Tehran Grocery Store: My Intelligence is Priced Clearly

Lin Jianguo held his phone, stood on the balcony, took a drag of his cigarette, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Alright, Xiao Liu, don't worry about this for now. Keep the information on the intranet for me. I'll be at the bureau right away."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Jianguo stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and turned to walk into the living room.

Xiao hope was still huddled on the sofa, her face pale, her hand tightly gripping the water glass.

Lin's mother sat beside her, patting her daughter's back repeatedly to comfort her.

"Old Lin, where are you going on the weekend?"

When Lin's mother saw her husband grab the coat from the hanger, she quickly asked him a question.

"Go back to the station; this matter isn't that simple."

Lin Jianguo changed into leather shoes and took the car keys.

He stopped at the door, turned to look at his daughter on the sofa, and his tone became very serious.

"Xixi, don't tell anyone about what happened today except our family."

"If your Aunt Zhang asks, just say you didn't like it."

"Find some excuse to brush it off, and whatever you do, don't mention money or people, understand?"

Xiao hope nodded subconsciously.

After closing the security door, Lin Jianguo quickly went downstairs, got into his car, and sped off to his workplace.

Office of the State Security Brigade.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 202ᴋᴋs.ᴄᴏᴍ]

Team leader Zhao Hong was holding a thermos and leaning back in his chair reading documents.

Hearing the door open, I looked up and froze.

"Old Lin?"

"Weren't you supposed to be off today? Why did you come back?"

Lin Jianguo didn't respond. Instead, he locked the office door from the inside, pulled out a chair, and sat down opposite Zhao Hong, his face tense.

"Old Zhao, I just discovered something."

Seeing his old partner's expression, Zhao Hong immediately put down his thermos and sat up straight.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Lin Jianguo recounted the entire scene his daughter had witnessed on her blind date, down to the last detail, without omitting a single thing.

"Hundreds of thousands of US dollars in cash? A dozen or so armed foreign men?"

Zhao Hong's brows furrowed instantly.

"Are you in Tehran, Iran?"

"right."

Lin Jianguo nodded.

"I just had Xiao Liu check his background. His name is Zhang Jian, and he's a local from our county."

"After graduating from university, I went to Iran and registered a small trading company under my name, which was basically a general store. It was a clean business."

"A general store?"

Zhao Hong was completely dumbfounded.

"With the Middle East in such chaos right now, how could a small grocery store owner like him possibly make such high profits? And how could he possibly support a private army there?"

"If I remember correctly, Iran does not allow individuals to own guns."

That's why I felt something was wrong.

Lin Jianguo leaned forward and lowered his voice.

"Old Zhao, I want to check his bank statements to see what kind of business this kid is up to."

Zhao Hong stood up without hesitation.

"Okay, I'll give you the approval letter, let's go together!"

The two quickly arrived at the bank, showed their identification, and went directly to the bank manager.

The bank manager didn't dare to be negligent when he saw that they were from the National Security Brigade.

He personally led the two into the VIP room and entered Zhang Jian's ID number into the internal system.

The interface took three seconds to load.

The account balance and recent transaction history quickly popped up on the screen. The bank manager stood up and gave up the main seat.

"Director Zhao, this is Zhang Jian's account."

Zhao Hong pulled out a chair and sat down, pointing at the rows of densely packed numbers on the screen, his expression becoming even more serious.

"Old Lin, this amount of US dollars...is it thirty or forty million?"

Lin Jianguo stared at the screen with a frown, his face ashen, and his breathing became heavy.

"Got it."

"That three million alone, when converted, is already over twenty million."

"And that doesn't even include the other transfers of several hundred thousand."

"Most importantly, these are just his domestic accounts."

"Who knows how much money this guy has in his overseas accounts!"

"President Li, can we trace the source of the funds back to the beginning?"

Zhao Hong looked up at Bank Manager Li beside him.

President Li shook his head.

I just saw it.

"Every single fund deposited into this account is from an offshore account that has undergone multiple layers of encryption, making it impossible to trace its origin."

Zhao Hong's face was grim.

"How could someone who runs a grocery store in Tehran have tens of millions of dollars flowing into their domestic account in just one month? Was he selling groceries or weapons?"

Lin Jianguo took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Bank manager, print out all these transaction records and affix the official seal."

