Restarting life by going to the countryside to support medical work

Chapter 609 Benefits
In the main house, the old man did not sit on the sofa after entering the house, but stood a meter away from the window looking out at the yard.

Because it is brighter outside than inside, people outside cannot see inside the house unless they come to the window, while people inside can see everything outside.

Although he couldn't hear exactly what the two people in the courtyard were saying, the shrewd and experienced Old Master Cheng could roughly guess some of it from the expressions on their faces.

The old patriarch was well aware of the power struggles within the family. The conflicts between the collateral branches and the main family, as well as the internal struggles within the main family, were all, frankly speaking, for the sake of interests.

He was able to become the head of the Cheng family back then by fighting his way up from among his brothers.

Therefore, as long as these internal disputes don't escalate too much, everyone turns a blind eye.

But one thing is very clear: it's fine to fight for interests, but if anyone dares to collude with outsiders to deal with their own people, then sorry, that person will definitely be expelled from the Cheng family.

Guo Jingye is Cheng Jianwen's man, and the old master certainly knows that. Liu Qian is right about one thing: the reason the old master brought him here was because he was worried that leaving him in the Ugly Country would cause some trouble.

After learning Li Yancheng's identity, the old man clearly sensed the subtle hostility emanating from Guo Jingye.

He didn't say anything, but he was also observing Guo Jingye's reaction to see how his eldest grandson, who had been lost and found again, would behave.

What this over-ninety-year-old man, who considered himself to have seen it all and met countless people, never expected was that he really couldn't see through his eldest grandson at all.

He could clearly sense the faint distance beneath Li Yancheng's gentle face.

The eldest grandson didn't seem to have any particular feelings about recognizing his relatives. Over the past month, his attitude towards them was just like that of a doctor towards a patient, except that the patient was a special case, living in the doctor's home.

He allowed his two children to call them "Great-Grandpa" and "Grandma," but he and his wife always referred to them as "Old Master Cheng" and "Madam Cheng."

This situation left Old Master Cheng with a deep sense of powerlessness.

Having not seen them for over thirty years, and not having grown up alongside them, he had no feelings for them. Old Master Cheng understood this; he believed feelings could be cultivated slowly, but…

"Dad, what are you thinking about?"

After an unknown amount of time, Guo Jingye and Liu Qian, who had been talking in the courtyard, had disappeared. Fu Shuyi, who had come in from outside, looked at her father-in-law standing by the window and asked.

"I want to see Sheng."

Cheng Jiansheng is Li Yancheng's real name.

The old man turned around and walked to the sofa, where he sat down.

Upon hearing her eldest son's name, Fu Shuyi's gaze darkened slightly. She sat down on the sofa opposite her father-in-law and asked with some curiosity.

"Dad, why did you suddenly say you wanted to see Sheng...?"

"Sigh..." Old Master Cheng shook his head, somewhat bewildered: "I am..."

……

While the old master of the Cheng family and the current head of the family were discussing Li Yancheng, he himself took a car to the Criminal Investigation Corps to attend a case analysis meeting.

The case that the brigade received was reported by the Yangchao District Branch yesterday. A vicious murder and theft case occurred at the finance office of a street office in the Yangchao jurisdiction.

The victims were two employees of the finance office, and the stolen money consisted of wages belonging to some employees of the subdistrict office and its subordinate enterprises, totaling more than 50,000 yuan.

Let's rewind two days to Thursday, December 25th.

The 25th of each month is payday in Yangchao District, and most companies pay wages on this day.

Paying salaries back then was different from later years. Decades later, paying salaries was simple. As long as the finance staff entered the data correctly into the bank's system, the salary would arrive in the individual's account as early as the same day, and at the latest, the next day.

Salaries can only be paid in cash now.

Another difference is that decades later, you are paid a month's salary for each month you work, while some private companies will hold back a month's salary.

Now, the pay is paid monthly and the salary is paid monthly, meaning that the salary paid on the 25th of each month is actually for the following month.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the staff at the finance office where the incident occurred didn't retrieve their salaries from the bank until almost 5 PM this month.

I have to leave work at 6 o'clock, but I only got the money back at 5 o'clock. It's definitely not going to be paid out today. The staff member in charge of payroll called the leaders of the companies under the street office to tell them to come back and collect it the next day.

