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

Chapter 512 Seeking Justice (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

As soon as the group shouted, Li Linglong and Zhou Yi, without even having breakfast, stood up and ran towards the entrance of the county bureau.

The police inside the county bureau were also alerted. When Yang Chuan ran out, he saw that there were about thirty people gathered outside the county bureau gate.

The group was led by a man and a woman. The woman was probably in her thirties, overweight, and was crying.

The man looked to be under thirty, tall and thin, with tattoos on his arms.

The people standing behind the two were mostly young men in their twenties.

The tall, thin man at the head shouted something, and the group of young people behind him shouted it back in unison.

The commotion immediately attracted the attention of those around.

Many passersby stopped and gathered around, some of whom were on their way to work by bicycle.

The fine tradition of watching the excitement is indeed never lost, no matter where you are, even if you are late for work.

"Hehehe, what are you doing here? Do you even know where you are? Why are you causing trouble here?" Yang Chuan walked out and pointed at the man in the lead, shouting at him.

"Are you a police officer?" the tall, thin man asked, pursing his lips.

"I'm not you, I am! Didn't you see I came out of the police station?"

“As long as you’re a policeman, that’s enough. We demand that the murderer, Miao Genhua, be severely punished.” As soon as the man said this, his henchmen behind him echoed his sentiments.

Yang Chuan had just heard them shouting. Seeing the noisy crowd behind him, he glared at them and said, "What are you shouting for? This is the police station, not a karaoke bar."

Then, pointing at the man in the lead, he asked, "What are you doing? Show me your ID."

The tall, thin man tilted his head back and said, "My name is Zhang Kai, this is my sister Zhang Guifen, and Ma Weichang is my brother-in-law. He was killed by that little vixen Miao Genhua. I'm here today to seek justice for my sister!"

Yang Chuan glanced at Zhang Kai, then at Zhang Guifen who was crying beside him, and said nothing. He whispered to the police officer behind him, "Go find Director Li quickly."

"I just saw that Director Li seems to have gone out."

Yang Chuan nodded slightly, then said to Zhang Kai, "Show me your ID card!"

"No, did you hear what I said? I'm here to seek justice for my sister..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Chuan roared, "ID card! You think you're all that? Bringing a bunch of people to cause trouble in front of the police station, you've got some nerve! Everyone, show me your ID cards! Otherwise, we'll handcuff you and talk inside!"

Yang Chuan had been following Zhou Xiangdong, who had a fiery temper, for years. With just this one shout, he immediately intimidated the group of thugs behind him.

Zhang Kai was also a little scared. He wasn't stupid; of course he knew where he was.

Just as things quieted down, Zhang Guifen suddenly yelled and sat down on the ground, throwing a tantrum and crying, "The police are beating people! The police are beating people!"

Although many people were watching, most dared not get too close, and their view was blocked by the group Zhang Kai brought, so they didn't know what was going on.

Suddenly, a woman was heard crying and shouting that the police were beating people.

At this moment, Li Linglong and Zhou Yi ran back, saying "Make way" as they pushed their way through the crowd.

Some people were unhappy about being pushed around and said impatiently, "Why are you pushing? Have some manners!"

Li Linglong ignored the other party, while Zhou Yi glared at him coldly.

Li Linglong shouted, "I am Li Linglong, the director of the county public security bureau. What do you want to say to me?"

With a booming voice, the surroundings immediately fell silent; even Zhang Guifen on the ground dared not shout.

Upon hearing this, the person who had just been criticizing him for being rude quickly slunk away.

Zhou Yi followed Li Linglong through the crowd and came to Yang Chuan's side.

Yang Chuan quickly said, "Director Li, this woman is Zhang Guifen, Ma Weichang's ex-wife, and this man is her..."

Before Yang Chuan could finish speaking, Zhang Guifen jumped up from the ground: "What ex-wife? Don't talk nonsense! Ma Weichang is my husband!"

Li Linglong nodded to Yang Chuan to indicate that he understood, then looked at Zhang Guifen and asked, "Ms. Zhang, according to our investigation, you and Ma Weichang have already completed the divorce proceedings."

Zhang Guifen waved her hand dismissively and said, "That doesn't count. Our divorce was a sham."

"I'm sorry, there is no such thing as a fake divorce in law."

"We were tricked, tricked by that little vixen Miao Genhua."

