Free Web NovelChapter 190: Chapter 166: The True Tomboy!
When Lin Xudong received the message, he was dealing with a manslaughter case.
The offender’s wife, Deng Mou, was having an affair with a guy surnamed Zhu. When found in bed together by her husband, the Zhang-surnamed guy, he and two of his friends beat Zhu up, leaving him severely injured. Despite medical treatment, Zhu only survived a few hours.
Things got interesting next.
The Zhang-surnamed guy, apparently not loyal to his friends, kept insisting that he had only hit Zhu once, and that his friends were responsible for the rest, including the fatal blow to the head.
The three men quickly began to quarrel.
Making an accurate judgement in such a case is extremely difficult, as all three jointly committed the assault. It’s hard to determine who hit harder and who caused Zhu’s death.
During the interrogation, Lin Xudong felt his head ache and he thought of Zhao Yi again.
Zhao Yi can identify liars!
If he knew who was lying, he could conduct targeted interrogations, making his work slightly easier.
Just then, he received a message on his phone.
Upon reading the message, Lin Xudong immediately cast the case from his mind, "A strange middle-aged man with glasses, behaving suspiciously, entered my house?"
He felt dizzy.
Only Zhao Hongjuan was home during the day, and he didn’t have any friends or relatives with glasses who would visit his house. The residential complex’s management was excellent so they wouldn’t allow salespeople to come in, so who could this strange middle-aged man be?
Looking at the three arguing men, remembering the cause of the case, Lin Xudong felt uneasy. He told his colleagues that he had an emergency, left the police station, and rushed home.
On his way, he kept saying to himself, "It can’t be!"
"Everything should be fine!"
"Even if something happens, I have to stay calm. I mustn’t behave like those men..."
Lin Xudong was overthinking.
In fact, the person who entered the building was Zeng Wenjun. He was there to find Xu Chao but had mistaken the building number.
When the manager of Haight Technology, Zhou Kai, discovered the online news about Zhao Yi having Dynamic Image Recognition technology, he entrusted Zeng Wenjun to negotiate the price.
It wasn’t exactly entrusting though.
Zhou Kai originally wanted to inquire about the progress of Zeng Wenjun’s research. After realizing that no progress had been made, he instantly decided to investigate the funds’ flow.
This was the sponsor’s right.
For research sponsorship, it’s not unusual to fail in producing results— the sponsors simply bear the loss of a failed investment, and the funding is certainly unrecoverable. But Zhou Kai was furious, feeling that Zeng Wenjun had deceived him. The research sponsorship money had been wasted, there was no progress at all, and his status within the company was affected.
Upon deciding to investigate the funds’ flow, Zhou Kai made Zeng Wenjun very uncomfortable.
If everything was legitimate, there would be nothing to worry about. However, a portion of the funds had been put into his personal account, and another portion had been spent. He tried to manipulate the financial records, but he still couldn’t cover a hole of one hundred thousand yuan.
That wasn’t a big deal.
One hundred thousand yuan was nearly insignificant in the grand scheme of funding, enough to be absorbed in hosting expenses. Even if the sponsor insisted on pursuing it, he would just have to cough up the money to make up for it.
But Zeng Wenjun was not willing to settle for this.
In his conversation with Zhou Kai, he found out a crucial piece of information that Zhao Yi had the Dynamic Image Recognition technology. He confidently said he knew Zhao Yi and could help Haight Technology with the technology acquisition.
Zhou Kai, half trusting, gave Zeng Wenjun a budget of ten million yuan, saying if he could strike a good deal, not only would he not pursue the inside information of the previous funds, but he would also continue to invest in the institute.
Zhou Kai had no idea what Zeng Wenjun meant by ’knowing’ Zhao Yi.
Zeng Wenjun came with confidence. His mind was filled with the ten million yuan. He thought Zhao Yi would have no reason to refuse. Given that the offer for the source code of his Rubik’s Cube calculator was two million yuan, there must be a price for this new technology. Even if the price was quadrupled, eight million yuan should be sufficient, right?
