The train driver in the courtyard

Chapter 854: Lost time, stubborn Liu Hong, great contribution by the panda, interrogation of Zhou Xiaomeng

Under the dim light.

Li Aiguo took Lao Mao's investigation report and read it carefully again.

Factory 221, this mysterious place that carries important state secrets, is the place in the country with the strictest confidentiality regulations.

In order to ensure the utmost confidentiality, the "Eight Prohibitions" of the "Confidentiality Code" and an extremely strict confidentiality package system are implemented here.

The so-called confidentiality bag system means that every technician who enters Factory 221 will receive a special canvas bag from the confidentiality room when they first enter the factory.

Each canvas bag has a unique number, and Liu Hong's is numbered - 216.

The confidential bag contains a day's work materials and results.

Therefore, the confidentiality bag must be carried with you at all times, even when going to the cafeteria to eat, it must be carried tightly on your back.

Before leaving get off work every day, the technicians must zip up the confidentiality package, seal the sealing rope on the zipper head tightly with plasticine, and then stamp it with the "J-216" seal before sending it back to the confidentiality room.

It can be said that the confidentiality package is the lifeblood of every technician and it is absolutely impossible to be stolen easily.

Furthermore, the Confidentiality Department searched Room 1 of Bureau 9 thoroughly, and all technicians were searched, but no extra confidentiality bags were found.

Master Lu once said: After eliminating all possibilities, what remains will be unbelievable.

Li Aiguo lit a cigarette, and the rising smoke seemed to appear in his mind.

He pulled out a document from the archives, which contained Liu Hong's detailed information:
Liu Hong, a Beijing native, was born into a family of three generations of hired laborers and graduated from Beijing Normal University.

Both of her parents are professors. Although she has not joined the organization yet, given that she took the initiative to come to Factory 221, the higher-ups are already interested in developing her into a member of the organization.

Judging from this information alone, there seems to be nothing suspicious about Liu Hong.

"Maybe... some things are not recorded in this document." Li Aiguo murmured in a low voice and was about to light another cigarette when Lao Mao pushed the door open.

"Take a rest first. I have already arranged it. Let's go to Room 1 tomorrow."

Li Aiguo raised his wrist and looked at the time. It was already four o'clock in the morning.

Sleepiness came over him like a tide, and he was too lazy to go to the dormitory, so he gathered his coat and lay down on the chair.

Various images kept flashing in my mind like a kaleidoscope.

When I woke up again, I was woken up by Lao Hei.

"Aiguo, look who I brought here." Lao Hei's voice was a little excited, and he was holding a furry, chubby little guy in his arms.

“Eat, eat!”

When Chi Chi saw Li Aiguo, a gleam of doubt flashed in her dark eyes for a moment, but she quickly recognized him and struggled excitedly to pounce on him.

Li Aiguo picked up Lao Hei, held Chi Chi in his arms, and rubbed its little head.

"Little guy, did you miss me?"

"Yeah!" Chichi raised his little head and shouted happily, then dived into Li Aiguo's arms, trying hard to get inside, as if he was afraid that Li Aiguo would leave again.

"Look how happy this little guy is. I've been taking care of it for three or four days, and every time it eats, it turns its butt towards me." Lao Hei said, pretending to be jealous.

It turned out that Zhou Xiaomeng and Liu Hong were both roommates and colleagues, and were key suspects.

When Zhou Xiaomeng was detained, she missed Chi Chi and asked Lao Hei to help take care of him.

"Who told you not to be as handsome as me?" Li Aiguo teased him for a while, and then the food was delivered from the cafeteria.

The meals were simple, barley flour steamed bread and cornmeal porridge. Chichi was still young and couldn't eat steamed bread, so Li Aiguo fed him some porridge.

After eating and drinking, Li Aiguo put the food on the chair.

"Eat, eat. I'm not like you. I can get food by being cute. I have to go to work now. You stay here."

Li Aiguo turned around to leave, but Chichi grabbed his trouser leg.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..." ChiChi made an anxious sound. Her little eyes full of desire made Li Aiguo's heart soften instantly.

He asked Lao Hei to bring a coat and gently put it on Chi Chi.

Factory 221 is much colder than Sichuan Province, so don’t let this little guy get frozen.

"Okay, I'll take you with me today."

"Yeah!" Chichi raised his little head excitedly and glanced at Laohei proudly, as if saying: See, this is my real daddy.

Lao Hei: “.”

Chichi was wearing a coat, with only a little head exposed. Li Aiguo held it in his arms, and from a distance it looked like a child.

When the old cat saw Li Aiguo, he thought he had picked up a child. But when he saw clearly that it was Chichi, he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Have you been softened by this little guy?"

