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

Chapter 501 I didn't get on the bus!
Li Linglong's words made Zhou Yi's heart sink instantly.

But he still asked sincerely, "Director Li, is it because of regulations?"

Li Linglong stood up, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Come on, don't rush, sit down and talk slowly."

Zhou Yi sat down, wanting to hear what he had to say and see if there was any room for maneuver.

"You see, you've noticed it too, haven't you? Many of our local comrades have a rather lax attitude towards their work. For example, in the case of Xipinggou, the local police station didn't pay attention to confidentiality."

"Of course, I'm not targeting you. After all, you're a police officer, so it's no big deal if you find out."

"But if they can tell you, they could also tell others. That would be detrimental to both public opinion and the investigation."

"So this is actually a very obvious problem with organizational discipline, and it's not just a problem of one police station, but a common practice among everyone."

"This kind of atmosphere definitely needs to be rectified and improved, but the problem is that our place is poor and doesn't have the same welfare benefits as economically developed areas. We can't take drastic measures to improve it, otherwise it will affect the overall stability of the work."

Compared to the previous polite remarks, Li Linglong's words were truly heartfelt.

He's right, there aren't any major problems, but some commonplace minor issues need to be addressed.

However, the more economically underdeveloped a place is, the more closed-minded and closed-minded people are. This has nothing to do with their profession, but rather with their living environment.

It's not enough to simply make the public security organs here follow the example of first-tier cities like the capital and Haicheng; rather, it's necessary to adapt to local conditions.

That's why Li Linglong said they couldn't use drastic measures, because if they pushed them too far and the subordinates collectively rebelled, he would still be responsible.

"Director Li, I understand. The situation here does indeed need to be improved step by step."

Li Linglong nodded: "You're a smart person, you figured it out, right?"

"Hmm." Zhou Yi guessed that, given Director Li's degree from the Public Security University, what he most wanted to do was to bring in more young, highly educated, and qualified new police officers to solve the problem at its root.

Within the system, some older people do indeed act with a sense of impunity, which is a very common phenomenon and there is no need to deliberately beautify it.

Trying to change the personalities of all these people would be a huge waste of effort.

The problem is, we're poor here. Where would we get the budget to expand our staff and recruit talent?

Therefore, Director Li's situation is somewhat awkward.

"Director Li, if I may be so bold as to ask, you said you couldn't agree to my participation in the investigation, is it because you're afraid others will have objections?"

Li Linglong hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded: "Our Captain Zhou is a veteran with a fiery temper. If I directly put you in this case, his reaction will definitely be the strongest, and you'll be the one who suffers in the end."

This statement is watertight; it covers everything that needs to be said, but doesn't explicitly state anything.

The implication was that I'd rather write a report on the Huangniu Township case than risk a falling out with Captain Zhou just to include you in it.

Generally speaking, as long as veteran cadres do not openly challenge the authority of the new leader, the new leader will not take the initiative to create friction with these veteran comrades.

Although Zhou Yi didn't do well in his previous life, it was a matter of personality and mindset, and he could see through these principles.

But if I do that, won't my plan fall through?

"Director Li, I think..." Zhou Yi still wanted to try.

Just as he opened his mouth, the phone on Li Linglong's desk rang.

"Just a moment," Li Linglong said as he answered the phone. "Huh, what's going on?"

Zhou Yi couldn't hear the voice on the microphone, but seeing that Li Linglong's expression had become obviously serious, he knew that something unexpected must have happened.

"How is Captain Zhou doing now? Is he alright?"

"Oh, that's good, that's good."

"Okay, I understand. You guys protect the scene, I'll come over and take charge personally."

After hanging up the phone, Li Linglong and Zhou Yi stood up almost simultaneously.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear..." Director Li said helplessly, "Captain Zhou was conducting an on-site inspection at the quarry in Xipinggou when he accidentally fell. He should be fine, but he may have fractured his right leg. He has already been sent to the county hospital. Sigh, he's an old comrade in his fifties, how can he afford to get injured like this?"

He started to walk out, because he had just said on the phone that he was going to the scene.

Just from the fact that he personally interrogated Zhang Gensheng, it's clear that Director Li's work style is indeed swift and efficient.

Zhou Yi followed him outside. Since the other party hadn't said he couldn't follow, he decided to play dumb.

Although Li Linglong didn't say anything else, Zhou Yi had already made a judgment based solely on the words "on-site investigation".

The body was likely discovered at the quarry in Xipinggou.

And it is very likely that it is the missing Ma Weichang.

Because Zhou Yi had learned about Miao Genhua's family's special circumstances, he had asked Zhao Liang if he had gone to the quarry to look for the child.

Zhao Liang replied that he had looked for it, but hadn't found it.

