On the eve of his assignment to San Jiang Kou, Director Gao specifically invited him to dinner. At the end, Director Gao amiably discussed with him: there’s a female comrade who just graduated from the police academy who will go to San Jiang Kou together with you—what do you think? Zhang Yi’ang immediately understood this person must be someone with connections and stated that while he didn’t expect female criminal police to achieve any results, an extra helper would be good.
Director Gao was very pleased and went on to say that the girl had always wanted to be a criminal police officer, and he needed to find a way to quickly dissuade her from this idea and send her back. At the same time, this girl hadn’t experienced the real world, didn’t understand danger, and had an impulsive personality. He needed to watch her closely, not let her participate in frontline work, and absolutely couldn’t let anything happen to her! Zhang Yi’ang casually asked what would happen if something did occur. Director Gao immediately turned hostile and threatened: then bring your dog head back to the Public Security Department!
This threat scared Zhang Yi’ang out of his wits. Afterward, he asked Director Wu to inquire about this girl Li Qian’s background. Director Wu only knew her uncle was a high-ranking, powerful leader in the Ministry of Public Security, but didn’t know the specific situation.
Zhang Yi’ang was helpless. The precious daughter of a Ministry of Public Security big leader had descended to earth. He couldn’t let her participate in case work, yet had to let her have her fun, and also had to send her back quickly. This kind of political task with all these “must do this,” “must do that,” and “must also do this other thing” requirements was truly difficult for him.
He could only assign all the office work of reviewing materials to Li Qian. Who knew the young lady would be extremely efficient, completing tasks faster than he could assign them.
“Director Zhang, all of Zhou Rong’s historical materials are here.”
“So fast!” Zhang Yi’ang responded listlessly without even glancing at the materials.
Li Qian looked at him hopefully, “What task will you assign me next?”
“Uh…” Zhang Yi’ang thought to himself: given your high efficiency, why don’t you mop all the floors in the Public Security Bureau?
Seeing him remain silent for a long time, Li Qian actively suggested, “How about I go undercover in plain clothes, tail Zhou Rong, and conduct secret investigations?”
“Absolutely not!” Zhang Yi’ang blurted out.
“Why not? Other criminal police say this is how you all conduct targeted investigations of suspects.”
“This… we don’t have evidence. To investigate Zhou Rong, there’s still more foundational work to do.”
“Such as?”
Zhang Yi’ang straightened his chest, “Case work isn’t child’s play. It never relies on individual capability but on teamwork. Any excellent criminal police officer can’t rely on personal strength to take risks and act rashly—they must stand at the overall perspective and coordinate the strategy!”
“Director Gao said you’re exactly this kind of excellent criminal police officer.” Li Qian had heard Uncle Gao introduce this Director Zhang as a very excellent criminal police officer—following him, she could learn real skills. Since you so want to be a criminal police officer, following him means you’ve found the right person.
“Director Gao really said that!” Zhang Yi’ang was overjoyed. The leader’s assessment of people was indeed objective and accurate. He coughed once, stitched his mouth back together from where it had split to his earlobes in a smile, and continued, “San Jiang Kou is Zhou Rong’s territory. He’s the local power. We parachuted in here—if we want to deal with him, we absolutely cannot rush, lest we alert the enemy. We must first pull together a group of our own people within the criminal police force.”
“You’re saying Zhou Rong also has people inside the Public Security Bureau?”
Zhang Yi’ang snorted coldly, “Could a local power like this have no connections in the bureau? I don’t know about the others yet, but Criminal Investigation Brigade Captain Ye Jian reportedly has a very close relationship with Zhou Rong. Even the brigade captain is like this—you can imagine the difficulty of our work.” Speaking of this, he couldn’t help getting angry. “After the original Deputy Director Lu disappeared for over half a year, Ye Jian kept acting as deputy director. He thought he’d definitely get promoted, but who knew the Provincial Department would suddenly send me down. He must be furious with shame. The first day I arrived, he was still vigorous and lively, but starting the second day, he took sick leave—is this meant to show me disrespect? Counting it up, he’s already been on sick leave for over a week. He’d better not die on us!”
At that moment, Criminal Investigation Deputy Brigade Captain Wang Ruijun rushed into the office, calling out, “Director Zhang, Ye Jian is dead!”
Zhang Yi’ang froze for a moment, then slowly nodded, “Just as I expected!”
Wang Ruijun was amazed, “You could even predict this?”
“Tell me, what disease did he have?”
“No disease—he was stabbed to death.”
“I see.” Zhang Yi’ang swallowed. After all, he’d guessed the outcome—all roads lead to Rome. He glanced at Li Qian, who was looking up at him with a kind of magical gaze, then turned to Wang Ruijun and ordered, “Protect the scene. Before I arrive, no one is allowed to touch anything!”
Before dying, the deceased had written a few characters on a rock. Although somewhat sloppy, they could basically be recognized. Why write down this name? Does this name necessarily represent the killer?