0061 061 Law-abiding good citizen
Qi Yu remembered that it was less than two months after Qi Shuyao started junior high school. The weather was still very hot. He was in the office arguing with his boss when he suddenly received a call from the school asking him to come to the school after school.
He went to school as the sun set that day. The children were all walking out with their big schoolbags on their backs, but his precious darling was leaning against the wall. He went over and patted her head before going into his office.
Qi Shuyao's homeroom teacher was a man in his thirties with a buzz cut. When he saw Qi Yu come in, he took off his glasses, stood up, and shook hands with him.
"Director Qi, I know you're busy, and I didn't want you to make this trip, but Yao Yao, you know, seems to lack... attention at home, right? Please don't be offended by what I'm saying, but she seems to be seeking attention from others, and she's happier when she gets it. Also, our school is a combined junior and senior high school, and you should know Xu Chaoyi from the second year of senior high school. It seems he has a bit of a relationship with Yao Yao..."
He paused, seemingly considering his words, but Qi Yu already understood and took over the conversation directly.
"Teacher, I also know Xu Chaoyi. We're neighbors. The kids grew up playing together. I've always treated him like an older brother, but I might not have grasped the right angle. I'll teach him when I get back."
"Oh, okay, thank you for your trouble."
The homeroom teacher bowed and scraped as he saw him off. Qi Yu walked out, took Qi Shuyao's schoolbag, and led her home by the hand.
Later, Qi Yu thought that he had noticed the homeroom teacher's hesitant expression and the things he didn't say. He would always end the conversation hastily and would not linger to talk to the teachers alone after the parent-teacher conference. Or he should have noticed the watch that the homeroom teacher wore, which was completely inconsistent with his wealth, and the limited edition car that Shi Heyu sometimes couldn't afford.
The year Qi Shuyao was about to graduate from junior high school was the busiest time for him. The parent-teacher conferences that year were all organized by other people. In fact, he hadn't seen her junior high school homeroom teacher since the second year of junior high school.
But he never imagined that when they met again, he would see his mangled portrait.
Qi Shuyao was so frightened that she shrank into his arms. Qi Yu caught the phone, shook off the water droplets, and scrolled down the messages.
The homeroom teacher's wife was a piano teacher who had taught many of their students. Initially, some students noticed something was wrong in her WeChat Moments. As they scrolled back, they discovered more information about her unstable mental state. The beautiful teacher, who came from a middle-class family, gradually sold off all her jewelry almost immediately after they graduated. In the end, she even sold the piano that she had described as her other half. The homeroom teacher also resigned from the school and lost contact with everyone.
Several students who initially discovered the problem continued to investigate, using their own or their family's connections to search everywhere. Finally, at noon today, they found their homeroom teacher's body, which was covered in external injuries and had hanged himself, along with his wife's body, which had already begun to decompose, at his homeroom teacher's house.
One of the classmates' parents was a criminal police officer. He used his connections to reveal in the group that all the valuables in their villa had been moved out, leaving only pots and pans. The house was full of IOUs, and a well-preserved large box was filled with various gambling paraphernalia. Moreover, the homeroom teacher was missing the upper half of three fingers on his left hand, and judging from the direction of the force, he had cut them off himself.
He was pondering how to extract useful information from thousands of messages when Qin Zhuohan's message popped up on his phone. He sent several more in quick succession.
Where did you go? Why didn't you reply to my messages?
"Did you see the message in the junior high school group chat?"
"Even the homeroom teacher gambles!"
"It seems like they've been gambling for many years."
"I've cut off three fingers; I can't quit anymore."
"I see the top picture, and it looks like the patient who was sent to the hospital. Could they be from the same group?"
After reading the messages, Qi Yu turned around and pulled Qi Shuyao out of his arms, his expression very serious.
“Tell me everything you and Qin Zhuohan know, word for word.”
He took a large bath towel, pulled Qi Shuyao out of the water, wrapped her up tightly, and carried her back to the study. She was trembling and cold all over. Even after being placed on the sofa, she clung to Qi Yu's arms, holding his arm tightly, and only then did she intermittently tell him everything she knew.
Qi Yu freed his right hand to scribble and draw on the paper. After she finished speaking, he also fell into deep thought. The people behind these dead were undoubtedly Guan Xiang. The types of people that his junket operators loved to target the most were those who had their property demolished, those who had become rich overnight, and those who were corrupt. Now, there was only the last one who did not yet have a corresponding person.
After drawing a heavy circle around the embezzler, he wrote the homeroom teacher's name below. This was an ordinary person who was born to gamble. When he was lucky, he would win money, wear a diamond watch and drive a limited edition car. When he was unlucky, he would owe money. When he reached his limit, he was beaten up and committed suicide, and he also implicated his family.
Guan Xiang used to dislike targeting ordinary people, but now even these commoners in his eyes are getting into trouble. What's wrong with Guan Xiang himself?
Qi Yu put down his pen, his mind still racing, and hugged the trembling Qi Shuyao tightly, pressing her close to his chest.
In the Bei family compound, Bei Huai stood before his father, his back hunched, trembling as well.
Public opinion has spiraled out of control. He tried deleting posts and locking keywords, but each step backfired. Now, even the behind-the-scenes boss has been given a code name by netizens and is being attacked repeatedly on various forums.
After carefully reading several representative revelations, Bei Shuming had already sorted out his thoughts before Bei Huiyi.
The trigger could be Han Dan's dispute with his assistant over the division of profits, but the real issue was that the assistant had sided with the Bei family's rival company and revealed what he knew to the rival company's boss. The rival company then used this as grounds to report Han Dan's drama series to its superiors. Taking down a drama series or ruining a producer was not the goal; the goal was the entire Bei family behind him.
