Chapter 71 Chapter 71 Officer Ji is going to take the lead!

On the other hand, in Jingzhou, Comrade Xiao Ji received a wave of unexpected surprises.

On Monday, Zhao Zhuoqun took her to the Jingzhou Municipal Bureau to participate in the investigation of a case of a corpse hidden in cement. When they returned to the provincial department, it was almost time to get off work.

Ji Yinhe put on his headphones, picked a disco disc and put it into his walkman. While listening to the music, he sat behind his desk and sorted out the relevant clues of the case.

After sending it to the relevant person in charge of the Municipal Bureau, she can pack her bag and leave work, and go to a beef rice noodle shop recommended by Lu Zheng to enjoy it!

Just when she was immersed in her work, Tan Li came out of the team leader's office with a rare warm look on her face, walked straight to Comrade Xiao Ji's desk, and knocked on her desktop affectionately.

"...Captain Tan?" Ji Yinhe took off his headphones in a daze and pressed the stop button.

"Were you in the Serious Crime Squad of Jiangtan City Bureau?" Tan Li asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Your former comrade is in Jingzhou on a business trip. He's downstairs at the Criminal Investigation Bureau office... Do you want to go say hello?"

"Great!" Comrade Xiao Ji shouted happily, "Then I'll go down after I finish my work!"

"Did Old Zhao ask you to do this?... What a jerk! He doesn't even do any chores now that he has an apprentice!" Tan Li glanced around with understanding. "Go meet up with your old friend. There's not much left. I'll call him back now to sort it out."

"...Thank you, Captain Tan!" Ji Yinhe lowered his head, wrote a few final words, and then closed the book. "I've just finished the preliminary work. When Master comes over, he'll just need to review it and then fax it to the Municipal Bureau!"

A smile crossed Tan Li's usually serious face. "Little smartass, no wonder everyone praises you!"

"Hehehe! Goodbye, Captain Tan!" Ji Yinhe grabbed the bag without any modesty and walked out of the group office in high spirits.

Thinking that Lu Zheng had also handled two cases in Jiangtan, she turned into the physical evidence room next door, intending to call the expert Lu as well.

But a technician told her regretfully: "Teacher Lu had something to do at home and left work early!"

"...Okay." Comrade Xiao Ji left with a little disappointment and went downstairs to the General Administration Office.

In the corridor, all the members of the Serious Crime Squad were there, even Ye Qing came with them.

Ji Yinhe was extremely surprised. She immediately forgot about Lu Zheng's absence and walked towards him with a smile on her face.

Although they hadn't seen each other for two or three months, there was no strangeness or awkwardness. After chatting and laughing and greeting each other, Tang Ci introduced himself, "We have a case on hand. We are in Jingzhou on a business trip and will be back tomorrow afternoon."

"That's fine!" Ji Yinhe naturally took Ye Qing's hand under Cheng Mo's sharp eyes and walked out unhurriedly, "Let's have dinner together tonight! It's my treat!"

Xiao Ji wanted to play the role of host, so no one stopped him. They followed the generous and gluttonous policewoman all the way to Gangyue Road.

The last time the Western restaurant owner saw Ji Yinhe was when he was investigating a serial murder case. He was shocked to see a large group of people suddenly rushing in, especially with Tang Ci, a tall, strong and serious man, following behind them.

"...Officer, what's the case?"

"Don't worry." Ji Yinhe waved his hands repeatedly, "I'm just inviting some colleagues over for dinner... Is there a private room?"

The boss breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes! A large private room with a TV! Since you're the host, I have to show off my skills!"

In Ji Yinhe's mind, no matter how good the cooking skills are, they cannot compare with the great Ms. Lian. However, she still gave her a thumbs up out of support for her sincerity.

I was just thinking to myself—it's been a long time since I've tasted my mother's cooking! As soon as the group sat down at the table, Ye Qing pulled out two large aluminum lunch boxes from her bag.

Ji Yinhe blinked, "......?"

"Before I came here, I went to Sister Lian's Snack Shop." Ye Qing opened the lid of the box, revealing the amber-colored braised pork and marinated eggs inside. "Here, Boss Lian asked me to bring them over!"

The familiar fragrance penetrated into Comrade Xiao Ji's nose, and he sighed sweetly.

“…Ah, my mom’s cooking is still the best!”

Tang Ci, Cheng Mo, Xiao Wu and others burst into laughter.

Ji Yinhe is not the kind of person who eats alone, so he immediately invited everyone to enjoy the meal together.

Amidst the chorus of compliments, the restaurant owner pushed the door open with a bewildered look on his face. "Smells so good... What delicious food are you guys eating?"

"Braised pork, come and try it!" Comrade Xiao Ji held up the lunch box generously.

The boss picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. He chewed it slowly for a while before saying thoughtfully, "It's delicious. Which chef made this?"

"My mom!" Ji Yinhe raised his chin and said proudly, "In Jiangtan, at Lianjie Snack Shop!"

"Interesting! It's quite different from the common practice in Handong!" the boss said seriously. "I'll go and learn from them some other day!"

After eating the braised pork, the dishes ordered by Ji Yinhe were also served.

While eating pasta and cutting steak, everyone talked about the various changes that had taken place in the Jiangtan Municipal Bureau in the past few months.

Due to the launch of the severe crackdown and the outstanding criminal investigation work in the past six months, several members of the leadership team have changed.

Fortunately, Rao Zhenghao is still firmly in the top position and gives great support to the Criminal Investigation Detachment.

