The vote officially began.
The final result was much as Qiao Huali had expected, with Tong Meng inviting humiliation upon herself.
Seeing that her name had only one vote, Tong Meng suddenly understood why Qiao Huali had left.
She stood up and looked around. Li Han, who had been looking down just moments before, now raised her head. Those who had pretended to be busy with other things now no longer feared her gaze.
"What did you all get from him?" Tong Meng asked, unsure who she was addressing, yet it seemed to be directed at everyone.
Seeing no one answer, she rushed directly to Li Han. "They threatened you, didn't they?"
Without waiting for Li Han's reply, she turned to another person, "They wouldn't let you vote for me, would they?"
"Speak. Is it Lü Qingqing or Hu Jia?" As she spoke, Tong Meng remembered Ouyang Wen and pointed at him, "It's him, isn't it? It's him."
Everyone looked indifferent, as if watching a madwoman.
Tong Meng ran to Xie Xi. "Director Xie, I don't accept this result. Ouyang Wen used despicable means to interfere with the voting. They were going to vote for me, they were!"
As she spoke, Tong Meng's voice trailed off.
It wasn't that she didn't understand; she just couldn't accept it for the moment.
"Is that so? Someone used despicable means to interfere with the voting results." Xie Xi looked at everyone. "Tell us who exactly wanted to vote for you? Point him out, and we'll ask him face to face."
Hearing this, Tong Meng faltered.
She was afraid.
After all, she was the one who had wanted to interfere with the vote. As long as some things were not exposed, there was still a glimmer of hope.
And so it was.
Lü Qingqing was elected with almost unanimous votes, officially becoming the Chief Captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Chongqing Municipal Police Bureau.
Hu Jia received three votes, though it was unclear who cast them, it did not affect his position.
After all, everyone knew that Hu Jia was not suited for further promotion unless he could regain his memory.
At this moment, Lü Qingqing was unaware that she had become a leader in the Hu family.
It could be said that Lü Qingqing had absolute authority over whether Hu Jia could continue to be the head of the first team.
If she and Ouyang Wen colluded, it wouldn't be impossible to strip Hu Jia of his police uniform.
"There seems to be an iron box inside." Guan Jinsong finally cleared out the crevice in the rock. There was indeed an object inside. He tapped it with a stone; it was an iron box.
Hu Jia and Lü Qingqing were greatly surprised and could no longer focus on their affectionate displays.
"What is this?" Judging by the size of the space in the rock crevice, the iron box wouldn't be very large.
"Could it be a big box of jewelry?" Guan Jinsong guessed.
"How could my father have so much jewelry? I grew up in hardship." Hu Jia did not believe the box contained gold and jewels. "Could it be evidence of the murders?"
Hmm? Guan Jinsong's brows furrowed. "That's quite possible. Otherwise, how could a Taoist priest have pursued Uncle Hu and desperately searched for this object?"
Lü Qingqing looked at the two of them guessing for so long and was speechless. "Don't you want to dig it out and see? Once the box is opened, we'll know if it's jewelry or evidence."
Oh.
Guan Jinsong and Hu Jia exchanged glances. Close call, this formidable woman was almost about to lose her temper.
Soon, the iron box was dug out.
It was locked.
Hu Jia examined it suspiciously. The lock on the iron box looked secure, but in reality, it was useless.
After all, even without a key, there was a hammer!
"Could the key we found in the secret garden be for this iron box?" Lü Qingqing looked at the lock, which was an ordinary one that could be smashed open easily if one didn't mind damaging its structure.
"Perhaps." Hu Jia couldn't think of any other reason. "Then, the key would be useless. What a waste of time searching for it."
As Hu Jia spoke, he casually picked up a nearby stone and struck the iron lock.
The iron lock sprang open.
Uh...
When the iron box opened, all three of them were stunned.
"Stunned" might not be the most accurate word; it was more like bewilderment.
"How can it be a gun?" Guan Jinsong had imagined all sorts of objects inside the box, but he had never expected it to be a gun.
"And it's a C96, a Mauser pistol." Lü Qingqing looked at the gun. It showed obvious signs of rust, appearing to be very old.
Hu Jia took it out and fumbled with it. He then opened the pistol's grip, and inside, there was a bullet.
"A Mauser pistol, wasn't the murder weapon in the shooting incident a Mauser pistol?" Lü Qingqing suddenly realized. Had Hu Shilong found the murder weapon back then, which led to his demise?
"Hey, look, there's writing here." Guan Jinsong had been fiddling with the iron box. The bottom of the box was lined with cotton cloth, and beneath it lay a piece of paper.
When they opened it, the paper had already rotted, likely due to the humid environment.
Only a few characters could be faintly seen, almost impossible to confirm.
Everyone was greatly disappointed. "What does this mean? Is there anything unusual about this gun?" Lü Qingqing asked, confused.
"Could it be Uncle Hu's service weapon?" Guan Jinsong wondered.
"Impossible. His service weapon was still with him when he died. Besides, there would be no reason for him to hide his service weapon here in advance." Hu Jia closed the box, intending to study it further back home.
On the way, they all pondered the matter. The item Hu Shilong had gone to such lengths to leave behind must have had a special meaning.
Coupled with the effort the "Knife Man" organization had put into investigating this secret, the gun must have a profoundly significant connection to the past shooting incident.
Could it be the murder weapon from that incident?
But that didn't make sense.
The two merchants who were assassinated back then, including Hu Shilong, all died by the muzzle of a Mauser pistol.
If Hu Shilong had already found the murder weapon and hidden it, then where did the gun that fired the bullets at him come from?
"So, you might have been stuck in a misunderstanding all along. There were two murder weapons: one killed Zhu Xuan and Huang Yawen, and the other killed Uncle Hu Shilong." Lü Qingqing speculated.
Two murder weapons?
So, all along, Hu Jia had believed that the same gun had killed all three of them.
But if this murder weapon had been found and buried by Hu Shilong long ago, then the Mauser pistol that killed Hu Shilong must have been another one.
Therefore, three murder cases from how many murder weapons?
In other words, both murder weapons were police-issued guns.
This police-issued gun that Hu Shilong obtained had killed the two merchants who came to Yu.
Later, Hu Shilong discovered the secret of this police-issued gun and its owner, and thus he was silenced.
And the person who killed him was not the owner of this police-issued gun, otherwise, he wouldn't have failed to guard against it.
So, now there was a direction: finding the owner of this gun.
With this thought, Hu Jia suddenly stopped. He quickly opened the box and disassembled the gun. After a careful examination, he suddenly burst into laughter. "So that's how it is."
Lü Qingqing and Guan Jinsong were confused by him. "What is it? Did you discover something?"
Hu Jia handed them a part of the gun body. "Look what's on here?"
Lü Qingqing took it and looked.
Engraved on it were 47881.
This was the serial number of the police-issued gun!