Chapter 813

Zhou Jincai's hands were cuffed behind his back as he was shoved into the back seat of the car. Wang Yan waved to beckon the two onlookers from across the street over; they were coworkers who had been with Meng Guangcheng.

"Get in, get in. It's quite a distance from here to Dongning Village, so I'll just drop you off on my way. Don't go spouting off once you're in the car; it's best if you don't say a single word. I've got a body-worn camera here recording audio and video the whole time, and it's easy to get into trouble if you say the wrong thing."

Wang Yan gave his instructions, and the two men climbed into the back seat, one on each side of Zhou Jincai. They were shivering and hissing, glaring at Zhou Jincai with visible annoyance. If it weren't for this bastard refusing to pay up, they wouldn't have had to run around all day, especially since the temperature had dropped tonight, freezing them to the bone.

They stayed silent, but Zhou Jincai spoke up: "Officer, did you see Chen Mingsheng?"

"I asked him if he could settle your bill, and he gave me the runaround and played tai chi with me. That's why I had a word with Chief Zhang—we must handle this impartially. No matter who calls, no one is getting released. He has to be detained for at least ten days and no more than fifteen, and his family and company must be notified. So, you don't need to worry about him; his time as a manager is up."

"He knows the company's top brass, you know. This construction company is part of the Wan Chun Group. Do you think notifying the company or his family will do any good? We're all men; it's hard to avoid social obligations when you're out and about. It's no big deal."

Zhou Jincai didn't believe Wang Yan's words. He looked left and right. "Keep making trouble if you want. You've ruined my business today, and I'm afraid your wages will be hard to come by. Besides, are you planning on working next year? There aren't many projects in Ping'an, but there are only a few companies. Even if I don't know everyone, I know more than half of them."

Wang Yan chuckled: "Good, very good. You dare to threaten them right in front of me. Zhou Jincai, you'd better make sure you're squeaky clean."

"I'm a law-abiding citizen. What could I possibly have that isn't clean? Officer, is this the attitude you take when handling cases? Don't worry, I'll definitely be filing a complaint against you."

"Feel free to complain anytime." Wang Yan nodded with a smile, driving the car steadily.

He didn't believe for a second that a foreman could be all that clean. Originally, if he didn't know and had no evidence, he wouldn't have bothered, as long as the wages were paid promptly. But now, Zhou Jincai was being obtuse and seemed to have some backing, not taking a small police officer like him seriously.

It was understandable; only ordinary folks feared the police. Anyone with a bit of ability who felt they had nothing to hide didn't fear anyone.

There are always some people who won't shed tears until they see their own coffin.

Would Wang Yan bother haggling with a small-minded person who thought he had some ability?

That was a given. He had a big picture, a broad mind, but his heart wasn't very big, and he was quite the grudge-holder...

After a drive of over half an hour, they returned to the Balihe Police Station. Wang Yan had the auxiliary police take the men to the interrogation room downstairs, while he took the two workers to the reception room in the front, where Meng Guangcheng and Ren Mingzhong were drinking tea and playing on their phones.

Zhao Jiwei came running over: "Brother Yan, Brother Ren's statement is already done. Take a look."

Wang Yan shook the stack of papers, gave them a rough look, nodded, and offered a casual word of encouragement. He then instructed Meng Guangcheng and the others: "You all go back first. There's definitely no settling this today; I need to properly sort this Zhou Jincai out. Also, based on my judgment, he might not have much cash on hand. If the construction company isn't settling his accounts, then if he wants to pay you, he'll have to mortgage his house or car or something."

"But he definitely won't do that, so now you need to demand the money from that construction company; it doesn't have much to do with Zhou Jincai anymore. However, Brother Ren, don't you worry. This matter of you being beaten definitely won't end here. In a while, I'll have someone take you to the Third Hospital for an emergency injury assessment. Go back and stay put, just wait for my call. No matter what the situation is, I'll make sure the money is in your hands within a week."

After finding an auxiliary officer to drive the police car and take Meng Guangcheng and the others to the Third Hospital, Wang Yan drank some tea and smoked a cigarette before heading to the interrogation room in the basement. He saw Zhou Jincai sitting there with an indifferent expression, even starting to doze off.

After adjusting the surveillance, Wang Yan took out his phone, found the video, walked over, and slapped him awake. Only then did he say: "Ren Mingzhong reported to the police that you hit him. This is the video of the scene they recorded. Take a look and see if there's any problem."

