Chapter 82 Ending
Lin Yu showed her Li Ying's confession record. "There's a problem with his alibi. He still has room for maneuver, but Wang Chuanhe's influence is extensive. If we delay for too long, we might miss out on the big fish. Currently, only Li Ying can prove that he was indeed at Zheng's house on the night of the 23rd."
After hearing what he said, Qin Zhenyang's eyebrows darkened slightly. "So you mean to commit perjury?"
"Wang Chuanhe is a very cautious man, but also very conceited. Perhaps we can use this to extract clues. Besides Zheng Yunqing, Xiang Qingshan's case is enough to convict him." Lin Yu tapped the paper with a serious expression. "If anything goes wrong, I will take full responsibility."
After a brief silence, Qin Zhenyang nodded. "Although it's risky, it's worth a try. Please organize these things and submit them to Director Zhou for approval."
"Thank you." Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the information. "I'll go find Director Zhou."
"Well, by the way, let's inform other colleagues to leave work. It's almost the New Year, so we won't be working overtime today."
Hearing this, Lin Yu glanced at the wall clock and smiled, "Thank you, Team Leader."
When he arrived at Zhou Zongqi's office, he hesitated for a few seconds before knocking. While waiting, he recalled Tang Ze's matter. He had followed Zhou Zongqi for more than four years, and until now, Lin Yu had never seen him show his emotions.
Zhou Zongqi is a role model in the hearts of most police officers and a synonym for justice. He said many inspiring words, but what Lin Yu remembers most vividly is the sentence: "Good people can also have guilty consciences."
After seeing Lin Yu walk in, Zhou Zongqi poured him a glass of water and said, "Sit down first."
Lin Yu handed him the information and explained his point of view. Zhou Zongqi flipped through Li Ying's confession. After listening to his words, the tight lines on his face relaxed a little. "I have dealt with Wang Chuanhe several times. He is a stubborn man. Although these testimonies are rigorous, the clues left by the deceased are also obvious. It's worth a try."
After receiving Zhou Zongqi's approval, Lin Yu was completely relieved. He thought of the video again. After thinking for a moment, he looked at him and said, "Teacher, can I ask you something?"
"You want to ask about Tang Ze." Zhou Zongqi saw what he was thinking and stood up on his knees. "It's been so long since I came back to Linbei. I've been planning to treat you to a meal sometime. Are you free today?"
Lin Yu was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly, "Yes."
The two found a private restaurant and were led into the private room by the waiter. Zhou Zongqi pushed the menu to Lin Yu and said, "You are picky, you order the dishes."
"You make me feel like a little kid when you say that." Lin Yu smiled a little embarrassedly and ordered a few signature dishes.
Soon, the waiter served the dishes in an orderly manner and also gave us a bottle of the store's homemade rice wine.
Zhou Zongqi didn't eat much of the food. After drinking a few glasses of wine, he felt a little tipsy. His usual serious look faded, his sharp eyes became blurred, his tense shoulders slowly drooped, and he leaned against the wall to maintain his balance.
Lin Yu used to think that he was an indestructible wall, but now he seemed like a collapsing cliff.
Zhou Zongqi was not good at drinking, but tonight he could only think of this way to relieve his long-depressed mood. He looked up at Lin Yu and said in a stagnant voice, "Those things in the past have been hidden in my heart for too long, like dysentery that is difficult to remove. I can't say it out loud."
"I've lived for most of my life and heard many compliments. You once said you wanted to be like me, but I'm just an ordinary person who can't do anything else besides investigating cases. I even resorted to any means to achieve my goals. Back then, in order to collect evidence, I used Tang Ze and his mother Xu Yingshu."
In his intermittent narration, Lin Yu pieced together the inside story of the old case. Zhou Zongqi, who was lurking inside the criminal group as an undercover, unexpectedly won the favor of Tang Tianya's wife. He took advantage of this relationship to obtain a lot of internal intelligence and eventually brought down Tang Tianya.
"The biggest mistake I made in my life was hurting Xu Yingshu's feelings," Zhou Zongqi said after taking a swig of wine. "After the case was solved, Tang Tianya was sentenced to death. I avoided meeting the mother and son to avoid suspicion, but I didn't expect her to commit suicide."
"I'm not a hero, just a despicable coward. I adopted Tang Ze to make up for my guilt, but I ended up killing the innocent A Yuan."
"I was very busy with work back then, so it was often just Ayuan and Tangze at home. Being a criminal investigator, most days are filled with fear. Every time we busted a large criminal gang, I didn't dare go back, fearing that my family would be retaliated against by the ones who slipped through the net."
