Chapter 446

"Director Huang, Chief Liu, Captain Jiang, let's not be in such a hurry. We've only just arrived in Shi Tingxian, and we haven't even had a chance to rest. There's no reason to work without stopping; let's have a meal first and share a drink." The Bureau Chief didn't have as thick a skin as Bai Liu Jian, and more importantly, he didn't have as stubborn a mouth, so he hurried to ease the atmosphere.

The Deputy Bureau Chief also quickly chimed in, saying, "The place is already booked, and the timing is just right..."

"The Zhengyang Tower in our Shi Tingxian is very famous. Historically, Shi Ting has been a place where large clans settled, and the Shi family has lived here for hundreds of years. Zhengyang Tower itself is a restaurant with a century-old heritage..." The Bureau Chief introduced Zhengyang Tower, which was effectively changing the location for the meal.

The Bureau Chief felt the originally planned location was no longer appropriate. As he said, the Zhengyang Tower in Shi Tingxian was very famous, a restaurant that people would even use as a travel destination. Under normal circumstances, the bureau wouldn't host a banquet there; not only was it troublesome and expensive, but it was also easy to run into other leaders, which didn't align with the current spirit of cutting back on the "three public expenses."

However, after experiencing this unexpected morning, the Bureau Chief felt the originally selected restaurant was no longer suitable. To demonstrate the hospitality of the Shi Tingxian Bureau, there was only one choice: Zhengyang Tower.

The Deputy Bureau Chief understood immediately, picked up his phone, and began changing the location.

Jiang Yuan, Liu Liu Jinghui, and the others offered a slight, token refusal before going along with the suggestion.

The Bureau Chief hurriedly ushered everyone out and downstairs, including all the members of Jiang Yuan's cold case task force, whom the Bureau Chief called away in one fell swoop.

Captain Bai hesitated for a few seconds and said, "I'll stay behind to reorganize the task force and go to Majiazhuang to conduct the investigation..."

"That's fine." The Bureau Chief agreed immediately, feeling that this stubborn fool had finally grown a bit of a brain.

Leaving Captain Bai behind, the group headed toward Zhengyang Tower in a grand procession.

On the way, the Bureau Chief personally made a phone call to request the head chef of Zhengyang Tower to take charge of the cooking.

As everyone knows, a restaurant's head chef is like a forensic expert; the operator's skill level is extremely important. The head chef of Zhengyang Tower had been famous for many years, and although he had never left, he still held extraordinary influence within the small territory of Shi Tingxian.

The most famous delicacy at Zhengyang Tower, and the one with the longest heritage, was the stone frog.

What the Shi family ate a hundred years ago and what they used is no longer verifiable, but since Zhengyang Tower returned to the Shi family, the most famous dish here has been the stone frog cuisine.

The stone frog is known as a mountain delicacy and is slightly different from ordinary frogs. Because its body has small fleshy spines, it is said to be able to catch and eat snakes.

As for modern tastes, because it must live in clear, clean water sources and tends to die at the slightest provocation, its meat has become highly prized and expensive.

As for the preparation, it is actually extremely simple; whether stir-fried, made into soup, or served in the most popular spicy flavor, it is very delicious.

Jiang Yuan also ate happily. As a specialty of Shi Tingxian, stone frog can also be bought in Ningtai, but to be fair, the handiwork of the Zhengyang Tower head chef is truly like that of a high-level forensic expert—not widely famous, but with a balanced flavor that neither lets the spiciness overpower the taste nor damages the tender texture.

After a satisfying meal, Jiang Yuan, who didn't like the leaders' business drinking sessions, took advantage of the mood and instructed Mu Mu Zhiyang, "Go get the PAD and laptop from the car. I'll pick a few cases to work on now."

He had been relatively restrained when working on cases before. After all, LV3-level skills were already quite excessive; finding the right breakthrough point was enough to easily finish off most cases. Jiang Yuan had turned to cold cases; otherwise, if he only worked on current cases, Ningtai County had already proven that the local criminal population couldn't support such over-exploitation.

However, Jiang Yuan was still accumulating "heartfelt praise" from his peers, so the scale should naturally be a bit larger.

After all, the thoughts of a few senior police officers from the Shi Tingxian Bureau were just a small matter; acquiring skills was the big matter.

