Chapter 446

"Director Huang, Division Chief Liu, Team Leader Jiang, let's not be in such a rush. We've only just arrived in Shi Tingxian, and we haven't even had a chance to rest. There's no reason to keep working without a break; let's have a meal first and share a drink." The Bureau Chief didn't have as thick a skin as Bai Jian, and more importantly, he didn't have as sharp a tongue, so he hurriedly tried to ease the atmosphere.

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

"Our Shi Tingxian's Zhengyang Tower is very famous. Historically, Shi Ting has been a place where the great clans gathered; the Shi family has lived here for hundreds of years, and Zhengyang Tower 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. Just as he said, the Zhengyang Tower in Shi Tingxian was very famous, a restaurant that people would even travel to as a 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, and it didn't align with the current spirit of reducing the "three public expenses."

However, after experiencing this unexpected morning, the Bureau Chief felt the originally selected restaurant was no longer suitable; to truly reflect the hospitality of the Shi Tingxian Bureau, only Zhengyang Tower would do.

The Deputy Bureau Chief caught the hint, picked up his phone, and immediately began changing the reservation.

Jiang Yuan, 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 the members of Jiang Yuan's cold case task force, all of whom were swept along by the Bureau Chief.

Captain Bai hesitated for a few seconds and said, "I'll stay behind to reorganize the task force and go to Ma Family Village 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 that the head chef of Zhengyang Tower take charge of the cooking.

As everyone knows, a head chef in a kitchen is just like a forensic expert—the operator's skill level is extremely important. The head chef of Zhengyang Tower had been famous for many years; although he had never left the area, 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 fleshy barbs, 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 dies 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 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 chef is truly like that of a high-level forensic expert—not widely famous, but with a balanced flavor that neither lets the spiciness overwhelm 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 Zhiyang, "Go and get the PAD and laptop from the car; I'll pick a few cases to work on now."

When he worked on cases before, he was relatively restrained. After all, LV3-level skills were already quite excessive; finding a suitable 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 naturally had to be expanded a bit.

After all, the thoughts of the high-ranking police officers in the Shi Tingxian Bureau were just a small matter; acquiring skills was the big matter.

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

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

Several leaders felt a bit uncomfortable, and their drinking 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 up, and the leaders are no exception.

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

Huang Qiangmin's ability to resist awkwardness surged; 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 nothing by it. Let's just let things be, alright..."

"That's how it should be, that's how it should be."

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

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

What the leaders thought in their hearts was one thing, but what they said was very pleasant.

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, his efficiency in solving cases had increased, and as his ability improved, his interest in interpersonal interaction as a technical person had weakened.

On the other hand, he was actually just being 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 naturally manifested by them in an environment with a high sense of 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 arrogance among highly educated people.

If the environment one is in is not safe, 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 a smile, and those who have a butt to sell will sell a butt.

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 began making records again.

This time, he chose a rather special case.

A landslide near Miaotang Village locally revealed a Qing Dynasty tomb, but in the subsequent excavation, two corpses were found, and one of them had fresh bones, 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 to dig a tomb, which 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 must be limited, which limits the number of people and narrows the list of suspects. Just this one point, when checking, is a death warrant.

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

Although most cold cases of 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 Qiangmin after he was free.

Huang Qiangmin saw the picture at a glance, hurriedly 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 by the way, drank by himself, and felt extremely comfortable.

The few from the Shi Tingxian Bureau now had a bit of a handle on Jiang Yuan's temper, and they 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 Qiangmin in a low voice.

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

Everyone was drinking, eating frogs, looking at corpses, and discussing prices, each getting what they needed and enjoying themselves—another beautiful and peaceful day.

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