"What did they find?" Old Wang asked.
Xiao Li poured several items out of the evidence bag: a small bottle of alcohol, a pair of tweezers, and half a packet of unopened clam oil...
The packaging is exactly the same as the ones sold in Linli's shop.
The young man's face turned pale instantly.
Under Old Wang's piercing gaze, he stammered out his confession.
It was Zhao Laosi who made him do it.
Every night at midnight, he would climb into the shop through the back window, add something to the cosmetics, and then seal it up again.
Those customers who came to complain were all shills hired by Zhao Laosi.
“He said… that he ruined my business, and that he was the only one selling daily necessities in this area.”
Xu Yue was so angry that she trembled all over, her nails digging deeply into her palms.
Old Wang signed his name heavily on the police report, the pen tip tearing through the paper.
The sunlight outside the window shone through the clouds onto the red-painted characters "Serve the People," giving off a surprisingly warm feeling.
"Comrade Lin, don't worry, we'll go and summon Zhao Laosi right away and make sure you get justice."
When Lin Li led the group out of the police station, the locust tree on the street corner had just sprouted new buds.
She looked up at the azure sky and suddenly felt that the spring breeze really did have a slightly sweet taste.
"Xu Yue, you've been wronged this time. I will find the culprit and avenge you."
Xu Yue blushed. In the end, it was because she hadn't done her job carefully that Zhao Laosi had the opportunity to take advantage of her.
Dr. Ke Lin also greeted her warmly.
She was truly ashamed.
As the group left with their heads down, they saw that the police had already arrested Zhao Laosi.
As he brushed past them, a deep resentment lingered in his eyes.
When Zhao Laosi was taken into the interrogation room, the spring sunlight was shining obliquely through the iron window, casting a narrow patch of light on the cement floor.
He hunched his shoulders, his usually bright eyes fixed on his worn-out canvas shoes, his fingers unconsciously picking at the stains on his cuffs.
"Zhao Laosi,"
Old Wang pushed a steaming cup of tea in front of him, the enamel cup still bearing a ring of brown tea stains on the rim. "Now that things have come to this, are you still planning to keep it a secret?"
The interrogation room was so quiet you could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Zhao Laosi's Adam's apple bobbed, and he picked up the teacup and took a big gulp. The scalding tea made him grimace, but it also seemed as if he had made up his mind.
"Officer Wang, I'll tell you..."
He wiped his mouth, his voice trembling with tears, "But you have to promise me this has nothing to do with my family. My wife is pregnant..."
Old Wang didn't reply, but took out a leather notebook from the drawer, paused the pen tip on the paper, and said: "Just make it clear."
Zhao Laosi's voice began to tremble, as if he was afraid of being overheard.
He said that he did initially want to make things difficult for Xu Yue, since that woman had a good source of goods and her business was thriving, while his grocery store, which he had run for three years, was deserted.
But when it came to actually taking action, he hesitated—after all, it was illegal.
“It was Jia Dashan who found me.”
Zhao Laosi's voice suddenly rose, then he hurriedly lowered it again.
“He said that as long as I did what he said, he would not only give me five thousand yuan, but also let me work with him in the cosmetics wholesale business, which would be ten times better than what I am now.”
The name was like a pebble thrown into Old Wang's heart, stirring up ripples.
Jia Dashan is a big shot in Beijing. It is said that he holds exclusive agency rights for several manufacturers and owns three shops in the Xidan area alone.
How could someone like that personally get involved in such despicable dealings?
"What exactly did he say to you?"
Old Wang leaned forward, and the handwriting on the notebook became increasingly messy.
“On the 15th of last month, he had his driver pick me up in that Bluebird sedan,”
Zhao Laosi licked his chapped lips, a barely perceptible hint of envy flashing in his eyes.
"In a private room at 'Shunfenglou,' we ordered a table full of dishes. He said that Dr. Lin's 'Beauty Makeup' had taken away a lot of his business, and asked me to find a way to ruin her business."
Zhao Laosi hesitated at first, saying that he didn't have that ability.
Jia Dashan smiled and took out a stack of letters stamped with a red seal from his bag.
The document details how to infiltrate "Liren Makeup," how to tamper with the products, and even clearly identifies which items are easiest to target.
He also said that he would buy all the goods after the deal was done.
Old Zhao was referring to the piles of expired face cream in his grocery store. "I was confused for a moment..."
Old Wang closed his notebook, his knuckles turning white from the force.
He got up and walked to the window, looking at the newly sprouted poplar trees in the yard.
Jia Dashan's move was quite cunning; he used Zhao Laosi's hand while managing to absolve himself of all responsibility.
Did Jia Dashan say why he specifically targeted Lin Li?
Zhao Laosi thought for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh: "That's it! He said the Lin family members are all the same. Relying on their medical skills, they not only got his daughter into jail, but also infiltrated his hair growth product market and stole many of his customers."
This information gave Lao Wang a jolt.
He immediately ordered someone to check the recent police reports.
He frowned as he looked at the information coming from other police stations.
The clues are becoming clearer, but the most crucial link is still missing.
This proves that Jia Dashan did indeed instigate Zhao Laosi.
Old Wang decided to start with that five thousand yuan.
He reviewed Jia Dashan's bank statements for the past three months and discovered that on March 20th, 5,000 yuan was transferred from his account to a person named "Qian San".
And this Qian San is Zhao Laosi's brother-in-law.
"It seems that Jia Dashan is quite cautious."
Holding the bank receipt, Xiao Li frowned, "They actually went through all this trouble."
Old Wang laughed: "The more cautious you are, the easier it is to slip up. Go check on this Qian San and see who he transferred the money to."
The investigation into Qian San did not go smoothly.
This man was a good-for-nothing hoodlum who usually lived in a large courtyard in the south of the city and was rarely seen.
It wasn't until the morning of the fifth day that Xiao Li finally managed to corner the yawning Qian San in an all-night video arcade.
At first, Qian San tried to deny it, saying that the five thousand yuan was lent to him by Jia Dashan to start a small business.
But when Xiao Li showed him his call records with Zhao Laosi, his face turned pale.
Those conversations, such as "My brother-in-law asked me to ask you if the things are ready" and "When will the money arrive?", clearly record their shady dealings.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!"
Qian San slumped in the chair, sweat dripping down his face.
“It was Zhao Laosi who asked me to collect the money for him. He said he was afraid that if he took the money directly from Jia Dashan, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself if something went wrong.”
With witnesses and physical evidence readily available, Lao Wang immediately applied for a summons for Jia Dashan.
When the police officers entered Jia Dashan's office, which was covered with a red carpet, he was on the phone with a client, saying, "In business, we value integrity."
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