Chapter 316 - 316 284 Secret Investigation

Words : 1906 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

316: Chapter 284 Secret Investigation 316: Chapter 284 Secret Investigation “Jiang, take a look at this plot here; it’s all been leveled for you already, and the price is cheap. If you set up a cold storage facility, there are subsidies too. It won’t cost much over the course of a year...” The leather-jacketed agent gave an enthusiastic introduction, his gaze settling on the tall figure in the middle of the group. “No need to call me boss, I’m not sure if I’m going to do it or not.” Jiang Yuan dressed in casual clothes, speaking plainly, said, “I just came to look around and to see if the people of the village are easy to deal with.” “As a person from Jiang Village, I won’t beat around the bush with you. Whether it’s easy to deal with them depends on the relationships within the village and how well you can manage them. Plus, it depends on whether or not you’re willing to hire people from the village...” The land-selling agent chuckled slyly, his shiny bald forehead seeming to almost have the word “sincerity” written on it. “Let’s leave it at that for today; we’ll go take a look at the village.” Jiang Yuan said. The agent quickly responded, “Let me take you there. I know a few people...” “Your guided tour doesn’t inspire my trust. I’ll have to make a separate trip later anyway, so what’s the point, right?” Jiang Yuan, who had dealt with too many agents before, saw no need to mince words. The agent ‘ah’ed’ a couple of times in agreement, then laughed, “That works for me. Then I’ll head back first. If you need a ride after you’re done looking, just give me a call, and I’ll come to pick you up.” “Alright.” Jiang Yuan said “goodbye” and then proceeded towards Dawan Village with Wei Zhenguo and the others. Wei Zhenguo, with his weathered face tanned and wrinkled, felt a bit embarrassed for troubling others as they walked away and said in a low voice, “We’re not really buying land. It doesn’t seem right to make the agent give us a tour.” “No worries, even if they know you won’t buy, real estate agents are still willing to show properties.” Jiang Yuan explained nonchalantly, “Agents not only need to be accountable to buyers, but they also must satisfy sellers. If there’s a long time without any viewings, sellers become unhappy. Hence, some agents even hire fake clients for viewings, at a cost...” “There’s such a thing?” “More clients they show, the better their position to make demands with sellers. Especially for those who want to get exclusive deals, they need a lot of clients.” Jiang Yuan paused, then added, “Later on, if you still feel uncomfortable, just give the agent a red envelope and that’ll be fine.” Wei Zhenguo hastily replied, “It shouldn’t be that uncomfortable.” They continued chatting as they entered Dawan Village. The village roads had become quite narrow. On both sides of the street, some buildings were factories while others were converted houses-turned-shops, mainly large-portion eateries and noodle shops, interspersed with a few teahouses and stir-fry restaurants. This setup was very similar to Jiang Village after its first round of demolitions. Jiang Yuan confidently chose a teahouse, settled down, and then suggested to Wei Zhenguo and the others, “Let’s use this as our base and do our own investigating, shall we?” “Okay,” Liu Jinghui immediately agreed. Wei Zhenguo looked around; villagers were already eyeing them curiously, and he couldn’t help but smile wryly, “I’ve been in investigation for years, but this is the first time for such a blatant secret survey.” With that said, he too went off to see to his task. Jiang Yuan, together with Mu Zhiyang, also slowly strolled out the door. The villagers were vigilant. Strangers coming in and asking questions would usually not get straightforward answers. Jiang Yuan knew this, which is why he specifically came up with the cold storage excuse. Inquiring under this pretense made it much easier to converse. For the people of Dawan Village or migrant workers from elsewhere, the prospect of someone willing to invest and build a factory was very welcome. Even if they wanted to take advantage of the newcomer, it would definitely be after the factory was built, not before. Before the construction, everyone’s expressions were extremely friendly. Jiang Yuan went into a small supermarket, bought a pack of Soft Zhonghua cigarettes, then asked, “Boss, do the markets around here only sell fresh pork? What about frozen meat, do people eat that?” “Locals eat pork that’s been slaughtered the same day, the kind that’s fresh in the morning. By the afternoon, it’s hard to sell.” The supermarket owner handed a cigarette to Jiang Yuan and continued, “You’re the one who said he wanted to build a cold storage facility, right?” “Word travels that fast?” Jiang Yuan had just seen the cold storage with the real estate agent yesterday and had deliberately waited a day before coming over, yet it seemed like everyone had already got the news. It was actually similar in Jiang Village; say Jiang Yuan received a second-class merit, within half an afternoon, even relatives overseas would know. The supermarket owner laughed and said, “People around here love to chat. You’re from Jiang Village; why not set up in Jiang Village instead?” “The cold storage has to be built near a big city. The geographical conditions in Jiang Village just can’t compare to here. Ultimately, it’s the people of Changyang City who will consume the products coming out of the cold storage.” Jiang Yuan smiled. “Jiang Village