The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 697 Old Stories!!! (Revised)
After much effort, investigators finally located the deceased's parents in a residential area in Wulidian.

Sun Lingling's mother took out her daughter's clothes and photos. Seeing these things, she was heartbroken and couldn't stop crying.

The task force inquired about Sun Lingling's life before her death and collected physical evidence such as her blood type certificate, trench coat, and hat.

After scientific identification by the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Forensic Center, it was confirmed that the victim was indeed Sun Lingling.

Suppressing his grief, Sun Lingling's father trembled as he took a yellowed diary from a drawer.

“This was written by Lingling in high school. She loved to record her life since she was a child.” The old man choked up as he turned the cover, and a photo tucked inside slipped to the ground.

The girl in the photo, wearing a school uniform, smiles brightly in the sunlight, a stark contrast to the cold crime scene today.

It is said that good and evil will eventually be rewarded; it's not that they won't be, it's just that the time hasn't come yet!
Let's talk about what happened to Hou Fang, this inhuman murderer, in the days leading up to the case being solved.

Two weeks ago, Hou Fang heard that the earthquake-resistant shed was going to be demolished. He was so nervous that he fell seriously ill with a high fever and couldn't get out of bed.

After midnight that day, he dragged his weak and sick body, carrying a flashlight and a shovel, together with his younger brother Hou Ping, in an attempt to move the remains.

The two men, already feeling guilty and flustered, failed to look for the remains of the victim they had buried years ago.

The night was as dark as ink, and the cold wind howled, as if even the heavens were mocking their foolishness.

Hou Fang and Hou Ping wandered around in the wilderness for most of the night, the light from their flashlights flickering, making their faces look as pale as ghosts.

Hou Fang's hands trembled uncontrollably, and the shovel slipped from his fingers several times, making a piercing metallic clanging sound.

"Brother, could you have remembered the wrong place?" Hou Ping asked in a low voice, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Hou Fang gritted his teeth and squeezed out a hoarse reply: "Impossible... It's right near this crooked tree!" But apart from withered branches and fallen leaves, there wasn't even a trace of soil being turned over.

Suddenly, several mournful howls of wild cats came from afar, startling the two of them.

Hou Ping tripped and kicked out a piece of white bone—the remains of a wild dog.

Hou Fang stared at the bone, his pupils shrinking as if he could see the victim's unseeing face when he died.

He suddenly knelt down and began to retch violently, the dizziness from the high fever mixed with fear engulfing his entire body.

The search lasted for most of the night, and in the end, the Hou brothers gave up the search with trepidation.

With no other option, and with dawn approaching, they had to abandon their plan to move the body.

To cover their tracks, the Hou brothers even dug up a dead grapevine.

Interestingly, the Hou brothers' overnight digging up of the victim's remains was easily discovered by construction workers, thus exposing their crimes.

What a case of evil being punished!
After seven years of wrongful conviction, the body of the victim, Sun Lingling, has finally been brought to light.

Amazingly, this long-standing murder case was solved in just over ten days, allowing the unfortunate young woman to rest in peace.

These cases involving unidentified remains are often difficult to solve due to their age, and problems such as broken chains of evidence and missing clues often leave investigators helpless.

However, the reason why this case was able to make such a breakthrough so efficiently is mainly due to the outstanding leadership of Liu Yong, the head of the criminal investigation department.

With his rich practical experience and keen criminal investigation intuition, Director Liu led the task force to unravel the mystery and finally bring the truth to light.

At this point, Liu Zhiye looked at his nephew Liu Yong with undisguised satisfaction and pride.

Liu Yong most enjoyed having heart-to-heart talks with this uncle, especially seeking his advice on criminal investigation and case-solving. Each time they talked, Liu Zhiye would offer unique insights, providing clarity and understanding.

As Liu Yong's mentor in the police force, and his father Liu Tielin's mentor, Liu Zhiye's experience is nothing short of legendary.