Lin Yu deeply agreed with what Zhou Zongqi mentioned. Many drug enforcement police or special police officers do not even dare to start a family. Some people can only live in hiding after retirement for fear of causing trouble to those around them.
This job brings peace of mind to others, but I am always on the edge of danger.
"The people who were good to me died because of me, the people I loved also died because of me. In the end, I didn't protect anyone, and I just added these unrealistic praises..." Zhou Zongqi's slow tone mixed with the cold wine sounded particularly sad in the empty private room. "If I had cared more about A Yuan at that time and went home more often, maybe things wouldn't have come to this. If..."
He didn't finish the second half of the sentence and fell down on the table.
After learning about this old story, Lin Yu felt a mixture of emotions, and finally realized the saying, "Good people can also have guilty consciences."
In order to make the majority feel at ease, it is inevitable to sacrifice the helplessness of the minority.
After sending Zhou Zongqi home, before leaving, he glanced at the bedroom. The dim street lights shone on the security net, casting long and thin black shadows, like a prison, imprisoning this lonely "hero" in heavy memories.
When walking out of the corridor, Lin Yu looked at the white scene and fell into deep thought. The snow on the surface was soft and clean, but underneath was hard ice.
People like Zhou Zongqi have their hearts wrapped in ice. They seem indestructible, but in fact they are lonely and fragile.
......
It was already past twelve o'clock when Lin arrived home. When he opened the door, there was still warm light, a smile, and the soft Chen Wan waiting for him.
Before falling asleep, he told Chen Wan about Zhou Zongqi's story. "I have always admired Teacher Zhou and thought he was a great hero, but he said he was a coward who was simply pushed into this position. Losing his loved ones became synonymous with justice."
Chen Wan sighed softly and said, "Officer Zhou is indeed a good police officer, but he is not a qualified family member. He understands this, which is why he can't get over his self-blame and pain."
If I pick up the knife, I can't hug you; if I put down the knife, I can't protect you.
I wanted to protect the one I loved, but I used the wrong method and ended up with nothing.
Lin Yu hugged Chen Wan tighter, suppressed the uneasy feeling in his heart, and said softly: "Ever since I chose the profession of criminal police, I have always told myself not to be afraid of anything, but now I am a little scared. I am afraid that you will be retaliated against because of me, I am afraid that I will put you in danger, and I am even more afraid that one day you will regret being with me."
I regretted choosing me and fell into turmoil and anxiety.
Hearing this, Chen Wan raised her hand and gently stroked his back. After a moment's silence, she said, "Actually, I've always been very worried about you. Every time I heard about a mission, I couldn't help but have wild thoughts. I even dared not watch the news. I wanted to know about you, but I was also afraid to hear something bad."
"You told me before that I should learn to use the law to protect myself." Chen Wan's tone softened, his eyes full of smiles. "You said that when we first met, when you were applying the medicine on me."
Lin Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and thought for a while, "Was it the time when you got hurt in a fight at school?"
Chen Wan nodded, not forgetting to emphasize: "I won."
"Yeah." Lin Yu raised his hand and pinched her cheek with a bit of amusement, "Wanzi is the best."
"Of course I am. I'm very fierce." Chen Wan smiled, revealing his little rabbit teeth. "At that time, you told me to learn to use the law to protect myself, and you also let me use you. Oh, and you even called me your little idol."
"It's the same now." Recalling what happened before, Lin Yu put his arm around Chen Wan's shoulders and said with emotion, "But you were always cold back then. You were much cuter this way."
Chen Wan always felt that this sentence sounded like a complaint, and pinched his waist angrily. After lighting the fire, he pretended to be innocent and blocked Lin Yu's approaching face, "I want to tell you something serious, don't touch me."
Lin Yu laughed helplessly: "Then tell me."
"The purpose of the law is to maintain social order and protect vulnerable groups. But what if they are harmed by a powerful force that overrides the law? Take Zheng Yunqing, for example. She did struggle, but because of the disparity in status, she could only rely on death to find relief. I chose law because I wanted to speak up for these people and uphold the right to justice, and you taught me all this." Chen Wan propped himself up slightly and kissed Lin Yu on the forehead, his eyes as gentle as water. "You don't have to worry, because from the beginning to the end, you are my only choice. Wherever you are, I will be there."
Looking at her serious expression, Lin Yu was stunned for a long while. The lines of his tightly gathered eyebrows gradually softened, and two creases appeared under his drooping eyes. "Me too."
Chen Wan smiled and hummed, her warm fingertips tracing his handsome nose bridge, slowly moving to the corner of his lips, and then rubbing it upwards. "Don't think about your worries when you go home. Be happy."
"Okay." Lin Yu grinned, showing his sharp fangs. "Wanzi too."
