Courtyard House: The Long-Lost Eldest Son Returns with Military Merit

When Grandma Zhang heard her grandson's question, she really wanted to tell them about how Jia Dongming had helped the Zhang family, so that the children would always remember this kindness.

But considering that the two children were still young, and to avoid causing trouble for Jia Dongming, she decided to keep the secret for the time being and tell them when they grew up.

Grandma Zhang took out a large bowl from the cupboard, poured all the food from the government lunchbox into it, and then gave each of the two children a steamed bun before saying, "Dou Ding, Dou Zi, Grandma's workplace provides two meals a day, so we won't have to worry about going hungry anymore."

"When Grandma gets her salary next month, she'll send you all to school."

When DouDing heard that he could go to school like the other children in the yard, a look of surprise immediately appeared on his tender little face.

He looked up at his grandmother, excitedly asking, "Grandma, is it true? Can I really go to school?"

Looking at her grandson's expectant and joyful face, Grandma Zhang was filled with mixed emotions.

She lovingly patted her grandson's head and gently replied, "Dou Ding, Grandma earns eighteen yuan a month, and we get two free meals every day. We won't have to worry about food anymore."

"Grandma, you should eat too, this steamed bun is so delicious."

Douzi took a bite of the steamed bun in her hand. The aroma of the white flour made her eyes light up, and she said to her grandmother in a childish voice.

Grandma Zhang looked at her granddaughter with a kind smile and said softly, "Little Bean, eat as much as you like, but don't eat too many vegetables and steamed buns at once, or your stomach will feel uncomfortable."

The little girl nodded obediently: "Grandma, I'll only eat a little bit of the beans, and save the rest for dinner."

"Old Yan! What's wrong with you? Ever since you came back to your room, you've been completely out of sorts. What's going on?"

Just as the Zhang family's three generations were having dinner together, in Yan Bugui's house in the front yard, the third aunt saw her husband sitting there motionless after returning to the house and asked Yan Bugui a question with a curious expression.

Hearing his third aunt's question, Yan Bugui snapped out of his reverie and asked her with a puzzled look, "Wife! Do you know who I just ran into in the yard?"

Upon hearing Yan Bugui's question, the three women, their faces full of curiosity, blurted out, "Who did you run into?"

When Yan Bugui heard the third aunt's question, he remembered the cloth bag that the old lady Zhang was carrying and quickly introduced her to the third aunt: "I met the old lady Zhang from the backyard at the gate of the compound. She has already reported to the steel rolling mill. When she came back, she was wearing the steel rolling mill's work clothes."

Hearing Yan Bugui's words, the third aunt showed an indifferent expression and said to Yan Bugui, "So what if we run into each other? The Zhang family has never had a good life. Now that the old lady of the Zhang family has this job, there is finally some hope for the future."

Upon hearing the Third Aunt's answer, Yan Bugui thought of the cloth bag in Old Mrs. Zhang's hand and quickly introduced it to her: "Daughter-in-law! You don't know, when Old Mrs. Zhang came back, she was carrying a cloth bag with two lunch boxes inside. The way the bag was hanging down was enough to tell that there must have been a lot of things in the lunch boxes."

Upon hearing Yan Bugui's explanation, the third aunt rolled her eyes at him and complained, "Honey, even though Old Mrs. Zhang is a temporary worker, she's perfectly entitled to take her meals home from the steel mill's canteen. It's perfectly normal for her to bring back extra food because she's thinking of her two children. Why are you staring at Old Mrs. Zhang's lunchbox?"

Seeing that his wife still hadn't grasped the key point, Yan Bugui, exasperated, reminded the third aunt, "Wife! Don't forget, the meals at the steel mill are rationed. If we could just buy two boxes like Old Mrs. Zhang did, would the families in our compound who work at the steel mill still have to worry about not having enough food?"

