NOS Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Birch Bridge (4)

When Guan Yao stepped into the City Branch Bureau, Han Chen was putting on his police equipment. He glanced at the man covered in wind and snow, and casually pointed towards the interrogation room, “The Narcotics Division followed the leads provided by Song Chen and caught an upstream supplier in Songlan. They just brought him in. You interrogate him. This was originally a case your station was in charge of.”

“Song Chen?” Guan Yao was taken aback.

“Oh, it’s… ‘Little Song Brother’. Didn’t your Linchang Police Station catch a drug addict at the beginning of last month? There were no leads before, but now they’ve come,” Han Chen said, putting on his bulletproof vest and stuffing a revolver into it. He looked at Guan Yao, and asked in a seemingly casual manner, “How’s Chunming doing? I heard… he’s back in Za Mu Er?”

“Yes, he’s at my place, doing well,” Guan Yao said, taking the suspect’s personal information and scanning it twice, then immediately frowned, “Yu Zeng, registered residence, Guanwen Town, Yilin District, Hua City?”

“That’s right,” Han Chen nodded, “After Captain Wang reviewed his file, he told me that you were the one who should interrogate this guy.”

Guan Yao waved his hand, turned, and quickly walked towards the interrogation room.

According to Song Chen’s confession, he was just a small-time “splitter,” who got involved in this business entirely to pay off debts. He had no choice but to follow his “elder brother” he met in society, Yu Zeng from Guanwen Town, Yilin District, Hua City, onto this path of no return.

“Song Chen said that Yu Zeng had a major illness last year. After he recovered, he distributed the remaining goods in his hand to several underlings, with Song Chen, as a confidant, getting the most,” a colleague from the City Branch Bureau’s Narcotics Division said to Guan Yao outside the interrogation room.

Guan Yao sized up Yu Zeng a few times. The man looked like a monkey, his eyes darting around, looking shrewd and cunning, not like someone who would confess honestly.

Guan Yao held his personal information and thought for a moment, then said to his colleague, “Have you interrogated him already?”

The colleague raised an eyebrow, “We have. He’s a slippery old fox. That’s why we invited Captain Guan to come.”

“Don’t give me flattery,” Guan Yao smiled, left the file outside, and pushed the door open to enter the interrogation room.

As soon as Yu Zeng saw him, he started nodding and bowing. This old ghost, whose face suggested he was certainly wicked, asked very politely, “What’s your honorable surname, officer?”

Guan Yao glanced at him and showed his Police ID, “Do you know why you’re here at the Public Security Bureau?”

“I know, I know,” Yu Zeng replied repeatedly, “It’s because… I have a younger brother who’s unruly and did something illegal. He was brought to justice by the police comrades. I’m very pleased and I hope the police comrades can educate him well for me…”

“Do you know Li Guanglai?” Before the man could finish, Guan Yao interrupted him without mercy.

“Who? Li Guanglai?” As expected, a flash of panic crossed Yu Zeng’s face.

Guan Yao snorted and raised his chin at Yu Zeng, “Stop talking nonsense, confess honestly, where did the drugs in your hand come from?”

“I, I…” Yu Zeng’s rhythm was instantly disrupted. He stammered for a long time before continuing his previous words, “Officer, how could I have drugs? It’s all that kid Song Chen being careless, doing such dirty things.”

“Song Chen?” The colleague from the Narcotics Division sneered, “Song Chen had less than 50 grams of drugs in his hand, but according to him, you distributed as much as 10 kilograms. Do you understand what 10 kilograms means?”

Yu Zeng was determined to play dumb with the police. He put on a look of grief and indignation, “Song Chen said that about me? I treat him like my own brother, but he dares to slander me? This is slander, officer, it’s all slander. If you believe him, you’ll be fooled badly!”

“Slander?” Guan Yao took out an interrogation record, “Song Chen reported a total of three people, two of whom are your underlings, one nicknamed ‘Zhang Hei,’ and the other called ‘Baitiao.’ Last Friday and Saturday, these two were arrested in Wang Hezi District of Lin City and Mang County of Songlan, respectively. Their confessions are consistent with Song Chen’s.”