"Ms. Zhang, what is the purpose of your visit here today?"

Zhang Kai interjected, "We're here today to demand an explanation. When are you going to execute that murderer, Miao Genhua?"

Zhou Yi watched from the side. This Zhang Guifen was indeed a shrew and fierce woman. She was unreasonable and would never listen to reason.

No wonder Ma Weichang was afraid of her; he spoke to her politely on the phone.

Li Linglong was relatively polite when speaking to Zhang Guifen, even though she seemed like a shrew, she was still a woman.

But as soon as Zhang Kai spoke, Li Linglong's face immediately fell.

He said coldly, "ID card!"

"Huh?" Zhang Kai was taken aback. "No, I came here to..."

Zhang Guifen quickly said, "He is my younger brother, he came to help me."

Li Linglong pointed arrogantly at the group of people behind him and demanded, "And what about these people? Are they all your relatives? Every single one of you, show me your ID cards!"

"Yang Chuan!"

"To!"

"Check the IDs of everyone blocking the entrance to the Public Security Bureau. Detain anyone whose identity cannot be verified. Do not let a single one go!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Chuan was overjoyed: "Yes!"

The police officers who had been standing behind Li Linglong and his men had searched all night without finding anything, and they were all seething with anger inside the county bureau.

At the director's command, everyone swarmed around the group of people.

Zhang Kai was startled and shouted anxiously, "What...what are you doing? What right do you have to arrest us? We haven't broken the law!"

Li Linglong, now exuding an aura of dominance, sneered, "Hmph! Not breaking the law?"

"Why are you bringing so many people to the police station to shout slogans and demonstrate for no reason? What are you trying to do?"

"Is it a case of gathering a crowd to disrupt public order, provoking trouble, or storming a state agency?"

"Let me tell you, according to the law, regardless of the specific crime, you, as the organizer, will bear the corresponding legal responsibility!"

"Yang Chuan, bring this gentleman in and investigate him thoroughly! Everyone else, once their identities have been verified, may leave!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Kai was stunned. Seeing Yang Chuan approaching him with handcuffs, he quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out his ID, and handed it to Yang Chuan, who was standing in front of him, saying with a forced smile, "I... I didn't bring my ID card. Will my driver's license work?"

Yang Chuan held up the handcuffs, rolled his eyes at him, and said, "Why didn't you do this sooner? You won't shed a tear until you see the coffin."

"Director Li, should we continue investigating these people?"

Li Linglong said decisively, "Investigate!"

“Ms. Zhang,” Li Linglong called out.

Zhang Guifen looked at the bureau chief in front of her with some fear.

Li Linglong's assertiveness just now made her very wary.

"Do you want to say this standing here, or go inside?"

Zhang Guifen glanced into the police station and asked cautiously, "No...you're not going to arrest me, are you?"

Li Linglong laughed: "If you haven't broken the law, we police won't arrest you."

Zhang Guifen hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Let's go inside and talk."

"Yang Chuan, bring this along too, to the reception room," Li Linglong said, pointing at Zhang Kai.

"Okay!" Yang Chuan put away the handcuffs, holding Zhang Kai's driver's license in his hand, and said, "Gentlemen, let's go."

Zhang Guifen and Zhang Kai followed Yang Chuan inside. Li Linglong said helplessly in a low voice, "Now I understand Captain Zhou's style of doing things a little better. We have to be tough on this kind of shameless behavior. If we police officers are weak, how can those law-abiding citizens feel safe? It seems I don't understand frontline work enough. I apologize."

Zhou Yi smiled and said, "Director Li, you are truly a good leader."

Li Linglong smiled and patted Zhou Yi on the shoulder, saying, "Go do me a favor."

"You say."

"I haven't had breakfast yet. I've already paid for it. Could you pack up my food and bring it back for me? You eat first, and I'll eat after I've finished asking around."

Zhou Yi smiled and said okay repeatedly, then ran back to the breakfast stall she had just been to.

When the breakfast stall owner saw him return, he brought out two bowls of noodle soup and a plate of pancakes sprinkled with white sesame seeds.

"Young man, I'm wondering why he ran away so suddenly."

"Boss, could you please pack this up for me? How much was the takeout box? I'll make up the difference."

"Hey, forget about the money. By the way, what's going on over there? I can't leave either. Did you guys go to watch the commotion?" Zhou Yi laughed: "It's nothing. A bunch of idiots came and caused trouble at the police station."

