Chapter 171 He did everything he should and shouldn't have done.
As people get older, they need less sleep.
Li Chunnan turned over, his old wound throbbing.
My wife groggily opened her eyes: "It's starting to hurt again? I'll get you some medicine..."
"I ate before bed, you can go to sleep now!"
After tucking his wife in, Li Chunnan left the bedroom.
The living room curtains were half-open, and under the orange streetlights, snow was falling heavily, drifting and swirling.
Sitting on the sofa, Li Chunnan turned on the electric heater.
As the temperature rose, the aching pain seemed to ease a little. But to be honest, it was a drop in the ocean.
I picked up my phone; it was just past five o'clock.
Two more hours to go.
With a sigh, Li Chunnan put down the phone. He glanced at it unconsciously and exclaimed, "Huh? When did Chen Peng send that text message?"
It seems like it hasn't happened yet, right before I went to sleep?
He casually flipped through it and hesitated for a moment: Master is still the best; an old general like him is worth two.
Flipping through the pages again: Master, the China Construction Security Department has escorted Wang Qiwen and Chen Tao to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. The assistant general manager who brought them over said, "Interrogate them if necessary, investigate if necessary..."
Li Chunnan was stunned.
Last night's dinner was about this.
The deputy general manager, Zheng, seemed very polite, but he was actually quite shrewd: Director Li, Chief Engineer Wang, and General Manager Chen only accepted some gifts and contracted some projects. They genuinely knew nothing about the tomb raiding and had no involvement whatsoever.
See, could the local authorities please lift a finger and let it go?
Whether they were truly unaware or not involved can only be determined through investigation.
Therefore, they parted on bad terms in the end.
Li Chunnan also knew that the relationship between China Construction and local authorities was complex, and that getting those two to come to justice would be very difficult. In fact, he was prepared for a long-term struggle.
But just one night later, he was suddenly taken to the city police station.
No, not even one night.
Looking at the time, Chen Peng's text message was sent at 11:30 pm last night. At that time, he had just arrived home and had just lain down in bed.
If you do the math, it's been less than an hour since I parted ways with Mr. Zheng at the hotel.
What exactly happened to cause such a big change in Mr. Zheng's attitude, and even in China Construction, and such a rapid change?
Li Chunnan pinched the bridge of his nose, deep in thought.
My concentration was so intense that the soreness in my shoulders and legs lessened considerably.
Suddenly, he remembered the scene when he walked out of the private room at the moment of parting.
Wang Qizhi, Lin Sicheng... it must be because of Wang Qizhi.
No, it was Lin Sicheng who played the main role...
I watched the video playback with that Mr. Zheng. I could recognize Lin Sicheng, but he couldn't.
Think back to the scene when we met at the hotel: the teacher and student stood together, looking like father and son.
Then think about Wang Qizhi's father, and grandfather...
Li Chunnan paused for a moment, then exclaimed, "Ha!": "The mountains and rivers seem to block the way, but then a village appears amidst the willows and flowers."
I used to always criticize Chen Peng, but I never thought that one day I would also benefit from Lin Sicheng's influence?
In this way, apart from Yu Dahai and Gao Zhengang who were hiding overseas and remotely directing operations, all the other suspects have been brought to justice.
More importantly, with these two taking the blame, the municipal bureau may bear at least half of the responsibility that would otherwise be investigated by higher authorities.
Of course, the case is far from closed, but what remains is nothing more than interrogation and further questioning. At least, we can already take the report to our superiors.
Li Chunnan perked up, lifted the blanket, and sat up.
I quickly got dressed and was about to change my shoes when my wife heard the noise and came running out.
He smiled and said, "Can't sleep? I'll go to the bureau and take a look!"
His wife hesitated for a moment, then sighed and helped him pick up his coat: "Be careful on the road!"
"good!"
...
The cold night watchman's drum has stopped, and the jade and precious stones are scattered and broken.
Snowflakes pelted the glass, and car wheels crunched across the road with a crisp "crunch".
The car was moving very slowly, only about 30 miles per hour, and slowly drove into the city bureau's courtyard.
Entering the hall with his breath steaming in the air, Li Chunnan shook off the snowflakes from his clothes and went straight up to the fourth floor, heading towards his office.
Everyone walked past Chen Peng's office, but Li Chunnan turned back.
The light was still on in Chen Peng's office.
