Sweeping Mouse Ridge – Chapter Eight : 2

That evening, Xu Ruilong, the Director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, personally convened an emergency meeting with all members of the Special Task Force. Before giving instructions and arrangements for the next steps in the investigation of the Sweeping Mouse Ridge Case, Xu Ruilong instructed everyone to “continue what needs to be continued and clear what needs to be cleared.”

“Continuing” meant pursuing valuable evidence and meaningful leads, without negating past work due to some mistakes; “clearing” meant thoroughly removing those people and events proven to be largely irrelevant to the case, preventing them from further occupying and consuming police manpower, resources, and energy.

Facing the members of the Special Task Force team, who were chain smoking and drinking water, their expressions growing increasingly grave, Xu Ruilong, abandoning his usual stern tone, spoke gently and patiently: “Don’t be discouraged, everyone. Don’t give up. Cheer up! Don’t feel like the sky is falling just because you arrested the wrong person or went in the wrong direction. Even if it does fall, I’ll be there to support you. I’ve handled cases for forty years, and I believe that criminal investigation is ultimately a process of trial and error. Once you eliminate the wrong cases one by one, the truth won’t be far away.”

Based on this meeting’s spirit, the members of the Special Task Force team unanimously agreed that, after a final verification of the relevant case details, Zhou Liping would be released according to judicial procedures.

After the meeting, Xu Ruilong kept several key members of the Special Task Force team behind, including Du Jianping, Lin Fengchong, and Chu Tianying. Du Jianping was a little nervous; he knew the bureau leaders’ working habits over the past few years: large meetings were conducted in a gentle and perfunctory manner, while small meetings were dealt with harshly and sternly. Therefore, he was prepared to be given a severe scolding by Xu Ruilong.

But once the door was closed, Xu Ruilong only said a few things to him: “Now it seems that prematurely identifying Zhou Liping as the main suspect was inappropriate. The numerous wrongful convictions overturned in recent years have repeatedly proven that many mishandled cases were due to investigators subjectively identifying suspects as the real culprit based on a ‘bad impression,’ thus losing objectivity. This led to the entire investigation process focusing only on evidence unfavorable to the suspect while ignoring evidence favorable to them, resulting in one mistake after another until it became irreparable.”

Du Jianping stood up: “Chief, the Special Task Force team went in the wrong direction, causing so many comrades to spend so much time and effort, all in vain. I should bear this responsibility.”

“Now isn’t the time to assign blame. Besides, if we assign blame for every setback, then police work becomes impossible.” Xu Ruilong gestured for him to sit down. “Tell me, where do you plan to focus your next steps?”

Du Jianping placed his large, red hands on his knees and said, “Chief, we discussed this beforehand. The reason our work faltered so badly recently was because we were too eager to catch the real culprit and neglected to find the truth.”

Xu Ruilong raised a wrinkle on his forehead: “Oh? Tell me about it.”

Actually, this viewpoint belonged to Huyan Yun. Just now, at the pre-meeting meeting, Lin Fengchong mentioned something that Du Jianping found very reasonable, and now that he’d brought it up, it had indeed piqued Xu Ruilong’s interest.

“Based on the analysis of various circumstances since the incident, the Sweeping Mouse Ridge Case definitely isn’t a single criminal case. It may involve a very large number of people, have intricate causes, and involve deeply entrenched relationships, and the Sweeping Mouse Ridge’s few burned corpses were merely a flashpoint, a sudden ignition point ignited by the convergence of these people, motives, and relationships.

“In this situation, finding the true culprit is certainly important, but the culprit may not be on the surface; rather, they were likely covered and obscured by layers of intricate networks. No matter how hard we try to probe deeper, we would be blocked by the fine meshes of the net. In this case, perhaps a different strategy was needed: instead of fishing, we should pull in the net. Since the fish were already in the net, pulling it in would naturally lead to the fish—therefore, we could shift our focus from finding the culprit to investigating the truth. Once we understand and clarify the people, motives, and relationships involved in the case, the true culprit would be revealed.”

“Be more specific,” Xu Ruilong said. “What are you planning to do?”

Du Jianping glanced at Lin Fengchong, who said, “Director Xu, based on the adjustments to the investigation strategy reported by Director Du, we’ve reexamined the intricate web of relationships within the case and re-summarized the investigations in several relevant areas. We’ve discovered that because Tongyou Nursery wasn’t the crime scene, despite numerous suspicious points, it was somewhat overlooked in our previous work. Our next focus is to thoroughly investigate Tongyou Nursery, stripping it bare, no matter how many layers of protection it has.”