"What? You've been fooled too?" Li Aiguo was surprised.

"Don't mention it. These past few days, our secret department's milk powder quota has all been swindled away by this little guy."

As the two walked towards a room, the old cat complained.

After Chi Chi was taken back by Lao Hei, Lao Hei was a rough man who was busy with work all day and had no time to take care of Chi Chi.

Chi Chi was temporarily left in the office of the Confidentiality Department.

The little guy was a little unfamiliar when he first arrived, but he quickly took action.

Whenever it sees someone cooking milk powder, it will run over immediately, wiggle its little butt, and rub against that person's arm.

Who can resist such a cute attack?

Especially the female comrades, they took out all their milk powder quotas without hesitation.

"That would be fine, but the key is that this guy ate all the milk powder in the big office, and then he ran away without any psychological burden, ran to the information room next door, and cheated several aunties in the information room.

When I caught it, some middle-aged women scolded me for abusing small animals. "

The old cat is old-fashioned by nature, but at this moment he reveals a hint of helplessness and pampering.

"Yeah!" Chichi raised his head proudly and waved his little paws, as if to indicate that he had earned the milk powder with his own ability.

Then, it snuggled into Li Aiguo's arms again, as if saying: Daddy, I had no choice but to twist my butt to them.

Its strange behavior frightened the old cat so much that his eyes widened.

"Can this little guy understand?"

"The IQ of a panda is between 70 and 85, which is equivalent to that of a 4-year-old child," said Li Aiguo.

The old cat was silent for a moment, and suddenly said, "It seems that I can't let it enter the secret room anymore."

Li Aiguo: "."

"Salute!" The two men came to the door of a room, and the guards saluted in unison. Li Aiguo returned the salute and walked straight into the large office.

He first walked along the route of Liu Hong's life and work as recorded in the materials.

"At eight o'clock in the morning, Liu Hong took the confidentiality package and went into the office. After working for two hours, at ten o'clock, Liu Hong went to the toilet."

Li Aiguo walked to the door of the women's restroom, stopped his watch, and wrote down the time in a notebook.

"She went to the bathroom for three minutes and then returned to her office to continue working."

"At twelve o'clock in the morning, Liu Hong got off work and went to have lunch. She walked to the entrance of the cafeteria and entered the cafeteria." Li Aiguo raised his head and looked at Lao Mao: "What time did Liu Hong's record say she had lunch?"

"Fifteen minutes." Lao Mao took a look at the transcript, which recorded everything in great detail, from the time Liu Hong got up that day to the time she discovered the confidential package was lost, everything she did was arranged in chronological order.

"Fifteen minutes?" Li Aiguo frowned and asked, "What kind of lunch was served in the cafeteria that day?"

"Because the Ninth Institute has made a breakthrough recently, the higher-ups have specially allocated a batch of refined white flour. The lunch meal for the technical researchers is a white flour steamed bun, two taels of radish, and a bowl of porridge." Lao Mao didn't understand why Li Aiguo suddenly asked this and was a little confused.

Li Aiguo looked at the old cat and said, "Does this kind of food take fifteen minutes to finish?"

Hearing this, the old cat's expression suddenly changed.

It's common sense that the worse the food, the longer it takes to eat.

Generally speaking, the technicians at Factory 221 have a meal time of ten minutes.

"So, Liu Hong lied here and she concealed it for at least five minutes." A chill rose in Lao Mao's heart. He interrogated Liu Hong several times, but did not find this suspicious point.

However, Lao Mao did not go back to interrogate Liu Hong immediately.

He has confirmed that Liu Hong is not a simple woman and should be treated with more caution, otherwise he will end up with nothing.

"Let's continue. Liu Hong has finished his meal and left the cafeteria." Li Aiguo pressed his watch, deliberately slowed down his pace, imitated the walking posture of a full person, staggered through two checkpoints, and came to the door of the computing room.

He pressed the time again: "Liu Hong should have returned at 12:30, Team Leader Mao, what time did she say in her confession?"

The old cat glanced at the time, his face suddenly darkened: "12:50."

"Except for the missing five minutes in the cafeteria, Liu Hong concealed it for another ten minutes on the road." Li Aiguo wrote down this situation, then went into the office and continued to imitate Liu Hong's day's work, and the rest of the time was normal.

Lao Mao and Li Aiguo sat under the eaves and discussed for a long time, and finally came to a conclusion.

"That is to say, at noon, on the day of the incident, Liu Hong was missing for fifteen minutes."

"What on earth has she been doing?"

