NOS Chapter 25
by VolareThis was a long afternoon, especially for Guan Yao, who had something weighing on his mind.
He was restless, anxious, and irritable, sitting at an unfamiliar desk in the Municipal Branch Bureau, facing a group of unfamiliar faces, his head filled with the words Yu Chunming had said at noon.
“What are you thinking about, Officer Guan?” Na Fei asked at just the right moment.
Guan Yao was startled and quickly looked up from the mountain of case files: “Has the surveillance footage from that dumpling restaurant been retrieved?”
Na Fei shook the USB drive in her hand: “It’s here.”
Seeing that Guan Yao was about to ask more, she immediately replied: “I just checked the scene. The surveillance is a bit blurry, and the faces aren’t clear, but based on body language, we can initially determine that the person who switched coats with the customer at the next table was the same suspect who fled from the farmers market that night.”
“Truly cautious,” Guan Yao said.
“Yes,” Na Fei sighed, sitting down beside Guan Yao, “Truly cautious, using this method to confuse the police and evade capture.”
Guan Yao paused slightly as he flipped through the case files: “Confuse the police?”
Na Fei looked at him: “Does Officer Guan have any objections?”
Guan Yao shook his head: “No objections. I just think that what he’s doing isn’t to confuse us, but to confuse the person who got on the train at Baihua Station, just like us.”
Na Fei raised an eyebrow: “One of the veteran criminal investigators in the group also mentioned this possibility, but without solid evidence to support it, it can only be considered speculation.”
“Speculation…” Guan Yao suddenly changed the subject, “Everything Yu Chunming did before could, at best, be considered speculation, and speculation that was proven true. It doesn’t amount to fabricating evidence at all. Why did the higher-ups suspend him?”
Na Fei was taken aback by Guan Yao’s one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. She said in surprise: “Who said Chunming was suspended for fabricating evidence?”
Guan Yao was also surprised: “He did.”
Na Fei laughed upon hearing this answer: “Don’t worry, they’ll just make him reflect for a few days at most. They won’t pin such a big charge on him. He’s deliberately teasing you.”
Guan Yao frowned: “Teasing me?”
Na Fei didn’t say more. She pushed the materials in her hand in front of Guan Yao: “Deputy Group Leader Han asked you to organize these this afternoon.”
Working for the task force wasn’t a good job. If he could, Guan Yao would rather have his enthusiastic young apprentice, Meng Changqing, do it. After all, everything that was sent to him was internal affairs work that required no technical skills.
For example, checking reports, or organizing materials.
And what Na Fei had just given him was to organize the statements of the people who suffered minor injuries because of Yu Chunming’s inappropriate arrest on the train, and to handle the follow-up work.
This was a simple task, with no technical difficulty for Guan Yao. However, when he opened the first page, his expression suddenly froze.
Knock, knock, knock–
At 3:30 in the afternoon, a knock came from next door to Guan Yao’s house.
When the knocking sounded, Yu Chunming, who was obediently staying at home as instructed by his superiors, was dozing off on the sofa. But before he could actually close his eyes, the measured knocks instantly brought him back to his senses.
Knock, knock, knock–
It was a knock on the door of Guan Yao’s neighbor, Jiang Min’s house.
Yu Chunming put down the tiger doll he was holding and slowly sat up.
The corridor was silent. The visitor waited for a long time, but the owner of the house didn’t open the door. After a while, light footsteps came, and the knocker left.
Yu Chunming quickly went to the window and looked down sideways.
Guan Yao’s door didn’t have a peephole. He couldn’t see what was happening in the hallway, but everything downstairs was clearly visible. Before long, a short, thin figure came out of the doorway.
Yu Chunming narrowed his eyes. He noticed that one of the person’s arms was bent unnaturally across his chest, as if he had been injured. And the next moment, when the person looked up at the building, Yu Chunming instantly understood where this unnaturalness came from.
–He was the old man who had blocked him on the train at the critical moment, causing the suspect to escape and unfortunately breaking his arm in the crowd.
“Li Ying,” Guan Yao murmured in the Municipal Branch Bureau, “His name is Li Ying?”
Na Fei turned around: “Is there a problem?”
Guan Yao couldn’t say there was a problem. After all, the name was familiar to him. But in this world, there were just too many people named Li Ying.
Therefore, Guan Yao had no choice but to say: “I want to see his personal information.”
“Personal information?” Na Fei walked closer. “Isn’t his statement complete?”
“There’s something that needs to be supplemented.” Guan Yao stood up and walked to the computer. “This person seems to have a criminal record.”
“A criminal record?” Na Fei picked up the form, looked at the registration information on it, and said with confusion, “This person is an old man in his sixties or seventies, who broke his arm on the train. I met him once, he doesn’t seem like he has a criminal record.”
Guan Yao didn’t answer. He directly logged into the system to search, and before long, he confirmed his guess.
