Qi Zhenxing was in his early forties. As an official who rose from the grassroots with no family background whatsoever, becoming the San Jiang Kou Public Security Bureau Director at this age, while also serving as Deputy Mayor, was truly no easy feat.
Before Zhang Yi’ang took up his post in San Jiang Kou, Director Wu had already completed the work of gathering local intelligence for him. Supposedly, Qi Zhenxing might be Zhou Weidong’s man, but certainly didn’t follow Zhou Weidong’s orders blindly. Before Zhou Weidong went to the Provincial Department, he was Deputy Director and Secretary of Public Security in the city above San Jiang Kou. At that time, Qi Zhenxing had briefly worked under him for a period. Before that, the two men’s work had little intersection. Two years ago, the San Jiang Kou Public Security Bureau arrested a boss involved in organized crime. Supposedly this boss had business dealings with Zhou Rong and a pretty good private relationship. But judging from how the Public Security Bureau ultimately handled these people, there was no mercy shown whatsoever. Qi Zhenxing had even personally instructed within the bureau that this must be processed as an ironclad case.
So the strategy Director Wu and Director Gao discussed was that after Zhang Yi’ang took up his post, he should patiently observe first and absolutely could not directly oppose Qi Zhenxing. If he fell out with the unit’s top leader, future work would be difficult to carry out.
Zhang Yi’ang strictly followed the leader’s instructions. After arriving in San Jiang Kou, although Qi Zhenxing wasn’t very enthusiastic, he hadn’t done anything malicious either. He seemed to be someone proper and orderly who did everything by the book.
At this moment, Qi Zhenxing and several senior bureau leaders sat in the small conference room conversing in low voices. After Zhang Yi’ang, Li Qian, and Wang Ruijun arrived, they sat down on the opposite side of the conference table. Qi Zhenxing first casually chatted about recent work, asking if he was getting used to San Jiang Kou. After going in a big circle, he feigned casualness with a very curious tone and said, “Oh, by the way, I heard Director Zhang already knew something would happen to Ye Jian?”
Zhang Yi’ang forcefully swallowed the blood rising in his throat and glared furiously at Wang Ruijun, asking though he knew the answer, “Who said that!”
“Her!” Unexpectedly, several leaders all pointed their fingers at Li Qian simultaneously.
The people in the unit didn’t know Li Qian had Ministry of Public Security connections and had always treated her as a clerical police officer with secretarial duties whom Zhang Yi’ang had brought along. As for why Zhang Yi’ang would only bring such a rookie female officer when transferred to a local post, that was his personal moral conduct issue. Naturally there were people from the Discipline Inspection Commission to handle that. Moreover, he was still a bachelor, so temporarily it couldn’t be considered a violation of discipline. They could only sigh that nowadays girls fresh out of school were really fighting desperately for “advancement”!
Li Qian, pointed at by a bunch of fingers, looked back at Zhang Yi’ang awkwardly, mouth open but unable to explain. She had only wanted to boast a few words for her leader, going around telling people that Ye Jian’s case was just as Director Zhang predicted. Who knew it would cause such big trouble?
Director Zhao from the Bureau Director’s Office adopted a factual attitude and said, “Ye Jian—we know his temper was quite bad. He was a disciple personally trained by the original Deputy Director Lu, and he often quarreled with Deputy Director Lu too. After Deputy Director Lu disappeared, he acted as Deputy Director Lu’s replacement. He probably thought in his heart that he could get promoted, so after you came, Director Zhang, he was disgruntled. But… but it wouldn’t escalate to this extent, would it?”
Director Zhao spread his hands and looked at everyone. Everyone nodded regretfully and unconsciously turned their gazes in unison toward Zhang Yi’ang.
Zhang Yi’ang froze and looked at everyone present in shock, “He had an issue with me, not the other way around. What reason would I have to kill him?”
“We didn’t say you killed Ye Jian…” “Right, your reaction is a bit strange.” Everyone discussed in a jumble, all denying they suspected him, though the looks they gave him became even more peculiar. They also said that since Ye Jian wrote down his name before dying and even added an exclamation mark, for the sake of normal work procedures and to avoid suspicion, he needed to recuse himself from the investigation work on Ye Jian’s case. Only after it was cleared up could he re-engage in daily work.
Everyone’s faces showed well-meaning reminders, but actually their positions were already clear. From now on, you can’t manage the criminal police team. As for what you should do, that’s up to you—in any case, the government won’t short you your salary.
Zhang Yi’ang’s heart jumped as he realized the seriousness of the problem. The actual purpose of this conspiracy wasn’t to frame him. He didn’t kill the person, so of course ultimately he couldn’t be framed. But this matter directly resulted in him being unable to participate in work—a de facto suspension. As long as the case wasn’t solved for one day, he couldn’t work for one day. After a long time, to avoid suspicion, Director Gao would also have no choice but to transfer him back to the Provincial Department.
Driving him away—that was the enemy’s real purpose!
Encountering such a major case targeting him right upon arriving in San Jiang Kou—this place was indeed unfathomably deep.
He pondered for a moment, cleared his thoughts, and said to everyone, “Now the problem comes down to one point. As long as I prove Ye Jian’s death has nothing to do with me, my work here can continue, right?”
Everyone collectively shook their heads, stating that no one suspected Ye Jian’s death was related to him, then nodded—what you’re saying makes a lot of sense.
Zhang Yi’ang whispered a few words to Wang Ruijun, who left to make a phone call. After a while, Squadron Leader Song Xing came in following him.
Song Xing had just rushed over from the medical examiner and reported to the leaders present, “Medical Examiner Chen determined that Ye Jian’s time of death was between eight and ten o’clock last night. We preliminarily found that Ye Jian ate dinner with friends last night, leaving around nine o’clock. In other words, Ye Jian died between nine and ten o’clock last night.”
Zhang Yi’ang nodded and faced everyone, “As long as I prove I wasn’t at the crime scene between nine and ten o’clock last night, that’s enough, right?”
Everyone thought about it and all expressed agreement.
One leader kindly asked, “Director Zhang, think carefully—what were you doing at that time?”
Zhang Yi’ang thought for a moment and answered, “I should have been washing my feet at that time.”
Wang Ruijun laughed easily, “That’s simple then. Just call over last night’s technician to testify for the Director.”
“I was at home alone watching TV and soaking my feet.”
Song Xing offered another suggestion, “Nowadays quite a few phone applications have location settings. Although locations can be faked and can’t be used as direct evidence, they’re not bad as a reference. Director, at that time, did you use the location function in any applications?”
Zhang Yi’ang pondered for a while, his face showing hesitation. Finally, he slowly nodded.
Everyone anxiously asked, “What was it?”
Zhang Yi’ang pursed his lips and uttered two words in a low voice, “Momo.”
Everyone looked at each other with inscrutable expressions. Zhang Yi’ang quickly straightened his body and said seriously, “I was using Momo to investigate whether there were any suspicious persons suspected of illegal or criminal activity among ‘nearby people.’ Oh right, then I also ordered takeout, and the person who came was a woman in her thirties—”
“Wait,” Director Zhao coughed forcefully, interrupting him. “What kind of takeout did you order?”
Zhang Yi’ang froze, then said loudly, “Of course it was food takeout!”
“The woman in her thirties you mentioned—was she the delivery person?”
“What else would you think!”
“I… of course that’s what I thought too.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and laughed as if a weight had been lifted. The next work would be simple—check the takeout order records, then verify with the delivery person, and naturally they could thoroughly prove Director Zhang’s innocence. But this work turned out to be not at all simple.