Zou Peng's eyes lit up, and a warm smile immediately appeared on his face. He walked over and shook hands with Luo Wenyuan: "Oh! Xiao Luo is really a handsome man. Standing with Qingshan, they are like a golden boy and a jade girl, like people who walked out of a painting!"
Luo Wenyuan knew that Zou Kai was the old man Qingshan had saved when he was twelve, so it wasn't too much for Qingshan to call his son "Big Brother." Furthermore, Qingshan's crisp "boyfriend" made him feel so comfortable, and his jealousy had long since vanished. Hearing Zou Peng praise him and Qingshan as a perfect match, he felt so comforted, like a big cat being stroked, standing behind Qingshan, continuing to be her background and guardian.
After Zou Peng exchanged greetings with Qingshan and Luo Wenyuan, he turned around to face Zhu Manli and the young policemen. His expression suddenly changed from "warm as spring breeze" to "cold as winter" without even a transition. The onlookers were all amazed: How much does this man hate Zhu Manli and the others? Look how cold his face has become!
Zhu Manli was startled by Zou Peng's gaze. She quickly put on a smile and greeted the city bureau leader: "Zou, Director Zou!"
Zou Peng knew Zhu Manli's background. Her father was an old cadre in Lian City. Thanks to his influence, Zhu Manli was able to become the deputy director of the Heping District Police Station.
Heping District lives up to its name: peaceful and stable, with a well-educated population and a small floating population. Its crime rate is the lowest in Lian City, with only a few major cases a year, let alone criminal cases. Although Zhu Manli is deputy director, she primarily handles clerical duties like personnel information. As long as she doesn't make any major mistakes, she'll be able to work peacefully until retirement.
But Zhu Manli was ambitious, not content with her current position as deputy police station chief, and desperately wanted to move up. Even the city's public security officials were no fools; they knew Zhu Manli's ability. Honestly, they'd only given her the position of deputy police station chief out of respect for her late father. How could they possibly let her take a more important position and just sit there for free?
Zou Peng has always disliked people like Zhu Manli who are incompetent and only want to rely on bribery to get to the top. He usually tries to avoid her whenever possible, but today he discovered that Zhu Manli abused her power. Zou Peng despised her even more and decided not to let her off easily today.
Zou Peng ignored her and snorted, then asked Zhu Manli, "Deputy Director Zhu, since you want to arrest someone, you must have learned the details of what happened. Tell me about it!"
Zhu Manli paused for a moment. Seeing her son's dusty, lisp, and dirty face, she was furious. She wanted to arrest him and take him back to the police station to find out what happened. But since her superiors were asking, she couldn't help but speak. She had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer, "Director Zou, Comrade Chen Qingshan hung the victim, Tian Xiaofeng... my son, from a landscape tree. This caused Tian Xiaofeng's tongue to swell and he lost his ability to speak. This is considered serious injury and constitutes a criminal offense. That's why I'm arresting her and taking her back to the police station!"
In front of the Chen family, Zou Peng was just a carefree, rough-hewn old man. But in front of someone like Zhu Manli, he put on all the airs of an official. He put his hands behind his back, didn't even bat an eyelid, frowned, and looked gloomy. "Where are the witnesses? Where are the physical evidence? Is there a causal connection between being unable to speak and being hung from a tree?"
Zhu Manli was speechless and quickly winked at Tian Yao. After all, her husband was also at the deputy director level, on the same level as Zou Peng, so Zou Peng had to give him some face.
Tian Yao wasn't stupid. When he saw his wife's expression, he knew it was his turn to make his debut. He quickly pulled Tian Xiaofeng forward and said with a fake smile, "Hey, isn't this Director Zou? We met at the meeting last week. I'm Tian Yao from the Y Industry Bureau!"
Zou Peng had an even worse impression of Tian Yao. If he could handle an economic case of embezzlement and bribery, he would investigate Tian Yao first.
Zou Peng nodded slightly and said, "Director Tian, nice to meet you," and then nothing else happened, which made Tian Yao and Zhu Manli very embarrassed.
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