Chapter 47 Chapter 47 Arrest
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Early in the morning, the sun rose, and its rays shone on the eaves, warm and bright—a rare sunny day in recent days.
"Damn it, who stole my things?!" A thunderous shout rose from the ground in Hongye's restaurant, and then the back door was pushed open from the inside with a "bang," the door panel hitting the wall and bouncing back.
The man standing at the door was furious, his eyes red with anger. His once slicked-back hair was now a mess, with strands of hair sticking to his forehead. His clothes were wrinkled, and he had even lost one of his shoes in his haste to come out. The usually image-conscious gangster, Master Hong, didn't care about anything at this moment.
He grabbed his trusted aides who had rushed over at the sound of the commotion and roared, "How could you keep watch last night! You didn't even know your house had been burgled!"
In the room, the floor tiles where he hid his gold were pried open, the hidden compartment in the wardrobe where he kept antique jewelry was opened, and the back of the paintings on the wall was also searched...
Damn it, who is it? They searched every nook and cranny where they hid things, and all the things they secretly kept have disappeared.
"Did you steal from your own staff?!" Such a precise targeting—what else could it be but an inside job?
With both hands gripping his confidant's collar tightly, Hong Qiang stared at him with wide eyes, his fleshy face contorted with a ferocious look, as if he wanted to devour him.
"Cough cough cough, Master Hong, what are you saying? No one came in yesterday at all." His confidant, struggling to breathe with the collar choking him, reached out and pried Hong Qiang's hand away, coughing as he tried to explain.
He was truly innocent. Because of what happened at the restaurant yesterday, he had been extra careful on night watch. He changed his patrol schedule for the restaurant's backyard from once an hour to once every half hour. He worked diligently all night without sleeping and didn't let even a fly in.
"If it's not you, then is it a ghost?" Since no one came in, the possibility of an inside man was even greater. "Go, call all the people who stayed behind last night over here."
He flung his confidant's collar away and said coldly.
Having narrowly escaped death, his trusted aide clutched his throat, ignoring his cough, and quickly bent over and retreated.
Watching the person leave the backyard with a cold and indifferent gaze, Hong Qiang pulled on the sides of his clothes with both hands, smoothing out the wrinkled clothes a little. He turned around and went back to his room, found the other shoe under the bed and put it on. He spat twice into his palms and combed his hair back with his hands.
After finishing all this, he sat down on the octagonal chair, panting.
He had never had a nightmare before, but yesterday he had such a bizarre dream, as if he had experienced it himself. When he woke up, he was completely exhausted and lay in bed for a long time before he finally managed to get up. Then he discovered that his room had been burgled.
He was consumed by rage; he had just overexerted himself, and now the aftereffects were starting to show.
Hong Qiang could clearly feel his heart pounding violently. He picked up the teapot to pour water, but the teapot, suspended in mid-air, shook uncontrollably, and he couldn't get it to the rim of the cup. His hands were trembling.
"Master Hong, everyone has arrived." Outside the door, his trusted aide stood in the courtyard with several men who had kept watch with him the previous night.
“Come in,” he replied.
"Tell me what happened last night." After everyone had entered the room, Hong Qiang put his hands behind his back and asked calmly.
The people standing in front of him were all old men who had followed him for more than ten years. He would eat meat and they would also have soup. Hong Qiang prided himself on never mistreating them. He did not want to suspect that they were the ones who did the trick, but he had hidden the things in the room so well that no one else knew about it.
If it were an outsider, how could they have stolen it so easily? There is only one possibility: someone was working with them from the inside.
The patrols at night were conducted in pairs. They shared their experiences, and Hong Qiang leaned back in his chair, his eyes half-closed, listening to their accounts.
"Ergou, that's not right. You weren't on patrol at 3:30." Someone raised an objection as the third person spoke.
“What do you know? I was patrolling the backyard at that time.” Hearing someone question him, Chen Ergou’s dark face instantly turned red. He retorted to the person, “If you don’t believe me, ask Shitou.”