Bei Shuming lowered his eyes and kicked Bei Huisi.
"Is there anything about Han Dan that hasn't been revealed yet?"
"Yes, someone took photos of him entering and leaving the casino, but he has been stopped."
Bei Huai immediately handed over his phone, picked out the photos, and Bei Shuming angrily threw away his glasses and began giving orders.
"There's only one way now: cut ties with him and completely remove him from this show."
How do you pick them?
"Are you stupid? He's just a staff member and doesn't have any fans. Have the cameramen and photographers delete all the photos of him, and then release a press release saying that this person is not the producer of this show and that there was a mistake. Do you think they're trying to sabotage your show? They're targeting our company. So we have to control them from the very beginning of this show and nip their intentions in the bud. Don't nod your head, get on with it now, and remember to make sure everyone involved pays hush money."
Bei Huai rushed over to carry out the order, and thanks to the efficiency of the veteran employees of the Bei family, he saw the press release online in less than an hour.
Afterwards, the public opinion was not completely under control, but it was already within their control. He wiped his sweat and collapsed on the sofa. After two days, he finally had time to look at his phone.
His message screen was still on his chat history with Qi Shuyao. He typed "Yaoyao" but couldn't remember what he was going to say at the time, so he simply greeted her and chatted for a bit.
He was relaxed and didn't notice that the conversation on the other end was different from his usual tone. After the chat ended, he threw down his phone, closed his eyes, and sighed.
On the other side of the chat interface, Qi Yu held his phone and looked at the few words of his complaint. Combining this with the information he had gathered online, he had a feeling that this Han Dan was the "corrupt official" exposed on Guanxiang's internet, but he had no evidence.
Qi Shuyao finally calmed down. She peeked out and stared at the announcement on her phone screen that the production team was severing ties with Han Dan. After thinking for a long time, she suddenly started flipping through her photo album.
She searched all the way to the May compilation and found several deleted photos in the cloud drive. The photos were of her, Bei Huisi, and Han Dan, with the film set in the background, and even several obvious film set pieces were visible.
She showed the photo to Qi Yu, and Qi Yu received a message from Zhou Cheng on his phone.
"When President Song was driving for Guan Xiang before, he took photos of Han Dan entering and leaving casinos."
The photos from the other side were also sent over. The two photos were placed side by side, and Han Dan was even wearing the same clothes, with the keys on her waist in the exact same position.
"What's this……"
Before Qi Shuyao could react, a plan formed in Qi Yu's mind. He looked down at the little girl's round head and reached out to touch it.
"Yaoyao, Daddy has something I want to ask you..."
Guan Xiang sat in the police chief's office, holding a teacup, but didn't drink a drop.
The police station was bustling with activity; everyone was running around, people coming and going. Only he sat leisurely inside the transparent glass, clutching an incongruous Buddhist rosary in his hand.
The bureau chief finally finished his work, pushed open the door and came in. He glanced at the string of Buddhist beads, grinned, and sat down opposite Guanxiang.
"This must be Mr. Guan's first time in a place like this. Please don't mind that it's small."
"Um……"
Guan Xiang closed his eyes and exhaled through his nostrils.
The cigarette the bureau chief raised went unnoticed, and his leaning posture resembled that of a clown. He threw the cigarette butt on the table and leaned back.
"I know Mr. Guan is busy, so I'll get straight to the point. Yesterday, our police officers, along with officers from a local police station, arrested a group of people in the middle of the night and brought them back overnight. It was a minor matter, but unfortunately, the suspects, despite having solid evidence, were incredibly audacious and even mentioned your name. Although those people didn't look like the kind of people you've trained, we're here to be responsive to every request and ensure every word is verified. I'd still appreciate it if you could take a look."
"Who is it?"
Guan Xiang finally asked a question lazily.
"This is a bit complicated. In the liberated area of Jingyang, there's a businessman surnamed Chang whose family is in the leather business. They've made quite a bit of money recently. His youngest son went down to play and got targeted. They took him to a hotel to gamble. The boy is timid, and when he sobered up, he was scared. He immediately called his uncle, who's a team leader under me. His uncle, who also dotes on his son, didn't even ask for permission and just led his men down and wiped out the whole group. They brought them all back. These guys are so arrogant. They won't admit anything and even flaunt your title, making it sound so convincing. I'm having a hard time taking action..."
"There's nothing wrong with doing it. Just follow the procedures and do what needs to be done. In a society governed by the rule of law, we all have to abide by the law."
"There are two people in here, and they're not just gambling. They both look unwell. The narcotics officers happened to be passing by and took them in for testing. And they actually tested positive for drugs. This...this one..."
"Director, you know me. I never touch these things."
"Yes, I know Mr. Guan is law-abiding, but these two..."
Guan Xiang interrupted the bureau chief for the third time, standing up abruptly and looking down at him.
"I'll say it again: those who break the law should be arrested. What, does the bureau chief want to lead the way in bending the law for personal gain?"
Upon hearing this, the bureau chief stopped pretending. He leaned back, lit a cigarette, and crossed his legs.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Why didn't Boss Guan come to our previous gathering? Also, we haven't seen your Yang Pingping for so many years. Is she not favored?"
“Yang Pingping, take her home if you like her. Having more friends means having more options. Having more daughters means you have more options than just one path.”
After Guan Xiang finished speaking, he turned and walked out. He was wearing a long cloak, which swung behind him in an arc and almost hit the director's face.
The bureau chief then violently slammed the untouched teacup down behind him, and crumpled the entire pack of cigarettes into a ball and threw it on the ground.
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