Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 319 Chicken Farm

In front of the Jiang family's old house was a dirt road, and next to the dirt road was a small ditch about two meters wide.

Beyond the stream lies a vast expanse of farmland, where rapeseed flowers are in full bloom, creating a sea of ​​golden yellow.

The direction Zhou Yi pointed to was the ridge between two fields, which was directly opposite the gate of the Jiang family's old house.

"Captain Pan, it would be best to have someone lie in ambush in the farmland on both sides of the ridge. In case Jiang Wei doesn't go into the house tomorrow, but instead kowtows directly on the other side. This position faces the gate. If his stepmother places the chair for worship facing the gate, then when the incense is lit, Jiang Wei will have kowtowed even across the river."

Pan Hongjie looked at it and was somewhat surprised: "That makes sense. Your observation skills are impressive."

After a while, Xia Yu and the police officers from the local police station returned. They had asked the nearby residents, and an old man said that he had seen someone come to the Jiang family's old house more than a week ago. At the time, he thought it was a beggar, but the person noticed him looking in their direction and left in a hurry.

It sounds a lot like Jiang Wei, but unfortunately, like Jiang Wei's stepmother, the old man couldn't remember the exact date.

And indeed, this is the case. In routine investigations, the police often encounter situations where they "can't remember, are unsure, or think it is."

Many people have very low accuracy in remembering things that are not closely related to them, unless the event happens to coincide with their memory.

For example, in the Donghai residential community, the security guard who provided the key clue was able to determine the time of Tang Xue's phone call by remembering the radio program he listened to every day.

It's normal to not remember things clearly.

Forcing a target to recall a "precise" time or information during an interview could easily lead to wrongful convictions.

"Let's go back to the station and call everyone back. Let's rest and recharge, and tomorrow we'll catch him like a turtle in a jar," Pan Hongjie said.

“Captain Pan, I think there’s another possibility we have to be wary of,” Zhou Yi said.

"what?"

"It's Jiang Wei's stepmother, that peasant woman. The police came to see her twice in one day. It's impossible that she didn't guess that Jiang Wei had committed a crime. If Jiang Wei comes to meet her first tomorrow, she might tip him off or let it slip. She might even have Jiang Wei's contact information and call him directly. Although she looks honest and simple, many people in rural areas have a weak sense of law and a stronger sense of family ties. We still have to be careful."

Pan Hongjie affirmed, "What you said makes a lot of sense. Keeping an eye on her is easy, but phone calls are a bit harder to guard against."

“I just observed that neither her house nor her neighbors have telephone lines, which means they don’t have phones at home. In this situation, they might go to the village committee to make a call. We can have our colleagues at the police station secretly communicate with the village officials. If she does make a call, we can report the situation in time, and then we can follow the clues by phone number.”

"Yes, that's a good idea. You've thought of everything."

On the way back, Zhou Yi asked, "Captain Pan, can you tell me something? Do you know where the Guangming Chicken Farm is?"

"Guangming Chicken Farm? Zheng Guangming's business?"

"Zheng Guangming? Is he the owner of this chicken farm?"

Pan Hongjie turned around in surprise: "You're looking for Guangming Chicken Farm, and you don't even know Zheng Guangming?"

"What's wrong with this guy?"

"Xia, tell Zhou Yi."

Xia Yu, who was driving, nodded: "Oh, okay. Officer Zhou, the question you asked about the location of Guangming Chicken Farm is not quite right in itself."

"why?"

"Because there are several Guangming chicken farms in Anyuan, I know of at least seven or eight, and two pig farms, so it depends on which one you are asking about."

Xia Yu continued, "This boss is named Zheng Guangming. He just turned fifty this year. He celebrated his fiftieth birthday in a high-profile manner at the beginning of the year. He is one of the biggest bosses in Anyuan's aquaculture industry and is very wealthy."

Zhou Yi suddenly realized, "Oh, I see. But why are there so many separate chicken farms?"

Pan Hongjie said, "It's about spreading the risk, putting the eggs in different baskets. It's to prevent things like chicken plague or someone poisoning the chickens."

"Someone would poison chickens?" Zhou Yi was somewhat surprised.

"Of course there are. There are so many envious people these days. They feel resentful when they see you making money and getting rich. Last year, we even cracked a case of poisoning a chicken farm. The owner suffered huge losses. You would never guess who the culprit was in the end."

Zhou Yi casually replied, "The boss's own brother?"

Upon hearing this, Pan Hongjie turned around abruptly and looked at Zhou Yi in surprise, "You've heard of this case?"

"No... I was just guessing."

"Oh...you guessed right. It was the boss's own brother, his own flesh and blood. The reason he poisoned him was because his younger brother borrowed a thousand yuan from him when he was running a chicken farm. Later, when his younger brother made money, he didn't repay him double, so he got angrier and angrier and finally secretly poisoned him in the middle of the night."

Pan Hongjie realized what was going on and turned to Zhou Yi, asking, "By the way, why are you looking for this Guangming Chicken Farm?"