When he returned from military service, his first job was in the public security field.

With his exceptional courage and wisdom, Liu Zhiye quickly distinguished himself in the police force and became a renowned crime-solving expert.

If it weren't for a later opportunity to return to the military, with Liu Zhiye's talent and courage, he would surely be a renowned legendary figure in the police force today.

This experience also made Liu Yong's uncle, Liu Zhiye, the senior and role model he admired the most.

Once, when Liu Yong asked his uncle Liu Zhiye about his original intention to join the police force, his uncle blurted out: "The working people have stood up and become masters of their own destiny. I want to serve the people like the People's Liberation Army."

When such a line, which sounded exactly like a line from a movie or TV show, appeared in real life, Liu Yong was filled with awe.

Having come all the way from the dark and turbulent old China to the prosperous and powerful new China, what could be more convincing than his own experiences and observations?

When talking about his working conditions and supplies when he first joined the police force, Liu Zhiye told Liu Yong, "Conditions were tough back then. In winter, we only had one cotton-padded coat and two cotton quilts..."

"We couldn't afford rice, only millet and flour."

"Very arduous and very dangerous"—these simple descriptions vividly illustrate the high level of danger and extreme scarcity of living supplies in public security work during the early days of the People's Republic of China.

Tonight, Liu Yong's conversation with his uncle lasted for nearly three hours.

What Liu Zhiye talked about most with his nephew was the work he did with the masses back then.

Because Liu Zhiye felt that Liu Yong was already very good at criminal investigation, and he didn't have anything more to teach him.

If Liu Yong wants to continue to improve, he needs to enhance his ideological level and political awareness.

Liu Zhiye then told Liu Yong about the hardships faced by the first generation of public security officers, using the story of his friend Zheng Chaoyang as an example.

Liu Yong certainly knew Zheng Chaoyang. The Liu and Zheng families had a lifelong bond of friendship, and Uncle Zheng was also the leader of his former superior's superior...

The legendary experiences of uncles like Zheng Chaoyang, Liu Zhiye, and Ge Shuping are stories that Liu Yong and his generation have heard since childhood.

Back when "Da Xia" was first established...

"Back then, our daily work consisted of going among the people, connecting with them, and helping them." Zheng Chaoyang and his colleagues put their oath into practice with concrete actions.

Disaster relief, patrol and guard duties, dispute mediation... they are always there for the people in times of crisis.

Speaking of disaster relief, there is one thing that Liu Zhiye still remembers vividly.

On that occasion, he had just reported to the police station when he received a call for help, saying that three people were trapped in the lake.

It was early winter, and they were caught in a storm, but Liu Zhiye did not hesitate at all and quickly led two police officers to the scene by boat.

The icy rain and biting wind instantly soaked them. "The water just kept pouring down on us, and our boat almost capsized."

As Liu Zhiye spoke, he demonstrated the scene to Liu Yong. By the time the three people were rescued, the rescuers were frozen solid.

Although it's autumn, it's not cold at all tonight.

However, Liu Yong felt a chill run down his spine as he listened.

Through repeated acts of bravery and practical actions, the public finally lowered their guard, and the work of Zheng Chaoyang, Liu Zhiye, and other first-generation police officers became increasingly smooth.

Moreover, the police officers of that time also experienced many thrilling major cases.

In the early years, one day in mid-November, the comrades of the Municipal Bureau were still carefully listening to the news in the incoming and outgoing telegrams, hoping to get some clues about the activities.

Soon, a message from location T caught their attention. However, the telegram did not contain specific task assignments, but rather a commendation order, the contents of which were:
"BM Bureau commended 109, promoting him from lieutenant station chief to lieutenant colonel station chief."

No DT incident occurred at the time, so the motive behind T's issuance of this commendation order caught the attention of the city bureau comrades.

At that time, the number of suspicious telegrams intercepted every day was staggering, but they still requested to use the key information "109" to search for some useful evidence.

