Chapter 67.1: Cai Tou Gang
They even knew the exact house number?
They sure had a comprehensive understanding of the situation!
Jiang Xia walked over as well and stood in front of Feng Yongqiang.
“What about the official seal? Who carved the seal on the donation agreement?”
“The official seal?”
Feng Yongqiang’s eyes flickered. He licked his lips and spoke as though trying to recall something.
“I’m not too sure about that. But among the people they hung out with, there’s a guy who carves seals by Jimin Bridge. His name is Xie Mingqi. Back when we used to drink together, I saw him carve a turtle out of a radish. Heh, that turtle looked just like the real thing!”
After saying all this, Feng Yongqiang put on another ingratiating smile.
“Comrades, I’ve confessed to everything I should have. I had absolutely nothing to do with any of those illegal activities! So, can you let me go now?”
What a talent.
Jiang Xia raised her eyebrows.
This guy was seriously wasting his abilities out in the countryside.
She had no real reason to doubt what he was saying.
From their interactions so far, Feng Yongqiang had shown himself to be a man who knew how to read the situation. He understood exactly where the red lines were and would never have gotten involved in stealing corpses or selling them.
He was merely a middleman—and one who knew how to avoid risks.
The situation had probably unfolded something like this.
As fellow local layabouts, Feng Yongqiang had noticed that the Yuan brothers suddenly had money. Rather than asking where it came from, he had enthusiastically introduced them to a few friends in the city. They ate, drank, and had fun together, and while helping the brothers find places to stay, he had also taken the opportunity to figure out what they were up to.
But Feng Yongqiang hadn’t exposed them. Instead, he had either figured out or guessed what the Yuan brothers needed. So one day, he organized a dinner gathering, invited some other people along with Xie Mingqi, and egged Xie on to show off his carving skills.
As for what happened afterward?
What did any of that have to do with him? The Yuan brothers had approached Xie Mingqi privately. He knew nothing about it!
Zeng Jun’s brows furrowed slightly as he, too, quickly pieced together the entire sequence of events.
Middlemen like this were the biggest headache for the police.
They operated in the gray areas on the fringes of the law. They wouldn’t participate in crimes directly, but they would provide criminals with information and connections, facilitating further criminal activity so they could profit from it.
Yet when the authorities came to investigate, these people had already taken precautions to avoid legal liability. It was difficult to prosecute them as accomplices. Even when a case could be made against them, they weren’t the masterminds and had played only a minor role, so their sentences wouldn’t be particularly harsh. They would probably be out after just a few months.
It was infuriating.
Even worse, who knew what would happen if someone like this was sent to prison? Would he genuinely reform through labor, or would he just use the opportunity to meet more talented individuals?
“He’s a slippery little eel. You can’t get a grip on him.”
Looking at the man before him, Zeng Jun’s excitement over obtaining the current address of another corpse-stealing gang and identifying the seal carver had diminished considerably.
He stared at Feng Yongqiang’s face, examining him from top to bottom for quite some time. Only after Feng had grown visibly uncomfortable and Zeng Jun had committed his appearance to memory did he finally get up and say to Jiang Xia,
“We’ve gotten everything we can out of him for now. I’ll call the bureau first and have them send people to make the arrests as soon as possible.”
As for Feng Yongqiang?
There was no way they were letting him go. Whether he had actually been involved would have to wait until they’d heard the statements from the Yuan brothers and Xie Mingqi. Besides, Zeng Jun would make sure everyone at the bureau familiarized themselves with Feng’s face. In the future, whenever they encountered a related case that hit a dead end, they could pay him a visit and question him. Who knew? They might uncover something useful!
With that in mind, Zeng Jun walked into the house and picked up the phone.
“Huh? Officer, where are you going?”
Seeing the man simply walk away, Feng Yongqiang started shouting again.
“I was just tagging along for the free food and drinks! I didn’t do anything else! Just let me go!”
“Is that so?”
Jiang Xia folded her arms across her chest and continued questioning him.
“In that case, why don’t you tell me who else you’ve eaten and drunk with, and what skills each of them has?”
At those words, Feng Yongqiang’s face stiffened for a moment. He hurriedly denied everything.
“No, there’s only that one craftsman. The others can’t do anything!”
After saying that, he even forced the corners of his mouth upward and put on a foolish grin.
Jiang Xia closed her eyes briefly.
