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

Chapter 416 Good Luck Hotel
Besides angering Zhou Yi, Flour Sister's words also made him and Chen Yan realize a problem.

Despite the task force's best efforts to block information, the speed at which information spread far exceeded their expectations.

It seems that the news has spread beyond the university campus and is known to the wider public.

Although it's only a matter of time, especially if the case remains unsolved for a long time, it will eventually lead to the same outcome as in the previous life.

Fortunately, the internet was not yet well-developed at that time, and traditional media was still easy to control, so the impact of the massive case had not yet fully materialized.

"When did she resign?" Zhou Yi ignored the other person's question.

Moreover, he had already figured out that the supervisor was a complete waste of space, and that the older woman was probably the boss's wife.

"She left the day after I gave her the money. I've never seen anyone so ungrateful. If I hadn't felt sorry for her, I wouldn't have hired her. She took advantage of my kindness."

"Young man, she was really killed? I heard she was chopped into tiny pieces."

Zhou Yi asked coldly, "So you know something, right? Since you do, come back with us and cooperate with the investigation." As he spoke, he pulled out gleaming handcuffs.

The older woman was taken aback. When she realized that Zhou Yi's expression didn't seem to be joking, she was startled and took a step back. She quickly waved her hands and said, "I don't know, I don't know. I just heard the customers talking nonsense."

Zhou Yi turned to the fat man, holding up Lu Xiaoshuang's photo, and asked, "What did you do to her while she was working here?"

Upon hearing this, the fat man immediately shook his head, his chubby face jiggling. "No, I didn't do anything."

Have you ever been sexually harassed?

"Sex... what the heck?" The fat man didn't understand.

Chen Yan scolded, "He was just touching young girls inappropriately, he had ulterior motives!"

"No...no, this brat wouldn't let me touch her. She just touched my hand and started yelling that she was going to call the police," the fat man blurted out.

Before Zhou Yi could get angry, Chen Yan pulled out handcuffs and was about to arrest the fat man for hooliganism, since the fat man had confessed to the crime of insulting and molesting women.

The fat man was stunned. He shouted that he was wronged and that he had only touched her hand. He had evened things out with the slap he received. He also cried out for his sister to save him.

The woman behind the counter rushed out, shouting and yelling, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.

Immediately afterwards, a burly man with bare chest ran out of the kitchen carrying two kitchen knives, cursing and shouting as he charged toward Zhou Yi and Chen Yan.

But the next second, the big guy immediately chickened out, and the two kitchen knives clattered to the ground as he raised his hands in surrender.

Because Zhou Yi's gun was pointed at him.

This commotion scared away the remaining customers at the next few tables, and the flour vendor shouted anxiously, "You haven't paid yet! You haven't paid yet!"

Just then, a patrolling police officer passed by and came in to ask what was going on.

The flour lady and the fat man even turned the tables, pointing at Zhou Yi and Chen Yan and saying they were impersonating police officers.

Only the shirtless burly man didn't dare utter a single word. The other side already had a gun, and these two blind fools still dared to say such things; they were really asking for death.

The two patrolling police officers were from a nearby police station. After confirming Zhou Yi and Chen Yan's identities, both the flour lady and the fat man were dumbfounded.

Zhou Yi sneered, "You were already suspected of insulting and molesting women, and now you're slandering public officials. Very well, it seems you're definitely going to jail."

Then, with the help of the police station, the situation of the Good Luck Restaurant was quickly investigated.

In addition to these three people, they also questioned the store's employees and surrounding merchants.

It turns out that the woman with the powder all over her face was neither the owner nor the receptionist, but the restaurant's accountant.

The fat man was indeed the foreman, and also the older sister's younger brother.

As for the shirtless burly man who rushed out with a knife, he was the cook and also the older sister's lover.

Yes, the two guys, who are almost a hundred years old combined, are lovers. What's even more outrageous is that Sister Flour has a husband and son back in the countryside.

However, this cook is not the owner.

Because the real boss passed away in March; he was an old man.

The old man and his wife opened this shop in their early years. It started as a small, unassuming eatery, but later gained a reputation for its large portions and delicious food, attracting many regular customers. The small storefront eventually grew into a fairly large restaurant.

