Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

The handcuffs are locked in place!

His hands were completely locked; now he had no chance of escaping.

The vicious and wicked Lai Mazi has now been brought to justice!

Subsequently, the police officers also took the terrified Ma Erwa and Wang Gou Dan into custody.

A case involving burglary, theft of musk deer pods, black market sales, armed resistance to arrest, and hostage-taking has been completely solved.

The suspect was caught red-handed, and the evidence was conclusive.

The group, escorting the prisoner, turned and headed towards the police station.

Lai Mazi was dripping wet, his hair was stuck to his face, and he was covered in mud and water plants.

He kept cursing and swearing, looking like he was completely giving up and refusing to admit defeat.

Once inside the police station, the solemn and dignified atmosphere instantly dampened his earlier wildness in the fish farm.

Li Mingjie, familiar with the process, arranged the work, first having someone take Ma Erwa and Wang Gou Dan to a small room for separate interrogation, while he personally locked Lai Mazi in the formal interrogation room.

Zhao Lei, as the person in charge of the victim's case throughout the entire process, was present and cooperated with the interrogation.

The moment the iron door to the interrogation room closed, the air instantly became so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

An incandescent light shone directly on Lai Mazi's face, so bright that he couldn't open his eyes.

Li Mingjie sat at the table, opened the notebook, slammed his pen on the table, and spoke in a deep voice:

"Lai Mazi, confess and you will be treated leniently; resist and you will be punished severely. Burglary of valuable medicinal herbs, black market trafficking, holding hostages at knifepoint, and violently resisting arrest are all serious crimes."

"Now confess honestly, tell us everything from beginning to end, whether there are any accomplices, or anyone behind the scenes!"

Lai Mazi shrank his neck and initially remained stubborn, refusing to admit his mistake.

"I don't know! I didn't steal it! The goods aren't mine! It's all a misunderstanding! Fatty Chen framed me!"

He insisted that he had been framed, throwing all the blame on Fatty Chen and clearing himself of any wrongdoing.

Seeing that he was stubbornly resisting, Li Mingjie was not in a hurry.

He simply unfolded the cloth bag containing the stolen goods on the table, revealing three complete, top-quality musk pods, clearly visible on the surface.

"Caught red-handed, with multiple witnesses from the black market and bystanders, and you were arrested on the spot for taking hostages. The chain of evidence is complete."

"If you keep your mouth shut, you'll only get worse off."

Zhao Lei, standing to the side, also spoke up, his tone calm yet incredibly authoritative:

"Lai Mazi, now that things have come to this, there's no need to take on other people's problems."

"You just shouted it out yourself in the fish shed, you and Fatty Chen are in cahoots."

"You wanted to rip us off and make all the profits yourself, refusing to share with Fatty Chen, so we fell out."

"You said it yourself, and all of the dozen or so people here heard it clearly. Denying it won't help."

In short, it hits the nail on the head.

Lai Mazi's body jolted violently.

Yes!

I just lost control and blurted out all the inside information in front of everyone. I can't deny it at all!

Furthermore, with the evidence and his two henchmen also arrested, they will all confess sooner or later, so it would be a waste of effort for him to stubbornly defend himself.

Suddenly, his mental defenses began to crumble little by little.

The more I thought about it, the more desperate I became.

Stealing musk deer pods, resisting arrest with a knife, or taking hostages—any one of these offenses could land him in jail for several years.

Taking the blame for Fatty Chen again would be a foolish thing to do!

Why should Fatty Chen, who makes a fortune, take the blame for everything?!

In just a few minutes, Lai Mazi had completely figured out the pros and cons.

Lai Mazi took a deep breath, and his whole body collapsed instantly, dejected.

"I said... I'll tell you everything..."

Lai Mazi finally gave in and stopped trying to deny it, confessing everything from the beginning.

It turns out that the mastermind behind the whole thing was actually Fatty Chen, Chen Fugui.

When Fatty Chen learned that Zhao Lei had hunted a top-quality musk deer in the mountains, he was extremely envious.

In addition, the business deal fell through, so he held a grudge.

He couldn't easily take action himself; as a cadre of the supply and marketing cooperative, his position was conspicuous, and if something happened to him, his future would be ruined.

So he secretly approached Lai Mazi, a local thug, to tip him off and find out when Zhao Lei's family was home alone.

Fatty Chen was in charge of getting information and devising plans, while Lai Mazi was in charge of breaking into houses at night to steal.

The two initially agreed that after stealing the musk sacs, they would hand them over to Fatty Chen, who would then sell them at a high price through the supply and marketing cooperative's secret black market channels, with the proceeds split equally between them.

After obtaining the goods, Lai Mazi saw that the three top-quality musk pods were worth several thousand yuan, and his greed instantly exploded.

Lai Mazi became more and more unwilling to accept it.

Why should I be the one toiling away, living in fear and risking jail time to steal goods, while Fatty Chen sits around and shares the profits?

So he had a sudden idea and decided to double-cross someone!

They planned to keep it a secret from Fatty Chen and sell the goods privately through black market dealers.

They kept all the money for themselves and didn't give a single penny to Fatty Chen!

That's why he secretly sent Ma Erwa and Wang Gou Dan to wander around the black market textile factory area, quietly buying medicine from individual buyers, instead of going through Chen Pangzi's official underground network.

It was precisely because he engaged in a double-cross and shipped goods privately, bypassing Chen Pangzi's reliable channels, that he left loopholes and exposed clues, ultimately leading to Zhao Lei's pursuit and capture on the spot.

As he confessed, Lai Mazi grew angrier and angrier, his face filled with resentment.

"This was supposed to be a flawless cover-up!"

"With Fatty Chen's channels for disposing of stolen goods, no one can find out!"

"It was my greed and desire to keep everything for myself that gave me away!"

"I thought Fatty Chen had discovered my double-crossing and deliberately betrayed me, but now I realize I was just stupid!"

The whole truth has finally come to light.

In the interrogation room, after listening to all the statements, Zhao Lei's doubts were finally resolved.

No wonder I couldn't find any clues no matter how hard I searched before!

No wonder Fatty Chen has connections, but he doesn't take the safer route of selling stolen goods!

It turns out there was an internal conflict where someone double-crossed someone else!

Li Mingjie quickly recorded the complete statement, signed and sealed the evidence.

The case escalated instantly!

What started as local thugs stealing and selling stolen goods has now directly implicated employees of the supply and marketing cooperative who colluded with thugs to plot theft and jointly resell valuable medicinal herbs!

They are completely different in nature!

Li Mingjie's expression hardened, and he immediately stood up:

"Suspect Chen Fugui identified! Open a case immediately! Prepare for arrest!"

Meanwhile, at the Heping Brigade Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Fatty Chen sat behind the counter, twirling an abacus in his hand.

I was restless and overwhelmed with mixed feelings.

He kept muttering to himself, getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about it:

That damned Lai Mazi! Where the hell has he gone?!

The item had been stolen two days ago, and according to the agreed-upon rules, it should have been handed over to me immediately after being stolen.

It's been almost two days now, and there's still no sign of them, no news, and absolutely no movement.

Earlier, he had overheard villagers chatting and learned that Zhao Lei's family had lost something valuable, which others vaguely described as a treasure called a musk pouch.

These past few days, Zhao Lei has been asking around and searching everywhere, he's extremely anxious.

Fatty Chen knew perfectly well that Lai Mazi had definitely succeeded!

Otherwise, Zhao Lei wouldn't have been so anxiously searching everywhere.

But after he got the goods, Lai Mazi kept delaying the delivery, which made him increasingly anxious.