Free Web NovelChapter 364: Chapter 350 Did I break the law?_1
Zhou Ning sat next to Fang Qing and didn’t dare to move at all.
As Peng Enxin’s words "Come in" were spoken, the door to the outer room was opened, and Xu Dayuan, holding a walkie-talkie, gave a low command.
"Follow up at the door of Room 301!"
Zhou Ning knew that he was instructing Liu Yufei and He Chunyang. Although he had followed on many cases, Zhou Ning had never experienced a direct arrest before. His heartbeat quickened a bit, but there was no reaction on his face.
As footsteps approached, the office door was fully pushed open. Zhou Ning glanced sideways and saw a middle-aged man enter; about 175 cm tall, head slightly bowed, a lean figure with a somewhat bent back, wearing a long-sleeved shirt buttoned right up to the top.
Obviously, this man was Lou Sanfeng.
Lou Sanfeng looked around the room, and noticing so many people, he paused for a moment before walking straight to the desk and nodding at Peng Enxin.
"Peng Ju, I’ve come to collect the documents."
Peng Enxin was calm and pointed at Xu Dayuan, saying,
"No hurry with the documents. These are comrades from the Municipal Public Security Criminal Police Brigade, and they need to verify some matters with you. Lou Sanfeng, please cooperate with their investigation."
Lou Sanfeng appeared indifferent, glanced at Xu Dayuan and the others, and gave a slight nod.
"Alright."
This response surprised Zhou Ning. There was no attempt to flee, no resistance, no confrontation—just calm acceptance. Did Lou Sanfeng have confidence, or were they on the wrong track?
By this time, Zhou Ning felt less confident than before. He glanced at Xu Dayuan, who had already stood up and waved toward the door. Liu Yufei and He Chunyang had entered.
"Lou Sanfeng, right? Let’s go to the Municipal Bureau to assist with the investigation. But first, we need to go to your office. Yufei, you and the others take Lou Sanfeng downstairs, open all his drawers and cabinets, then head directly back to the Municipal Bureau."
The others didn’t react, but Fang Qing was the first to stand up, instinctively stepping back a few paces, ending up in front of Zhou Ning, her heel stepping on Zhou Ning’s shoe. This reaction drew a sidelong glance from Xu Dayuan. freēwebnovel.com
Lou Sanfeng raised his hand, looking towards Xu Dayuan.
"Excuse me, leaders of the Municipal Public Security Criminal Division, may I ask why I need to cooperate with the investigation? I am honestly a bit confused. Could you explain it in detail? After all, this is where I work. Though I’m not a high-ranking official, I am still a government employee. Being taken away like this, I won’t be able to work in the future. You know, in this environment, even one spit from everyone can drown me."
Lou Sanfeng’s face was calm and composed, with a hint of puzzlement, as if what was being discussed had nothing to do with him. There were no signs of agitation or frustrated outbursts.
Xu Dayuan smiled, picked up the document he had just identified, was about to raise it, then turned and handed it to Mr. Zhao to be put into an evidence bag.
"Don’t worry, we only need your assistance with the investigation. I cannot disclose the specifics here, as we need to draw your blood for comparison and testing to determine the results. If this case has nothing to do with you, we will have someone bring you back and clear the matter with Peng Ju."
Although he didn’t get the answer he wanted, Lou Sanfeng didn’t say anything and compliantly turned around to follow Liu Yufei.
Peng Enxin clearly breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, turning to Fang Qing, who had realized her own lapse, she put her hands together in a slight bow towards Zhou Ning.
"Sorry about that, stepping on your foot. I just got a fright. Us common folk naturally get scared when we see the police, just like getting nervous when driving and encountering traffic police. It’s a sign of respect, purely respect haha!"
Fang Qing laughed awkwardly but, realizing her words were somewhat inappropriate, quickly closed her mouth and glanced subconsciously at Peng Enxin.
Zhou Ning knew that in this place, after mixing for a long time, everyone had their own ulterior motives. These little gestures were nothing more than a hint to them that her relationship with Peng Enxin was not good. Any doubt raised by Peng Enxin was personal, not a matter of fact.
Xu Dayuan waved at Mr. Zhao, who quickly left with a case.
Then, Xu Dayuan pulled out a chair and resumed his seat, also waving Zhou Ning down, clearly indicating that he should sit quietly. A body-worn camera was placed on the desk and turned on.
"Fang Qing, right? Please sit down. We need to wait for the results of the inspection, and in the meantime, I’d like to chat with you. Your sister is named Fang Yue, isn’t she?"
This statement made Fang Qing pause, her expression, which was slightly panicked, now tinged with confusion.
However, after thinking it over, she sat down, leaning back in the chair, then realizing the gesture may have seemed inappropriate, she shifted forward, only sitting halfway on the chair.
"Yes, I do have a sister named Fang Yue, but she has been deceased for many years. Why do you ask about her?"
"Do not conceal, do not ask questions, just answer what is asked. When did you first meet Lou Sanfeng? I mean before you came to work at the Water Affairs Bureau. When was the very first time you met this person?"
Xu Dayuan’s question made Fang Qing’s eyebrows knit together.
"What does this mean? One moment you’re asking about my sister, the next about when I met Lou Sanfeng. Have I done something illegal?"