"Stone, you say it!" He shoved the short man beside him, his gaze darkening as he looked at him threateningly.
Meeting his gaze, the small man, much thinner and shorter than the others, shuddered as if he were a lamb among wolves. He looked left and right, and under everyone's gaze, he took a few steps back, lowered his head, and stammered, not daring to make a sound.
Is there anything else you don't understand about this situation?
"You bastard Chen Ergou, so it was you!" His trusted aide had been innocently choked that morning, and now that he saw the culprit who had caused him to suffer for no reason, he wanted to kick him a couple of times, but he didn't dare to move because Hong Qiang was there.
Seeing the short man's actions, Chen Ergou's eyes blazed with rage. "So this guy, who's always so timid and subservient, now dares to betray me!" he thought. His dark face contorted with rage, and he lunged forward to strike the short man. "You dare to harm me!" he yelled.
"The thief cries 'stop thief!' You dare to act arrogantly in front of Master Hong? You're asking for death!" Finding an opportunity, the confidant finally got to settle his personal score. He stepped forward and kicked the man twice, the force of which sent the man flying half a meter away.
He fell heavily to the ground, but Chen Ergou didn't dare to cry out in pain. He scrambled over on all fours, knowing that Hong Qiang didn't like being touched. He stopped in front of the chair, looked up, and cried with tears and snot streaming down his face. "Master Hong, it really wasn't me. I'm innocent!"
"Where did you go at 3:30 yesterday?" Hong Qiang asked, his face ashen. He leaned down and stared intently at Chen Ergou's face.
Chen Ergou froze upon hearing this, then changed the subject and cried out his innocence again. Hong Qiang had been watching him closely and did not miss the fleeting look of guilt in his eyes when he heard the question. "Drag him away and beat him until he tells you where the accomplice is and where the other things are."
People around him stepped forward and tried to drag him down.
Knowing all too well Hong Qiang's methods of torturing people, Chen Ergou dared not hide anything.
He had initially thought that thanks to their over ten years of friendship and his sister's influence, his outing would be dealt with leniently. Who knew it would be this serious? He knew better than to break the rules and go out for fun, or be branded as a thief and a traitor. "Master Hong, brother-in-law, I'll talk, I'll talk..."
"It's too late, drag him away." Hong Qiang waved his hand, signaling the men to drag him away quickly. He turned his back to the door, not looking at Chen Ergou in the yard.
"Brother-in-law, brother-in-law, it wasn't me!" Cries and wails echoed through the air, irritating the listener.
In the courtyard, the short man stood behind the crowd, head bowed, eyes downcast, his face expressionless.
Inside the room, seeing Hong Qiang frowning, his trusted aide thoughtfully turned around and closed the door for him, then stepped forward to approach him, just about to take credit.
"Master Hong, what's wrong? Master Hong, wake up."
After a day of turmoil, and further provoked by Chen Ergou's betrayal, his blood boiled, his head throbbed, and he slumped against his confidant. Hong Qiang's mouth moved slightly, but before he could utter a word, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The moment he coughed up blood, with a loud "bang," the back door and the front door of the restaurant were violently broken down, and a group of people in white rushed in.
"Attention everyone! Everyone, put your hands on your heads and squat down. Do not make any unnecessary movements!" Surrounding everyone, Chen Shengnan, dressed in a white uniform and wearing a soft hat, gave a stern and forceful speech to those who had squatted down with their hands on their heads.
"Based on reliable evidence, we suspect that you are involved in a case of illegal hunting, illegal trading, and illegal consumption of wild animals. Your actions have seriously violated Article 341 of the Criminal Law and related laws and regulations, and you are suspected of committing the crime of endangering precious and endangered wild animals."
We will now investigate and take you into custody in accordance with the law. Please remain calm and do not attempt to resist or escape; otherwise, we will take necessary coercive measures.