Therefore, the body could not be Ge Fangfang's, nor could it be a discarded body.

If the body couldn't be found in the first place, and now that the police are involved, suddenly moving it makes no sense.

Therefore, it is most likely Ma Weichang.

However, Zhou Yi didn't have time to think about why Ma Weichang was the one who died.
He followed Li Linglong outside, but halfway there, Li Linglong suddenly stopped and turned to look at him.

They've finally realized what's happening.

Before the other party could speak, Zhou Yi quickly asked, "Director Li, is Ma Weichang dead?"

A hint of surprise flashed in Li Linglong's eyes, and his eyeballs involuntarily moved to the upper left, a typical reaction when retrieving memories.

He was trying to recall if he had let anything slip when he answered the phone.

Once he was sure he hadn't said anything, he immediately thought of Zhang Gensheng's matter.

He suddenly realized that the young man in front of him was not just lucky to catch Zhang Gensheng.

"You said earlier that you know a lot about the Xipinggou case, right?"

Zhou Yi immediately replied, "I know the basic facts."

Li Linglong nodded and made a decision: "Then come with me first."

"Okay!" Zhou Yi was overjoyed; this was considered tacit agreement.

Although it's not very kind of you to say it, Captain Zhou Xiangdong's fall was really timely.

If he hadn't fallen, Director Li definitely wouldn't have taken him to the scene.

After all, he himself knew that his request was quite abrupt.

But he really wanted to find out what the truth was hidden behind the Xipinggou case.

And what exactly happened to this little girl, Ge Fangfang?
After Li Linglong finished speaking, he strode out like a shooting star.

Zhou Yi was already used to the young bureau chief's style, and quickly followed after him.

Li Linglong didn't call anyone else, but drove himself.

As soon as the car started moving, he said to Zhou Yi, "Tell me what you know about the case and your analysis on the way."

As the police car drove out of the county police station, Old Zhao was puzzled. Why was the chief taking Zhou Yi with him?
But the person who was more puzzled was not him, but the driver of the old car parked at the corner outside the county bureau. He was sitting in the car humming a song, bored, when he suddenly saw a police car drive by. The person in the car was none other than Zhou Yi.
"Hey, why...why did they leave?" He quickly opened the door and got out of the car, but could only watch helplessly as the police car sped away.

"This..." the driver shouted in the direction the police car had gone, "I didn't get in the car! Hey, I didn't get in the car!"

……

On the way, Zhou Yi explained the case to Li Linglong, which was also a way of organizing his own case-handling ideas.

Ge Fangfang went missing on the evening of July 22nd, which is exactly six days ago today.

Under normal circumstances, when a young child goes missing without any obvious signs of harm, accidents and abduction are usually the first considerations.

Although neither of these two possibilities can be completely ruled out at this time, Zhou Yi told Li Linglong about his previous analysis and the information that Director Chen had searched some key areas in Xipinggou.

Li Linglong nodded in agreement with his assessment and analysis, and told him to continue.

Zhou Yi said that after basically ruling out accidents and human trafficking, he focused his investigation on premeditated murder.

They provided their ideas to the Shacao Town Police Station, and yesterday the police station staff went to see Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang.

Zhou Yi vaguely described the information, only saying that he knew what Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang said and how they reacted.

They did not say that they asked in person or that they had made contact.

However, Li Linglong didn't react in any particular way.

Originally, based on the testimonies of Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang, all suspicions pointed to Shi Jian, Miao Genhua's first boyfriend.

This man is nearly thirty years old, yet he still does not have a proper job and has no fixed abode.

Moreover, it is highly likely that after Miao Genhua lost her husband, he maintained an abnormal, private relationship with her for a period of time.

Later, Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang had a fake marriage, and then their fake marriage turned into a real one.

This undoubtedly led to Miao Genhua and Shi Jian severing their original relationship.

This must have been a huge humiliation for Shi Jian, since thugs like him are extremely concerned about their reputation, especially since he'd also lost his woman. Therefore, the possibility of him seeking revenge is very high.

"So, you believe that Shi Jian killed Miao Genhua's six-year-old daughter, Ge Fangfang, and then murdered her current husband, Ma Weichang, in order to take revenge on Miao Genhua?" Li Linglong asked.

Zhou Yi's words were very clear in their thinking and concise in their explanation.

But Li Linglong felt that if that was all there was to it, then the case was far too simple.

This case was reported again by the Shacao Town Police Station this morning. Because the case has become more complicated, involving both suicide and disappearance, the county criminal investigation team has officially taken over the case.

However, since he had just taken over the case, he didn't ask any questions. He only knew that Zhou Xiangdong had led his men to Xipinggou to investigate the case.

