Binjiang Police Affairs

Chapter 1547 - 308: No Progress Is Progress!

Old Wei said last night that Director Chen would come to the branch at 5:30 to listen to the report; in fact, Director Chen and Deputy Director Liu, who oversees criminal investigations, arrived at 5:15.Han Yu rushed up to the third floor with his briefcase, entered the small meeting room, and was stunned to find not only Director Chen, Director Liu, and Captain Wei were present, but also Vice Secretary Jian of the City’s Political and Legal Committee. There are several vice secretaries in the Political and Legal Committee, but only Vice Secretary Jian holds a full-time position, signifying he was representing the secretary.

President Niu of the Changhang Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Corps had just arrived too, accompanied by a veteran criminal investigator. They hadn’t had time to check into their hotel, so their luggage was placed in the corner of the meeting room.

Director Qi had already done introductions, signaling Han Yu to sit down while asking, "Where are Jiang Youwei and Liu Guixiang?"

The progress on Case 01.01 was about to be reported, and logically, the captain and deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Team should be present.

Han Yu hurriedly reported, "Leaders, we have just received an important clue, and our branch’s Criminal Investigation Team Captain Jiang Youwei and Deputy Captain Liu Guixiang have just gone in separate directions to investigate."

"What clue?" Captain Wei looked up and asked.

"The victim’s jacket is made of high-quality fabric, well-tailored, and stylish, likely belonging to high-end clothing not affordable for the working class. We believe this is an important clue that could help identify the victim. From the label on the jacket, it appears to be manufactured by a Hong Kong-invested clothing company in Guangzhou, so we asked friends from the Shenzhen Smuggling Investigation Bureau to help us inquire about that company..."

Han Yu didn’t have time to exchange pleasantries with the leaders, and concisely reported the situation that the clothing the victim was wearing might originate from two different manufacturers.

To investigate a clothing manufacturing company, not only did they ask friends from the Special Economic Zone’s customs system for help, but they also utilized connections with Hong Kong Customs!

President Niu was quite surprised.

The veteran investigator Zhao Yongming from the Hanwu Branch’s Criminal Investigation Team was not just surprised, but also shocked.

Salted Fish’s friends are all over the world; what’s surprising about having friends in the customs system? In the military circle of friends, the number of generals could terrify anyone.

Director Chen was not surprised; instead, he seemed slightly annoyed, frowning slightly as he asked, "Did Xu Mingyuan help out?"

"Yes, he’s my senior brother."

"Xu Mingyuan used to be the captain of the Criminal Police Team in the Linghai Police Bureau." Director Chen introduced him to Vice Secretary Jian, then looked at Han Yu again, "What position does your senior brother hold now?"

The position of Criminal Police Team captain is not high, but the job is very important.

Without exaggeration, the captains of the Criminal Police Teams in the district and county police departments are all key members of the Binjiang Police Bureau’s criminal investigation system!

Linghai Police Director Zhang Yidong was overconfident but ineffective; he dismissed Xu Mingyuan as soon as he took office and soon had a falling out with Deputy Director Wu Ren Guang, who was in charge of criminal investigations. The leaders in Linghai City were infuriated by Zhang Yidong, and Director Chen was equally displeased.

Later, the senior brother made significant contributions during flood rescue operations, representing Binjiang Customs and even Jiangnan Customs. The leaders in Linghai City and Binjiang City Bureau were terribly frustrated; without Zhang Yidong’s strong backing, he would have been replaced as director long ago.

Unexpectedly, two years later, Director Chen still remembered the senior brother’s name, and Han Yu quickly said, "Report to Mayor Chen, my senior brother is now the Director of the First Investigation Division at the Shenzhen Smuggling Investigation Bureau."

"He became a Director?"

"He was just appointed last month; before that, he was acting director."

"Working with Liu Guan is more promising than with Zhang Yidong." Director Chen nodded, then turned sideward, "President Niu, since colleagues Jiang Youwei and Liu Guixiang can’t make it, shall we formally begin?"

"Alright," President Niu opened his notebook and looked at Director Qi, "Zhikun, will you report, or should Salted Fish do it?"

"Let Salted Fish report; he’s most familiar with the situation."

"Salted Fish, please begin."

"Yes!"

Han Yu steadied himself and began reporting the forensic examination results, the special task force’s investigation ideas, deployment, and progress with great familiarity.

There was really only one real progress: they had basically confirmed that the victim’s jacket definitely came from those two subcontracting manufacturers. Trying to trace the victim’s identity through this jacket has great uncertainty, as the lead might break easily during the investigation.

As President Niu listened, his expression grew more serious.

Director Chen and Vice Secretary Jian from the Political and Legal Committee also seemed somewhat disappointed.

Director Qi and branch office Director Lu Zaixing didn’t know how to face their superiors, keeping their heads down to continue taking notes.

Captain Wei clearly understood that the temporary lack of significant progress was not due to the inability of the Changhang Bureau, as solving a case depends on conditions and sometimes even luck. Specifically, for Case 01.01, even the City Bureau’s Major Case Team could not have done better than the Changhang Bureau in just one day.

Han Yu knew the leaders wanted the case solved as soon as possible, so he cautiously added, "Leaders, although the progress of each team was not significant by the time I came back, I believe no progress is still progress."

"How can no progress be considered progress?" Director Chen stared at him and asked.

"Mayor Chen, today we organized a force to visit and inquire at numerous enterprises, hospitals, and pharmacies. With the assistance of the Guzhou Branch, we have checked many ships, the Water Police Station, and the Port District Bureau have also assisted us in checking many businesses units and village groups along the coastline of Tiansheng Port, and even key populations within the jurisdiction."

