Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Eleven: Investigation
Zhang Qiu parked his motorcycle outside the Beilan County Police Station, securing it with a sturdy chain lock. Although it was safe to leave it at the station, it wasn't his motorcycle, so he felt more comfortable locking it up. Zhang Qiu looked up at the Public Security Bureau building across from the police station; at this moment, his uncle should be working inside. Unlike the Public Security Bureau, the police station had no security guard, allowing Zhang Qiu to enter directly.
Pushing open the door to the duty room, Zhang Qiu immediately spotted Liu Hua. Before coming, he had worried about the possibility of Liu Hua being out on patrol, which would have been awkward. Fortunately, Liu Hua was present. The sound of the door startled the on-duty officers, and upon seeing Zhang Qiu, Liu Hua excitedly got up from his chair and quickly walked over, hesitating on how to address him.
Zhang Qiu spoke first: "Officer Liu, I need your help with something, is that okay?"
"Sure, sure," Liu Hua nodded eagerly. This kid was the nephew of Police Chief Wang Guodong and also the brother of his idol, Lan Ningshan; from any angle, he felt he should help Zhang Qiu.
"I want to look up a person and also check the footage from around ten o'clock last night near White Day Fire."
"Okay." Without hesitation, Liu Hua agreed. He swiftly logged into the police system, inserted his digital certificate, entered his password, and began searching for Zhang Qiu. "What's the name of the person you want to check?"
"Lu Bin."
Liu Hua entered Lu Bin's name, and many results appeared. He narrowed down the search but still found numerous entries. Zhang Qiu added, "He is the son of Lu Bin from Shijinhao Group."
Liu Hua gave Zhang Qiu a meaningful glance but proceeded to search as requested.
The information came up: Lu Bin, born in 199X, a city resident... all sorts of details were listed, including hotel stay records. Zhang Qiu asked, "Can you give me a copy of this?"
"I can't do that," Liu Hua replied awkwardly. "Helping you with this already puts me at risk."
"Then forget it. Can you check if there are any connections to organized crime in Lu Bin's family?"
After searching for a moment, Liu Hua said, "It seems there might have been some connections in the past, but that was back in the last century."
"Do those forces still exist?" It was common for organized crime to be involved in the last century; otherwise, there wouldn't have been the movement in '83. Zhang Qiu was concerned about whether these forces still existed in the twenty-first century.
"They exist, but they've become more honest."
Zhang Qiu had a clearer understanding now. Since that was the case, things became straightforward. Lu Bin had suffered a significant loss at White Day Fire and, in a fit of rage, brought in reinforcements from the city to retaliate against White Day Fire overnight. This way, those who laughed at him would know who was responsible and would keep their mouths shut in the future.
Zhang Qiu then said, "Help me check the footage from around ten o'clock last night near Daylight Fire Bar."
"The one near Yizhong?"
"Yes."
Liu Hua pulled up the footage. Zhang Qiu leaned in to watch; the video wasn't very clear, but it was enough to see people's faces. At nine fifty, a group of shirtless men rushed into White Day Fire with sticks in hand. Fifteen minutes later, they came out and scattered in all directions. From the bar, Yang Yu and others chased after them.
"Rewind a bit."
"Stop!"
Zhang Qiu was taken aback; the face on the screen was so familiar. The troublemakers were not city folks but clearly thugs from Beilan County. Leading them was none other than Mao Tong, who had been beaten by Zhang Qiu in the Red-Light District!
In an instant, Zhang Qiu overturned his previous conclusion. However, he still didn't understand why Mao Tong would help Lu Bin fight; did they have some connection? Interesting—this was getting more intriguing.
The video only captured people going in and coming out, but Liu Hua vaguely guessed what had happened and sighed repeatedly on the side: "Such a big incident happened, yet no one called the police."
Zhang Qiu warily stared at Liu Hua and said, "Just pretend you don't know about this matter; after all, no one got hurt."
"Okay." Liu Hua, having been a police officer for two years, certainly didn't believe that no one was injured, but there was no need to question it. It's better to avoid unnecessary trouble; some things are best kept known but unspoken.
"Thank you, I'm leaving now. You can continue with your work."
As Zhang Qiu was about to leave, Liu Hua and the officers in the duty room accompanied him out. Before parting, Liu Hua said, "Please thank Director He for us; we received the new hats."
Suddenly, Zhang Qiu remembered something. He scanned the crowd and finally spotted the former bald man. His hair had grown back thickly, making him look completely different and several years younger. Zhang Qiu smiled and said, "Having hair makes you look more handsome."
As Zhang Qiu was about to leave again, Liu Hua called out to him, "Hey, aren't you going to find Officer Blue?"
Thinking back to that scene made Zhang Qiu laugh. "Maybe next time. This situation is special; I don't want her to know I came here today."
After Qiu Wan left, Liu Hua shook his head helplessly. He glanced through the glass into the building but did not see the figure he had been longing for.
