Chapter 1236

"Hello!" Qiao Shengli entered, cheerfully greeting the group of criminal investigators.

A group of people, some disheveled, some with unfriendly expressions, some with unresolved gossip, all looked at Qiao Shengli with the eyes of criminal investigators.

Preliminary judgment: this person just washed their hair, clothes are newly changed, shoes are new, face is fully made up.

Thus, everyone's eyes unconsciously drifted toward Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice: "One more person, one more pair of chopsticks, the dumplings can be made a bit more."

After speaking, Jiang Yuan rubbed the head of the police dog Sylvester with his hand to soothe it, lest it think someone was stealing its food.

Qiao Shengli quickened her pace, caught up with Jiang Yuan, glanced left and right, and only after others awkwardly turned their heads did she say to Jiang Yuan: "Captain Jiang, I seem to have arrived just in time—just arrived and there's already something delicious to eat."

"Still cooking, please wait a moment." Jiang Yuan handed someone a pair of slippers.

Qiao Shengli changed her shoes and entered; though the room was crowded, it was spacious and well-positioned. Legend said Jiang Yuan's family was well-off, and being a forensic pathologist was a hobby—indeed, Jingcheng also had a house.

Qiao Shengli studied biology and often interacted with police; previously she thought finding a partner meant avoiding someone in the same profession, but now she thought it might actually be good to be in the same field.

She entered boldly, saw everyone busy, rolled up her sleeves, and joined in helping.

With her present, several people in the small kitchen silently withdrew.

Ding-dong.

The doorbell rang again.

"Did you arrange to meet many colleagues today? Is it just coincidental that there's a gathering?" Qiao Shengli peeled bamboo shoots on the side, feeling a bit curious.

"Probably my dad." Jiang Yuan said while stepping out of the kitchen to open the door, finally shouting "Dad" as he wished.

Qiao Shengli blinked, then looked toward Miao Ruixiang beside her: "Is Captain Jiang's father here?"

Miao Ruixiang silently nodded, and curiously observed Qiao Shengli.

Unexpectedly, Qiao Shengli washed her hands openly, then left the kitchen to greet Jiangfuzhen and Uncle Qiang who had just entered: "Uncle, hello, I'm Qiao Shengli."

"Oh, hello, hello." Jiangfuzhen was already used to seeing a room full of police; it was like opening a cattle pen on his ranch and seeing a circle of cows—but such a black-long-straight-haired female university student like Qiao Shengli was not commonly seen.

Qiao Shengli smiled again, then returned to the kitchen.

Jiang Yuan took the beef and other items brought by his father, then handed them to Wen Ming, asking him to take them downstairs for storage.

Father changed shoes, washed hands, and joined Uncle Qiang in making dumplings—bang!

Jiang Yuan returned to the kitchen, took over Miao Ruixiang's work, and began adding vegetables to the pot.

"So much—is this to be frozen for later convenience for the dog to eat?" Qiao Shengli felt slightly curious. Seeing tens of jin of meat gathered, nearly impossible to stir in the large iron pot, even in Jiang Yuan's cold case special team, only a few had seen such a scene.

Jiang Yuan shook his head: "The dog eats the leftovers; we eat."

"Huh?" Qiao Shengli thought she had misheard.

"We originally made this as dog food; others are just freeloading." Jiang Yuan explained.

Qiao Shengli found it hard to believe: "Is dog food really this abundant?"

"It only looks abundant; actually…… police dogs need to eat about ten basic ingredients per meal for optimal nutrition, though only once a day, unless on night patrol or morning training, when they get an extra meal. Well, today we need to prepare an extra meal for it." Jiang Yuan spoke while stirring and seasoning the food in the pot.

Various pre-processed ingredients began to be added to the pot in sequence.

Soon, everything was in the pot.

Jiang Yuan glanced at his watch, pressed the lid down, and said: "Two minutes, and we can start eating."

"Then let's start boiling the dumplings." In the living room, criminal investigators with perked-up ears immediately began arranging the order.

The room instantly became lively, with people shuttling trays and vinegar between kitchen and dining area, occasionally glancing at Qiao Shengli.

Qiao Shengli moved to the other side and softly said: "Captain Jiang, the project you assigned us—the 20-kilometer diatom database upstream of Taihe—has basically been completed. Professor Su has run to Jingcheng several times; likely a paper will be published soon."