"I hit him, so what does he want?" Zhou Jincai glanced at the screen on the phone and said dismissively.

Wang Yan walked to the table, sat down, and asked with a smile: "It's what *you* want."

"I know Old Ren; he's just a bit stubborn. I hit him for his own good. Officer, don't we have that mediation procedure? How about this: call Old Ren over, and I'll have a good chat with him, and it'll be fine."

When a person becomes shameless, it really makes one's teeth ache with hatred. However, Wang Mou's mindset remained quite steady. He shook his head and said: "You still don't understand your current situation. There is only one path before you: compensate Ren Mingzhong for his medical expenses, emotional distress, and so on, and the other is to cooperate in settling their wages."

"You are currently facing three matters. The first is the issue of hitting someone. I can clearly tell you the handling method: fifteen days of detention and a fine of one thousand. If you actively compensate and obtain forgiveness, then those fifteen days can be waived."

"The second matter is your solicitation of prostitution. I have already exchanged opinions with the chief of that station regarding this matter. Fifteen days of detention and a fine of two thousand."

"The third matter is that during the arrest earlier, you were suspected of verbally abusing the police. My personal handling method for this matter is ten days of detention and a fine of five hundred. This is not yet certain; later, I need to find the station leadership and comrades from the Procuratorate to come and verify it."

"Excluding this third matter which is pending, the first two matters are unrelated. That is to say, if you compensate Ren Mingzhong, you will be detained for fifteen days; if you don't compensate, you will be detained for thirty days. Fifteen days here, and another fifteen days there. If it is subsequently determined that you abused the police, then after you finish your fifteen days there, you will have to come back and be detained for another ten days."

"And I must clearly tell you that during this period, an investigation will be launched into you. These two are your phones. In a while, I will conduct a technical investigation of your phones. You had better really have nothing to hide."

"I've made myself clear enough, right? Now, tell me what you want to do."

"Understood." Zhou Jincai nodded, his face looking very ugly. "You're just trying to fix me."

Wang Yan smiled. With audio and video recording the whole time, he wouldn't be admitting to anything.

"You have a deep prejudice against the police. What's the point of fixing you? We are here to combat illegal and criminal activities. You have broken the law, and you may have committed crimes subsequently; it's as simple as that."

"Doesn't detention require notifying family members? I want to make a phone call."

"Don't be in such a hurry. Let's finish writing the statement about the assault first. I ask, you answer."

With an auxiliary officer typing and recording on the side, Wang Yan smiled and asked about the detailed circumstances of the previous wage dispute and assault. Zhou Jincai cooperated; it wasn't his first time being brought in. Taking a statement was just going through the motions—explaining the cause and effect of the matter. Besides, there was video evidence, so he couldn't quibble. If someone could save him, then this statement would be scrap paper; if not, it would certainly be a document preserved along with the handling results.

After finishing the statement, Zhou Jincai signed and pressed his fingerprint. Afterward, he was taken to the detention room, and in front of Wang Yan, he began flipping through his contacts to make calls.

He said he was calling his family, but he didn't make a single call to his family members. He looked for connections in front of Wang Yan, wanting to find someone to save him. He even called a vice president of that construction company, explained the situation, and seemed to want to find a way to make up for it because his causing trouble had implicated the project manager, Chen Mingsheng, in being arrested for solicitation. Anyway, it was a flurry of phone calls, all wanting to find someone to fish him out.

In the end, this was a person who hadn't heard of Officer Wang's reputation, or had heard of it but didn't believe it.

Wang Yan didn't stop him. He just wanted to see who was bold enough to make a call to Chief Wang or Chief Zhang. Anyway, he wasn't afraid of the matter being big; he dared to report as many people as there were. Anyway, anyone who could make a call, one counts as one, they were absolutely all people who held positions without doing any work, formed small cliques, and sought personal gain. And those who still dared to make a call after knowing it involved the Balihe Police Station were simply looking down on him, Wang Mou.

After Zhou Jincai finished his calls, Wang Yan took his phones and locked him in the station's detention room.

Wang Yan did what he said. He took the two phones back to his workstation and directly began cracking the passwords to read all kinds of information on the phones. There were certainly no major crimes, but there were chat records of gambling, records of bribing construction units, and even chat records of instigating others to beat people up. In addition, another matter was confirmed: the matter of keeping a college student as a mistress that Meng Guangcheng mentioned was true. After all, college life is good...