The officers initially thought it might be an abbreviation of a surname, as such password systems were quite common at the time. They selected four surnames—Guo, Gong, Gu, and Guo—intending to search for suspicious individuals among the residents of Yanjing.

However, the police officers underestimated the population of Yanjing City.

At that time, there were more than two million permanent residents in Yanjing City, as well as tens of thousands of transient workers.

This also includes people who are not registered with the Public Security Bureau; relying solely on manpower to screen for enemy and spies is simply a pipe dream.

So they continued to analyze the telegrams related to "109", and soon they discovered a frequently appearing word - Miss Ji, which was regarded as an important breakthrough in solving the case.

Zheng Chaoyang was one of the people in charge of solving the case at the time. He suggested that they could start by investigating the bank remittance information, since DT work also needs to be paid.

So Zheng Chaoyang began to lead a team to investigate the remittance information of various banks in Yanjing, but they did not find any suspicious funds or a woman with the surname Ji, which puzzled the investigators at the time.

At this time, Bai Ling, who was in charge of electronic surveillance, suggested expanding the scope of the investigation to the entire North China region.

Since there is no such person in Yanjing City, we might as well expand our search and try again.

Sure enough, this Miss Ji came to light.

Zheng Chaoyang soon discovered that a recent transfer from Jin Cheng Bank on Xiangjiang Island to Jin Cheng Bank in Tianjin Port had been made by "Ji Ailin" and had left a seal.

And soon after, Ji Ailin deposited the money into another account, clearly indicating that she was the contact person collecting payments for DT.

Ji Ailin's information was quickly investigated. Although the name was a pseudonym, the address information she left was real.

The team leader, Hao Pingchuan, went to a courtyard to investigate according to the address.

He discovered that three families lived in the courtyard. One of them, which had a Miss Ji, was a family surnamed Shen, whose head of household was a merchant named Shen Deqian.

The task force immediately launched an investigation into Shen Deqian, and the investigation revealed that Shen Deqian's wife was named Ji Zhimei.

Ji Zhimei's younger sister is named Ji Cainan, and her niece is named Ji Xueling. All three of them are considered by Zheng Chaoyang to be potential candidates for Miss Ji.

After a thorough investigation into the work and lifestyles of the three individuals, the task force ultimately focused its attention on Ji Cainan.

Because Ji Zhimei is a housewife, her daily life revolves around her husband and children. She doesn't go out often and has never been to a bank.

Furthermore, her niece, Ji Xueling, was still young and inexperienced, and therefore would not be a suitable candidate for espionage. Thus, the task force focused its attention on Ji Cainan.

As the investigation into Ji Cainan deepened, the mysterious "109" gradually revealed his true colors.

Back then, Zheng Chaoyang had Qi Lala disguise herself as a repairman and enter Shen Deqian's home.

They installed a listening device in Shen Deqian's living room, and soon made a new discovery.

Once, Shen Deqian and his wife Ji Zhimei had an argument. During the argument, Ji Zhimei accused her husband of always borrowing money from his sister and demanded that he return the money to his sister as soon as possible.

Shen Deqian claimed that he did not know where Ji Cainan got so much money. He said that she lent him the money voluntarily, and the repayment date they agreed on had not yet arrived. He said that if Ji Zhimei continued to pressure him to repay the money, he would report them to the police and have them investigate where Ji Cainan's money came from.

Based on this conversation, Zheng Chaoyang and others confirmed that Ji Cainan did indeed have income from unknown sources, which also confirmed her identity as Miss Ji.

However, Zheng Chaoyang did not rush to arrest Ji Cainan, but instead wanted to use her to catch the big fish behind her.

However, Zheng Chaoyang and his team didn't have much of a clue as to who the big fish was at the time.

Zheng Chaoyang then investigated Ji Cainan's social relationships.

During this investigation, Zheng Chaoyang and his team quickly discovered that Ji Cainan not only had an older sister, Ji Zhimei, but also two older brothers.

