Courtyard House: I, the eldest son of the Jia family, have returned from the battlefield.

His eyes suddenly turned bloodshot, and his voice rose sharply, "I couldn't care about anything at once, and I rushed up and grabbed her by the neck... After that, I staged the scene to try to shift the blame onto Lin Xianfeng."

I thought everything was done cleanly... I didn't expect it to happen so quickly...

After listening, Jia Dongming remained silent for a moment.

He looked at Ding Chunliang's face, which was filled with remorse, and a complex sigh swept through his heart.

He then stood up and said sternly to Xie Jian beside him, "I'll leave this to you."

"In addition, contact the forensic department."

The fact that the deceased was pregnant was overlooked during the autopsy; this is a serious oversight and must be taken very seriously.

The case had reached a stalemate, so Xie Jiancai had no choice but to ask Jia Dongming to step in.

From arriving at the scene to locating the repair shop by following the clues, Xie Jian witnessed every step of Jia Dongming's investigation and deduction.

His precise and experienced case-solving skills earned him his admiration.

Xie Jian deeply agreed with the idea that Wang Qiuyan's pregnancy should have been discovered much earlier.

If forensic work had been more meticulous, the direction of the investigation might have been clarified earlier, and things wouldn't have turned out so passively.

He immediately replied solemnly, "Deputy Captain Jia, don't worry, I will personally go to the forensic department to communicate with Section Chief Sun later."

Not long after Jia Dongming left the branch office, news of the Second Criminal Investigation Team solving the murder case at the machine repair shop spread like wildfire and quickly reached every corner.

Upon hearing this, Lin Minghua, the captain of the First Criminal Investigation Brigade, looked puzzled and muttered to himself, "Xie Jian said this morning that he had no clue, and now the case is solved in just half a day? Did the murderer turn himself in?"

"team leader,"

An officer nearby overheard his mutterings and leaned closer to whisper, "I heard that Captain Xie asked Deputy Chief Jia for help early this morning. This case... was solved by Deputy Chief Jia himself."

Lin Minghua's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't say anything more. He simply closed the file in his hand gently.

Lin Minghua learned from his subordinates that Xie Jian had gone to see Jia Dongming, so he summoned Guo Sheng, the team member who had relayed the message, and asked, "What exactly did the Second Brigade say? What method did Deputy Captain Jia use to solve that murder case?"

When the captain asked, Guo Sheng dared not hide anything and recounted the investigation process he had heard from the Second Brigade in detail.

After listening to Jia Dongming's account of the case, Lin Minghua showed admiration and slowly said, "A few days ago, the security personnel at the steel mill praised me, saying that Deputy Captain Jia's tracking and investigation skills were unparalleled. At the time, I was still skeptical."

After hearing what you said today, I'm afraid that in the entire branch office, when it comes to trace evidence examination skills, no one can truly surpass him.

Guosheng nodded repeatedly, then suddenly remembered another rumor. He looked around and whispered in Lin Minghua's ear, "Captain, I also heard that... the reason why the case in the Second Brigade's hands is stuck is because the forensic doctor was careless during the autopsy and missed an important clue."

Lin Minghua was taken aback and pressed for details, "What happened? Tell me in detail."

Guosheng lowered his voice even further: "Regarding the case at the machine repair factory... the female worker who died wasn't actually what she seemed on the surface."

The scene was deliberately staged to pin suspicion on a security guard at the factory.

"What?"

Lin Minghua's expression changed. "Fake scene? What's the reason?"

"The female worker had an affair with the director of the machine repair shop's logistics warehouse, got pregnant, and forced him to divorce his wife and marry her."

The director refused, so she wanted to use a security guard in the factory to take revenge on the director's family.

The director noticed, so they decided to play along...

Guo Sheng paused for a moment, then said, "After she met with that security guard in secret, the director strangled her to death and then staged it as a suicide."

"The forensic doctor didn't even discover she was pregnant during her first autopsy."

Because of this oversight, the Second Brigade took a lot of detours.

"Since Deputy Chief Jia was only working part-time, he didn't involve himself in the matter publicly, and only allowed Captain Xie to communicate with the forensic department privately."

Who knew that Captain Xie had a straightforward temper, and immediately went to report to Detachment Leader Zhang.

Squad Leader Zhang lost his temper and summoned Section Chief Sun for a reprimand.