At noon, Zhang Qiu returned to school to pick up Jiang Xue. Along with Jiang Xue was Lucia, who had blonde hair and blue eyes. With a handsome guy and two beautiful girls standing together, they naturally attracted many admiring glances from those around them. Of course, those gazes had nothing to do with Zhang Qiu; they were all there to see the beauties.
The exchange program from Aton High School at Beiluan No. 1 High School had officially concluded. After lunch, they would take a bus back to the city to experience one of China's new four great inventions: the High-Speed Rail to the capital before flying back to North America. Lucia handed a note to Zhang Qiu and said before he could open it, "This is my WeChat and Facebook. If you can't use Facebook, add me on WeChat so we can keep in touch. For our friendship and our mission."
Zhang Qiu solemnly put away the note and replied, "For our friendship and our mission."
Lucia suddenly leaned in close to Zhang Qiu's ear and gave him a light kiss on his left cheek. Zhang Qiu stood there in shock. Lucia giggled and then hugged Jiang Xue. Jiang Xue showed no signs of disapproval regarding Lucia kissing Zhang Qiu; after all, such scenes often occur in movies—just a formality. Having spent time together, Jiang Xue and Lucia had developed a good relationship and privately acknowledged each other as sisters. Now that they were parting ways, she felt a deep sense of reluctance.
Lucia embraced Jiang Xue's slender shoulders and said wistfully, "If you have time, you must come visit me in America. If I get the chance, I'll come back to China too. I love China; it's a magical country."
Jiang Xue nodded heavily as tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. Zhang Qiu stepped forward to wipe away her tears and smiled at Lucia, saying, "Until we meet again."
"Until we meet again."
Lucia waved goodbye and went to find her team. Jiang Xue leaned against Zhang Qiu, looking reluctant to part. Zhang Qiu knew that Jiang Xue had very few close friends since childhood. Although her time with Lucia was short, it was a pure friendship without any complications.
Zhang Qiu held Jiang Xue's hand as they left, leaving the parents and students at the scene in shock. It was hard to believe that the foreign girl had kissed the boy, while this Chinese girl was holding his hand. What puzzled them even more was that the two girls didn’t fight; their bond seemed so deep. Today's youth were truly difficult to understand.
Zhang Qiu took Jiang Xue home, had lunch with his mother, and then headed straight to the bar. At three in the afternoon, everyone, including Yao Yu, gathered at White Day Fire. The first floor lobby was undergoing renovations; the damaged items had been cleaned up, brand new sofas and glass tea tables were being moved in, the torn wallpaper was being reattached, and the temporary incandescent lights had been replaced with chandeliers.
Zhang Qiu looked at his brothers and smiled, "I know everyone is wondering why we are renovating, right?"
"Yeah, Brother Qiu."
"What happened?"
"Last night, a group of people broke into White Day Fire and caused a ruckus. More seriously, they hurt our brother. Yang Yu got a cut on his arm from them."
"Damn it, Brother Qiu, we can't let this slide!" Gao Zhi's loud voice rang out.
"Sit down, everyone sit down. I was just about to address this. No matter who it is, if they touch my brother Zhang Qiu, I will not let them off easily. We have three days off; I've decided that on the last night of the break, we'll hit back using their own methods."
"Brother Qiu, so you already know who did it?" Yang Yu had heard Rui Rui mention that Zhang Qiu would investigate but didn't expect him to find out in just one morning.
"It was Mao Tong and Lin Tao's people."
Rui Rui frowned tightly upon hearing this and quickly asked before Zhang Qiu could continue, "Zhang Qiu, have you told Biao Ge?"
"Not yet."
"This is such important news, hurry and tell Biao Ge."
"Okay, can you help me make the call?"
"I'll do it right now."
Rui Rui took out her phone to make the call, while Zhang Qiu continued, "The connection between Mao Tong and me runs deep. The first time I met him was in the Red-Light District near my home, and we clashed back then. Later, Zeng Fan's younger brother told me he was investigating me. I feel that last night's operation was premeditated by them. As for the group that mentioned Lu Bin, it’s possible that Lu Bin is involved, or they might just be trying to divert my attention."
"Brother Qiu, which side are you planning to hit first?"
"Of course, Mao Tong. There's no rush with Lu Bin." Zhang Qiu didn't have any deep-seated hatred for Lu Bin, who was just a down-on-his-luck guy. On the other hand, Mao Tong constantly threatened him and even harmed his brother, which could not be forgiven.
Rui Rui had already finished reporting to Abiao and returned, saying, "I've informed Biao Ge. He wants you all to stay calm and just keep an eye on the situation."
Zhang Qiu nodded. He didn’t say much; Biao Ge had his own considerations, but he also had his own plans. Although he was part of the Stone Dagger Gang, not taking action wasn't his style. Given that Rui Rui was present, it wasn't convenient to continue discussing revenge. Zhang Qiu changed the subject and said, "During this holiday, I plan to go to Nanlan County with Zhao Pingchuan. There are mountains there. Anyone want to join?"
Comment 0 Comment Count