Chapter 47 - 47 47 Trial and Error

Words : 1731 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

47: Chapter 47 Trial and Error 47: Chapter 47 Trial and Error Wei Zhenguo was a very adaptable man. At least, to Mu Zhiyang, his own mentor was quite adaptable. He knew well the survival logic of the lower strata of society and was skilled at dealing with all kinds of people; he used petty thieves as informants to solve bigger cases, and occasionally caught a few to pad his case-solving statistics. But this time, the stakeout and surveillance had really made Mu Zhiyang question his life. For three consecutive days, Mu Zhiyang had rested only one night, spending the rest of the time enduring in the car, to the point that later on, when he used a bottle to relieve himself, he could aim without looking down. What made Mu Zhiyang’s predicament indescribable was that his mentor, Comrade Wei Zhenguo, had spent even more time on the stakeout, slept even less in the car, and was even more accurate when it came to peeing. Just when Mu Zhiyang thought he couldn’t hold on any longer for the nth time, the car door was suddenly opened. “Captain Wei.” Jiang Yuan greeted with a smile, squeezing into the back seat. “How did you get here? How did you find this place?” Mu Zhiyang stared at Jiang Yuan, looking bewildered. In the criminal police brigade, an ordinary criminal policeman like him was roughly equivalent to a mule-level beast of burden, with nothing to do but slog away. A more senior criminal policeman was like an ox-level beast of burden, who had their head down working hard but also got some care, whereas the ordinary technicians were probably donkey-level beasts of burden, hardly capable yet forced to work hard. However, Jiang Yuan was different now. Having been through homicide cases and having stood out multiple times in solving cold cases, Jiang Yuan was at least a horse, a beast of burden too valuable to do grunt work yet too precious to spare from it. Why would such a Jiang Yuan turn up at a stakeout site? Jiang Yuan mumbled, “I asked Captain Wei. I heard you were short on people, so I came to help you keep watch.” “This...” Mu Zhiyang suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, as if his mule inability had burdened the horse. “I don’t have any other work on my hands now.” Jiang Yuan shifted and sniffed, saying, “The smell inside this car isn’t great.” “It’s a bit better if you lower the right side window.” Wei Zhenguo offered a pitiable solution. “It’s fine, I’ll get used to it in a bit.” Jiang Yuan, too, had spent time in the countryside and, after frowning, stopped fussing about the smell. With Jiang Yuan’s help, Mu Zhiyang and Wei Zhenguo dozed off in the car for a while. By evening, the three of them followed the car as Tan Yong got off work, then left under the cover of night, handing over the stakeout duty to two other detectives from the sixth team. The next day was another day of tailing and stakeout. Wei Zhenguo had previously been indifferent, but he felt a little embarrassed in front of Jiang Yuan and explained, “This is the clumsy method, it takes time, wears people down. If you’re too tired, go sleep at the hotel for a night...” “No worries. I’m not yet at the point where I can’t hold on.” Although Jiang Yuan was also tired, compared to Wei Zhenguo and Mu Zhiyang, who had been watching for several days, he was relatively fresh. Besides, Jiang Yuan had a lighter responsibility, being there just to help. Despite this, Wei Zhenguo still felt quite touched. He was used to being a beast of burden and now wanted to train his disciple as well, but he didn’t expect Jiang Yuan to show such initiative. Wuu wuu wuu... The vibrating sound of a cellphone woke Wei Zhenguo up. “Captain Huang?” Wei Zhenguo picked up the phone and answered. “Yeah, is Jiang Yuan with you?” Huang Qiangmin didn’t offer any greetings and asked immediately. “Yes, he’s with me.” Wei Zhenguo quickly replied. “Is he safe?” “He’s safe. We’re on a stakeout.” “Are you following up on the Ding Lan disappearance case?” Huang Qiangmin continued. “Yes.” Wei Zhenguo didn’t bother guessing how Huang Qiangmin got the information. He took the confidentiality of the case very seriously, but it was still difficult to keep secrets from the chief of the criminal police. “How far have you gotten?” Wei Zhenguo pondered his tone for a moment and said, “We’re planning to keep an eye on a suspect for a while to see if we can find substantial evidence...” Huang Qiangmin sighed upon hearing the word “stakeout,” and then interrupted Wei Zhenguo, asking, “How much longer?” “This... we’re not quite sure right now...” “You’re going to stake out for another week? You want Jiang Yuan to stake out with you for another week?” Huang Qiangmin’s anger surged, “In a week’s time, how many fingerprints could Jiang Yuan have processed? This is a waste of police resources!” Criminal detectives stake out on cases, sometimes for