"Aiguo, I'll go interrogate her again." Lao Mao threw down his cigarette butt, stood up suddenly and ran towards the confidential area.

The old meteorologist was actually fooled by a young technician, and his heart was filled with anger at this moment.

Li Aiguo retracted his gaze, picked up Chichi, rubbed its head, and whispered: "Humans are the most unreliable animals in the world."

“Yeah!” ChiChi raised his little head. ChiChi is still the most loyal.

Li Aiguo looked at its cute appearance and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Come on, Chichi, accompany me today to see what Liu Hong is up to." Li Aiguo picked up Chichi and walked along Liu Hong's route several times again.

Every time he would stop and look around, but he didn't find any suspicious places. Until the fourth time he passed the garden, he suddenly stopped and looked outside the garden.

The so-called garden was actually more like a wasteland. There was not a single flower in it, only dry grass covered with frost, shivering in the cold wind.

At this time, the old cat hurried over, his face even uglier than before.

"I really underestimated this woman. Her mouth is tighter than those Dieters."

The old cat rarely broke down his defense and recounted the entire interrogation in great detail.

In fact, the process is very simple and can be summed up in one sentence - no matter how the old cat interrogated, Liu Hong refused to say anything. As for the lost time, Liu Hong claimed that he ate slowly and walked slowly.

"But according to Liu Hong's previous time records, her speed is not slow," Li Aiguo reminded.

The old cat exhaled through his nose: "Liu Hong confessed that she was only slow that day."

"This woman is really interesting." Li Aiguo had already anticipated this and didn't care. He walked towards the garden holding Chichi.

The old cat followed and asked in confusion: "Have you found anything?"

Li Aiguo squatted down and pointed at the footprints in the garden: "Although there is no flower bed here, most people would not walk through here. Whose footprints are these?"

"These footprints are too blurry." The old cat followed the footprints and turned around. The footprints disappeared when they left the garden.

"How about I borrow the hunting dog from the Guard?"

To be honest, since the Guard Regiment had withdrawn from the investigation team, Lao Mao didn't want to deal with the Guard Regiment.

"No, we have food to eat."

"Eat? It's a panda, not a dog." The old cat frowned.

Chichi: "Squeak, squeak, bad guy!"

Li Aiguo rubbed Chichi's little head and said with a smile, "A panda's sense of smell is six times that of a dog. If a hunting dog can do it, Chichi can definitely do it, right? Chichi?"

"Yeah!" ChiChi raised his head.

Li Aiguo put Chichi on the ground and said, "Chichi, you have the best nose. Help me see where the footprints are."

"hold head high!"

Just kidding, we can't let others look down on us when we eat.

Dog? How can it be compared with a national treasure! Chichi ran to the footprints with his short legs, sniffed carefully, and then followed the lingering scent in the air and ran away.

Its little butt bounces up and down, it's so cute.

The old cat widened his eyes: "This little guy can actually be used as a dog"

Before he could finish his words, Chi Chi stopped, turned her head and glared at him angrily.

The old cat quickly forced a smile and gave Chichi a thumbs up: "Chichi is the best."

Chi Chi then turned around contentedly and continued to work.

After a while, Li Aiguo followed Chichi to the bottom of a wall.

Seeing Chi Chi stop and look at the wall, Li Aiguo said with a smile: "This is it."

As he spoke, he pulled away the weeds on the ground, and a clear footprint appeared on the ground.

The old cat waved his hand in the distance, and when the man in the gray Zhongshan suit came over, he immediately ordered, "Take off Liu Hong's shoes immediately and bring them here. I want the right one."

A moment later, the man in the Zhongshan suit ran over with a shoe.

The old cat squatted down carefully and compared the footprints with his shoes, which fit perfectly.

"The fifteen minutes that Liu Hong lost have been found!" He clenched his fists tightly.

Li Aiguo picked up Chichi and rubbed its little head: "Panda Chichi has done a great job!"

Afterwards, Li Aiguo and Lao Mao took people to investigate outside the wall.

Outside the wall was a wasteland, and the rubble on the wasteland was blown into a mess by the wind, covering all traces.

****
The atmosphere of the second interrogation was somewhat tense.

On a slightly worn table, the crucial pair of shoes lay quietly.

The old cat squinted at Liu Hong and slammed the table: "Liu Hong, what were you doing at the east wall of Room 1 after lunch?"

There was a flash of panic in Liu Hong's eyes, but she quickly calmed down.

His face regained its stubborn look, and he responded with a tough tone: "I'm full, can't I go for a walk?!"

"Liu Hong, I hope you can remain honest to the organization and not be stubborn. There will be no good end if you are the enemy of the people!" Lao Mao's tone became much heavier.