“He does have a criminal record.” Guan Yao looked up at Na Fei. “Li Ying, thirty-three years ago, was sentenced to life imprisonment for causing a major loss of life and property damage at No. 2 Timber Factory due to negligence in arson. He was released from prison fifteen years ago.”
After speaking, Guan Yao solemnly said: “I think it’s necessary for us to summon him again.”
“Old man, please don’t leave!” Yu Chunming chased him downstairs, all the way to where the old man was about to get on his tricycle, and called out, “Who were you knocking on the door for just now? I’m Jiang Min’s neighbor.”
The old man’s body stiffened, and then he slowly turned around.
He was thin and haggard, with a face full of wrinkles, and the corners of his eyes almost drooped to his chin. There was also a scar on his mouth.
This appearance made Yu Chunming’s eyelids twitch.
“Old man, you look familiar. You’re the one who accidentally injured his arm on the train the other day, right?” Yu Chunming pretended to be embarrassed. He pointed to the building upstairs cheerfully and enthusiastically, “I live next door, I just heard you knocking.”
“Oh, oh, hello.” The old man seemed a little slow to react, and his eyes were particularly dull. He moved his lips and uttered a nonsensical sentence: “I’m from Qian Jin Ping.”
Yu Chunming narrowed his eyes and slowly walked closer to him: “Old man, are you looking for Jiang Min… is there something wrong?”
The old man’s eyes darted around, and he didn’t answer.
Yu Chunming smiled kindly: “Old man, it was my fault that day, I was too reckless, and I haven’t had time to apologize to you. Hey, isn’t it a coincidence that we actually met here today.”
Yu Chunming was never an enthusiastic person, but now he seemed particularly eager to help. He said, “Old man, if you have anything you need, tell me, and when the neighbor comes back, I’ll pass it on for you. But don’t ride this tricycle, your arm is still injured. Or, I’ll take you back.”
“No, no need…” The old man suddenly became flustered. He turned to get on the car, but Yu Chunming grabbed the handlebars first.
“Old man, don’t be shy, and don’t be afraid of me. Our people’s police are for the people. You can tell me any difficulties you have,” Yu Chunming said with a smile.
The old man glanced at Yu Chunming’s expression, hesitated for a moment, and then said in a low voice: “Jiang Min’s kid stole, stole my money.”
“Qin Tian?” Yu Chunming blurted out.
When Guan Yao and Na Fei found Li Ying, the man was sitting in the office of the Linchang Police Station, giving a statement. He was wearing thin clothes, draped in a cotton coat given by a kind police officer, and was shivering slightly, perhaps because he was afraid.
Guan Yao strode forward, pulled Meng Changqing aside and asked: “Why is he here?”
Meng Changqing replied: “It seems he ran into a thief outside, and Officer Yu brought him here.”
“Officer Yu?” Guan Yao’s voice changed its tone.
He looked in the direction Meng Changqing was pointing, and saw Yu Chunming sitting to one side, arms folded, listening attentively as Fang Wang inquired about the whole story of Li Ying’s theft.
“Why are you here?” Guan Yao looked unhappy, and went up and pulled Yu Chunming out of his seat.
Yu Chunming glanced at Li Ying, who was still slowly describing what had happened, and obediently followed Guan Yao out of the office. After arriving in the corridor, he lowered his voice and said quickly: “Do you know that the old man who blocked me on the train that day is called Li Ying, the one who caused the fire at the No. 2 Timber Factory thirty-three years ago due to negligence.”
Guan Yao stared at Yu Chunming’s face: “I just found out, when I was organizing the information at the Municipal Branch Bureau. But what’s with you? I told you not to…”
“He went to your neighbor across the hall.” Yu Chunming quickly explained, “At 3:30 in the afternoon, he rode his tricycle all the way from Qian Jin Ping to the city to buy goods, but before he could even leave the market, his money was taken. According to him, the person who stole the money was your neighbor’s son.”
“Qin Tian?” Guan Yao’s expression softened. “No wonder I asked the village officials of Qian Jin Ping to assist in the investigation, and they said Li Ying wasn’t at home. So that’s what happened…”
“So, I took the opportunity to bring him to the Linchang station, and I also wanted to ask… about what happened on the train that day,” Yu Chunming said.
Guan Yao had no choice but to swallow back the words of blame. He looked at Yu Chunming’s still relatively normal expression, raised his hand and pushed him aside to rest: “I’ll ask anything you want to ask, don’t just stand there.”
“But…” Yu Chunming was still unwilling to leave.
Guan Yao was already taking care of things for him: “Xiao Meng, come over and take your Officer Yu away, and let him go to the clinic across the street to see why his low-grade fever won’t go away.”
“Okay, good!” Meng Changqing agreed before Yu Chunming could reply, “Officer Yu, let’s go.”
Yu Chunming’s objections were ineffective, and he had no choice but to leave with Meng Changqing.
Seeing that the man was gone, Guan Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled out his phone and called Han Chen: “I’ve found the person, he’s right here at our Linchang station.”
