Chapter 471 No Nonsense Allowed
"Alright, once you've eaten, hurry home so your elders and wife don't worry about you."
Team Leader Zhu stood up and urged the group of men to go home.
Someone exaggeratedly clutched their belly and joked with their companion, "Now I understand how uncomfortable it must have been for my wife when she was pregnant with our little rascal, carrying such a big belly, it felt so heavy..."
"You're wrong. When a woman is pregnant and can't support herself, she needs to hold her back. My wife had to hold her back to walk during the first two months after giving birth to our daughter, otherwise she couldn't walk at all..."
Someone then held their lower back and showed their pregnant belly to the person, asking, "Is this how it is?"
"Damn! How many months pregnant are you...?"
The man touched his belly and exclaimed, "Three months pregnant!"
This drew a barrage of insults: "You're talking nonsense! She's not even showing after three months! You're just a greenhorn, do you even know what pregnancy is like for a woman? My wife was vomiting so badly for the first three months that she couldn't eat anything. To get her to eat a bite, I followed Su Laosan to the countryside more than ten times before I finally found her favorite pickles. She ate them with white rice porridge and managed to get through those months..."
"My wife is the same. She vomited until only bile was left. She couldn't eat anything and would just throw it up. She only had a craving for pickled cucumbers. Su Laosan sent us a few jars of pickled cucumbers, all pickled by his mother herself..."
"Hey, when my wife had morning sickness, she also ate what Su Laosan's mother made, but it was spicy and sour radish strips."
"My wife's postpartum illness was cured by his mother."
"...My sister is too."
The group looked at each other, then went to look at Captain Zhu.
"Boss, this..."
Captain Zhu glared at the group. "What are you afraid of? Although Su Laosan may look like a scoundrel, he is an upright and honest person. He doesn't commit any crimes or break the law. He is clean-living and treats us sincerely. He has never taken advantage of us. It's just that we went to his place a few more times during our patrols. Wherever we patrol is what patrolling is."
Upon hearing this, the group nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I knew Su Laosan was someone I could befriend."
"He really hasn't made any unreasonable demands... No, he hasn't made any at all. When we go to his shop frequently, he'll invite us out for a nice meal every now and then. Boss, is that considered fair?"
The word "bribe" was stuck in his throat, but was stopped by a dismissive "Eh" from the others.
"Didn't Su Laosan say it himself? When friends treat each other to a meal, whoever has the money pays!"
"Yes, you can't talk nonsense, we're friends..."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Boss?"
Team Leader Zhu waved his hand, "Alright, if anything happens, I'll take the blame. Go home after you've eaten and rested, I'll stay and keep watch."
"How can this be? Boss, you've been running around all day just like us..."
"Yes, we have to go for screening tomorrow morning. How can you handle it? I'll stay."
"Well, I just ate too much and can't walk, so I'll take the shift. You all go back..."
"Knock knock!"
A group of people were excitedly vying to stay and take the shift when there was a knock on the conference room door. Song Yuanzhi appeared at the door and smiled, "You all go back. I'll be on duty tonight."
"this……"
Everyone hesitated before looking at Captain Zhu.
Team Leader Zhu looked at Song Yuanzhi, who nodded slightly. "I'll wait for your investigation results tomorrow."
"Thank you for your hard work, Deputy Chief Song." Captain Zhu saluted.
“Of course, go ahead,” Song Yuanzhi said.
Team Leader Zhu nodded and instructed his men, "Wash the wooden buckets and bowls clean and put them back before leaving. Be quick."
"Yes, boss."
Song Yuanzhi made way, and several grown men rushed into the yard carrying buckets, cleaned them, and brought them back.
Zhu nodded slightly to Song Yuanzhi and left with his group.
Once they were out of Song Yuanzhi's sight, the group started chattering again.
“Boss, this Deputy Chief Song seems to be quite decent. He not only prepares food for us, but also lets us go back to rest. He's much better than that skinflint Lao Lü.”
“I also think that if he takes Lao Lü’s place, it would be even better if our boss were promoted to deputy director.”
"What a pipe dream! Didn't you hear what the boss said? He's preparing food for us to win us over. A new broom sweeps clean, right? Just wait and see. Once our boss solves this case, the credit will definitely go to that guy surnamed Song..."
Captain Zhu glanced over.
"Didn't I tell you not to say things like that again? We'll find out sooner or later whether he's that kind of person or not. Don't jump to conclusions about someone before things happen. Preconceived notions are not good for our investigation."
"I'm sorry, boss, I misbehaved..."
The man quickly lowered his head and apologized, then raised his hand to slap his mouth as if to say, "Don't worry, boss. We are very satisfied with Deputy Director Song's performance today. As long as he doesn't steal your credit, we won't put him and Old Lu together to criticize him in the future."
Team Leader Zhu, "..."
He glared at the man. "Then I'll have Deputy Chief Song thank you later?"
"Haha, I wouldn't dare." The man laughed bitterly.
Team Leader Zhu waved his hand, "Alright, that's enough, everyone go back. Show more respect to Deputy Director Song in the future. He got this position through a merit-based selection process; he didn't steal my deputy director position..."
Thinking of the brothers' resistance to Lao Lü, and worried that saying too much would make them even more disgusted with Lao Lü and cause them to make things difficult for him at work, he held back and kept his words to himself.
"Let's go."
After saying that, he got on his bicycle and rode away.
The others looked at each other, saying, "Boss, wait for me. I'm going the same way as you."
"I'm going that way too..."
Those of us who weren't going the same way looked at each other and said, "Let's all go, we have to get up early tomorrow to do the investigation."
Song Yuanzhi stood on the second floor, watching from the window as the crowd gathered under the dim streetlights at the entrance of the police station dispersed. He then slowly walked back to his desk, sat down, and began to read the case files and investigation records with one hand.
The next morning, Captain Zhu was the first to arrive at his post. He assigned tasks to each person as they arrived, and then they rode out together to investigate after the last person arrived.
Around 10 o'clock, Captain Zhu returned on his bicycle, bringing Song Yuanzhi an important clue.
Several elderly people in Guanghua Street were awakened in the middle of the night by the sharp sound of brakes. When someone went to look out the window, they found someone getting out of a taxi and identified the passenger. The license plate number of the taxi was the one provided by Su Laosan.
"I've already had my men bring the people over to give their statements. The passengers who got off the bus also admitted that the driver did hit someone. When they got off to check, the drunk man was already dead. The driver said that if they were caught, they would all be responsible, and he was afraid so he didn't dare to call the police," said Captain Zhu.
Song Yuanzhi stood up. "Did you find out who the driver was?"
"He hasn't said anything yet. He's afraid the driver will retaliate, so he doesn't dare to say anything," Captain Zhu shook his head.
Song Yuanzhi frowned slightly. "Take him directly to the interrogation room. I'll ask him the questions."
A dozen minutes later, his subordinates brought the passengers to the police station. They were led into the interrogation room by Captain Zhu. Song Yuanzhi went in and the door closed.
A moment later, the two came out. Song Yuanzhi's eyes darkened slightly as he looked at Captain Zhu and said, "Go and arrest them."
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