has nice scenery, good transportation, and you all have had several demolitions, haven’t you? Your family must have gotten a lot of compensation?” The supermarket owner gossiped as usual. “Not that much,” Jiang Yuan chuckled and added, “It’s not definite yet; I’m just sent by my family to scout around and make some inquiries.” The supermarket owner promptly said, “Building a cold storage here would definitely be the right decision. Our locals don’t eat frozen pork, but the migrant workers do. Take, for example, the marinade noodle shop opposite. Frozen pork goes for a few bucks a kilo, whereas fresh pork sells for over ten bucks a kilo, so they definitely prefer buying frozen pork.” “I don’t know how much you can handle here... By the way, are there many local butchers?” “Just a few in the vegetable market. There are only two stores selling frozen meat, and they also sell frozen chicken.” “Are the butchers at the vegetable market locals or from out of town?” “Both. Nowadays, many vegetable sellers are from ‘Dot Dot, Horizontal, Vertical Hook, Horizontal, Vertical Fold, Hook, Horizontal, Slant, Vertical, Horizontal, Fold, Hook, Dot, Slant, Horizontal, Horizontal, Vertical,’ and among them, there are also meat sellers.” Jiang nodded, “These factories then, they all buy frozen pork, right? In their canteens, they couldn’t possibly use fresh pork.” “That’s for sure. So, you see, we use a lot of frozen pork here. If you build a cold storage over here, we won’t even be able to use up all the local supply.” “Whether we build it or not still depends on the preferential policies. By the way, if we hire disabled people around here, are there any incentives? Does the village give any subsidies?” While talking, Jiang opened a newly bought pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed one to the supermarket owner. The owner accepted it without hesitation, lit it with a lighter, offered it to Jiang, took a deep inhale himself, and began to explain in detail. A group of criminal police, all under the guise of building factories, began questioning around. A while later, Liu Jinghui came back first and sat down in the teahouse, sipping tea while he started drawing a mind map. Wei Zhenguo and others returned from strolling around and reported some information to Liu Jinghui, then received new instructions and continued to go out and question. The villagers of Dawan Village couldn’t possibly realize that they were being questioned by a group of criminal police. An eleven-year-old unsolved case, to the police officers, was a distant challenge. To the villagers, it was almost a forgotten memory. But for this very reason, the information everyone provided that could be linked to eleven years ago had already been filtered through their memories. Dinner. The group switched to a small private room in another restaurant, and once all the dishes were served, they sent the waiter out and began to converse amongst themselves. Liu Jinghui took out the notebook he had written in all day and said, “Let me summarize today’s findings. I think the main points are three things, I’ll start.” “First, there used to be a slaughterhouse in Dawan Village, a total of about a dozen people, semi-automatic type. That is, they had machines for dehairing, and manual work for breakdown, but they had overhead hoisting equipment, roughly speaking.” “Second, there are three relatively large factories near Dawan Village, each with a dedicated canteen. Their purchases are mostly from Changyang City, and there is staff movement between them.” “Third, Dawan Village is one of the early-developed villages. Eleven years ago, there were butchers from other places who brought pigs here, which led to fights with the slaughterhouse in Dawan Village.” Liu Jinghui waited for everyone to digest the information, then he started discussing other messages. After describing everything they knew, most of the dishes on the table had been eaten. Liu Jinghui didn’t mind, he took some chopsticks, and while eating, he said, “Take a look and see if there’s anything to add.” “Apart from the slaughterhouse, we should also pay attention to the wood factories and logging sites,” Jiang suggested. “Sure. Next, we’ll send a team to follow up on these.” “Clinics as well.” “Right.” Jiang expanded the scope of the target again and then narrowed it down, “Have any of these factories, canteens, or companies within the industry experienced any major changes eleven years ago?” “Of those three mentioned earlier, two have changed. One was the slaughterhouse, and the other was the butcher from another village. They were actually interrelated,” Liu Jinghui made a note in his notebook, “The slaughterhouse was the first to close down, and eventually, all their equipment was sold off. This led to an influx of butchers from out of town. Later, someone outside the village was found to have been dealing in water-injected meat, and that got cracked down on... But no one mentioned a lame butcher.” Jiang took out a photo from the case file and started looking at it again. In the photo, the victim’s head and neck were separated, showing that the murderer had slit the throat before dismembering the body, leaving several knife marks that revealed the killer’s technique. After examining it carefully for a while and taking a few bites of pork intestine, Jiang said, “I think we should focus on following these two leads.” “Okay,” Liu Jinghui agreed easily. Behind this consensus, at least a dozen detectives embarked on a busy journey.

Chapter 316 - 316 284 Secret Investigation

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