Chapter 114 Interrogation "Officer, I don't know what you're talking about."...

It was still the interrogation room of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the familiar incandescent light making it hard for the person in the chair to open their eyes.

This time, however, the person sitting on it was Chen Zhelan instead of Huo Jia.

Of course, you can also call her Chen Juan.

Chen Zhelan's hands were handcuffed to the chair, and she couldn't even raise her hand to brush away the stray hairs from her forehead.

She clicked her tongue impatiently, feeling very uncomfortable in her current situation. She hadn't been this embarrassed in many years: "Officer, please just call me Chen Zhelan. Chen Juan is such an old-fashioned name, I don't like it."

Chen Zhelan is the new name she gave herself after she went to Xinjiang to work and earned money.

Ji Yu looked directly into her eyes: "Isn't the name 'Sister Hong' rather rustic? You can tolerate being called 'Sister Hong,' but you don't like being called 'Chen Juan'?"

Chen Zhelan looked away, her eyes darting around. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know this Sister Hong you're talking about, and I've never seen that man surnamed Huo before."

"You've heard of the name Gray Bird, right? Hoga is a Gray Bird."

Chen Zhelan shook her head again, "I don't know her."

In her story, she was just an ordinary woman who did odd jobs in Ebony City and usually lived on a farm in the suburbs. Today, she had only come to the city to buy things, but she was suddenly caught and brought here.

Ji Yu: "Look down at your pampered hands. How many years has it been since you've worked in the fields? Do you even know how to hold a hoe?"

"Stop beating around the bush with me, I don't have time for that. Hoga has already confessed everything."

Ji Yu took a handwritten list from the table and threw it onto the small table in front of her.

"You're a smart person, which is why we haven't caught you all these years. But you should also know what it means to be lenient if you confess."

Chen Zhelan lowered her eyes, the smile on her face gradually faded, and she frowned as she stared at the list.

The list contained the names of all the upline and downline contacts that Huo Jia knew, radiating outwards from Sister Hong, totaling more than a dozen people.

Some people are responsible for "finding goods" in Wumu City, some are responsible for transporting the "goods" to other places, and some are responsible for "picking up goods" in other places.

And Sister Hong is the one in charge of assigning tasks.

Ji Yu leaned against the table, her long legs, encased in her uniform, were straight and slender, and she waved a booklet in her hand a few times.

"If you think that's not enough, I also have Hoga's diary here. Would you like to know what's written in it?"

“Hoga is a thoughtful man. He was afraid that one day when things came to light, we wouldn’t be able to find any evidence of your crimes, so he made a note of each job he did.”

Ji Yu casually flipped to a page and read aloud vividly, "On March 17, 1995, Sister Hong came to me carrying a girl who looked about one year old. The girl wasn't easy to sell, so I asked Ma Zi to take her to Inner Mongolia. That deal was a loss; I'll never take girls again..."

Chen Zhelan's heart sank. Countless thoughts flashed through her mind, finally turning into a resentful remark, "Officer, I admit I'm just jealous that the two of them are doing better than me, okay?"

She seemed genuinely angry; her eyes were reddened, and her tone carried a hint of resentment. She looked up at Ji Yu with captivating charm.

“You know, we’re all from the same village, and by seniority they should call me ‘aunt.’ I kindly brought them to Xinjiang to make money, but what did they do? They both managed to marry rich people and are living a good life on their own, without even a shred of pity for me.”

As Chen Zhelan spoke, she grew angrier and angrier. A tear rolled down her cheek as she sobbed, "Wu Wei used to say he liked me. You men are so unreliable. You change your minds in just a few days and always prefer someone younger."

Ji Yu was impatient with this person's performance, which was as awful as opera. She interrupted in a deep voice, "What does this have to do with you hiring people to harm their shop?"

"I'm jealous!" Chen Zhelan suddenly raised her voice, asking nervously, "Officer, if your wife were taken away by another man, wouldn't you be jealous? Wouldn't you want to do something about it?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Yu's face darkened several shades instantly, and he no longer cared about avoiding suspicion. "I advise you to watch your mouth. Chen Mian is my wife."

Chen Zhelan looked like she suddenly realized something, "Oh~ so the rich man Chen Mian married is you, Officer. No wonder you wanted to arrest me."

"But I really didn't do anything. I was just jealous of their youth and beauty and had some bad intentions, but I didn't even have a chance to do anything before you dragged me into this mess."

Chen Zhelan's tone was somewhat provocative: "Does that mean you police can arrest people arbitrarily because of personal grudges? That's probably against the rules."

Ji Yu said in a deep voice, "I arrested you not because of personal grudges. Your name was already registered in the police station two years ago."

"Two years ago?" Chen Zhelan's mind flashed back to many things she had done two years ago. "What did I do two years ago? Officer, why don't you believe me? I'm just a weak woman, how could I dare to do the things you're talking about?"

Ji Yu: "Do you remember how you tricked Chen Mian out of two hundred yuan by pretending to introduce her to a job?"

Chen Zhelan's expression was somewhat complicated: "Just for two hundred yuan, she actually went to the police station to report me?"

“You didn’t just take two hundred yuan from Chen Mian, you also took two thousand yuan from Wu Wei.”

Ji Yu recalled Chen Mian's casual remark in the old transcript that "when Chen Zhelan was recruiting workers in the village, she only wanted young and pretty girls," and questioned:

"When you went back to your hometown to recruit workers, why did you only want young and pretty girls and not strong, able-bodied men?"