The only regret was that the couple never had any children. Later, the old woman passed away, leaving only the old man.

The old man devoted all his energy to the business, and the restaurant became more and more famous, and the business got better and better.

The cook was an apprentice the old man had taken in a long time ago. He had followed the old man for a long time and always worked diligently. The old man was thinking of passing on the business to this apprentice after he passed away.

Although this apprentice learned the old man's skills, his character was questionable. He had been married twice and divorced twice because of infidelity.

Later, he got together with the older sister who was in charge of the accounts, and she then brought her own younger brother to be the foreman.

However, while the old man was alive, these three couldn't cause any real trouble; at most, they would sneak around and do some minor things.

Especially this fat supervisor, who loves to grope young and pretty female waitresses, has been scolded by the old man many times.

When Lu Xiaoshuang was working here, the old man was still alive, but his health was failing and he was no longer very attentive.

After the old man died in March, these three people completely let loose and started causing all sorts of trouble.

Domestically, they are domineering and extravagant; internationally, they are stingy and perfunctory.

Soon, the consequences came; the restaurant's business plummeted, and its regular customers left cursing all the way.

Some of the waiters and cooks couldn't stand the three of them and left as well. As a result, in just over a month, the place became the desolate place it is today.

Zhou Yi went to check the kitchen and found not only poor hygiene but also some "good stuff," so he decided to send them on their way.

So they called the industry and commerce department and told them that there were two barrels of gutter oil in the kitchen of Haoyunlai Restaurant, which was suspected of being a food safety issue, and asked them to come and deal with it.

Anyway, closure, rectification, and fines are inevitable. It's estimated that after this series of measures, Haoyunlai Restaurant will be completely shut down.

As for that fat foreman, he won't get off so easily.

After Chen Yan and the police officers at the police station worked on her mind, a young female waitress stood up and accused the fat man of molesting her. She also mentioned that the original receptionist had resigned because she couldn't stand the harassment from the supervisor.

Before October 1997, there was also the crime of hooliganism, so this guy is probably in for a rough time.

However, Zhou Yi and Chen Yan didn't concern themselves with this matter; they simply left it to the police station to handle.

The unassuming fat man was crying his eyes out.

He shouted that he was wrong, that he would never do it again, and begged them to let him go.

Seeing his disheveled appearance, Zhou Yi sneered, "You don't know you were wrong, you just know you have to pay the price for your actions and that you will be punished by law."

Having vented Lu Xiaoshuang's anger, Zhou Yi's pent-up frustration from the past few days was finally relieved.

They then did two more things.

First, we need to rule out this fatso as a suspect. Since he's here and has harassed Lu Xiaoshuang before, we still need to go through the necessary procedures.

The fat man confessed that he spent his days at the shop and his nights playing mahjong with friends, and provided the contact information for three of his mahjong partners. Zhou Yi immediately called each of them to confirm.

Then Zhou Yi took out Xu Liu's photo and asked if anyone in the store recognized her, but everyone said they had never seen her before.

It seems that the only people who have seen Xu Liu are the resigned receptionist and Lu Xiaoshuang.

After obtaining the receptionist's contact information, the two thanked their two colleagues at the police station for their hard work and handed over the follow-up tasks to them.

Then I continued looking for people, and while I was at it, I found a clean-looking noodle shop nearby and had a bowl of beef noodles.

Chen Yan said he would treat Zhou Yi to dinner, and Zhou Yi did not refuse.

After paying at the counter, Chen Yan returned and sat down, placing two bottles of Jianlibao on the table.

Zhou Yi glanced at Jianlibao and smiled knowingly.

The two of them popped open the soda can.

"Zhou Yi, now that all these facts have been verified, it should be enough to prove that Lu Xiaoshuang had no opportunity to commit the crime, right?"

"Well, all that's left is the fingerprints on the murder weapon. Fingerprints alone are only one piece of evidence and have no legal effect, so Lu Xiaoshuang's status as a suspect can be cleared."

That's why he came here today to investigate these matters personally; he wanted to confirm them as soon as possible.

Lu Xiaoshuang was previously identified as a suspect for three reasons: motive for the crime, lack of an alibi, and key physical evidence.

The motive for a crime is a subjective judgment made by criminal investigators based on investigative clues.

