That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1681 Your chance to advance further has arrived
Li Ye knew about the feud between Lao Song and Colonel Nakamura, so he suspected that Lao Song had done something wrong. But he couldn't tell Zhao Yuanchao this, because his uncle had to stick to his principles.

Li Ye asked, puzzled, "Old Song said that the Japanese guy was strangled by the seatbelt? That's possible! I remember there was a similar case when we were investigating the lighthouse?"

Actually, the case Li Ye mentioned didn't happen in the lighthouse, but in the snow area.

An outstanding aid worker in Tibet died in a traffic accident because his seatbelt got wrapped around his neck, which is why Li Ye spoke with such certainty.

Upon hearing Li Ye's words, Zhao Yuanchao immediately asked, "Are there similar cases in Lighthouse? Do you have any solid evidence?"

Li Ye found it strange, because he felt that Zhao Yuanchao was speaking in a somewhat hasty manner.

As an experienced investigator, this kind of "biased" behavior is not normal.

So Li Ye asked with a smile, "Uncle, you also believe that Lao Song is innocent, right?"

Zhao Yuanchao glanced at Li Ye and said frankly, "Whether I believe it or not is not important; it's the people in the county who believe it. Old Song invested in a company in our county's development zone, and it was about to start production and have its ribbon-cutting ceremony, but then this happened."

Originally, I wanted to persuade Lao Song to cooperate with our investigation, but all he did was cry foul and pretend to be crazy. The investigation team has a lot of complaints about him. I'm really conflicted and under a lot of pressure.

Okay! Li Ye understands what's going on.

Old Song returned to his hometown in glory more than a year ago. In order to repay his hometown, he invested a lot of money in the industrial park in the southern suburbs of Qingshui County. Now that he has reached the final step, naturally some people do not want him to get into trouble.

The person who died in the car accident was too unusual, and it was not easy to rule out Lao Song as a suspect. As an investigator, Zhao Yuanchao was caught in the middle, which must have been difficult.
Li Ye thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any evidence right now, but there must be similar cases. I'll have someone else collect some later. Let me see Lao Song first. He's over seventy years old. He was in a car accident and has been under surveillance. I don't want him to develop a mental illness."

"That won't work. Old Song is being monitored by both sides. I want you to see him, but the investigation team won't agree. I'm telling you, don't get involved. That's not right."

Zhao Yuanchao suddenly stopped talking and asked Li Ye with a half-smile, "Xiao Ye, you're not thinking of doing something shady, are you? Trying to get Old Song to pretend to be mentally ill?"

Feigning mental illness is a shameless way to escape, but it wasn't very effective in mainland China in the 1990s, which is why Zhao Yuanchao said that Li Ye "had ulterior motives".

Li Ye chuckled and said, "Uncle, you don't need to remind me. I know the situation on the mainland, but if Lao Song is innocent, then I will definitely do my part to help him."

Zhao Yuanchao frowned and said with difficulty, "Then I'll give it a try! But it might not work."

Li Ye said calmly, "I know, so I made some arrangements before I came. The investigation team should have received a call from Beijing by now."

Zhao Yuanchao rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Why didn't you say so earlier? Why did you have to use your uncle as a scapegoat?"

Li Ye quickly put his arm around Zhao Yuanchao's shoulder: "Uncle, what are you saying? The people in the capital are only concerned about the case; we'll need your help, as one of our own, to get the specifics."

"Is Old Song one of our own?"

"Of course!"

"Old Song is such a cunning fellow, you know... sigh."

. . . . . . . . . . .

Zhao Yuanchao took Li Ye to the hospital and found that the protection measures Old Song was receiving were indeed extraordinary, with several people sitting there on duty at the entrance.

These people split into two groups: one group consisted of uniformed law enforcement officers, while the other group consisted of two well-dressed women.

Among them was a middle-aged woman who looked familiar to Li Ye. After a moment's recollection, he remembered that she was Old Song's female apprentice, whose name seemed to be "Hezi".

When Kazuko saw Li Ye arrive, she quickly stood up and bowed to him.

"Sir, I'm sorry to trouble you."