Without knocking, he pressed the doorknob and pushed the door open. Chen Peng looked up in surprise: "Master?"
The room was filled with smoke, as if it were on fire. Chen Peng's eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was a mess, like a bird's nest.
Li Chunnan glared at him: "Staying up all night long, aren't you afraid of making it through?"
Chen Peng grinned, "I'm so excited, I can't sleep when I get back!"
Li Chunnan paused for a moment, then nodded.
The arrest of Wang Qiwen and Chen Tao is indeed very encouraging.
Why didn't China Construction release the person? They even sent a vice president from Beijing to persuade him with both soft and hard tactics, going to great lengths to ensure that no case was filed against the chief engineer and vice president.
Because those two bastards took the money.
It's just a demolition job, done by a small demolition team that's been subcontracted countless times by the branch office. They're bribing the company's chief engineer and vice president for such a small job. Anyone with a brain knows there's something fishy going on.
Unaware? You're clueless! You're clueless my ass!
This is putting it mildly. To put it more bluntly: the deputy general manager and deputy chief engineer of the China Construction branch were involved in tomb raiding. Is this a solid case?
There's an old saying that if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. Is this tall enough?
Therefore, it's not that General Manager Zheng has a particularly good relationship with those two people, but rather that once the facts are verified, China Construction's responsibility would be too great and the impact too bad.
But then again, isn't the Public Security Bureau largely to blame?
Chen Peng got up and made tea, looking puzzled: "When I watched the footage yesterday, Mr. Zheng seemed quite confident, calm, and composed. I was thinking that this was going to be a disaster... Master, how did you manage to handle it?"
Li Chunnan took the teacup and sighed, "It wasn't me, it was Wang Qizhi and Lin Sicheng... It was quite a coincidence, we just happened to run into them at dinner last night..."
Chen Peng's eyes widened little by little: This is more than just a coincidence.
But suddenly, he frowned again: "But that Director Wang (Wang Qizhi's father) has retired! Besides, he's a former leader (China Construction is a state-owned enterprise under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission), so he can't be biased towards outsiders, can he?"
"Idiot!" Li Chunnan glared at him. "Director Wang may have retired, but his father (Wang Qizhi's grandfather) is still alive..."
Chen Peng was startled and pursed his lips, remaining silent.
Which of the older generation of revolutionaries didn't hate evil as if it were their enemy? Unfortunately, only a handful remain.
Li Chunnan took a puff of his cigarette: "It must have been a family dinner. Professor Wang's wife was there too. There were also three girls, one of whom looked a lot like Professor Wang; she must be his second sister's daughter... At the time, he and Lin Sicheng were standing quite close together..."
Close?
I've been a police officer for many years. If my mentor says it's close, then it must be "close".
But wouldn't Wang Qizhi's second sister's child have the surname Ye?
No, why didn't Lin Sicheng mention that?
Chen Peng was stunned and didn't know what to say: The teacher's surname was Wang, the teacher's wife's surname was Shan, and his "close" cousin's surname was Ye... Just the Wang Qizhi family alone had put so many layers of armor on Lin Sicheng.
How much energy must have been released from Chief Engineer Wang's ancestral graves to make him lose his mind and lead people to attack Lin Sicheng?
Now look what's happened, nobody dares to guarantee it anymore...
Looking back, I realized that I had coaxed Lin Sicheng into taking the blame for so many things, and Wang Qizhi had only called and scolded him twice, which was already more than enough.
But to say that we should stop here... that's impossible.
If Lin Sicheng hadn't helped, Yu Dahai would never have been able to get it back...
Thinking to himself, Chen Peng rolled his eyes and asked, "Master, is Xiao Lin any good?"
Li Chunnan, holding a teacup, almost spat tea in his face.
Li Chunnan knew exactly what his apprentice was thinking. He gritted his teeth in anger and said, "You shameless idiot, you have no shame, but I do!"
Chen Peng shrank back a bit, forcing a smile: "Master, I also want to save face, but if I do, he won't be able to solve the case, will he?"
Fearing Li Chunmian wouldn't believe him, he quickly pushed the paper on the table: "If you don't believe me, look... Putting everything else aside, just these incisions for tomb raiding, I've been pondering them for two days, and my head is spinning from all the thinking..."
