The team returned to the municipal bureau, and Ping An spotted the old Gao Da from afar, carrying a thermos.
Gao Da had visibly aged these past two years, becoming more sentimental. Compared to his troublesome grandson, Su Tang, who reported daily for free steamed buns, seemed more like his granddaughter. From last night until now, only Gao Da had remembered Su Tang's meals.
"Come in, Su Tang has food and drink, you don't need to bring any," Ping An opened the car door and led Gao Da into the municipal bureau building.
"We can't let the child go hungry. You go, find someone, and deliver the steamed buns," Gao Da said with a stern face.
"Alright, alright! Give them to me, I'll handle it!" Gao Xiaofei couldn't stand it anymore and snatched the thermos.
Mei Qian, who had just become a father, had no time to enjoy fatherhood. To be precise, An Jing, who hadn't been discharged from the hospital yet, had kicked Mei Qian out, stating that if Su Tang couldn't get out, he didn't need to visit their child either.
After all, he was her aunt's husband. Even if he wanted to avoid suspicion, he could find something to do. And so, he spent the entire afternoon staring at the surveillance footage and actually found something.
In the large conference room, Mei Qian seemed to have already been briefed by Qiao Yidan. Seeing Ping An and his group enter, he no longer bothered about avoiding suspicion and immediately reiterated his findings.
"Look, the clothes the gatekeeper Zhang Si was wearing when he entered the office building, do they look familiar?" Mei Qian adjusted the video. "Look, this is the scene where someone who looks like one of us came out of the building after our team arrived at the scene."
In the video, Zhang Si was wearing an ordinary security uniform, which, at first glance, seemed unremarkable. However, in later footage, amidst the pouring rain with dozens of police officers coming and going, all in uniform... "This security uniform looks too much like a police uniform!" Ping An muttered to himself.
"This person, holding an umbrella and wearing a mask, at first glance, looks like one of us. But when you zoom in, look, damn it, he's actually wearing a security uniform!" Mei Qian pointed at a figure in the video.
Indeed, if one didn't look closely, amidst the crowd of police officers, it would be hard to spot someone in a security uniform "mingling with the crowd." This discovery brought surprise and joy to Ping An and the others.
"The gatekeeper Zhang Si left the scene so nonchalantly after the incident!" Mei Qian said. "I just heard Lai Xiang report that you found a second murder weapon at the scene and a hiding place. If we combine this intelligence, you've all been handling cases for a long time, what do you think?"
"Issue an arrest warrant immediately, search the entire city for Zhang Si!" Qiao Yidan and Gao Xiaofei exchanged glances, nodded, and Qiao Yidan issued a new order. "Test the second iron bar overnight and compare it with Ma Delu's wounds. I want the results by morning. After a day's work, the case finally has some new movement. Although it doesn't prove Su Tang's innocence, it's a gain." Ping An stayed for the night shift change, put on his police uniform, and quietly entered the detention room.
"Master?" Seeing Ping An sneak in, Su Tang, unable to hold back any longer, rushed over and burst into tears.
"I know you've been wronged, and Master is heartbroken too. But this is a critical moment, you need to be strong. I, your godfather, your uncle, and your Uncle Hei Dou are all trying to catch the bad guy," Ping An comforted her. "Don't you want to be a detective? This is a good opportunity to think about what to do."
"Master, is that Shi Han...?" Su Tang asked.
"I haven't heard of him, and I've never taught him," Ping An had already learned some things from Da Shu earlier.
"Never mind him. By the way, Master, when you investigate the case, don't forget about a woman named Diana. She argued with this Ma Delu," Su Tang recalled. "Ma Delu doesn't seem like he was involved in illegal activities anymore, but Diana forced him. I suspect Ma Delu was killed to silence him."
"Mmm, this is very important. Do you have any other thoughts? Speak freely!" Ping An encouraged her.
"I don't know if it was a dream or real, but I think I remember seeing a lot of rats when I walked into that building. Master, you know, I'm most afraid of rats," Su Tang said. "Not many people know this, but I once told Shi Han about it as a joke."
"Mmm, and then?" Ping An asked.
"That stick, I don't know when it appeared in my hand," Su Tang said. "When Uncle Lai Xiang scared me, my mind went blank, but I remember I was holding the end of the iron stick with blood on it."
After comforting Su Tang, Ping An felt extremely exhausted. However, he still bid farewell to Gao Xiaofei and went to the hospital by Mei Qian's car.
In the hospital room, An Jing was feeding the baby. Seeing Ping An, she carefully put the baby aside.
"Is my nephew doing well?"
"Is Su Tang doing well?"
Ping An and An Jing asked in unison.
"Don't worry, she's even getting Gao Da's steamed buns in the detention room. Su Tang is unique," Ping An teased his nephew with affection, answering with a cheerful smile.