Hearing Yan Bugui's analysis, the third aunt realized she had overlooked this point. However, considering the Zhang family's situation, she said to Yan Bugui, "Husband! Maybe the old lady of the Zhang family, seeing that she has a job, went out and bought some food to improve the meals for her two children?"

Hearing his third aunt's analysis, Yan Bugui felt that what she said made sense, so he stopped dwelling on the matter and asked her, "Wife! Is lunch ready? If it is, let's eat!"

After having dinner in the cafeteria, Jia Dongming rode his bicycle to the entrance of the courtyard house where Yu Li lived on Gulou East Street.

When Jia Dongming saw the iron gate hanging on the main gate, he realized that Yu Li must be working in the factory. He then took out his key from his pocket, unlocked the gate, and pushed his bicycle into the courtyard.

Not long after Jia Dongming entered the courtyard, Master Lei led several rickshaw pullers to the courtyard gate.

When Master Lei saw Jia Dongming standing in the courtyard, he immediately walked into the courtyard from outside and said to Jia Dongming with a smile, "Master! This little courtyard is really nice. Although it is in a bustling area, it gives people a feeling of tranquility amidst the noise."

Upon hearing Master Lei's words, Jia Dongming smiled and introduced, "Master Lei! This house belonged to my comrade-in-arms. My comrade-in-arms sacrificed his life on the battlefield, and I was the one who took care of his father. Not long ago, my comrade-in-arms' father also passed away, leaving the house to me. Now, one of my relatives is living here."

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's explanation, Master Lei smiled and asked, "Boss! I've delivered the furniture you requested. Where would you like to place it?"

Upon hearing Master Lei's words, Jia Dongming smiled and replied, "Master Lei! First, have your master help me arrange the furniture in the yard. After my relative returns, I'll have him prepare a room, and then we'll move the furniture inside."

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's instructions, Master Lei directed his apprentices to help move the furniture into the yard. After saying goodbye to Jia Dongming, he led his apprentices back to Courtyard No. 95 to continue the repair work.

After seeing Master Lei and the others off, Jia Dongming casually closed the courtyard gate, put the furniture that Master Lei had brought into his system space, locked the courtyard gate, and rode his bicycle toward the steel rolling mill.

When Jia Dongming returned to his office, he saw two thick stacks of case files on his desk. As everyone knows, the golden time for solving a case is within 72 hours after the incident.

The cases recorded in these files are all old cases that the Dongcheng District Public Security Bureau has been unable to solve for years.

In this era of limited technology and a lack of experience among police officers, solving these long-standing cases was as difficult as climbing to heaven for many officers.

Although taking on these old cases was like taking on a hot potato, Jia Dongming was a person who liked to accept challenges. After sitting down at his desk, he picked up the file on top and began to read it carefully.

The case file contains information about a grain depot case from Dongcheng District that occurred three years ago.

One morning, when the employees of the grain depot came to work, they went to the grain warehouse to move the grain for sale as usual. However, they found that the three guards on duty at the grain warehouse had disappeared, and the grain in the warehouse had vanished overnight.

After the grain station reported the case, the police officers from the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Dongcheng Branch rushed to the grain station as soon as possible, only to find an office locked with a key in the warehouse.

When the grain station staff found the spare key and opened the office door, they found three staff members on duty inside. However, one of them had been killed with a hammer, while the other two accused each other of killing him.

Since neither party could prove their innocence in the case, and the police lacked conclusive evidence to directly link the two individuals to the crime, and given that they were locked out of their office at the time of the incident, the case remains unresolved, and the two officers on duty remain in custody as suspects.

After reviewing the case file, Jia Dongming formed a preliminary understanding of the incident and thought to himself, "According to the statements of the two suspects, it was the deceased who suggested drinking together during his shift that night, and the alcohol was also provided by the deceased."

"Based on my deduction, the deceased was either an acquaintance of the murderer or an accomplice, and was probably killed due to a conflict over the distribution of profits."

