Ever since Liu Bei fled, the Public Security Bureau’s efforts to arrest him had never stopped. From criminal police to special police to police stations, even traffic police and the numerous auxiliary police under various departments—all were mobilized for the work. The good news was that they had found some clues indicating he was still hiding in San Jiang Kou. The bad news was that his counter-surveillance awareness was very strong, and the police still couldn’t determine his actual hiding place.
Song Xing, because he failed to press the elevator button during the first attempt to arrest Liu Bei, had become the典型 fool at the unit. Naturally, these past few days he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to making up for his mistake, throwing himself into the front lines of the arrest operation.
Today it was Wang Ruijun accompanying Director Zhang to find Lu Yibo.
Both wore plainclothes and drove to the Fenglin Wan Hotel. After getting out of the car, Wang Ruijun briefed Zhang Yi’ang on the situation. “The intelligence I’ve gathered says that Lu Yibo is a decent, honest person. He and Zhou Rong are old classmates, but he’s different from Lang Bowen. Lang Bowen is Zhou Rong’s business partner, while Lu Yibo is more like Zhou Rong’s lackey. The Fenglin Wan Hotel is nominally Lu Yibo’s, but informants all say the real boss is Zhou Rong. By the way, Director, last time you told Zhou Qi to keep the spa club open to lure Mayor Luo—she didn’t listen to us. The regular business is still open, but the underground operations suddenly closed yesterday afternoon. Word is they won’t reopen for the foreseeable future.”
“She dared to close the club!” Zhang Yi’ang stopped in his tracks, his face showing anger.
“Right. I’m guessing Zhou Qi found out about Luo Ziyue’s identity. She didn’t dare offend either side, so she closed it.”
“Then she’s really offended me!”
The two entered the hotel. Wang Ruijun went straight to the front desk. “We need to see Lu Yibo.”
“Please wait a moment.” The young woman at the front desk gave a perfunctory polite response. Seeing their imposing manner, she didn’t dare make decisions on her own and immediately called over the lobby manager, whispering a few words in her ear.
The lobby manager was a woman in her thirties who smiled professionally and inquired, “Excuse me, gentlemen, do you have an appointment with General Manager Lu?”
“No.” Wang Ruijun straightened his chest, putting on a “so what” expression, and pulled out his credentials to flash before her eyes. “Just tell Lu Yibo that I’m Wang Ruijun from the Criminal Investigation Unit of the San Jiang Kou Public Security Bureau. I need to ask him some questions.”
Hearing they were police, the lobby manager didn’t dare be negligent. She hurried behind the front desk, picked up the telephone, and spoke in a low voice for a long time. After hanging up, she said apologetically, “Leaders, I’m truly sorry. General Manager Lu isn’t at the company. You… what do you need him for?”
Zhang Yi’ang glanced at the ceiling and sneered. “Cut the nonsense. Lu Yibo is upstairs. Ask him again whether he’ll let us come up now or have him come to our office for a talk.”
The manager swallowed and quickly made another call. This time it was very brief. After hanging up, the manager immediately took the two men to the elevator and escorted them to Lu Yibo’s office door.
Lu Yibo personally opened the door, his face wreathed in smiles as he ushered the two inside, naturally arranging for tea and water.
After the three were seated, Lu Yibo’s gaze lingered on the two men for several seconds. After all, he was a businessman who had seen countless people—without introductions, he already had a general idea of their identities.
He looked at Wang Ruijun and deliberately acted familiar. “You must be Brother Jun?”
Wang Ruijun got a headache whenever he heard the title “Brother Jun.” He coughed heavily and put on a stern face. “I am Wang Ruijun, captain of the Criminal Investigation Unit!”
“Then you must be Director Zhang?” He turned ingratiatingly toward Zhang Yi’ang.
“You understand me quite clearly. Zhou Rong told you about me, right?” Zhang Yi’ang was quite impolite. “Just now the lobby manager said General Manager Lu wasn’t at the hotel. What’s this—you came back? Do you practice clone techniques?”
