Chapter 55, Case 3, Part 2: He must have gone to tip off someone.
Team Leader Zou was a veteran criminal investigator, so he could naturally tell that Fang Zhenhong's request for leave was a bit too coincidental.
If Fang Zhenhong was truly unwell, he should have shown it when he gathered his men, instead of only reacting after Fang Ting was mentioned.
At this moment, Qiu Xiaoman sent another magpie to track Fang Zhenhong, and he had reason to believe that Qiu Xiaoman was thinking the same thing as him.
So he asked, "Do you want to know about Fang Zhenhong's family relationships?"
"I want to know. What's his relationship with Fang Ting?" Qiu Xiaoman liked talking to smart people; it saved her a lot of trouble.
Team Leader Zou gave a brief explanation: the Fang family was a large clan in the countryside outside Beidu. Fang Ting's grandfather used to be a big landlord, but after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the land was seized and the family's fortunes plummeted, and their descendants also suffered as a result.
Fang Ting's father had been pampered since childhood, and when he was suddenly asked to work, he couldn't bear such hardship and hanged himself not long after.
As a result, her eldest daughter Fang Wan's marriage was also affected, and she could only marry a man of similar bad class background, Liu Yuandou.
Unexpectedly, Liu Yuandou was lucky and accidentally cracked a spy gang, making a great contribution.
Later, he was removed from the "Five Black Categories" label, gained organizational recognition, and became a minor government clerk.
Liu Yuandou was a shrewd opportunist; within two years, he had risen to a minor leadership position, and his entire family benefited from his rise to power. During the People's Commune era, he became an absolute local tyrant.
Outside the commune, he was gentle and polite, but inside the commune, he was a womanizer who preyed on women from poor families.
For example, widows, divorced women, and daughters raised by such women.
However, although this kind of person may have many mistresses outside, he still has a stable wife at home. Liu Yuandou did not want Fang Wan to make a scene, so he tried his best to compensate her by providing her with the best food and supplies available at the time. Fang Wan endured it for the sake of the four children.
Seeing how well Fang Wan was doing, her family naturally wanted to come and rely on her. In addition, Liu Yuandou wanted to compensate Fang Wan, so he took in her uncle's youngest sons, Fang Zhenbang and Fang Zhenhong, and raised them in his own home.
Fang Wan's uncle was only a few years older than her. The two grew up together and had a deep bond. Their child was the same age as Fang Wan's own child. Naturally, Fang Wan wouldn't refuse. However, this meant there were six children in the family, which she couldn't manage. So, she found a widow's daughter from the commune to help out.
She was paid a salary and had room and board provided—the benefits were quite good. This woman was Liu Kun's mother. She seemed hardworking and honest, but unexpectedly, she had actually become involved with Liu Yuandou behind his back.
At the time, the other person competing for the nanny position was Fang Wan's younger sister, Fang Ting.
Fang Ting wasn't as lucky as Fang Wan. The man she married was a lazy bum who did nothing, and the family was so poor they couldn't even afford to eat.
Logically, Fang Wan should have chosen her younger sister to come to her home to take care of the children. However, Fang Wan knew that Liu Yuandou had ill intentions towards her sister, so she could only provide her with money and tickets from time to time. There was absolutely no way she would let her sister come to her home.
Qiu Xiaoman reasonably suspected: "Is Fang Ting angry with Fang Wan because of this? That's why she secretly helped her brother-in-law raise his illegitimate child?"
Team Leader Zou was unsure, but simply stated the facts: "Whether he hates Liu or not is hard to say. I only know that Liu Kun is not Liu Yuandou's only illegitimate son, and he certainly won't be the last. As for Fang Zhenhong, because he was raised by Fang Wan, he listens to his cousin's every word and is naturally very respectful to Liu Yuandou. His relationship with Fang Ting, on the other hand, is just so-so."
"So... if there really is more to Fang Ting's death than meets the eye, Fang Zhenhong must have gone to Liu Yuandou to inform him." Qiu Xiaoman recalled the rumors circulating about Fang Ting's death in a car accident and became even more suspicious. "Also, who released the news about the car accident? It must be to confuse the public."