"Furthermore, this matter is top secret, and you must not tell anyone if they ask."

The bank manager nodded repeatedly, cold sweat beading on his forehead, and hurriedly began operating the printer.

He returned to the car with a thick stack of transaction slips.

"Old Lin, this is a huge problem, we can't handle it here."

"A huge cross-border flow of funds, unidentified armed personnel—this kid is definitely not involved in any legitimate business."

Lin Jianguo put the transaction record into a file folder and said in a deep voice.

That's why I said he had a problem.

"An ordinary young man with no background suddenly becomes rich in a war-torn region, and he even has armed personnel around him."

"At best, this is transnational money laundering; at worst, it could involve international smuggling or terrorist financing!"

He didn't elaborate, but both of them knew exactly what was going on.

Zhao Hong made a quick decision and patted Lin Jianguo on the shoulder.

"Old Lin, when you get back, put together a detailed report as soon as possible."

"Compile all the transaction records and your daughter's eyewitness accounts."

"I'll call the municipal bureau right now!"

……

Tehran, the backyard of a grocery store.

The stove was already set up, and the glowing red charcoal made the surrounding area even hotter.

Bakhtiar was shirtless, revealing his muscular physique, and was fanning the charcoal fire with a large palm-leaf fan, sending sparks flying upwards.

Haishan skewered the cut lamb chops onto thick iron skewers and skillfully sprinkled them with cumin and coarse salt.

The mutton fat dripped onto the charcoal fire, making a sizzling sound and emitting wisps of enticing white smoke.

The fragrance instantly filled the entire courtyard.

"Boss, it'll be ready soon!"

Bakhtiar shouted in a rough voice, then proudly raised the palm-leaf fan in his hand.

Zhang Jian leaned back in the recliner next to him, holding a cup of freshly brewed black tea, and let out a comfortable sigh of relief.

The frustration from my mom pressuring me to get married and checking up on me earlier has finally dissipated a lot thanks to this lively atmosphere.

"Bakhtiar, put less salt in, it's too salty!"

Zhang Jian shouted something in that direction.

"I understand, boss!"

Bakhtiar grinned so wide his eyes disappeared from his mouth.

The hall and the backyard are connected.

Little Lalei, dressed in a series of floral dresses, flitted between several people's thighs like a little butterfly.

After getting to know each other better over this period of time, she is no longer as timid as she was when she first arrived.

Holding a piece of raw mutton that Bakhtiar had just cut off, he ran up to Zhang Jian with his short legs and held it up high like a treasure.

"Zhang! Eat!"

The little girl called out in a childish voice, her big eyes blinking.

Zhang Jian was both amused and exasperated, and reached out to pinch her chubby cheeks.

"This thing can't be eaten now; it needs to be cooked first."

Lale blinked, seemingly understanding but not quite, then turned and ran towards Shahra.

Shahra was leaning against the back door frame, holding a whetstone and slowly wiping the meat-cutting knife in her hand.

Seeing Lalei running over, she casually put away the knife, picked up the little girl, and a rare gentleness appeared on her usually cold face.

Everything seemed so harmonious.

However, just as everyone was immersed in this lively and joyful atmosphere...

"Ding-dong!"

The wind chimes at the front door of the grocery store suddenly rang out with a clear, crisp sound.

The laughter and noise in the backyard stopped instantly.

Bakhtiar's palm-leaf fan stopped in mid-air.

Shahra's eyes turned cold instantly as she leaned against the doorframe. She pushed Lare behind her and reached for the holster at her waist.

Ali, who was sitting by the door, was the quickest to react. He threw his canvas bag on the ground, cocked the inverted pistol, and gripped it under his wrist.

Zhang Jian sat up straight and placed the teacup on the small table next to him.

Who would come here in the middle of the day?

My gaze fell upon that direction.

The curtain was slowly lifted by a hand.

Immediately afterwards, a series of dull "thump, thump" sounds were heard.

Then they saw Reza hobbling into the hall, leaning on a single crutch.

His face was still somewhat pale, his eyes were sunken, and his left leg was clearly injured, with a thick cast on.

Reza stopped in front of the counter, his gaze sweeping across the hall and landing directly on Zhang Jian, who was reclining on a chair in the backyard.

"Boss Zhang."

His voice was a little hoarse.

"I'm here to buy intelligence again."