That afternoon, the two people responsible for distributing salaries only paid the salaries to the staff inside the subdistrict office, and locked the rest of the money in the safe at the finance office.

As is customary, there was money in the safe, and a considerable amount at that. After get off work, the finance office leaders left two people on duty in the office where the safe was located.

To everyone's surprise, when everyone arrived at work the next morning, they discovered that the two people who had been assigned to stay on duty the night before had been murdered, and the safe in the office had been violently broken open, with more than 50,000 yuan in wages that had not yet been paid out disappearing.

The scene that unfolded in the office terrified the leaders of the finance office and the street office, who immediately called for the police.

After the local police station officers arrived and secured the scene, they immediately reported to the branch bureau. The Yangchao branch bureau dispatched criminal investigation personnel to the scene while simultaneously calling the municipal bureau headquarters to report the case.

Sitting in the conference room, Li Yancheng listened to the report while looking at the scene diagram drawn on the blackboard by the criminal investigation team of Yangchao Branch with a slight frown.

"The finance office is located inside the street office compound. The gatekeeper is a widowed old man in his sixties who has no other hobbies except drinking. On the night of the incident, he drank at least half a kilogram of liquor and did not hear any noise."

After careful examination, we found fresh trampling marks on the wall to the right of the courtyard gate. These marks belonged to two people, and the murderer likely climbed over the wall from there. Unfortunately, the courtyard was paved with bluestone slabs, and no footprints were left. Based solely on the trampling marks on the wall, it was impossible to determine whether the murderer was male or female.

One thing is a bit strange: the two duty officers at the finance office lived in the office where the safe was kept, but the lock on that office was not broken, and we did not find any signs of forced entry.

There are three possibilities based on preliminary assessment: either the murderer knocked on the door and the person inside opened it, or the murderer and the person on duty knew each other.

The second possibility is that the murderer had the key. There were three keys to that office: one was in the hands of the director of the finance office, and another was in the hands of the payroll staff.

The last one was a spare key, which was usually kept in the safe. On the day of the incident, we found that key in the pocket of one of the guards on duty.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the director of the finance office and the finance staff member did not leave their home on the night of the incident. There is a witness, but this witness is a family member. We will continue our investigation. The last possibility is that the office door was unlocked at the time, and someone was inside.

We believe the perpetrator likely knew the security guard and entered by knocking, but this is just speculation and there is no supporting evidence.

Since we arrived at the scene after receiving the report yesterday morning, we have investigated a total of five suspects, but they were all ruled out because they did not have the opportunity to commit the crime.

Next, we'll prepare...

After reporting the case details, he explained the next steps. Then, the captain of the Yangchao District Criminal Investigation Team stopped and looked up at Li Yancheng. Seeing that the leader did not intend to speak, he then turned his gaze to Jin Zhihai, the deputy captain of the brigade.

"Sit down," Jin Zhihai said, gesturing for him to sit down as he looked over. "Forensic doctor, tell me about the two victims."

"Yes"

The forensic doctor from the brigade's forensic office stood up, just about to say something, when Li Yancheng, who had been staring at the scene sketch drawn on the blackboard, spoke up.

"Forensic doctor, please wait a moment."

Upon hearing this, the forensic doctor, who had just stood up, quickly swallowed back the words that were about to come out and sat back down in his chair. He knew that when the leader spoke up now, it certainly wasn't to ask him.

The captain of the criminal investigation team of Yangchao District Branch stood up again.

"Sit down, sit down and talk, no need to stand." Li Yancheng gestured with his hand: "Captain Duan, you just said that the safe was forcibly broken into?"

"Yes"

"Can you tell what was used to break it open?"

"Judging from the traces left behind, it should be crowbars, and there were two of them, but we did not find any crowbars at the scene."

Were there no fingerprints left at the scene?

"The fingerprints at the scene have been collected. We have also collected the fingerprints of all the staff in the office. The forensic experts are comparing them. So far, there is no news."

Li Yancheng frowned slightly. If the case was handled by someone inside the office, then even if the fingerprints were matched, it would be meaningless, since it would be normal to find the fingerprints of anyone in the office in that office.