Xu Dayuan waved his hand, pointing to the law enforcement recorder.
"As I said, it’s just a few questions. Of course, if you don’t like to be questioned here, we can change the location. I think going to the police station with officers, even if there’s nothing wrong, like Lou Sanfeng said, it’s like you can never wash away the stigma upon return."
Fang Qing was shut up by these words and after a long while, he reluctantly said with resistance,
"When I was a kid, my family lived on Xingfu Road in Tongshan District, right behind Qindao Restaurant. Lou Sanfeng was three years younger than me. We both went to Tongshan Primary School. He was in the same class as my sister from first to fifth grade. But that was just it, there was nothing messy going on.
We just knew each other, knew he was a kid from the military compound. But we didn’t really mingle; those kids didn’t hang out with us, and we couldn’t really play together. If that counts as knowing each other, then I guess I knew him when I was around ten years old."
Zhou Ning remembered that Fang Yue was 30 years old when she died. If she were alive today, she would also be 38, the same age as Lou Sanfeng. Would Fang Qing hang out with a classmate who was three years younger than his sister?
Thinking back to his childhood, it seemed that children living in the same area who were a few years apart would play together more often, particularly those charismatic kid leaders who could easily attract lots of kids to follow their games.
Xu Dayuan twirled a pen in his hand and drew a line under the name of Fang Yue.
"Classmates? And then? Before your sister became an actress, did she have any suitors?"
Fang Qing suppressed his anger at the continuous questions, all of which seemed to be those he didn’t want to answer, yet Xu Dayuan’s gaze made it impossible to avoid them, especially since the suggestion to change locations was even more unwelcome to him.
"I don’t know what exactly you want to ask. My sister has passed away; why do you keep harping on her issues?
My sister has been beautiful since she was young. Not just her classmates, but all the male students who knew her liked her. Many of my classmates even slipped me notes, asking me to pass them to Fang Yue.
This became a trouble for our family. Because of this, Fang Duo often got into fights, after all, he and my sister were twins. They went to and from school together every day, and since they didn’t look very much alike, people were quite jealous."
Xu Dayuan made an ’oh’ sound.
"Oh? So, Fang Duo and Lou Sanfeng were classmates?"
Fang Qing shook his head.
"Not classmates. Fang Duo grew up at my grandfather’s house when he was young. He only came back to live with us when he was in junior high, so he wasn’t very close to us siblings. Moreover, he’s been doing scientific research in Mi Country after graduating from university and hasn’t returned for many years, so we’re not close, you could say we’re not familiar.
As for Lou Sanfeng, he transferred away during junior high and only returned to our area before he enlisted. He became someone who didn’t talk much. When I came home during a university winter break, I heard from others that there had been trouble at his home. Everyone in the courtyard kept their distance from his family." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"Tell me more, who caused trouble and what was it about?"
"Apparently, he had a woman on the side, but she was stopped at the guard room and never allowed in. We only heard such gossip from chattering aunties, so we don’t know the details. Later, I heard that his father was forced into early retirement due to illness. He could have been promoted, but because of that issue, he was hastily placed in a position.
I think if it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t have retired in 1999. If he had stayed a few more years and then returned to society, he probably wouldn’t have ended up in the waterworks department, let alone be marginalized here, because what is needed here are professionals, and you can’t do the job without the expertise."
At this point, Xu Dayuan looked up, changing the topic.
"When did you come to the water bureau?"
"In ’93. I was assigned to the water bureau after graduating from college. After all, my major was water conservancy engineering, which is highly relevant. Of course, back then, the water bureau was still called the hydraulic bureau. At that time, Qindao was constructing the Yellow River Diversion Project, and of our batch of assigns, I was the only one with a formal education in water conservancy."
Talking about this, although Fang Qing’s expression remained unchanged, his tone was filled with pride. Xu Dayuan nodded at his words.
"So, when Lou Sanfeng was transferred to the water bureau, you had already been working here for six years. Even if you weren’t close as children, you still grew up in the same place. Didn’t you look after him at all? There were no interactions?"
Fang Qing was taken aback.
"I wasn’t familiar with him. It was only after he had been here for some time that Fang Yue came to my workplace and I realized that Lou Sanfeng was her classmate. It was only then that it clicked for me; the one being gossiped about before was his family. How disgusting was that? Why would I associate with him?"
Xu Dayuan nodded, not dwelling on the issue.
"Alright, then I want to know, after your sister’s incident in 2004, Zhu Yantao mortgaged a property in Quanshan to some guy. How did you think to find him to transfer the property?
And how did you convince that guy to settle for daily interest compensation and pay 1.8 million to Zhu Yantao to acquire that property? Weren’t you aware of the value of that property?"
Fang Qing narrowed his eyes, looking at Xu Dayuan with confusion. He raised his hand as if to slam the table, but he restrained himself.
"Back then it was a legitimate transaction. As for the guy I found and how much I paid him, that was a deal based on mutual consent. I was willing to pay, and he agreed to let go. As for Zhu Yantao, when my sister was alive, we were related by marriage.
But after my sister’s death, I helped him out of a tough spot, offering him cash. Did I break the law by doing that? Or are you suggesting that after eight years he thinks he was shortchanged and wants the police to help him get justice? Has he gone to the wrong department?"