“Consistent?” Yu Zeng shouted, “It’s all framing!”

Regardless of whether it was framing, Yu Zeng’s fluster when Guan Yao mentioned “Li Guanglai” earlier couldn’t fool anyone. This drug dealer, who also came from Guanwen Town, must know Li Guanglai.

Therefore, Guan Yao changed his strategy. He smiled amiably and asked, “In that case, tell me first, where were you and what were you doing eleven years ago?”

“E-eleven years ago?” Yu Zeng swallowed, “Officer, eleven years ago is a bit too long ago, I don’t remember.”

“Eleven years ago is considered a long time ago?” Guan Yao seemed very patient, “But if your memory is so bad, I can also help you recall. Just tell me about your former workplace, Tianyun Metallurgical Factory, how about that?”

“I…” Yu Zeng’s face changed drastically at once. He didn’t know that Guan Yao actually had no evidence at all. This was completely a trap to induce a confession.

But the facts proved that Guan Yao had bet correctly.

Yu Zeng’s psychological defenses and “battle array” were shattered by the five words “Tianyun Metallurgical Factory.” His eyes were somewhat glazed, and his originally smooth tongue couldn’t articulate his words clearly.

“Don’t be nervous,” Guan Yao was still very good-tempered. He asked, “Have you ever worked at Tianyun Metallurgical Factory?”

Yu Zeng denied it flatly, “No.”

“No?” Guan Yao nodded, “Your registered residence is Guanwen Town, Hua City. Thirty years ago, Jiantou established a factory there. As far as I know, the majority of the residents in your town at that time were migrant workers. Your parents… should also be among them, right?”

“No!” Yu Zeng answered sharply.

“Okay, no,” Guan Yao continued to nod, “Then after the introduction of foreign investment, when Kеgong and Nonferrous Smelting were repeatedly reorganizing the metallurgical factory, was your town affected? Were your parents laid off? After being laid off, could your family make ends meet? I heard many workers…”

“My parents were not laid off!” Yu Zeng said loudly.

“Your parents were not laid off?” Guan Yao smiled, “So, they were indeed from Tianyun Metallurgical Factory, and you are aware of such a place, right?”

Officer Guan’s logical trap finally caught this person. Yu Zeng, who had been arrogant just now, opened his mouth, speechless.

“Alright, stop beating around the bush and confess quickly,” the Narcotics Division colleague who was accompanying the interrogation ordered.

Guan Yao asked again, “Do you know why you’re here at the Public Security Bureau today?”

Yu Zeng pursed his lips and reluctantly uttered a few words, “Someone reported me for drug trafficking.”

“Who reported you?” Guan Yao asked again.

“Song Chen, my brother,” Yu Zeng replied.

“Then have you trafficked drugs?” Guan Yao asked.

Yu Zeng slowly exhaled, resignedly saying, “I’ve already turned over a new leaf.”

“So have you trafficked drugs or not?” The colleague knocked on the table beside him.

“I have!” Yu Zeng answered impatiently, “I said I’ve already turned over a new leaf, that kid Song Chen is just framing me…”

“Where did your drugs come from?” Guan Yao raised his voice, suppressing the “jumping” Yu Zeng, “Tell me clearly the drug manufacturing location, the personnel, and your contact methods.”

“There’s no contact method, I haven’t contacted that person for a long time!” Yu Zeng paused, then softened his tone, pleading, “I admit I trafficked drugs, officer, I admit it, but I was desperate at the time, and I was coerced…”

“Coerced by whom?” Guan Yao didn’t want to hear nonsense.

Yu Zeng hummed, “Li Guanglai.”

“Who is Li Guanglai?” Guan Yao slammed the table, “I’m warning you, Li Guanglai has already confessed, you better give me an honest answer.”

As a prisoner in dire straits, Yu Zeng still hummed when he heard that Li Guanglai had been arrested. He replied, “He’s just, just a worker in the metallurgical factory, who knew a bit of technology. He, he’s good at chemistry, I started working with him at the beginning.”

“How did you two meet?” Guan Yao continued to ask.

