Chapter 165: Far Away

Dark.

The pothos in the office stood its ground.

Dinner time.

The torrential rain had turned into a light drizzle, the runoff flowing like the urination of a successful man—a little bit now, a little bit then, without ending completely, and it was unclear when it would end.

The Party members of the Ningtai County Bureau were collectively hosting a banquet for leaders from the City Bureau, the Provincial Department, and the Ministry in the cafeteria.

The head chef of the County Bureau cafeteria had also pulled out all the stops!

Just the cold dishes alone had several varieties—mustard duck webs, eggplant in sauce, snowflake beef tongue—all were town-famous dishes with exquisite ingredients and outstanding flavors.

If it weren't for an occasion like today, as a chef with a formal position, the head chef wouldn't have worked so hard; he would have just muddled through like he did for the usual buffet.

In the head chef's view, a near-perfect table of delicacies was a dialogue between successful men.

It was the small Ningtai County echoing from afar with the big provincial capital and the distant capital; it was the small county town welcoming the big metropolis, and it was also the small county town's pride in the big metropolis.

Liu Jinghui pulled Jiang Yuan along and also came to the second floor of the cafeteria.

Zhang Zhihong had flown to Changyang City and arrived in the same car as him. He waved and smiled with a hint of familiarity: "Director Liu, I thought you should have come to participate tonight. Have you handled the things at hand?"

He knew that Liu Jinghui had been busy with a case recently.

Liu Jinghui brought Jiang Yuan to his seat and smiled: "All thanks to Jiang Yuan, the case is solved."

"Oh, how was it solved?" Zhang Zhihong just assumed Liu Jinghui had pushed the case somewhere else or had Jiang Yuan take it over directly.

Liu Jinghui laughed out loud, not answering first, but stood up, raised his glass, and said: "Let me overstep a bit and toast the leaders of Ningtai County first. You have cultivated an excellent technical talent! Bureau Chief Guan, I'll toast you first."

Compared to the Ministry officials, Liu Jinghui was valued more by the County Bureau leaders.

Bureau Chief Guan Xi stood up hurriedly, clinked glasses with Liu Jinghui, and smiled: "Director Liu, you're too polite. What's the story here?"

Liu Jinghui drank the wine in his glass in one gulp before saying:

"I just brought a case over. It was a suspicious case in Yunchang City. I originally thought about asking Jiang Yuan to go over and survey the scene to see if we could find any more evidence, because the original clues in Yunchang had already reached a dead end."

He said it lightly, but Guan Xi and the others listened very attentively.

Everyone had been in the police force for many years and naturally knew that a case a City Bureau couldn't handle must have considerable difficulty.

And if it was sent to the Provincial Department and still couldn't be handled, requiring them to shake people from below, the difficulty here could be said to have doubled, and that would be an understatement.

And the more lightly a scene could be described, the more it showed the complexity of the scene.

Guan Xi subconsciously glanced at Jiang Yuan beside him and asked again: "And then, did Director Liu take over the case?"

"I was forced into it. Because the technical clues were useless." Liu Jinghui curled his lips and said:

"The footprints were looked at, the bloodstains were looked at, the interpersonal relationships were all touched upon, and there were quite a few surveillance cameras around, all of which were looked at, but nothing was found..."

Liu Jinghui picked what could be said and spoke roughly before saying:

"As a result, everyone actually guessed what was going on. I handed the case to Jiang Yuan, and he solved it for me in a few hours."

To be honest, when Liu Jinghui was halfway through, everyone had roughly guessed the ending of his story.

However, when Liu Jinghui said the result, everyone was still taken aback.

Because this wasn't just a story, but a real thing that happened in reality, and it even happened just now.

This was much easier to touch people's hearts directly than a football match that was likely a fixed game.

"How was it solved?" Guan Xi couldn't help but ask.

"Jiang Yuan saw that a certain piece of evidence was problematic, which pointed directly to the killer. The evidence had been seen by experts from the Provincial Department, but the time Jiang Yuan spent looking at it was shorter than the time the other party spent looking at it."

By this time, Liu Jinghui didn't say it in too much detail.

The victim's husband worked at the Jindu Company and had a certain amount of experience in investigation and anti-reconnaissance; he was also someone who had seen the scene and handled the scene.

Therefore, when the situation of evidence fabrication appeared, the first person Liu Jinghui thought of was the deceased's husband.

However, these things were not easy to talk about before the case was closed.

Liu Jinghui's explanation was relatively vague.

Guan Xi and the others actually didn't care about the case itself, but cast their gazes toward Jiang Yuan one after another.

The current situation belonged to lending out the family's big livestock, only to have them help someone else reclaim an acre of wasteland.

Who could stand this?

And yet, the land couldn't be taken back.

They didn't have any wasteland to reclaim either—

Actually, thinking about it carefully, it wasn't that there was no wasteland.

No matter what, it was a county; arranging work for a big livestock was always possible.