"Oh, is that so? Something happened yesterday..." Zhou Yi then briefly explained the situation with the little girl Lele.

Have you reported it to the police?

“I reported it. I took them to the nearby police station this morning to report the case, but neither the old nor the young could provide any accurate information.”

“Since you’ve already reported it, let the local police station investigate. I’ll give them a heads-up and tell them to keep an eye on it. But honestly, Zhou Yi, you probably won’t find out anything about this.”

Zhou Yi asked in confusion, "Why?"

"The chicken farms here all employ temporary workers." "Temporary workers?"

"Yes, it's the kind of place where there's no contract, and you're paid daily. If you don't want to work anymore, or they don't need you anymore, you just have to say so. So the workers are very mobile; they go to whichever company pays the most. If they're unhappy with their job today, they can switch to another company tomorrow."

Zhou Yi understood. This was someone deliberately orchestrating this to save costs and shirk social responsibility. "These capitalist bastards, they're really cunning."

"So even if you go to Guangming Chicken Farm to investigate, it's unlikely you'll get any real information. And there's a good chance this Yang Jian really might have run away to avoid his debts. Some people have very strong patriarchal views. You're all still young and inexperienced. In this world, all sorts of strange things happen. Don't trust human nature too much," Pan Hongjie said earnestly.

Zhou Yi knew that although Pan Hongjie's words were pessimistic, they were also the heartfelt words of someone who had been a policeman for many years. However, after interacting with the little girl, he felt that she didn't seem like someone who had been abandoned.

Because most abandoned children are not abandoned suddenly, but rather they have been neglected and neglected for a long time, which leads to their withdrawn and introverted personalities.

Lele clearly does not possess these characteristics. Despite her impoverished life, Zhou Yi could sense that she had previously lived in a loving environment.

"Captain Pan, what will happen to Yang Jian's daughter if we don't hear from him again?" Xia Yu couldn't help but ask.

“Then let’s try to find her relatives first. If none of them are willing to take care of her, then we’ll have to send her to an orphanage.” Pan Hongjie sighed. “Let’s deal with the case at hand first. After all, we’re already in dire straits.”

Zhou Yi knew what Pan Hongjie was talking about. The city had issued an order to solve the case within a specified time. If the case couldn't be solved by then, someone would definitely have to take the blame. Who else could it be but him?

Back at the municipal bureau, Pan Hongjie quickly called a meeting with everyone to arrange the deployment and arrest operation for the next day.

"Where's Lao Chen? Hasn't he come back yet?" Pan Hongjie asked.

Someone replied, "Brother Chen went to check that line of vehicles and hasn't come back yet."

"Then let's not wait for him, let's start."

Pan Hongjie began to plan the defenses for tomorrow, which were roughly divided into three layers.

The outermost edge is the main transportation route of Jiang Wei's village.

The innermost part is the stakeout around the Jiang family's old house, especially the arrangement of two people to ambush in the rapeseed field across the river.

The remaining line leads to Jiang Wei's stepmother's house.

"In short, the goal of this operation is to arrest Jiang Wei as soon as he shows his face!" Pan Hongjie shouted.

"Understood!" everyone answered in unison.

Chen Dejiang returned shortly after the meeting ended.

"Captain Pan, we've found something!"

"Old Chen, tell me quickly." Chen Dejiang's words immediately perked up Pan Hongjie, who pulled over a stool for him to sit on.

"I found a red Nissan Toyota at a repair shop in the north of the city. The repair shop said that the owner brought the car in for a car wash on March 28th."

"The car owner paid for a deep cleaning, which was supposed to be a car wash that would take a little over an hour. But halfway through, the car owner said he was going to buy a pack of cigarettes and never came back. The repair shop didn't know what was going on with the car owner and was afraid of being extorted, so they didn't dare to touch the car and left it parked at the entrance."

"March 28th?" Pan Hongjie asked in confusion, "That long ago?"

"Captain Pan, I've checked it. There are obvious scratches on the left side of the rear of the car. This should be the car we're looking for."

Zhou Yi found it a bit strange. Logically speaking, the murderer should have buried the body at Xiaoqiushan Park on March 16th. Why did it take so long to send the car to the repair shop?

Furthermore, if you discover scratches on your car and are worried about them being exposed, shouldn't you just touch up the paint? Why would you choose to wash the car? And why a deep wash at that?

Wait, deep cleaning...

Zhou Yi seemed to be deep in thought.

"Xia, go and call the technical department staff. They need to come with us to the repair shop right away."

"Okay, Captain Pan."

"Old Chen, did you write down the license plate number?"

Chen Dejiang nodded: "I've got it."

"Have someone check who owns this car."

"Okay, I'll go right now." Chen Dejiang said, getting up and walking out.

"Wait, did you show the repair shop people photos of Fu Daqing and Li Youqiang?" Pan Hongjie asked.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention, we had them identify the two people, but the repair shop said it wasn't one of them, but a young man around thirty years old."

"A young man?" Pan Hongjie was taken aback.

Zhou Yi said, "Captain Pan, I suspect this person might be Jiang Wei."

(End of this chapter)