"I've also heard the rumors that Fang Ting died in a car accident, but the source is unclear. However, the criminal investigation team is very busy, and only a few people know that she was burned to death." Captain Zou pondered for a moment and asked, "Are you on good terms with this Liu Kun? Why does he answer all your questions?"
Qiu Xiaoman shrugged: "He's harassing me. I suspect it's on Liu Yuandou's orders."
Team Leader Zou frowned: "Reason?"
Qiu Xiaoman explained, "He provoked me before, and I slapped him across the face, but he didn't fight back. He continued to pester me the next day, which shows that in his heart, dignity can take a backseat. I can't find anyone else but Liu Yuandou who could make him abandon his dignity and keep chasing after me."
Team Leader Zou warned, "Then be careful. Liu Yuandou is no pushover. If he's really determined to make his son and you get together, he might resort to some underhanded tricks."
“He wouldn’t dare.” Qiu Xiaoman was still confident. “His grandson Liu Xiangyang is still with me. He’s probably afraid that I’ll use Liu Xiangyang to fight them for the inheritance, so Liu Kun spoke rudely to me as soon as we met.”
Team Leader Zou suddenly realized why Xiao Qiu slapped Liu Kun across the face the first time they met; it was a good slap.
However, he still cautioned, "You should always be wary of others. You'd better talk to President Shen about this. Even if he can't acknowledge you because of his current family situation, at least you can still challenge Liu Yuandou and make him hesitate to act against you."
"I'm not looking for him. Let's go. Aren't we supposed to interrogate the Vietnamese?" Qiu Xiaoman was still thinking about the two love-struck dogs at the base.
She needs to go back as soon as possible to help calm their unrest.
Team Leader Zou checked the time: "Let's go."
In the interrogation room, the Vietnamese man was extremely arrogant. Team Leader Zou had specially invited a Vietnamese language major from a foreign language university, but the man could only stare helplessly at him.
The high-achieving student couldn't understand the accented Vietnamese.
Seeing that Captain Zou had brought others over, he could only lower his eyelids in embarrassment.
Qiu Xiaoman greeted him politely and learned that the man's name was Wu Shifeng, Wu Shirong's younger brother, the third in his family, and he also had an older brother and a younger brother.
Qiu Xiaoman sat down and immediately spoke in accented Vietnamese: "You're quite arrogant, aren't you? It's a pity that China and Vietnam haven't signed an extradition treaty. If you commit a crime in China, you can only be tried and imprisoned in China. Hoping for someone else to save you is impossible."
The Vietnamese man snorted and rolled his eyes at Qiu Xiaoman: "What do you know? We have a big boss behind us. The big boss will definitely rescue us! You'll be disappointed."
"The big boss?" Qiu Xiaoman frowned. "Who?"
As she spoke, she turned to look at Captain Zou and asked in Mandarin, "Have you found out who owns that mobile phone?"
"We've found out. It's Liang Zhihao, the son of the owner of Fule Shopping Mall." The officers under Captain Zou were all highly efficient. He pointed to the interrogation room next door, "The man has been brought in, but he refuses to talk."
Qiu Xiaoman turned to look at the Vietnamese man and sneered, "You're not talking about Liang Zhihao, are you?"
“I know Liang Zhihao, but how could a young punk like him be a big boss?” The Vietnamese man said with disdain. “Young lady, don’t try to test me. I won’t tell you.”
"Come on, if you just know him, why would he hand over his mobile phone to you? Do you know how expensive that thing is?" Qiu Xiaoman originally planned to call Shen Qinghuai to ask, but then worried that Shen Qinghuai might also be involved, which would only alert them. So she turned to Captain Zou and asked, "What's the name of Boss Liang from Fule Shopping Mall?"
"Liang Jianshan".