Objective evidence requires both an alibi and physical evidence; if only one of these is available, it is considered isolated evidence.

For example, if you cannot provide a valid alibi at the time of the crime, like Xiao Bing said, "I was sleeping alone at home."

Or you have a strong alibi, but your fingerprints are found on the murder weapon.

Either of these two situations, when occurring alone, constitutes an isolated case.

In the judiciary, it is clearly stipulated that a single piece of evidence cannot be used as evidence to determine the facts of a case; it must be corroborated or supported by other evidence.

Therefore, as long as Zhou Yi can obtain either an alibi or physical evidence, Lu Xiaoshuang can successfully clear her name as a suspect.

Zhou Yi was in a great mood. The two young men devoured their noodles in no time and then went to find the receptionist.

This took some more time, and they finally found the girl at another restaurant.

She still works as a receptionist. Her appearance isn't particularly outstanding, but she is indeed tall and slender.

Upon learning their purpose, the girl wiped away tears and repeatedly said she was willing to step forward and accuse the fat man, indicating that she had been bullied quite badly before.

Zhou Yi then showed her a photo of Xu Liu and asked her to identify her. To her surprise, she recognized her at a glance, saying that she remembered the girl because she was dressed quite fashionably and had put on makeup and lipstick. She thought the girl was there to eat, but it turned out she was there to interview for a waitress position.

Zhou Yi originally just wanted to confirm this matter, but unexpectedly, after asking the receptionist a few more questions, he made a new discovery.

When the receptionist recalled Xu Liu's visit to the restaurant, she mentioned information that the task force had not previously been aware of.

She said that Xu Liu looked at the pager several times while waiting, and seemed somewhat restless.

This was quite unexpected, because the task force had previously searched Xu Liu's personal belongings and questioned her family and roommates in order to confirm whether she had any communication devices.

However, no pager or mobile phone was found, and the roommates confirmed that they had never seen such a thing before.

As for the IC cards for the school's public telephones, they are anonymous prepaid cards that can be purchased at the school's convenience store. Moreover, even if they are registered, the IC card system does not have the function of checking call records; due to technological limitations, this is not possible these days.

Unexpectedly, they learned from a tiny clue that Xu Liu had a pager.

She never revealed the pager to her classmates, which most likely means there's something fishy going on; otherwise, why would she be so secretive?

Zhou Yi guessed that the pager was probably bought by that man for Xu Liu, for use in contact when necessary.

As for her anxiously checking her pager while waiting for the interview, it was actually a kind of distress signal, similar to that of a drowning person.

This shows that deep down, she didn't want to work and earn money like Lu Xiaoshuang, and hoped that this man would change his mind and continue their relationship.

However, the pager is most likely lost; the murderer has probably already disposed of it.

The only hope now is to find the pager's number and then check the communication records using that number.

Of course, you can only find the numbers that have been called, not the content, because the technology cannot support it.

After exchanging information with the receptionist, the two left. Zhou Yi then called Ni Jianrong directly to report the situation.

Now that Wu Yongcheng is on leave, he naturally has to report any discoveries he makes directly to Ni Jianrong.

Although he could report to Liang Wei, since both of them were deputy leaders of the task force, this kind of thing was inherently very delicate. If he bypassed Ni Jianrong and reported to Liang Wei, who came from the provincial department, it would easily arouse Ni Jianrong's dissatisfaction.

At this critical juncture, it's better to avoid trouble.

Moreover, Wu Yongcheng also said that since the Long Zhiqiang case, his relationship with Ni Jianrong has improved, and when the initial list of members of the task force was drafted, Ni Jianrong did not object to his inclusion.

Ni Jianrong was very excited when he heard the news, because the current large-scale investigation had indeed made little progress, especially since the people sent all the way to Huaixing were his own men. Naturally, he wanted to make a breakthrough as soon as possible.

"Zhou Yi, you did a great job," Ni Jianrong praised over the phone. "I'll have someone go through Xu Liu's student records and her roommates' teachers again to see if we can find this pager number."

Zhou Yi felt that this wouldn't work and would probably be an ineffective investigation, so he said tactfully, "Captain Ni, how about we expand the scope of the investigation?"

"How will it be expanded?"