So that would leave two million for him...
Unfortunately, the negotiations failed.
Zeng Wenjun was still not willing to give up. He found the information online and realized there were other people involved in Zhao Yi’s project. Zhao Yi had a collaborator.
He wanted to have a chat with this person.
If he was the owner of the technology, they could directly negotiate the technology acquisition. If he was just a regular collaborator in the research and development, Zeng Wenjun could use certain methods... like...
Bribery! freewebnoveℓ.com
This person must know a lot. If he could be won over, or arranged to work in the research institute and given a good sum of money, perhaps they could acquire the crucial technology.
That was Zeng Wenjun’s purpose.
He spent the entire day finding out information, and found that Zhao Yi’s collaborator was Xu Chao. Knowing that Zhao Yi went to school while Xu Chao worked at Zhao Yi’s house during the day, he decided to go there directly.
But he got the building number wrong!
Zhao Yi’s house was directly opposite Lin Xiaoqing’s home, with only a building number separating them.
The villa area had separate entrances for each household.
After Zeng Wenjun entered the building, he found that the storage room was right next to it, there were stairs leading to the apartment, and the door was just a few steps away.
The door was wide open.
Zeng Wenjun wanted to observe a bit, but he realized that the corridor was exclusively designed for one household. There was no additional space. Anyone passing by could notice him, and if someone came out of the door, there was absolutely no place for him to hide, so he plucked up his courage and entered directly.
He knocked at the door from the entrance.
There was no response from inside.
Zeng Wenjun then entered and found a nicely decorated house, everything was neatly arranged, but it looked more like a regular house rather than one full of robots or computers for research. It seemed to be a normal person’s home.
"Right!"
"Isn’t everyone’s home like this!"
"There must be a dedicated workroom!"
Zeng Wenjun strolled around the room, slowly pushing open a door to find a study full of documents. He immediately became excited and started to examine them.
"Notes on criminal psychology?"
"Among released criminals, some are not genuinely rehabilitated and likely to re-offend..."
"The mental training and education of law enforcement officers who reveal and punish crimes..."
"The mental state of prison staff influences the psychological correction of criminal offenders..."
"What is all this?"
"Why would Zhao Yi study criminal psychology? Is he planning to go to a police academy?"
As Zeng Wenjun mumbled in confusion, footsteps sounded out from behind him.
Just as he was turning around, the surrounding light went black.
"Bam!"
An iron pot fell from above and struck Zeng Wenjun on his forehead. His sight blurred as stars swirled in his vision while a sharp kick landed on his stomach, causing him to stumble backwards and collide with the edge of a table.
"Clink! Clunk!"
"Ahh~~~"
By the time Zeng Wenjun came to his senses, he was sprawled on the floor, his right hand roughly pinned behind his back and his left hand stepped on, causing him to grimace in pain. With his chin pressed against the floor, his painful cries were hardly more than painful whimpers.
Behind him.
After Zhao Hongjuan had confined Zeng Wenjun, she pressed his body down with a chair and then sat on it. With her foot pressing down on Zeng Wenjun’s neck, she shouted breathlessly, "You better behave!"
"Robbing us in our own home, lawlessness seems to have taken over!"
"Dare to move, do you?"
"Better not misbehave!"
Zeng Wenjun, completely disheveled, whimpered, "A misunderstanding, sister, a pure misunderstanding! I am not a thief!"
"Tell that to the police, got it?"
"Now lay down there obediently, understand?" Zhao Hongjuan’s imposing demeanor remained as she pulled out her phone and dialed the police hotline.
Ten minutes later.
Lin Xudong arrived home.
Upon finding the door ajar, he let out a long sigh, surprisingly not shocked when he went in.
He has never worried about Zhao Hongjuan’s safety.