"You have to get up early tomorrow." Chen Wan leaned into his arms and said softly, "It's time to go to bed."
Lin Yu bent down and kissed the hair that swirls around her head, then turned off the wall lamp. With a click, the room fell into silent darkness, and dim shadows of snow floated on the blue curtains.
......
Following Lin Yu's plan, Li Ying's confession was revised to directly accuse Wang Chuanhe. Qin Zhenyang took two deep breaths before pushing open the door of the interrogation room. Meeting Wang Chuanhe's impatient gaze, he felt reassured. He calmly pulled out a chair and sat down, "Lawyer Wang, nice to see you again."
Hearing the joking tone in her voice, Wang Chuanhe did not respond. He had been in a state of anxiety these days. The Discipline Inspection Commission had already begun investigating Feng Yan, and it was only a matter of time before the investigation would lead to him.
Yesterday's preliminary trial had already consumed most of his thoughts. After leaving the police station, he wanted to destroy the evidence, but he didn't expect the police to be one step faster. The fingers on his knees began to sweat, and his cold gaze fell on Lin Yu's face.
"Lawyer Wang, I've reviewed all the testimony you provided yesterday and found several discrepancies." Lin Yu shoved the airport entry and exit records and the testimony of the attendees in front of him. "Yesterday you said evidence is everything, but your testimony is full of loopholes."
Wang Chuanhe pushed his glasses up and looked him straight in the face. "Even if there's something wrong with my confession, it doesn't mean I'm the murderer."
Lin Yu's bright eyes, like sunlight, penetrated the lenses and confronted him, "Are you so sure we have no evidence?"
"If you had it, why didn't you bring it out yesterday?" Wang Chuanhe smiled faintly. He was very sure that he had left no trace of his alibi, so he didn't show any fear. "Are you going to resort to forced confession in order to close the case?"
Lin Yu did not comment on his words. He put the photo of the pizza and Li Ying's accusation on the table and observed Wang Chuanhe's expression calmly. Finally, he caught a trace of panic in his eyes. After a moment, he regained his composure, and even a hint of pride appeared on his face.
And this is exactly the result Lin Yu wanted.
The gender of Li Ying in the indictment was changed to female. When dealing with smart-aleck people, the best strategy is to hide your shortcomings.
Wang Chuanhe looked away calmly, pretending to be puzzled, "What is this?"
"On the night of the 23rd, Zheng Yunqing, who doesn't eat pineapples, ordered a pizza with pineapples. The delivery driver, Li Ying, happened to see you when she entered the room." Lin Yu stated his testimony calmly. "If you feel there's something wrong with my eyewitness testimony, you can confront me face to face."
"Face-to-face confrontation?" Wang Chuanhe snorted and laughed. "I thought your methods would be more sophisticated, but I didn't expect you to fabricate false evidence."
After hearing his words, Lin Yu and Qin Zhenyang were both stunned and silently looked away.
Wang Chuanhe saw this scene and leaned back a little, folding his fingers on his knees, and said slowly: "Even if you want to commit perjury, you can't just pick someone, even the gender..."
Before he finished speaking, Lin Yu had already raised his eyes, revealing a sharp edge that had been hidden for a long time, "What's wrong with gender?"
Qin Zhenyang slowly let out a long breath and smiled at him: "Wang Chuanhe, you are too clever for your own good."
The situation reversed again, and the initiative was in the hands of Lin Yu from beginning to end. He threw out the bait line and lured him into the net.
"This case was declared a suicide, and Li Ying's existence was kept strictly confidential. You only came back yesterday and kept claiming to be ignorant of the situation. How could you even discover details like her gender? And it's not just Zheng Yunqing's case. I think you're familiar with this person as well." Qin Zhenyang suppressed the simmering anger in his heart, took out Xiang Qingshan's photo, and looked at Wang Chuanhe coldly, "You thought it was perfect, but the timing wasn't right yet."
Wang Chuanhe looked at the young man in the photo, and the light in his eyes was extinguished by his own hands.
"The video that Zheng Yunqing shot recorded all of this."
Lin Yu saw his hypocritical mask gradually crumble, revealing his ugly core. After hearing the word "video", Wang Chuanhe suddenly stood up, his voice trembling, "When did she send it to you..."
Before the unbearable insults could be heard, Lin Yu quickly stood up, pressed down Wang Chuanhe's shoulders, half-pressed him on the table, handcuffed his hands behind his back, and neatly put on handcuffs.
Qin Zhenyang sneered: "With the previous experience of Zheng Yunqing, how do you know you won't become the next abandoned pawn?"
Wang Chuanhe's face was pressed against the cold table, his nose was scratched by the edge of the paper during his struggle, and the iron shackles on his wrists announced the end.
