The train driver in the courtyard

Just when Li Aiguo was about to go to Jinling Cotton and Wool Textile Factory, the Jinling Meteorological Station suddenly received a call from Factory 219.

Section Chief He of the Security Department of Factory 219 said in a strange tone on the phone: "Comrade driver, we found Mr. Qian."

"Where is the person?" Li Aiguo asked immediately.

Qian Gong is also a party to the case and has been a colleague of Meng Binhong for several years. He might be able to provide some useful clues.

"In the People's Hospital."

"Is the injury serious?"

Li Aiguo was just asking casually, but Section Chief He on the other end of the phone looked very strange: "You will know when you come."

Considering that they had to pass the People's Hospital to get to Jinling Cotton and Wool Textile Factory, Li Aiguo instructed Section Chief He to keep an eye on Qian Gong, and they arrived soon.

Half an hour later, Li Aiguo and Zhou Ke opened the door of a single room.

Mr. Qian was lying on the hospital bed. On the table next to him was a wooden stick as thick as a bowl, one end of which was covered in blood.

"How did he get injured?" Li Aiguo felt a little strange when he saw Qian Gong lying on the hospital bed.

Section Chief He suppressed his laughter and said in a cold voice: "Old Qian, tell Consultant Li yourself."

"I"

"Why, don't you want to catch Meng Binhong and take revenge?"

Li Aiguo was wondering, but he saw Qian Gong was visibly angry, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Meng Binhong, he is not a human being, he is a pervert."

Li Aiguo's eyes moved to the wooden stick as thick as a bowl, and he couldn't help but gasp.

Zhou Ke didn't care at first.

This guy was just lowering his head to observe the stick. Hey, this thing seems to be interesting. When he heard this, his face suddenly changed and he took a few steps back.

"Is he okay?"

A cruel scene emerged in Zhou Ke’s mind, and he looked at Qian Gong with pity.

"It's just a minor injury. The doctor has checked it out. It's not a big problem. The worst consequence in the future is just fecal incontinence."

"It's okay."

Li Aiguo was also a veteran soldier who had experienced many battles. He quickly calmed down and looked at Qian Gong and asked, "Old Qian, do you remember how this happened?"

Qian Gong looked confused: "I can't remember clearly, I only remember drinking the tea that Meng Binhong handed over, and then I don't know anything else."

Section Chief Liu nodded: "We have sent someone to take the remaining tea for testing, but the conditions are not sufficient at the moment, so there is little hope."

Li Aiguo asked a few more questions, and seeing that Qian Gong knew nothing, he planned to leave.

At this time, Qian Gong wailed: "Oh, boss, if this gets out, how can I live my life in the future! If my wife finds out, she will fight me to the death."

No matter how bad Qian Gong's character is, he is a victim after all, and we should protect the victim's privacy.

Li Aiguo looked at Section Chief He and said, "Old He, don't make this public for now."

"late."

"???"

"Qian Gong was found by passers-by. They were worried that Qian Gong would suffer a secondary injury, so they sent Qian Gong back home on a flatbed truck. It was time to get off work, and Qian Gong was lying on the flatbed truck holding up the stick."

When Section Chief He mentioned this, his expression looked strange and the corners of his mouth twitched twice.

Li Aiguo: "."

He felt that Qian Gong might be transferred out of Jinling.

Li Aiguo pushed open the door and walked out of the ward, bumping face to face with a female comrade.

The female comrade rushed into the ward without even looking at Li Aiguo.

"Boss, your coworker said your chrysanthemums are dying. What does that mean? When did you plant the flowers?"

Li Aiguo: "."

Zhou Ke: "."

The eighteen young nurses who were eavesdropping outside the door said: "."

*****
Leave the hospital.

Without caring about Qian Gong's plight, Li Aiguo drove his jeep towards Jinling Cotton and Wool Textile Factory.

Jinling Cotton and Wool Textile Factory is nestled at the foot of the ancient city wall, facing the outer section of the Qinhuai River.

There are no poetic pleasure boats on the inland river here, only the muddy river water flowing day and night.