“Look, just take ‘code matching’: when buying goods, we say ‘code matching’; when shipping goods, we say ‘code matching’; when inviting people to discuss business, we say ‘code matching’… and when partners meet, assemble, or negotiate with opponents, we all say ‘code matching’… But you can’t just say ‘code matching’, you also have to use other code matching techniques…”
"And this: 'Ling' is a tomb, 'Qing' is a tomb, 'Juan' is a tomb, 'Keng', 'Gong', 'Lou', and 'Dian' are all tombs... But which one refers to which tomb? I'm completely confused."
And then there's this 'hole'—it's a tomb robber's hole, it's a tomb passage, it's a burial chamber, it's an underground palace, yet it has no prefix. You can only distinguish which hole is which by tone of voice and emphasis… Master, how am I supposed to tell them apart…”
Li Chunnan froze, staring at the papers: "Even Zhao Xiuneng won't do it?"
"Not even close!" Chen Peng shook his head. "Saying he's only fit to carry shoes might be a bit of an exaggeration. But at most, he can only help Lin Sicheng with minor tasks..."
Li Chunnan paused for a moment: During that time of searching for the tomb, wasn't Zhao Xiu just helping Lin Sicheng with the side tasks?
This is a problem.
To be honest, although Li Chunnan often scolded Chen Peng, the two knew perfectly well that as long as the case could be solved, face didn't matter. Let alone Chen Peng, if necessary, they wouldn't hesitate to throw his old face on the ground and stomp on it.
The key issue is that constantly having children help out is really not very ethical.
Furthermore, no matter how comprehensive the security measures are, you're still dealing with ruthless, cold-blooded criminals. Even a clay figure has some temper; Wang Qizhi isn't some Tom, Dick, or Harry.
Li Chunnan stroked his chin and thought for a while: "Okay, don't worry, I'll organize the materials and go to the provincial department later!"
With a "tsk," Chen Peng was about to say something sarcastic when Li Chunnan glared at him.
Chen Peng chuckled awkwardly, then thought for a moment and said, "Master, the provincial department is mostly composed of technical police units, with not much manpower. At most, they can provide guidance... but the actual investigations still have to be handled by the city."
Nonsense, all I need is some guidance...
"I know!" Li Chunnan nodded. "Don't stay up late, go catch up on your sleep..."
As he stood up, he reached the doorway, then suddenly remembered: "Have those two (the moles) confessed yet?"
Chen Peng's expression darkened: "I'm done for, tears streaming down my face..."
"Heh..." Li Chunnan sneered, "When you were accepting bribes, didn't you ever think about regretting it?"
Fortunately, Chen Peng acted quickly: at the very beginning, when the Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau and most of the Municipal Public Security Bureau's attention and police force were still focused on Duling and the surrounding area, Chen Peng took precautions:
The main leaders of Weiqu Town and Chang'an District should be excluded from the core knowledge sphere as much as possible.
Otherwise, let alone Yu Kejie, they wouldn't even be able to catch a chicken feather this time.
If you ask Chen Peng how he could be so insightful: This scoundrel doesn't believe in science but in metaphysics, and he even argues that every time Lin Sicheng comes to the Municipal Bureau, the Municipal Bureau has a stroke of good luck... Since he says the tomb is west of Duling, then it might very well be west of Duling.
Not only did he send people to find a grave for Lin Sicheng, but he also started making arrangements well in advance... As it turned out, it was a lucky accident!
Li Chunnan thought for a moment: "Have you finished the bounty notice I mentioned the day before yesterday?"
"It's all done. The political commissar and executive officer have both signed it. I've put it on your desk."
Li Chunnan nodded: "And what you mentioned last time, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage's paid buyback program, have you communicated with them yet?"
"We've communicated with them, and Director He Zhigang said it can be implemented at any time!"
"good."
It's a bit little, maybe not even as much as Lin Sicheng made from a single lucky break, but whether it's a little or not is one thing, whether it's an award or not is another...
With that thought in mind, Li Chunnan left Chen Peng's office.
Chen Peng chased after him: "Master, we'll probably get scolded. Should I go with you?"
"You've already been called shameless, and you still want to go? What the hell are you going to do..." Li Chunnan roared, "Go back to sleep!"
...
Two hours later, at about 8:30, Li Chunnan drove to the provincial department.
It was already broad daylight. The office door was ajar, and Li Chunnan knocked gently.
Li Chunnan called out "Come in" and pushed open the door.
The director, pen in hand, was approving some document when he looked up and secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Finally here?"