Dealing with an old hand like this was a real headache.
Still, it was impossible for Feng Yongqiang to have kept his hands clean every single time. The more he confessed, the more crimes he would be implicated in, so naturally, he didn’t want to say too much.
Jiang Xia hadn’t expected to get anything else out of him. But there was no harm in trying her luck. Even if there were no dates on the tree, she might as well take a swing at it. Who knew? She might get something out of him after all.
“Stop pretending.”
She said, “Causing someone to suffer permanent injury is a serious crime. We’ll definitely continue investigating Gao Qihu’s case. If our investigation leads back to you, things won’t be nearly as pleasant for you as they are now.”
Feng Yongqiang stopped smiling.
He studied Jiang Xia’s expression carefully. After confirming that she wasn’t bluffing, he couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
After several seconds of silence, Feng Yongqiang sighed and tried to talk some sense into her.
“Well, listen, Comrade Police Officer. You’re pretty young, so I reckon you don’t know how powerful the Cai Tou gang is, do you? They even dare to beat up local police officers! What good will it do for you to speak up on your own? And even if you try to deal with them, nobody dares to file a complaint against them. You won’t be able to arrest them, and even if you do, they’ll be released before long. Then your own family will be in trouble.”
“Just take my advice and pretend you don’t know anything about this. Seriously, it’s better for everyone that way.”
They beat up police officers and even made personal threats?
This was already an organized criminal gang with a substantial presence!
Jiang Xia’s expression turned extremely grave.
Feng Yongqiang’s warning hadn’t been an empty threat. When she’d previously written short stories about legal education, she’d gone through the newly promulgated Criminal Law several times. She’d discovered that the law didn’t merely mention nothing about organized crime syndicates—it didn’t even have the concept of a criminal organization of that nature.
In other words, even if the authorities knew these people operated as a group, systematically extorting protection money and using threats, intimidation, and violence against others, there was no corresponding criminal offense under the law to punish them as an organization.
The only option was to investigate each individual case separately: How many people had they deliberately injured? How many robberies had they committed? They would even have to debate whether collecting protection money could legally be classified as robbery in the first place.
In that case, each incident would have to be treated as an isolated case, with evidence collected one by one. Whether the pieces of evidence could even be linked together was another matter. On top of that, these people used violent threats to intimidate victims into not reporting crimes and witnesses into refusing to testify, leaving the police with no way to pursue the cases.
As a result, instead of dismantling these gangs, the police could only watch helplessly as they grew more powerful, until they eventually turned around and attacked the police themselves.
Jiang Xia was certain that if she continued getting involved in this matter, she would probably end up facing exactly what Feng Yongqiang had warned her about: threats, or even violent retaliation.
She fell silent for a moment.
She wasn’t afraid for herself, but she was afraid that her parents and eldest sister might be put in danger because of her.
If anything happened to them, she would never be able to forgive herself for the rest of her life.
Jiang Xia began to waver.
Once the nationwide crackdown began, there would be legal grounds to deal with this kind of criminal activity, with the maximum penalty reaching the death sentence. She only needed to wait another year before she could take action against these people.
A year didn’t seem all that long, did it?
“Going by what you’ve said,” Jiang Xia suddenly asked, “those Cai Tou gang members have ass*ulted people more than once. Is it possible they’ve already left multiple victims permanently disabled?”
Oh, great.
The moment she asked that question, Feng Yongqiang knew that everything he’d just said had been a complete waste of breath.
‘I’ve done everything I can to warn you! If you get beaten up later, don’t say I didn’t tell you!’
He turned his head away.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“I think I might know a little about this.”
Huang Xueling, who had been listening nearby, interlaced her fingers. She hesitated before speaking.
“I heard Bai Fangqiang say that their team has recently started investigating the people who collect ‘sanitation fees’ from vegetable farmers. But they’ve only just begun, and they haven’t made much progress yet.”
So they’d already started investigating?
That made sense. A situation this unusual certainly warranted some attention. The only question was whether they’d investigated it thoroughly, and if so, how far they’d gotten.
“I’ll ask them about it later, then,” Jiang Xia said. “I’ll tell them about Gao Qihu’s case while I’m at it.”
“Mm.”
Huang Xueling nodded, then urged her again, “Jiang Xia, I really think this is dangerous. Please, don’t put yourself at risk!”