Bright red slogans were painted on the mottled walls of the factory: "Strive for high production by the loom and spin silver yarn for the people", "Work hard, practically and smartly, and spin more cotton yarn for the organization".

These sonorous words are reflected on the turbulent water, outlining an alternative prosperous picture that is no less prosperous than the inland river scenery.

When Li Aiguo drove his jeep to the gate of the cotton and wool textile factory, he was stopped by the security officer of the factory.

"Which unit are you from?"

"Jinling Changqiao Traffic Squadron is here to investigate a traffic accident in your factory."

In order to avoid alerting the enemy, Li Aiguo and his colleagues disguised themselves as "traffic police" during their in-depth investigation of the cotton and wool textile factory.

The Changqiao Traffic Squadron is under the Public Security Department of the Jinling Public Security Office, but it is an independent organization.

Xing Zhi had already informed the Changqiao Traffic Squadron through the weather station in advance, and his ID was genuine, so no one could find any fault with it.

When Chief Liu of the Security Department heard the news, he rushed over and after checking Xing Zhi's ID, he was very friendly.

"Comrade traffic police, let's go to the office and talk."

Under the guidance of Section Chief Liu, the jeep entered the Jinling Cotton and Wool Textile Factory.

The roofs here are generally sawtooth-shaped. Section Chief Liu explained that this design is conducive to lighting and can save a lot of electricity bills.

The arrangement of machines and the production lines are very neat and spectacular. The rows of spinning machines are neatly arranged and very pleasing to the eyes. The yarns are spinning rapidly, which is a feast for the eyes.

After entering the office, Section Chief Liu poured tea for the three people and directly asked Li Aiguo and the other two about their purpose of coming.

"According to our investigation, the license plate number of the truck involved in the accident is 3*2670. It is said to be a truck from your factory."

The license plates of those days were not marked with Su A like in later generations.

According to the "Provisional Measures for Automobile Management" promulgated in March 1950, car license plates use 3-digit numbers. The first digit represents the major administrative region, the second digit represents the province or city, and the last 6 or 4 digits are the car number.

The code for the East China region where Jinling is located is 3, and the code for Jinling City is 2, 3*2670, and 670 can be further subdivided into individual factories.

Section Chief Liu took a look at the materials, called a security officer, and handed over the license plate number: "Xiao Chen, go check if this license plate belongs to our factory?"

"Yes"

The security officer left quickly and came back quickly. He knocked on the door and came in without much chatting.

"Chief, the license plate number belongs to Zhang Erhei's truck team from our factory's Material Transportation Department. According to our registration records, this truck left the factory yesterday afternoon and has not returned since."

Hearing this, Xing Zhi interjected: "Chief Liu, other factories call them Transport Team 1 and Transport Team 2, what's the matter with your Zhang Erhei Team?"

"Let's go and talk while we walk." Section Chief Liu seemed to have some unspeakable difficulties, so he stood up and left the office.

Li Aiguo and several others followed behind and walked out of the Security Department. Only then did Section Chief Liu explain the whole story.

Trucks were in short supply in those days, and Zhang Erhei was the leader of the enemy's logistics and transportation before liberation.

Before the army entered the city, Zhang Erhei turned against the enemy and took some people to hide the enemy's trucks and jeeps while the enemy was retreating.

Afterwards, Zhang Erhei contacted Commissioner Chen of the Maintenance Association through an old relationship, and after the army entered the city, he offered to help.

Taking into account the situation at the time, Zhang Erhei was later appointed as the captain of the second team of the transportation department.

Since the drivers under him were all his confidants, they usually obeyed orders and not propaganda. As long as they did not resell cotton yarn, the security department would turn a blind eye.

"This was a stopgap measure back then." Xing Zhi commented after listening.

Li Aiguo narrowed his eyes and didn't respond.

When the few of them arrived at the Second Team of the Transportation Department, Zhang Erhei had already learned the news and rushed over.

"What? A truck in our fleet was involved in a traffic accident? Impossible, how is this possible?!"