The only puzzling aspect is that the warehouse contained over ten tons of grain; what means of transportation did the murderer use to steal all the grain in such a short time?

Setting aside his doubts, Jia Dongming put the file in his hand aside and picked up another file to examine it attentively.

This file records the case of a female accountant from a thermos factory in Beijing who absconded with over 10,000 yuan of public funds.

The accountant, named Yang Nan, had worked at the thermos factory for thirteen years. She was known for her diligence and meticulousness and had never made a mistake in withdrawing salary payments for the factory. However, this time she disappeared without a trace with a large sum of money.

Did they abscond with the money, or is there something else going on?

A long-time, responsible employee suddenly disappeared with a large sum of public funds, reminding Jia Dongming of a case involving a female accountant from Hebei in his previous life. Comparing the two cases, Jia Dongming noticed significant similarities between them.

Li, the person involved in the Hebei disappearance case, used to work as a cashier at the Zhangjiakou Mining Machinery Factory.

At that time, it was extremely rare to get a job in a state-owned enterprise, so Li cherished his position, strictly adhered to his duties, and never misappropriated company funds.

Based on this reliability, the factory leadership appointed her to be in charge of payroll distribution, and Ms. Li always lived up to their trust, delivering wages to the workers on time each time.

However, on one payday, Li failed to show up.

The factory sent someone to the bank to inquire and learned that she had already withdrawn the money and left.

Upon learning that the wages had been withdrawn, the factory manager was extremely anxious. He finally went to Li's home with a glimmer of hope, but found nothing.

At the time, only her husband, Mr. Feng, was present at home, and he was also anxiously waiting for his wife to return.

After waiting for a while, the two decided to call the police for help.

The public security authorities attached great importance to the case after receiving the report, but after a long period of investigation, they still failed to obtain any key clues.

Twenty-one years later, when the area where the murderer's former residence was located was undergoing renovation, construction workers discovered an unusually thick layer of cement in the murderer's home.

At this point, some people began to have doubts: why was such a thick layer of cement laid indoors? It wasn't until the workers broke through the cement that the remains buried underneath were revealed, and the case of Li's disappearance was thus solved.

Recalling this case from his past life, Jia Dongming suddenly realized that it was highly similar to the case of the missing female accountant at the thermos factory, so he decided to start with this case first.

He then put the remaining files into the cabinet and left the office alone with the case file.

About twenty minutes later, Jia Dongming arrived at the Dongcheng Branch of the Public Security Bureau by bicycle.

"Good afternoon, Deputy Chief Jia!"

As soon as Jia Dongming stepped into the Second Brigade's office, an officer immediately stood up to greet him.

Jia Dongming asked the officer, "Is Xie Jian on duty? I need to speak with him urgently."

Upon hearing this, the other party immediately reported respectfully, "Deputy Chief! Captain Xie is in the interrogation room! Please wait a moment, I will bring him to see you right away."

Jia Dongming immediately instructed: "Tell Xie Jian that I am waiting in my office and ask him to come immediately."

"Deputy Chief Jia! You wanted to see me?"

Not long after Jia Dongming returned to the branch office, Xie Jian strode in and respectfully inquired.

Jia Dongming pushed the file he had brought in front of the other party and said seriously, "Xie Jian, please review this file first."

Xie Jian took the file and glanced at it briefly, then looked surprised: "Deputy Chief Jia! Isn't this the case from the thermos factory three years ago? How did this file end up in your hands?"

Jia Dongming solemnly replied, "Thank you, Jian. Captain Zhang has assigned me to lead the cleanup of backlogged old cases."

I plan to start with this case as a breakthrough.

Xie Jian was shocked upon hearing this and blurted out, "Chief Zhang actually assigned you to handle the investigation of a long-standing cold case?"

Jia Dongming nodded in confirmation, then asked meticulously, "According to the case file, you participated in the investigation of this case back then."

Now, please explain in detail the investigation process at that time.