Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

Shen Wangshan was taken aback.

"You sent Ma Laoliu to stab him four times, wiping out all the nineteen years of affection he had for you. He thought you would protect him, but you wanted to kill him. He was forced to come to my side by you," Jiang Ruolan said.

"Shen Wangshan, you think your biggest advantage is the group of people under your command, and you think they are devoted to you."

But you've forgotten one thing—the loyalty you buy with self-interest can also be betrayed by self-interest. Your real fatal flaw doesn't come from me, but from yourself.

Shen Wangshan remained silent for a long time.

Then he smiled, a very light and faint smile, as if he had finally solved a long-standing mystery.

"I see," he said. "My defeat, Shen Wangshan, was not unjust."

He was escorted out of the old house and into a police car parked under the locust tree.

The moment the car door closed, he glanced through the window at the old brick house and the crooked old locust tree, then closed his eyes.

Jiang Ruolan stood at the door of the old house, watching the police car drive away and disappear into the end of the dilapidated alley.

She turned around and took one last look at the old house that had witnessed the beginning and end of Shen Wangshan's life.

The fire in the stove hadn't gone out yet, and the white porridge in the pot was still bubbling and steaming.

Sunlight streamed in through the broken window, illuminating the mottled mud wall and highlighting the faded old newspapers and age-old tobacco stains on it.

Thirty years ago, a fifteen-year-old boy walked out of here with a broken knife he had picked up, and paved a road to power and wealth with violence and blood.

Thirty years later, he returned here in handcuffs, and everything was back to square one.

The cycle of evil finally came to an end on this day.

Jiang Ruolan stepped out of the old house and into the morning light. Her phone rang; it was Zhou Pei calling.

"Ruolan, there was just a meeting in the hall. The director said that the Yi'an case has made a decisive breakthrough, and the capture of Shen Wangshan and Gu Changhe marks the case entering its final stage."

The provincial department will lead the subsequent review and prosecution work. You can prepare to come back now.” Zhou Pei paused, a smile in his voice.

"How was your trip, Yi'an?"

Jiang Ruolan stood under the old locust tree, looking at Yi'an City in the morning light, at the streets and buildings in the distance that were waking up, at a steaming breakfast stall set up on a street corner, and at a mother holding her child's hand as they crossed the zebra crossing.

Jiang Ruolan recalled Chen Desheng trembling amidst the broken glass, Chen Kexin's clear eyes as she lay in the hospital bed, and Li Changhe's bewildered figure leaning on his cane waiting outside the courthouse...

I remembered Zhang Dayou's silent tears as he watched his warehouse turn to ashes, and Xu Guangfa's skeleton, curled up in an iron barrel and sealed in cement for three years.

And then there was the anonymous caller who made the call to Chen Desheng.

His words were etched in her mind: "You can't bring them down because their influence is much stronger in the city government than you think."

Now, that umbrella has collapsed. The city can finally bask in the sun.

"It feels like—" The corners of her mouth curved slightly.

"The sky over Yi'an has finally cleared up."

The day the news of Shen Wangshan's capture spread throughout Yi'an, the entire city seemed to have been switched on and suddenly came to life.

The first place to start was the Chengdong Building Materials Market. A crowd had already gathered in front of Chen Desheng's shop by eight in the morning.

They weren't there to watch the spectacle; it was the neighbors who came spontaneously—some brought new glass doors, some brought toolboxes, and others quietly swept up the pile of broken glass in front of the door.

Chen Desheng stood at the shop entrance, looking at the neighbors who had bowed their heads and dared not utter a word when his shop was vandalized. His lips trembled for a long time, but he couldn't say a word. He just kept nodding to each of them.

"Old Chen, I'm sorry," said Old Sun, who sells bathroom fixtures next door, with his head down.

"When Biaozi smashed your shop that day, I was just watching from the sidelines, and I didn't dare to do anything. I... I was afraid of them."

Chen Desheng patted him on the shoulder, squeezing out two words:

"fine."

"It won't happen again." Old Sun looked up, his eyes red-rimmed.

"If anyone bullies us again, we'll fight them together."

This sentence was like a spark that fell into the withered grass that had been dry all winter.

Starting from the east of the city, a long-lost feeling called "not being afraid" quickly spread throughout the city.

First, some merchants voluntarily tore off the "affiliation notice" that Fengmao Logistics had posted on their doors. Then, several taxi drivers jointly reported to the city bureau that they had been extorted for "management fees" by Fengmao's taxi company for many years.

Then an elderly couple walked shakily into the city bureau lobby. They said that three years ago, their son's leg was broken by people from Fengmao. They had been hiding in another city and dared not come back. When they saw the news that Shen Wangshan had been arrested, they bought the earliest train tickets to rush back.

Jiang Ruolan stood by the office window, looking at the endless stream of visitors in the lobby downstairs, her expression complex.

Lu Zheng knocked and entered, holding a thick stack of police reports in his hand, his expression both excited and solemn:

"Director Jiang, from this morning until now, the city's police stations and the municipal bureau have received more than two hundred reports involving Fengmao Group."

Some had their land forcibly seized, some were injured but dared not report it to the police, some were extorted for money, and some were relatives of missing persons who came to inquire.

The petition reception room was already overcrowded, so I had someone temporarily convert the large conference room on the first floor into a reception area.

"Two hundred starting points." Jiang Ruolan took the materials, flipped through a few pages, each page telling a heartbreaking story that had been suppressed for years, even decades. She closed the materials and said to Lu Zheng,

"Issue the order that all old cases involving Fengmao Group and its affiliates be reopened for investigation."

No matter how many years have passed, as long as the victim is still alive and the evidence remains, not a single case can be overlooked. If you're short-handed, just ask me; I'll request reinforcements from the provincial department.

"Yes." Lu Zheng turned to leave, but Jiang Ruolan called him back.

"There's one more thing." She took a list out of the drawer.

"Fang Xuewen and Qin Chuan were taken away by the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection this morning. With their positions vacant, the Criminal Investigation and Economic Investigation departments of the Municipal Public Security Bureau cannot be allowed to fall into disarray."

I recommended you to the provincial department to take over as the head of the criminal investigation branch, and the provincial department has agreed in principle. The official appointment will be issued in the next couple of days.

Lu Zheng stood there, his mouth agape, but he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

He had been a police officer for eight years, and had always been an underutilized deputy captain in the Yi'an City Public Security Bureau. He never expected this day to come.

He straightened up and gave Jiang Ruolan a proper salute:

"Director Jiang, I—"

"No need to say anything." Jiang Ruolan waved her hand, her tone calm but with a hint of warmth in her eyes.

"You deserve it."

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