Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

Zhou Pei provided updates on the investigation progress in the provincial capital:

"Nie Shichang's network of connections in the provincial capital is relatively hidden, but there is one key point that can be used as a breakthrough point - although his investment consulting company does not have a registered address, its actual office is located on the 23rd floor of an office building in the high-tech zone of the provincial capital."

My people went to the site and saw that the sign at the entrance belonged to another company called "Zhongyuantou". The legal representative was not him, but a woman named Fang Min.

Fang Min is his niece and Xu Yaozong's cousin. Through Fang Min's company, they have at least three accounts in the financial system and provided Yi'an Xincheng Trading with two large sums of money in the past year. Nominally, these were equity investments, but in reality, they were leveraged funds used to manipulate the building materials market.

He projected Fang Min's photo and bank statements onto the screen. "My suggestion is to proceed in two steps—in the provincial capital, use Fang Min as a starting point to trace Nie Shichang's financial chain."

On the Yi'an side, using the prosperous era of the dynasty as a starting point, they summoned Cai Yongchang to break through Cui Changhe and Xu Yaozong's defenses.

"After Zhao Baoshan's death, Cui Changhe is currently the only living key witness directly and simultaneously connected to the three murder cases—he is both Xu Yaozong's supplier and Zhao Baoshan's brother-in-law, and his Jiefeng Company directly supplied the fibers used to kill Yu Xiaomei. Moreover, he has a criminal record, making his psychological defenses relatively weak."

Jiang Ruolan stood up. "We'll move tonight."

Late at night on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the task force summoned Cui Changhe.

The operation took place at the warehouse of Jiefeng Hotel Supplies Company in the old town of Chengdong.

Cui Changhe was checking accounts in his office. A pile of delivery slips and invoices were spread out on the table. When he saw the people in police uniforms rush in, his first reaction was not to run away. Instead, he quickly crumpled up a few delivery slips on the table, stuffed them into his mouth, chewed them a couple of times, and swallowed them.

The special police rushed up, pried open his mouth, and pried out half a delivery note fragment that he hadn't swallowed from between his teeth.

Several handwritten words can be vaguely seen on the fragment: "New Year's Eve", "Towel", "20 square scarves".

Upon comparison, the dark-colored blended handkerchief supplied by Cui Changhe Company was found to be completely identical to the fiber composition extracted from the marks on Yu Xiaomei's neck.

Delivery records for the same batch of handkerchiefs show that on the morning of New Year's Eve, someone took away twenty dark-colored handkerchiefs from the warehouse. The signature column for the person who took the goods read "Luo Bing"—Xu Yaozong's driver and bodyguard, the man with three prior convictions for intentional assault.

It was already 2 a.m. when Cui Changhe was brought into the interrogation room.

He started trembling as soon as he sat down, his legs rubbing back and forth on the bar of the interrogation chair, and his handcuffs clanging against the iron tabletop.

Jiang Ruolan sat opposite him, not in a hurry to speak, but put the half of the delivery note that she had picked out from between his teeth into an evidence bag and placed it on the table where he could see it.

Cui Changhe stared at the fragment for about ten seconds, his lips began to tremble, and then he slumped into the chair as if his spine had been removed.

"I'll tell you everything."

His voice was high-pitched and thin, completely disproportionate to his physique. "Luo Bing came to pick up the handkerchiefs. He called me and said that General Manager Xu wanted to prepare twenty handkerchiefs, dark-colored and thick, not white."

I asked him what he was going to do, and he said, "Don't ask. Just prepare what I'm told to prepare." I've been in there before, and I know I shouldn't ask questions. If I had known they were using that to kill people, I would never have given it to them, even if you killed me.

"Them? Who are they?"

Jiang Ruolan asked.

"Luo Bing, and also General Manager Xu—Xu Yaozong."

Cui Changhe's voice grew softer and softer, like a deflated balloon hissing and leaking air. "Xu Yaozong is my younger brother Geng Changhe's boss. My brother is the vice president of Xincheng Trading, and my Jiefeng Company was able to succeed thanks to Xu Yaozong's investment. He helped me take over that previously bankrupt laundry factory and gave me the linen order from Huangchao Shengshi. So I owe him."

I never questioned Luo Bing when he came to collect things; it wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last. He always took dark-colored handkerchiefs, about twenty at a time, which he would burn after using them and never return.

I know those towels weren't for personal use. But I had no choice. I owed him money, my brother was in his hands, and I had a criminal record. He could send me back to jail anytime.

He looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Zhao Baoshan is my brother-in-law. I'm afraid he'll die too. He drank with me a few days ago. He got drunk and told me he'd done so much for Xu Yaozong that he couldn't sleep at night. He said Xu Yaozong was even more ruthless than his father-in-law, Shen Wangshan—Shen Wangshan at least showed some consideration to those who had followed him for over a decade, but Xu Yaozong didn't."

He said he wanted to run away, to take his wife south. I advised him not to, that he couldn't escape, that someone like Luo Bing was very good at finding people. He didn't listen to me.

"What did he do for Xu Yaozong?"

Cui Changhe remained silent for a while, repeatedly rubbing the hem of his clothes with his fingers, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Then he said in an almost whispered voice:

"Things that happen on construction sites. If a construction site doesn't use Xincheng's materials, he'll bring people to cut off their supplies. He'll puncture their truck tires in the middle of the night, pile up sand and gravel to block the entrance to the construction site, stuff dead cats into the project manager's house, and tell them that if they don't change suppliers, he'll come every day."

The steel bars for that construction site on Binhe Road weren't initially supplied by Xincheng, but by another company called Hengyuan. The owner of Hengyuan was cornered in the warehouse by Luo Bing and beaten, suffering two broken ribs, after which the contract was transferred.

Ma Guoqing was the foreman of the steel reinforcement team. He took the lead in opposing the replacement of steel bars—because Xincheng's steel bars were more expensive than Hengyuan's, and the quality was not as good as Hengyuan's. He was afraid something would go wrong.

Zhao Baoshan and Ma Guoqing had known each other for several years and usually had a good relationship, but Xu Yaozong asked Zhao Baoshan to smooth things over with Ma Guoqing. Zhao Baoshan treated Ma Guoqing to several meals and gave him two packs of cigarettes. Ma Guoqing accepted the cigarettes but refused to give in.

He said, "Everything else is negotiable, but the steel bars are not an option. This building is meant to be inhabited." Because of this statement, Xu Yaozong said that this person could not be kept.

Zhao Baoshan's hands were shaking as he told me all this. He said he had tried to persuade Ma Guoqing, almost kneeling down to beg him to stop getting involved with the steel bars and to find another construction site. But Ma Guoqing wouldn't listen.

Later, Zhao Baoshan told me that Xu Yaozong asked him to call Ma Guoqing on the afternoon of New Year's Eve to confirm whether Ma Guoqing was alone in the dormitory.

He asked, and Ma Guoqing said his coworkers had all gone to the canteen for dumplings, and he would tidy up and go back to be with his son. Zhao Baoshan said he regretted making that call; he told Luo Bing the news, then withdrew the money and ran away.

Where is Yu Xiaomei?

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