Chapter 349

According to tradition, Wang Chuan and others would handle minor police incidents on their own.

But today, with Liu Jinghui present, the officers were once again organized: some were assigned to collate evidence, others to draft reports, and several more to contact the local police station and criminal investigation team at the crime scene to verify all evidence.

The bustling conference room made Jiang Yuan feel relaxed and comfortable, as if a master manager had already anticipated and fulfilled every need, leaving only enjoyment to be had.

On the other hand, although the counterfeit currency case was serious, it wasn't like homicide or human trafficking—there was no strong moral imperative driving urgency, so a little breathing room was acceptable.

The plan was set, but no one expected Liu Jinghui to throw himself into it so fiercely.

Surveillance footage was extracted; any clips with investigative potential were sent to the provincial bureau's image analysis unit. For further footage, they would contact the traffic police brigade to search 100 kilometers forward and 100 kilometers backward.

Jiang Yuan's cold case team now had 22 members; Liu Jinghui pulled out 12 people to review videos and kept sending them to the image analysis unit, asking for help. Meanwhile, the technical investigation team, treated like a lord, was also put to use—the phone numbers on the whiteboard quickly rose to ten.

"Why not start making arrests?" Gao Yuyan said, seeing several phone numbers had been located; her fingers itched. She had risen through the ranks in arrest operations and specialized in apprehending female suspects—male criminals outweighed and outpowered females by more than a degree, so Gao Yuyan could only demonstrate her superior grappling skills and control when facing women.

Liu Jinghui remained unmoved: "Not enough. These are all small gangs who don't know about each other—at least not the full picture. Right now we've only confirmed phone numbers for three small gangs; we still need to dig deeper."

"Digging deeper" wasn't particularly difficult: over twenty criminal investigators, plus the provincial bureau's image analysis unit—this force was not elite for a full counterfeit currency case, but it was overwhelming for these petty fraudsters.

All Liu Jinghui and his team needed now was time; with sufficient time, gathering information wasn't hard. But speed was still essential, lest some of these small gangs change their patterns in a few days.

Gao Yuyan had no further objections, only muttered: "At least three people per gang, spending counterfeit bills in 20-yuan increments, driving around—worth it?"

"That's why they recruited family members," Liu Jinghui said, lips twitching. "That's the innovative part of this counterfeit ring: their end consumers aren't just buyers—they're families traveling by car. I noticed this pattern from the crime scenes: most transactions occurred at routine locations, distributed logically—eating when eating, shopping when shopping, refueling, washing cars, visiting attractions. At these points, it didn't look like fraud."

"So these people are spending counterfeit bills?"

Liu Jinghui nodded: "I talked to a friend in economic crime investigation—he said this kind of 20-yuan counterfeit is still common. Some people buy them and spend them themselves. These end consumers may have no criminal experience; just greed gets them caught."

Wang Chuan looked up: "If we hadn't intervened, many of them would've spent their counterfeit cash and gone home happily."

"Possibly," Liu Jinghui smiled bitterly. "We might not even pursue them that closely in the end."

In truth, even they targeted these peripheral consumers only to get closer to the core counterfeiters. If the investigation went well, they'd likely never circle back to these scattered users.

Gao Yuyan and others, unfamiliar with economic crime investigations, stared blankly: "Even if they aren't caught, risking criminal detention just to make a few yuan and drag their whole family along—is that worth it?"

"How many people ignore their lives for petty gains?" Liu Jinghui chuckled. "Let's hurry and finalize the targets. Let's work overtime today and aim to start arrests tomorrow."

Everyone responded enthusiastically—the thrill of solving a case and making arrests was still strong.

Jiang Yuan silently pulled out his phone, opened WeChat, and sent a message to his father: 【Won't be home for dinner tonight. Everyone's working overtime.】

Jiangfuzhen: 【No problem. If your boss asks you to work overtime, just do it well.】

Jiang Yuan: 【I'm the boss.】

Jiangfuzhen: 【Did you decide to work overtime yourself?】

Jiang Yuan: 【Everyone volunteered to work overtime.】

Jiangfuzhen: 【After becoming a boss, do they hand out scripts like this for you to recite?】

Jiang Yuan: 【They stayed because they care about their work.】

Jiangfuzhen: 【Son, you don't have to lie to be a boss. Here's an idea—I'll send two sheep over later. Treat the overtime staff to them. Even as a boss, you're still human.】

Jiangfuzhen: 【Son, being a leader doesn't require lying. How about this—I'll have someone send over two sheep later; give them to the staff working overtime. Even as a leader, we're still human.】

Jiang Yuan put down his phone, feeling a pang of emptiness, then looked up to see Liu Jinghui working feverishly, face alight with earnest focus.

Jiang Yuan said: "Liu Chu, you're going to be away from home again for a long time. It's too hard on you."

"Not at all," Liu Jinghui smiled.

"Isn't it better to go home on time and relax?" Jiang Yuan asked.

Liu Jinghui paused, then burst out laughing: "Jiang Yuan, you're too young. When you reach my age, you'll understand: a man without a family is miserable. A man who goes home on time is even more miserable!"

