Chapter 157 Asking Director Xie to Take the Blame
Perhaps Peng Hongju knew that even if she escaped, she would still face police pursuit, so she finally chose not to escape but to become "Huang Meiying".
Because she became more obedient, the old bachelor who spent 3,500 yuan to buy her changed his attitude towards her. He even sold his donkey at her request and bought her a TV.
Since getting a TV, Peng Hongju hardly ever leaves the house and watches TV every day.
The turning point came twelve years after Peng Hongju's escape, that is, in 2004. When the old bachelor took Peng Hongju to see a barefoot doctor, he attracted the attention of a kind-hearted person who was also seeing the barefoot doctor. This kind-hearted person had worked in the joint defense team.
Soon, this clue was passed to the police in Shancheng who was in charge of this major human trafficking case. The Shancheng police immediately rushed to the reporting site and finally caught Peng Hongju, who had become a bloated middle-aged woman, in the cave.
During the surprise interrogation, Peng Hongju confessed all the criminal facts, including that she had abducted and sold 18 children alone, and that she had thrown a seriously ill baby boy with a high fever directly off a bridge.
This case, which was delayed for twelve years, finally came to an end and Peng Hongju was sentenced to death.
When Wu Yongcheng mentioned the name Peng Hongju, Zhou Yi thought of the cause and effect of this case.
He was also thinking whether he should find an opportunity to use a public pay phone to anonymously inform the Shancheng police of Peng Hongju's current hiding place.
Although Peng Hongju was semi-detained for twelve years from her escape in 1992 to her arrest in 2004, and had no chance to commit any more heinous acts, now that we have the clues, the trial should be brought forward by seven years.
Moreover, providing clues through anonymous calls will not expose yourself.
To be safest, you can wait until you are on a business trip to another city to make this call.
"Zhou Yi, what are you thinking about? Why don't you say a word?" Wu Yongcheng asked.
"Ah, I was thinking about the clue that Jiang Zhichao mentioned. Yajiang, is it a place name or a river?" Zhou Yi said.
"We can't rush this. There are so many places across the country. If it's a small town or village, it will be even harder to find her. We can only take it step by step." Wu Yongcheng said helplessly, "Even if we find out where Yang Xiujuan is from, given her current condition, it's still unknown whether she can return."
Chen Yan was stunned: "Why?"
Jiang Biao said, "A person who was abducted and disappeared for 20 years has now become a mentally ill person. Whether her family can accept this fact and whether they are willing to take care of her is hard to say. And what about the children she gave birth to? Jiang Aqing is definitely going to jail, so what about these children?"
The eldest is an adult, but he's lame and can't work. Excluding the youngest daughter, the youngest is Jiang Hu, who's still in juvenile detention, right? If the remaining children are left unattended, won't they also become social destabilization factors like Jiang Hu?
Jiang Biao sighed deeply, "Even a god would find this difficult to handle."
Yes, when the case was discovered, Zhou Yi was in a dilemma. He told Hu Zi to reform himself well in the juvenile detention center and everything would be fine after he got out.
At this time, Hu Zi was still in the juvenile detention center, eagerly waiting for his sister to come and see him. But when he came out, his father was in jail instead, and his mother was abducted.
How could Hu Zi, who had already gone astray and had finally been brought back, face such a result?
How should I go about my life from now on?
Thinking of this, Zhou Yi suddenly felt very powerless. Even if he was reborn, even if he knew a lot of information in advance, there were still many things that he was still powerless to do.
Perhaps he can change the situation temporarily, but it is difficult to change the fate of others for a lifetime.
It turns out that being reborn does not mean you can do anything, because the fate of some people may have already been written before they were born.
There were no outsiders in the room at this time, only a few people from the Third Brigade.
Wu Yongcheng said, "Let's handle the case at hand first, and we can deal with the rest later."
Yes, that’s the only way. The police’s duty is to handle cases. As for matters outside of the cases, they can only leave it to fate.
Zhou Yi had seen a lot of such things in his previous life, but every time he encountered it, he couldn't help but feel helpless.
"Director Wang has cleared out their duty room, which has two folding spring beds. Chen Yan, Zhou Yi, you two should go and rest after you finish eating. You've been running around all day since this morning," Wu Yongcheng said. "Biaozi and I will continue to look up information."
"It's okay, Master, I'm not sleepy."
Wu Yongcheng said softly, "Be obedient."
Zhou Yi said to Chen Yan, "Brother Yan, how about this? The two of us will sleep in the first half of the night, and Captain Wu and Brother Biao will sleep in the second half."
Chen Yan immediately nodded and agreed.
Wu Yongcheng was about to say no when Zhou Yi said earnestly, "Captain Wu, we're already old. There's no need to be so stubborn. Health is the capital of revolution."
"Hey, you kid, why do you say that? It's like you're older than me."
Then he turned to Jiang Biao and said, "Isn't this reasonable? You're taking advantage of your seniority to bully me like this."
Jiang Biao smiled innocently and said nothing.