“How did we meet…” Yu Zeng said with a stiff face, “I, I was delivering vegetables to the factory’s logistics at that time, and I didn’t know the workers in the factory at all. It was… it was one time when I went to a nightclub in town and ordered a lady, and she was the one he had his eye on, and that’s how we met. Because I have a wife, and my family relies on my wife to take care of everything, he used this to blackmail me.”

Guan Yao frowned, “He blackmailed you with just this? Nothing else?”

“What else could there be?” Yu Zeng said loudly.

“Apart from drug trafficking, you haven’t done anything like murder to silence anyone, have you?” Guan Yao looked at him with a cold face.

“Murder to silence anyone?” Yu Zeng was a little guilty. He really couldn’t figure out what the police officer in front of him knew, but having reached this point, since Li Guanglai had confessed, what good would it do to continue being stubborn?

Yu Zeng finally deflated, and he replied, “When the factory was downsizing, my brother and I, for the sake of our jobs, did… helped, helped the factory director do some dirty work.”

“What dirty work?” Guan Yao folded his arms.

Li Qie’s cause of death was not simple.

This man, who resembled a skinny monkey, admitted dejectedly in the interrogation room that he and his good brother, a foreman named Chen Yujie, in order to continue working at the metallurgical factory, had killed and silenced someone for the then-factory director Wang Xinsheng.

“I remember it was at night,” Yu Zeng pondered, “To be honest, I don’t remember the exact day. At that time, Director Wang first approached Lao Chen, he was the small team leader in the workshop, and I was just an unemployed vagrant. At that time, the factory’s capital chain had some problems, and the higher-ups wanted to downsize. Director Wang guaranteed Lao Chen that if they could get rid of Li Qie, not only would he keep his job, but even my brother, could follow along and enjoy the good life in the factory. We both discussed it, and seeing that Li Qie was both clumsy and dull, and also a loner, we agreed.”

“How did the person die?” Guan Yao asked.

Yu Zeng buried his head and replied, “He was pushed into the smelting furnace by Lao Chen. Officer, you also know that the electrolytic aluminum smelting furnace is 900 degrees, and a person would melt instantly when they fall in, with no bones left. But, officer, I promise, I only knew about it, I didn’t do it.”

“You didn’t do it?” Guan Yao snorted, “Where is Chen Yujie now?”

“Dead,” Yu Zeng spread his hands, “He suffered retribution. That year, just after killing Li Qie, he got drunk, fell into a ditch, and broke his neck.”

“So it’s a case of no evidence,” Guan Yao said.

“Officer, I really…”

Guan Yao raised a hand, not wanting to hear this person’s sophistry, he asked, “Then what? How did Li Guanglai find out that you killed Li Qie?”

Yu Zeng spoke haltingly, “After helping Director Wang do the dirty work, I earned some money. I couldn’t save money, so I went to a girl for love. One night, after drinking too much, I, I blurted it out, and after being guided by someone, I told her about it. Then, then I was approached by Li Guanglai and found out that the woman was the one he hired to investigate the cause of Li Qie’s death.”

“Why did Li Guanglai want to investigate the cause of Li Qie’s death?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t know?” Guan Yao didn’t believe it.

“Really don’t know,” Yu Zeng swore.

“So, Li Guanglai used Li Qie’s death to blackmail you, and made you help him traffic drugs?” Guan Yao suddenly changed the topic, he asked, “Then do you know why Wang Xinsheng wanted to kill Li Qie?”

“This…” Yu Zeng was stunned, and he replied blankly, “I can’t say for sure, it seems, was it a personal feud? Mainly, I didn’t work in the factory before, I didn’t even know him. Oh right, Chen Yujie seemed to know, but I didn’t ask.”

This was indeed a difficult problem. Yu Zeng’s accomplice, Chen Yujie, was already dead, and now it was difficult to say exactly why Wang Xinsheng wanted to kill Li Qie based on his own word alone.

Guan Yao tapped the table and changed the question, “Does Li Guanglai know who these ‘splitters’ under your hand are?”

