Chapter 362: 348
Xu Dayuan’s eyes lit up, and he patted Zhou Ning on the shoulder.
"You’ve reminded me, Mr. Zeng, go prepare the search warrant. Liu Yufei, call He Chunyang and ask them to bring the team over. We’ll act without involving the support team members, except for the people in this office. All other involved personnel must hand over their communication devices."
With this arrangement, everyone understood what it meant—the murder of Zhu Yantao’s son and his family was largely due to an information leak.
According to the information gathered from the investigation, the killer was ex-military, and most ex-military personnel move on to work within the public security, procuratorate, and judicial departments, which indeed made this arrangement necessary.
They all set out to carry out their assignments. Liu Yufei dialed He Chunyang’s number. They had always been on call for cases involving Guanghai Pharmaceutical Group. This time, as soon as she gave the instructions, He Chunyang didn’t ask any questions and immediately agreed to it.
"Director Xu, they’ll be here in forty minutes."
Xu Dayuan glanced at the time. Zhou Ning handed over his phone, which displayed an electronic map. The Water Bureau was located midway between the city bureau and Qidong, so naturally Xu Dayuan understood Zhou Ning’s intention.
"No hurry, let them head towards the city bureau first. When we are about to arrive, we’ll notify them to head over. He Chunyang has experience; he knows when to collect communication tools. Yufei, hurry Mr. Zeng up so we can move quickly."
Yang Xuetong handed Zhao Xinli a case that they had just finished preparing. It contained various items for blood sampling, and each person had changed into casual clothes, although Mr. Zhao’s disguise almost made Xu Dayuan burst out laughing.
"Are you going on vacation, kid?"
Mr. Zhao put on his sunglasses, his face serious.
"Leadership, this isn’t a tourist outfit. Look at this vest with so many pockets, it’s standard reporter attire. Let’s be professional about it. I will give you a few badges to hang on, so it’s clear we are here for an interview, which is perfect."
Xu Dayuan paused, the excuse was actually not bad.
"Call your dad, have him speak with the head of the Water Bureau. We’ll say we’re there for an interview. As for He Chunyang and his team, they’ll wait outside for now. Once we’ve confirmed that everyone is in the bureau, we will go in groups. Until everything is certain, we should still be polite."
Liu Yongxin waved his hand dismissively.
"Why be polite? Just follow the arrest procedure. If we make a mistake, Mr. Hu can just make amends afterward."
Xu Dayuan laughed, rubbing his nose helplessly as Mr. Zeng came rushing in with the search warrant in his hand.
"Poor Mr. Hu, always taking the blame. Everything is ready now, so let’s set off!"
The group descended the stairs without taking a police car. Instead, they drove off in an Iveco and several unmarked cars, leaving the city bureau compound with a roar. On the way, Xu Dayuan called He Chunyang to check on the collection of communication devices and then directed them to head straight to the Water Bureau.
...
Twenty minutes later, at the Water Bureau compound.
To coordinate with a century project in Qindao Area, the Water Bureau had simply moved its office to this sparsely populated location. After all, the reservoir and crucial points of the project were surrounded by factories and fields, with a lonely three-story building sitting in the middle of the courtyard.
The only things left in the yard besides the guardhouse were the garages, but from a distance, everything was clear at a glance. Upon reaching the guardhouse, Mr. Zhao stepped out and was just greeting the guard when he was warmly asked:
"You’re reporter Zhao, right? Our director instructed us to let you in directly. You can park anywhere in the southern parking lot. The director’s office is on the third floor, the farthest to the east."
Mr. Zhao, grinning, handed the guard a bottle of mineral water.
"Thank you, sir! We came in a hurry and didn’t bring much, so have a cool drink. Being on duty in this weather isn’t easy, thank you for your hard work!"
The guard was flattered and came out quickly, waving his hands at Mr. Zhao.
"Thank you, reporter Zhao. Remember, it’s room 301 on the third floor."
Mr. Zhao got back into the car and led the group to the parking lot. Only Zhou Ning and Xu Dayuan got out with Mr. Zhao, while the others stayed in the cars, since having too many people come out would look suspicious. Zhou Ning carried the survey case, from which the stickers had been peeled off, leaving it looking like a plain silver aluminum case.
