Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

Shen Zhong stood solemnly at the entrance to the fire escape outside the ward.

He arrived late and only heard Chen Hai say, "We're even." After the door closed, he stood outside for two minutes without going in.

My phone vibrated.

Gao Yuliang sent a text message: "How did the surgery go?"

Shen replied: "Done. It's saved, but I can't move for six weeks."

Gao Yuliang quickly replied, "He risked his life for the knife hilt; he won't lose it just because of an arm."

Shen Zhong put his phone back in his pocket.

He didn't go to the ward; instead, he turned and walked towards the stairwell. After taking two steps, he stopped and took out a cigarette case from his pocket.

The cigarette was lit, and the flame flickered briefly.

He took a drag, paused for a few seconds, and then exhaled the smoke.

Qi Tongwei's arm must be saved. If he can't move it for six weeks, then let him use his brain more and use his hands less.

Shen Zhong stubbed out his cigarette on the edge of the fire hydrant box, then turned and went downstairs.

……

Nine o'clock at night, in the provincial department office.

Lu Yike sat alone at the table, a yellowed old file spread out in front of her. A faded label was affixed to the upper right corner of the cover, which read:

"Haizhou Port Smuggling Case (1998) - Internal Archives".

She found this in a corner of the archives when she went back to the provincial department to retrieve documents that afternoon.

The file was thin, only about thirty pages long. She turned the pages slowly, one by one.

The three defendants were convicted of smuggling ordinary goods and sentenced to three to five years in prison. The judgment was concise, and the chain of evidence was complete.

But tucked inside was a handwritten note, the handwriting old and the ink slightly blurred.

"Berth 07 at the port has an abnormal monthly throughput, and there has been no response after the report was submitted. Contact person: Lu Zhengping."

Lu Zhengping.

Her father was a retired judge.

Lu Yike stared at that line of text for a long time.

Fifteen years ago, my father was transferred from the Haizhou Intermediate People's Court to become a researcher at the Provincial Department of Justice, retiring two years early. The family always said he had a bad back and couldn't sit on the hard chair in the courtroom.

There was something else going on inside.

She closed the file and pressed her finger against the two characters "Haizhou" on the cover.

These two words have appeared far too often lately. Chu Pingshan's black book, the confession of the middleman surnamed Qin, the financial chain that Li Dakang uncovered, and now there's another old case from fifteen years ago.

This isn't a newly emerged line.

Lu Yike locked the case file in the drawer and hung the key back around her neck. She picked up her phone, opened her chat window with Qi Tongwei, and typed a message:

"I'll prepare the outline for Qin Erhao's second round of interrogation tonight. I'll show it to you tomorrow."

send.

She turned off her phone and leaned back in her chair. The office lights hummed, and outside the window was the provincial government compound parking lot, where several cars were parked, their engines long since cooled.

……

At the same time, at the military region hospital.

The effects of the anesthesia on Qi Tongwei had completely worn off. His left arm remained swollen and throbbing with pain.

Only the bedside lamp was on in the ward.

The nurse just came to change the IV drip and said the postoperative reaction was normal.

He moved his right hand and touched the thermos on the bedside table. The lid was still warm. After unscrewing it, he found rice water inside, with a thin film on the surface. Next to it was a small spoon, which was very clean.

He then reached for the documents next to his pillow.

At the top is the summary of the preliminary trial of Qin No. 2 case, with a sticky note pressed under the corner of the page.

Lu Yike's handwriting is very neat.

"Take good care of yourself. I'll interrogate Qin Erhao for you, and I'll bring you the transcript after I'm done. If you're worried, move your hospital bed to the room next to the interrogation room."

Qi Tongwei stared at those lines of text for a while, then his lips relaxed.

He peeled off the sticky note, folded it in half, then folded it in half again, making a small square, and stuffed it under his pillow.

After entering the office, Shen Zhong locked all three doors.

The last electronic lock beeped.

He placed his military briefcase on the table and pressed the clasp. The metallic sound echoed in the room.

