Chapter 44.2: Reopening the Case
On the way to Section Chief Duan’s office, Tian Jianguo sighed with emotion.
“No wonder Liu the Third was willing to buy them. A thousand counterfeit coupons only cost thirty-four yuan—that’s less than four fen per coupon. If he sold them as genuine, he could make a net profit of two or three mao each. Even passing off the counterfeits as genuine would let him make half his money back. Who wouldn’t be tempted?”
“And that’s just counterfeit coupons. In reality, these things still aren’t as valuable as money.”
Feng Zhengming was somewhat reflective as well. “These days, in some places around the city, people have already started buying things without coupons. Maybe in the future, it’ll really be like Jiang Xia said, and we’ll gradually reach a point where people only need money. If that happens, there’ll definitely be more and more people willing to take risks in this area.”
Tian Jianguo shook his head slightly.
“That would be quite a huge change…”
Feng Zhengming didn’t continue the conversation.
There was something else he was thinking but didn’t say aloud.
‘Jiang Xia’s predictions really are frighteningly accurate. Her abilities are nothing like those of a student who graduated from the police academy only a few months ago. With talent like that, she’s got a promising future ahead of her.’
‘Hmm… Although it’s also possible that she has a very promising future in crime.’
This line of work was simply too profitable. In just over three months, they could make nearly four hundred yuan—almost equivalent to an ordinary police officer’s annual salary.
And that was only the beginning. They weren’t even printing money yet. If they switched to actual banknotes, they could probably make more than a thousand yuan a month.
For people with certain technical skills, that was genuinely tempting.
I’ll have to talk to Liao Zhongsheng about this later.
With that thought, Feng Zhengming pushed open the door to Section Chief Duan’s office.
“Section Chief Duan.”
Feng Zhengming placed the case file he was carrying on the desk and said, “Everyone except Ding Si and Yang Da has now been arrested, and we’ve recovered almost all of the counterfeit coupons.”
Section Chief Duan picked up the case file and flipped through it.
“It’s been less than two days since the case was reported, hasn’t it? Even though two people are still at large, the ringleader, Ding Er, has been taken into custody, and the counterfeit coupons didn’t really make it into circulation or cause any major disruption. Overall, I’d say you handled this quite well. Your Third Squad did an excellent job this time.”
“This wasn’t just the work of our Third Squad.”
Feng Zhengming wasn’t the type to take credit for himself. He said directly, “If it weren’t for Jiang Xia, we really wouldn’t have been able to identify the suspects so quickly. She isn’t just good at drawing; she’s also quite skilled at trace examination. She was the one who figured out that the counterfeit coupons had been made using ink and engraved printing. Those two clues allowed us to narrow it down to people who made engraved seals and eventually track down Ding Er.”
Out of appreciation for the young talent, Feng Zhengming didn’t mention his suspicions. He even polished Jiang Xia’s original words a little, making them sound perfectly ordinary.
“Oh?”
Ever since Jiang Xia had been transferred to the Municipal Public Security Bureau, Section Chief Duan felt like he was constantly hearing her name. He hadn’t expected to hear about her again this time, but when he thought about it carefully, perhaps it wasn’t surprising after all.
After all, they were both related to drawing, so the skills naturally overlapped.
But that wasn’t the only thing this young woman was good at. Tan Bingyi had said that her approach to solving cases was quite flexible. She had previously been the one to identify the suspect in the corpse-dumping case, and this time, she had once again pointed them in the right direction for catching the counterfeit-coupon dealers.
She hadn’t even been at the bureau for very long, yet she’d already helped solve several cases.
‘She’s a high-level talent—no, a high-level workhorse.’
They needed to consider giving her some better feed. Otherwise, if too much time passed without seeing any returns, even a diligent workhorse would gradually lose the motivation to keep plowing the fields.
In that case, they could first put her on the list of candidates being considered for this year’s municipal Outstanding Worker award.
With that thought, Section Chief Duan said, “All right, I understand. Go on and get back to work.”
“Yes, Section Chief Duan.”
Feng Zhengming left the office.
He didn’t return to the Third Squad. Instead, he first went to Jiang Xia’s sketching room.
…
Yang Da’s family was somewhat better-off. The year before last, they’d not only had a family portrait taken, but also an individual half-body portrait. This saved Jiang Xia quite a bit of work; she only needed to use the photograph as a reference to draw a larger head-and-shoulders portrait.
Ding Si was more troublesome. His family didn’t have any photographs, and his eldest sister wasn’t particularly cooperative. To avoid being led astray, they ultimately brought over some of the Ding family’s neighbors and had Jiang Xia draw the portrait based on their descriptions.