"Old Director? Please, please come in..."
As he gestured for his secretary to pour tea, the director glanced behind him.
"Boss, I'm the only one here to report this time!" Li Chunnan smiled. "I accept the criticism!"
The director was both amused and exasperated.
really.
If you can't bring the political commissar, at least come with the executive officer. If that's not possible, you can bring Chen Peng too.
When someone takes the blame for you, it's easier to continue the conversation, right?
But it was really hard to bring myself to criticize Li Chunnan... The two were actually only a few years apart in age, and the director was respecting his meritorious service.
The secretary made tea, and the director personally handed it to him. As Li Chunnan took it, he half-jokingly said:
"Old Director, do you know that the Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau's report was sent to the province four days ago, and then sent to the capital overnight... I was thinking, even if we're slow, we should at least get something out of it, right?"
As a result, four days passed... Seriously, if you didn't send someone today, I was going to call you... Thankfully, they finally arrived!
“I understand why you didn’t report it at the beginning (when the case was first reported). After all, such a big case had occurred in our jurisdiction, and our colleagues were under a lot of pressure and very anxious. The saying goes, ‘Report good news but not bad news.’ Even if we did report it, we should have found some clues before reporting it.”
I understand why there was no report in between: the case was very difficult to investigate, and there were no leads. Even if they came, they wouldn't be able to explain anything... Although the department had heard about it, they thought the comrades from the municipal bureau were very capable, so they didn't inquire about it..."
"But Director, this person has been arrested for several days. Shouldn't that be good news? Why has it still dragged on for several more days?"
After a brief pause, the director sighed again, "Of course, it's indeed difficult to catch the main ringleader (Yu Dahai) who has fled overseas. Although the looting wasn't severe, the fact remains that some cultural relics have been lost overseas and the tombs of key figures (Zhang Anshi and his wife) have been damaged (the coffins were opened and the bodies destroyed)..."
"Furthermore, there will definitely be some internal traitors colluding with us... So the higher-ups will definitely ask about it, definitely investigate it thoroughly, definitely hold those responsible accountable, and definitely make the relevant officials write self-criticisms... But the municipal bureau and the provincial bureau are two sides of the same coin. How can the grandfather beat the grandson and the father just stand by and watch without protecting him?"
The director chuckled again: "Old bureau chief, we share the same fate, one prospers and the other suffers. If the municipal bureau gets criticized, do you think the department can escape unscathed?"
"Yes! Director, I apologize..."
As he spoke, Li Chunnan stood up, but the director pressed him down again.
"Director, I didn't mean to criticize you. I just wanted us to get this over with as soon as possible and discuss how to shoulder this together. If we wait until things fall apart before discussing it, we won't know how to smooth things over... That's why I'm in a hurry... Director, do you agree with what I said?"
Li Chunnan smiled and nodded: "The leader is right!"
The director smiled and took the document again: "I heard Chen Peng is still in charge. How's the case going?"
"Quickly: Apart from the main culprit, the rest of the perpetrators have been apprehended, especially the core technical personnel who opened the well and went down into the pit, as well as the violent elements who protected the pit—they have been almost completely wiped out!"
The director's eyes lit up: "How many were arrested?"
"Twenty-two people were involved in tomb raiding. Nine of them were killed and five were arrested when violent individuals armed with guns and carrying explosives resisted arrest. Sixteen other people were arrested as lookouts and receivers of stolen goods... More than 20 million yuan in illicit funds were seized, along with more than 30 firearms, including Type 81 rifles, Type 54 rifles, and homemade guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammonium nitrate explosives, and more than 300 kilograms of ammonium nitrate explosives..."
The director's eyelid twitched: Was the criticism premature?
The gang had over fifty members, more than thirty guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and over three hundred kilograms of explosives... These weren't just grave robbers; they were armed thugs.
Given the size of this gang, if this were reported to the ministry, even the minister's eyelids would twitch...
Then, the director's heart sank again: "What about our casualties!"
Zero casualties!
"What?"
Seeing that the director didn't believe him, Li Chunnan emphasized it again.
"Leader, there were zero casualties... There are several reasons for this: First, the criminal gang's hideout was identified before the operation, and it was extremely concentrated... Second, the encirclement site happened to be farmland, which was also a demolition area, uninhabited, so there was no need for a large-scale evacuation..."