When Han Chen arrived from the Municipal Branch Bureau, the previously terminated questioning was restarted.
Sitting in the mediation room, facing this group of people, Li Ying, who was already somewhat afraid, looked even more timid.
“Old man, don’t be nervous, we’re just doing a follow-up interview on the arrest operation on the train the other day. You can say whatever you want,” Na Fei, the most affable, took the lead in speaking. She checked the statement made by Fang Wang and asked with a smile, “Or, should we talk about your wallet being stolen this afternoon first?”
Li Ying lowered his head, his eyes looking at the floor tiles. His voice was weak, and sounded almost pleading: “Police officers, can you… can you please help me get my money back first? That’s the living expenses my son gave me, three months’ worth of living expenses…”
“A total of two thousand six hundred yuan, correct?” Na Fei asked.
Li Ying nodded slightly.
“Before, you said that you met Qin Tian outside the South Suburb Grand Market. He kept talking to you, and at the time you didn’t notice whether you still had the money on you, right?” Na Fei asked again.
Li Ying suddenly became agitated: “I didn’t notice, but it must have been that kid Qin Tian who stole the money. He’s stolen my money more than once, it must be him!”
“Old man, please calm down, we mainly want to understand the situation,” Guan Yao interrupted Li Ying. He seemed a little impatient. “Qin Tian is a regular at our station. I know where to catch this kid.”
Hearing this, Li Ying relaxed slightly. He replied: “I… met Qin Tian outside the South Suburb Grand Market. Earlier, when I was a security guard at the Far East Department Store, I met him. This kid likes to gamble, and, and owes a lot of money. I even lent him a lot, and he’s never paid it back. This afternoon, he tried to cozy up to me, and I knew he was going to borrow money again. I wouldn’t give it to him, so he stole it. He knew my money was in my bag, he must have taken the bag when I went to buy rice and flour.”
“Did the people who went to the scene get the surveillance footage?” Guan Yao turned to ask Fang Wang.
Fang Wang replied: “They got it. You can see Qin Tian following Grandpa Li into the market. That kid is really a repeat offender, he knows what areas are blind spots. I think, maybe Grandpa is right, Qin Tian probably did it at the entrance of that grain and oil store.”
Guan Yao understood, and pointed to Li Xiaotian: “You go, go to that… Hui Chun Billiards Hall under the Clothing City to find Qin Tian, that kid is definitely there.”
“Got it,” Li Xiaotian shouted.
Watching the police officers set out, Li Ying, who had lost a large sum of money, finally relaxed a little. He specifically instructed: “Be quick, be quick, Qin Tian, he, he likes to gamble, maybe he’s already gambled it away…”
“Don’t worry, gambling is also illegal. Once we arrest him, we will definitely try our best to recover the stolen money,” Na Fei comforted him.
Li Ying nodded, seeming to understand.
On the other side, seeing that the theft case had come to an end, Guan Yao finally couldn’t help but ask: “Old man, where were you planning to go on that K5278 that day?”
“Huh?” Li Ying’s mind didn’t turn around for a moment.
Han Chen interjected: “K5278, didn’t you injure your arm on this train, old man? The comrades from the Baihua Branch Bureau even took you to the hospital and paid the medical expenses. Now we just want to understand where you were going and what you were planning to do at the time.”
“Where was I going… what was I planning to do…” Li Ying repeated the question to himself.
“Old man, the ticket shows that you were originally planning to get off at Da Mu Qi, is that right?” Guan Yao asked.
Li Ying became nervous again: “Police officer, is there something wrong with that?”
“There’s nothing wrong,” Na Fei said softly, “We just want to ask, what were you planning to do, old man? After all, because of the inappropriate arrest by our team’s comrades, your trip was delayed, and we must give you some compensation. Several people who were on the same train as you have already been helped by us to transfer to other trains for free. If you need anything, we will definitely…”
“No need,” Li Ying replied without hesitation, “I don’t need anything. Didn’t I say before? I don’t need anything.”
In Baihua, the police officer in charge of the follow-up had already registered his needs. This old man didn’t want anything other than a few hundred yuan for medical expenses, and he didn’t even mention that he wanted to continue to Da Mu Qi.
Na Fei and Guan Yao exchanged a look, both feeling a little confused. Han Chen asked at just the right moment: “Old man, I see your son’s identity information shows that he works in Da Mu Qi, is that right?”
Li Ying was obviously startled: “How could you find out that my son works in Da Mu Qi?”
Han Chen kindly showed him the police system page: “You registered it yourself during the population census a few years ago, have you forgotten?”
“Oh, oh…” Li Ying breathed a sigh of relief. “He works in Da Mu Qi, in the mines. Last week, I was originally thinking of going to see him, but, but it didn’t work out. Didn’t he send me a few thousand yuan? I just took it out to buy goods for my shop, thinking it would be better not to waste that money running back and forth…”
“Then do you know the suspect who jumped off the K5278 on the other day?” Guan Yao suddenly asked an unrelated question.