"Oh, this fast?" Jiang Yuan was slightly surprised.

"The professor still wants to secure more projects, so we just have to work like oxen and horses." Qiao Shengli said, seemingly complaining, then added: "Our professor guesses you should have completed the entire Taijiang River Basin diatom database by now?"

Jiang Yuan smiled, without hidden meaning, and said: "Indeed, we are preparing to do so, but this project is too large—Ningtai County cannot possibly lead it; maybe the province will have to take charge."

The main stream of Taijiang is about 400 kilometers long, but including tributaries, the total water system length reaches 600 kilometers. Jiang Yuan's diatom database is for criminal investigation, so you cannot demand the killer only act in the main stream and not in tributaries; besides, lakes, reservoirs, marshes, wetlands, and distributaries within the water system should also undergo corresponding sampling.

The scale of this project has already exceeded thirty times that of a 20-kilometer diatom database, and the required funding is far beyond what Ningtai County can bear. Given the state of Shannan Province, it is reasonable for the province to take the lead.

Qiao Shengli, however, silently glanced at Jiang Yuan and said: "Whether the province does it or not—isn't that up to you to decide?"

Jiang Yuan exclaimed: "Where did you get such experience from?"

"Isn't it so?" Qiao Shengli, having participated fully in the diatom database project, naturally knows how useful Jiang Yuan is. In fact, even if the Ningtai County Taijiang work team issued the project, provincial and municipal levels still have ways to exert influence over it.

If it were another county-level project, many counties at most only manage personnel and funds; if personnel are fixed and expenses reasonable, the county's management capacity is limited. But on technical issues, provincial and municipal experts have the say, because they are indeed technical experts who can spot flaws and find problems.

This is like renovation: you must understand the trade to manage personnel and funds reasonably; you must understand technology to spot flaws and find problems, so you can control the renovation process and details.

And on such a project as the diatom database, Shannan Province's provincial and municipal levels are unwilling to interfere with the Taijiang work team's project.

Success offends people, failure brings embarrassment, and since it's a project within the criminal investigation system, the one who can speak most authoritatively has become Jiang Yuan.

"Let me go back and check your database." Jiang Yuan also did not speak definitively.

"Definitely no problem." Qiao Shengli hurriedly said.

Jiang Yuan smiled and shook his head: "Whether there's a problem or not, you say it doesn't count—it's the case that decides."

Qiao Shengli startled: "You want to directly use it to solve cases?"

"Otherwise, what? This kind of database, spot-checking is too time-consuming, and I don't have the time for it. Moreover, our police bureau creates the diatom database precisely to solve cases; a database that can solve cases is useful; if it cannot solve cases, the data is meaningless." Jiang Yuan said, completely beyond Qiao Shengli's expectation.

Moreover, upon careful thought, this verification method is far more difficult than random sampling.

She even further considered that Jiang Yuan or Ningtai County obtaining this database might not be purely for solving cases, but rather must solve cases.

In other words, the database they created is linked to the upcoming drowning case resolution rate in Taijiang.

Such a determination method, when spoken, seems utterly unreasonable—what if it's due to police factors that prevent case-solving? Yet facing Jiang Yuan, even an outsider like Qiao Shengli knows the reputation of "Ningtai Jiang Yuan," so she also doesn't know how to raise objections.

Furthermore, in the current project, how many are not decided by the Party A? Proposing unreasonable demands is normal for Party A.

Qiao Shengli could only say: "A bit utilitarian—I thought you'd care more about paper authorship and such..."

"Authorship is also required; additionally, we must note the co-building unit as the Ningtai County Bureau Taijiang Work Team." Jiang Yuan proposed the requirement without hesitation.

At this time, Qiao Shengli, as Party B, could only keep nodding.

Outside the kitchen.

Jiangfuzhen and Qiang Uncle, who had been constantly watching the situation inside the kitchen, saw Jiang Yuan speaking to Qiao Shengli from above, the girl nodding nonstop, her flowing hair like a waterfall, falling down and rising up, as if she were Party B.

"This might easily cause trouble." Jiangfuzhen said uncertainly in a low voice.

Qiang Uncle shook his head blankly: "I don't understand; maybe young people nowadays are just like this?"

(End of Chapter)