Third, advance deployment and covert arrangements: In addition to the criminal investigation, communications, and public security detachments, almost half of the armed police detachment was mobilized, equipped with riot control vehicles and sniper rifles... From the arrest to the conclusion, it took less than forty minutes..."
The director's eyes lit up: more than fifty people, more than thirty guns, and it only took a little over half an hour... Chen Peng is quite capable.
But this isn't right...
"How did you avoid the mole in such a large-scale operation? We've got to turn them into defectors!"
"No, but Chen Peng took precautions in advance, excluding the mole from those in the know and decision-making level. It was a lucky accident!"
Hmm... It seems like Chen Peng has suddenly become more capable?
To be honest, the hardest part of any large-scale investigation or arrest operation is identifying the mole: the difficulty lies in the wide scope of the mole, and even more so in how to deal with them once identified.
If we don't take preventative measures, he'll definitely tip us off.
But if we try to control them, these insiders are incredibly tight-lipped. We can't get them down quickly, and if we don't contact them for a long time, the ringleader will definitely become suspicious.
It's a real headache and a difficult situation... So, whether it's a lucky shot or a slanted shot, as long as it hits accurately, that's Chen Peng's skill.
Based on this remarkably impressive record, even if higher authorities question him, the department head is confident he can smooth things over with a 50-60% chance. At most, the province will issue a written reprimand. Or, worse, they might just give him a verbal reprimand…
"Not bad... Old Director, really not bad... Please have some tea first, let me see the details..."
The director praised him several times and opened the folder.
The first one is a police report receipt... Yi Ce, Yu Wenming... Does that sound familiar?
But that's not the main point. What's important is that after receiving the report, Chen Peng made arrangements: to investigate antique markets and antique shops in the city, focusing on searching for artifacts with similar characteristics and from the same period.
The Cultural Relics Bureau was notified simultaneously that the tomb of Zhang Anshi was suspected of being robbed.
Excellent, very keen sense of smell, comprehensive planning, and decisive.
The second time, it was another police report receipt: "Mirror of Innocence, Seven-Star Board?"
Chen Peng intensified the investigation efforts again, even expanding the scope of the investigation to neighboring cities and provinces.
It was only this time that the cultural relics department took it seriously, organizing a cultural relics inspection team to survey the area surrounding Duling Mausoleum.
The city bureau's investigation took more than half a month longer than the cultural relics bureau's.
But that's still not the point...
The director hesitated for a moment, then flipped back over: "Huh... old director, were the two reports filed by the same person?"
"Yes, Lin Sicheng!" Li Chunnan nodded. "There's more to come!"
What else? Lin Sicheng has filed another police report?
The director continued flipping through the pages, then his eyes widened:
Chen Peng actually assigned Lin Sicheng a team to go find the grave?
No way... You actually thought of the police looking for a grave, Chen Peng?
But that's how he arranged it...
Based on Lin Sicheng's deduction, Chen Peng suspected that the looting gang's active area was in the Weiqu Town area. It was from that time that Chen Peng consciously began to guard against his own people…
However, this was just a guess, and the key point was that Chen Peng had never heard of this Lin Sicheng. How did he manage to believe Lin Sicheng just because Lin Sicheng dared to say it?
It's no exaggeration to say that if this weren't a post-incident report, but rather an investigation plan, the director would already be yelling at people...
He became increasingly curious and continued to look down, his eyes widening and widening.
It was this Lin Sicheng who, along with a few laymen assigned to him by Chen Peng, managed to narrow down the scope of the tomb to the area around Weiqu Town.
At the same time, he provided the public security department, specifically Chen Peng, with a complete direction for the investigation and investigative approach. This included the organizational structure, main members, sources of funding, and the chain of selling stolen goods of the excavation gang, etc.
As before, Chen Peng remained convinced and made adjustments on the spot, revising the investigation plan overnight.
What's even stranger is that Li Chunnan actually approved it?
The director didn't know what to say, so he looked up and glanced at Li Chunnan.
Li Chunnan gestured, indicating that he should look down.
The director sighed and continued scrolling down.
Because of the mole, the investigation made progress, but extremely slowly. It was Lin Sicheng who suggested a slight adjustment to the investigation strategy: instead of looking for people or tombs, look for cultural relics.
Then, the most exciting part came: Lin Sicheng, accompanied by two plainclothes officers, entered the tiger's den three times.
