Rules, rules, and more rules!
These people are like wooden fish beads—rigid and inflexible, without a hint of compromise!
Deputy Director Wei had no idea that his words almost gave Deputy Minister Xu a heart attack from anger.
Leaving that behind, he grabbed the file and stood up, heading into the next room.
The building used for the interrogation today was constructed back when Su Country provided aid. The walls and glass in the interrogation room were specially made, allowing clear visibility from the adjacent room.
“Deputy Minister Huo,” Deputy Director Wei greeted as he entered, first acknowledging Huo’s fourth uncle, who was standing in front of the one-way glass. “This is the statement from Xu Bingkun just now.”
Huo’s fourth uncle took it and casually handed it over to Jiang Si, who was seated nearby.
Jiang Si took the document and lowered her head, reading it carefully.
When she finished, Deputy Director Wei shared some of his own insights.
“Xu Bingkun is extremely cautious, with excellent psychological resilience. Every question I asked was answered flawlessly.
It’s clear he came prepared.”
“But when I asked about witnesses, his expression was off.”
Deputy Director Wei had studied criminal investigation in Su Country years ago and had plenty of experience in interrogation techniques and psychological tactics.
“I feel he didn’t tell the truth on that question.”
Jiang Si said, “So, in other words, he does have witnesses but deliberately kept it vague?”
Deputy Director Wei nodded. “That’s likely.”
This was exactly the part that puzzled him earlier.
If an ordinary person were facing such serious murder charges, they’d be terrified and spill everything.
Yet Xu clearly had witnesses but chose to keep them hidden.
This shows just how deep his emotions run.
Deputy Director Wei couldn’t help but sigh, “In all my years of interrogation, I’ve seen all kinds of criminals, but someone with psychological strength like his is a first.”
There was no doubt that Tan Mingkai’s death was connected to him.
But to be fair, he probably didn’t do it with his own hands.
If he didn’t act personally, that meant he had accomplices.
Jiang Si wasn’t surprised by this at all.
Because it was part of her plan.
“Knock, knock, knock—” At that moment, a knock on the door broke their train of thought.
“Report!” It was Captain Liu, the one responsible for investigating the family compound of the Ministry of Construction.
“Alright, get to the point,” Huo’s fourth uncle interrupted his salute. “Any new findings from this visit?”
Captain Liu nodded. There were, but from their perspective, it wasn’t good news.
“The gate guard vouched for him. On the day of the incident, Deputy Minister Xu did indeed return to the family compound around 5:40 p.m., and after that, he didn’t leave again.”
“How can they remember so clearly after more than a month?”
Captain Liu explained, “Because that afternoon, the post office delivered a batch of packages, several of which were for Deputy Minister Xu.”
“But Deputy Minister Xu said his bicycle couldn’t carry all of them, so he took some and said he’d come back later for the rest.”
However, the gate guard waited until the shift changed, but he never showed up.
Eventually, they delivered the remaining packages to the compound.
When they arrived, Deputy Minister Xu and his wife were having dinner.
Perhaps feeling a bit awkward, before leaving, Deputy Minister Xu slipped each of them a pack of premium cigarettes.
At that time, premium cigarettes cost about fifty to sixty cents a pack, and the gate guard had never smoked such good cigarettes before.
After returning, they even showed off about it to their colleagues for quite a while.
As a result, everyone was left with a particularly deep impression.
“All the package signings in the residential compound have a dedicated logbook. We cross-checked the dates and signatures and confirmed that the package was signed for on the day of the incident, at around 6:30 in the evening.”
At this, Captain Liu added, “A while ago, we also did some visits near Tan’s place. Some comrades who were around today reported to us.”
“On the day Tan Mingkai died, someone saw him and another man heading towards the river.”
“But it was already dusk then, and the light was poor. They only caught a vague silhouette of the other person.”
This witness worked nearby at the steel rolling mill, and judging by the time, it was about 6:30 p.m.
Coincidentally, that was exactly the time when the gate guard was changing shifts.
Given the distance between the Tan and Xu families, even if Deputy Minister Xu pedaled his bike like a man possessed, it would be nearly impossible for him to commit the murder and then rush back in time.
“Moreover, according to that person, the suspect wasn’t very tall and had a slender build, which doesn’t quite match Deputy Minister Xu’s physique.”
Slender build?
After hearing this, Jiang Si had a pretty good idea of the situation.
Seeing her relaxed expression, Huo’s fourth uncle asked, “So, what do you plan to do next?”
According to regulations, they could only detain Xu Bingkun for a maximum of seven days. Once the seven days were up, if there was no evidence, they would have to release him.
Since Fourth Uncle was family, Jiang Si didn’t hold back. Once the others had left, she said directly, “Rules are strict, but people are alive. Now that we’re certain there’s something wrong with him, we definitely can’t let him go.”
That made sense, but the problem was, they didn’t have any evidence on hand.
“It’s not that we have no evidence. The batch of steel bars that arrived today is still there.”
“You personally checked them and said there was nothing wrong with that batch, didn’t you?”
“There was nothing wrong before, but whether there’s a problem now, that’s another story.”
“You mean...” Fourth Uncle immediately understood what she meant.
“Exactly.” Jiang Si admitted frankly.
They already knew he was guilty; she was just doing for him what he wanted to do but couldn’t.
After all, anti-corruption work needed solid evidence.
When dealing with people like this, all you needed was a list.
Of course, this was the worst-case scenario.
If possible, Jiang Si still hoped to find conclusive evidence within seven days.
But she felt it wouldn’t take long.
With these thoughts in mind, Jiang Si didn’t stay long.
After exchanging a few more words with Fourth Uncle, she proceeded with her plan.
After leaving the city police bureau, Jiang Si went straight to the courtyard where Chi Heng lived.
It was the weekend, so he should be home.
She knocked on the door.
Soon, a voice came from inside, “Who is it?”
It was Uncle Da’s voice.
The door opened, and when Uncle Da saw Jiang Si, he smiled warmly, “Miss Jiang, what brings you here? Please come in.”
Jiang Si said, "Uncle Da, is Chi Heng home? I have something to discuss with him."
"Yes, yes, he's here. You’ve come at just the right time—we were just about to have lunch," Uncle Da replied hurriedly, ushering her inside. Then he called out to a young man in the courtyard, "Miss Jiang is here. Go quickly and bring another set of bowls and chopsticks."
The young man hesitated for a moment.
His gaze instinctively flickered toward the main hall.
