Chapter 216: Yuan Yutang

Jianyuan Avenue.

On both sides of the road stood dense rows of tall trees and bamboo groves.

Behind the bamboo groves were countless small eateries.

Company employees unwilling to eat in the cafeteria wandered this street like grazing antelopes, striving to fatten themselves.

Jiang Yuan and the others found a board-noodle shop, each ordering a bowl of board noodles with triple the braised beef, then sat upstairs, wearily admiring the view outside.

The lush bamboo grew to about one and a half stories high, forming a beautiful green canopy that let in scattered beams of sunlight.

The long tables in the eatery were oily and shiny but still clean; the bowls serving the noodles were distinctive—large enough to fit a head inside, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, though the actual portion size remained unchanged.

The bowls were brimming with glossy, bright red oil-based noodles, whetting the appetite.

The braised beef on top was a mix of fat and lean, stewed until falling apart; the broth was slightly salty and thick; the noodles were freshly kneaded and coarse.

The group slurped noisily as they ate.

Five hours of on-site investigation were enough to drain all one's energy and physical strength for the day.

"It would be best to catch the person red-handed—then the case would be clean and clear," Huang Qiangmin said, swallowing his last bite of noodles, wiping his mouth, and returning to the case.

The second floor had few customers, making the atmosphere even more relaxed.

Jiang Yuan also set down his bowl and said, "Mm. That would be best."

Wu Jun chuckled twice, then translated his apprentice's words: "Captain, we can't just wish for good outcomes."

"I know, I know…" Huang Qiangmin rubbed his head, then frowned slightly. "The key is still where the documents are. If we can find them, half the problem is solved."

"From Director Yuan's perspective, even if the documents are recovered, he still wants to know who got hold of them and who handled them," said the thin field examiner, a native of Qinghe City, likely acting on orders from above.

Local police serving local interests is only natural.

Although Ningtai County falls under Qinghe City's jurisdiction, it still maintains a certain distance from the city's enterprises. For the Qinghe City Bureau, ensuring the upcoming listing of this key enterprise is truly an irreplaceable duty.

Huang Qiangmin snorted. "As counterintelligence officers, who else could have handled it…? Just finding the documents is already a win. If they burned or discarded them, that's it. We're limited by our capabilities—if we can't do it, we can't do it. All I can do is try my best to catch the person and recover the items. As for what happened in between, whether we can extract the truth—it's up to fate."

The thin field examiner thought: If you had no desires, why come here? Pretty words are easy to say—when your superior calls, will you answer?

But he wasn't one of the company's people, nor did he have authority to command or supervise Huang Qiangmin. Once he'd made his position clear, how Huang Qiangmin acted was no longer his concern.

Moreover, Huang Qiangmin's words eased their pressure.

Indeed, clarifying the intermediate steps would be extremely complex—not only would interrogation be needed, but proof would be required. If the documents held value, the only ones who might know the intermediaries could be the buyer and seller—how would you investigate that? If the documents held no value to the thief and were simply discarded, how could you verify the circumstances during disposal?

Huh, huh…

The fat field examiner, facing his second bowl of noodles, ate earnestly, happily, sweat beading on his forehead.

The thin field examiner handed him a tissue and sighed. "No one's rushing you—why eat so fast?"

"I'm afraid there won't be anything to eat at night," the fat field examiner replied, still eating vigorously. "I'd rather eat my fill now than regret eating instant noodles later."

"So you know you'll be pulling an all-nighter?" the thin field examiner asked.

"In a case like this, who doesn't pull an all-nighter?" the fat man replied with solid logic.

Just then, a senior executive from Jianyuan entered.

Dressed in a sharp suit, looking every bit the successful businessman, his hair meticulously styled.

"What a coincidence," the executive said with a warm smile.

Huang Qiangmin frowned. "Private contact with investigators won't benefit you."

The executive replied seriously: "Officer, I'm here to report some information I can't discuss at the company. When Director Yuan was young, he ran with the underworld. He knows many shady characters."

He was referring to Yuan Jiansheng's third son, a major player in the battle for Jianyuan's succession.

