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

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun immediately recalled what Guo Bingfa had said during the arrest, and his spirits lifted. He asked in a low voice, "Section Chief! Is the operation you mentioned targeting the place that the Cripple Qian went to?"

Jia Dongming nodded and gave Zhao Jun a knowing look.

Back in the steel rolling mill interrogation room, Jia Dongming sat down behind the interrogation table, looked at Qian the Cripple who was handcuffed to the radiator, and warned him sternly: "Qian the Cripple! You've got some nerve. The factory is arresting enemy agents, and you dare to defy the rules."

Tell me, are you an accomplice of enemy agents?

If he only stole scrap steel from the factory, Qian the Cripple would only get a few years in prison at most; but if he was identified as an accomplice of an enemy agent, he would lose his head.

Upon hearing Jia Dongming link him to enemy agents, Qian the Cripple was terrified and immediately cried out his innocence: "Section Chief Jia! I'm innocent! I just like gambling, stealing scrap steel to exchange for gambling funds, I'm absolutely not an accomplice of enemy agents!"

"Bang!"

Jia Dongming slammed his hand on the table and demanded sharply, "Qian the Cripple! You say you're not an accomplice of the enemy, so why did you make your move at this time? Do you think I'll believe you?"

The loud noise startled Qian the Cripple, who trembled all over. He hurriedly explained, "Section Chief Jia! I really have no choice! I owe a lot of money, and if I don't pay it back, the people will come to the factory."

I only stole it because I had no other choice.

When Jia Dongming saw that Qian the Cripple had brought it up, he immediately asked, "Qian the Cripple! Where are you talking about? We'll go and verify it."

If you lie, you'll be treated as an accomplice to the enemy.

This intimidation nearly made Qian the Cripple's legs go weak. He hurriedly confessed, "Section Chief Jia! It's in a two-courtyard siheyuan in Baochao Hutong."

Taking advantage of the situation, Jia Dongming continued, "There are so many courtyard houses in Baochao Hutong, how would I know which one it is? Also, is there anyone keeping watch? Where are the lookouts hiding?"

"I'm warning you, if we can't catch you and can't prove that you stole scrap steel just to pay off gambling debts, then it means you're an accomplice of enemy agents, deliberately interfering with our investigation."

Don't blame us for dealing with this severely when the time comes.

At this point, Qian the Cripple was completely intimidated by Jia Dongming and had no idea that the other party was trying to extract information from him.

Faced with Jia Dongming's threat, Qian the Cripple was so frightened that he quickly confessed: "Section Chief Jia! I'll tell you! In the courtyard at No. 17 Baochao Hutong, the boss is called Brother Biao. He has arranged for people to keep watch at all three entrances of the hutong."

Jia Dongming noted down this information and then asked, "Qian the Cripple! Where do you usually sell the scrap steel you steal from the factory? How many times have you stolen it?"

When Qian the Cripple was asked about the number of thefts and the locations where the stolen goods were sold, a look of hesitation appeared on his face.

He knew that the more he confessed, the heavier his sentence would be.

When Jia Dongming saw that Qian the Cripple hesitated and remained silent after being asked about the number of times he had stolen, he immediately guessed what Qian was thinking and warned him: "Qian the Cripple! Do you think we can't find where you sell your scrap metal if you don't talk? I'm giving you a chance to make a contribution."

If you're unwilling to disclose this, we'll investigate ourselves.

"Once we find out, the outcome will be different depending on whether you confess voluntarily."

After Jia Dongming issued the warning, Qian the Cripple did not reveal the truth as quickly as he had done in the past.

"Bang!"

Seeing this, Jia Dongming slammed his fist on the interrogation table again and shouted, "Qian the Cripple! I'll only say 'confess and you'll be treated leniently' once. If you still refuse to talk, I'll have the scrap yard report it as a theft."

Whatever they report, I'll put it all on your tab!

Qian the Cripple was initially unwilling to reveal where he sold the stolen goods, fearing that the amount stolen would increase and his sentence would be longer.

Hearing Jia Dongming demand that the scrap warehouse report its losses, he felt a chill run down his spine—knowing the warehouse manager as he did, the manager would surely attribute all the scrap steel lost over the years to him, and then he would truly be in grave danger.