"How is it? I'm dying of anxiety," An Jing said.
"There's progress. Oh, Mei Qian put in a lot of effort. You should thank him properly," Ping An picked up an apple and started eating. Seeing Ping An's confident demeanor, An Jing gradually relaxed.
"There's a person named Wan Rou in your company, are you familiar with her?" Ping An didn't want to talk about the case. He suddenly remembered how Wan Rou had made things difficult for Lin Dang and brought it up.
"She's a very capable person, what's wrong?" An Jing asked.
"Quite cunning," Ping An put down the apple core he had bitten clean, smacked his lips, and said, "This time, with the model competition, she bullied Lin Dang quite a bit."
"Oh, you're feeling sorry for her?" An Jing, hearing the subtext in Ping An's words, immediately became interested.
"Let me be clear, I've decided that Lin Dang is my future wife, your future sister-in-law," Ping An said proudly and firmly.
"Support, support! That girl, oh no, Lin Dang, we've lived together. I like her from the bottom of my heart," An Jing said. "I've been busy giving birth, so I didn't know she would become the representative of Shengtian Culture." "Mmm, don't mind me, I'm not implying anything about you. It's just that that Wan Rou is a bit difficult for Lin Dang."
Ping An carefully chose his words. "Of course, if it's normal work, I have nothing to say. But she and that person named Ou something something..."
Ping An tried hard to recall the name. He looked up and suddenly saw a bouquet of flowers placed on the bedside table. On the flowers was a business card, which clearly read "Ou Er Jian."
"Yes, yes, it's this Ou Er Jian. Wan Rou seems to have something going on with him. They're ganging up on Lin Dang together, that's too much— Hmm? Why did this kid send you flowers?" Ping An picked up the flowers, didn't look at them, and casually threw them into the trash can.
"CEO Ou is our partner. There's a back-and-forth relationship, it's just for appearances," An Jing said, finding Ping An's "pettyness" somewhat amusing. "I'm a woman, and with something like giving birth, how could he come personally? It was sent by his representative, but Lin Dang was also there. The representative was quite surprised. I only later learned that CEO Ou has been pursuing Lin Dang. They're old acquaintances."
"What?" Ping An was immediately angry. Dare to touch my Mao Lu? This is unbearable.
"As for that Wan Rou, she's someone close to Mother. I don't usually interact with her much; it's all business. Mother trusts her a lot and asked her to assist me, but she often makes decisions on her own. I've tried to control her a few times, and she's been more obedient recently," An Jing said.
"Chairman An has quite the Empress Dowager's demeanor, tsk tsk," Ping An said with some dissatisfaction.
"Why don't you come back? The position of general manager was originally prepared for you. If you come back, it's only natural, and no one would say anything. The old employees of the company can also work with peace of mind," An Jing said. "I'm different from you; I'm a woman after all, and whether I can manage the family is another question. Outsiders will naturally have their opinions. But if it were you, wouldn't all those Wan Rous have to listen to you obediently?"
"No way! Why don't Mei Qian resign? You become the general manager. Don't worry, I'll fully support you!" Ping An suddenly patted Mei Qian, startling him so much that his phone almost fell.
"Stop joking. How would I know how to run a company?" Mei Qian picked up his phone. "Brother-in-law, we should go. There's movement on Zhang Si's end."
"Really?" Ping An's spirits immediately lifted upon hearing Mei Qian's words. He instructed Zhang Xiao Ao to stay at the hospital to take care of his aunt and followed Mei Qian out of the hospital.
"What's the situation?" Ping An asked impatiently as he got into the car.
"I couldn't say anything at the hospital just now. Zhang Si is dead!" Mei Qian said with a serious expression. "He's in the Heshuiqu area, at a construction site in the Hedong area. He was killed by a rock."
"What?" Ping An's mouth fell open in surprise.
Mei Qian's ability to get such timely information was mainly due to Liu Kedou, who was now the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment at the Heshuiqu Public Security Bureau.
When Mei Qian drove to the construction site, it had already been cordoned off by the Heshuiqu police. Seeing his former superior arrive, Liu Kedou, who was in charge of the scene, greeted him with a smile.
"You're doing well, kid. Weren't you a deputy director at the police station before? How did you get into the district bureau?" It felt warm meeting an old acquaintance.
"Captain Mei! Reporter Ping An! Long time no see! Congratulations, old leader, on becoming a father! Your brother is eagerly waiting for the full moon banquet. You must notify me!" Liu Kedou said with a smile. "Reporter Ping An, that girl Su Tang has really gotten into trouble this time, but personally, I never believed she would kill anyone. I've also been secretly helping to find this Zhang Si. An hour ago, the security personnel at this construction site reported to the police, and we found a body on the roof of the building. We rushed over to examine it and found it was Zhang Si."