The staircases of Chongqing were notorious, stretching from top to bottom as far as the eye could see. If one were to slip, they would tumble to the bottom like a squashed watermelon. But Hu Jia paid no mind to such things at this moment; he was reveling in the thrill of leaping down the steps. "Yo-ho..." While others took one step at a time, he skipped two or three, unafraid of pulling anything.
Lü Qingqing was speechless. For the past two days, Hu Jia had been systematically visiting all eighteen individuals who had been reported. He'd visit one, scare them. Scare one, arrest one. Rumors were spreading that Hu Jia was supposed to handle murder and arson, but now he was dealing with corruption? Was he being transferred? As the number of eighteen people dwindled, Lü Qingqing's frown deepened. Only Hu Jia's excitement never waned. Perhaps it was because he'd entered the "husky" phase, or perhaps it was simply the joy of seeing bad people caught.
"Brother, can you be a little more low-key?"
"I can't be low-key. The more people I investigate, the closer the victory." Hu Jia's joy was evident in his eyes. "Let's go, the seventeenth one, Tao Zhehan from road administration. Kid, you ate so much money, we can't let you off. Yo-ho..." Typical husky.
...
In this day and age, tracing the origin and destination of a towel would be quite difficult, given the abundance of shops and buyers. However, in the late 1920s, it was a simple matter. There were only a few shops in the city that sold towels, and even fewer households could afford them.
The towel from Huang Yuan's home was pale yellow with small daisies printed on it. Luo Wenwu soon located the shop that sold the towel. Towels were still a luxury item during this era, and the owner quickly checked his sales records. This batch of towels, ten in total, had arrived in late winter of the previous year and had all been sold out last month. Although the owner couldn't provide precise buyer information, Luo Wenwu learned that nine of the ten towels had been purchased by women. This meant one buyer was a man, and a young man at that. This information was crucial. Men's towels were usually solid-colored, while pale yellow towels with floral prints were typically bought by women. Therefore, the only reason a man would buy a floral towel was either for a female relative or as a gift. It was highly probable that he was the one who gave the towel to Huang Yuan.
As the only male customer, the owner had a slightly clearer impression of him. He was wearing a suit and glasses, about 1.7 meters tall, and spoke with a regional accent. Because the towel cost 1.9 yuan and the man had haggled it down to 1.6 yuan, and given that in the western Chongqing region, the pronunciation of "six" often sounded like "lu," Luo Wenwu deduced that the man was likely from areas like Jiangjin, Yongchuan, or Qijiang.
...
Meanwhile, Hu Jia and Lü Qingqing were having a face-to-face conversation with Tao Zhehan from the traffic bureau's construction section. "I actually expected someone to come looking for me, but I didn't expect it to be you," Tao Zhehan said with a wry smile. He explained that after learning of Yi Ran's death, he had a premonition that the complaint letters would be discovered by the police.
"So, you admit to everyone named in the complaint letters?" Hu Jia asked.
"What else could I do if I didn't admit it? It had already reached you, so I might as well turn myself in." Hu Jia's name was well-known, and confessing truthfully offered a chance for leniency. It was precisely because everyone thought this way that Hu Jia's efficiency had been so high these past two days; none of the reported individuals had put up a struggle.
"Alright, since you've admitted to abusing your power, let's talk about something else."
"Something else?" Tao Zhehan flinched. "I have nothing else. I just used my position to make some money, truly nothing more."
"Do you know Huang Yuan?" Hu Jia asked, too impatient to discuss the abuse of power.
"Huang Yuan?" Tao Zhehan thought for a moment. "That name sounds familiar."
"She's Yi Ran's wife," Lü Qingqing prompted.
Yi Ran's wife? Tao Zhehan suddenly realized. "Her? I heard she died too?"
"That's not your concern. You just need to answer whether you know her and when you last saw her," Hu Jia said sternly.
"Oh, I don't know her well, and I've never spoken to her. But I did see her with Yi Ran on the street once." Tao Zhehan's answer slightly disappointed Lü Qingqing, but it was within their expectations. Yi Ran had always handled his affairs and transactions personally, and Huang Yuan had never been involved. Thus, the previous sixteen individuals had offered no useful information about her. It seemed Tao Zhehan was no different.
"However," Tao Zhehan added, "I did see her at the Education Bureau once. She was with a man, around twenty years old, and they seemed quite familiar with each other."
The Education Bureau? Then she likely met with Wu Neng.
"They seemed to be arguing at the time. Huang Yuan pushed the man and even broke his glasses."
Wait.
"Whose glasses?"
"The man's."
Lü Qingqing glanced at Hu Jia, and Hu Jia returned the look. Glasses? Wu Neng didn't wear glasses. Could it be that Huang Yuan was also involved with someone else in the Education Bureau?
"Let's go to the Education Bureau. And we'll have another chat with Wu Neng."
...
"Tong Meng, I'm asking you, how could you be so careless?" Ouyang Wen was so angry he felt like shouting. The application to investigate Li Yang's case had been submitted two days ago, but there had been no response. Finally, there was some news, asking Tong Meng to take the application form to get it stamped, but Tong Meng had lost the form. This infuriated Ouyang Wen, and they had to go through the process again. The process itself wasn't the issue; the problem was not being able to find a leader to sign it. No matter how hard he tried, whenever he looked for a leader's signature, the leader was never in the office. If Li Yang's case continued to drag on like this, who knew what would come of it.
"Captain Wen, it's my fault. I don't know what happened, I just put it in the folder, and it mysteriously flew away," Tong Meng said, her eyes welling up with tears, on the verge of crying.
"Cry, cry, cry, all you know is how to cry!" Ouyang waved his hand. "Go stand by the Judicial Section and tell me when the section chief returns so I can go get the signature and stamp."
"Okay!" Tong Meng felt as if she'd been granted amnesty and hurried out the door. Little did she know, as soon as she left Ouyang's office, she changed her demeanor to one of nonchalance. Want to sign and stamp to take over the case? No way!
Meanwhile, Li Yang, detained at the Tongyuanmen police station, was beginning to falter. He felt dizzy and couldn't concentrate his mind, speaking weakly. The interrogators gave him only a bowl of dry rice and pickles a day, and as soon as he finished eating, they would resume their endless questioning. The questions were always the same, to the point where he no longer wanted to speak.
Outside the interrogation room, Tong Hua was scolding a young police officer. "It's been five days. Five days is enough time for a dog to learn to stand, and you still haven't gotten his confession." The young police officer replied fearfully, "Brother Tong, it's not my fault. I don't know what happened, but that kid has too strong a will. He hasn't said a single wrong word from beginning to end. We can't even find a handle."
"He's from the Special Operations Team. How can you get him to talk if you're so slow?" Tong Hua's eyes revealed a hint of ruthlessness.
"Oh, Brother Tong, we wouldn't dare use torture in private." The young police officer's face turned pale. If he were an ordinary citizen, they would have resorted to force long ago, but this was Li Yang. He had Hu Jia and Ouyang Wen behind him; who would dare to coerce a confession?
"Idiot! Who told you to beat him?" Tong Hua gestured for the other to lean in. "You do this..."