Looking at all kinds of information, Wang Yan was very gratified. With these, this Zhou Jincai certainly wouldn't be able to get through this year, and whether he could get through next year would depend on the situation.

Wang Yan shook his head helplessly. He really hadn't intended to sort Zhou Jincai out; it was just that this foreman was used to being arrogant and blind, insisting on crashing into him. Then he really couldn't blame Officer Wang for being small-minded; after all, this kid really had committed crimes.

Of course, if he hadn't committed crimes, Wang Yan certainly wouldn't have let it go, guaranteeing that this Zhou Jincai wouldn't have any work to do in the future...

It was only then that Wang Yan drove home. After tossing and turning back and forth twice, it was already past eleven when he got home.

Just as he opened the door and went in, he saw Xia Jie, Yang Shu, Li Dawei, and Chen Xincheng's daughter, Chen Jiajia, in the living room. The four of them were eating and drinking, looking very happy.

"Jiajia is here."

"Brother Yan." Chen Jiajia greeted him with a smile.

"Not feeling comfortable staying with Brother Chen?" Wang Yan laughed. "Anyway, my place is big, feel free to hang out."

"Can't it be that I missed you all and came over to hang out for a couple of days?"

"How could it not be? But I think it must be that Brother Chen is fussing over you every day, and you feel uncomfortable."

Seeing Chen Jiajia's expression that said 'you hit the nail on the head', Xia Jie suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. I wanted to ask earlier. You're also something; if you have something to say, just say it. If you're like this, Brother Chen will be so worried. I guess he can't even sleep."

Chen Jiajia sighed: "In the past, he was busy non-stop and ignored me, plus those things from before. I didn't think he was a good father. But later I knew why. Now I'm with him again, watching him try to please me all day long. I know he wants to be good to me, but I just feel especially awkward."

"Normal. Do you think it's not awkward for me with my master? You'll get used to it after a while." Li Dawei complained, then turned to ask, "Brother Yan, I heard a group of workers came to you for help getting their money? How did you handle it?"

"The foreman has been brought back, but there's no result yet. Let's see the situation tomorrow."

"If you ask me, this bunch of people should be sentenced. They have no conscience."

Yang Shu chimed in: "The project is quite difficult, right? Every year you can hear news about workers asking for money. They seem to be withholding payments very severely. It's not just the workers' money; I guess they owe money to all kinds of suppliers."

"That's for sure, but why is the withholding of payments so severe? It's because the developers are greedy, withdrawing large sums of money to keep buying land and leveraging. Their financial situation isn't very good. When it comes to settling accounts at the end of the year, there might not be much money in the developer's account. They scrape together whatever they can, and they cope like this every year. But that's not a reason to withhold workers' wages. They can't let the workers suffer for the mess they made themselves. If this money isn't settled, they shouldn't expect to have it easy."

Wang Yan spoke very domineeringly, but no one doubted he was bragging. The son of the richest man in Ping'an was already sitting in prison, so what could he be afraid of?

He waved his hand, "Alright, you guys keep chatting, I'm going up to wash up."

Having said that, he left straight away and went upstairs to take a shower.

When he finished washing up and came out, Xia Jie was already lying on the bed playing with her phone. Both their parents had met, and except when on duty, they slept in the same bed every day. Seeing Wang Yan come out, she said: "Brother Chen asked me today to ask Jiajia what's going on. Should I tell him?"

"It'll be in time to talk when you see him tomorrow. Jiajia is just bored. She doesn't have many friends, and she doesn't have much vitality herself. Brother Chen is too eager to compensate this precious daughter. He's busy as hell all day; it's good enough that he has time to please his daughter, where would he have the heart to think about so much?"

Wang Yan laughed, "If you ask me, just find a school for Jiajia to attend. Staying at home like this all day, she can't do art well, and her academic studies are even worse. It's unlikely she'll be able to get into college."

"It's too expensive for Jiajia to study art. How can Brother Chen's salary afford it? Isn't it twenty thousand a year? And that's not counting their food and drink. Brother Chen has only been divorced for two years; he certainly doesn't have much savings. Why don't you think of a way?"

