National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 636 - 580 Tanhou Village

Chapter 636: Chapter 580 Tanhou Village

"Someone go to their... what’s it, Tanhou Village, right? See if there’s a lion statue like the one in front of the Jin Family’s house, and take a photo to bring back," Jiang Yuan looked at the footprints in the photo and could feel an air of relaxed ease.

He casually flipped through the photos from the scene, and although it was just a minor case picked up by the local station, now that digital photos didn’t cost a thing, many of the cops had girlfriends, and the sheer volume of snapshots taken was not inconsiderable, the quality was also quite passable.

Jiang Yuan wasn’t concerned about the conditions in the room or the courtyard, the scene was merely the area in front of the door. With his eyes closed, he tried to reconstruct the scene... He could almost see a Wuling Hongguang van passing the vermilion gate, then suddenly stopping, a passenger getting off with a chuckle and brazenly pointing at the stone lion, saying something or other.

Next, the passenger shouted for the others to get out, they might even have taken photos with the lion, with someone’s foot even propped against the white wall, leaving a conspicuous checkmark behind––Nike could be considered the beginner’s tutor for every trace evidence technician when it came to footprint identification.

After that came the much-anticipated transport part. Someone cleared out the back of the van, leaving behind a pile of trash composed of plastic bags and beer bottles––what are now called evidence.

Chatting away, probably not bothering to keep it down, they just casually carted off the stone lion. Because of its weight, two people’s feet sank into the makeshift flowerbed by the wall, leaving deep imprints.

If they were a group of young rock singers, and this had been a scene in a movie, it might have been quite a funny sight. Imagining the four of them, years later, reminiscing about today’s events, they might find it rather amusing, orange-red hues coloring their memories if there were perhaps first loves or secret lovers involved.

Unfortunately, they were just four shameless bumpkins from the countryside. Ugly ones at that.

After waiting for twenty or thirty minutes, several photos from Tanhou Village finally made their way to Wang Chuanxing’s hands.

"Huh, they put the stone lion in front of a small restaurant." Wang Chuanxing displayed the photos on the large screen with some surprise.

"Is the restaurant owned by the Jin Family?" asked Jiang Yuan as he sipped his tea, taking it completely easy.

Getting the Jin Family behind bars was a task that, in fact, didn’t require much effort.

Wang Chuanxing, while clattering away on the keyboard, pulled out his phone and said, "I’ll check."

Every department has its own backend system, many of which can’t be accessed by police, so everyone’s solution is to add a bunch of WeChat contacts to ask...

If it’s a slightly bigger case, the responsible officers even create a WeChat group and add people from related departments. One group for each case. After a year’s work, the number of these groups could exceed the number of regular friends.

From this perspective, if everyone were using foreign instant messaging apps, something like information security would basically be non-existent. It would just be pure, one-directional transparency.

After a series of phone calls and WeChat conversations, Wang Chuanxing came back with a smile, "There’s something off about this little restaurant."

Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang both looked over.

"The restaurant is registered to someone named Li Shengwei, but the locals probably just hang his name up there," Wang Chuanxing paused before continuing, "Given the tight timeline, what we’ve found strange so far is that the restaurant’s tobacco license is grade 25, which is a bit preposterous."

"What’s the amount of tobacco for level 25?" Jiang Yuan only vaguely knew about this and wasn’t clear on the specifics.

"In the county, they have to take seventy to eighty cartons a week. How can such a small village restaurant sell all that?" Wang Chuanxing shook his head.

"Did they sell it elsewhere?" Mu Zhiyang asked.

"That’s illegal just the same. Tobacco is restricted for sale, the tobacco license is here, so it can only be sold here."

"Doesn’t the Tobacco Bureau care?"

"Who knows, maybe they can’t manage it, or perhaps there’s a connection. That’s not the key point," Wang Chuanxing paused again, then said, "I think they’ve sold all the cigarettes. If there’s a place outside where cigarettes are sold, they could just get a tobacco license there. Wouldn’t it be safer to send the hard-to-sell cigarettes this way?"

"Makes sense," Mu Zhiyang nodded, unable to help but agree, "Bro Wang, you’ve grown a brain."

Wang Chuanxing rolled his eyes, "Just pay me a compliment, will you?"

