"Say nothing! Listen to me—" Ping An hugged Su Tang's head and said seriously, "No matter what happened, I'm here for you. Remember, Master is here, and everything can be solved!"
"Ping An, this is too much. How could you say that?" A police officer seemed unable to stand it, scolding Ping An loudly, and dragging Su Tang away.
"Let go of me!" Seeing Su Tang being dragged away, Ping An instinctively resisted, moving towards Su Tang without regard for anything, his hands heavy and careless.
"If you're here, I'll enforce the law!" the officer said, pulling out a stun gun.
"Stop!" In the corridor, Xiang Wanfeng suddenly shouted.
"Ping An, don't obstruct official business. Do you want to go in too?" Xiang Wanfeng's stern voice rang out again.
"Go in? Where? Where are you taking my disciple?" Ping An roared, rushing towards the second floor again—Su Tang had already been taken downstairs.
Seeing that Ping An was still reckless, the officer who had initially rebuked Ping An did not hesitate this time and raised the stun gun. "Old Wang!" A hand blocked the gun. Gao Xiaofei appeared before the officer with a murderous look. "Director Gao, this isn't appropriate, is it?" It turned out that this officer was Wang Guan, the executive deputy director in charge of criminal investigation under Gao Xiaofei.
Wang Guan was almost fifty this year. He had hoped for a promotion a couple of years ago, but unexpectedly, the young Gao Xiaofei was "air-dropped" in. Wang Guan had always been unconvinced by Gao Xiaofei, but with Xiang Wanfeng from the Municipal Bureau supporting him from above and a group of "old members" like Hei Dou supporting him from below, even if he didn't cooperate, he couldn't do anything to Gao Xiaofei over the years.
Now, Wang Guan, who had long known about the relationship between Gao Xiaofei and Ping An, naturally had to enforce the law impartially.
"If you hit him today, I'll make you fully responsible for this case and give you a deadline to solve it. Consider it."
Gao Xiaofei said with a dark face.
"Hmph, hmph, it's no wonder you're all so close. I don't care anymore. You decide." Wang Guan was not stupid. A tug-of-war was naturally not a good idea, especially since he was not unaware of Ping An's reputation. If he had shot him without distinguishing right from wrong today, there might have been trouble—he really couldn't afford to offend someone who could bring down the all-powerful Old Yan.
Seeing Wang Guan relent, Gao Xiaofei walked to Ping An and grabbed his arm.
"Calm down. Don't worry, we're here!" Gao Xiaofei whispered.
"Then can Su Tang go home first? She's only seventeen! Not an adult! You saw it, the girl is scared silly. There must be something wrong with this case." Ping An pleaded, removing Gao Xiaofei's hand from his arm. "This is your territory. Even if Xiang Wanfeng is here, he'll turn a blind eye. And Mei Qian, Hei Dou, they're all our people. Please, let the child come home with me. Don't worry, I'll give you an explanation!"
"Ping An, don't be ridiculous. You know this is impossible!" Gao Xiaofei sighed and said, "Even if the Minister of Public Security were here, Su Tang would have to be taken away today."
"Who saw Su Tang kill someone? What evidence do you have? Why are you taking her away without evidence?" Ping An gasped, starting to act unreasonable.
"Lai Xiang! It was Lai Xiang who blocked Su Tang in the house. Lai Xiang, don't you recognize him? The one who took a bullet for you!
Can't you be like this anymore!" Gao Xiaofei also grabbed Ping An's collar and shouted.
"Gao Xiaofei! Are you letting her go or not?" Ping An shouted.
"No! She's a suspect!" Gao Xiaofei shouted back.
"Go to hell!" Ping An cursed and punched Gao Xiaofei in the face.
"Wake up!" Gao Xiaofei, who had taken the punch without warning, also got stubborn and punched back without restraint.
For a moment, the two of them started trading wild punches, fighting on the spot. You punch me, I slap you, every punch was with full force, every slap carried the wind.
Xiang Wanfeng wouldn't pay attention to them. These two fought more than once or twice. While everyone was watching the excitement, or rather, breaking up the fight, he pulled Mei Qian and carefully examined the scene.
In the room, Ma Delu was wearing a tracksuit and slippers. In the bedroom of the office suite, the quilt on the bed was turned down. A mobile phone was attached to a bracket, playing a recent TV drama. It was clear that Ma Delu had already gone to rest, but for some reason, he came to the office again and was attacked.
"Did you finish taking pictures?" Xiang Wanfeng asked casually.
"Reporting to Director Xiang, we're done," a technical investigator replied.
"Turn the person over," Xiang Wanfeng ordered.
Ma Delu, who was lying face down, was turned over. Xiang Wanfeng took out the glasses he carried and calmly put them on.
"Huh? A wound on the forehead?" Xiang Wanfeng looked at Ma Delu's face and then turned to retrieve the video footage taken by Lu Lu while he was keeping watch outside.