However, Tang Ci still failed to be transferred to the branch as he wished... Now the serious crime team is seriously short of people, so they have no choice but to force him to stay and be the team leader.

Cheng Mo smiled and said that Tan Yaxin happened to come to the Municipal Bureau to pick up Tang Ci after get off work that day. After knowing that Ji Yinhe went to the Provincial Department, she did not say much.

Instead, she generously asked her fiancé to pay more attention to his former colleagues - after all, it was not easy for a young girl to work hard alone in a foreign country!

Everyone laughed knowingly, leaving Ji Yinhe a little confused.

Tang Ci coughed heavily and then turned the topic back to work.

Ji Yinhe gnawed on fried chicken wings and asked, "...By the way, what case are you guys in Jingzhou for this time? Is there anything I can help with?"

"Let me tell you!" Xiao Wu raised his hand. "A girl has gone missing, and the last clue we found is that she bought a ticket at Jiangtan Railway Station and came to Jingzhou!"

"Girl?" Ji Yinhe suddenly thought of Wu Sijia who had also disappeared, and frowned and asked, "How old is she?"

"Twenty-five." Tang Ci put down his knife and fork, turned around, took out a stack of files from his bag and handed them over. "Her name is Xu Yanhong, she's a middle school Chinese teacher, and she's been missing for five days."

Ji Yinhe lowered his eyes and carefully examined the face on the file, which was two years older than him, with a youthful, cool and dignified look.

Xiao Wu said, "This little girl... well, you can't really call her a little girl—Teacher Xu, she comes from a well-off family. One of her parents works in the Education Bureau, and the other is a mid-level official in a state-owned enterprise. They're so worried now that they've used all their connections to get the Municipal Bureau to solve the case as quickly as possible."

Ji Yinhe nodded. "What is her connection with Jingzhou?"

Tang Ci said, "We've been investigating for several days and discovered that she seems to be secretly dating a boyfriend who works in Jingzhou. We guessed this based on her diary and the train tickets she kept in the iron box on her bedside table... Unfortunately, we don't know his name yet."

Xiao Wu quickly took the diary out of the evidence bag and handed it to Ji Yinhe. Ji Yinhe took it and flipped through it.

In the whole article full of girlish thoughts, the other person's name never appeared, and was replaced by "he" throughout. As for the specific appearance features and work identity, there was no mention at all.

"It's a bit tricky." Ji Yinhe was puzzled. "How did Xu Yanhong, a people's teacher who was born and raised in Jiangtan, get to know this man from Jingzhou?"

Tang Ci replied, "We've checked all of her social circles, and our current guess is that last year the province held an education system exchange conference, and she came to Jingzhou with her school to attend it, where she met this man...but the scope is too large. We even consulted with her roommates at the time, but we couldn't get any valuable clues."

"..." Ji Yinhe hummed, "If you trust me, fax me a copy of this information later. I don't have any cases on hand recently, so I'll help you check it out when I'm free!"

"That's great!" Everyone in the team applauded.

However, the facts have proved that unlucky words like "There are no cases recently" cannot be said casually.

For example, just after receiving the file faxed by Tang Ci who had returned to Jiangtan, before she had even read two pages, Tan Li called her and Lu Zheng into the office.

"Xiao Ji, Teacher Lu, the crackdown team received two cases today." Tan Li placed her index fingers together on her thighs. "One is a stabbing case, and the other is a corpse mutilation case. I've discussed it with Zu Ting and Lao Zhao. The stabbing case involves a wide range of people and is complex, requiring more manpower, but the latter case is not that simple either. Considering our team's current situation, we've decided to split into two teams to work simultaneously. Lao Zhao and I will take Guan Ye and Gao Ge to the first case. You two have worked together before and are familiar with each other. The corpse mutilation case will be handed over to you first."

Ji Yinhe and Lu Zheng looked at each other and said nothing.

In fact, the knife attack case was a type she had never handled before, and it was quite nerve-wracking... But Captain Tan assigned a murder case to her and Teacher Lu separately, which showed his trust in her!

Tan Li raised her hand and touched the knife case file that was as thick as a brick, picked up the corpse destruction case materials that were as thin as a few sheets of paper, and placed them under the noses of the two people opposite her.

"Teacher Lu, you're an expert with a wealth of experience, so I won't elaborate much. Xiao Ji, you've been a police officer for over a year and have won several provincial awards. You're always the smartest when it comes to handling cases, so it's time for you to take the lead... On the technical side, Lü Xiaoyan and Jiang Nian will both send capable people to follow up. Any other questions?"

"No!" Comrade Xiao Ji, who was overjoyed by the leader's praise, straightened his back and picked up the materials.

She doesn't think it's a big deal!

After leaving Tan Li's office, Ji Yinhe and Lu Zheng began to look at the details together.

The case file was submitted by the Longfan Branch. The reporter was a sanitation worker who claimed to have found a body outside a dog farm in the suburbs. The death was quite tragic and it was unknown what the murderer had done to the deceased. The flesh on the face, arms and hands exposed outside the clothes was almost eaten away by the stray cats and dogs nearby, leaving only white bones.

"Let's go! I have a feeling this is going to be a tough battle!"

Ji Yinhe picked up her bag without thinking, and hurried downstairs with Lu Zheng to get into the car and drive to the dog farm in Longfan District.

For some reason, although she was calm, her pulse was inexplicably rapid, and a strange premonition arose in her heart.

——It seems that there is a hazy and familiar shadow, quietly waiting in front of this case.

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The author has something to say: I fell asleep while writing last night [burst into tears]

I was wrong, I am guilty, I kowtow!