Thinking of this, Qian the Cripple turned pale and hurriedly confessed, "Section Chief Jia! I stole it thirteen times in total, and sold it for about four hundred yuan. I took all the scrap steel to the blacksmith shop in the east of the city."

Hearing "blacksmith shop"

Upon hearing the three words, Jia Dongming suddenly remembered reading a similar description of a place fraught with hidden danger in a book.

A thought struck him, and he decided not to act rashly to avoid alerting the enemy. So he said to the cripple, "I will investigate the situation you described."

If we find out you've told even a single lie, you know the consequences.

Qian the Cripple was already terrified and kept swearing, "Section Chief Jia! I swear everything I just said is the truth. If I'm lying, then you can shoot me!"

Seeing his appearance, Jia Dongming was basically certain that the other party was not lying, so he turned to his subordinate who was taking notes and ordered, "Wei Guo, take him to the detention room first."

Meanwhile, Chen Qiang had already arrived at Li Aijun's house.

He knocked lightly on the door a few times and called out, "Captain! This is Chen Qiang. There's an urgent matter in the department. The department head wants you to return to the factory immediately."

Hearing the sound, Li Aijun sat up and replied, "Wait a moment, I'll be right out."

His wife was also woken up, rubbing her eyes and muttering, "Your new section chief has only been here a few days, and he's already made you work overtime twice."

Li Aijun glared at her as he dressed: "Why didn't you complain about working too much overtime when you were getting your paycheck the day before yesterday?"

The wife immediately noticed the word "money".

The words immediately brought him to his senses—Li Aijun had indeed brought back thirty yuan and some tickets the day before yesterday.

She quickly followed up, "Will I get paid if I work overtime tonight?"

Li Aijun ignored him, put on his clothes, and walked out, saying, "I'm leaving. You can go to sleep."

Upon seeing Chen Qiang outside, Li Aijun immediately asked, "What happened at the factory? Why is the section chief calling everyone home so late?"

Chen Qiang's face immediately showed admiration: "Captain, our section chief is really good at solving cases! We were training in the factory area at night when we saw a figure moving around in the logistics warehouse. Captain Zhao was afraid it was an enemy agent, so he asked me to go and invite the section chief back."

As a result, the section chief was able to roughly guess the man's height, weight, and distinctive features based solely on the traces found at the scene.

"That's not even the most amazing part—the section chief, relying on just a tiny clue, led us all the way to that person's house, caught the lame man from the boiler room red-handed, and all the stolen goods were there!"

Li Aijun listened with skepticism: "Finding someone's home just by footprints? And catching them red-handed?"

Chen Qiang nodded vigorously: "Yes, Captain! The section chief followed the footprints there."

Li Aijun still found it unbelievable and asked, "Is that cripple Qian a spy? The section chief told us to go back; is there another operation?"

Chen Qiang remembered the thirty yuan he had just received two days ago and excitedly lowered his voice: "Qian the Cripple isn't an enemy agent, but when we arrested him, we got information about a secret stronghold."

The section chief planned to take it down overnight before the news spread.

Li Aijun's enthusiasm for the raid far exceeded his enthusiasm for capturing enemy agents. As soon as he heard the reason why Jia Dongming had summoned everyone back to the steel rolling mill, he immediately urged Chen Qiang: "Xiao Qiang! We have to hurry and get back to the factory right away."

"Zhao Jun! You just said that the section chief led you all the way from the factory to Qian the Cripple's house based solely on the remaining footprints on the ground? There were so many footprints along the way, how did the section chief identify which one was Qian the Cripple's?"

After listening to Zhao Jun's account, Guo Jianguo looked incredulous and quickly pressed for more information.

Zhao Jun recalled what Jia Dongming had taught him on the road and explained with admiration, "Captain Guo! The section chief said that everyone has different walking habits, and the footprints they leave behind are also different."

Because of his leg disability, Qian the Cripple's footprints were particularly easy to identify.

The section chief tracked Qian the Cripple down to his house by recognizing his footprints.

Guo Jianguo thought this method of identifying footprints sounded very mysterious, but Jia Dongming did find Qian the Cripple by following the footprints, which made him have to believe that footprint identification was indeed feasible.

Thank you for all your support!