Liu Hong's fingers clenched subconsciously, and her joints turned white from the force. She stiffened her neck and said without flinching, "I just went for a walk."

"The evidence is conclusive, there's no point in denying it!" The old cat slammed the table again, and the shoes on the table began to vibrate.

"I really went for a walk."

"Think about your family and try to get leniency!"

"I did go for a walk."

"Where does your wrong thinking come from?" The old cat's voice became increasingly severe.

"I was just taking a walk. I'm definitely not a bad person."

You know, Lao Mao is an experienced old comrade. Normally, as long as he coughs lightly, the suspects will be scared to death.

But now, facing Liu Hong, a seemingly ordinary girl, his deterrent power seemed to have failed. Liu Hong was able to grit her teeth and persevere to the end.

Why is she so persistent?
Or, for whom is she keeping this secret?

Li Aiguo looked at her, his eyes narrowed slightly.

The second interrogation lasted nearly half an hour. Seeing that there was no hope of a breakthrough, Lao Mao had no choice but to let the man in the gray Zhongshan suit take her back.

The door was closed. Lao Mao handed Li Aiguo a cigarette and lit one for himself.

There was no trace of the initial anger on his face, instead there was a feeling of ease.

As a senior investigator, the most worrying thing is the inability to identify a suspect.

Now that we have a clear goal, we have a direction for the next things to do, and everything seems to be getting easier.

"Aiguo, what do you think? Is she Dieter?"

"No." Li Aiguo took a puff of his cigarette.

"I think the same thing as you." Lao Mao held the cigarette butt between his fingers and nodded. He analyzed: "Professionally trained spies will always use various techniques to resist interrogation when being interrogated. And this Liu Hong..."

The old cat couldn't find the right words to describe her for a moment.

Li Aiguo said: "A bit stubborn."

"Yes, yes, she is a little stubborn! She knew that if she continued to conceal it, the result would be the same, but she refused to admit it." The old cat smiled bitterly: "Just now I really hoped that she was Dieter, then it would be easier."

Li Aiguo knew clearly that “easy to handle” had two meanings.

On the one hand, the professional Dieter knows the consequences of his crime and will often cooperate in order to reduce the punishment and get a chance to survive.

The second level is that Dieter is the enemy and you can do whatever you want to him.

No matter what serious mistakes Liu Hong has made now, she is still one of them after all, and a meteorologist like Lao Mao cannot bring himself to do that to her.

"But why is she so stubborn?" The old cat frowned. "Why is she so stubborn that she has to risk being perched on the fence?"

Lao Hei interrupted: "Team leader, hand her over to me. I guarantee I can get a confession."

"how long it takes?"

"Ten days at most." Lao Hei pondered for a moment and gave a time.

"Ten days. It's too late. We only have less than four days." said the old cat.

Li Aiguo suggested: "Let's split into two groups. Lao Hei will continue the interrogation, and Team Leader Mao and I will check Liu Hong's background. We must have overlooked something."

The proposal was approved by the old cat.

He also felt that Liu Hong's behavior was too abnormal.

It was already lunch time. After lunch, Li Aiguo asked Lao Mao to bring all the people who knew Liu Hong to the interrogation room.

Those people were surprised to see that what Li Aiguo asked was related to Liu Hong.

"Liu Hong is usually quite timid, can she do such a thing?"

"Researcher Chen, let's talk about Liu Hong's interpersonal relationships. Does she have any friends?" Li Aiguo knocked on the table.

Researcher Chen is Liu Hong's team leader and is more familiar with her situation.

Researcher Chen came to his senses and said quickly, "Liu Hong has no other problems, but he is a chatterbox and likes to talk about other people's right and wrong behind their backs, so he doesn't have many friends here."

He hesitated for a moment and said, "If there is one, then Comrade Zhou Xiaomeng might be one. Of course, Commander, I don't doubt Comrade Zhou Xiaomeng. She is a good girl and works diligently and responsibly. They live in the same house, so they are often together."

"Zhou Xiaomeng" Li Aiguo flipped through the files in front of him and put Zhou Xiaomeng's file on the top.

A moment later, Zhou Xiaomeng was brought over in a gray Zhongshan suit.

This young girl, who had just graduated from school, was experiencing such a serious situation for the first time.

She hadn't been eating or sleeping well these past few days, and she looked very haggard.

Just now, when I heard that I was going to be questioned by the chief, I was so frightened that my face turned pale and my calves could not help but tremble.

"Come in." The man in a gray Zhongshan suit sent Zhou Xiaomeng to the door, invited her in, and closed the door from the outside.

