Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

One of the recovered WeChat voice messages caught the attention of the technicians.

The voice message was sent at 5:40 p.m. on the day of the incident, which was about four hours before Feng Wanqiu was murdered.

The voice message was only twelve seconds long and was sent by Feng Wanqiu to her husband, Cao Weimin.

The technician played the audio for Jiang Ruolan to hear.

Feng Wanqiu's voice was calm, even carrying a hint of a smile:

"Old Cao, don't work too late tonight. I made you some pork rib soup and put it in the refrigerator. You can heat it up when you get back."

I went to Cuizhu Road after get off work today and took some photos. I'll organize them when I get back.

By the way, a man came to my workplace today asking about the parking lot. I said I didn't know anything, and he left. He looked pretty fierce, so I ignored him. Come back early and be careful.

Green Bamboo Road.

PARKING LOT.

A man came looking for her.

Jiang Ruolan asked the technician to play the audio again, and then asked:

"Cao Weimin said he worked overtime until after midnight last night. Has his alibi been verified?"

Lu Zheng flipped through his notebook:

"It has been verified. There are access control card swipe records at the head office of Yi An Bank. Cao Weimin entered the business department building at 6:37 pm and left at 12:12 am. There is no record of him leaving in between."

The sales office has 24-hour surveillance. The technical department has reviewed the footage and confirmed that he stayed in the office all night, only moving between the break room and the restroom a few times. He didn't leave the office at all. His alibi is very solid.

"Who is that 'fierce-looking' man that Feng Wanqiu mentioned? Is it Duan Pengfei himself? Or one of his men?"

Jiang Ruolan saved the voice file to her phone and then said to Lu Zheng, "Go to the neighborhood office and check the visitor records for that afternoon to see if anyone registered to visit Feng Wanqiu."

In addition, they investigated Duan Pengfei's henchmen, especially those who had had close contact with him in the past six months, screening them one by one.

The visitor registration form from the neighborhood committee was sent to the special task force the following morning.

The register shows that a male visitor did come on the afternoon of the day of the incident. His registered name was "Hou Qiang" and the reason for his visit was listed as "consultation services".

The staff member who received him said that after Hou Qiang arrived, he directly asked to see Feng Wanqiu. Feng Wanqiu came out to meet him, and the two talked for about ten minutes in a corner of the lobby on the first floor.

Staff members recalled that Hou Qiang was not tall but very strong, with a buzz cut, wearing a dark work jacket, and spoke in a low voice, but his expression was not very friendly.

After talking to him, Feng Wanqiu looked rather unhappy. When she returned to her office, she complained to her colleagues, "These people are really lawless."

Hou Qiang.

The name popped up as soon as I searched the task force's database.

Hou Qiang, 35 years old, a local of Yi'an, has three prior convictions—two for intentional injury, one for illegal detention, and the last one for a two-year sentence. He was just released two years ago after serving his full sentence.

His registered address is in the west of the city, on the same street as Duan Pengfei.

More importantly, Hou Qiang's employment record after his release from prison shows that his workplace was Duan Pengfei's parking lot, and his position was "warehouse manager".

The task force retrieved Hou Qiang's photo and showed it to residents around Duan Pengfei's parking lot and in the Lijing Garden community for identification.

The security captain of Lijing Garden recognized Hou Qiang's face, saying that the man had appeared at the entrance of the community on the afternoon of the day of the incident and had asked the security guards which building "Section Chief Feng lives in".

The security guard left without telling him.

But around 6 p.m. that evening, surveillance footage showed him returning. This time, instead of using the main gate, he crawled through a broken section of the fence on the north side of the community.

Just outside that broken fence was an unattended wasteland that led to the direction of Cuizhu Road.

"Hou Qiang hasn't shown up since yesterday. Other workers at Duan Pengfei's parking lot said he received a phone call yesterday afternoon and left in a hurry, without even packing his clothes from the dormitory, and his phone was turned off."

Lu Zheng placed a fugitive pursuit application on Jiang Ruolan's desk. "I have already issued a notice for assistance in the investigation, and the entire province is under surveillance."

"Duan Pengfei called him. We had just left the parking lot when he let Hou Qiang escape."

Jiang Ruolan signed the application for the arrest warrant, "but Duan Pengfei didn't run away. He knew we had no evidence; a bunch of cable ties in a parking lot doesn't prove anything—you can buy those kinds of cable ties at any hardware store in Yi'an."

Hou Qiang's photo was recognized by the security guard, but the surveillance footage only captured him entering the community, not entering the building entrance, and certainly not the murder.

Duan Pengfei must be laughing at us right now, waiting to see what we do with him. His specialty is this gray area—he always walks on the edge of crime, never gets his hands dirty, and always has a scapegoat to shield him.

"What about Tung Chien-min?"

Lu Zheng asked.

"The provincial discipline inspection commission has already opened a case. But Dong Jianmin's problem is not murder, but bribery and abuse of power."

This morning, officials from the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection formally summoned him for questioning. His stance was clear: he admitted to having a personal relationship with Duan Pengfei and to accepting banquets and gifts of cigarettes and alcohol from Duan Pengfei, but firmly denied providing him with any substantial protection regarding the parking lot issue.

She stood up and walked to the window. "Of course Dong Jianmin wouldn't admit it. He's been in the urban management system for over ten years; he's seen it all."

But as long as the disciplinary committee continues its investigation, his financial dealings with Duan Pengfei will inevitably be uncovered sooner or later. At that point, Duan Pengfei will lose one of his most important protective umbrellas.

Two days later, in the evening, Hou Qiang was arrested at the provincial capital's long-distance bus station.

He bought a long-distance bus ticket to Guizhou and was eating a cold steamed bun in the waiting room when he was tackled to the ground from behind by plainclothes police officers.

His resistance was fierce; he overturned a row of waiting chairs and nearly bit off a police officer's finger, but was eventually handcuffed and shackled.

The task force escorted him back to Yi'an overnight, and the interrogation began at 1 a.m.

Hou Qiang sat in the interrogation chair, his handcuffs fixed to the iron table. He was nonchalant, and his expression showed neither fear nor anger, but rather an unsettling indifference.

Jiang Ruolan sat opposite him, not in a hurry to speak, but simply placed a list of his personal belongings on the table—

A long-distance bus ticket, a cell phone that was turned off, 2,300 yuan in cash, a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and a set of keys, one of which was the key to the small iron gate next to the broken fence on the north side of the Lijing Garden community.

"Where did this key come from?"

Jiang Ruolan picked up the key from the evidence bag and placed it in front of him.

.................