When the security team members arrived at the steel rolling mill after receiving the notification, they had almost all heard the news that Jia Dongming had tracked the suspect from the factory to his home and arrested him by following the traces on the ground. Everyone was deeply impressed by his tracking ability.

After most of the off-duty team members had arrived, Jia Dongming walked from the office to the front of the security building. Looking at the team members who had already received their weapons and were ready to go, he said loudly, "Comrades! According to the existing clues, there is a large [organization] hidden in the courtyard of No. 17 Baochao Hutong."

Our mission tonight is to completely destroy it.

"The current information is that the leader of this group has deployed people to keep watch at the three intersections of Baochao Hutong."

We will now divide our personnel into three groups, each responsible for one alley. First, we will quietly take control of the people keeping watch, then quickly surround and wipe out this hideout in one fell swoop.

At this point, Jia Dongming raised his hand to check his watch: "It's time now, we'll move out precisely at twelve o'clock."

Soon, all the teams involved in the operation boarded the steel mill's trucks as planned, drove out of the factory, and headed towards Baochao Hutong.

A dozen minutes later, the truck stopped about 700 or 800 meters away from Baochao Hutong.

Jia Dongming was the first to jump out of the car and led his team members toward the alley.

About 30 or 40 meters from the entrance of the alley, Jia Dongming signaled the group to stop.

He used his Eagle Eye skill to look towards the alley entrance and spotted two young men chatting and smoking in a sheltered spot.

Jia Dongming lowered his voice and instructed Chen Qiang beside him: "Chen Qiang! There are two young men keeping watch on the right side of the alley entrance. Take your men and sneak over there quietly and take them under control."

Upon receiving the order, Chen Qiang immediately led three armed guards and approached the alley entrance under the cover of darkness.

Before the four of them even reached the alley entrance, they heard voices coming from inside.

Chen Qiang determined the direction, signaled to his companion, and suddenly rushed into the alley while the two young men were engrossed in their conversation.

Chen Qiang covered one person's mouth with one hand while pressing a gun against their head, and hissed, "Don't move!"

Upon seeing this, another young man instinctively tried to blow the whistle hanging around his neck to send a message, but as soon as he picked up the whistle, he was pushed to the ground, and the cold muzzle of a gun was pressed against his forehead, making him afraid to move.

Similar scenes were also observed at the entrances of two other alleys where babies were born.

Seeing that the surveillance personnel had been subdued, Jia Dongming immediately led the rest of his team into Baochao Hutong. He then activated his Eagle Eye and Clairvoyant abilities and cautiously made his way to the location.

Not far ahead, Jia Dongming spotted a young man hiding in a tree about ten meters in front of him.

He immediately stopped, pointed at the tree, and whispered to Chen Qiang, "Chen Qiang! Do you see that tree over there? There's someone hiding in it keeping watch."

You take someone disguised as a gambler and approach them, then seize the opportunity to subdue him quickly.

Upon receiving the order, Chen Qiang handed the gun to his colleague beside him, took off his uniform, and then, along with another colleague, pretended to stroll leisurely into the alley.

The young man keeping watch from the tree heard footsteps and looked in the direction of the sound.

Seeing two middle-aged men approaching, swaying as they muttered about trying to win back their losses, he relaxed his guard slightly and subconsciously turned to look at the other two alleys.

What he saw shocked him – two teams of armed police officers were rushing towards him under the cover of darkness.

The young man hurriedly jumped down from the tree, wanting to run back to report the news.

But the moment his feet touched the ground, the two people who had been walking unsteadily suddenly pounced on him, covering his mouth tightly and coldly warning, "Don't move!"

Jia Dongming noticed that the young man glanced into the distance and then jumped down from the tree. He immediately realized that the young man must have noticed the other two groups of people and was in a hurry to send a message back.

Seeing that Chen Qiang and Lin Weiguo had successfully subdued the lookout youth, Jia Dongming immediately led his team out of their hiding place and rushed off in that direction.

Before long, the group arrived at the gate of No. 17 Baochao Hutong.

Jia Dongming used his Eagle Eye skill to investigate the situation inside the courtyard. He saw several guards drinking and chatting in the front gatehouse; the windows of each room in the middle building were all tightly covered with quilts, and about seventy or eighty gamblers were scattered in several rooms.