Mu Mu Zhiyang had nothing more to say and trotted off to get the PAD and laptop Jiang Yuan wanted.

Jiang Yuan, full and satisfied, began reading the documents on the spot.

The leaders were slightly uncomfortable, and their drinking movements slowed down.

Jiang Yuan looked at the system interface—Task Progress: 335/X.

It must be said that the emotions of the police officers in Shi Tingxian are truly hard to stir, and the leaders are no exception.

"Get me a coffee." Jiang Yuan said to the waiter, put on his headphones, and started looking at the screen by himself.

Huang Huang Qiangmin's ability to resist awkwardness had increased dramatically. He laughed twice and took the initiative to stand up, saying, "Let's drink our drinks. Jiang Yuan is a technical person; sometimes his ideas are a bit different from ours, but he means no harm. Let's just let things take their natural course, alright..."

"That's only right, that's only right."

"It's precisely because he has ideas that he can solve cases."

"We can completely understand, and we should understand."

What the leaders think in their hearts is one thing, but what they say is always very pleasant.

Huang Huang Qiangmin took the initiative to toast again, and after a few rounds, the atmosphere at the table was lifted.

Jiang Yuan actually knew what was going on; he just couldn't be bothered to pay attention.

Now that he had acquired more skills and his efficiency in solving cases had improved, his interest in interpersonal interaction as a technical person had diminished.

On the other hand, he was actually just more unrestrained.

In the impression of many people, technical personnel or highly educated people have a kind of reclusive, low-EQ social alienation. In reality, this is just the arrogance they naturally manifest when in an environment with high security.

The unrestrained, low-EQ expression of "I know what to do, but I can't be bothered to serve you" is the manifestation of the arrogance of highly educated people.

If the environment is unsafe, such as in turbulent times, or if one's own economic conditions are relatively poor, then no matter how reluctant, those who have a smile to sell will sell it, and those who have a butt to sell will sell it.

But if there is a choice, a technician like Jiang Yuan is more willing to let his emotions be released.

The freedom to do what he wants, to look at corpses when he wants, and to ignore people when he wants is actually a higher level of enjoyment.

Jiang Yuan opened his laptop and started making records again.

This time, he chose a rather special case.

A landslide near Miaotang Village locally exposed a Qing Dynasty tomb, but in the subsequent excavation, two corpses were found, and one of them had fresh bone quality, clearly not belonging to the original tomb...

It must be said that among various corpse-burying cases, burying a corpse in an existing tomb is considered a relatively clever approach, which can reduce a lot of trouble. For example, it reduces the time and effort of digging a tomb, which in turn further reduces the traces left behind.

In addition, tombs are generally not easily dug up again, which reduces the possibility of being discovered.

However, the drawbacks are also very obvious.

First, the number of people who know about this tomb is definitely limited, which limits the number of people and narrows the list of suspects. Just this one point, when matched, is a death warrant.

However, the Shi Tingxian Bureau clearly did not make good use of this point. After the corpses were discovered, they encountered problems in the step of identifying the source of the corpses.

Although most cold cases involving buried corpses have similar problems, in Jiang Yuan's view, the forensic experts of the Shi Tingxian Bureau were still some distance away from "having no way."

"I've found it." Jiang Yuan handed the PAD to Huang Huang Qiangmin after he was free.

Huang Huang Qiangmin saw the picture at a glance and quickly took a sip of wine to calm his shock, sighed, and said, "I'll tell you later, just give me the name next time, no need to bring the picture."

"Okay." Jiang Yuan agreed, poured himself a glass of wine, and drank it by himself, feeling exceptionally comfortable.

The few people from the Shi Tingxian Bureau now had a bit of a handle on Jiang Yuan's temper and couldn't be bothered to use a cold face to stick to his hot butt, so they just pretended not to see and communicated with Huang Huang Qiangmin in a low voice.

Although Huang Huang Qiangmin's asking price was high, compared to Jiang Yuan's strength, it was still worth the price.

Everyone was drinking, eating frogs, looking at corpses, and discussing prices, each taking what they needed and finding their own joy. It was another beautiful and peaceful day.

For some people, it might be the last beautiful and peaceful day.