The sealing wax file folder was taken out and placed in the center of the table.

The first layer of sealing wax had been removed, and fragments of red wax were still stuck to the edge of the seal. The second layer of sealing wax remained untouched; the wax mark was intact, but the color was dark.

Shen Zhong didn't rush to open it. He took out a paper cutter from the drawer and flashed the blade under the light.

The tip of the knife grazed the edge of the sealing wax. The wax block cracked with a very soft sound.

Two pieces of paper were pulled out and placed on the table.

The first page contained a handwritten summary of clues related to "Qin Chu" by Gao Yuliang. The handwriting was neat, with each stroke deeply engraved. After scanning it carefully, Shen Zhong placed it on the left.

The second page unfolds.

It's not text, it's a hand-drawn relationship diagram.

The paper has yellowed, and the creases are worn white. The drawing was done with a black pen; the lines are very fine, the strokes are heavy, and there are several places where the back of the paper is torn.

At the very top is a name.

It was erased by ink.

The ink was applied very heavily, leaving only the outlines of two characters. The radicals of the first character were indistinguishable, and the second character was a blurry mess.

Shen Zhong's fingers stopped on the edge of the table.

The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock.

He closed his eyes and went through the original character relationships in "In the Name of the People" in his mind.

Sha Ruijin, Gao Yuliang, Li Dakang, Qi Tongwei.

There is no such person.

This crossed-out name is not in the original work.

Shen Zhong opened his eyes, picked up a pen, and wrote a line in the blank space below the relationship diagram: "Not in the play, but outside the game."

The ink quickly seeped into the paper.

The relationship diagram branches off from the name that was crossed out.

The line on the left connects to "Haizhou Port Group".

The line on the right connects to the "Frontline Coordination Group".

The two lines converge downwards, pointing to three names: Chu Pingshan, Sha Ruijin, and a box marked with a "?".

Next to Chu Pingshan's name, it was written in red pen: "Front Desk".

Next to Sha Ruijin's name is written: "Protective Layer".

Shen Zhong turned the paper up to the lamp and bent down to read the fine characters. Gao Yuliang's writing was very dense; you had to get close to see it clearly.

There is a passage on the bottom half of the second page.

The words were squeezed to the very bottom of the paper, with very narrow line spacing.

Shen Zhong read through each word carefully:

"Three years ago, this person intervened in the restructuring of Haizhou Port's assets through the Frontline Coordination Group. Under the guise of compliance auditing, he actually carried out asset harvesting. Chu Pingshan was his front man in Handong, and Sha Ruijin was his political protector. However, Sha Ruijin was unaware of the full picture."

The last eight characters were underlined and pressed very deeply.

Shen Zhong laid the paper flat and pressed down on the corner with his palm.

Sha Ruijin was unaware of the full picture.

This assessment aligns with the comparison report from the northern route. The activity patterns of Sha Ruijin's father-in-law in Beijing coincided with the establishment of the Frontline Coordination Group in the same quarter.

It's possible, but we still lack evidence.

Shen Zhong picked up the first sheet of paper and placed the diagram from the second page of the sealing wax underneath. He then stacked the two sheets together, aligning the corners.

He walked to the whiteboard and picked up a marker.

He drew a dotted line between the "Frontline Coordination Group" and "Sha Ruijin". At the end of the dotted line, he drew a circle with a question mark inside.

Cap the pen and drop it into the pen slot.

Shen Zhong returned to the table and picked up his phone.

The first call was to Li Dakang.

It rang three times before being answered. There was a sound of paper turning in the receiver.

Li Dakang spoke first: "Secretary Shen, are you still awake?"

"The provincial committee meeting is the day after tomorrow. Prepare two things," Shen Zhong said quickly. "First, a complete judicial audit report on the eleven companies in Jingzhou that were acquired at a 30% discount, in paper form, with each copy stamped. Second, the original approval documents from the Provincial Environmental Protection Department for the hazardous waste approval chain in Luzhou, official documents with red headers, signed by Liu Ming and stamped with the department's emergency seal."