Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

Liu Jinhua remained silent for a while, looking down at the rough back of her hands.

Then she began to speak, her tone unusually calm, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.

"He was in charge of 'clearing the area.' That's their statement, not mine."

"Clearing out" means talking to those disobedient scrap yard owners one by one, getting them to join, beating those who are unwilling, and using even harsher methods if they still refuse after being beaten.

Ding Youtian was in charge of the actual work, Geng Changxi was in charge of running errands, and Ma Biao and Luo Dayong were responsible for driving and keeping watch, respectively.

The first person they approached was an old man surnamed Sun under an old locust tree in the east of the city. The old man had been collecting scrap for more than ten years and did not want to join them, so Ding Youtian used pliers to knock out one of his front teeth.

The old man was in so much pain that he knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. The next day, he went to another city to stay with his son and hasn't returned yet.

She paused for a moment, as if gathering her strength to continue:

"Then there was a guy named Meng Laosan who opened a small scrap yard north of the vegetable market in the east of the city. Meng Laosan was also unwilling, so Ding Youtian took a bottle of sulfuric acid and poured it on his tricycle and baler in front of him."

Meng Laosan was so frightened that his legs went weak. He called the police, but then withdrew after filing the report—Ding Youtian sent word that if he dared to call the police again, he would pour water on his face.

Meng Laosan now obediently pays two thousand yuan in protection money every month, not a penny less.

Jiang Ruolan's pen flew across the notebook as she scribbled.

Some of these victims' names and experiences have already appeared in the investigation materials of the task force, while others are being heard for the first time.

She looked up at Liu Jinhua:

Has your man ever mentioned someone named Song Baogen?

Liu Jinhua's expression changed the moment she heard the name.

The change wasn't surprise, but a confirmed fear—she clearly knew the name and had an instinctive dread of it.

She tore the crumpled tissue in her hand in half, clutched it in her palm, and after a long while spoke, her voice even lower than before:

"Song Baogen. He got angry with me because of this person."

One night, he came home drunk, in a particularly bad mood, muttering curses and saying that some old geezer who collects scraps doesn't know what's good for him.

I asked him what happened, and he said that the man surnamed Song had been in the scrap metal business for many years and had connections. He knew which scrap metal companies would accept and which scrap copper companies would steal. He originally wanted to recruit him as a strategist, but the old man shook his head as soon as he heard that and said he would never have anything to do with the underworld again in his life.

Ding Youtian felt that he looked down on him—he hated being looked down upon the most. That night he smashed a cup, kicked the door, and left early the next morning.

When he came back, his clothes smelled. I asked him what it was, and he said it smelled like something being burned, and told me not to ask any more questions.

"What did that smell like?"

Liu Jinhua frowned, trying hard to recall:

"It doesn't smell good. It's sour and pungent, a bit like the ammonia smell in an old-fashioned toilet."

He took a long shower in the toilet and threw his work clothes in the corner of the balcony. When I went to wash them later, I found that there were several small holes in the clothes due to corrosion. The fabric tore easily when rubbed and there was a chemical smell that couldn't be washed off.

I immediately sensed something was wrong, but I didn't dare ask him any further.

Jiang Ruolan and Lu Zheng exchanged a glance.

A chemical odor and corrosive holes—these are typical characteristics left behind when high concentrations of caustic soda evaporate.

"Is that work uniform still there?"

"Yes. He never wore it afterward and just left it in the corner of the balcony. I didn't have time to throw it away."

Jiang Ruolan immediately instructed Lu Zheng to arrange for someone to retrieve the work clothes from Liu Jinhua's house.

Then she turned back to Liu Jinhua, her gaze showing a hint of reluctance, but even more so, professional focus:

"You are his wife. You came to report him, and you also bear the risks yourself. You are sitting here today, telling everything you know, and you deserve something—not money, not a reward, but your right to know."

Your husband's group might be involved in other things besides the junkyard. Do you know their next plan?

Liu Jinhua shook her head:

"He doesn't tell me these things. But I overheard them talking on the phone in their room once."

The call that cripple Ma Biao made was apparently to someone in the provincial capital, someone called something like "Brother Dong".

Ma Biao said that the scrap yards had been almost completely taken over, and the area in the east of the city had been basically secured. He asked if they could also be given the opportunity to work on the building materials business.

The person on the other end of the phone seemed to be scolding them, telling them not to be too greedy and to stabilize the scrap metal business first. Ma Biao was very unhappy after hanging up the phone, saying that the guy surnamed Dong was a coward.

Geng Changxi was also present, and he also cursed, saying something like, "They can swallow up such a big business as Fengmao, but Dong Jianmin, a deputy director, isn't even as bold as a dog in Shen Wangshan's household." That's what Geng Changxi said.

"What exactly did Geng Changxi say when he said that?"

Liu Jinhua thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously:

"That's what he said—'Shen Wangshan's family has a dog.' It wasn't an insult, just something he said casually. This group of people often bring up Feng Mao's old stories, as if he still has some kind of connection with Shen Wangshan."

Shen Wangshan has been dead for half a year.

Dong Jianmin is under investigation by the disciplinary committee because of his testimony in the Feng Wanqiu case and Duan Pengfei's confession.

But the fact that these two names appeared in the same sentence, and in such a casual tone, made Jiang Ruolan keenly aware that the thing she had been vaguely feeling was wrong was right there in that sentence.

Geng Changxi used the name "Dong Jianmin" to refer to a figure who was even more powerful than the deputy director of the Urban Management Bureau. This figure controlled certain resources in the building materials industry in the provincial capital and had command authority over these newly released low-level thugs.

Duan Pengfei was from the west side of the city, while Geng Changxi and Ding Youtian were from the east. There were two groups of people on the same street: one group worked with Dong Jianmin in the building materials business, and the other group was directly under the command of "Brother Dong" from the provincial capital, dealing in scrap metal recycling. Were these two "Dong"s the same person?

"Liu Jinhua, did you hear 'Brother Dong' as 'Dong Jianmin' or 'Brother Dong'?"

Liu Jinhua frowned and thought for a long time, then suddenly said:

"It's Brother Dong. Yes, they called him Brother Dong, not Dong Jianmin."

Geng Changxi later added, "Dong Jianmin is nothing, Brother Dong is the real big shot." Yes, that's it, two Dongs.

He said, "Tung Chien-ming is nothing, Brother Tung is the real big shot." I couldn't tell these guys with the surname Tung apart, and thought they were the same person, but he said two different names.

Two men surnamed Dong.

A deputy director of the urban management bureau in Yi'an has been investigated by the discipline inspection commission.

One of them, located in the provincial capital, is the real mastermind behind these newly released prisoners.

Shen Wangshan is dead, Nie Shichang has fallen, but these people surnamed Dong are still around.

"There's one more question. Did your husband and his accomplices mention a place called 'Dongshan'? Or anything related to Dongshan?"

Liu Jinhua remained silent for a moment, then shook her head slightly:

"I've never heard of it. But now that you ask, it reminds me of something—Ding Youtian had a small notebook that he kept under his pillow. I took it out and glanced at it once when I was changing the sheets."

He was furious when he found out and almost hit me. I didn't see what was written inside; I only saw one character on the cover—it looked like the character "裴" (Pei). It could also be "赔" (Pei), I'm not sure.

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