An exceptionally lively man.

Jiang Yuan remembered how the man had made a face during the photo session—unforgettable.

Huang Qiangmin remained noncommittal. "And?"

"Honestly, someone like me would have to search online or ask friends or scour old neighborhoods just to find a lockpick. But Yuan Yutang doesn't just know local ones—he knows outsiders too. He can find professional thieves, even hired thugs from other cities."

The executive said earnestly: "He used to be tied to the underworld. Even though Director Yuan has pulled him back in, people don't change."

Huang Qiangmin grunted. "Where did you get this information? We're looking for professional thieves?"

"Captain Huang, are you insulting us?"

The middle-aged executive gave a knowing look. "Anyway, the third son has always been unruly. He grew up watching Young and Dangerous. He's calmed down these past few years, but now he's been pushed forward by a bunch of old men to seize power—and he's still playing the same old gangster game. Only he would use such methods."

"Alright, we've noted your information," Huang Qiangmin said, pulling out his notebook and jotting it down. At least having information was better than none.

The middle-aged executive felt he hadn't achieved his desired effect but said no more, nodded, and walked off with his head held high.

He even patted his pants when he reached the street below.

He thought: These poor cops could only afford this fly-infested hole.

The fat field examiner had put down his chopsticks when the man arrived; now he leaned forward, peering through the glass at the executive's movements, and asked strangely: "Are we getting dragged into a family power struggle drama?"

"Not really—a listed company, worth tens of billions… it's just…" the thin field examiner said, then shook his head. "If it were me, I wouldn't accept it either—why should the one born a few years earlier inherit a hundred-billion fortune while the other brothers have to kowtow to him?"

The fat field examiner tilted his triple chin up. "So does that mean the third son is highly suspicious? Could he be the one who hired someone to steal the documents?"

As the master, the thin field examiner, older and more perceptive, stayed silent, smiling as he looked toward Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan and the others.

In this case, he and his apprentice were merely assistants.

If it's solved, they're good assistants.

If it's not solved, they're still assistants.

Huang Qiangmin also had doubts. He asked Jiang Yuan: "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Jiang Yuan said bluntly. "We have solid evidence—just follow the evidence."

Huang Qiangmin and Wu Jun nodded.

It wasn't that they fully agreed with Jiang Yuan's approach, but after so long working together, his methods and case-solving efficiency were undeniable.

If left to himself, Huang Qiangmin wouldn't touch this case at all.

Of course, without Jiang Yuan, a county detective captain from a remote town would never have gotten involved in a case like this.

The Qinghe City Bureau probably feared entanglement and wanted to avoid suspicion—but overall, all parties ultimately recognized Jiang Yuan's competence.

After all, the main driving force behind this matter, the stated goal, was still solving the case and recovering the stolen items. And if confidentiality could be maintained to some degree, so much the better.

"Let's go. Get to work."

Huang Qiangmin called out, and the group went downstairs, heading straight to the local police station.

This station had an internal network; once the proper software was downloaded, they could compare fingerprints against the advanced database. Otherwise, using only mobile phones or public networks, they could only access the basic database.

Jiang Yuan was given a computer and began working on the fingerprints.

The two field examiners took the lists sent by the bureau and began filtering them—if they were to conduct a screening, they needed to define a scope. Although screening wasn't ideal, the investigative paths for such cases were limited anyway.

Wu Jun brewed a cup of tea and watched Huang Qiangmin chat with the station chief—he was just here to accompany, and without a corpse, there was nothing else he could do.

Evening.

The third son, Yuan Yutang—the one the executive had mentioned, raised on Young and Dangerous—appeared.

Yuan Yutang was dressed fashionably.

Patterned pants paired with a red shirt.

Unlike when his father was present earlier, he was flamboyant.

He was accompanied by several henchmen, but entered alone.

Seeing Jiang Yuan working, the third son sauntered over, sizing him up.

"Officer Jiang, your color coordination is great. You clearly have taste."

He pointed at Jiang Yuan's shirt and pants.