"I'm wondering, Xu Liu doesn't have many friends on campus, her grades are just average, and she doesn't work part-time to earn money, so what does she do in her spare time? University is different from high school; there aren't as many classes, so extracurricular life is much richer. We can check clubs, interest groups, academic lectures, or open courses across the entire university. These usually use separate registration information, so we might find some clues. It's just that the workload is quite heavy, and it requires a lot of manpower and time."

As soon as Zhou Yi finished speaking, Ni Jianrong immediately said, "Your suggestion is excellent. I will arrange for its implementation right away."

"Team Leader Ni..."

"What's wrong? Is there anything else?"

"Are you and Captain Liang in the special task force or at the bureau now? I would like to report to you and Captain Liang in person on some of the findings of today's investigation."

Ni Jianrong was taken aback: "Didn't we just report that?"

Zhou Yi immediately understood that this Captain Ni clearly did not understand his intention, so he explained, "It's not about the pager, it's mainly about confirming Lu Xiaoshuang's statement."

"Oh, this doesn't need to be reported in person. Just compile the investigation findings and give them to the internal affairs team. We can share them with everyone at the meeting later."

The task force also operates according to rules. Zhou Yi and his team are the field personnel who are on the front lines, while the internal affairs team is responsible for organizing and archiving case materials, coordinating the flow of information, etc. It is equivalent to the original command center, but it belongs to the task force.

Zhou Yi was so anxious that he almost scratched his head like a monkey. This Captain Ni is so clueless! I've already pointed out the direction for you, don't you understand what I mean?

Just then, Liang Wei's voice came through the phone: "Captain Ni, there's a small matter. Oh, you're on the phone, right?"

Zhou Yi then heard Ni Jianrong say, "Zhou Yi called to say that he wanted to report to us in person on the progress of the investigation and verification of Lu Xiaoshuang's statement."

“Oh, Zhou Yi…” Liang Wei paused for a second before saying, “Then let him come.”

Zhou Yi was overjoyed. The experts from the provincial department had high emotional intelligence. Ni Jianrong had just said, "We're in the bureau, come over here."

Zhou Yi immediately thanked the two leaders and drove back to the bureau with Chen Yan.

His goal was simply to get the task force to release Lu Xiaoshuang as soon as possible; otherwise, why would he be in such a hurry to report to them in person?

The two went straight to Ni Jianrong's office, knocked on the door, and were let in.
But when they opened the door, they found four people inside.

Besides Ni Jianrong and Liang Wei, there were two other strangers Zhou Yi had never met before.

The two men were around fifty or sixty years old and appeared to be leaders, but judging from their demeanor, they were probably not leaders within the public security system.

Zhou Yi assumed the man was a leader from the city, so he quickly said sorry to bother him and was about to close the door.

Unexpectedly, Liang Wei stood up and smiled, "Come in if you're alright, we've finished talking here."

Seeing him stand up, the other three also stood up and began exchanging pleasantries.

Zhou Yi learned from their conversation that these two were not leaders from the city, but rather sent by the school.

Because Liang Wei addressed the two men as professors.

Ni Jianrong told Liang Wei that he would see the two school leaders off. Liang Wei smiled and said thank you for your hard work, Ni Zhidui. Then he greeted the two elderly men, saying, "Principal Liu, Dean Chen, I won't see you off. I still have some work to do."

The two school leaders glanced at Zhou Yi and Chen Yan at the door and said with a smile, "No need, no need. The case is important. Thank you for your hard work."

Ni Jianrong escorted the two school leaders downstairs, and the sound of their conversation gradually faded into the distance.

Liang Wei said, "Come in, have a seat."

Zhou Yi and Chen Yan went inside and sat down in the chairs where the two school leaders had just sat.

Liang Wei took away the two cups of tea that had been drunk from the table and said helplessly, "A vice principal and a dean of a college said they were representing the school to cooperate with our police, and then they kept running to the task force every few days, urging us to solve the case. We can't send them away, and we can't just tell them the key points of the investigation, so your Director Xie can only avoid going to the task force."

Zhou Yi laughed and said, "So you and Captain Ni were also trying to avoid them?"

