Chapter 154 Jiang Zhichao

Wu Yongcheng's words were very useful in boosting morale.

Especially Chen Yan, ever since he went to Jiang Aqing's house, he felt a little blocked in his heart.

He didn't understand why people could be so ignorant and human nature could be so dark.

What Qiao Jiali just said about Yang Xiujuan's situation was also very sad and infuriating.

Wu Yongcheng's words brought everyone out of their emotions and made them return to their roles as police officers.

Their duty and mission is to find out the truth!

Everyone started to take action, reviewing what needed to be reviewed, investigating what needed to be investigated, and handling what needed to be handled.

During this period, Village Chief Chen arrived and brought with him a leader from the county. Wu Yongcheng and Director Wang continued to deal with them in the shabby conference room.

Zhou Yi's task is to find out the whereabouts of Jiang Zhichao. The most effective way is to ask his family, Jiang Baogen or Jiang Zhigao.

Jiang Baogen was in the police station. Chen Yan was re-interrogating him, so Zhou Yi went in to ask some questions.

But Jiang Baogen said he didn't know. He only knew that his youngest son had gone to the city to work. Since he left, he only came back during the Chinese New Year and never contacted his family at other times.

"This heartless bastard, I gave birth to him, raised him, and even sent him to college. Do you know, when he was admitted to college, every household in the village gave money because he was the first college student in our village. I was hoping that he would become a cadre after graduation and a high-ranking official in the future, then our village would be able to turn around. I didn't expect this little bastard to suddenly run away without saying anything, damn it." Jiang Baogen cursed and spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground.

Chen Yan slammed the table and said, "Jiang Baogen, this is not your home. You are a village cadre after all. Pay attention to your manners!"

"I was wrong, I was wrong." Jiang Baogen quickly stretched out his foot and wiped the spit on the ground with the sole of his cloth shoes.

At this moment, the old man no longer had the arrogance he had before in the village.

Zhou Yi asked, "Do you know which district he works in? What does he do?"

Jiang Baogen shook his head: "I don't know, he didn't tell me anything."

Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of him, Zhou Yi didn't waste time on him and drove to Sanpo Village.

The police officers from Yong'an Township Police Station were visiting the villagers door to door. The old police officer who arrived at the scene first was also there and took the initiative to greet Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi said that he wanted to question Jiang Zhigao. The old policeman took Zhou Yi to Jiang Baogen's house and found Jiang Zhigao.

It was found that Jiang Zhigao was short and had a strange walking posture. The old policeman said that Jiang Zhigao suffered from polio and was a disabled person.

But Jiang Zhigao's mind was still clear and he could communicate normally.

The old policeman said that they had asked before, and Jiang Zhigao rarely went out, so the information they knew was limited.

Zhou Yi asked Jiang Zhigao about his brother Jiang Zhichao's situation and got some information.

Jiang Zhigao said that Jiang Zhichao did go to the city to work, but not in Hongcheng, but in Taicheng next door.

However, he didn't know what kind of job it was or where he was employed, but his brother left him a phone number and told him to contact him if anything happened at home.

Zhou Yi immediately called that phone number, but the person who answered the phone was not Jiang Zhichao. He said that Director Jiang was not there at the moment and that they were at Taicheng Huayang Plastic Factory.

Zhou Yi told Jiang Zhichao his identity and left his phone number, asking him to call him back as soon as possible after he returned.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi rushed straight to Taicheng. It was difficult to explain over the phone, so he had to meet Jiang Zhichao in person.

On the way, when passing the highway toll station, Zhou Yi realized that his stomach was growling with hunger.

So I bought a bottle of water and two loaves of bread at the service area ahead, quickly filled my stomach, and was about to leave when Jiang Zhichao called.

"Hello, is this Officer Zhou? I'm Jiang Zhichao." The voice on the phone was soft and gentle, and the Mandarin was very standard.

"Yes, I'm Zhou Yi from the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Hongcheng City Public Security Bureau. I have some information about your village that I need to discuss with you in person. Is that convenient for you?"

The other party was silent for a moment, as if making some kind of decision. "Officer Zhou, let's put it this way. Some things aren't convenient to discuss at work. Why don't you come to my house? I'll give you an address."

"Okay!" Zhou Yi was shocked. It seemed that Jiang Zhichao really knew something.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi stepped on the accelerator and hit the road.

He arrived at the address given by Jiang Zhichao, which was an ordinary residential area.

As soon as Zhou Yi walked downstairs, he saw a man in a beige coat standing at the entrance of the corridor.

"Is it...Officer Zhou?" the man asked.

"Are you Jiang Zhichao?" Zhou Yi asked.

The man was probably in his early thirties, about 1.78 meters tall, with regular features and a gentle temperament. It was obvious that he was a cultured and knowledgeable person.

"Yes, yes, I am Jiang Zhichao."

Zhou Yi showed his ID, and then Jiang Zhichao took him upstairs.

When entering the house, Zhou Yi looked around. It was an ordinary house, but it was full of life. A photo of a family of three was hung on the wall of the living room. The child in the photo was probably about one year old, white and chubby, very cute.