“I’m truly sorry, truly sorry!” Lu Yibo kept bowing with clasped hands, his face instantly showing a pained expression as he pulled out a catch-all excuse. “I’m very embarrassed to say that I have gastroenteritis today. I was just having diarrhea and was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of leaders, which is why I had the manager downstairs say that.”
Zhang Yi’ang curled his lip but didn’t ask him to bring out his feces for testing to verify if he really had gastroenteritis. He casually mentioned, as if unintentionally, “Why did your spa club downstairs close?”
“It didn’t close. It’s operating normally.”
Zhang Yi’ang glanced at Wang Ruijun. Wang Ruijun asked seriously, “We’re asking about the underground operations inside the club!”
“What operations?” Lu Yibo spread his hands, his face full of innocence.
Wang Ruijun glared at him. “Do you want me to arrest Zhou Qi and ask her?”
“This…” Lu Yibo was momentarily at a loss for words. Playing dumb in front of these two high-ranking police officers was obviously not a wise move, so he changed his explanation. “Leaders, I speak from my conscience—I only recently learned that some employees at the spa club downstairs were privately conducting uncivilized and even illegal operations. I manage the hotel and have to consider the hotel’s reputation, so after learning this news, I had them immediately stop those illegal operations! As for what happened before, whatever fines or penalties are needed, our hotel will fully cooperate!”
“So you’re the one who had Zhou Qi close the operations.” Zhang Yi’ang nodded firmly and said, “Bosses behind these operations always explain it this way. When I worked at the Provincial Department, the ones we arrested always said the same thing, and they still got sentenced in the end. But don’t worry—touching this area of law usually means just a few years, rarely more than ten.”
“I—” Lu Yibo was being stared at by these two men and blatantly threatened, so he could only laugh awkwardly.
“Let’s not discuss that first, lest people in society always say we police only know how to crack down on vice yet don’t arrest the vice boss sitting right in front of us. Boss Lu, we suddenly came to visit today mainly to ask you a few questions. Don’t be nervous, but you must tell me the truth!”
Being glared at by him, even though Lu Yibo had mixed in business circles for many years, facing the head of criminal investigation, his momentum was still suppressed to the point where he couldn’t move. He swallowed and nodded.
“Does this hotel belong to you?”
“Yes… it’s mine. You can look at the business license—ninety percent of the shares are personally mine, and another ten percent belongs to several other companies.”
“What I’m asking is, those ninety percent of shares—are they personally yours, or are you holding them on behalf of someone else?”
“They’re… of course they’re personally mine. There’s no one else.”
“That’s good. If something happens in the future, it will be your responsibility alone.”
Lu Yibo was stunned for several seconds and probed timidly, “I don’t quite understand what you mean. What might happen in the future?”
“There could be many situations—fire safety, security hazards. For public places like yours, once there’s a safety incident, it’s a big deal. If it causes serious consequences, the person responsible has to go to prison.” Zhang Yi’ang spoke casually and easily.
Lu Yibo breathed a sigh of relief and quickly patted his chest to guarantee, “We must keep government education in mind and always raise awareness of safety responsibilities.”
“By the way, just now the lobby manager told us you weren’t at the hotel, but we determined you were upstairs. Do you know why?”
“Why… why?”
“We’ve been closely monitoring your every move. Where you went last night, what time you arrived at the hotel this morning—we know it all clearly.”
Lu Yibo was shocked and asked anxiously, “Why… why are you monitoring me?”
“Because of Ye Jian’s case.” Zhang Yi’ang said it bluntly while carefully observing his micro-expressions.
“Ye Jian’s matter has nothing to do with me.” Lu Yibo blurted out.
“Then who is it related to?” Zhang Yi’ang quickly pressed.
“I…” Lu Yibo swallowed. “I don’t know.”
“You know. You know it clearly!”
“I… I really don’t know.” Lu Yibo protested. “Leader, Ye Jian was my old classmate. I’m also very sad he died, but his matter truly has nothing to do with me.”
“I’m asking you—what day did Ye Jian die?”