60: Chapter 60 Flaws and Panic

At this moment, Zhao Yang stood outside the door, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

He wanted to see if their group of four was being followed.

Hearing Zhang Qin's scream, Zhao Yang suddenly turned and found her hands already clawing toward Jiang Nan's face.

He stepped diagonally, intending to block Jiang Nan, but it was already too late.

However, Jiang Nan remained calm. With a slight tilt of her body, her left hand caught Zhang Qin's wrist while her right hand pressed down firmly.

She forced Zhang Qin down onto the sofa.

"I suggest you calm down!" Jiang Nan's face was frosty, her voice crisp yet chilling.

"Assaulting a police officer and obstructing official duties—you are a police family member, you should know what kind of charges those carry!"

Zhao Yang walked quickly to Zhang Qin and squatted down to look her in the eye.

"We are only conducting a search according to the law. If your husband is clean, the search will actually prove his innocence."

Innocent, my foot. He only said that to soothe Zhang Qin's emotions.

Zhang Qin turned her face away, her lips trembling as she sobbed softly.

It was clear she was just an ordinary housewife.

Having such a massive upheaval suddenly strike her home, she was naturally unable to accept it and became emotionally agitated.

"Begin the search," Jiang Peng announced.

He and Jiang Nan put on white gloves and split up to work.

The layout of this sixty-square-meter staff dormitory was simple.

A living room and two bedrooms, with furniture all in old styles from ten years ago.

Jiang Nan started in the bedroom, being the first to pull open the wardrobe door.

Inside, besides a few police uniforms, most were the daily clothes of Zhou Zhiqiang and his wife.

The fabrics were cheap and ordinary, and the pockets were all empty.

The nightstand contained only some common medicines, an old flashlight, and several professional books on criminal investigation.

Jiang Nan flipped through the pages; there were no papers tucked inside.

She even checked under the mattress, but found nothing but dust.

It was too clean—abnormally clean.

Jiang Peng, who was searching the living room and the second bedroom, also found nothing.

He came to the master bedroom and asked in a low voice:

"Xiao Jiang, did you find anything?"

Jiang Nan knit her elegant brows and shook her head slightly.

"Nothing."

She knew very well that if they didn't find something, Zhao Yang's subsequent interrogation would be very difficult.

As long as Zhou Zhiqiang refused to admit anything to the death, the charge of planting evidence would be hard to stick.

The fact that his fingerprints were on the bribe money only proved he had touched it, nothing more.

Thus, Jiang Nan re-examined the room.

The walls were painted with white coating that had already yellowed, and there were water stains in one corner of the ceiling.

The floor was made of old-fashioned ceramic tiles, with black grime accumulated in the gaps.

Wait, the black grime in the tile gaps broke off underneath the wardrobe!

She quickly squatted down, carefully inspected those few floor tiles, and tapped them with her finger.

The sound was somewhat hollow.

"Officer Jiang, come over and take a look!" Jiang Nan called out.

Jiang Peng approached quickly, and Jiang Nan pointed at the floor tiles: "There's something wrong under here!"

Zhao Yang and Zheng Beichen in the living room, as well as Zhang Qin, all rushed over upon hearing this.

Jiang Peng pushed the wardrobe aside with force and used a small knife to pry at the edge of a tile.

The entire tile was easily lifted, revealing a tin box underneath.

He looked surprised and glanced sideways at Jiang Nan:

"Xiao Jiang, you really have an eye for detail!"

Jiang Nan didn't speak. With a solemn expression, she reached out, carefully took out the box, placed it on the floor, and opened it.

Inside were thirty thousand yuan in cash and a hardbound notebook.

This amount of cash wasn't much, but hiding it here was highly abnormal.

Seeing these items, Zhao Yang's eyes lit up, and his heart couldn't help but race.

Zhang Qin, however, was full of shock, exclaiming:

"How can there be money here? How did I not know!"

Jiang Nan flipped open the notebook, and the very first page made her pupils contract.

Written in scrawled handwriting was:

March 15th, received 30,000 cash from President Jin. Requirement: Handle the Jin Dadi construction site brawl case, classify it as a mutual fight.

April 2nd, received 10,000 cash from Sister Hong of Oriental KTV. Requirement: Provide a tip-off before an anti-vice raid.

May 20th, received 100,000 cash from Section Chief Xu of the Die-Casting Machine Factory. Requirement: ●●●

Apparently, after writing a few words, the author felt it was inappropriate and used a pen to blot it out.

Seeing those three large black ink blots, Zhao Yang wondered in his heart:

Was Zhou Zhiqiang worried that this matter was of great importance and didn't dare to write it out?

