Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Even God is on their side...
While waiting for Li Guoping's nephew to come over, Ji Yinhe no longer accompanied Che Zhiwen in meaningless sleep.
Instead, he turned down the corridor and entered the detention room next door.
Zhang Hongbo, his childhood friend Lao Liu, and the mute from the crematorium were all locked up after recording their statements.
Probably because they had confessed everything they needed to confess and Li Guoping had been arrested, they felt relieved. The three of them each occupied a few long benches and fell into a deep sleep.
Amidst the deafening snoring, Ji Yinhe glanced at Zhang Hongbo, whose eyelids were red and swollen, and sat on a chair outside the iron bars, flipping through his confession.
Today is the fourteenth day since Zhang Chunbo’s “accidental death”, but for Zhang Hongbo, it feels like a century has passed.
They were orphans since childhood. Zhang's father died in a foreign land during a battle. When the news reached Jiangtan, their mother jumped into the river out of excessive grief.
With the help of the street, the two brothers did not give up their studies. In the 1970s, Zhang Hongbo and Zhang Chunbo graduated together and returned to work in the compressor factory. One became a factory doctor and the other became an electrician.
However, because there was no one at home to help with arrangements and there were few female employees in the factory, they all missed the opportunity to get married and have children.
Fortunately, the compressor factory had stable wages and the two of them didn't have a strong sense of family, so they lived and depended on each other...until one morning a month ago, when Zhang Chunbo, who had just returned from the night shift, woke up his sleeping brother and said that he had accidentally discovered General Manager Li's secret.
"Secret?" Zhang Hongbo was still sleepy and rubbing his eyes dizzy.
"Yes, when I went out to smoke after my shift change, I saw Mr. Li squatting in the bushes behind the workshop burning something."
Zhang Chunbo nervously took out a small piece of paper with burnt edges from his pocket.
"Brother, take a look." He turned on the desk lamp. "Is this an invoice? If she didn't do anything bad, why would she burn the invoice?"
Zhang Hongbo shuddered and immediately became frightened.
"Did you look through her ashes?"
"yes."
"You're confused!" Zhang Hongbo sat up suddenly. "What if she finds out?"
Zhang Chunbo opened his eyes wide, "I deliberately waited until she left before going over—"
"Don't worry about this!" Zhang Hongbo arbitrarily snatched the piece of paper from his brother's hand, got up and went to the public toilet to throw it into the squat toilet and flush it away.
Zhang Chunbo has always listened to his brother since he was a child, but this time was an exception.
Two days later, during the night shift, he once again found Li Guoping burning paper in the grass.
The compressor factory has been running at a loss lately and has been suspending pay for quite some time. The workers are all in a panic, fearing that their jobs, which they have held for a lifetime, will be smashed to pieces in the end.
What if Li Guoping really did something to betray the compressor factory and its employees? If we could find evidence against her, would we be able to turn the tide and allow everyone to continue working?
In the endless darkness of the grassland, the bright red flame was extremely tempting, whispering to him in a deep voice.
Zhang Chunbo subconsciously took a step forward.
It was this step that made Li Guoping discover his peeping. She quickly raised her foot to put out the fire and disappeared into the thicker darkness.
Zhang Hongbo had no idea what happened next. One day a week later, while he was seeing patients at the clinic, he suddenly saw a young nurse run in, her face pale.
"——Doctor Zhang! Doctor Zhang! Something's happened to your brother!"
The workshop was only a few hundred meters away from the clinic. Zhang Hongbo didn't even have time to take off his white coat. He got up and ran. When he arrived at the scene, he saw his only relative in the world lying quietly on the ground, covered with a white cloth, and no longer breathing.
For a few seconds, he was completely unaware of what was happening. He felt like he had been struck by lightning. He stood there, struggling to process the facts.
Workers gathered around and said, "Doctor Zhang, don't be too sad. We all saw it. Chunbo was working alone here when he suddenly collapsed. Accidents with electricians are not uncommon..."
He stood there in a daze, not saying a word, until the police and a few pretentious leaders arrived and his brother's body was taken away.