“Don’t worry.”
Jiang Xia patted her on the shoulder. “I won’t act alone.”
Now that she knew these people were ruthless criminals, she certainly wasn’t stupid enough to walk straight into danger and investigate on her own, practically handing them a free kill.
Over the next couple of days, she would see if she could leave work a little early and head back to the station to ask her mentor about the situation before deciding what to do next.
Thinking about going back to see her mentor, Jiang Xia suddenly felt a little regretful.
Her Third-Class Merit Citation hadn’t come through yet. Otherwise, she could have brought the news back and made her mentor happy, too.
That’s right, happy. It definitely wasn’t because she wanted to show off!
Well… no matter. She could always visit again after receiving her medal.
While they were talking, Zeng Jun finished his phone call and walked out of the house. Seeing that everyone gathered beneath the tree had solemn expressions, he couldn’t help asking,
“What are you all talking about? Why does everyone look so serious?”
Jiang Xia replied, “We were talking about the Cai Tou gang.”
“Oh, that.”
Zeng Jun furrowed his brows slightly. “I actually heard Captain Feng mention yesterday that some people on the street were forcibly collecting money from vegetable farmers. When the officers went over to ask about it, both sides claimed it was a sanitation fee. Ask any more questions, and they started cursing at them.”
“This is a difficult matter to handle.”
As he spoke, Zeng Jun shook his head and let out a soft sigh.
“Forget it. Let’s not talk about it anymore.”
He turned his attention back to the case at hand, looked toward Luo Youben, who was tied up beneath the tree, and barked,
“Luo Youben!”
“Ren Yongqin has already confessed to everything. If you confess to your own crimes now, you can still receive the normal sentence. Otherwise, you’ll really be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law!”
His thunderous shout was like a lion’s roar, making the ears of those nearby ring. Luo Youben, who had been hanging his head, jolted in fright.
When he’d seen the police officers coming out looking pleased earlier, he’d already sensed that something was wrong. Then, when they’d come straight over and asked where the Yuan brothers were, his heart had immediately sunk halfway to his stomach.
His brother-in-law hadn’t held out. He’d confessed to everything.
Luo Youben’s mind went completely blank.
It was the height of summer, yet he felt unbearably cold. He couldn’t hear anything, and he didn’t even dare think about what might happen next.
He was filled with regret. He didn’t even know why he’d become so obsessed back then. He’d kept thinking that a few graves weren’t enough, that the money they brought in wasn’t nearly sufficient and wouldn’t buy much grain. He needed to dig up a few more, fill the cellar at home completely with food, and only then, with more than a thousand yuan tucked under his pillow, would he be able to sleep peacefully.
If only he’d stopped earlier.
He’d been thinking that over and over.
But reality wasn’t going to bend to Luo Youben’s wishes. It was nothing more than a fantasy, and now the police officer’s roar had shattered his beautiful dream, forcing him to face reality.
Luo Youben slowly raised his head and opened his mouth. With a numb expression, he replied, “Didn’t Ren Yongqin already tell you everything? Why are you asking me?”
‘Of course we’re asking you! Ren Yongqin doesn’t know where all the remains were sold!’
Zeng Jun didn’t say that out loud. He simply asked, “I’m asking whether you’re going to confess or not.”
Luo Youben’s mind was like a rusted machine, struggling to turn over and start working again. After a moment of silence, he asked, “If I confess, can I still stay alive?”
“Scared now, are you? Why didn’t you think about the consequences when you were doing it? If you wouldn’t think about yourself, you should at least have thought about your wife and children, your younger brothers and sisters! What are they supposed to do now?!”
Zeng Jun was especially infuriated by crimes committed by entire families. He gave Luo Youben no sympathy as he said, “Your crimes aren’t serious enough to get you the death penalty. If you behave yourself and reform properly, you could still get out after ten or eight years. But if you refuse to make a full confession, who knows how many more years they’ll add to your sentence!”
“I can still get out?”
Hearing that he wouldn’t be sentenced to death and that the prison term wasn’t as long as he’d feared, a glimmer of hope immediately appeared in Luo Youben’s eyes.
He hurriedly said, “Then I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”
“Wait a moment.”
Zeng Jun glanced at Feng Yongqiang, who was listening with his ears perked up, then bent down and untied the rope around him.
“Let’s talk inside.”
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