Han Yu took a deep breath and continued, "We posted the corpse identification notice all over the streets and alleys, only short of asking the TV station to help us release it. We’ve put in so much police force, done so much groundwork, yet no one has seen the victim. What does this suggest? It suggests that it’s highly likely the victim was an outsider! Her time in Binjiang, at least in the Gangzha District and our Port District, wouldn’t have been long."

"Makes some sense, continue."

"On the way back to report to all the leaders, I discussed and analyzed with Director Qi, Political Commissar Dong, Director Li, Director Ding, and Major General Jiang, Liu Zhi over the phone, and we unanimously agreed that, based on the investigation during the day, we should promptly expand the investigation scope and also make some adjustments to the direction of the investigation."

"How to expand the scope of the investigation?"

"There are quite a few outsiders in the city, but those from outside the city or even outside the province are not many, mainly coming from Gaoru and Changzhou."

Binjiang is neither Guzhou, nor East Sea. There are actually very few outsiders coming to Binjiang for work.

Among several districts and counties, people from Dongqi and Linghai would only go to East Sea for work or business, even fewer people come to Binjiang for the same, compared to real outsiders. Si Gang and Dongru are too far from the city, the language is even different, and they are often discriminated against due to relatively lagging economic development, they wouldn’t come to the city area the same way.

Just like it’s mainly Hui’an people who go to Jiangcheng for work, the main people coming to work or do business in Binjiang District are Gaoru and Changzhou people, after all, these two districts and counties are close to the city area.

Director Chen thought more and found some sense in Han Yu’s words, signaled him to continue.

"Next, we need the City Bureau to help coordinate and ask Gaoru Police Department and Changzhou Police Bureau to assist us in visiting hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies in Gaoru and Changzhou. To ensure nothing goes wrong, we also need several branches in the city to assist in checking records of outsiders, if the victim is from outside, it’s very likely that there is a temporary residence registration."

"Old Wei, what do you think?"

"No problem with the general direction," Captain Wei extinguished his cigarette, thought a moment then said, "Mayor Chen, Secretary Jian, with a case like this, there’s no other way to investigate."

Director Chen didn’t want any delays, it’s almost New Year and this case couldn’t be delayed, so he asked, "Besides the general direction?"

Captain Wei didn’t answer Director Chen’s question, instead, he asked, "Salted Fish, do you have other ideas?"

"Reporting to Captain Wei, we have a bit of immature thought or rather a speculation."

"Let’s hear it."

By right, I shouldn’t steal my senior brother’s line of thought, but now I represent the Changhang Bureau or even the Changhang Police as a whole. Han Yu silently apologized to his senior brother and briefly reported the analysis made by his senior brother over the phone.

Captain Wei’s eyes lit up, for Han Yu who grew up under his watch, he really saw him in a new light, and he pressed him, "Since you have a thought, has there been an arrangement for the police to investigate?"

"Yes, our branch’s Criminal Investigation Team’s investigator, Comrade Wang Aide, is currently visiting and inquiring at Tiansheng Port, Deputy Director Luo Wenjiang of the Water Police Station and Water Police Third Team Captain, Ma Jintao, are also assisting us in visiting and inquiring."

While reporting to several places where outsiders might go to see the Yangtze River, Han Yu suddenly remembered something: "Also, there was that line of footprints discovered in the morning by the river, the technical team went to collect them at noon, they said it didn’t quite resemble footprints left by the murderer when disposing of the body."

"Doesn’t look like it?"

"The victim weighs around one hundred pounds; if that line of footprints was left by the murderer, the body weight of the murderer, combined with the victim’s would certainly not equal two hundred pounds, and the footprints left should be deeper than what we found."

Captain Wei nodded, then asked, "I heard there’s an employee from the grain and oil company missing and unreachable, how’s the investigation going?"

"It’s ongoing, no progress yet, but according to the investigation this afternoon, that Xia Jianwei should have no connection with the victim, at least his family, colleagues, relatives, and friends have never seen the victim, nor heard him mention having another relationship."

"A person cannot disappear without reason."

"We suspect he ran away from home."

"A person in his thirties running away?"

"To be exact, he very likely went into hiding to avoid debt, as he owed a lot due to losses in previous grain and oil business. This line is under investigation by our branch’s Deputy Director at the Binjiang Police Station, Comrade Huang Junming. Director Huang discovered in his investigation of social relations that he borrowed at least over eighty thousand yuan from relatives and friends. His uncle even went to court to sue him as he couldn’t get the money back."

...

Although the progress isn’t much, one could see they are genuinely working hard to solve the case.

Director Chen saw President Niu was new to town and didn’t have any constructive suggestions, so he turned sideways and said, "Secretary Jian, you’ve seen the work the Changhang Bureau did, solving a case really burns money like water. Although this murder case is organized and handled by the Changhang Bureau, it can now be basically confirmed from the information we have that it occurred in our Binjiang. Regarding the case funds, do you think you can help resolve some?"

Director Qi was taken aback, couldn’t believe Director Chen would help to ask the city for money.

President Niu equally couldn’t believe his ears, knowing that many cases fail to be solved promptly due to lack of funds, without money there’s truly nothing one can do.

The Binjiang City Bureau leaders helping the Changhang Bureau secure funds, it’s equivalent to using City Bureau’s resources for the Changhang Bureau to solve cases and establish merit, what a spirit is this?

Recalling the words from the old colleague He Bin said at noon, President Niu realized that it wasn’t just about helping the Changhang Bureau with funds, but aiding Salted Fish to secure funds, wanting Salted Fish to solve major cases and achieve great accomplishments!