Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 317: Deadline for Solving the Case
Due to the language barrier, communication between Zhou Yi and the old lady relied entirely on the little girl Lele acting as a translator.

Zhou Yi told the old lady that he could help them find the little girl's father, and that he would take them to the police station the next day.

The old lady said a few words, and Lele translated, "Grandma asked you, if we find my father, will she be able to get the money back?"

Zhou Yi knew that this matter couldn't be explained to the old lady, and just based on the fact that the old lady had raised Lele, Zhou Yi knew that she wasn't someone who only cared about money.

To be honest, if the old lady hadn't taken care of the child, the child would probably have died long ago.

I had seen something like this before in my previous life.

She's just a bit stubborn, which is normal for an elderly person her age.

Zhou Yi wanted to learn some specific details from the old lady, such as when she went to see the little girl's father and whether she knew where the little girl's father worked.

But the old lady knew nothing about it, leaving Zhou Yi feeling helpless.

Zhou Yi noticed a pile of scattered tree branches on the ground outside the door. It was probably the old lady who had picked them up to start a fire for cooking. She probably saw strangers in the house and threw them on the ground in a panic.

Zhou Yi couldn't see things from the old lady's perspective about Lele.

He only knew that when people get old, they need something to rely on and something to think about, otherwise living becomes just waiting to die.

Perhaps, Lele is the old lady's only hope.

He picked up the branches and put them inside the house. By then, it was completely dark, and the only light in the house came from the faint glow of the candle.

Zhou Yi looked around and realized that the house probably didn't even have electricity; there were no lights or electrical wires inside.

He thought for a moment, then turned back to the main road, found a grocery store, and bought a kerosene lamp.

When the kerosene lamp was lit, its soft yellow light illuminated the dilapidated little house and the little girl's rosy cheeks. Lele exclaimed, "Wow, it's so bright!"

This reminded Zhou Yi of his childhood, when the Zhou family had just separated and he, his parents, and he lived in a cramped rented room. Electricity was limited then, so there was a power outage one day a week.

Whenever there was a power outage, Zhou Jianguo would take out a large kerosene lamp. When the burning kerosene lamp illuminated the entire rented room through the glass cover, he was very happy as a child because that sense of novelty was something that electric lights could not provide.

He did his homework under the kerosene lamp, smelling the unique scent of burning kerosene, which was one of his important childhood memories.

Zhou Yi pointed to a bottle of kerosene on the table and said to the old lady, "Add this when the lamp runs out of oil."

The old lady said something, and the little girl covered her mouth and laughed.

"What's wrong, Lele?"

"Your mother-in-law asked you, 'Can this oil be used for stir-frying?'" Lele said with a smile.

Zhou Yi quickly waved his hand at the old lady, saying repeatedly that it would kill people.

Then he patted the little girl on the head and said, "See you tomorrow."

The little girl kept waving at him under the kerosene lamp, and even though she had walked far away, she could still see him when she turned around.

Like a tiny firefly in the dark.

……

The next morning, Zhou Yi went to find the old lady and the little girl.

The little girl ate her steaming hot breakfast with relish, while the old lady didn't eat much. The little girl even asked Zhou Yi, "Uncle, would you like some too?"

She looked so docile that it broke your heart. "No need, I've already eaten, you eat."

After finishing their meal, he took the two to the nearby police station. After identifying himself, the police officers there were quite enthusiastic and offered to help him investigate.

After learning about the situation, the police officer from the local police station who received them said to Zhou Yi with some helplessness, "We can only register it for now, but this situation probably doesn't meet the standards for filing a case."

This result was within Zhou Yi's expectations: "Thank you for your hard work. May I see the household registration information for this child and her father?"

"No problem, please wait a moment." The police officer found the relevant documents and handed them to Zhou Yi.

After carefully reviewing the documents, Zhou Yi noted down the key information and returned them.

As she walked out of the police station, the little girl Lele asked, "Uncle, when will you find my dad? I miss him."

"Why don't you go back with Grandma first? Uncle will help you find Dad, okay?"

The little girl nodded vigorously.

Lele's father's name is Yang Jian, and he is 29 years old this year. Since his work unit was not listed on his household registration information, Zhou Yi went to the owner of the restaurant where they had eaten yesterday. After some inquiries, he finally learned that the little girl's father worked in a place called Guangming Chicken Farm.

Zhou Yi decided to go to the chicken farm to find out what was going on, because neither the little girl nor the old lady could say when Yang Jian had disappeared.

But as an employer, the chicken farm should at least know from which day Yang Jian stopped coming to work.

However, before going to the chicken farm, Zhou Yi went to the Anyuan Municipal Bureau first. Although he was there to assist in the event and was not required to check in every day, he could not be too lax.

Upon arriving at the Municipal Bureau, they ran into Xia Yu.

"Officer Xia, have you found anything?" Zhou Yi asked.

There are many clues to investigate right now: the origin of the hammer, the red car, the autopsy results, the identification of the two victims found yesterday, and the identity of Jiang Wei.

Xia Yu shook his head, pointed to the office in front, and said, "Captain Pan is inside. Why don't you go ask him? But he's not in a good mood." "Okay, I'll ask him myself."

