NOS Chapter 15

Chapter 15 Huangshaling (2)

As soon as Guan Yao stepped out of the monitoring room, he heard a burst of noise from the hall. He looked up and saw a person staggering towards him.

“Stop right there!” Yu Chunming shouted.

Guan Yao’s brow furrowed, he moved swiftly forward, raised his arm to block, and pressed the person to the ground. Yu Chunming, who had been chasing all the way, pushed aside the onlookers, directly took out handcuffs, and twisted up the man who was running away in a panic.

“Police officer, I, I, what crime have I committed?” the man, unable to move under Guan Yao’s pressure, asked stammeringly.

Yu Chunming lifted the man from the ground and scanned him up and down, “What’s your name?”

“My name, my name is Ge Xiaopei,” the man answered with a look of panic.

“Ge Xiaopei…” Yu Chunming looked at the man, who was more than half a head shorter than him and particularly thin and small, and frowned deeply, “Where were you in January of this year?”

Ge Xiaopei was stunned for a long while, then answered blankly, “In Songlan.”

“What were you doing in Songlan?”

“I was, I was meeting a friend in Songlan.” This “Ge Xiaopei” looked extremely innocent.

“Meeting a friend?” Yu Chunming narrowed his eyes.

Ge Xiaopei quickly added, “I’m not lying, I really was just meeting a friend.”

Guan Yao looked at Yu Chunming, “Is this a suspect from your previous case?”

“Yes.” Yu Chunming took out his phone and quickly pulled up an ID and several surveillance videos of a figure from behind, “Take a look, is it him?”

Guan Yao carefully compared them for a long time, and finally nodded, “It’s him.”

“If it’s him, take him away,” Yu Chunming said.

He grabbed Ge Xiaopei and quickly walked out of the increasingly crowded station hall. Once they were down the steps and in front of the police car, Yu Chunming couldn’t help but say, “You recognize me.”

This was a statement of certainty.

But Ge Xiaopei shook his head frantically, “I don’t recognize you.”

“Then why did you run?” Yu Chunming questioned.

Ge Xiaopei’s throat felt dry, and he said evasively, “I, I get scared when I see police.”

“If you haven’t broken the law, what’s there to be afraid of when you see the police?” Guan Yao asked, puzzled.

Yu Chunming reached out, “Give me your ID.”

Ge Xiaopei started shaking his head again, “My ID… is lost.”

Yu Chunming took a deep breath, shoved the man into the police car, then turned to ask Guan Yao, “How’s the monitoring going?”

“Oh, the monitoring,” Guan Yao took out a USB drive, “It’s all copied. I took a preliminary look just now. Around 10:30, a total of three people withdrew money here, one was a station employee, one was a female passenger who had just gotten off the train, and the other was someone whose face was not clear, but left the station immediately after withdrawing the money.”

“Left the station?” Yu Chunming asked in surprise.

“Yes,” Guan Yao nodded, “The surveillance video clearly recorded that he left on an electric tricycle.”

The man who left on the electric tricycle was wearing a thick mask and a baseball cap that almost covered half of his face. He was slightly hunched, thin, and didn’t seem short, but his movements were somewhat timid.

Back at the police station, the two squeezed in front of the computer, staring intently at the man in the surveillance video who was craning his neck and shrinking back.

Guan Yao asked, “Can you tell if it’s He Wang?”

Yu Chunming shook his head, “We’ll have to wait for Songlan to send over the surveillance footage they got at the time to be sure if it’s He Wang. I’ve only seen He Wang’s ID, but I can’t see his face now, so no one can guarantee it.”

Guan Yao brushed the stray hairs from his forehead and stood up, “Let’s go, let’s interrogate that ‘Ge Xiaopei’ first.”

Sitting in the interrogation chair, the unusually sneaky-looking “Ge Xiaopei” looked left and right. As soon as someone came in, he asked urgently, “Police officer, what crime have I committed?”

Yu Chunming sat opposite him, scrutinizing the man with cold eyes for a full minute, before holding up his Police ID and asking, “Do you know why you were summoned to the police station today?”

Ge Xiaopei swallowed and shook his head with clear eyes, “I don’t know.”

Yu Chunming asked again, “You admitted earlier that you went to Songlan in January of this year. Now, please recount your movements at that time.”

“Movements?” Ge Xiaopei replied blankly, “I don’t remember.”

“Don’t remember? It’s only been half a year, is your brain full of paste?” Yu Chunming said sternly.

Ge Xiaopei tried to scratch his ears and cheeks, but his hands were fixed to the desk, so he glanced furtively at Guan Yao, who was sitting to the side taking notes, and asked in a low voice, “Police officer, can we get someone else to interrogate me?”

Guan Yao looked up in surprise, “What did you say?”

Ge Xiaopei shrank his head timidly and replied, “I just get… cramps in my legs and my whole body goes limp when I see this officer, I can’t say anything. Can you, can you change someone to interrogate me?”

*Bang!* Yu Chunming slammed the table, startling Guan Yao as well.