Upon learning that an accident had occurred, Zhang Erhei subconsciously denied it.

"Old Liu, you know that the drivers under my command used to drive military vehicles. They are all experienced drivers. How could there be an accident?"

Zhang Erhei took a puff of cigarette and concluded, "Blackmail, someone must be trying to blackmail us, right?
These people, just like before the liberation, can crash into trucks just for a few dollars."

"Lao Liu, we can't give in. Otherwise, will the drivers dare to drive in the future? How are we going to transport the cotton yarn in our factory?"

Zhang Erhei's pair of green eyes rolled around, and he instantly pushed all the responsibilities away.

Li Aiguo felt that this man was not the captain of the transport team, but a street thug.

Section Chief Liu had no way to deal with the rogue Zhang Erhei and could only turn around and look at Li Aiguo and the others.

Li Aiguo stepped forward and asked with a smile: "Captain Zhang, where is the car with license plate 3*2670 in your team?"

"The car is sending out!" Zhang Erhei replied immediately.

Li Aiguo asked: "Where did you go?"

"Here we go." Zhang Erhei wanted to make up a random location, but Li Aiguo said coldly, "You have to think it through. The factory has dispatch records. If you investigate, you can always find out."

Zhang Erhei quickly swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue, and said stiffly: "Inside the fleet warehouse, what can I do?"

"Take us there!" Li Aiguo stood up.

Zhang Erhei slammed the table and said in a cold voice: "This is my team. Who do you think you are? Get out of here!"

"Your fleet? Are those trucks yours?"

Li Aiguo directly took out his pistol and pointed it at Zhang Erhei's forehead.

"Do you believe that I can force you just based on what you just said?"

Zhang Erhei never thought that Li Aiguo would pull out a gun. He only reacted when his forehead was hit and it hurt.

He raised his head and looked at Section Chief Liu, hoping that Section Chief Liu could help. Section Chief Liu had been dissatisfied with him for a long time and turned his head away pretending not to see it.

After pulling the safety pin, Li Aiguo said coldly, "I'll only give you one chance. Where is the truck? Where is the truck driver?"

"Leader, sir, don't shoot, don't shoot." Zhang Erhei didn't expect that the traffic policeman would really dare to draw his gun. He shuddered all over and the office was suddenly filled with the smell of urine.

Looking more closely, his trouser legs were already wet.

"The truck was driven away by Sun Mao. I'm still looking for it."

"What? Zhang Erhei, you actually let the truck driver drive the truck away privately? The truck was not returned yesterday, why didn't you report it? Do you still have any rules in your eyes?"

Section Chief Liu knew that Zhang Erhei had lax discipline, but he didn't expect that he didn't even care where the truck went.

"Chief Liu, Sun Mao has been with me for seven or eight years. Yesterday he asked to borrow my truck to help a friend move. I agreed without giving it much thought. Who knows..."

Zhang Erhei explained: "This morning I learned that the truck had not returned, and was planning to go to Sun Mao's house to look for him, and then you guys came."

After saying this, Zhang Erhei seemed to have thought of something, his heart suddenly rose to his throat, he looked at Li Aiguo and asked: "Leader, is there something wrong with that truck?"

"This is not something you should ask. Take us to Sun Mao's house right now."

Zhang Erhei was totally at a loss at this point, and Xing Zhi had to support him before they got into the jeep.

Because the matter involved the cotton mill, Section Chief Liu also brought the security officer with him.

On the way there, Zhang Erhei also briefly introduced Sun Mao's situation.

Sun Mao is in his thirties, has first-class driving skills, is a Class 5 driver, and earns more than 70 yuan a month, which was considered a high salary in those days.

He could have gotten married, had children, and lived a happy life with a wife and children, but because of his chaotic work style, he was unable to get married.

"Sun Mao has many girlfriends." "Are there any of them related to Jinling University?"

"No, he only has an elementary school education and looks ugly. How can an educated young woman like him?"

As they were talking, the jeep arrived in front of a large courtyard. Zhang Erhei got out of the car and pointed to a room at the back of the courtyard and said, "That's Sun Mao's home."