By the time Feng Zhengming arrived, both the portraits and the engraved printing plates had already been completed.
He picked up the printing plates and was just about to return to the Third Squad when he happened to see Liao Zhongsheng coming up from downstairs.
What a coincidence.
Feng Zhengming immediately waved him over.
“Section Chief Liao, wait a moment. I actually have something to talk to you about.”
“Hm?”
Section Chief Liao stopped. A puzzled look appeared on his face.
“What is it, Captain Feng?”
“Come over here.”
Feng Zhengming pulled Section Chief Liao downstairs to the first floor.
He looked around and made sure there was no one else nearby. Only then did he tap the portrait in his hand and say meaningfully,
“Your Jiang Xia is seriously capable, you know? She was basically the one who solved this counterfeit-coupon case. She knows the technical process better than the counterfeiters themselves! If she hadn’t gone to the police academy, I’d almost suspect she’d actually done this herself.”
Liao Zhongsheng had still been wondering why Feng Zhengming had dragged him downstairs. It wasn’t until he heard those words that he finally understood.
He fell silent for a moment.
‘What? You’re saying Jiang Xia knows the techniques for making counterfeit coupons really well?’
‘Isn’t that obvious? All those skills are related to drawing!’
Although he vaguely suspected that Jiang Xia might have said something else, Liao Zhongsheng’s first reaction was still to defend his own people.
“Captain Feng, I think you’re reading too much into it. It’s all related to drawing and printing. It’s perfectly normal for her to know a little about it.”
Why couldn’t this Section Chief Liao understand the hint?
Feng Zhengming helplessly added,
“I’m saying she personally admitted that she knows how to do all of it.”
“Oh. So that’s what you mean.”
No wonder Feng Zhengming had come looking for him.
Liao Zhongsheng sighed inwardly.
‘Jiang Xia is still young. How can she just admit to everything whenever someone asks? That’s practically begging people to suspect her! She could’ve simply said she didn’t know!’
He had no choice but to clean up after his subordinate.
Liao Zhongsheng said seriously, “What’s the big deal? Skills are often interconnected. Jiang Xia is such a good comrade, and she’s been working diligently ever since she came to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. You can’t start suspecting someone just because of this. If that’s how we’re going to look at it, Old Sun is good at killing people and disposing of their bodies, too!”
‘I—!’
For the first time, Feng Zhengming realized just how terrible he was at explaining himself.
After all, they weren’t particularly close, so he couldn’t exactly speak too frankly. He could only spread his hands and say, “I never said there’s anything wrong with her. It’s just that those skills are incredibly tempting. You should keep a closer eye on her. If she ever goes down the wrong path in the future, it would be such a shame.”
That, at least, was something Liao Zhongsheng took seriously.
With Jiang Xia’s abilities as they were now, if she ever committed a crime, she’d probably become one of the most troublesome opponents the police could face. She might even become notorious nationwide. That would be genuinely frightening.
There was nothing wrong with keeping a closer eye on her under normal circumstances.
Still… thinking about it, Jiang Xia had always performed quite well. Her mind was obviously filled with nothing but solving cases. At most, her particular skill set was a little… unusual. There was absolutely no sign that she intended to commit crimes.
‘I can’t help feeling they’re just jealous that I have such a talented subordinate.’
As he walked back, this thought rose in Liao Zhongsheng’s mind.
＊
Meanwhile, Jiang Xia carefully washed her hands and put on a pair of medical-grade rubber gloves.
Inside the Technical Division’s office.
“This is the lock from that break-in and infant-murder case from back then.”
Trace Examiner Li took out an evidence bag. Carefully opening it, he gently tipped the lock and the other pieces of evidence onto Jiang Xia’s desk.
“Examining lock marks is destructive forensic work. Once it’s done, it can’t be restored, so we have to be careful. I’ve taken apart plenty of these, so I’m used to it. Let Old Zhao photograph everything for the record while I take it apart. You can watch, Jiang Xia. How does that sound?”
Jiang Xia’s eyes lingered on the other pieces of evidence that had been poured out for a few seconds.
There were several lifted fingerprints, a key, a cigarette butt, and several other items.
Normally, each of these items should have been placed in its own evidence bag to prevent contamination. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough evidence bags, so everything had been put together.
Jiang Xia let out a quiet sigh inwardly.
“No problem.”
“Then I’ll photograph everything for the record first.”
Photographer Zhao had already adjusted his camera to its optimal settings. He stepped forward and gently moved the other pieces of evidence aside with tweezers, then photographed the rust-covered padlock from every angle, capturing a full 360-degree view.