Then, Lao Zhao came to him and said that a young policeman from Hongcheng had arrested a murderer and brought him over.

So he knew the basic facts of the case, but not in such detail.

Although he didn't come from a criminal investigation background, when he heard that his biological mother had committed suicide and his stepfather was missing, he realized that something was wrong with the case.

Although Shi Jian was indeed very suspicious, his feeling was that this person was not closely related to the case.

Zhou Yi's logic of simply following the clues left him somewhat disappointed.

“No, Director Li, I don’t believe Shi Jian is the murderer,” Zhou Yi replied firmly.

"Oh why?"

"I have three main points to make."

"First, Ge Fangfang disappeared in the village, and her route before disappearing was somewhat accidental. It's hard to predict how long a child will play, which road she will take home, or whether she will walk with other children. Moreover, the village itself shouldn't be very big, and it wasn't dark yet, so it probably wouldn't have taken Ge Fangfang more than ten minutes to walk home alone."

“Under these circumstances, it is virtually impossible for Shi Jian to find an opportunity to kidnap someone through long-term surveillance without any witnesses.”

"Secondly, Ma Weichang explicitly told the police officers at the police station yesterday that he suspected Shi Jian of having ulterior motives towards Ge Fangfang and was trying to retaliate against Miao Genhua. Under these circumstances, Ma Weichang is wary of Shi Jian, and even hostile towards him. Shi Jian's chances of successfully killing Ma Weichang under the current circumstances are very low."

Zhou Yi is still unclear about how Ma Weichang's body, found at the quarry, died, but regardless of the cause of death, the possibility of him being murdered by Shi Jian is extremely low.

"Besides, Ma Weichang has a car. How could Shi Jian, who only has two legs, possibly keep an eye on Ma Weichang, who has four wheels?"

Li Linglong nodded slightly, but did not speak.

"The third point is that Miao Genhua's suicide attempt last night was very strange."

"What's so strange about it?" Li Linglong also had this feeling, but he couldn't figure out the mystery behind it.

“Miao Genhua was hospitalized because she was feeling unwell after her daughter went missing. But I noticed that the doctor prescribed her regular glucose, which is something that can be administered or not. It’s likely that Miao Genhua insisted that she was not feeling well, but the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong, so they prescribed some glucose.”

When Zhou Yi said, "I've noticed," he noticed that Li Linglong glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

That's when I realized what had happened; the case was solved.

But what's done is done, so it doesn't matter anymore.

He continued, "Of course, this may not mean anything, but her mental state in the hospital at the time was actually not bad; it's just that she acted as if she wasn't doing well."

Li Linglong asked, "So you suspect that Miao Genhua went to the hospital faking illness?"

"We cannot rule out this possibility. In fact, if a daughter goes missing and her fate is unknown, unless she has suffered a huge physical and mental blow and can no longer bear it, a mother would generally insist on staying at home and waiting for news."

"At the same time, when people are anxious and nervous, they are more likely to feel safe in a familiar environment."

"Of course, we can assume that she's just being a bit dramatic and insists on going to the hospital. Or perhaps Ma Weichang is just being overly protective of his wife and insists on taking her to the hospital."

"But she did two things that were very unusual."

Li Linglong asked, "One was suicide? What was the other?"

Zhou Yi was taken aback and asked in return, "Director Li, didn't you know that the night before last, a man who resembled Shi Jian went to the hospital to see Miao Genhua?"

These words startled the young county bureau chief: "Is that so?"

Zhou Yi didn't know if Zhao Liang and the others hadn't provided complete information when they reported it, or if Director Li simply hadn't yet obtained such detailed information.

In short, he recounted how he discovered that Shi Jian might have gone to the hospital to see Miao Genhua.

Li Linglong couldn't help but secretly admire the young man's insight. Even veteran criminal investigators are no better than this. No wonder he was able to bring Zhang Gensheng, who had been at large for ten years, out of the loop.

“If we can confirm that the man who came looking for Miao Genhua is indeed Shi Jian, then Shi Jian is indeed not a suspect,” Li Linglong pondered. “It seems that the relationship between these two has never been severed.”

Zhou Yi did not agree with his opinion, because in his heart, there were even more extreme speculations.

"Since Shi Jian was at the county hospital the day before yesterday evening, I think his whereabouts shouldn't be hard to find. I guess Captain Zhou has already made the arrangements."

"Hmm, what about suicide? What do you think is wrong with that?"

"The most unusual thing about Miao Genhua's suicide is that the way she died was quite risky."

"Not safe? What do you mean?"

Zhou Yi explained: "People who commit suicide generally fall into two categories: either they don't want to live anymore and are truly determined to die. There are actually many ways to commit suicide, such as jumping off a building, jumping into a river, or cutting their wrists. Any of these methods will kill them faster than taking sleeping pills."