“You think you get to pick and choose here?” he said sternly, “I ask, you answer, don’t say anything else!”

Ge Xiaopei choked, froze opposite him, and didn’t dare to move.

Guan Yao asked, “In that case, tell me, why are you afraid of him, but not afraid of me?”

“This…” Ge Xiaopei hesitated.

Guan Yao smiled kindly, “Tell me honestly, have you… seen him somewhere before?”

Ge Xiaopei pursed his lips and his eyes began to dart around.

Yu Chunming asked in a deep voice, “Did you go to Songcheng Mansion in January of this year?”

“J, January, Songcheng Mansion?” Ge Xiaopei immediately replied loudly, “I’ve been running a car and soliciting customers at Za Mu Er Railway Station since last December. I’ve been kicked out by security several times, you can ask around, everyone at the station knows me! I’ve never been to Songcheng Mansion, I went to Songlan in January just to drink with my friend, I didn’t do anything!”

This sounded confident and didn’t seem false, but Ge Xiaopei clearly recognized Yu Chunming, so what was the connection between these two?

Guan Yao gave the person next to him a look, signaling him to soften his stance when appropriate. Since this Ge Xiaopei was afraid of him and wouldn’t answer properly with him present, it would be better to change someone and lower the suspect’s level of psychological defense.

But Yu Chunming refused to leave. Not only did he refuse to leave, but he also signaled Guan Yao to wait outside.

Guan Yao’s face darkened, “Am I the leader, or are you the leader? Go out and have Meng Changqing come in.”

Publicly embarrassed, Yu Chunming swallowed his anger and stood up reluctantly, letting Meng Changqing, who was watching the surveillance outside, come in to replace him.

Meng Changqing had a delicate and round face. Ge Xiaopei looked at him and instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He sighed, “Police officer, it’s really not my fault. I just get nervous when I see, when I see that officer. It wouldn’t be good if I threw up my breakfast again.”

Guan Yao asked with interest, “You get nervous when you see him? What, does he eat people?”

“Not necessarily,” Ge Xiaopei answered with a bitter face, “Police officer, you don’t know, I was indeed in Songlan in January and did see him, but, but I just passed a message to him for a friend. As a result, he chased me for a full ten streets! Police officer, ten streets, from Southern Zhou all the way to Pinggang, my god…”

“Stop,” Guan Yao raised his hand, “What do you mean by passing a message?”

“Passing a message… is just passing a message,” Ge Xiaopei’s voice grew softer, “Police officer, I promise, I’m telling the truth.”

Guan Yao sensed something was wrong, “Why did he chase you? How did you get away?”

“How would I know why he chased me? He was just being unreasonable. As for later…” Ge Xiaopei smacked his lips, “He just couldn’t run anymore, right?”

Guan Yao narrowed his eyes, “You’re pretty proud of yourself.”

“No, no, no, I wouldn’t dare,” Ge Xiaopei quickly apologized.

Guan Yao continued to ask, “So, what exactly did you say at the time?”

Ge Xiaopei wanted to scratch his head, but he only raised his hand halfway before it was pulled down by the handcuffs. He had no choice but to reply dejectedly, “I’m not very clear, because, because it was said to be passing a message, but it was actually delivering a letter. I have high moral character and didn’t look at what was in the letter.”

“Delivering a letter?” Guan Yao had never heard of this, “What letter? Who asked you to deliver it?”

“How would I know?” Ge Xiaopei answered honestly, “At first, I was hired to deliver something. I’m a car driver, so what’s it to deliver something? But because I was in a hurry to go home and see my mother at the time, I had already arranged to carpool with someone on the day I was supposed to deliver it. There was really no way, so I delivered it to the place one night in advance, which is, which is Songcheng Mansion that I just mentioned. But who knew, oh my, the police officer who received the package only opened it and glanced at it before rushing down to chase me. He chased me, so I ran, he kept chasing, so I kept running. In the end, he couldn’t run anymore, so I shook him off.”

Speaking of this, Ge Xiaopei said with lingering fear, “Luckily I was smart and ran the next day. I stayed in He Cheng for three months before returning to Za Mu Er, otherwise that police officer would have caught me.”

Guan Yao sized him up, “If you haven’t done anything wrong, why do you always feel like the police are going to catch you? You’re just delivering a letter, what are you afraid of?”

Ge Xiaopei’s throat caught, and he couldn’t speak.

Guan Yao smiled and leaned back, “Alright, hurry up and confess. If you confess, we can eat.”

Ge Xiaopei twisted his body and said hesitantly, “Police officer, actually… the things I’ve done aren’t that big. If I confess, can you give me a lenient sentence?”

“Oh, really?” Guan Yao asked sincerely, “Then tell me, and I’ll help you judge whether it’s a big deal or a small deal.”

Ge Xiaopei “hissed” and lowered his voice, “Police officer, in May of last year, when I was working in Hua Cheng, I owed a little… gambling debt. In order to pay off the gambling debt, I sold myself to a person for 30,000 yuan, and worked exclusively for him running long-distance private jobs, hauling goods that weren’t very clean. The letter delivery was assigned to me by that person.”

