Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

"Are you interrogating me again?"

His voice was hoarse and flat.

"I've said everything I need to say. I killed the man, I committed the crime, and I bought my way into the position. For the rest of the details, go find Qian Shouyi and Zhou Wenxuan; they remember them better than I do."

"I'm not here to interrogate you today." Jiang Ruolan sat down on the chair outside the cell door, looking at him through the iron bars.

"Today is the day Xu Guangfa's mother came from Sichuan to identify the body. The old lady is 63 years old this year and took a 12-hour train ride by herself to come here."

When the forensic doctor showed her the DNA comparison results, she didn't say a word. She just sat on the floor, clutching the report, and cried like a child.

Shen Wangshan's expression remained unchanged, but his hands on his knees tightened slightly.

"Xu Guangfa is her only son. Three years ago, he left his hometown in Sichuan to work and sent 1,500 yuan home every month to pay for his mother's medical treatment."

After he disappeared, the old woman lived alone for three years, not knowing whether her son was dead or alive, and asking everyone she met if they had seen her son.

She didn't know how to make phone calls or send letters, so she relied on her own two legs to run back and forth between various police stations in her hometown in Sichuan for three years.

Jiang Ruolan's voice was as calm as if she were reciting a case report, but every word carried weight.

"Today she finally learned where her son was. He was in that deep pit in the quarry, sealed in cement, curled up in an iron barrel, and had been dead for three years before he saw the light of day again."

Shen Wangshan closed his eyes. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

"I came here today to tell you this," Jiang Ruolan said, standing up.

"You may be locked up in this cell for a long time, and the most likely outcome is the death penalty."

Before you are executed, I hope you will remember Xu Guangfa's face and the sound of his mother crying every day. This is the sin you have committed over the past thirty years.

She turned and walked out of the cell. A dull thud came from behind her—the sound of Shen Wangshan's handcuffs hitting the iron bed frame—followed by an extremely suppressed growl squeezed from the depths of his throat.

It was already dark when we left the detention center.

The city of Nghe An is gradually coming back to life at night—there are more pedestrians on the streets than yesterday, the night market vendors on the roadside are calling out their wares, and the air is filled with the aroma of grilled skewers and roasted chestnuts.

The vibrant atmosphere of this city, suppressed for too long, is slowly but steadily returning.

As Jiang Ruolan's car drove along Shengli Road, she suddenly remembered something.

She turned the car around and headed towards the old shantytown in the east of the city.

She parked the car under the crooked old locust tree, opened the car door, and walked into the old brick house.

The old house has been examined by criminal investigation technicians. Every crack in the wall has been carefully checked, and every inch of the floor has been searched.

Shen Wangshan hid here for decades, but in the end he took nothing with him.

The ashes in the stove had gone cold, the white porridge in the pot was taken away by the forensic doctor, and the yellowed old photograph on the table was also taken away as evidence.

But Jiang Ruolan wasn't there to find evidence. Standing in the center of the old house, looking around at this dilapidated house that had witnessed the beginning and end of Shen Wangshan's life, she was thinking about something else.

When Shen Wangshan was fifteen, he picked up his first knife in this very room. If someone had lent him a hand then, if someone had given him a different path, would his life have been different?

There is no answer to this question.

Because history cannot be rewritten, crimes cannot be forgiven, and the blood shed by victims cannot be erased.

But this question itself is worth pondering for every living person.

She stood in the old house for a long time, until it was completely dark, before turning to leave.

As she stepped out the door, she saw a cluster of tender green buds sprouting from the branches of the crooked old locust tree.

Spring has arrived. Spring in Yi'an came thirty years later than usual, but it has finally come.

It was already 9 p.m. when Lu Zheng returned to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. He was still in his office organizing case files when Jiang Ruolan entered. He stood up and said:

"Director Jiang, the number of reported cases today is much higher than yesterday, with the total number exceeding three hundred in the city."

I've added more staff, but the progress still can't keep up. Also, several victims' families wanted to thank you in person, but I told them you weren't there and asked them to go home.

"Well done." Jiang Ruolan took off her police cap and placed it on the table, rubbing her forehead, which had been pressed against the brim of the cap all day.

"Everyone has worked hard these past few days. I'll treat everyone to a meal after this busy period is over."

"Then you owe us a big meal." Lu Zheng chuckled, then said seriously.

"By the way, news came from the Provincial Department's Inspection Division that Gu Changhe will be transferred from the detention center to the detention center tomorrow morning for formal arrest. The Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection will also release a statement at the same time."

Jiang Ruolan nodded. Gu Changhe's formal arrest signifies a new phase in the purge of the Yi'an protection network.

Once this signal is released, those who are still watching will understand—this time, it's not just a formality.

Those involved in the case who are still hesitating about whether to turn themselves in, and those who are still trying to destroy evidence and escape the net, will all be forced to make a choice.

"There's one more thing." Lu Zheng's expression became somewhat subtle.

"This afternoon, someone turned themselves in at the city police station. Guess who it was?"

Jiang Ruolan looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Qin Chuan's son, Qin Tianyou."

He brought with him a complete ledger of business transactions between Tianyou Trading Company and Fengmao Group, and voluntarily confessed the entire process of how his father received bribes from Fengmao Group through his company.

He said he hadn't slept all night after his father was taken away by the provincial discipline inspection commission yesterday, and came early this morning.

Jiang Ruolan remained silent for a while.

Qin Tianyou played a unique role in the entire case.

He is 27 years old this year. Under his father's arrangement, he became the legal representative of a shell company and was passively made a link in the bribery chain.

Legally speaking, his actions constitute a crime; but morally speaking, he is a young man who was dragged down by his own father.

"Handle it according to the law," she said.

"Those who voluntarily surrender themselves, actively return the stolen goods, and truthfully confess will be given a lighter or reduced punishment in accordance with the law. Cases should be filed where necessary, and bail should be granted where appropriate, ensuring that no one is wrongly accused or let off the hook."

"clear."

After Lu Zheng left, Jiang Ruolan sat alone in her office and opened her notebook.

She started using this notebook on the first day she arrived in Yi'an, and it's now more than half full.

Each page was densely covered with clues, names, chains of evidence, and key points of the interrogation. She turned to the latest page, picked up her pen, and put a checkmark next to the name "Gu Changhe".

Then I turned to another page and put a checkmark next to the name "Shen Wangshan".

There was another page with more than a dozen names written on it—Fang Xuewen, Qin Chuan, Zhao Wannian, Qian Desheng, Sun Zhigang, Liu Changhe, Zhang Youcai, Li Guangping—each name had a checkmark next to it.

Only the last two names are left blank:

One is another judge from the Yi'an Intermediate People's Court, and the other is a section chief from a provincial government agency.

These two individuals were identified by Gu Changhe during yesterday's interrogation, and the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection is currently verifying their identities.

She put down her pen and leaned back in her chair.

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