"She knew she was in the hospital, yet she still chose to steal sleeping pills from the patient next door to commit suicide. This method of death is extremely risky because the chances of being saved are very high. She couldn't possibly not know that."

This is also what Zhou Yi found strange when he heard Zhao Liang say that Miao Genhua committed suicide by taking sleeping pills in the hospital.

"The second type is that they don't want to die, but want to vent their emotions, or use suicide as a threat to achieve their goals. This is also a true reflection of most people who attempt suicide."

"The problem is that Miao Genhua's suicide was done secretly. She didn't make a big fuss or call Ma Weichang over to cause a scene. If the family members in the next bed hadn't discovered it, she might have actually succeeded in committing suicide."

"Of course, I don't know if six sleeping pills can kill someone. And the biggest problem is that her motive for suicide is completely unknown, and Ge Fangfang's body has not been found. Why would she commit suicide for no reason?"

Li Linglong pondered for a moment and then asked, "Is this seedling still at the county hospital?"

Zhou Yi laughed awkwardly, "Director Li, I really don't know."

Li Linglong suddenly realized: "It's my fault. I didn't realize I was treating you like one of our county bureau's people. So, this Miao Genhua must be hiding something about the reason for Ge Fangfang's disappearance."

“Yes! Miao Genhua is definitely not telling the truth. She is a key breakthrough in this case. Director Li, I suggest we take Miao Genhua into custody to prevent any further accidents.”

There were some things Zhou Yi didn't say, because they were purely guesses with no logical support, and he was afraid that saying them would frighten the bureau chief.

He suspected that Miao Genhua might be involved in Ge Fangfang's death, that she might have known about it from the beginning, and that she might even have participated in the crime of murdering Ge Fangfang.

As for the reason, he couldn't think of one yet.

He simply couldn't imagine what a mother's motives would lead her to poison her own daughter.

This is completely different from Tang Xue's case in Donghai Community. The child that Tang Xue gave birth to had no name, no life, and to Tang Xue it was just a vague thing, a lump of living flesh.

But a six-year-old child has grown up, is a living, breathing person, can cry, laugh, and make a fuss, and can say "Mom, I love you so much."

He couldn't imagine how a mother could be so cruel to such a child.

Is that even human?!
So first, we need to take the person into custody, and then conduct a thorough interrogation.

Miao Genhua was just an ordinary rural woman with some looks; she couldn't possibly be difficult to deal with.

Even if you have to pry, you can still get something out of her.

Li Linglong pointed ahead and said, "We'll be at Xipinggou soon. I'll send someone to do as you say in a bit."

Zhou Yi nodded and looked ahead into the distance.

Unlike Yangjiatun and Tuanjie Village, the terrain in these two places is relatively flat.

But the terrain in Xipinggou ahead is much more undulating. Looking ahead, there are many mountains and slopes of varying heights. But unlike Yunxia Mountain, these mountains are as barren as this land, with only sparse trees and rocks.

The police car had to slow down as the road became narrower and more uneven.

Nestled in a valley surrounded by a group of not-so-high mountains, there is a small village, Xipinggou, which I had heard about for a long time but was seeing for the first time.

However, the quarry is not in the village, but in the mountains behind the village, so you still need to go through the village.

Fortunately, as soon as their police car arrived at the village entrance, Zhou Yi saw a police officer in uniform waiting there. Upon seeing the car, the officer immediately came to greet them.

"Chief, thank you for your hard work. Captain Zhou asked me to wait for you here." The policeman who ran over to speak was about the same age as Li Linglong, with a square face and a rather rugged appearance.

"Has Captain Zhou been taken to the hospital?"

“He’s gone, he’s gone, but he’s still stubbornly refusing to go.” The other person suddenly noticed the unfamiliar face in the passenger seat and asked in confusion, “Chief, this guy doesn’t look familiar.”

Li Linglong glanced at Zhou Yi and casually said, "This is Zhou Yi. He's... someone from the city who came to help."

Zhou Yi quickly greeted the other party and praised Director Li for being a true bureau chief.

When he said he was from the city, people naturally assumed he was sent by the city's public security bureau, so there was no need to explain Zhou Yi's identity further.

But Li Linglong wasn't lying; the Hongcheng Municipal Public Security Bureau is still within the city limits.

"What's the situation at the scene now? Are you sure it's Ma Weichang's body?" Li Linglong asked.

"It's confirmed. The village chief and the others have identified the body. The preliminary assessment is that Ma Weichang may have committed suicide."

Zhou Yi and Li Linglong were both shocked: "Suicide?"

(End of this chapter)