After informing everyone on-site, Chen Shengnan and her colleagues checked the identities of those present and put silver bracelets on them. After counting the number of people, they found that three were missing. The small leader Hong Qiang, his confidant, and a man named Shi Tou were not in the yard.
In the courtyard, Chen Shengnan looked at the row of rooms. She kicked open the door of one of the rooms and carefully examined the clues inside. Finally, she found a clue by the bed and shouted outside, "Two colleagues, I've found a secret passage here."
Pushing aside the bed board and pulling open the floorboards at the entrance to the secret passage, Chen Shengnan jumped down first, followed by her two colleagues who came in later.
Inside the room, after discovering that someone had broken in, Hong Qiang, who was tightly gripping his confidant's hand and urging him to immediately lead him out through the tunnel, was eventually arrested through the secret passage.
The third person, who wasn't in the courtyard, was also found by colleagues in the outhouse. They put a silver bracelet on the stone that had fainted in the toilet, sealed it up, and took away all the products or tools related to wild animals from the scene. Before leaving Hongye Restaurant, they put seals on all the doors of the restaurant.
The surrounding residents were startled by the commotion and came out of their homes, eating sunflower seeds and pointing at the restaurant. Chen Shengnan gleaned a lot of useful information from this.
In recent years, people have become increasingly aware of the importance of wild animals to the ecological environment, and the country has continued to increase its efforts to crack down on illegal hunting of wild animals. After receiving a report about this case, the higher authorities attached great importance to it and set up a special task force overnight. After identifying the suspect, they immediately began their work.
Due to a shortage of manpower for this operation, they specially borrowed police forces from other towns and cities to assist. The operation was swift, and on the same day, those involved in the illegal consumption and illegal trade of wild animals were all summoned to the police station in accordance with the law.
Soon after Lin Guoming returned from Master Hong's restaurant, he received a message from Second Master that he was furious that Hong Qiang had been let off so easily, but he couldn't afford to offend Zhang Jianbing's influence in Xiahe Town.
Hiding in his room, Lin Guoming raged for a long time. He finally fell asleep, but was then plagued by nightmares. When the white-uniformed officer burst into the room, he was still lying in bed deep in a nightmare. After verifying his identity, he was directly taken off the bed by silver handcuffs.
Having received word of the danger, Zhang Jianbing hid all his belongings at the old residential area in the town center. Lightly equipped, he prepared to leave, carrying a small bundle. As he turned to close the door and was about to leave, an ID appeared before his eyes.
“Mr. Zhang, you are suspected of being involved in a case of illegal hunting, illegal trading, and illegal consumption of wild animals. Please come with us.” Standing tall and with a serious expression, Chen Shengnan held up her law enforcement badge and stood in front of him.
"You've got guts." Having been in the underworld for decades, Zhang Jianbing had never been so humiliated in front of anyone before. He looked her up and down and said calmly.
He didn't say anything, and his tone was very calm, but for some reason, it sent a chill down your spine.
"Please cooperate with our work." Chen Shengnan was fearless, her upright figure like a poplar tree in the desert, her eyes meeting his gaze intently, as if telling him that evil cannot prevail over good.
Innocent.
Zhang Jianbing's lips curled slightly upward, his eyelids drooping as he looked at the law enforcement officers surrounding her. After a long while, he stretched out his hands and obediently left with them.
Chen Shengnan stood there, watching them drag Zhang Jianbing away. She glanced back at the ancient house and a thought popped into her mind: this person won't be so easily punished by law.
In the courtyard of Hongye Restaurant, after everyone had left, She Ning emerged from her room while remaining invisible.
The crow flew down from the tree. With its invisibility ability, it could see She Ning, who was invisible. It tilted its head, cawed, and then turned its head away from her, clearly disgusted by her current appearance.
"Okay, I'll change back right away." With that, she took off her ever-changing gloves, and her appearance changed from a small stone back to her original form.
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