These two also live locally; their names are Ji Zhaotang and Ji Zhaoxiang.

Director Luo stared thoughtfully at the name Ji Zhaoxiang on the list. After a moment, he revealed an important clue.

Before the liberation of Yanjing, the "Fruit Party" had established a special training school in the city.

This school specifically trains DT (destructive) individuals, whose main courses involve... such destructive work.

Later, the school principal provided the public security authorities with a list of students, and Ji Zhaoxiang was one of the last batch of students on the list.

However, the municipal bureau had already arrested criminals based on this list before, and there was no one named Ji Zhaoxiang in Yanjing City.

However, one inmate said he had seen Ji Zhaoxiang taking his wife for a prenatal checkup before he went to prison.

This suggests that he did not leave Yanjing, but simply changed his identity.

After identifying the suspect, the municipal police task force intensified its search efforts for radio stations related to "109". Soon, Bai Ling, the head of the telecommunications team, discovered the approximate location of the radio station.

The radio signal was located in the area of ​​Nanheyan Ciqiku South Branch Road, not far from Wangfujing.

Zheng Chaoyang immediately took Qi Lala to investigate the residents in the area and discovered a man named Ji Xu who came into their view.

The man was an employee of the coal mining company and lived there with his wife. They had a son who was less than a year old, which matched the clue that the prisoner had seen them going for a prenatal checkup.

Soon, Director Luo obtained Ji Zhaoxiang's photo from the previous special training school. After comparing them, he confirmed that Ji Xu was indeed Ji Zhaoxiang.

To be on the safe side, Zheng Chaoyang also brought out several prisoners who knew Ji Zhaoxiang from the prison and took them to Ji Xu's doorstep for identification.

The two prisoners were certain that Ji Xu was Ji Zhaoxiang the moment they saw him, and Zheng Chaoyang and the others finally confirmed his identity.

However, at this point they could not be certain whether Ji Zhaoxiang was indeed the mysterious "109".

So Zheng Chaoyang had Qi Lala install a detector near Ji Zhaoxiang's yard.

Through observation, they discovered that the detector would light up every time "109" sent a telegram, which confirmed Ji Zhaoxiang's identity as a spy.

However, at this point they discovered that the authorities in T area had instructed "109" not to let Ms. Ji withdraw any more money.

Because this was highly likely to be discovered, they had Ji Zhaoxiang take the gold directly from the owners of several shops.

This discovery also allowed the municipal bureau's task force to uncover several new spy hideouts, something the T authorities hadn't anticipated would lead to their own downfall.

Because the task force obtained a lot of useful intelligence from "109", the arrest of several agents was not launched immediately.

However, the public security authorities took his sudden promotion very seriously and expedited the deciphering of Ji Zhaoxiang's telegrams.

Finally, they extracted the key information from these telegrams: "rabbit" and "polar bear".

The "rabbit" then decided to visit the "polar bear's" home to secure more space for the construction of the "rabbit hole" and also to learn from the "polar bear's" home-building experience.

The specific itinerary was originally a top-secret document, but Ji Zhaoxiang somehow obtained the travel schedule and devised two different plans based on it.

There were many reasons why DT's plot ultimately failed to materialize...

Therefore, the task force decided to carry out the arrest operation.

Zheng Chaoyang and his team were already very familiar with Ji Zhaoxiang and Ji Cainan's modus operandi and home addresses, so the arrest operation went very smoothly.

Ji Zhaoxiang and Ji Cainan confessed to their crimes shortly after their arrest.

They are indeed preparing to carry out a new sabotage plan, and the T side will also send... to cooperate with their operation.

So, Zheng Chaoyang, Hao Pingchuan, and the others dressed up and arrived early at the place agreed upon by Ji Zhaoxiang and the DTs. As expected, the DTs arrived at the appointed time.

However, before they could react, they had already been captured by Zheng Chaoyang.

(End of this chapter)