TWenty years ago, Zhao Hongjuan was also a policewoman and an excellent one at that. They met during their police academy training, you could say they met amidst trials and tribulations. Lin Xudong reminisced about those tumultuous times when it was during their frequent physical clashes that he always threw the fights in Zhao Hongjuan’s favor and eventually won her over. After their marriage, Zhao Hongjuan quit her job as a policewoman and became the woman behind him.
Seeing Zhao Hongjuan overseeing the entire situation authoritatively, stepping on a pitiful-looking and bespectacled man who was in complete shambles, Lin Xudong thought back to the past.
Back then, he lost to Zhao Hongjuan on purpose. The circumstances are much alike now, except when Zhao Hongjuan found out the truth.
But...
This bespectacled man definitely didn’t lose on purpose.
He was beaten up for real!
"Who is this?"
Lin Xudong asked after a considerable silence.
"A thief!"
Zhao Hongjuan shouted out loudly, excitement glinting in her eyes. She quickly got off the chair, approached Lin Xudong, and spoke in a timid voice, "Finally, you’re here. I was scared to death!"
"Thief’s getting bolder these days, even daring to rob our home. It took a lot of effort to subdue him."
"I’ve already called the police."
Looking at Zhao Hongjuan, who was spotless and then at the bespectacled man on the floor who could barely get up, Lin Xudong nodded with difficulty.
He took a deep breath.
Walked up to the bespectacled man, helped him up, proficiently handcuffed him, put some strength into his hand and said, "Let’s go!"
"Officer, I’m not a thief! It’s a misunderstanding! It’s really a misunderstanding!" Zeng Wenjun wiped the dirt off his face and tried to explain with a whiny voice.
"Let’s talk it over at the police station!"
As Lin Xudong was leading Zeng Wenjun, he turned to Zhao Hongjuan and instructed, "You should come along too, follow the formalities and make a record."
Zhao Hongjuan gave a soft nod, "Alright.’
...
Zhao Yi did not expect that forwarding a message would have such serious consequences.
Lin Xudong called him to come down to the police station.
After the morning class ended, Zhao Yi rode to the police station. The police station was not far from the school, and it took him about ten minutes to get there on his bicycle. As soon as he entered, he saw Zeng Wenjun sitting in the corner.
Zeng Wenjun pleaded with teary eyes, "Zhao Yi, you need to testify for me, I was here looking for you."
The two officers nearby then turned their attention to Zhao Yi.
"Looking for me? Not possible."
Zhao Yi shook his head in denial, "Though I do know you, I’ve been attending school throughout the day. How can I have you come looking for me?"
"No, no."
Zeng Wenjun explained anxiously, "I got the wrong building. As a chief researcher at the institute, why would I travel such a distance to steal from Zhengyang?"
Valid point.
"I knew Zhao Yi wasn’t home, but the person who is researching with him is. I wanted to see if I can get them to our institute..."
Zeng Wenjun didn’t want to tarnish his reputation, so he quickly explained the whole thing. He told the truth, which at least made a few officers believe him. However, it seemed that justice was not on Zeng Wenjun’s side.
Zeng Wenjun thought after he clarified, he would be able to clear himself of suspicion.
But justice seemed to have nothing to do with him.
Firstly, his explanation was rather insinuating. It seemed like he was just normally sourcing talent for the institute, but anyone could tell that he was attempting to poach their resources and ’steal’ Zhao Yi’s technology.
Secondly, Zhao Yi is quite renowned in Zhengyang. The police department knew him well, and he was the pride of Zhengyang.
Thirdly, he entered the property of Lin Xudong. Lin Xudong, the police captain, holds some considerable authority.
Finally, a stern officer with multiple shoulder straps stepped forward and pronounced the verdict, "Even if there was no intent to steal, it still counts as trespassing. Hence, a fifteen-day detention and a thousand yuan fine."
This is the maximum punishment for home intrusion that did not result in serious consequences.
Dissatisfied, Zeng Wenjun strenuously argued his case. By the time, Director Bian arrived to testify for him, it was useless. Regardless of the exact circumstances, he had indeed trespassed.