"In the video, there was only an attack from behind the head, but no frontal attack. This indicates that the first blow Ma Delu received was to his face. Then, for some reason, the killer waited for Ma Delu to get up again, and after he pulled open the curtains, attacked him from behind again." As expected of an old detective, Xiang Wanfeng quickly deduced the sequence of the murder attack. "Xiao Lai, come here, I want to ask you something." Xiang Wanfeng waved to Lai Xiang, who was peeking outside the door.
"Director Xiang, although I... I absolutely don't believe Su Tang would kill someone!" Lai Xiang said righteously as he approached. "I know that girl too. How could she kill someone?"
"Don't rush, take your time," Xiang Wanfeng said. "You handled the situation tonight very well and timely. Leading a few rookies, you controlled the scene. It wasn't easy."
"Alas, Director Xiang, when I controlled the scene, I noticed that Su Tang seemed different from usual. She felt like she was... oh, like she was sleepwalking!" Lai Xiang recalled. "When I reprimanded her, she was clearly not in the right state. I don't know if she was just scared."
"What about the other people in the building?" Xiang Wanfeng asked.
"There are some interns on the fourth floor who were playing games with headphones on in their rooms tonight and didn't know anything." Lai Xiang said. In the room next to Ma Delu's office on the third floor facing east, there were two bodyguards, but they were drunk. There was no one on the second or first floor. Oh, the gatekeeper at the entrance has disappeared and is currently being searched for."
"Is there any surveillance?" Xiang Wanfeng asked.
"There's one in the courtyard. None on the first or second floors. The third floor has finance and Ma Delu's office. There is one there. Currently, our people are collecting samples, and we'll examine it in detail when we get back." Lai Xiang said. kuAiδugg
"Find the gatekeeper, check the surveillance, and tell Gao Xiaofei outside that I'm taking Su Tang to the Municipal Bureau. Have him handle the paperwork!"
Xiang Wanfeng said after thinking for a moment. "In this case, Xiao Fei, Mei Qian, and Hei Dou cannot be involved. They must recuse themselves. You are the deputy captain of the Major Crimes Unit of the Municipal Bureau Criminal Investigation Detachment. This case will be up to you."
"Ah? Director Xiang, this, this, I'm scared!" Lai Xiang said nervously.
"Don't be afraid. I'll handle Ping An. You're an old detective. Use your skills. Whatever personnel you need, you'll get them. You must solve this case as soon as possible!" Xiang Wanfeng said. "Subsequently, the specific command work will be handled by Captain Qiao Yidan. As for me, alas, I also have to recuse myself!"
In the corridor, Gao Xiaofei sat on the steps, panting. It took him a while to catch his breath. He looked back at Ping An and found that the old fellow's injuries were not much less than his own. He was currently squatting by the wall, recovering.
"Are you still going to fight?" Gao Xiaofei asked, rubbing his nose and shouting.
"Go to your mother!" Ping An spat out bloody saliva and said weakly.
"Why aren't you fighting anymore? If you've had enough, get in here." Xiang Wanfeng's low voice suddenly came from Ma Delu's office.
Gao Xiaofei and Ping An supported each other and slowly walked in.
"I've taken Su Tang to the Municipal Bureau, Ping An, stop messing around!" Xiang Wanfeng said. "I don't know who the hell told An Jing. An Jing got agitated, and her water broke. Mei Qian left on his own while you two were fighting."
"What?" Hearing that An Jing was going into labor, Ping An straightened up with difficulty. He looked around and found that Mei Qian was gone, and Lin Dang, who had come with him, was also gone.
"You should be glad Su Tang wasn't beaten to death! What do you think, Ping An!" Xiang Wanfeng said, looking at Gao Xiaofei again. "From now on, Xiao Fei, Mei Qian, and Hei Dou must recuse themselves and cannot be involved in this case. Neither can I!"
"Then who will be in charge?" Gao Xiaofei asked.
"Lai Xiang, perhaps. Because of concerns about Mr. Ke, I've temporarily transferred Mai Mang from the Ministry of State Security. They'll work together, and everyone will be at ease." Xiang Wanfeng said. "Ping An, you go and check on An Jing first. Tomorrow morning, you'll be allowed to visit Su Tang. I've already asked a doctor for Su Tang, so don't worry."
"Since it's come to this, I trouble you." Ping An, who had completely sobered up, took a deep breath and then stared intently at Ma Delu lying on the ground.
"If you have any thoughts or questions, you can go find Lai Xiang yourself," Xiang Wanfeng said. "To be safe, Xiao Fei, keep an eye on him these few days!"
Gao Xiaofei dragged the reluctant Ping An out of the office building, drove, found a convenience store, bought a few bottles of mineral water, and chugged them down.
"Xiao Fei, do you believe Su Tang killed someone?" Ping An suddenly asked from the car.
"We don't believe it. Gao Xiaofei said. "There are too many unclear points in this case. First of all, why did Su Tang go to Ma Delu's? Don't you know?"