When Zhou Xiaomeng walked into the interrogation room and saw that it was Li Aiguo, she was startled: "Train driver, what are you doing sitting there? The leader will be here soon, and you will be angry."

Li Aiguo picked up the file and asked with a straight face, "Name?"

Zhou Xiaomeng was completely stunned.

When we went to the Sichuan Province base a while ago, Li Aiguo led the team.

But that was just scientific research work, and the so-called team leader was just the role of a "waiter comrade".

But the person in charge of the investigation this time is the "chief" from Beijing.

Zhou Xiaomeng had dealt with many meteorologists outside, but this was the first time she saw them mention this leader with such respect and awe.

Even the usually sinister old cat team leader had a different expression when he mentioned the chief.

Seeing that she was in a daze, Li Aiguo repeated the question again.

Zhou Xiaomeng then came to her senses and realized that the train driver in front of her was actually the awe-inspiring leader.

There were turbulent waves in her heart. She took a few deep breaths and barely suppressed her emotions.

"Zhou Xiaomeng."

"age?"

"Nineteen."

"political status?"

"Organization member."

After a routine interrogation, Li Aiguo lit a cigarette and asked directly: "Comrade Zhou Xiaomeng, besides the people in Liu Hong's room, does Liu Hong have other friends in other research laboratories and factories?"

After these words were spoken, Zhou Xiaomeng's expression changed slightly, and her little hands subconsciously clenched the corner of her clothes.

Li Aiguo continued, "Liu Hong is in big trouble now. If you consider Liu Hong a friend, tell her everything."

".Actually, I'm not sure." Zhou Xiaomeng pursed her lips and said, "Liu Hong. Seems to be in contact with a man frequently."

"Man? What's his name?"

"I don't know either. I haven't seen him. I just suspect him." Zhou Xiaomeng waved her hands and explained, "Just last week, Liu Hong and I went to the barber shop in the living area to get a haircut. As soon as we got off the bus, we heard a man calling Liu Hong from a distance. Liu Hong turned around immediately when she saw the man.

I was curious and asked Liu Hong who the man was, but Liu Hong said that the man had made a mistake.

Li Aiguo guided him at the right time: "It is common to mistake someone for someone else, but why did that man call out Liu Hong's name correctly? So, did he catch your attention?"

Zhou Xiaomeng felt that this idea came from her mind and nodded: "I just took note of it and didn't take it to heart. But I found that Liu Hong was a little unusual. She often embroidered shoe pads in the middle of the night."

"Men's shoe insoles?"

"Yes." Zhou Xiaomeng nodded: "I asked Liu Hong, and she said that she embroidered it for her eldest brother. Isn't this just fooling people?"

Li Aiguo then asked: "Think about it again, is there any clue related to that man?"

"No, you don't know Liu Hong. She is very ambitious and often says that she wants to marry a cadre leader, or at least a researcher of level three or above, so everyone knows that she has no partner. Even if she is secretly dating someone, she will definitely hide it from me."

Zhou Xiaomeng stopped talking suddenly.

She clapped her hands on the table. "Last time the calculations went wrong, the Confidentiality Department sealed off a room. We didn't know the reason at first, but Liu Hong said it might be the explosion of the explosives in the Second Factory."

After that, she was worried that Li Aiguo didn't understand, so she explained: "Liu Hong is a calculator like me. All her work is in Room 1, which has nothing to do with Factory 2. How did she know that Factory 2 was making explosives?"

This girl is very smart!
Li Aiguo stood up and smiled at Zhou Xiaomeng: "Comrade Zhou Xiaomeng, let's talk about this today."

"Um. Did I help you?" Zhou Xiaomeng asked in a low voice.

"Of course, you've been a great help." Li Aiguo said with a smile, "In fact, I also want to thank you for taking care of Chichi for me in the past few days. You've taken good care of her. I will refill your milk powder quota for you."

"I like eating, too." Zhou Xiaomeng's little face was full of smiles when she mentioned eating.

At this time, Li Aiguo had already sent her to the door.

Zhou Xiaomeng stopped again, hesitated for a moment and said, "Driver Li, although Liu Hong has many problems, he is not a bad person."

"Don't worry, we will definitely investigate it thoroughly."

After hearing what Li Aiguo said, Zhou Xiaomeng finally felt relieved.

This is the leader!

****
"Snapped!"

Lao Mao was looking through files in the office when a piece of document was placed on the table.

“Patriotism, now you have a goal?”

Li Aiguo sat opposite and sipped his tea: "Liu Hong may have a boyfriend. He works at the second factory and wears size 44 shoes."

(End of this chapter)