale as he walked down the steps beside the rostrum.

Bai Xianjin rushed forward and said, "Dad, fight them. Damn it, if we injure a few of them, we can afford the compensation!"

"Shut up!" Bai Kangyong scolded him and came to the middle of the confronting team.

Shen Huaimin was trapped in the crowd, feeling helpless. He said, "Boss Bai, you really should give us an explanation for this matter. If we continue to make trouble like this, it will not be good for anyone, right?"

"Don't worry, Director Shen." Bai Kangyong glanced at the podium. The leaders who were previously sitting on the podium had already left to avoid getting involved.

"Master Xiang..."

"If you can't bear it, just call me an old man!"

Bai Kangyong smiled and smoothed the collar of his suit: "I heard that you have a high reputation in Huainan Street. Should I call you Master Xiang?"

"It's up to you!" Uncle Xiang stared at him coldly, gritted his teeth, put the child's photo on his chest, and faced Bai Kangyong.

Bai Kangyong glanced at the photo frame, his eyes narrowed slightly, he sighed, and said, "Let me make it clear first, regarding the construction site being dug up, our superiors, including myself, really didn't know about it, this matter was not led by us.

If the workers on the construction site stop working for one day, they will get one day less salary. This is really what they did privately..."

Seeing that Xiang Ye was about to refute, Bai Kangyong immediately stretched out his hand to suppress him and said soothingly: "Of course, we are also wrong. I would like to apologize to the families of the victims here."

When he said he was apologizing, Bai Kangyong just lowered his head slightly, showing little sincerity.

He sighed: "But I still want to say that the real estate project in the southern suburbs has been launched, and more than a thousand households in the county have bought houses and paid down payments. We will complete the project and hand over the houses by the end of next year.

More than a thousand households have worked hard for most of their lives. We can’t delay their move-in into their new homes because of this issue, right?
In March, a corpse was suddenly dug up at a construction site in the southern suburbs. Because of this, our construction schedule was delayed by a month and we lost a lot of money. Later it was said that the corpse was that of a child who had disappeared five years ago, and that four other children were missing, and it was unknown whether they were alive or dead.

I understand this is a big deal. After all, I was also in Fengshui County during the Spring Festival five years ago. I also organized factory workers and company staff to go up the mountains and down the rivers to investigate. Don’t disbelieve me…”

Bai Kangyong pointed at Shen Huaimin and said, "Old Shen knows. You were the captain of the criminal police at that time, right? What I just said is correct, right?"

Shen Huaimin nodded: "That's true."

Bai Kangyong smiled with satisfaction and said, "Apart from this, I remember that we organized 3,000 people to search for several days. All the drinks, food, tents and other supplies during those days were paid for by me, right? Old Shen, what do you think, is that right?"

"Yes." Shen Huaimin answered very reluctantly. It was obvious that he was dragging himself into the role and using his status to sing the same tune with others. In the eyes of ordinary people, it seemed not right, but what he said was true.

“I say this because I hope you understand that I want to catch the murderer of the child and find the whereabouts of the other four children more than anyone else.

But… I want to say but. If the construction site in Nanjiao is suspended indefinitely, how can I explain this to the owners? If the construction is delayed and the houses are delivered to the owners late, how much liquidated damages do I need to pay?
Is it a big deal if someone dies? I have invested 52 billion yuan to build a -story building in Taihe Plaza behind me to attract foreign investment and build factories. If another dead person is buried inside, do I have to stop construction unconditionally?
This sky-high penalty, you guys pay me?!"

Bai Kangyong's first few words were quite elegant, but the last few words were almost shouted out, causing the crowd who were originally moved by him to suddenly return to a hostile attitude.

Shen Huaimin almost thought he had heard it wrongly.

Are you here to mediate? You are obviously here to add fuel to the fire. Damn, this damn Mr. Bai is just as worthless as his son.

When Mr. Xiang and the people behind him heard this, their eyes turned red and their emotions suddenly became high.

"Bai, you are a piece of shit! We will fight you!"

Bai Xianjin pulled his father behind him. Without saying a word, he waved the stick in his hand and, along with a dozen security personnel, pushed aside the human wall and was about to hit Xiang Ye on the head.

Seeing that the two groups were really about to fight this time, Shen Huaimin felt dizzy and quickly called on the police to separate them, but he was sharp-eyed and suddenly saw a tall, dark-skinned but handsome young man standing aside, watching everything coldly.

Shen Huaimin blinked several times, and the call he received from the Municipal Bureau in the morning appeared in his mind, saying that a criminal investigation expert named Luo Rui would bring people over today.

Shen Huaiming had seen Luo Rui's appearance before.

Isn't this the person in front of me? !
Shen Huaimin thought quickly and pointed forward, shouting to the surging crowd: "Don't get excited, everyone. The detective is here. The detective hired by the Municipal Bureau is here! There is hope for our case!"

I would like to ask for a monthly ticket, guys...thank you very much.

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(End of this chapter)