Zhou Yi hadn't thought about Jiang Zhichao's appearance just now, because it was completely different from Jiang Baogen's vulgarity and Jiang Zhigao's polio.

Now he didn't expect that Jiang Zhichao was already married and had children. He had looked at the household registration file of Jiang Baogen's family, but there was no such information on it.

"Officer Zhou, please sit down." Jiang Zhichao said as he put the children's toys on the sofa aside.

"I'll get you a glass of water."

Zhou Yi sat down and asked, "Are you the director of the Huayang Plastic Factory in Taicheng? I heard the person who answered the phone call you Director Jiang."

Jiang Zhichao placed a glass of warm water on the coffee table in front of Zhou Yi and said, "Hey, I'm just a small office manager, trying to make a living."

"Very good. I saw your information. You graduated from university, right?"

"Well, I went to university in Taicheng, and most of my classmates and relationships are also in Taicheng, so I developed in Taicheng."

Jiang Zhichao asked tentatively, "Officer Zhou, you came to see me. Did something happen in the village?"

"You know Jiang Aqing, right?"

Zhou Yi's question made Jiang Zhichao's expression change slightly, and he nodded: "I know him. According to seniority, I should call him uncle."

After Jiang Zhichao finished speaking, he did not ask whether something happened in Jiang Aqing's family, which made Zhou Yi more convinced that he knew something.

Because a normal person will definitely ask questions unless it is already expected.

"Jiang Zhichao, I came to you today to have a frank conversation. We've arrested Jiang Aqing on suspicion of child trafficking and the illegal detention and abuse of Yang Xiujuan. I also want to tell you that your father, Jiang Baogen, has been detained by us on suspicion of harboring a criminal."

Zhou Yi looked at Jiang Zhichao, and there was not much surprise on his face.

"According to regulations, I shouldn't reveal this to you. I shouldn't even come to you alone to find out about the situation, but I'm telling you honestly, we're out of manpower. The entire Yong'an Township Police Station is busy with this matter. I'm telling you this because I hope you can tell me everything you know."

"I know you must know something. Otherwise, why would you choose to settle down in Taicheng when you were the Party Secretary of Sanpo Village and a college graduate? You should have a bright future and be a great contributor to the village."

Zhou Yi knew that Jiang Zhichao was educated, sensible and well-mannered, so he said this.

After all, sincerity is always the ultimate weapon.

As expected, after Zhou Yi finished speaking, Jiang Zhichao nodded solemnly, "Officer Zhou, thank you for being so frank. In that case, I won't hide anything anymore. I'll tell you everything I know."

"Okay." Zhou Yi took out a notebook and pen and started taking notes.

"Although I was born in Sanpo Village, this place really should disappear from the world!"

…

"In Sanpo Village, almost every household is related, and they all share a common ancestor. However, this place is so poor that there are no ancestral halls or family tree trees, and all ties are maintained by blood. This has also led to the villagers' backward and rigid thinking.

Because I was a good student since I was young, with the help of my primary school teacher, I went to junior high school in the county and lived on campus for a long time. Later, when I went to high school and college, I spent most of my time away from the village, so I didn't know much about many things in the village.

After graduating from university, I was so eager to repay my fellow villagers that I gave up the job the university had arranged for me and returned to Sanpo Village. The township was very pleased with me and promised to transfer me to the township after I worked at the grassroots level for three years.

It was then that I realized I had absolutely no idea about the place where I was born and raised. There was something deeply wrong with Sanpo Village.

The village's location was unfavorable, with little arable land available. The villagers were lazy and found farming too tiring and tedious, and they lacked the skills. More than half of the younger generation had left, unable to bear the loneliness, and the rest were hopeless.

The education problem is also very serious. Most people have no intention of letting their children receive education. They think that going to school is boring and it is better to go to work and earn money early.

But this is not the real problem of the village. The real problem is that the village is too poor. The women in the village all want to get married, but men from outside are unwilling to marry in. So there are many men in the village who are old bachelors. In order to marry a wife and have a son, some people choose to buy a wife.

Yes, that is to buy them from human traffickers. There are people who specialize in this business. Most of those sold have intellectual problems, but occasionally there are also smart women from other places, but the price will be much higher.

No wonder when I was little, I always heard adults say that so and so many other families had stupid wives. I was even surprised at how many stupid wives there were in our village. Later, I learned that…they were all bought.

When I found out about this, I was completely stunned. I immediately wanted to go to the township to report it to the police, but my father stopped me, saying it wasn't a big deal in the village and that they did it all the time. He also called me heartless and said that the whole village had paid for my college education, and now I was trying to betray my family.

Jiang Zhichao was filled with grief and anger when he said these words.

Zhou Yi felt a chill down his spine when he heard this. He thought that Yang Xiujuan might have been abducted, but he didn't expect that this kind of situation was the norm in the village.

"Then why didn't you call the police? You can't go against your conscience for this reason, right?" Zhou Yi asked seriously.

Jiang Zhichao sighed deeply and rubbed his red eyes.

"I was thinking of calling the police until my dad said something to me."

"What did Jiang Baogen tell you?"

"He said, 'That's how my mother bought it.'"