“Sold yourself to a person?” Guan Yao’s attention was immediately focused.

The interrogation of Ge Xiaopei lasted for almost four hours. In the middle, Meng Changqing was replaced by Na Fei, who was then replaced by Han Chen. By the time Guan Yao walked out of the case-handling area, he was so exhausted that his head was spinning. He yawned and patted Yu Chunming, who was sitting in front of the computer, “Have you eaten? That guy inside has confessed everything.”

Yu Chunming’s eyes lit up, “What did he confess?”

Guan Yao’s movement of stretching his shoulders paused slightly, then he answered softly, “It seems… it’s not anything important.”

“Not anything important?” Yu Chunming repeated.

According to Ge Xiaopei’s confession, in January of last year, he was working in an internet cafe in Hua Cheng after being introduced. Later, he was lured into gambling and owed nearly 100,000 yuan in gambling debts. After that, in order to repay the money, he had been looking for opportunities to earn money.

Around May, Ge Xiaopei, who still couldn’t repay the money, was desperate and decided to borrow to repay the debt, mortgaging his ID. It just so happened that at that time, he met a self-employed boss who was willing to pay him to run long-distance private jobs, who was the “friend” he spoke of.

“What the person looked like, where he came from, to be honest, I don’t know. We contacted each other online every time, and did transactions online. I haven’t met him, I’ve only seen the goods I ran for him. At the beginning, the goods weren’t anything special, just some livestock and some furniture and wood. It stands to reason that running long-distance hauling can’t make a lot of money, but the reward he gave was really a lot, so I was afraid that there was something else hidden in those livestock and wood… Later, I secretly pried open that piece of furniture when I stopped at a service area for a break. I didn’t know if I didn’t look, but I was shocked when I looked. Oh my god, there were a lot of bottles and cans inside. I don’t have much education, so I don’t know what they are, but I know that they are definitely contraband. So, at the end of last December, I tried to quit this job and returned to Za Mu Er.” Ge Xiaopei said this during the interrogation.

And Yu Chunming, after listening to Guan Yao’s retelling, said impatiently, “According to what he said, he should have been staying in Za Mu Er in January, so the one who…”

“It was him, he admitted it, he was the one who delivered the letter to you. In January, in order to repay the last sum of money, he took the last order, which was to deliver the letter to you,” Guan Yao replied.

As soon as these words were spoken, Yu Chunming got up and was about to walk towards the interrogation room.

“Don’t be anxious, don’t be anxious,” Guan Yao grabbed him, “Deputy Group Leader Han just went in and asked. After asking, he told me that the facts Ge Xiaopei said basically matched the facts you investigated last year.”

“What facts matched?” Yu Chunming shook off Guan Yao’s hand, “Since he is indeed the person who delivered the letter to me, then Han Chen should…”

Halfway through his words, Yu Chunming suddenly stopped. He turned his head and stared at Guan Yao.

Guan Yao had already anticipated everything he was about to ask, so he tugged at the corner of his mouth and replied, “Yes, Han Chen told me everything.”

There was a moment of loss on Yu Chunming’s face.

Guan Yao said nothing more, “Alright, you’ve been tired for so many days, go back and rest…”

“So you believed it?” Yu Chunming interrupted Guan Yao.

Guan Yao was stunned.

“So, you believe what Han Chen said, that the letter that was very likely sent to me by the murderer was actually forged by me, just to keep myself in the Municipal Bureau?” Yu Chunming looked at Guan Yao incredulously, “You believed it?”

Guan Yao didn’t know how to answer this question, he said wearily, “I think, this matter should have been determined after your Songlan Municipal Bureau investigated it, it’s not up to me to say what it is. Police Officer Yu, you are sometimes a little too impatient.”

“How can you say it’s impatient?” Yu Chunming was simply pressing closer step by step, he asked again, “Guan Yao, did you believe what he said or not?”

“What does it have to do with whether I believe it or not?” Guan Yao was a little annoyed, “I know, you’ve now caught the person who delivered the letter to you back then, and you think you can prove your innocence, but without investigation, no conclusion can be drawn on anything. You should know these things better than me.”

“Guan Yao, but that matter is not at all what Han Chen said,” Yu Chunming was so insistent for the first time. He grabbed Guan Yao tightly, not allowing him to leave, and explained with effort, “The murderer has been tracking me, he knows my movements, knows who my informant is, and knows the way I contact my informant, so he will…”

“Don’t tell me any more about the cases you’ve handled, I don’t want to violate discipline,” Guan Yao couldn’t bear it any longer and raised his voice to scold him, “I don’t want you to violate discipline again either.”

“Guan Yao…”

“Also,” some people not far away had already cast curious glances, but Guan Yao did not lower his voice, he said word by word, “Yu Chunming, you remember this, here, at Linchang Police Station, I am your team leader, your leader. If you don’t want to do it, then take off this skin you’re wearing and stop wandering around in front of me.”

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