Jiang Yuan fell silent for two seconds: "So you'd rather be on a business trip and work overtime?"

"I wouldn't call it 'rather.' In short, I'm fully devoted to my work—that's why I volunteer for business trips and overtime," Liu Jinghui said.

Jiang Yuan now didn't know which version—his father's or Liu Jinghui's—was closer to the truth. Maybe this was the difference in awareness between a displaced household and a deputy department-level cadre?

Evening.

Jiangfuzhen personally brought freshly prepared lamb to the criminal investigation team.

Two sheep: one was butchered and roasted; the other was prepared Jiang family style—boiled in water with only ginger, scallions, and salt, cooked until the meat was tender but still clinging to the bone. When lifted, the meat trembled visibly, yet no matter how much it shook, it wouldn't fall off—you had to apply a little force to bite it free.

With just a hint of salt, the lamb's natural flavor burst forth. Jiang Yuan, who often ate his father's lamb, still thought this was an exceptional performance. Colleagues unfamiliar with such high-quality boiled lamb grew solemn.

Tang Jia and Dong Bing, two women, were naturally wary of plain boiled lamb, but the aroma of the roasted lamb still made them devour it enthusiastically.

Gao Yuyan was simpler: she liked both. She ate lamb in buns, drank lamb soup, and even joined a few others in eating raw garlic with the meat.

Jiang Yuan silently ate two raw garlic cloves himself.

He thought raw garlic might be his father's trick to resist overtime—eating raw garlic was like eating half-cooked meat from a hot pot; both had a "bad money drives out good" effect at the table: once someone chose it, others either followed or endured.

And in an overtime group, if half ate raw garlic and half didn't, the smell during meetings…

But Jiang Yuan calmly ate his garlic. Jiangfuzhen, as a displaced household, had become too distant from the masses—he didn't understand that for these junior officers in the room, whether from county or city bureau, when they were assigned stakeouts, the stinking patrol cars sometimes reeked of feces—what was garlic?

After eating their fill, everyone rested briefly, then returned to work—no one mentioned the garlic.

Those who ate it pretended nothing happened; those who didn't didn't grimace. The criminal investigation team had a tradition of roughness; someone like Liu Jinghui, whose shirt collar always looked pristine, was somewhat alienated from the masses.

"I think we're ready."

In the morning, as Jiang Yuan was half-asleep, he heard Liu Jinghui's voice.

Jiang Yuan sat up, wiped his face with tea water, then looked at Liu Jinghui.

"We've confirmed 33 people. We can make arrests now," Liu Jinghui pointed to the whiteboard.

"That many?" Jiang Yuan was surprised. Usually, investigations grew harder over time; confirming ten suspects early was good, another ten later was excellent—thirty-three suggested new breakthroughs.

Indeed, Liu Jinghui tilted his head slightly: "Mainly because we've identified their modus operandi: driving while spending. I spent some time re-mapping the routes of the first two gangs, then compared them with later locations and found several similar patterns. Matching them made it easy to pinpoint their accommodation sites—using hotels to confirm identities was faster than technical investigation."

Indeed, Liu Jinghui slightly lifted his head and said: "The main thing was confirming their modus operandi—they drive while spending. So I spent some time redrawing the movement routes of the first two groups, then compared them with the later locations, and discovered several similar routes. Once we plugged them in, it was easy to pinpoint the accommodation spots of several groups, and from the hotels, we confirmed their identities—faster than technical investigation."

"For two or three groups, choosing routes independently makes sense. But we've identified more than a dozen small gangs. In this case, I believe the organizers must be assigning routes. Otherwise, these groups would inevitably cross paths—especially at famous tourist spots. If several groups arrive one after another, all using similar 20-yuan counterfeits, the later ones are just walking into traps."

"If it were two or three groups, driving and routing wouldn't be an issue. But we've identified more than a dozen small gangs. In this case, I think the organizers must be assigning them specific routes. Otherwise, these people would inevitably cross paths—especially at well-known tourist spots, where several groups might arrive one after another, all using similar 20-yuan counterfeit bills. Those who come later are essentially walking into a trap."

Jiang Yuan nodded slightly.

Liu Jinghui continued: "It's like preventing product diversion. The counterfeiters' goal is to unload their goods as quickly and safely as possible… but they never expected this method would help us identify so many people. It also gave me some motivation."

Liu Jinghui continued: "This is somewhat like preventing product diversion. The forgers' goal is to dump as much of the batch as quickly and safely as possible… But they never expected this method would help us identify so many people—and it also gave me a bit of motivation."

"If these 'consumers' had no connection to the counterfeiters, the organizers wouldn't bother assigning routes—they could just let them fend for themselves," Liu Jinghui said. "So, catching these people will likely yield some leads."

Jiang Yuan hoped so too—otherwise, everyone's sleepless night had been wasted, and the two sacrificed sheep… well, that wasn't their fault.

Jiang Yuan also hoped so; otherwise, everyone's night would have been wasted, and the two sacrificed sheep… this matter certainly couldn't be blamed on them.