Xu Dayuan carried a tripod, Mr. Zhao had a camera slung around his neck and was holding a video camera in his hand. You have to admit, the three of them indeed looked the part.
Many who were originally looking out of various windows into the courtyard retracted their gazes upon seeing the trio’s attire, sparing them any undue attention. Xu Dayuan lowered his voice and said,
"It’s all thanks to Mr. Zhao for coming up with this idea. Otherwise, once the police cars swooped in, everyone upstairs would’ve been in clear view."
Mr. Zhao grinned, sidled up to Xu Dayuan, and said in a hushed tone,
"Boss, let’s meet with this director first. As for He and the others, we can have him check the security footage downstairs. Say that an enterprise next door was robbed three days ago, and see if the surveillance here caught any footage. I took a glance earlier, and there isn’t a security office at the gate, so it’s probably inside the building."
Xu Dayuan nodded. Mr. Zhao was quite astute, and the script he came up with was pretty good.
The three of them didn’t talk further and leisurely made their way upstairs.
At this time, people occasionally moved through the hallway. Zhou Ning didn’t deliberately look at them, but several, especially the women, seemed keen to catch a glimpse of the excitement, clearly indicating that the office didn’t often have visitors.
Upon reaching the director’s office, a skinny, tall middle-aged man was already waiting at the door. When he saw Mr. Zhao, he immediately shook his hand and patted Mr. Zhao’s arm.
"Director Peng, we are from the TV station!"
"Journalist Zhao, please bring your colleagues in to talk. Let’s sit inside and have something to drink."
Smiling, he led the three into his office, which was actually a suite; there was a small reception area outside, and an office inside. Director Peng, Peng Enxin, closed the outside door and then the inner door. After all were seated inside the office, Director Peng then nodded towards Xu Dayuan.
"Our former leader told me just now to not disclose your identities. Whatever you need me to do or help with, just say it straightforwardly. Who are you looking to arrest?"
Xu Dayuan hurriedly provided a brief explanation of their purpose for being there. After hearing all this, Peng Enxin kept nodding.
"Fang Qing is our vice director of the Water Services Bureau, in charge of the Market Allocation Promotion Office (Development Planning Office) and Guanlu Reservoir projects. He’s been in the position even longer than my tenure as director, coming from a technical background. We’re all aware of the incident where his sister was kidnapped.
At the time of the incident, I hadn’t transferred to the Water Services Bureau yet; he was still in the engineering department, purely a technical staff member. In his years of service, Fang Qing has been quite dedicated and responsible."
This introduction seemed ordinary, but being described as merely ’quite dedicated and responsible’ was definitely not praise. Zhou Ning stared at Peng Enxin without speaking. For a professional deputy to get such an evaluation from his superior suggested that their cooperation hadn’t been pleasant. Whether this was tinged with personal feelings was hard to say.
Xu Dayuan just nodded, and Peng Enxin continued,
"As for Lou Sanfeng, he has always worked in the River and Lake Management Office. He’s been transferred for quite some time, but he doesn’t have any particular expertise nor has he done anything inappropriate. He’s a longstanding employee of the Water Services Bureau—a quite inconspicuous character who has never been promoted from his clerical position."
"When did Lou Sanfeng transfer?"
Peng Enxin took out a file box and handed a piece of paperwork to Xu Dayuan.
"He joined the Water Services Bureau in 1999 and has never shifted departments, rarely interacting with people from the River and Lake Management Office. He’s somewhat of a loner and doesn’t seem to have any intersections with Fang Qing."
Xu Dayuan nodded, indeed one oversaw river and lake management and the other engineering technology; they really didn’t seem related.
"Do you know about Lou Sanfeng’s father?"
Peng Enxin laughed, took a sip of tea, and replied quite directly,
"I know what you want to ask. We are all transferred soldiers, so there’s no need for ambiguity. I’ve known about Lou Sanfeng’s father, Lou Xianqiang, for a long time. He was forced to retire due to behavioral issues, and if I remember correctly, it happened around 2000.
I’m not clear on the specifics, but Lou Sanfeng was indeed affected by this, lost his backing, and given his lack of social skills and no interest in his work, he’s just been marking time here. While transferring is one aspect, everything still depends on one’s own abilities."
Xu Dayuan was clearly dissatisfied with this answer.