The objective was clear, based on the direction he gave Chen Peng: to find cultural relics.
The first time, a bronze mirror was found, narrowing down the location of the tomb from the more than ten square kilometers of Weiqu Town to the area between two villages of a few square kilometers.
The second time, it was also to find cultural relics... This time was the most exciting and the most important.
He bought a silver crown and a seal of a chief official... Based on these two artifacts, Lin Sicheng was certain that this was the same group that had looted Zhang Anshi's tomb.
You could call it luck, or you could say he stumbled upon it by accident, but he just happened to stumble into a den of thieves.
Before he even touched the tomb, he had already caught the grave robbers by the tail.
It was as if suddenly, an invisible hand descended from the sky, parting the leaden clouds thousands of meters thick, and a beam of light fell from the heavens.
Chen Peng and Li Chunnan, whose hair was falling out in clumps from worry, suddenly saw hope.
But if Li Chunnan and Chen Peng were to ask themselves honestly:
Without the first register and the jade Wenming, and without the second Tang Dynasty phoenix-patterned mirror, how could Fan Qiang have been so convinced that this businessman, who drove a car with a Shaoxing license plate, claimed to be from Zhejiang Province and was surnamed Zhe, was actually a wealthy antique thief from out of town?
Only then did I take him to the farmhouse.
So there's no such thing as luck, it's just inevitability.
This is why the classic scenario of "the fake Zhejiang boss using a few tricks, and the real tomb raider worshipping him like a god" came about.
Then, naturally and miraculously, Yu Dahai was pulled out...
The report only briefly mentioned it, but the director could imagine how professional Lin Sicheng had to be, how much he had to resemble an antique dealer and tomb raider, to get Yu Dahai, a slick, cunning, and ruthless old hand, to show his face.
Even after the entire gang was wiped out, Yu Dahai sent a text message to Lin Sicheng explaining that the reason his men at Nongjiayuan were all taken down was just a minor accident. He still had men under his command, and his cooperation with "Boss Zhejiang" would definitely continue...
Scrolling down further: it's still this Lin Sicheng. To stop China Construction's project, he searched for four large tombs. One was a Yuan Dynasty official's family tomb, three were Ming Dynasty princely tombs...
But when did the royal tombs of Xijing begin to appear one after another?
The director was beyond shocked.
Turning to the last page, glancing at it a few times, the director's eyes bulged outwards again: the chief engineer and general manager of the China Construction branch were involved in the case and had already been apprehended.
At the end, a line was written in pencil: "Last night, I went to the Xi'an Restaurant with General Manager Zheng from China Construction for discussions and happened to run into Lin Sicheng and Wang Qizhi. Subsequently, Wang Qiwen and Chen Tao turned themselves in..."
This will definitely be erased in the end, and it's written in a vague way, but the director can imagine what happened: General Manager Zheng from China Construction didn't back down an inch until after the meal, when he suddenly encountered Lin Sicheng and Wang Qizhi...
This means that Li Chunnan has shifted half... no, more than half, of this huge black pot.
For example, if the higher authorities were to hold someone accountable, the department head could simply present the report and say: "Look, leaders, it's not that we don't want to investigate this centrally managed unit, but the resistance is too great."
What? China Construction doesn't acknowledge it?
Your people took money from the tomb raiders and also took cultural relics, so it must be true, right?
After pondering silently, the director turned back to the first page and read it again. He remained silent for a long time afterward.
Before seeing this report, who could have imagined that the case would be solved in this way, or even to this extent?
After a long pause, he tapped the table: "Lin Sicheng, is he Wang Qizhi's student?"
Li Chunnan nodded: "Yes, a student, only a senior... graduating next summer!"
"Students... students?"
The director stared at the report, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief:
"Old Director, he's just a student, but how come it feels like he pushed the case forward entirely, and even guided the investigation? He did everything, both what he should and shouldn't have done? Compared to him, Chen Peng seems like he was just there to make do?"
Li Chunnan remained silent.
That's a bit of an exaggeration, and Chen Peng certainly wasn't just a bystander. But Lin Sicheng's role in the entire case investigation was truly irreplaceable.
He discovered all the main cultural relics, and he also speculated and confirmed that they came from the "Zhang Anshi Tomb".
He was the one who steered the direction of the first and second investigations, and he also analyzed the organization and modus operandi of the criminal gang.