"Sun Mao, Sun Mao."

Zhang Erhei shouted twice outside the door, but when no one responded, he reached out and pushed the door, and it actually opened.

"Sun Mao, where's the truck? If you lose it, oh my god!"

He rushed in angrily and crawled out crying for his parents.

"Leader, there's a dead person inside!"

Upon hearing this, Li Aiguo and Zhou Ke immediately grabbed their pistols and rushed into the house.

I saw a half-naked man lying on the bed, with foam coming out of the corners of his mouth, a painful expression on his face, and his eyes wide open staring at the ceiling.

"He should have died of poisoning." Zhou Ke reached out his hand to feel the man's breath and shook his head.

Li Aiguo waved at Zhang Erhei and said, "Come here and see if he is Sun Mao."

"Leader, I'm scared." Zhang Erhei, who usually looks ferocious, is so timid at this moment that he looks like a girl.

Li Aiguo didn't say anything, but just glanced at Zhang Erhei. Zhang Erhei suppressed his fear and walked into the house trembling.

After staring at the dead man for a few seconds, Zhang Erhei nodded: "It is indeed Sun Mao."

At this time, Xing Zhi conducted a simple examination of Sun Mao's body and determined that the time of death should be yesterday afternoon.

Li Aiguo put on gloves, picked up two wine glasses, and said, "It seems that Butterfly seduced Sun Mao, allowing him to steal the trucks from the convoy and then poison him to death."

Xing Zhi nodded: "This is consistent with Butterfly's style. I remember that in Lao Qiang's confession, he mentioned that Butterfly had killed someone with his own hands."

Zhou Ke's face looked a little ugly: "I originally thought this woman was just a socialite, but I didn't expect her to be so vicious. This makes it even more difficult to deal with her."

Although Butterfly is now detained in the weather station, she refuses to speak.

Admittedly, the weather station can use some special means to deal with her, but if Butterfly is the kind of person who neither values ​​her own life nor the lives of others, it will take some time.

What Jinling Meteorological Station and Li Aiguo lack most now is time.

"Search, search the house inside and out, don't miss any clues."

"Zhou Ke, take some people to talk to the residents in the compound."

Li Aiguo knew that only by knowing more about the situation could he gain the upper hand in the battle with the enemy, so he gave the order at that time.

While we were busy here, a weatherman rushed in from outside and reported: "Someone came and asked to take over this case."

“What a quick response!”

Li Aiguo glanced at Xing Zhi and said, "Old Xing, let's go meet him."

Li Aiguo arrived outside the compound and saw several meteorologists confronting comrades wearing factory security uniforms. Although neither side fired guns, the atmosphere was very tense.

The leader was riding an "old tank". He was holding the handlebars with one hand and holding a "Continental pistol" with the other, pretending to charge.

Li Aiguo: "Comrade, you really think this 'old tank' is a real tank."

When the leader saw Li Aiguo coming out, he knew that the real boss had come out, so he tied up his bicycle and walked over.

"We have a Willys in the security department, it just broke down, otherwise you would all have to get out of the way."

The leader's voice was almost as loud as a gong, and seemed to be a bit harsh, but Li Aiguo noticed that ever since he and Staff Officer Xiao came out, the leader's eyes had been fixed on Staff Officer Xiao.

As he spoke, the leader looked around and said with a smile: "Captain Chen of the Traffic Police Squadron and I are old friends. I often go there to do business. How come I have never seen you guys?"

Li Aiguo said with a smile: "There is no Captain Chen in the traffic police squadron. Comrade, before you blast someone, your tone should be tougher and more angry, and you should raise your pistol, so that you can scare the other party."

Upon hearing this, the leader couldn't help but take two steps back and look Li Aiguo up and down.

Li Aiguo took out his ID and handed it over.

The leader didn't even bother to look at the ID, just waved his hand and said, "I don't care which department you are from, or whether you are a public security officer or a traffic policeman.