Seeing Kazuko bow deeply to Li Ye and hearing her clear and fluent Mandarin, all the uniformed investigators looked at Li Ye with very strange expressions.

Li Ye casually replied, "No trouble at all. Old Song is from my hometown, after all. Now that he's confused, it's only right that I help him regain his memory."

In China, things must be done within the rules. Although Li Ye had connections in the capital, he still needed a plausible reason to meet and contact Lao Song. Therefore, it was only natural to help Lao Song, who was pretending to be crazy, regain his senses.

One of the uniformed personnel at the door seemed to know Zhao Yuanchao well. He pulled Zhao Yuanchao aside and asked, "Old Zhao, who is this young man? That Japanese woman has been putting on such an arrogant act with us for so many days. I thought she couldn't speak Chinese!"

Zhao Yuanchao looked around, then whispered to the other person, "I can't say for sure about other things, but his rank is half a rank higher than the top dog in our county!"

The uniformed personnel immediately understood what was going on.

Given Li Ye's youthful appearance and his excessively high rank, even the most incompetent state-owned enterprise cadre would be able to tell what was going on.

After Li Ye greeted He Zi, another middle-aged man in a hat handed Li Ye a registration book and asked him to write down his personal information and the reason for his visit.

Zhao Yuanchao, standing nearby, mumbled, "Director Liu, isn't this a bit too much trouble? These are members of the public who came to help us with the case."

However, Liu Ke said expressionlessly, "I'm sorry, Director Zhao, this is a necessary procedure."

Once Li Ye signs the register, the traces of his visit cannot be erased, especially since Liu Ke also asked Li Ye to write down a series of detailed information.

Li Ye didn't mind at all. He quickly wrote down his work information and then said with a smile, "Section Chief Liu is right to handle cases seriously. Just tell me what you need, and I will definitely cooperate."

Liu Ke glanced at Li Ye's registered job information and said slowly, "It would be best if you could understand, Mr. Li. Also, you can just call me Lao Liu."

Li Ye chuckled, finally understanding why Zhao Yuanchao had said "it's difficult" at the beginning. Without guidance from above, it would have been impossible for Li Ye to help Lao Song regain his senses!
Old Liu opened the door, led Li Ye, Zhao Yuanchao, and a young uniformed staff member through the access control, and then entered the ward.

There was only one bed in the ward, and Old Song was sleeping on it. His body was wrapped in many bandages, which clearly indicated that he had suffered a serious external injury.

Li Ye frowned and asked seriously, "How did he get so badly injured? If he's so badly injured, why hasn't he been transferred to another hospital for treatment?"

Just as Zhao Yuanchao was about to say something, Old Liu said sullenly, "Apart from his broken left leg, the rest of his injuries are all superficial. The doctor said that even if he is transferred to another hospital, there are no other treatment options."

"Left leg broken? This...isn't this serious?"

Li Ye laughed in exasperation. No wonder some people say that many things in this era are inhumane!
Old Song already had a limp in his right leg, and now he's broken his left leg too. At his age of over seventy, does he have the same recovery ability as a young person? He might be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and yet this isn't considered serious?
But Lao Liu kept a long face and didn't answer Li Ye's question, and Li Ye couldn't question him, since he was just doing his job.

Li Ye was angry, so he walked to the bedside, reached out and shook Lao Song's shoulder hard.

"Wake up, wake up, you old codger! Stop pretending to be dead. What are you doing pretending to be critically ill over a little scratch?"

"."

Everyone around was speechless. Old Liu was also stunned, his brows furrowing tightly.

"Huh? Oh, who's here?"

Old Song was shaken awake by Li Ye. He looked dazed, as if he hadn't been pretending to be asleep.

Li Ye said irritably, "It's your grandpa here to collect a debt from you."

Old Song stared at Li Ye for a full ten seconds before finally grinning miserably and saying, "Oh, it's the top scholar! This whole mess caused me to break your teapot; I'm afraid I won't be able to pay it back anytime soon."

[With acting skills like yours, it's a waste that you're not in movies.]

Li Ye was both amused and exasperated by Lao Song's acting skills, and could only laugh and scold, "As long as you're not broken, that's fine. A scoundrel lives forever. As long as you're alive, you'll pay me back sooner or later."