After the interrogation, the police took Wang Chuanhe to prison. Lin Yu stood in the corridor, looking at his back. He didn't feel relieved, but he still breathed a sigh of relief.
Not long after, in order to apply for a commutation of sentence, Wang Chuanhe provided a lot of evidence about Feng Yan's corruption, bribery and instigating others to commit crimes. The Discipline Inspection Commission also launched an investigation into several other officials in the video.
The anti-drug team completely closed in, and the drug trafficking group without any backing became a mess. The leader Tang Ze was arrested and imprisoned, and this interest chain lurking in the dark was uprooted.
Zhou Zongqi personally participated in the interrogation, and the thick isolation window made Tang Ze's appearance somewhat blurry.
There was irrefutable evidence regarding drug trafficking, and he confessed to it. However, when it came to the murder case ten years ago, he denied it flatly.
"Li Yuan committed suicide." When he mentioned this name, Tang Ze paused and sneered, "I just saw that her life was too painful, so I gave her a push to help her."
Zhou Zongqi suddenly opened his eyes wide and stared at him, "What did you say?"
"You were often away from home. You didn't take care of her when she was pregnant. You were only thinking about your achievements. You didn't even attend her father's funeral. What qualifications do you have to accuse me of killing her? I wasn't the one who brought her pain."
"When my mother died, she was still pregnant with your child, but you ignored her and she died in the end. You adopted me to make up for your guilt. Li Yuan also knew about your dirty past, so she was sick and wanted to die, so I helped her." Tang Ze tilted his head slightly, the corner of his mouth raised, "Zhou Zongqi, you are the one who is wrong, not me."
After hearing what he said, Lin Yu was very surprised. He looked at Zhou Zongqi silently and caught the deep sorrow in his eyes.
After a long while, Zhou Zongqi slowly opened his mouth and said only one sentence, "There has been no relationship between Xu Yingshu and me. The child is not mine. You shouldn't retaliate against A Yuan."
This absurd hatred caused an innocent woman to lose her life.
And Tang Ze was not wrong. Zhou Zongqi was not a competent husband, and the estrangement in the intimate relationship brought Li Yuan far more pain than death.
There is no standard definition of good and evil in this world. We can only judge the right and wrong of events through laws and rules.
In this old case, Zhou Zongqi made a moral mistake, but he is still a good person. Tang Ze, who commits crimes without knowing his mistake, is the real villain.
At the year-end meeting, the truth of the Zheng Yunqing case was made public, and the infringement of women's rights was taken seriously, which caused quite a stir in society and gradually formed a positive guidance.
Without the expected grand ending, this drug trafficking and human trafficking case spanning two provinces came to an end.
The sacrificed police officers and innocent victims mostly become fleeting news in the media and on the Internet. After the heat has passed, some people may remember them, or they may become a thing of the past.
......
On the day of the trial, Lin Yu and Qin Zhenyang went to the court and witnessed the entire trial of Feng Yan.
"An investigation has found that Feng Yan, former deputy mayor of Linbei, has lost his fundamental Party principles and ethical integrity, betrayed his original aspirations and mission, acted as a protective umbrella for criminal gangs, deliberately resisted organizational investigations, abused his power for personal gain, and seriously violated organizational discipline. He is suspected of corruption and bribery and is accused of murder. The circumstances are extremely serious and he will be dealt with severely..."
Amid the solemn verdict, Feng Yan, who was once above the law, finally lowered his head, his bent neck like a broken grass stem, paying the price for the crimes he had committed.
After walking out of the court, the bright sunlight shines on people, bringing warmth. The trees on the roadside not far away are decorated with lights and banners welcoming the New Year.
Qin Zhenyang smiled sincerely, "It's finally over. Tomorrow is the annual leave. Do you have any plans?"
Lin Yu also breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "I haven't thought about it yet, how about you?"
"As for me, I might get a marriage certificate." After meeting Lin Yu's surprised look, Qin Zhenyang laughed and sent him an electronic invitation. "Remember to come when the time comes, and bring your loved one with you."
"My family's..." Lin Yu pondered her words, and after a moment he began to giggle unconsciously, "Of course, of course."
After the two chatted for a few more words, Qin Zhenyang left early because of something. Lin Yu lowered his head and took out his mobile phone. He saw that his mother had sent him more than a dozen WeChat messages, with only one purpose: he must bring Chen Wan home for the New Year this year, otherwise he would not have to go home.
Lin Yu shook his head helplessly, feeling that his family status had dropped again, but he couldn't help but smile and replied, "I promise to complete the task."
Sharing pictures of my favorite ladies is just sharing, no secondary reproduction or modification is allowed.
The fields in spring are so beautiful!
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