a day and a night, sometimes for ten days to half a month, and there are cases that go unsolved even after longer stakeouts. Usually, Huang Qiangmin wouldn’t be so strict about the time of ordinary officers. But wasting Jiang Yuan’s time was clearly intolerable for Huang Qiangmin. Keeping Jiang Yuan in the office didn’t require him to crack any major cases every day; even working on small series cases greatly increased the number and quality of cases solved. Laypeople think it’s easy for detectives to solve cases, but in reality, a detective squad of more than a dozen people, managing to solve around a hundred cases a year, is already operating at full capacity. That’s an average of 10 cases per person, which includes serial cases and cases that practically solved themselves. In comparison, the quality of cases solved by Jiang Yuan was much higher, and with evidence like fingerprints, the cases were easier and more solid to handle. As far as Huang Qiangmin was concerned, having Jiang Yuan stake out on a disappearance case with Wei Zhenguo was like using a fine steed in training to plow the fields like an old ox. Wei Zhenguo felt aggrieved and said softly, “I told Jiang Yuan to go back, but he doesn’t really want to...” “It’s normal for young people like Jiang Yuan to be curious about police work, and it’s beneficial for his development to occasionally experience various policing activities, but that’s not a reason to have him stake out for a week with you.” Huang Qiangmin suppressed his anger and changed his tone, “Alright, is there anything you can do to wrap this up quickly?” He didn’t want to forcibly pull Jiang Yuan back either. Young people today are independent and proud; stories of them quitting on a whim or “cleansing” the workplace are not unheard of. On the other hand, with Wei Zhenguo leading several people to solve cases in the provincial city, Huang Qiangmin didn’t want to solely hold them back. Thus, Huang Qiangmin’s first thought was to enable Wei Zhenguo to neatly conclude the case. Wei Zhenguo’s spirits lifted – this was an invitation for him to make a request. After only a brief mental deliberation, Wei Zhenguo said, “Captain Huang, the suspect Tan Yong is with the Luqiao Group’s subsidiary construction company. If you could find a way to send him on a business trip, a slightly longer one, say about half a month, and have the company arrange for someone to cover his duties, I believe the suspect may slip up.” This solution had long been a contingency plan for Wei Zhenguo, only he didn’t have the power to influence Luqiao Group. Of course, Huang Qiangmin also lacked the authority to influence Luqiao Group. A large company in the provincial city would never heed the orders of a county bureau’s criminal police chief. However, purely for operational needs, if someone could help adjust things, Huang Qiangmin still had ways to make it happen. As long as the police authority is cleverly applied, its depth and breadth can be quite substantial. For companies like the construction company, they can be easily influenced as well. “I understand. Try to have a result within a few days on your end. Also, take good care of Jiang Yuan, especially when making arrests. Notify me in advance, and I will help you get some more people over there.” After speaking, Huang Qiangmin hung up the phone without leaving Wei Zhenguo room for negotiation. Wei Zhenguo chuckled and wasn’t bothered by it. He had to follow Huang Qiangmin’s orders, but he really wasn’t too concerned about Huang’s attitude. Being a seasoned detective, with his age, experience, and education, he felt like a non-commissioned officer in the military, ascending through the ranks, but it was all the same. It was rare to be promoted to a fourth-level non-commissioned officer, and becoming an officer was even less likely. “Alright, we should have a result in another day or two,” Wei Zhenguo put away his phone and breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re not staking out anymore?” Mu Zhiyang didn’t understand. “Right, if Tan Yong is up to something, then the most likely places where he would set up a detention point are near his home or his workplace. If we send him on a business trip and have someone cover his work for a few days, we should be able to see something.” Wei Zhenguo said with a smile, “Aren’t you looking for thunderous action? Isn’t this it?” “This... this is far from the thunderous action I had in mind,” Mu Zhiyang muttered, shaking his head, “So, our days of staking out have been for nothing?” “You think this is watermelon planting? You plant and always get melons? This is the cost of trial and error.” Mu Zhiyang’s eyelids felt three years older from exhaustion, “So, we’ve been testing errors all these days?” Wei Zhenguo looked unfazed, “We are the cost of trial and error.” He emphasized the word “cost.”

Chapter 47 - 47 47 Trial and Error

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