Liang Wei smiled and said, "The task force couldn't find us, so they came all the way to the bureau. We've been repeating the same old story for ages. Luckily, you guys are back."

After a while, Ni Jianrong, who had seen the person off, also returned.

Upon entering, Zhou Yi and Liang Wei exchanged a helpless smile. Zhou Yi hadn't expected the school to be so vigilant, since there was no record of this kind of incident in the case files of her previous life.

Liang Wei poured a glass of water for the two of them: "Come on, young comrades, tell me about what you've accomplished today."

Zhou Yi then reported on the verification of Lu Xiaoshuang's statement and the fact that Xu Liu had a pager.

Liang Wei was surprised: "Oh really? This is a good clue, very useful. There must be something special about this pager, let's find it quickly."

At this moment, Ni Jianrong said, "When I saw Principal Liu and Dean Chen off earlier, I told them that in addition to the regular investigation, I also asked them to cooperate and compile the registration information of school clubs, interest groups, academic lectures and open classes for us. The regular information may not be available."

Liang Wei nodded repeatedly: "Team Leader Ni is indeed experienced and acts quickly."

Ni Jianrong smiled but didn't say anything, but out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Zhou Yi, who was looking down at the documents in his hands and didn't even look up.

Zhou Yi placed the documents in front of the two men and said, "These are records confirmed by eyewitnesses. Please take a look, leaders."

Liang Wei picked it up and looked at it, then turned to Ni Jianrong with a half-smile and asked, "Captain Ni, now that it can be confirmed that Lu Xiaoshuang had no time to commit the crime, can we withdraw her from the suspect list? After all, the law clearly states that a single piece of evidence is insufficient."

Ni Jianrong glanced at Zhou Yi and said, "I have no objection."

Liang Weichong said to Zhou Yi, "Let's follow the procedure and have her fill out a written application herself."

Suppressing his excitement, Zhou Yi thanked the two of them.

Of course, it's impossible to release someone on the same day through normal procedures, but at least the matter is finally resolved, and Lu Xiaoshuang no longer needs to carry such a psychological burden.

“Zhou Yi, there’s one more thing I need to remind you of,” Liang Wei said.

"As you analyzed before, the killer's original targets may have included Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang. So, how should we properly arrange for Lu Xiaoshuang's safety after she gets out?"

This question immediately made Zhou Yi fall into deep thought, because he really hadn't thought about it before, but Liang Wei's words made a lot of sense.

"Two leaders, has Xiao Bing still not been found?" Zhou Yi asked.

……

About two kilometers west of Daguan Street, there is a small river.

There was a lonely little house by the river, and an old woman was sitting on a stool in front of the door, struggling to shuck corn kernels by hand.

A police officer in uniform walked over and asked, "Grandma, have you seen this person before?"

The police officer produced a photocopy of a photograph, and the person in the photo was Xiao Bing.

The old woman looked up, glanced at the policeman with a puzzled expression, and asked, tilting her ear, "What?"

The police officer knew that she had hearing problems, so he raised his voice and asked again.

The old lady waved her hand and said, "There's no one else in the house, I'm all alone."

When the police officer saw that she was giving irrelevant answers, he stopped asking her questions and craned his neck to look into the house. The simple little house was filled with all kinds of garbage that he had collected, making it so dark that he couldn't see anything.

When the police officer saw that the old woman ignored him and continued working with her head down, he turned and left.

"Alright, you go ahead and do your thing."

The old lady kept her head down and worked intently until she had finished picking all the corn in the basket. Then she rubbed her back, slowly stood up, and carried the basket of corn kernels into the house.

She closed the door behind her as she entered the house.

The old lady pulled the switch cord, and a five-watt incandescent bulb lit up on the simple roof beam.

In the dim light, the old lady pushed aside the pile of clutter in the corner, revealing an old bamboo curtain leaning against the wall.

The old woman lifted the bamboo curtain, and the lamplight illuminated a tense face.

"Xiao Bing, it's alright now, come out," the old lady said kindly.

The person under the curtain was Xiao Bing, whom the police were searching for.

His eyes were like those of a frightened bird.

"Mother-in-law, did the police find anything?" Xiao Bing asked in a low voice.

Something moved in the corner behind him.

He was a person who curled up in a ball.

(End of this chapter)