Qiu Xiaoman pondered for a moment and then tried to trick the Vietnamese man: "It's okay if you don't tell me. Liang Jianshan's sister, Liang Yuting, is very familiar with me. She has already told me everything. The two of them are preparing to bring Liang Zhihao over to surrender."
"What? How is that possible?" The Vietnamese man was furious and cursed, "That idiot Liang Zhihao, he clearly said that his brother's father is a high-ranking leader who can protect us!"
Qiu Xiaoman continued her deceptive tactics: "A leader? Can he be as powerful as the leaders I know?"
Then she gave the name of a really high-ranking leader, whom Director Wen personally took her to meet.
The Vietnamese man was dumbfounded: "How is this possible? Don't try to scare me. You're just a young girl."
"You'll soon find out if it's just a scare tactic." Qiu Xiaoman reasonably speculated that cases like this involving the electron tube factory must involve collusion from within.
It is highly likely that the so-called leader embezzled funds and colluded with outsiders to resell them for profit.
So she called Captain Zou out to learn more about the personnel structure of the electron tube factory and the staff on duty during the time of the incident.
Soon, the two identified a warehouse manager whose son was also a blond-haired man, the same age as Liang Zhihao, and lived in the same upscale residential area as Liang Jianshan. He was very likely one of Liang Zhihao's cronies.
With Liang Zhihao in the interrogation room next door, it would be very easy for Qiu Xiaoman to pull off a stunt.
She asked Captain Zou if she could go next door to check on Liang Zhihao, and Captain Zou immediately agreed.
Pushing open the door to the interrogation room, Qiu Xiaoman sat down opposite Liang Zhihao, picked up her mobile phone and fiddled with it, without saying a word.
Although Liang Zhihao knew of Qiu Xiaoman, he had never met her in person. Now that he saw a beautiful girl sitting in front of him, his eyes widened.
He smiled and struck up a conversation: "Your mobile phone looks pretty new. Where did you buy it?"
"Why don't you call Shen Qinghuai and ask him where he bought it?" Qiu Xiaoman said, and was about to dial the number.
But she was just trying to scare Liang Zhihao; she would never actually call Shen Qinghuai—since the case was related to Liang Zhihao, his father, Liang Jianshan, was very likely involved as well.
Considering the relationship between Shen Qinghuai and Liang Jianshan, if Qiu Xiaoman were to call Shen Qinghuai at this time, it would be no different from tipping him off.
So of the numbers she dialed, only the first few were correct; the last one was the wrong number.
When the phone went dead, Liang Zhihao was so frightened that he immediately begged and pleaded, "No, no, no! Don't call him! Who are you? Are you his daughter?"
Qiu Xiaoman turned off the cell phone, leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms, and looked him over with disdain: "What else? If you cooperate obediently, I won't tell him, and your dad won't know. If you continue to resist, then I'm sorry, your father probably won't be able to get rid of it either."
Liang Zhihao turned pale with fright and quickly clarified, "It has nothing to do with my father! It was something I did with a friend. He said that color TVs nowadays use semiconductors, and the electron tube factory can't keep up with the times. They have a lot of parts piling up and want to find a way to sell them for money."
"Your friend is the warehouse manager's son, right?" Qiu Xiaoman asked with an air of confidence.
It seems she already has concrete evidence.
Liang Zhihao stared at her blankly, hesitated for a long time, and finally nodded: "Yes."
"You've got some nerve, colluding with the Vietnamese. Aren't you afraid of going to jail?" Qiu Xiaoman had gotten the answer she wanted and got up to leave.
Terrified, Liang Zhihao cried out, "I didn't know they contacted the Vietnamese! I really didn't know! I thought they contacted a TV factory in a small third- or fourth-tier county! I'm innocent!"
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Author's Note: The previous writing was ambiguous. The claim that Fang Ting, the sister-in-law, died in a fire, or in a car accident, was a false rumor spread by Liu Yuandou. Because the deaths occurred in different locations, few people knew the truth, so he wanted to deceive others. However, writing it that way could easily cause misunderstandings, so I've revised it.
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