This case is under the jurisdiction of our Xindu Grand Theater. I am Zhou Weiqiao, deputy chief of the security department. Please get out of the way immediately to avoid damaging the relationship."

"Xindu Grand Theater?" Li Aiguo turned his head and looked at Xing Zhi.

Xing Zhi came over and explained in a low voice: "Xindu Grand Theater is the largest theater in Jinling. In addition to the big theater, there are more than a dozen small theaters in the Jinling area."

"It turns out there is a place to watch plays here. But what does this case have to do with the Xindu Grand Theater?" Li Aiguo secretly winked at several meteorologists, and those meteorologists put their hands on their waists.

Xindu Grand Theater has been the largest theater in Jinling since before liberation. It is the property of the Chen family. After years of painstaking management, the Chen family has extensive connections in the political, business and cultural circles.

When the army entered the city, the old man of the Chen family felt that the wind was not blowing in the right direction, so he immediately raised his flag and joined the Maintenance Association and became a member of the Association.

Even though Zhou Wei Qiao is just a deputy chief of the security department, he has a strong backer and a wide circle of friends, so there are very few people in Jinling City who don't respect him.

The young traffic policemen in front of me have stern faces all the time. Don’t they understand that their identities are the stinky-foot patrolmen before liberation?

Zhou Weiqiao took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth, a little impatient: "The deceased is involved in a case that our theater is investigating. You should get out of the way immediately, otherwise don't blame us for being rude."

Li Aiguo took the certificate back and asked seriously, "How do you know someone died?"

"me."

Zhou Weiqiao was about to light a match when he heard this. His expression suddenly changed. After hesitating for a long time, he said stiffly, "We told you to get out of here. If you piss us off, we'll shoot you all."

He is not even the deputy chief of the theater's security department, he is clearly a bandit.

Li Aiguo originally just wanted to get to the bottom of the case, catch St. Peter, and solve the problems at the Jinling Observatory. Why are these people always causing trouble?
Li Aiguo is a person with a good temper. He is approachable, reasonable in everything and values ​​harmony.

Now that I've been bullied at my doorstep time and time again, I can't bear it anymore.

Can't help it.

No need to endure it anymore.

Snapped!
Before Zhou Wei Qiao could finish his words, he was hit on the face with a big slap, and the cigarette butt and the matchbox all flew out.

"You, you dare to hit me, brothers, grab your weapons!"

Zhou Wei Qiao shouted, and the security officers who followed him put their hands on their waists.

But they were too late; the weathermen had already raised their guns.

"Don't even move!"

Faced with the black muzzle of the gun, the security officers fell to their knees spinelessly.

Zhou Weiqiao didn't expect that these traffic policemen would really dare to take action. His face changed several times and his attitude suddenly softened.

"Brother, it's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding"

Li Aiguo stared at him and patted him on the shoulder: "Who asked you to cause trouble?"

"No, there is no one else." Zhou Wei Qiao's words came to his lips, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, and he swallowed them back.

Li Aiguo turned his head and glanced at the car parked at the entrance of the alley.

In the car, the middle-aged man in a navy blue Zhongshan suit was caught by the sharp gaze. He stepped on the accelerator and the car sped away.

"Did you write down the license plate number?" Li Aiguo looked at Zhou Ke.

Zhou Ke nodded, put the notebook into his pocket, pointed at Zhou Weiqiao and the security officers and asked, "What should we do with them?"

"There were no clues in the world, but the enemy sent us the clues, and now we have the clues." Li Aiguo muttered softly, and said coldly: "Take them back, and we must find out who ordered them to cause trouble."

"Yes!"

Zhou Ke rushed over with several meteorologists and took the seven or eight security officers and Zhou Weiqiao back to the weather station.

Li Aiguo and Xing Zhi went back into the yard and worked for a long time, but only found a diary.

"This kid has only an elementary school education, and he still writes a diary?"

Li Aiguo opened his diary and wrote in the first line in crooked handwriting: "Today I met a beautiful woman. She is knowledgeable and educated, and she is also a teaching assistant at the university. I must improve my cultural level so that I can be worthy of her."