Guan Xi thought this, and facing Jiang Yuan, his smile turned into a "hehehe."

The wine reached a state of slight tipsiness.

The dishes reached the state of a successful man's slight impotence.

Liu Jinghui raised his glass again to drink freely, then said: "I have another task this time. That is to award Jiang Yuan another second-class merit medal. Um, this time it's the second-class merit for the Wu Long wild man case."

"We will definitely cooperate actively..." Guan Xi immediately expressed his stance.

"The leaders also hope to show some importance; after all, two second-class merits in a short period of time is truly not easy. My idea is to see if we have any large-scale meetings recently so we can hold it before the meeting."

Actually, it was just a standard procedure—to piggyback on a large meeting. If there really wasn't one, then that kind of bureau-wide merit-evaluating meeting would work too.

If there still wasn't a suitable one, encountering the Mid-Autumn Festival gala or any holiday would also work.

Guan Xi agreed; these were all small matters.

Liu Jinghui felt Guan Xi didn't understand, so he said again: "Bureau Chief Guan, see if you have time in the last two days. Because I originally thought about taking Jiang Yuan to Yunchang City, and after coming back, then do this..."

Guan Xi thought about it; it was indeed true. If it wasn't arranged in these two days, people would have to run a second trip.

Guan Xi laughed out loud, looked at the person beside him, and asked: "What arrangements do you have recently?"

The Director of the Political Department said: "Recently, it's mainly training classes..."

"Then the training class; it happens to be a bit larger in scale." Guan Xi then asked: "Training for what?"

"There are quite a few arranged recently: fingerprints, DNA, emergency first aid, and legal training..."

"Fingerprint training, arrange it for Jiang Yuan. Isn't this a coincidence? Jiang Yuan should be a fingerprint expert ranked in our province now. Such a good resource..."

Guan Xi had drunk a little too much and was slightly long-winded.

Everyone was very accustomed to enduring it.

The other side also took the opportunity to report: "We originally had a plan to invite Jiang Yuan to be a lecturer for us, but at the time, we didn't know if Jiang Yuan had time."

"Then ask now." Guan Xi also had a sense of ritual.

"Yes, yes, yes." On the other side, a relatively successful man in his forties turned to face Jiang Yuan and said: "Comrade Jiang Yuan..."

"That's fine, you arrange it." Jiang Yuan didn't let him finish, and the smile on his face was also sincere.

Getting another second-class merit meant he could choose another wave of skills.

Moreover, theoretically, he would get an LV4 skill.

This was much more effective than a randomly given skill. If coordinated well, it could greatly enhance Jiang Yuan's range.

Liu Jinghui noticed Jiang Yuan's expression and looked slightly happy.

Once the award process was determined, Liu Jinghui touched Jiang Yuan lightly. When it comes to giving gifts and guessing people's minds, he was also a professional.

Two days later.

Two police cars arrived at the entrance of Jiang Village Community.

The guard looked at the documents and raised the gate.

The two police cars drove slowly into the community.

Because there was no separation of people and cars, the cars moved slower than people, and the people in front of the cars looked over with curious eyes.

"Who are you looking for?" When the cars arrived at the entrance of the small supermarket, the grandpas and grandmas whose ages were past the detention line blocked the cars.

"Looking for Jiang Yuan. I've been here before." Qi Shanwei got out of the car.

He worked in the City Bureau's Political Department and had been doing work to support the police and their families for years, but a place as special as Jiang Village Community was still fresh in his memory.

This time, villagers really recognized Qi Shanwei.

Someone nodded and said: "Last time, he was the one who came to deliver the plaque for the meritorious official."

"Yes, yes, yes, just this slightly chubby policeman... looks honest."

"He doesn't have much hair either. He's wearing a hat now; I saw it when he took his hat off last time."

The villagers' discussions were always the kind that didn't restrain their voices.

Qi Shanwei's face changed slightly, and he didn't want to talk to them, so he said: "That... sorry to bother you, let us pass."

"A wreath!" An auntie looked through the glass at the back seat and suddenly exclaimed.

Qi Shanwei was stunned and hurriedly said: "That's a flower basket; they are all round, with a basket underneath..."

No one was listening to his explanation anymore.

The people of Jiang Village all became excited:

"Did Jiang Yuan sacrifice himself after all?"

"Did he sacrifice himself again?"

"They all say second-class merit is received lying down, first-class merit is received hanging up; it's too hard. A second-class meritorious official, just like that, gone."

"They are talking about the military; the police aren't that hard..."

"Jiang Yuan, such a good child, just like that, gone..."

Qi Shanwei looked around blankly. Those villagers who weren't shouting were all holding mobile phones, typing frantically, not knowing what they were doing!

No, it should be said that Qi Shanwei could guess what they were doing.

But Qi Shanwei didn't understand why they always thought so far ahead!

... ===== CHAPTER 166 =====