He really hadn't expected Zhou Zhiqiang to be like many corrupt officials, liking to record every bribe received.

It didn't matter if it wasn't written clearly; with this notebook, they didn't have to worry about being unable to crack Zhou Zhiqiang's mouth open.

Some might ask, who would record such things, as it was essentially leaving behind evidence against oneself?

In fact, many corrupt officials who fell at the beginning of the century had this habit.

Some even kept a thick, scandalous diary.

Zhao Yang turned to look at Jiang Nan and nodded slightly to her.

Jiang Nan understood. She put the items back into the tin box and placed it inside a white plastic bag for sealing.

Jiang Peng quickly finished filling out the search record and handed it to Zhang Qin to sign.

Zhang Qin signed with trembling hands, her expression numb as she muttered blankly to herself:

"Oh my god, what am I going to do, what is this family going to do..."

Judging from her expression, she was clearly completely unaware of these matters.

Jiang Nan gave her a sympathetic look, gritted her teeth, and said in a heavy voice:

"The search is over, let's go."

Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened, and the lights of the residential buildings lit up one after another.

They looked like pairs of prying eyes.

After the four of them got into the car, Jiang Peng floored the gas pedal, heading all the way toward the Integrity Education Center.

...

Before the end of the workday in the afternoon, in the office of Shen Zhentao, the Director of the Tongan Municipal Bureau.

Chen Keyong, the head of the Discipline Inspection Group, walked in and gently closed the door.

"Director Shen, this morning the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection Supervision Group took all of Zhou Zhiqiang's files. Zhou Zhiqiang may be suspected of disciplinary violations," Chen Keyong said calmly.

When an officer got into trouble, he didn't take it seriously at first.

However, following protocol, he still reported it to the top leader.

Disciplinary violations? It was far more than that!

Shen Zhentao's hand holding the cigarette visibly trembled, but he quickly composed himself.

"Oh... you're talking about the Deputy Director of the Guangrong Police Station, right? If the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection needs it, cooperate fully with their work.

"If there's no problem, we're not afraid of investigation; if there is a problem, investigating him is only right!"

Shen Zhentao's final words were forceful and resonant.

"Alright, Director Shen, I understand," Chen Keyong responded and turned to leave.

The moment the door closed, Shen Zhentao stood up abruptly, sweat pouring down his forehead.

The Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection wouldn't take Zhou Zhiqiang's files for no reason; he must be in their hands.

"What to do? What to do!"

Shen Zhentao paced back and forth incessantly, irritably lighting a cigarette to try and calm himself down.

Back then, he had asked Guo Mingkai to send someone to plant evidence, and Guo Mingkai's people had turned around and found Zhou Zhiqiang, a deputy director of a grassroots police station, to do the job.

Little did he expect that when this bastard Zhou Zhiqiang made his move, it would be a total disaster.

The planting was successful, but it resulted in a death.

Fearing he couldn't cover it up himself, he had immediately reported to Ji Hongwen.

At that time, Ji Hongwen had hinted for him to frame Sun Hongwei and close the case quickly.

He was scared then and didn't dare say that the real killer was within the police force.

Zhou Zhiqiang's planting of evidence was inextricably linked to him.

If Zhou Zhiqiang had fallen into the hands of the police, he would have tried everything to silence him.

But now it was different.

Once Zhou Zhiqiang couldn't keep his mouth shut and the Commission for Discipline Inspection followed the clues, he, Shen Zhentao, would definitely not be able to escape.

When that happened, Ji Hongwen would inevitably be implicated...

Shen Zhentao felt as if the sky was falling.

He fiercely crushed his cigarette butt, picked up the phone, and dialed out.

"Secretary Ji, something terrible has happened!"

"What's the panic? Speak slowly!" Ji Hongwen answered the phone, sounding somewhat annoyed.

This Shen Zhentao was obedient enough, but sometimes he just couldn't keep his composure.

"Secretary, the real killer of the June 11 Case has been caught, and he's now in the hands of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection Supervision Group." Shen Zhentao's hand shook with guilt.

"What? Hasn't the Special Investigation Team been making zero progress?"

Ji Hongwen's voice was filled with shock; clearly, he could no longer sit still.

"This was very sudden, and I'm not clear on the details either," Shen Zhentao was so nervous his upper and lower teeth chattered together with a clicking sound.

"Secretary, do you think you can find a way through the Commission for Discipline Inspection's side?"

Ji Hongwen's face was as cold as water as he reprimanded him icily:

"Going to the Commission for Discipline Inspection at a time like this—are you afraid they won't discover you?!"

"I'm telling you, clear yourself immediately, or else no one will be able to save you!"