Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

Jiang Ruolan was silent for a moment, then said:

"Let's leave Liu Changgui alone for now. The reason is the same as why we didn't move Fang Xuewen before—moving him now would only alert him."

But I need to retrieve all of Liu Changgui's call records and bank statements to know who he's contacted and who he's received money from in the last three months.

"Understood," Lu Zheng replied, then asked, "Director Jiang, when will Zhao Biao's case be reopened?"

"No rush. Once he wakes up, let him think about one thing first—who wants to kill him." Jiang Ruolan's voice was calm yet cold.

"Ma Laoliu stabbed him four times, even piercing his spleen. Do you think Shen Wangshan will let him walk out of the detention center alive? This time it was Ma Laoliu, next time it could be someone else."

As long as he's alive, Shen Wangshan won't sleep soundly. Let him figure this out himself before we talk to him.

At seven o'clock in the morning, as dawn broke, Jiang Ruolan returned to the Municipal Bureau and washed her face with cold water in the office restroom.

The shadows under the woman's eyes in the mirror grew heavier, but her eyes remained astonishingly bright, like two steel balls that had been tempered.

She had just sat down at her desk when Lin Dehou, the office director, knocked on the door and came in, holding a document in his hand, his expression somewhat subtle.

"Director Jiang, a notice just came from the Municipal Party Committee." He placed the document on the table, his tone as cautious as if he were holding a bowl of hot oil.

"The Municipal Government Office has issued a notice that next Monday, Executive Vice Mayor Gu Changhe will lead a team to conduct a week-long 'Special Inspection on the Standardization of Law Enforcement' of our bureau. This is the full text of the notice."

Jiang Ruolan picked up the document and quickly scanned it.

The document's content is grand and dignified—in order to further standardize law enforcement behavior and enhance the credibility of law enforcement, the municipal government has decided to conduct a special inspection on the standardization of law enforcement at the Municipal Public Security Bureau, focusing on whether criminal case handling procedures are compliant, whether the management of seized assets is standardized, and whether officers' law enforcement behavior is civilized.

The inspection team was headed by Executive Vice Mayor Gu Changhe, with the deputy heads being the Deputy Secretary-General of the Municipal Government and the Director of the Municipal Bureau of Justice.

After reading it, she placed the document on the table, a cold smile playing on her lips. The special inspection had come so suddenly, at such precise timing—Zhao Biao had just been stabbed, Chen Kexin's case was under investigation, and she had already tracked down Fang Xuewen and Qin Chuan. At this critical juncture, Gu Changhe was leading an inspection team to the Municipal Public Security Bureau to conduct a week-long special inspection on "law enforcement standardization."

This isn't an inspection; this is to put a tight rein on her. Gu Changhe has something to tell her:

In Yi'an, what can be investigated and to what extent is not up to you, Jiang Ruolan.

"Director Jiang, this inspection..." Lin Dehou stammered.

"We've done this before, but it's usually at the end of the year or the beginning of the year, and it's rare for the executive vice mayor to lead the team personally. This time, it's suddenly being done in the middle of the year, and it just so happens to coincide with our investigation of several major cases. Don't you think it's a bit...?"

"What is it?" Jiang Ruolan looked at him, waiting for him to finish speaking.

Lin Dehou hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke:

"It seems like this is directed at you."

Jiang Ruolan smiled briefly, a faint smile that vanished in an instant.

"Director Lin, you've been in this position for eight years, and you certainly have a keen eye for things. Since you've already figured it out, I'll be honest with you—it's definitely aimed at me. But do you think I'd be afraid?"

Lin Dehou was taken aback, unsure how to respond.

"A special inspection? Great." Jiang Ruolan stood up, walked to the window, and turned her back to Lin Dehou.

"As a law enforcement agency, it is only natural for us to accept inspections from higher authorities. Mayor Gu personally led a team to inspect our law enforcement standardization, which shows that the city attaches great importance to our work. We should not only cooperate with such a good opportunity, but also fully cooperate with it."

She turned around and looked calmly at Lin Dehou:

"Pass down the notice to all departments to organize all case files, ledgers, and lists of involved assets from the past three years, classify and archive them, and provide the inspection team with whatever they need without withholding anything."

Furthermore, during the inspection team's stay, all ongoing cases must proceed as usual, and no delays may be made under the pretext of the inspection. Anyone who uses the inspection as an excuse to slack off will be held accountable.

Lin Dehou was stunned. He thought Jiang Ruolan would be nervous, would scale back her efforts, and would temporarily suppress those sensitive cases to avoid the limelight.

But to his surprise, instead of scaling back, she decided to expand aggressively, dealing with inspections while continuing to investigate the case. This approach was like dancing on a knife's edge.

"Director Jiang, isn't this... a bit too risky? What about Mayor Gu—"

"Mayor Gu is here to inspect the standardization of law enforcement, not to stop us from handling cases according to the law," Jiang Ruolan interrupted him, her tone calm yet sharp.

"We're handling this case according to the law, what are we afraid of? Unless someone has something to hide."

Lin Dehou opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed the words he was about to say. He nodded to Jiang Ruolan, turned and walked out of the office.

In the corridor, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking the same thing over and over again—this new bureau chief is truly fearless.

After Lin Dehou left, Jiang Ruolan stood alone by the window, watching the police officers gathering in the courtyard below.

Her expression was calm as still water, but her fingers tapped lightly on the windowsill, the rhythm growing faster and faster, like a war drum being struck.

Gu Changhe's move was exactly what she expected.

She investigated Yi'an for a week, and the commotion grew larger and larger, touching deeper and deeper networks of vested interests. Shen Wangshan and Gu Changhe would inevitably retaliate.

The special inspection was their first shot in the counterattack—using procedural justice to block substantive justice, and using the rules themselves to protect those who break the rules.

She was all too familiar with this tactic; she had experienced it countless times back in the provincial department. Whenever an investigation touched on the boundaries of a sensitive individual, all sorts of "procedures" would descend from the sky, wrapping the investigation in layer upon layer of cocoon until it could no longer move.

But Gu Changhe forgot one thing. Jiang Ruolan came from the provincial department, and the first thing she did before coming to Yi'an was to ensure that all her case-handling procedures were watertight.

She had anticipated that someone might make an issue of procedural matters before she even arrived, from signing and stamping every case file to registering and storing every piece of involved property and adhering to the standards for preparing every interrogation transcript.

Want to check her case-handling procedures? She welcomes it. Because her procedures are cleaner than anyone else's.

In contrast, she was more worried about something else—Zhao Biao's safety. If Ma Laoliu hadn't killed him this time, Shen Wangshan would definitely find another opportunity.

Although the hospital had arranged for special police to guard the area, these special police were also from the Yi'an City Public Security Bureau, and Shen Wangshan had no idea how many people in the Yi'an City Public Security Bureau were Shen Wangshan's eyes and ears.

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