Jiang Yuan, too lazy to think for himself, followed Wang Chuanxing’s train of thought and asked, "You think the cigarettes have been sold off, what does that indicate?"

Wang Chuanxing smiled and said, "What else can you do in a village? It’s nothing but the three vices: pornography, gambling, and drugs. They’re probably too scared to deal with drugs and wouldn’t be so brazen about it, so that leaves pornography and gambling."

"That’s possible, this place is likely a major source of the Jin Family’s wealth," Jiang Yuan agreed, no longer looking at his computer as he stood up, "I don’t think we need to find any other excuses, this stone lion is reason enough. Let’s get a prosecutor involved to avoid any trouble from them later, and we might as well write up a report or something."

Previously, Jiang Yuan disliked colluding with the media, a privilege he naturally enjoyed as a technical expert. He had the privilege of solitude, the privilege of experiencing the emotional value provided by others, and the privilege of not having to provide emotional value in return.

However, the recent situation had changed, and Wu Junhao had also ended up implicated by both Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, looking pitiful. So, Jiang Yuan had no choice but to bring his emotional intelligence into play and make use of it for a few days.

Wang Chuanxing immediately agreed, as this was his area of expertise.

...

In the evening,

Just after sending off the remaining members of the Jin Family, Chief Tang Xiaobo got into a fairly new Toyota Land Cruiser and headed for Tanhou Village.

Also in the car was a quota-based prosecutor from the county.

A quota-based prosecutor can be understood as a prosecutor with the authority to handle cases independently. After the implementation of the quota system, prosecutors and assistant prosecutors who cannot meet the quota can only work under the supervision of a quota-based prosecutor, who essentially becomes the head of a team.

In big cities, there are many quotas available, and the cultural quality of the judicial system’s members is high, making it not too difficult to become a quota-based prosecutor. However, in county towns, quota-based prosecutors are pretty rare. They are usually too busy to think about accompanying the police on calls.

So, seeing this prosecutor with him, Tang Xiaobo decided not to beat around the bush, opting to discuss something unrelated, "This is a nice vehicle. It’s not like the clunkers in our station that sometimes can’t even climb a dirt slope."

"If you like it, I can leave it for your use," Jiang Yuan said casually from the side.

Tang Xiaobo was taken aback, "Is that... appropriate?"

"This car was supported by Luyang City. The criminal investigation team and Director Huang went over to help them solve a case. The insurance and maintenance are all covered by Luyang City. Use it for a few years and if you don’t like it anymore, you can give it back," Jiang Yuan explained very clearly.

Tang Xiaobo, who was out of touch with urban affairs due to being stationed in the countryside, couldn’t help but be amazed, "So the rumors are true?"

"What rumors?"

"They say that Director Huang has collected quite a few cars from around the place."

"It’s not just cars, but various types of police equipment, gear, and even laboratory equipment and instruments," Jiang Yuan said, "Last year’s New Year’s offering of pomfret and fruit was also organized by Director Huang as part of a police-community partnership."

Tang Xiaobo nodded repeatedly, "I know about that..."

"The A6 that Director Huang drives now, with a White A license plate, was also brought back the last time we helped Baijiang Province solve a case," Jiang Yuan said clearly, "As long as Director Huang is here, we can keep this equipment."

Tang Xiaobo paused for a moment, then dared not speak again.

Jiang Yuan made himself clear, shifting his position slightly and looking ahead.

Soon, they arrived at the small restaurant famous for its stone lions.

The restaurant was brightly lit, with the sound of mahjong tiles shuffling clearly audible from afar, accompanied by many loud and rowdy voices.

A criminal investigator hurried over, and upon Jiang Yuan and others alighting from the vehicle, reported, "It’s a gambling den, catering to the nearby rural towns and exclusively by invitation. We sent someone special to take a look inside, there aren’t any weapons—it’s mainly regular clients. There’s a total of several hundred thousand in there."

"Then let’s go in," Wu Junhao said, already clad in a bulletproof vest and ready for action.

Jiang Yuan nodded and instructed, "Everyone, protect yourselves. Prepare the cameras. Prioritize filming and photographing on all routes. It’s fine if we don’t catch anyone; these are locals, we can slowly apprehend them later."

A group of criminal investigators surrounded the restaurant, and then someone stepped forward to knock on the