"Hey, hey, right, right, I'll pay it back sooner or later. If I can't pay it back, my grandson will."

Old Song grinned, but tears streamed down his face.

Li Ye knew that the old man was entrusting his grandson to someone else. Old Song had a grandson he was worried about, and if he didn't make it through this ordeal, he hoped Li Ye could help take care of him.

"You should bear your own debts, why are you dragging your grandson into this?"

Li Ye cursed at Lao Song, then asked seriously, "Tell me the truth! What exactly happened? How did you manage to kill that Japanese foreign guest?"

"."

After Li Ye finished speaking, Lao Liu, who had been listening intently, frowned again, because Li Ye's attitude was not helping Lao Song recover his memory, but rather "interrogating" him.

Can Li Ye's identity be used to conduct trials?
"I'm innocent! I'm innocent, you top scholar!"

Old Song immediately protested: "I have no grudge against Mr. Nakamura. We just met at the cultural exchange meeting and felt like we had known each other for a long time. He wanted to buy some old things from China, so I helped him introduce them!"

Who knew that after meeting those two damned bastards in the provincial capital, they suddenly turned on Mr. Nakamura, brandishing their homemade guns and threatening to dig a hole at the west end of the village and bury us. I had to plead with them to calm them down, and then I quickly covered everyone's retreat. But those two chased after us again and eventually rammed us into the riverbank. If we hadn't been lucky…

Old Song rattled off a long explanation, which made the officers around him turn pale with anger.

Because for so many days, whenever they interrogated Lao Song, he would either cry out that he was wronged or shout that he was in pain, and he would hardly tell them anything about the case.

But look at Lao Song now, his mind is clear and his thinking is sharp, there's not a trace of brain damage.

[That old bastard has been feigning madness for days, apparently waiting for someone to back him up!]

So the key issue actually lies with Li Ye.

These days, investigation methods are quite "efficient." If Li Ye hadn't come to support Lao Song, he probably would have confessed everything, whether it was true or not.

Now that Li Ye had found a breakthrough, Lao Liu and the others certainly wouldn't miss it and immediately began to ask Lao Song about all sorts of details.

But Old Song keeps repeating the same old story, always insisting that he's been wronged.

"I just wanted to make some friends and make a little money in the process. How could I possibly murder someone for money? I'm a big boss, after all. I have my pride and I value my life! They hit us with their car, that's definitely true! You should interrogate them!"

"."

The group fussed around in Lao Song's hospital room for over an hour, until Lao Song's mouth and eyes were crooked, as if he were about to have a stroke and become paralyzed.

Li Ye said in a deep voice, "Everyone, is this the end of today? This old man came back from Japan to invest in his hometown with patriotic feelings, but he ended up losing a leg. We should also understand his feelings."

Old Liu glanced at Li Ye, then silently packed up the interrogation records, giving Li Ye some face.

But when Li Ye left the ward and nodded goodbye to He Zi, Lao Liu blocked his way.

"Comrade Li, we have some things related to the case that we would like to ask you about."

Zhao Yuanchao was taken aback and immediately said, "Old Liu, this isn't appropriate!"

Old Liu ignored Zhao Yuanchao and just stared straight at Li Ye.

Li Ye tilted his head slightly and looked at Lao Liu with a sidelong glance: "Section Chief Liu, do you suspect that I am related to this case?"

Old Liu replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Comrade Li, please don't misunderstand, it's just some normal inquiry."

"Heh~"

Li Ye smiled.

No matter how Lao Liu explained, he actually suspected Li Ye, but he spoke so gently because of Li Ye's rank and status.

Zhao Yuanchao was clearly angry, and immediately gave Li Ye a look, telling him to just leave and that Lao Liu would not dare to stop him.

However, Li Ye sneered and said, "I can cooperate with your investigation, but don't interrogate me like a criminal."

Old Liu lowered his head and said sullenly, "Of course not, Comrade Li only needs to answer two questions."

"Three questions would be fine too!"

Li Ye laughed freely.

He's not some nobody anymore; answering questions is fine, but how he answers them is another matter.