Jiang Yuan was still wearing his police pants, but had changed into his own shirt for the evening work.

He had inherited a Level 2 Fashion Sense talent and hadn't deliberately used it—now he naturally applied it.

As a tall man, among males, you often didn't need to look at his face—just his height was enough.

Now, his appearance was more composed than when he first joined, less youthful and naive.

His attire was neat and stylish.

But in the police station, only forensic officers cared about fashion—because they often had to describe the deceased's clothing in reports. Master Wu Jun's taste remained stuck in the last century, indifferent to Jiang Yuan's or the latest young victims' outfits.

Jiang Yuan studied Yuan Yutang, wondering if the man might have some sexual orientation issue.

Mainly because the man wore Gucci slippers—golden ones, covered in chaotic, glittering ornaments—and his face was lightly made up, more refined than even a rich second-generation's self-discipline.

Even Jiang Yuan, with his high-level footprint analysis skills, had to mutter "male rabbit's feet are twitchy" upon seeing those shoes.

Then he recalled how this man had looked like a corporate elite earlier that day—and suddenly felt the Yuan family was especially bizarre.

Yuan Yutang didn't care about Jiang Yuan's gaze—he'd dressed like this on purpose. He opened with a greeting, then got straight to the point:

"Officer Jiang, I'm here to give you a lead."

Huang Qiangmin and the others all perked up.

Yuan Yutang said: "My eldest brother is extremely ambitious—he's the type who'll stay up until five a. . every night to finish a task. Old man Yuan has been saying for over a decade that he'll hand the company to him, but if I were him, I'd have snapped long ago."

Seeing Jiang Yuan listening intently,

he continued: "I know today some little rat came to you with stories about my past. I admit it—I was young once. Don't get me wrong—I always stood at the back of a fight, yelling the loudest but never stepping forward. Just a loudmouth. This case has nothing to do with me."

Yuan Yutang found dissecting his past slightly thrilling and went on:

"My brother has problems, but my second brother is the real snake. He acts like he's all about drinking, partying, and ignoring company affairs—ha! But his hands reach further than anyone else's. I once saw him having dinner alone with an old man from the company."

"This time, my second brother might be trying to take out both me and my brother."

"How?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"The listing is led by my brother. My father is old-school—he wanted a family business. But now the city has demands, my brother wants to go public to raise money, and the other board members agree. So Dad agreed. If they frame me for stealing the documents and then leak them to sink the listing, Dad will have no choice but to pick my second brother."

Yuan Yutang finished speaking, turned to leave, then looked back at Jiang Yuan. "Bro, when this case is solved, let's grab a drink. I like you."

Jiang Yuan stared at his shoes and shook his head. "Let's deal with it when they're broken."

"Got it, won't keep you any longer," said Lao San, then shuffled off.

Jiang Yuan and the others exchanged glances, then went back to work.

As Little Fat had said, in cases like this, no one ever slept.

But they didn't stay up long.

Three a. .

Jiang Yuan matched the fingerprint.

As he suspected, the man was a thirty-five-year-old seasoned professional thief with twenty years of theft history, half of which he'd spent in prison.

This time, two of his fingers had pressed against the inner side of the doorframe—likely when he first opened the door. He'd missed wiping that spot during cleanup.

Fingerprints were the greatest enemy of professional thieves.

The study door at Yuan's residence was high-end enough that even a professional thief would have to hold his breath and focus intently to pick the lock—and he certainly couldn't wear gloves, or his tactile sensitivity would be compromised, reducing efficiency.

As for wiping fingerprints, thieves never did it well enough.

Jiang Yuan sent all the information to Huang Qiangmin, then watched him use his phone to wake up Wu Junhao and the others from the First Platoon, before returning with the Fat-and-Thin duo to rest at the nearby hotel.

The next day.

Jiang Yuan was still asleep when Huang Qiangmin's call woke him.

"Are we leaving?" Jiang Yuan mumbled.

"Lao San is dead," Huang Qiangmin said bluntly.

"One minute," Jiang Yuan was fully awake.