Chen Zhelan retorted, "So what if I like pretty women? Officer, don't you like pretty women?"

“I, Chen Zhelan, have done nothing wrong. I helped them find good jobs, so it’s normal for them to give me a thank-you fee.”

"As for Wu Wei, he has high standards for nannies, so it's only right that I charge him a little more for his hard work."

Ji Yu knew that this person was no good for being able to rise to an important position in a criminal organization, but he didn't expect Chen Zhelan to have so many tricks up her sleeve.

It's unlikely we'll get any information out of them anytime soon.

Before getting up to leave, he pulled a piece of paper from the pile of materials on the table and threw it to Chen Zhelan. The paper was covered with writing.

"These are legal provisions prepared specifically for you, in case you get bored staying here alone."

Ji Yu's eyes were meaningful: "Take a look at it a few more times when you have nothing to do. You're so smart, you should be able to figure out how many years you're going to serve in prison."

After saying that, he seemed to remember something else, "But if you keep being stubborn like this, then you might have one less day of prison food to eat every day."

The interrogation room door slammed shut, and the surroundings were pitch black except for the incandescent light overhead. In the quiet, Chen Zhelan could almost hear her own heartbeat.

Her hands were still cuffed and she couldn't move them, so she could only look down at the piece of paper that had been placed in her hands.

The document lists the crime under Article 240 of the Criminal Law: trafficking in women and children. Anyone who traffics in three or more women or children shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than ten years or life imprisonment; if the circumstances are particularly serious, the offender shall be sentenced to death. [1]

Chen Zhelan looked at the "more than three people" and laughed sarcastically, but then she saw the next paragraph.

If a criminal reports or exposes serious crimes committed by others, or provides important clues, and these are verified to be true, it should be considered as a major meritorious service, and according to the provisions of the Criminal Law, the sentence should be reduced. [2]

As if afraid she wouldn't see it, the words "death penalty" and "commutation of sentence" were specially circled in red.

Chen Zhelan closed her eyes: "Heh..."

After leaving the interrogation room, Ji Yu immediately went to the director's office to report on her work.

“Sir, Chen Zhelan is very stubborn and we haven’t been able to get her to talk yet. I request that we first search for those people on Huo Jia’s list.”

"Approved. We must continue searching for the children they have handled, even if there is only a sliver of hope. We cannot give up."

Ji Yu stood ramrod straight, raised her hand in salute, and said, "Yes, sir!"

Yalikun glanced at the dark circles under Ji Yu's eyes, stood up, and patted him on the shoulder. "I've seen how hard you've been working lately. When this case is closed, you'll get all the credit. Just tell me what you want."

"Thank you, Director!" Ji Yu grinned. "Then I'd like to take half a month off to spend time with my wife."

He hasn't been home for several days. He's been so busy that he just spends the night in the office.

Yalikun gave him a disgruntled look. "Is that all you're thinking about? You can't even take the opportunity to ask for something better."

Ji Yu: "Then I need to take a month's leave."

"Alright, get back to work. We'll talk about taking a vacation later."

"I'll take that as a yes!" Ji Yu said with a grin as she left the office.

A group of people in police uniforms were gathered around a window in the corridor, talking and laughing while looking down.

"Look at that girl standing in the security booth downstairs, she's so hot, her eyes are huge, they could be twice mine."

"She has dimples when she smiles, and my heart melts."

"You don't understand, those are called dimples."

Xia Yang asked his colleague next to him, "Whose girl is this? Does she have a boyfriend?"

Manlikanmu, who was passing by carrying a stack of documents, said, "Don't even think about it. You're just a greenhorn. That's the owner of the restaurant across the street, your master's wife, his lifeblood."

Xia Yang's eyes were still fixed on the view outside the window as he repeated blankly, "Who is my master's wife?"

Manlikanmu tossed her hair, grabbed the documents in her arms, and left. "You'll find out soon enough, you idiot."

"Ji Yu, your wife has come to see you!"

The next second, Ji Yu had already appeared at the security booth downstairs.

"Mianmian, what brings you here?" He reached out and took the bag from Chen Mianmian's hand. "It's so cold outside, and you're still standing outside in the wind with all that stuff. Aren't you afraid of catching a cold again?"

"I'm not as frail as you make me out to be. I just noticed you hadn't been home for days, so I made you some food and brought it over."

Chen Mian looked up at the group of people by the second-floor window. "Don't you still have work to do? I won't bother you. There are all your favorite dishes inside. Remember to eat them while they're hot."

Ji Yu took her hand and led her into the building. "Don't bother me. You can just come in next time. Don't stand outside."

"I'm just worried about affecting your work."

Ji Yu smelled the delicious aroma emanating from the lunchbox. "What dishes did you make? They smell so good."

Chen Mian: "Braised pork with vermicelli, sweet and sour pork, braised pork meatballs, and a bowl of mutton soup to warm you up."

"Mianmian, you're so good to me. You made all my favorite foods."

Xia Yang, who was still standing in the hallway, felt his heart break when he heard this. "Master, your disciple loves to eat these too..."

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Author's note: [1][2] The complete legal provisions are very long and the circumstances of the determination are quite complicated. This is just a part extracted for the needs of the plot. If you are interested, you can search it on Baidu.