At this point, Guosheng hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Lin Minghua: "Chief Lin, our First Brigade still has several unsolved cases, right? Should we... ask Deputy Chief Jia to come and take a look as well?"

Lin Minghua was silent for a moment, then waved his hand: "You go ahead and get busy, I'll think about this some more."

It was past 1 p.m. when Jia Dongming finally left the branch office.

His stomach was so empty he felt restless. He found a state-run restaurant on the street, quickly ate a bowl of plain noodles, and then rode his bicycle back home.

Not long after he entered the office, Guo Jianguo knocked on the door and came in.

"Director, we've been keeping an eye on the courtyard behind Xue Ru's silk shop for several days, but there hasn't been a single sign of anything."

Guo Jianguo looked exhausted. "Do you think... there might be some discrepancies in the intelligence?"

Jia Dongming leaned back in his chair and pondered for a while.

"Since nothing has been found, let's bring everyone back first."

He said, "I'll double-check the source of the intelligence and then we'll talk about it later."

Then he changed the subject: "Next Monday, a batch of parts from the factory will be transported to Harbin. Corey needs to send a team of people to be responsible for the armed escort."

This task is high-risk, but the rewards are generous.

Would your brigade be willing to take them on?

Guo Jianguo did so almost without hesitation.

"catch!"

He straightened his back and said, "Don't worry, Chief, the First Brigade will definitely complete the mission."

Jia Dongming smiled and nodded.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

I asked the office to adjust the duty roster for next week.

As the sun began to set, it painted the sky a warm orange hue.

After Jia Dongming finished packing, he mounted his old bicycle, and the wheels creaked and groaned as they rolled along the stone-paved road toward Tongluoguxiang.

The evening breeze carried a chill to the alleyway. Just as he was about to turn the corner, a bright, clear shout came from behind. "Uncle! Uncle!"

It's Bang Geng.

The child ran so fast that his face turned red, and his schoolbag bounced back and forth behind him.

Jia Dongming gripped the brakes, touched the ground with one foot, and turned around to look. "Where's your mother?"

He asked, "Didn't I pick you up today?"

Bang Geng grinned, catching his breath before answering, "My mom's tired from work, so I told her I don't need to pick her up every day, I can get home by myself."

That sounds like something a little adult would say.

A smile appeared in Jia Dongming's eyes as he reached out and ruffled the child's spiky short hair, his palm touching the hard stubble.

He pulled a few candies from the pocket of his old Zhongshan suit; the wrappers gleamed a soft, milky white in the twilight. "You've grown up," he said.

He handed over the candy, saying, "You know how to care for people."

"Take it; it has to be like this from now on."

Bang Geng happily accepted the candy, the wrapper rustling softly.

Several children walking alongside him watched expectantly. He wasn't stingy; he quickly peeled one open and popped it into his mouth, his cheeks immediately bulging. He then generously shared the rest. "Da Mao, Xiao Hui, Xiao Ming, here!"

Several little heads huddled together, their laughter chattering like birds returning to their nests.

Jia Dongming saw this but didn't say much, only patted the back seat of the car. "Get in, it's time to go back."

Bang Geng scrambled up on all fours, and only after settling in did he wave to his friends. "Let's go! See you, Ming'er!"

The wheels started turning again, rolling over the bluish-gray alleyway.

He hadn't gone far when the scenery along the road made Jia Dongming slow down.

A boy who looked no more than six or seven years old, dressed in thin clothes, was tiptoeing, half of his body reaching into a trash can in the corner of the alley, rummaging through something.

A smaller little girl followed at his feet, tugging at her brother's clothes, looking up at him blankly.

Jia Dongming thought they looked familiar, like the family living in the backyard, so he turned to Bang Geng in the back seat and asked, "Do you recognize those two kids?"

Bang Geng clung to his uncle's waist and peeked out. "It's Dou Ding and Dou Zi,"

He lowered his voice, "Grandma Zhang's."

Jia Dongming: "Oh."

He let out a sound, his feet still slowly pedaling, his gaze still fixed on the small figures. "Where are their parents?"

He asked, his voice mingling with the sound of wheels.

Bang Geng moved the candy in his mouth to the other cheek and mumbled, "My grandma told me... she went to dig for wild vegetables outside the city, ran into bad people, and never came back."

