Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

Xiao Wang shoved open the metal cabinet in the archives room, the rusty wheels creaking loudly. "Where is the orthopedic medical record from November 2018?" His white gloves were covered in dust, and his movements as he flipped through the files became increasingly frantic. "If we can't find it soon, we'll miss the deadline!" Suddenly, a stack of documents scattered on the floor. As he crouched down to pick them up, his forehead slammed heavily against the corner of the cabinet, and he groaned.

Zhang Hui bent down to help him organize the files, his gaze sweeping over a yellowed medical report. "Wait!" His fingers suddenly stopped. "This ulna fracture case—the patient's age and the time of injury match!" Everyone immediately gathered around, their breaths filling the small archive room. The hastily written report showed the patient's name was "Zhou Moumou," age 58, suffering a left ulna fracture due to a construction accident, and the treatment date was exactly five years ago, November 12th.

“But the name doesn’t match.” Old Zhou pushed up his reading glasses, his tone full of disappointment. “And there’s no ID number, and even the photo is blurry.” Zhang Hui stared intently at the signature column at the end of the medical record—where the two characters “Zhou Kun” were written crookedly, and the handwriting characteristics were seven-tenths similar to the blurry handwriting they found in the deceased’s belongings.

"Expand the search area!" Zhang Hui grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Search all men in the city named Zhou Kun, aged 55-60, with a focus on self-employed individuals!" The conference room phone rang incessantly, team members' fingers flew across the keyboard, and new information windows kept popping up on the screen. However, three hours passed, and they found nothing.

"Could it be an alias?" Xiao Lin suddenly spoke, her voice jarring in the silence. Zhang Hui's eyes lit up, and he immediately contacted the household registration department: "Check all name change records from around November five years ago!" The waiting process was terribly long; the roar of the air conditioner unit made his temples throb. Finally, the household registration system popped up a record: In December 2018, a man named "Zhou Kun" changed his name to "Li Ming," and his age and physical characteristics perfectly matched the deceased!
"Contact his family immediately!" Zhang Hui's voice trembled uncontrollably. The moment the call connected, the cries from the other end made everyone hold their breath. "It's my dad! He's been missing for almost a month! We reported him missing, but we haven't heard anything," his daughter sobbed on the other end of the line. "He runs a building materials store, and lately he keeps saying someone is following him."

The truth had finally been pieced together. Zhang Hui slumped into a chair, watching the dawn break through the window, his eyes red-rimmed. For the past seven days, they had endured countless cycles of hope and despair, desperately searching through cold data and outdated archives. In the archives, instant noodle boxes piled high, coffee stains blurred into dark maps on the documents, everyone's eyes were bloodshot, and their uniforms were wrinkled like dried pickles.

"Captain Zhang, we did it!" Xiao Wang suddenly cheered, his voice filled with the joy of surviving a close call. Da Liu wiped his face, laughing and scolding, "Next time I have to touch these old-fashioned systems, I'll..." He didn't finish, his eyes already reddening. Xiao Lin clutched the file folder, tears streaming down her face onto the documents, "So it really did work!"

Zhang Hui stood up, looking at his exhausted yet excited teammates, his throat tightening. They had wandered the streets late at night, argued in dusty archives, and nearly collapsed after repeated failures. But now, all the hardship had turned into the relief of finding the truth. He took a deep breath and picked up the walkie-talkie: "Notify Captain Lu, the deceased's identity has been confirmed. We have finally taken a crucial step."

The sun beat down on the streets, and cicadas chirped incessantly. Lu Chuan slammed Zhou Kun's file on the table, his gaze sharp as he looked at Wang Shuai and Zhang Hui: "The deceased's identity has been confirmed. Next, we must find a breakthrough through interpersonal relationships. Zhou Kun has been running a building materials store for many years and has come into contact with many people. Investigate carefully and don't overlook any details."

Wang Shuai and Zhang Hui led their team to Zhou Kun's building materials store. The store was small, with piles of cement and gravel at the entrance, dust swirling in the sunlight. Old Chen, the store clerk, was unloading goods when he saw the police arrive. His movements visibly faltered, and a look of nervousness crossed his face. "You...what do you want with me?" Old Chen wiped his forehead with his cement-covered hands, leaving a gray stain.

Wang Shuai said calmly, "Old Chen, don't be nervous. We just want to know about Boss Zhou. How long have you been working here?" Old Chen swallowed hard, carried the goods to a shady spot, put them down, and tugged at his tattered clothes. "I've been working here for almost five years. Boss Zhou, well, how should I put it, he's very strict with us. He keeps our wages low and makes us work a lot of overtime."

"Has he ever made enemies with anyone? Like business partners or competitors?" Zhang Hui pressed. Old Chen scratched his head, pondered for a moment, and then shook his head: "There's definitely competition in business, but I haven't seen him have any particularly bad relationships with anyone. It's just that he sometimes speaks harshly and can get into arguments over trivial matters. Last month, he even had a fight with the owner of the hardware store next door because of a delayed delivery, but it was just a fight, nothing serious happened."

After leaving the building materials store, they found Zhou Kun's neighbor, Aunt Li. Aunt Li was cooling off downstairs, fanning herself with a palm leaf fan. Seeing the police, she warmly invited them to sit down. "Zhou Kun, I've watched him live here for many years," Aunt Li sighed, a helpless expression on her face. "He's a bit shrewd, sometimes arguing heatedly with his neighbors over parking spaces. But I've never heard of him having any deep-seated hatred towards anyone."

"What about his family? What's their relationship like?" Wang Shuai asked while taking careful notes. Aunt Li's eyes darkened: "His wife passed away early, and he only has one daughter who works in another city. Father and daughter rarely see each other and I heard they don't communicate much. Zhou Kun is a stubborn man who likes to make his own decisions. His daughter advised him not to work so hard, but he complained that his daughter was meddling."

Next, they found some of Zhou Kun's friends. In a small teahouse, Zhou Kun's old friend, Lao Wu, was playing chess with someone. When he saw Wang Shuai and Zhang Hui, his hand trembled, and he almost dropped the chess piece. "Officer, I didn't do anything!" Lao Wu hurriedly stood up, his face full of fear.

Zhang Hui quickly reassured him, "Old Wu, don't be afraid. We're just here to find out about Zhou Kun. You two are such good friends, you should know him well." Old Wu finally breathed a sigh of relief, sat down again, picked up his teacup, took a big gulp, and cleared his throat. "Zhou Kun, well, he's too strong-willed. When we go out together, he'll even argue about who pays more for a meal. But he's not a bad person, he just values ​​money too much." (End of Chapter)