Seeing him frown, the captain of the criminal investigation team of Yangchao Branch Bureau felt his heart leap into his throat. The questions his superiors were asking were all things he had missed in his report. He would be in no way wrong to be reprimanded.

Li Yancheng didn't intend to criticize him. He just frowned and thought for a while before looking at the forensic doctor Gao and saying, "Old Gao, tell me about the victim's condition. You don't need to stand up; just sit down."

"Yes"

Seeing that the leader didn't intend to approve him, Captain Duan breathed a sigh of relief, raised his hand to wipe his forehead, and even though it was winter, his forehead was already sweaty.

He was only appointed as the captain of the criminal investigation team after this institutional reform. He had previously worked in the public security department, and this was his first time reporting to Li Yancheng, so he was inevitably a little nervous.

Not only did he stutter a bit during the report, but he also missed a lot of information, which made him feel that his future was bleak.

Sitting next to Jin Zhihai was the deputy director of the Yangchao District Branch in charge of criminal investigation. After the forensic doctor began his report, he glanced at Captain Duan without making a sound.

He was previously the head of the Criminal Investigation Section of the Yangchao Branch Bureau. After the recent institutional reform, he was promoted to deputy director and put in charge of the Criminal Investigation Team. He and the former deputy director who was about to retire recommended the candidates for the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team. They were both deputy heads of the Criminal Investigation Section at the time. However, it is unclear what the director and the district were thinking. They did not adopt their suggestions and transferred the man surnamed Duan from the Public Security Section to take over the position of captain of the Criminal Investigation Team.

This guy surnamed Duan had never worked in criminal investigation before. After becoming the captain of the criminal investigation team, he was in a complete mess, and Duan had to clean up his messes a lot. But that wasn't the worst part. The key issue was that this guy always seemed to be paying lip service to him, which gave Duan quite a headache.

The deputy director sighed inwardly, feeling utterly exhausted. He had just given that report and gotten himself into such a mess. He felt like kicking the guy.

However, he knew that now was not the time to think about these things, so he quickly put those distracting thoughts aside and began to listen attentively to the forensic doctor's report.

"...The two victims died at roughly the same time, between 1 and 2 a.m. on the 26th. They were both stabbed in the heart after having their mouths and noses covered from behind..."

Based on the marks left on the victim's face, the second victim, the one who fell next to the wire bed, was killed by the murderer who covered his mouth and nose with his right hand and used a knife in his left hand.

The first victim, the one who collapsed next to the safe, was killed by the murderer who covered his mouth and nose with his left hand and used a knife in his right hand.

I believe the murderer of the second victim was left-handed.

As the forensic doctor spoke, he pulled up his colleague sitting next to him and gave him a demonstration.

If the right hand is the dominant hand, the knife is usually held in the right hand while the left hand covers the mouth and nose. It is not an easy task to stab a knife into a person, and it requires a lot of strength, especially in winter when the victim is wearing thick clothes.

"Both victims died from a single stab wound. The heart area is protected by ribs, so it's normal to stab or glide on the bone. However, after the autopsy, we found no scratches on the bones. The stab wound went right between the two bones, a precise and ruthless strike."

I suspect these two killers are likely experienced.

At this point, the forensic doctor paused, perhaps realizing he hadn't explained clearly, and hurriedly added, "Oh, by 'veteran,' I don't mean that these two murderers must have killed people before. Someone who has worked as a butcher is also considered a veteran, for example, someone who slaughters pigs or sheep. That's all for now. That concludes my report."

After he finished his report, the forensic investigators immediately stood up and handed one of the photos to each of the leaders.

The photos show the scene and the patterns of the molds made for the victim's wounds.

The two molds look very similar, but a close comparison reveals differences. Judging from their design, the two murder weapons were not standard-issue knives, but rather homemade.

After listening to the report, Li Yancheng did not say anything. Jin Zhihai made arrangements for the next steps and then the meeting was adjourned.

"Director Wang, please stay behind. The rest of you can get back to work according to General Manager Jin's instructions."

Just after Jin Zhihai announced the adjournment of the meeting, Li Yancheng, who had been looking down at the photos, looked up at Deputy Director Wang of the Yangchao Branch and said.

Upon hearing his name called by the leader, Deputy Director Wang, who had already stood up to leave, felt a sudden unease.

(End of this chapter)