…
Zhou Yi and Chen Yan lay fully clothed on the simple bed in the duty room.
Chen Yan stared at the ceiling with his eyes open, showing no sign of sleep.
"Zhou Yi, are you asleep?"
"Um?"
"I couldn't sleep. As soon as I closed my eyes, the image of Yang Xiujuan locked in the pigpen came to my mind."
Zhou Yi did not answer and remained silent.
"Can't you sleep either?" Chen Yan asked.
"Brother Yan, if you can't sleep, you can let Captain Wu rest first."
"...I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep. Go to sleep. I won't talk anymore."
"Brother Yan, I think I'm already a very emotional person. I've seen a lot of things, but I'm still swayed by my emotions. But compared to you, I find that I'm still very rational."
"I...ever since my father died, I've become very withdrawn. I don't like to communicate with anyone, including my mother. So I always have random thoughts, and I know this is a problem."
After hearing what he said, Zhou Yi understood instantly. To some extent, Chen Yan and Lu Xiaoshuang were very similar. Chen Yan was influenced by his father's sacrifice when he was young, which made him relatively closed-minded. Lu Xiaoshuang had been away from his parents and lived under the care of others since he was a child. In addition, due to his family background, he did not dare to communicate with others since he was a child.
Compared to people like him, this type of people actually have richer inner emotions, because most of the time they don't express their emotions outwardly, but digest them slowly themselves.
Like Lu Xiaoshuang, during that conversation in the ward, she opened her heart to Zhou Yi.
"Brother Yan, don't keep things to yourself in the future. Speak out. If you have any ideas, speak them out boldly. You said I've only been in the Third Brigade for more than half a month, but you've been there for two years. Don't you know what kind of people your master, Brother Biao, and Sister Qiao are? They will all be willing to listen to you. If all else fails, just tell me. We're about the same age."
"Yeah, I get it. Go to sleep. Master and the others will take over soon."
After a few minutes, in the darkness, Chen Yan whispered, "Zhou Yi, it feels like you've been in the Third Brigade for a long time."
"Yeah." Zhou Yi responded in a daze.
…
All members of the Third Brigade stayed in Yong'an Township for three days for this case.
Thanks to the unremitting efforts of all the police officers of the Third Brigade and Yong'an Township Police Station, the case finally achieved a breakthrough.
First, under continuous high-pressure interrogation, Jiang Aqing and Jiang Baogen finally couldn't bear it anymore and both admitted that their wives were bought.
This result was within Wu Yongcheng's expectations. Both men were ordinary people with low cultural levels. Unlike those vicious murderers, they did not possess such strong psychological qualities and ability to withstand pressure, so it was only a matter of time before they confessed.
High-pressure interrogation tactics were designed to target people like Xu Jiaguang, who refused to confess, even 24-hour interrogation would be useless.
Because it happened so long ago, Jiang Baogen was no longer able to provide any information about the traffickers. He didn't even know his wife's real name.
But in his confession, there was an additional charge, which was intentional injury.
He admitted that after buying this wife, he broke one of her legs because she ran away many times, thus stopping her from escaping.
Since Jiang Zhichao was a key witness, after obtaining Wu Yongcheng's permission, Zhou Yi revealed to him the criminal fact that Jiang Baogen admitted to paying money to buy his mother.
On the phone, Jiang Zhichao burst into tears, thanked Zhou Yi repeatedly, and promised to appear in court to testify later.
The investigation in Sanpo Village had been at a standstill. The middle-aged and elderly villagers were obviously covering up for each other. Even after Jiang Aqing and Jiang Baogen confessed their crimes, they refused to give in.
The police couldn't arrest all the relevant people and interrogate them under high pressure like they did with Jiang Aqing and others.
It wasn't until Director Wang came up with an idea that the investigation made a huge breakthrough.
Director Wang directly set up a paid reporting system in the village, offering cash rewards to those who made meritorious reports.
This move may seem ordinary, but it is actually a fatal blow to this poor and lazy village.
After the notice for paid reporting was posted, they received several reports within a day.
The clan blood relationship that seemed unbreakable was shattered by a reward of a few hundred dollars.
It's extremely ironic.
Once this crack appears, the breakthrough in the investigation will be as unstoppable as an icebreaker.
According to the report, the suspected family was investigated, and this family reported on the spot that no matter who it was, they also bought their daughter-in-law with money.
After investigation, it was found that in the past thirty years, at least thirteen or fourteen daughters-in-law in the village were bought, most of whom were women with mild mental retardation, and a few were normal women.
Director Wang held the confessions in his hands and felt that they were too hot to handle, so he asked Wu Yongcheng what to do.
Wu Yongcheng was also a little confused. With so many people involved in the case, he didn't dare to make a decision easily.
In addition, this incident has exposed the underworld of the leadership team of Liyang County.
Wu Yongcheng pondered for a long time, then slapped the case file and said, "I can't take the blame for this anymore. It seems Director Xie has to take it."
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