It was not until Zhang Chunbo's funeral that he suddenly came to his senses.
——It all happened so coincidentally.
The first person he suspected was Li Guoping. However, due to the lack of evidence, even the small piece of paper was thrown away. Even though traces of tampering were found on the motor, the police station had already determined it was an accident and ignored his accusation.
It was not known whether it was a test or a show-off, but three days after Zhang Chunbo's accident, Li Guoping specially sent a generous pension.
Zhang Hongbo accepted it honestly on the surface, but in reality he locked himself up at home, gritting his teeth. In his heart, he secretly swore: I must avenge my brother!
The TV happened to be broadcasting news about people practicing qigong across the country, and the newspaper was publishing a photo of the Jiangtan City Public Security Bureau Director accepting a banner that read "No Case in 100 Days." At the head of Zhang Chunbo's bed lay his unfinished copy of "Zhuangzi: The Happy Journey."
As long as the incident is big enough and there are enough witnesses, Li Guoping will definitely be the one responsible!
Suddenly, a "brilliant plan" for the master to ascend to heaven emerged in Zhang Hongbo's mind...
He used the pension to bribe the mute at the crematorium to preserve his brother's body, then quit his job and went to other places to learn ghost tricks.
Half a month later, Doctor Zhang returned to the compressor factory and transformed himself into the famous Master Zhang!
Through his childhood friend Lao Liu, who worked in a state-owned cold drink factory, the miracles of the famous Qigong master Zhang Hongbo spread quickly in the western suburbs. After several performances, even the mute cremator was fooled into becoming his believer.
On July 30, Zhang Hongbo discovered that there would be heavy rain the next night, which might be a good time for a "performance".
He left a suicide note predicting that he was about to attain enlightenment and ascend to heaven. He notified the cremator to bring the body to the scene, asked Lao Liu to help get some dry ice, and invited his believers to gather late at night as a joint witness.
After calling the police, he took a deep breath and walked towards the assembly workshop where his brother died.
This time, it seemed that even God was on the side of the brothers.
The rainstorm that came as expected not only confirmed to his followers that he had the ability to “call the wind and rain”, but also cut off the power supply to the factory, eliminating the need for dry ice to deceive the eyes.
However, Zhang Hongbo still followed the original plan, completed the body replacement in the smoke, cut his fingers and wrote words in blood, and then left the compressor factory under the cover of night and grass.
Everything was perfect. Before leaving, he even cast a last reluctant glance at his brother.
However, he didn't expect that the police would arrive too quickly, and he had nowhere to bury the used dry ice cans and electrician's knife, so he could only throw them on the side of the road and ask Lao Liu to pick them up the next day.
This gave Ji Yinhe the opportunity to hit the suspect with a five-fold punch.
At this moment, Officer Xiao Ji closed his confession book and sighed deeply.
Turning around, Zhang Hongbo, who had woken up, was looking at him through the iron railings without saying a word.
"Um, police officer," he said, his swollen eyes wide. "Excuse me, is my brother's body still here? Can I see him again?"
“…”
"Please, comrade!" Zhang Hongbo's wrinkled old face was wet with tears. "He is my only brother, my only relative!"
Ji Yinhe stood up and thought for a moment before answering: "I have to ask the leader for instructions."
Tang Ci was not in the police station. Xiao Wu said that he had been waiting for a long time but the police from the police station still hadn't arrived. He was so anxious that he drove there himself to find them.
Since the captain was not there, they had to find the deputy captain. Ji Yinhe knocked on the door of the interrogation room. Che Zhiwen came out with his hands behind his back, and shook his head and said no before he finished listening.
A trace of pity flashed in Ji Yinhe's eyes. "Zhang Hongbo didn't kill anyone, and he's the deceased's brother..."
"Anyway, I don't agree." Che Zhiwen turned away indifferently, "Why don't you ask Tang Ci?"
The door closed in front of Ji Yinhe, but she didn't get discouraged. She wiped the sweat from her palms and went straight to the top floor.