The flash finally stopped.
Photographer Zhao said, “I’ve finished photographing the lock body.”
“Mm. My turn.”
Trace Examiner Li also put on a pair of medical-grade rubber gloves.
They had already tried to lift fingerprints from this lock, but unfortunately, the prints they recovered were overlapping and incomplete, making them completely useless for comparison.
He picked up a small piece of sandpaper that Huang Xueling had cut for him and rubbed it against the area around the keyhole. Before long, he’d worn away all the paint on the surface.
A Phillips-head screw became visible.
Trace Examiner Li then sanded along the side of the lock’s shackle and found another screw.
Applying a little force, he unscrewed the two screws and slowly removed the components inside one by one. He arranged them on a sheet of paper in the same positions they had occupied inside the lock cylinder.
“Old Zhao, take another round of photos of these.”
“Sure thing.”
Photographer Zhao picked up his camera again and photographed all the internal components of the lock.
With that, all the preparations were finally complete.
‘Now it’s my turn.’
Jiang Xia crossed her hands and once again smoothed out the air bubbles trapped inside her rubber gloves, making sure they fit perfectly before picking up the first rounded pin and placing it beneath the microscope.
Trace Examiner Li and Huang Xueling gathered around her, hardly daring to breathe.
For once, Forensic Examiner Sun had put down his book. He stood across from them, waiting for the result.
Jiang Xia gazed at the pin with a calm expression.
The contact surfaces of these kinds of metal traces were often extremely small. The marks they left behind were frequently only on the order of microns—just fractions of a millimeter—making them extraordinarily difficult to locate.
But after studying a large number of cases over the past two months, she had become intimately familiar with what different kinds of traces looked like and where they should appear. To put it somewhat exaggeratedly, she could probably find them even with her eyes closed.
In a sense, this was new experience Jiang Xia had developed through her own exploration rather than relying entirely on the system.
And now was the time to put that skill to the test.
She carefully examined every pin from front to back, checking the original surfaces and sides, the grooves, and the lock cylinder. Gradually, she noticed something unusual.
The surfaces of the lock pins were smooth. The very bottom pin had already become deformed into a roughly straight-line shape. Judging from the extent of the deformation, she estimated that the lock had been in use for approximately four to five years.
Meanwhile, on the surface of the third pin from the middle—the longest rounded pin—there were faint scratches identical to those made by the original key. They were about two millimeters long, bright and extremely fine.
In addition, there were obvious scraping marks on the surface of the lock cylinder and along the edge of the second pin.
Jiang Xia had her answer.
She set down the final pin, lifted her eyes from the microscope, and addressed everyone who had been waiting.
“I’ve confirmed it. This lock was opened with a duplicate key. And the key was made at a street stall, because the workmanship was poor, leaving marks on both the lock cylinder and the sides of the pins.”
“Excellent!”
Trace Examiner Li slammed his hand heavily onto the desk.
“Now we can narrow the suspects down to people around the victim’s family!”
This really was the ideal situation. If the scratches had been caused by an iron hook, they still wouldn’t know which direction to investigate next.
But if the lock had been opened with a duplicate key, then only someone close to the victim’s family could realistically have obtained one. That meant there was finally a chance of solving the case!
He straightened up and hurried toward the door.
“I need to tell Captain Tan and Captain Zhao. Let’s see who’d be willing to reopen this case.”
He had only made it halfway when the door suddenly opened with a ‘click’.
Liao Zhongsheng walked in from outside.
“Reopen the case?”
He asked the question aloud, but his eyes had already swept across the entire room before landing directly on Jiang Xia’s desk.
A microscope sat there, along with evidence bags and a pile of lock components.
Liao Zhongsheng immediately understood.
He asked, “This is the lock from that infant-murder case, right? You’ve confirmed the result?”
“Confirmed.”
Jiang Xia answered, “The lock was opened with a duplicate key. We suspect someone close to the victim was responsible.”
“Then there’s a very good chance we’ll be able to crack this case.”
Hearing this, a hint of delight appeared on Liao Zhongsheng’s face.
In just over two months, Jiang Xia had not only managed to submit a paper to a major academic journal, but had also narrowed down the investigative direction for a case. Where could he possibly find a subordinate this capable?
Liao Zhongsheng’s smile grew even warmer. The more he looked at Jiang Xia, the more he liked her.
‘That brat Feng Zhengming is definitely jealous of me!’
He waved his hand.
“All right, Old Li, go ahead and notify them.”
‘Hmm. I still need to teach Jiang Xia a lesson later. Even if you know how to do something, you can’t just stupidly admit to everything people ask you!’