"Well, this guy is quite enterprising."

Li Aiguo flipped through the diary casually. Most of the records in the diary were details of Sun Mao's relationship with Butterfly, from the time they met to Butterfly's promise to marry him, and even some of the unspeakable things between him and Butterfly were recorded.

It's almost like reading a manuscript.

"This diary may be of great use."

Li Aiguo took a file bag and put the diary into the canvas bag.

Sun Mao's body was sent to the basement of the weather station for temporary storage and the room was sealed.

After Li Aiguo led the team back to the weather station.

Just as he was about to ask Zhou Ke about the results of his interrogation of the deputy chief of the theater security department, Xing Zhi came over and said with a smile: "Just now, the housekeeper of the old man of the Chen family came to the weather station, probably to talk about Zhou Weiqiao, but he saw Chief of Staff Xiao.

Mr. Chen’s housekeeper immediately distanced himself from Zhou Weiqiao, saying that Zhou Weiqiao had done those things behind the theater’s back.

At this time, Zhou Ke also walked out of the detention room, smiling, "Zhou Weiqiao confessed that the person who ordered him was the housekeeper of the old man of the Chen family."

Old Cat frowned. "I have investigated Commissioner Chen's situation. He is very smart and can handle things with his sleeves. He can't really regard us as traffic police. Why did he send Zhou Weiqiao?"

Li Aiguo lit a cigarette, took a puff and said, "There are two possible situations. One is that Commissioner Chen didn't take this matter seriously at all. He just thought that Zhou Weiqiao had a small conflict with the weather station, so he sent the housekeeper to ask for him."

Xing Zhi nodded in agreement: "The status of the Maintenance Association is special, and its network of relationships in Jinling is very extensive. In the past, we might have really had to give some face to the old man of the Chen family."

Although this sounds a bit absurd, it is understandable if you think about it: the Jinling Meteorological Station has not been able to carry out its work normally and independently for so many years.

Li Aiguo continued, "The second situation is simpler. The old man of the Chen family doesn't know the truth at all. He sent Zhou Weiqiao to help others."

The old cat nodded: "This possibility is more likely."

Li Aiguo stood up and said, "No matter which possibility it is, it doesn't matter to us. As long as we can find out the identity of Saint Peter, it is like having artificial rainfall rockets, and we can make a heavy rain in Jinling."

"The fact that the enemy can't wait to jump out now shows that they are afraid."

Upon hearing this, both Lao Mao and Xing Zhi clenched their fists excitedly.

It was almost evening. After dinner, Li Aiguo was about to take Zhou Ke to interrogate the woman when news came from the military hospital: Meng Binhong had woken up.

"Let's go to the military hospital!"

"What, Meng Binhong is awake, are you sure?"

Just as Li Aiguo was riding in a jeep on his way to the military hospital, a voice rang out in the confessional of the Jinling Church.

"Ever since I received your message, I have been looking for excuses to go to the military hospital these days. Today, I happened to hear the nurse reporting to the director."

"Now I suspect that Meng Binhong may have some information about me."

"That's impossible. Meng Binhong is just a hunting dog."

"Meng Binhong is different from other hunting dogs. He is too smart. When Butterfly discovered him, I didn't agree."

"Now what?"

"Kill him! Doctor, you are the only one who can get close to Meng Binhong now. You have to kill him before he betrays me."

"But, but. I'm just a doctor. I've never killed anyone."

"The Lord said," the shadow suddenly opened the curtain, and the pale light was reflected on the black hood, unable to penetrate at all, "Punishing traitors is also redemption. If Meng Binhong speaks, we will all go to hell."

"But, but I don't know how to use a gun. How about you send someone else?"

"It's too late." The black shadow interrupted him, turned and left the confessional, came back again after a moment, took out an ampoule from his pocket and handed it to the doctor.

"Just one milliliter can cause Meng Binhong's heart to stop, and no one can find out the cause of death."

The doctor was stunned for a moment, sighed, and could only take the ampoule, wrap it in a handkerchief, and put it carefully in his pocket.

(End of this chapter)