He determined the burial site, found the tomb, and even forced China Construction to halt construction and had key criminals surrender themselves.
As for Chen Peng, he certainly played a significant role. Lin Sicheng provided the ideas, but at least someone had to carry them out, right?
Besides, wasn't the final encirclement and capture operation handled beautifully and brilliantly by Chen Peng?
“Right, I wouldn’t have remembered if you hadn’t mentioned it… When I think about it, Lin Sicheng only didn’t participate in the final roundup… But if he had to do all that, what would be the point of us?”
The director's eyes gleamed. "A genius detective, a crime-solving elite... Old director, don't you feel like you're watching a movie?"
Li Chunnan remained silent.
It's really quite amazing. After submitting this report, it's no wonder that the other leaders in the department and the ministry didn't believe it.
But this is the way it has to be reported; if I omit even a single line, Li Chunnan would feel guilty...
"Yes, report it like this: It doesn't matter that Lin Sicheng isn't a police officer, but Chen Peng, who is practically his superior, is a police officer, right? And the case was solved by the Municipal Public Security Bureau, so that's correct, isn't it? That's enough!"
"Of course!" Li Chunnan nodded and smiled, "It also wouldn't have been possible without the guidance of the provincial department!"
The director smiled and said, "The old bureau chief is really... too good at this!"
The case has been pending for so long, and it's only being reported today. The municipal bureau didn't even give the provincial department a chance to provide guidance.
Aside from the fact that the main perpetrators haven't been apprehended, the municipal police department has essentially handled all the remaining work. In fact, they've shifted most of the blame onto others.
It's like the provincial department is reaping the rewards without lifting a finger...
He sighed again: "Old Director, what I said just now was a bit harsh..."
Li Chunnan was about to stand up when he was pressed down again: "If I had known the case had progressed this far, I wouldn't have let you come; I would have gone to the station myself..."
"Director, you flatter me!" Li Chunnan smiled. "Actually, besides the report, there are indeed some difficulties, and I would like to ask the leadership for help in resolving them!"
What other difficulties could there be?
The director hesitated for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Yu Dahai?"
“Yes!” Li Chunnan nodded. “This is a clever little fish; not only is it hard to catch, but it’s also extremely cautious. Only someone with extensive knowledge of cultural relics and tomb raiding can keep him in check.”
Moreover, this time, the funding channels, the chain of selling stolen goods, and almost all the key members have been caught in one fell swoop, and Yu Dahai has become a frightened bird... So I think it's best to strike while the iron is hot and take them down in one fell swoop..."
Li Chunnan's meaning was clear: it wasn't that the bureau lacked talent, but rather that time didn't allow it. Putting everything else aside, could Yu Dahai really wait for the police to learn the code words and coded language before making contact?
Moreover, the incision is merely the surface; the crucial aspects are locating the tomb, digging into the pit, recovering the stolen goods, and conducting expert appraisal.
Putting aside whether such talent exists, even if it does, where can one find such professional and well-rounded individuals in such a short time?
After all is said and done, we still have to rely on Lin Sicheng...
The director pondered for a moment: "And what about him?"
"Full of a sense of justice: In order to find clues and gain the trust of the criminals, Yu Wenming, Tang Tongjing, and Changshi Yin all advanced money for him. Later, when the stolen money was recovered, I made an exception and only then transferred it to him..."
"Does that mean you don't lack money?"
"Of course he doesn't lack... He can make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars just by picking up a bargain!"
Li Chunnan sighed, "I have no shortage of reputation or status... Boss, do you remember the reverse flow kettle!"
The director was startled: "I was wondering why this name sounded so familiar?"
But that makes things difficult, doesn't it?
It's not just a matter of whether something is missing or not; it's not enough for Lin Sicheng to agree alone. His teacher, Wang Qizhi, also needs to agree.
"so……"
The director rubbed his chin. "I'll try starting from the top down. First, I'll contact the school... Meanwhile, you can try to persuade Wang Qizhi... He's from a military compound, and his father is still alive. He must have received a lot of patriotic education growing up. I think he should still respect a war hero like the old director..."
"We don't require Kobayashi to personally negotiate with the criminals, as long as he can help bring Yu Dahai back to China... Of course, security measures must be guaranteed!"
Li Chunnan nodded: "Don't worry, leader..."
Without hesitation, the director picked up the landline: "I'll contact them right now!"
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