There was a knock on the director's office door. Rao, who was reading the case progress report, looked up and met a pair of black and clear eyes.
"Xiao Ji, come in." Rao was in a good mood. "I heard you're doing well in the Serious Crime Squad. What's going on? Have you hit a bottleneck and want to come back to write materials?"
"No." Ji Yinhe took a deep breath, "I want to ask you for a favor."
*
Ten minutes later, Ji Yinhe and Cheng Mo took Zhang Hongbo out of the detention room.
Ye Qing had already pushed the corpse from the freezer to the dissection table, opened the woven bag covering it, revealing a grayish-white face.
“Chunbo ah——!”
As soon as Zhang Hongbo entered the autopsy room, he let out a desperate roar.
He couldn't stand up straight. With handcuffs on, he stumbled forward and almost knocked down Ye Qing who was standing next to him.
Everyone was shocked. Ji Yinhe was quick-witted and grabbed Zhang Hongbo's collar.
Cheng Mo protected Ye Qing behind him without making a sound.
"Yes, I'm sorry!"
Zhang Hongbo nodded to Ye Qing and knelt down beside Zhang Chunbo.
"Chunbo! Brother! I've avenged you! The police have arrested Li Guoping!"
"But if you die, how can I survive alone?"
His voice was mournful and hoarse, echoing in the autopsy room, causing all the tough guys present to sigh.
The only two female police officers had red eyes.
At this time, Xiao Wu squeezed in from the door of the autopsy room and whispered, "Team Leader Tang has brought Li Guoping's nephew back."
Ji Yinhe wiped the tears from her cheeks and immediately turned around and went downstairs.
By the time she walked into the interrogation room and sat down next to Tang Ci, she had regained her calm and professional demeanor.
Li Guoping's nephew is called Li Jian, a local, unemployed, sitting in a chair bored, looking quite slick.
"...We've found out that the two of them have been communicating frequently via pager these past few days. Li Guoping wants to leave Jiangtan by boat, so it's likely that Li Jian tipped her off. However, considering their aunt-nephew relationship, it's not strong evidence." Tang Ci called Ji Yinhe out, looking unhappy. "Just like his aunt, they should have discussed this beforehand. The police at the police station asked about it last night, but she said nothing."
"Officer, it's already late. Can you guys help me?" Li Jian's voice came from the inner room. "I'm hungry. I want to eat some fried dough sticks and tofu pudding!"
Ji Yinhe took a deep breath, "Didn't the witness see Zhang Chunbo enter the workshop the night before his death?
"The motor is right there, and anyone can actually move it, so we still need to find direct evidence that he is the one who modified it."
"What about the other workers? Have you asked?"
"I asked, but he and his aunt had already bribed me, so I said I knew nothing." Tang Ci raised his hand and pressed his eyebrows.
“…”
Amid Li Jian's triumphant and disdainful shouting, the atmosphere inside and outside the interrogation room became increasingly tense.
Ji Yinhe held her breath gently and looked out the window at the end of the corridor.
The sun was scorching outside, and people were walking back and forth. Not far away was the gate of the Municipal Personnel Bureau. Several cadres were coming in and out with documents in their hands, looking very hurried.
She suddenly remembered that Old Ji often went to the human resources and social security department on behalf of the street office, and had to argue with the unit a lot in order to help retirees get welfare benefits.
…Wait, retirees!
Ji Yinhe's expression changed. "Let's not ask the workers in the workshop."
Tang Ci frowned, "Hmm?"
"Workers on the job are afraid of offending their bosses and losing their jobs, so they won't tell the truth. But we've missed a certain type of people whose labor relations have already left the factory and entered the streets."
"You mean..."
Ji Yinhe smiled, his eyes sparkling, "I mean, the worker who used to work in the compressor factory and is now retired."
Tang Ci snapped his fingers suddenly, turned around and ran into the office next door, asking the staff of the Xijiao Street Office to find out the phone numbers of several retired electricians from the compressor factory and call them one by one to inquire.
Unexpectedly, they got the answer they wanted in the second call.
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