Old Liu chose a room, invited Zhao Yuanchao to listen in, and then posed his first question.

"Comrade Li Ye, Song Hongxin said she broke your teapot. What kind of teapot was it?"

Li Ye said calmly, "Does this have anything to do with the case?"

Old Liu nodded: "Yes, and it's very important."

Li Ye answered frankly, "It is a set of Ming Dynasty official kiln polychrome flower and bird teapots. Old Song borrowed it last year for cultural exchange and has not returned it to me."

While gesturing for the investigators next to him to take notes, Old Liu asked, "Who bought this teapot from? How much did it cost?"

Li Ye calmly replied, "Old Song bought it for me. I don't know exactly who he bought it from, and I can't remember how much it cost either. I've bought so many things over the years, maybe ten or twenty thousand, maybe twenty or thirty thousand."

Old Liu quickly added, "Try to recall again, who you bought it from and how much it cost."

Li Ye looked at Lao Liu and said, word by word, "I...can't...remember...clearly."

The problem with this kind of questioning is that it might involve verifying the details. Old Song mentioned the colorful flower and bird teapot to pass on information to Li Ye, but Li Ye wasn't sure if there were any other connections, so he couldn't say anything more.

Seeing Li Ye's tough stance, Lao Liu held his breath and remained silent for a long time, but ultimately did not pursue the matter further.

Given Li Ye's current status, there's nothing you can do if he refuses to answer your questions.

So Lao Liu turned to another question: "Comrade Li Ye, do you know Guan Dasheng?"

"Guan Dasheng?"

Li Ye was taken aback and did not answer immediately, because he was unsure of Lao Liu's intention in asking the question.

Old Liu's eyes were already fixed on Li Ye, and a strong sense of oppression began to fill the room.

Professionals are professionals. They've set a trap beforehand, just waiting for you to fall into it. You might dodge this, but you can't dodge that. Sooner or later, they'll expose your weaknesses.

[You say you have nothing to do with this case, so how do you know so much inside information?]

But if Li Ye says he doesn't know him, who knows if it will lead to other flaws later on.

One lie requires countless lies to cover it up, until eventually it can't be covered up anymore.

"Guan Dasheng? I do have a vague recollection of him. Let me think."

Li Ye rubbed his temples and finally said, "I remember now, didn't Guan Dasheng used to live in Beiertiao, Beijing?"

Old Liu gestured to his assistant not to stop taking notes, and casually asked, "Yes, do you know Guan Dasheng? What is your relationship with him?"

Why would I need to know him?

Li Ye calmly said, "A friend of mine bought Guan Dasheng's house. When I went to congratulate him on his housewarming, I heard from the neighbors that Guan Dasheng was a lazy good-for-nothing. Tell me, I'm a Party member, why would I need to know a good-for-nothing?"

Old Liu paused for a moment, then asked, "Who is your friend?"

Li Ye crossed his legs: "A film investor from Hong Kong. He invested in films like 'The Lonely Army,' 'Spring Comes and Goes,' and 'The Deserter in the Flames of War.' By the way, his big boss is Pei Wencong."

The pen in the recorder's hand suddenly stopped.

He looked up at Li Ye, then turned to look at Lao Liu.

Old Liu remained silent for a long time before finally saying in a deep voice, "Let's stop here for today! Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Li."

We can't ask any more questions, or it'll sound like the gods are having a meeting.

The more special figures involved a case is, the more constrained it becomes to handle it.

This person expresses concern, that person wants to inquire, and they come over every few days to supervise and guide. Isn't that annoying?
Li Ye's appearance made Lao Song stand up straight. If Pei Wencong is also provoked, will this case still be able to be completed this year?
After Zhao Yuanchao brought Li Ye out, he said with satisfaction, "It was just a traffic accident; why did they have to complicate things? Serves them right."

But Li Ye lowered his voice and said, "Uncle, you're not even fifty yet, are you?"

Zhao Yuanchao asked curiously, "I'm a year older than your aunt, so what?"

Li Ye smiled and said, "Uncle, your chance to take the next step has come."

"What?"

(End of this chapter)