"Since you've spoken, then I'll be a saint for once. You talk to Jiajia. All her art expenses will be considered a loan from me. Isn't she eighteen? Sign a proper loan contract. As long as she gets into college, there's no interest. Just pay it back slowly after she graduates and starts working."

Obviously, this was a losing business. Even if Chen Jiajia got into a top art academy, she probably wouldn't have much of a future after graduation. However, for the sake of team unity, there was nothing wrong with Squire Wang being charitable. And some pressure also meant some motivation.

"Alright, I'll talk to her tomorrow. I knew you were the best, Boss Wang."

"Go, go, go. I'm a proper people's police officer. Although I have a little bit of money, I don't have any businesses. Where would I be a boss?" Wang Yan waved his hand, "How is your mother doing lately?"

"Still the same. Living in a big house, eating and drinking every day, talking about love with Uncle Liang. It couldn't be better. Thanks to you, I never thought she could have this kind of life before. Most importantly, she finally let me go." Every time she mentioned her own mother, Xia Jie felt a sense of relief.

"It's all fate."

Wang Yan went to bed with a smile...

The next day, because of Chen Jiajia, he went out early to buy breakfast and brought it back. He didn't wake Chen Jiajia up, just left a portion for her. The four of them finished breakfast and went to the station.

Today was a duty day. After the morning meeting, just as Wang Yan was packing up to leave, Wang Shouyi called him over.

"How is it? I heard it hasn't been resolved yet."

"Did someone call you?" Wang Yan asked a question unrelated to the one asked.

How could Wang Shouyi not know Wang Yan's mind? He shook his head and laughed: "Chief Song asked about the situation. It seems someone must have called him. Anyway, I just received a call from Chief Song. You kid still have some weight. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, but if this were in the past, I wouldn't have been able to have any peace, and maybe I would have just released the person in the end."

"What's there to laugh about? Everyone has their own difficulties. I'm not a team player; I don't conform to the code of conduct that has been passed down in China since ancient times. I understand. That's why I say, if I don't see it, I don't care, but if I see it, I'll see it through to the end. I don't want to deal with so many rotten things every day. As long as I serve the people of Balihe well, my work is done."

"You still have your own ideas. What's next? Like what you said yesterday?"

"I checked Zhou Jincai's phone. There is evidence of bribery involving people from the construction company and the developer. Once the assault case is resolved, I'll have the comrades from the Economic Investigation Department come and deal with him. I definitely won't let him have it easy. You didn't see his arrogant and fearless look yesterday. If a foreman can be this crazy, imagine what the people from the construction company and the developer must be like."

"I let Zhou Jincai make a call yesterday. In addition, I caught a project manager yesterday. I had Chief Zhang notify their unit. I won't move against them today. I'll give them one day. As long as they settle the workers' wages in our jurisdiction, then except for Zhou Jincai and that project manager, this matter is over."

"If it's not settled today, I'll organize a multi-department joint enforcement tomorrow. Industry and Commerce, Taxation, Economic Investigation, Labor Bureau, Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Urban Construction, Fire Department—I'll call everyone I can. This is a test for them, and also a test for our government departments. I'll just see who doesn't want to have it easy."

Wang Shouyi shook his head with a bitter smile: "You're even more imposing than our top leaders in Ping'an..."

He didn't doubt that Wang Yan could call out people from all these departments, but he was worried about the impact of this operation on Wang Yan, because this was a bit like not taking the District Committee seriously, nor the Municipal Committee.

But on the other hand, Wang Yan's reputation was very loud in the upper echelons. His brilliant resume, the solid reputation among the people, and his three articles on 'Seeking Truth'—the more one learned, the more legendary he seemed. He had even reached Beijing.

Thinking about it this way, it didn't seem like much of a problem.

"If the top leaders are this narrow-minded, then they shouldn't be doing the job either. If they can't solve the problem of wage arrears year after year, and just study useless things and play with empty gestures, they might as well vacate their positions sooner."

"Are you going to replace them?"

If it weren't for the '404' (censorship), did you think he would have a position?

Wang Yan laughed: "We are small police officers, we can't worry about so much. Leave the positions to those who serve the people, not those who seek promotion and wealth for themselves."

"You stinky kid..." Wang Shouyi pointed at the 'deputy division-level baby', "Alright, go to work."

Waving his hand, Wang Yan took the auxiliary police and drove the small car out to patrol, continuing another day of serving the people...