Yu Zeng “hissed” and said, “He really knows, I gave him a list, but I don’t know if he specifically contacted them without going through me.”

“Then when was the last time you contacted Li Guanglai?” Guan Yao asked.

“The last time was… around June last year. At that time, I was in He Cheng, and he specifically sent someone to travel a long distance to deliver some goods to me,” Yu Zeng replied.

“Goods?” Guan Yao narrowed his eyes.

“It’s drugs, about 10 kilograms of ice, hidden in the furniture. After I distributed these ice to Song Chen and other brothers, Li Guanglai actually asked me to take back 5 kilograms, saying he had a big use for it…” Yu Zeng wrinkled his face and asked, “Officer, I really turned over a new leaf, I confessed so much, does it count as meritorious service?”

“Do you still have contact with Li Guanglai now?” Guan Yao didn’t want to say anything else to him.

Yu Zeng sighed, “No, really no, I don’t do this anymore.”

“Then do you remember what the driver who delivered the goods to you looked like?” Guan Yao asked again.

“The driver?” Yu Zeng couldn’t recall, “It seems, it seems he was quite thin and small, but the face… I don’t remember.”

“Is it this person?” Guan Yao took out Ge Xiaopei’s photo.

Yu Zeng first nodded, “Looks a bit like him.”

But then he shook his head, “It seems… it doesn’t seem like him either.”

“Okay, I understand.” Guan Yao drew out another photo from the information and handed it to Yu Zeng, “Take a look at this person, do you recognize him?”

“This…” Yu Zeng widened his eyes and looked for a long time, finally shaking his head, “I don’t recognize him.”

“Don’t recognize him?” Guan Yao retracted the photo.

“Really don’t recognize him,” Yu Zeng said very sincerely.

The person in the photo was Qin Tian. As the “victim” of Song Chen’s drug trafficking, it seemed that he had a feud with someone, so Guan Yao now urgently needed to know where the person who made Qin Tian smoke “fake cigarettes” and used the name of the police to threaten Song Chen and ruin him came from.

But unfortunately, Yu Zeng had never seen Qin Tian at all, or even heard of the person’s name.

Then who wanted to harm Qin Tian?

At this moment, in Building 5 of the Linchang Staff Family Compound, Yu Chunming was standing at the door, asking, “What did you just call me?”

“Call you brother?” Qin Tian had a sincere look on his face, “Police officer, you should be older than me, right?”

Yu Chunming lightly sighed, took out his wallet, and counted out ten red bills, “When are you going to pay me back?”

Qin Tian grinned foolishly, “Tomorrow, I’ll pay you back when I get things sorted out.”

“Get things sorted out?” Yu Chunming raised his head to look at him, “How do you plan to get things sorted out?”

“How do I plan…” Qin Tian proudly raised his face, boasting, “I’m great at playing pool, I’ll be a sparring partner for a day tomorrow, and I’ll make my money back right away.”

“Don’t do anything illegal or violating discipline,” Yu Chunming opened the outer door and handed the money to Qin Tian.

“Yes, sir!” Qin Tian saluted and turned to go home.

“Wait,” Yu Chunming called out to him at this moment, “Where did your mother go tonight? I… I borrowed something from her before, and I was planning to return it, but I haven’t seen her.”

“Her?” Qin Tian scratched his head, which was about to be ruined by alcohol, and answered erratically, “She ran outside to meet a man, maybe, maybe she went to the river.”

“The river?” Yu Chunming followed his words, “What’s she doing at the river meeting a man? It’s snowing outside, isn’t she cold?”

“How would I know?” Qin Tian said with a straight face, “Anyway, every time she goes out at night, she goes to the river. When she comes back, the bottom of her shoes is all muddy. When I ask her, she says she went to meet a man. But tell me, besides the river, where else is there mud in Za Mu Er?”

Yu Chunming was suspicious, “Then will your mother come back tomorrow morning?”

“I don’t know,” Qin Tian stumbled, turned and fell into the house. Before closing the door, this person kindly replied, “If you want to see her, make an appointment in advance!”

Then, thump—

The lights in the stairwell went out, and a gust of cold wind suddenly blew in.