The boss exclaimed in surprise, "Really? With Captain Zhou around, when did these guys get so bold?"

"Boss, do you know Captain Zhou Xiangdong?"

“I know him. Everyone in the small business around here knows him. Those thugs are terrified of him. As soon as Captain Zhou glares at them, they're like mice seeing a cat. Here, it's all packed up. Young man, hold on tight and don't spill it, be careful it's hot.”

"Thank you, boss." Zhou Yi carried the packed breakfast back home.

The young director of the former Beixian County Public Security Bureau and the hot-tempered captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade taught Zhou Yi a lesson: nothing is absolutely right or absolutely perfect.

Neither Li Linglong nor Zhou Xiangdong did anything wrong; they were simply fulfilling their vows in their own ways.

The crowd that had gathered at the entrance had mostly dispersed, but Zhang Kai's henchmen were undergoing identity verification. Some had already left, but some remained.

Zhou Yi walked over and asked one of the young men, "Where are you from?"

The other party cautiously replied, "We're from the city... Caesars Entertainment City. We're all employees under General Manager Zhang."

"An entertainment center? This Zhang Kai is your boss?" Zhou Yi thought to himself, this guy doesn't seem like it.

The young man nodded.

"What kind of business does your entertainment center mainly handle?" Zhou Yi asked.

The young man counted on his fingers as he answered, "Game console, billiards, dance machine..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi exclaimed, "Good heavens, what kind of entertainment center is this? It's just a slightly larger arcade!"

Hearing the name "entertainment city," Zhou Yi assumed it was something like the Golden Phoenix Nightclub.

The game console and stuff—isn't that the gift Gao Qiqiang prepared for Tang Xiaolong after his release from prison?

Zhou Yi had just smiled and was about to leave when a thought suddenly popped into his head when he thought of Brother Qiang and Brother Dao.

"Do you have gambling machines?" Zhou Yi asked.

The young man was taken aback and quickly replied, "No...no..."

The young man was indeed in his early twenties, but Zhou Yi was not. With the soul of a seasoned veteran detective, he immediately saw through the charade.

However, Zhou Yi didn't dwell on the other party. The group outside were all small fry; the focus was on the boss inside.

Gambling machines are definitely illegal, but in general, law enforcement is not very strong, since police resources are limited.

In most cases, arcades and game rooms, even if they have gambling machines, usually only one or two, hidden in some corner or back room, and they don't allow anyone who isn't familiar with the place to play.

As long as nothing serious happens, the police station usually turns a blind eye.

Because it couldn't form a large scale, and in an era when socio-economic conditions were not developed enough, it was impossible to achieve a situation where "the water is too clear and there are no fish."

Even if these small-scale operations with only one or two machines are shut down, gamblers like Miao Zhuang won't stop just because they can't gamble anymore. They will try to do other exciting things, which will indirectly breed more criminal activities.

However, the arcades in towns are generally small and do not cause much harm.

But Zhang Kai's entertainment center is different. He can bring twenty or thirty henchmen to support the event, which shows that his arcade is quite large.

In 1997, entertainment equipment was far less developed. Zhou Yi remembers that most games were arcade games, such as King of Fighters and Three Kingdoms.

It mainly targets students and unemployed individuals who make money by selling cryptocurrency.

To support so many underlings and rent a venue, without involving any illegal transactions, this business is quite risky.

Therefore, Zhou Yi basically already knows the answer.

However, he didn't intend to let Li Linglong investigate the matter, since Zhang Kai's entertainment center was in the city and not within Li Linglong's jurisdiction.

However, this can be a bargaining chip; it can be used to intimidate people if they don't cooperate with the investigation.

Zhou Yi asked someone which meeting room Director Li and Yang Chuan were in, and someone gave him directions.

He left his breakfast there temporarily before heading towards the reception room.

When he reached the door, he heard voices inside. He stopped and gently knocked on the door.

"Please come in."

He pushed open the door and entered; there were four people inside.

"Director Li," Zhou Yi called out, closed the door, and pulled over a stool to sit down.

Li Linglong nodded and said to Zhang Guifen, "Ms. Zhang, please continue."

Zhou Yi later learned that, just before they sat down, Li Linglong had given the siblings a shocking blow.