The words are simple, but the child doesn't quite understand the profound meaning behind them.

Jia Dongming didn't ask any more questions, only glancing at it one last time.

The boy seemed to have picked up something small from the trash and was holding it up in front of his sister, which seemed to bring a glimmer of light to the little girl's blurry face.

He turned around, pushed off hard on the pedal, and the bicycle sped up, leaving the twilight and the small figure in the twilight behind.

The car came to a steady stop in front of the mottled wooden gate of courtyard number 95.

Bang Geng jumped off the car, and Jia Dongming pushed the car into the yard.

Beside the small vegetable patch in the front yard, Yan Bugui was hunched over watering the seedlings. Water from the gourd ladle dripped down, spreading dark dots on the dry soil.

Hearing the noise, he straightened up, his usual smile plastered on his face. "Dongming's back? Did you pick up Bang Geng today?"

Jia Dongming stopped and nodded politely. "Third Uncle."

I met him at the alley entrance and brought him back.

He looked the other man up and down and felt that the lingering sorrow in Yan Bugui's eyes seemed to have faded a bit today, and his back was also straighter.

"Yes, yes."

Yan Bugui put down the gourd, wiped his hands on his old trousers, and said, "Since you came back, the Jia family has a completely different atmosphere."

Even that kid, Bang Geng,

He turned his gaze to Bang Geng, who was puffing out his chest and looking expectantly for praise, and said, "You've become much more promising."

Their teacher told me the other day that they're paying attention in class now, and their handwriting is starting to look neater.

Upon hearing this, Bang Geng tilted his head back even higher, his eyes sparkling as he looked at his uncle.

Jia Dongming smiled and replied, "Third Uncle, there's an old saying, 'A scholar is useless in a hundred ways,' but that's from the old imperial calendar."

In today's society, only those with knowledge and skills can truly possess real abilities.

If Bang Geng wants to have a bright future and contribute to the country, he needs to study hard now.

"That makes sense, absolutely right!"

Yan Bugui nodded repeatedly, sighed, and then unconsciously changed the subject, "Knowledge changes destiny... Sigh, if my kids could understand this early on, I would be much less worried."

Putting everything else aside, my second son is already retired. He graduated from high school some time ago, but he just wanders around at home all day, without a job in sight. It's making me so worried..."

He rubbed his hands together, his gaze seemingly drifting towards Jia Dongming, the slight sorrow that had just faded from his face quietly creeping back into the corners of his eyes and brows.

Jia Dongming felt a slight tightening in his heart.

His smile remained unchanged, his tone was still gentle, but his words were impeccable: "Third Uncle, what you said..."

You raised several children and provided them with education; you've already done everything you could.

Ultimately, the path of one's children and grandchildren must be traversed by themselves, step by step.

As elders, we can't rush things, can we? Don't you agree?

As he spoke, he pushed the cart toward the inner courtyard, his words drifting lightly into the cool evening air.

Bang Geng quickly jogged a few steps to catch up, leaving Yan Bugui standing there, staring at the departing figure. After a long while, he bent down and picked up the water ladle from the ground.

Before he could finish speaking, Jia Dongming spoke first, and Yan Bugui had to swallow the words that were on the tip of his tongue, speechless for a moment.

Seeing his expression, Jia Dongming smiled and said, "Third Uncle, you go ahead with your work. I'll take Bang Geng back."

After saying that, he pushed the old-fashioned bicycle and slowly headed towards the central courtyard.

Yan Bugui stood there, watching the two figures, one big and one small, disappear into the distance, a surge of frustration rising within him.

He shook his head inwardly. This Jia Dongming was really slippery. Before he could even give a hint, Jia Dongming had already blocked the way.

In the middle courtyard, Jia Zhangshi was sitting on her doorstep, sewing shoe soles.

Bang Geng, with his sharp eyes, spotted her from afar and called out in his clear voice, "Grandma! Grandma! We're back!"

Hearing the sound, Jia Zhangshi looked up, her face immediately breaking into a smile, and she put down her work. "My dear grandson!"

She stood up and took two steps to greet him, then took out a handkerchief and wiped Bang Geng's forehead. "Look at all this sweat, wipe it off quickly."

Jia Dongming parked his bicycle steadily under the eaves and turned to ask, "Mom, where's Xiaodang? I can't see her anywhere."

"Uncle! You were looking for me?"