Zhou Yi walked into the office and found Pan Hongjie standing in front of the blackboard with his hands behind his back.

"Team Leader Pan."

Pan Hongjie turned around and glanced back. "Oh, Zhou Yi is here."

Zhou Yi walked over and found that the case analysis on the blackboard had been updated, with all the latest clues written down, but each one was marked with a question mark.

"Captain Pan, doesn't Jiang Wei match the male victim from yesterday?"

Pan Hongjie shook his head: "The height doesn't match, so it's definitely not the same person. Sigh, we can only issue a body identification notice."

No wonder he was in a bad mood; the announcement of the body identification brought him a lot of pressure.

"Zhou Yi, I heard from our Director Guo that Hongcheng has solved a lot of big cases recently."

Zhou Yi counted on his fingers: "A murder case led to a major medical fraud case, a dismemberment case, a series of kidnappings, and then another dismemberment case... It seems like quite a few..."

Pan Hongjie was terrified and turned to look at him in shock.

"So many? We haven't had this many major cases in five years."

Zhou Yi thought to himself, apart from the Du Xiaolin case and the Sun Kun kidnapping and murder case, aren't all the other cases just a consequence of my rebirth? Besides, the first two cases were unsolved cases in my previous life.

So it's not that there are many cases in Hongcheng, it's just that they haven't been discovered yet. Maybe it's the same in Anyuan, like the little girl's father.

"You said yesterday that you've only been in your criminal investigation team for a month but you've already been involved in four or five cases. So, you participated in all the cases you just mentioned?"

Zhou Yi nodded, "It's all thanks to Captain Wu that we young people have the opportunity to learn and grow. Otherwise, with so many big cases, how would I have gotten a chance?"

Pan Hongjie said thoughtfully, "Oh, don't say that. A strong general has no weak soldiers under his command."

"Captain Pan, is there any pressure from above regarding this case?"

"Well, I won't lie to you. After I reported to Director Guo yesterday, he took it very seriously. He even encouraged me not to feel pressured, not to be impatient in handling the case, and to find out the facts and the truth so as to give the people of Anyuan an explanation."

"But this morning I suddenly got a phone call saying that the case was extremely serious and that we needed to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. They also mentioned Hongcheng, saying that you have been doing a great job recently and that we should learn from you."

So that's it! Zhou Yi finally understood why Pan Hongjie looked so worried.

He asked, "Did Director Guo set a deadline for you to solve the case?"

Zhou Yi didn't know why Director Guo's attitude had suddenly changed, but it was probably because after reporting to higher-ups, they demanded that the case be solved as soon as possible.

Pan Hongjie held out one hand and said, "Five days. They were originally only supposed to give me three days, but I managed to get five."

Zhou Yi nodded, thinking to himself that if you could get five days, then the time allotted from above must be seven days, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to get five days.

As for Director Guo giving three days at the beginning, it was to put extreme pressure on Pan Hongjie and keep him on edge.

This kind of thing is a skill in game theory.

However, Zhou Yi always felt there was something wrong with the idea of ​​solving cases within a limited time, because it was easy to create wrongful convictions in order to close a case.

Applying pressure is understandable, but in the end, it often backfires in an attempt to complete an order.

For example, Du Qingming's case is a special case.

However, the requirement to solve a case within a specified time limit is generally used for extremely serious cases or cases involving special official duties.

"Captain Pan, is there some major event coming up in Anyuan?" Zhou Yi initially thought of May Day, but back in 1997, May Day hadn't become a long holiday yet; it was just a normal one-day holiday.

"The city is going to hold an investment promotion conference next month, with plans to expand the development of the aquaculture industry in Anyuan."

“That makes sense.” Zhou Yi nodded. “Director Guo put pressure on you because the city is going to hold this investment promotion conference, and he’s afraid that this kind of heinous murder case will affect foreign investment.”

Pan Hongjie nodded. Of course he knew why, but what good did knowing do?

“Captain Pan, since Captain Wu has assigned me to assist in the investigation, just like I said on my first day, I will follow your orders. If we are short-handed, please arrange work for me anytime,” Zhou Yi said sincerely.

Pan Hongjie patted Zhou Yi's arm and said, "It's not that I'm deliberately not assigning you any work. Didn't you find the important clue about Jiang Wei when you went to investigate Ding Wenyuan with Xia?"

“But look at the current clues: the murder weapon, the car that dumped the body, and the identification of the two new victims. We have to investigate them one by one, and we can’t rush it. I’ve used all the people I can, and I won’t make a difference if you do. Besides, you’re not familiar with the situation in Anyuan. Many of the middle-aged and elderly people here can’t even speak Mandarin.”

"What I'm worried about now is how to solve this case in a short period of time."

Zhou Yi asked, "Is there any news about Jiang Wei?"

"We have already contacted the local police station and asked them to investigate the situation, because no one has lived in Jiang Wei's original place of residence for several years."

Jiang Wei cheated Fu Daqing out of money, so it's certain he'll run away; the question is whether he'll ever come back.

Just as Pan Hongjie finished speaking, the phone on the table rang.

After listening for a while, Pan Hongjie put down the phone and said to Zhou Yi, "I have news about Jiang Wei."

(End of this chapter)