Li Linglong asked them, "What did you mean by gathering so many people at the door and shouting for severe punishment of the murderer Miao Genhua?"
Zhang Guifen said that it must have been that little vixen Miao Genhua who killed her husband, Ma Weichang, in order to seize their family's property.

Li Linglong asked, "What do you mean by 'certain'? What evidence do you have to prove it?"

Zhang Guifen stammered, "I knew it without even thinking, it must be that little vixen."

Zhang Kai chimed in, saying that ever since his brother-in-law got involved with Miao Genhua, he's abandoned his family.

Li Linglong completely ignored their scoundrel logic and coldly retorted: So you have no evidence to prove it.

Zhang Guifen and Zhang Kai were speechless.

Li Linglong banged on the table and said: "Without any evidence, just based on your own subjective guesses, you gathered a large group of people to come to the police station to demonstrate and cause trouble. Do you know what kind of situation this is?"
The act of making trouble unreasonably is mostly just a manifestation of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

No matter how unreasonable Zhang Guifen and Zhang Kai were, they didn't dare to act recklessly in front of a powerful police chief, who truly had the ability to deal with them.

Zhang Guifen paused for a few seconds, adjusted her strategy, and began to cry.

She lamented her misfortune, saying she had been tricked into getting a divorce by Ma Weichang, and that her son was only in the third grade of elementary school, wondering what he would do without his father.

Being a victim's family member is indeed more convenient than being a troublemaker.

However, Li Linglong had already seen through the other party's true nature, so he only offered a few symbolic words of comfort.

Then they asked them how they knew about Ma Weichang's death.

The Shacao Town Police Station did indeed contact her yesterday morning to ask if she knew Ma Weichang's whereabouts, as Ma Weichang's body had not yet been found at that time.

After the body was discovered in the afternoon, the process of identifying the body required notifying the family and having them identify the body; this was also the duty of the police.

However, Zhang Guifen is the ex-wife, so the police will only notify her immediate family members, and only adult immediate family members.

Li Linglong asked this question, naturally to rule out suspicion, since it was highly suspicious that Miao Genhua knew about it.

However, Zhang Guifen's reply was quite reasonable, because the police found and informed Ma Weichang's parents, and the two elderly people naturally went to find their daughter-in-law immediately.

But the fact that Zhang Guifen brought her younger brother and a large group of people to cause trouble at the county bureau early this morning actually reflects a problem.

It's highly likely that little affection remains between Zhang Guifen and Ma Weichang; the only thing that can truly hold them together is their son, Ma Xiaoyang.

So Zhang Guifen brought people to cause this scene with only one purpose: to make the police treat Miao Genhua as the murderer, so that Miao Genhua would not have the right to inherit the estate.

Then all of Ma Weichang's money will be safe.

As for how Ma Weichang died, she did not know. Due to the special circumstances of the case, based on the preliminary autopsy conducted by Zhou Yi, the police did not inform the family of the cause of Ma Weichang's death.

Therefore, Zhang Guifen came to make trouble without knowing the cause of Ma Weichang's death, certainly not to seek justice for Ma Weichang.

It's all about money!

Zhou Yi sighed. Ma Weichang wasn't exactly a wealthy boss, yet everyone around him was eyeing the money in his pocket.

I suspect that the only people who will truly grieve for his death are his parents and his son.

Therefore, wealth is never the goal; it is merely a means to make life better.

Since there is no evidence, we can only ask her to tell us everything she knows and see if we can get any valuable clues from it.

When Zhou Yi came in, Zhang Guifen had just started rambling on about how poor Ma Weichang was when she married him.

It was similar to what Ma Weichang told Zhou Yi and the others the day before yesterday, except that his stance was more biased towards Zhang Guifen herself.

In short, she is incredibly kind and wonderful. If Ma Weichang makes money in business, it's all thanks to her; if he loses money, it's all Ma Weichang's fault.

The main message is "Without me, he's nothing."

And she cried as she spoke, looking extremely aggrieved.

But she thought she was like Xianglin's wife. In Li Linglong and Yang Chuan's eyes, she was like the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning, all thunder and no rain, and they cried for a long time but didn't see a few tears.

So when Zhou Yi came in and interrupted her annoying rhythm, Li Linglong was quite pleased.

“Ms. Zhang, please continue,” Li Linglong said. “You just asked what happened to Ma Weichang?”

Zhang Guifen said angrily, "Ma Weichang has a criminal record!"

(End of this chapter)