“But I heard that the deputy director named Cui Yucui is always very rude when we call her in for assistance, and we can’t get anything out of her; is that true?”

Lin Fengchong nodded. “That’s true. So, Director Du has a suggestion… Director Du, why don’t you speak to Director Xu?”

Xu Ruilong picked up the thermos on the table, took a sip of tea, and peered at Du Jianping through the rising steam.

Du Jianping paused for a moment, then raised his large head: “I want to recall Ma Xiaozhong to the Special Task Force to interrogate Cui Yucui.”

This was also the result of discussions between Special Task Force Two and Lin Fengchong and Chu Tianying. At the time, everyone felt that since Zhou Liping wasn’t the murderer, everything needed to start from scratch. Tongyou Nursery, a “potential suspect” that hadn’t been compromised, should be investigated again.

Furthermore, at the Love Charity Foundation dinner, Guo Xiaofen overheard Tao Bing pointing at Cui Yucui and saying to Xing Qixian, “Ask her why your brother ended up like that; she knows best.” This proved that Cui Yucui possesses inside information about Xing Qisheng’s death, information that no one else knows. But when it came to Cui Yucui, Lin Fengchong felt a headache coming on. He thought she was an impenetrable, stubborn old shrew, and several interrogations had yielded nothing… At that moment, Ma Xiaozhong said, “If all else fails, let me try!”

Lin Fengchong was taken aback, then overjoyed: “With the Police Chief involved, you’re sure to handle it! I’ll talk to Director Xu and ask him to make a special exception and bring you back to the Special Task Force.”

Ma Xiaozhong laughed: “If you talk to Director Xu, isn’t that like poisoning Old Du’s mind? Do you even want to work in the Criminal Investigation Department anymore?”

“Or, I’ll talk to Director Xu myself. I’m from the Criminal Technology Department, not under Old Du’s direct jurisdiction,” Chu Tianying said.

“You’ve been with me for so long, and you still don’t oil your engine before talking to me,” Ma Xiaozhong said, frowning. “Precisely because you’re in the Criminal Investigation Department, you absolutely can’t tell Director Xu. If you do, people will think Simiao was behind it.”

Chu Tianying suddenly realized, “Then what should we do?”

“Let Old Du tell him himself!”

“That’s probably unlikely…” Chu Tianying said, “Old Du has a lot of complaints about you and your ‘Special Task Force Group Two.'”

“Things have changed,” said Ma Xiaozhong. “Director Xu knows perfectly well what he’s done to our ‘Special Task Force Two’ group. His tacit approval of this group’s existence isn’t to eliminate ‘Special Task Force One,’ but rather to put invisible pressure on Old Du. Old Du is currently stuck on the case, and recalling me makes him seem magnanimous and tolerant. More importantly, no matter what I can pry out of Cui Yucui, the credit will go to him. He’d be begging for that!”

Chu Tianying squinted at him: “Police Chief, tell me honestly, when you used the hotpot to threaten that cook, wasn’t this all part of your plan?”

Ma Xiaozhong gave a wicked smile.

Sure enough, when Lin Fengchong mentioned the suggestion to Du Jianping, Du Jianping hesitated for a moment before agreeing. He then relayed it to Xu Ruilong, immediately earning praise from the director: “Very good, Old Du, very good. Just as you said, let Ma Xiaozhong return to the Special Task Force group.”

“Director, there’s something else,” Lin Fengchong said. “If this investigation continues, it’ll inevitably involve the Love Charity Foundation’s city office—or even the entire foundation. In this regard, are there any…boundaries or scopes we need to be aware of?”

“There are no boundaries, no scopes!” Xu Ruilong said firmly. “The anti-corruption efforts of the past few years have already pointed the way for our work. No matter the organization or individual, if they abide by the law, they’ll be fine; if they break the law, they’ll be arrested. No one has special privileges!”

Lin Fengchong and Chu Tianying quickly stood up from their chairs, saying “Yes” and saluting Xu Ruilong. Du Jianping also slowly stood up.

Xu Ruilong indicated the meeting was over, and the three of them walked out of the office together. As Du Jianping was about to close the door, Xu Ruilong’s voice suddenly came from inside: “Old Du, wait a moment.”

Du Jianping quickly returned to the room. Xu Ruilong stood up from behind his desk, walked very close to him, and said in a voice that was neither whispered nor easily heard by others, “Since Tao Zhouyao’s case isn’t serious, and she hasn’t committed any specific crimes, just process the paperwork for her and release her…”