Chapter 147: The Stolen Gold Case
“Dongzi, what’s going on?”
Hearing Li Yi’s words, Dongzi hurriedly replied, “Brother Yi, it’s really nothing…”
“Tell me the truth!” Li Yi said.
“We heard that you, Brother Yi, are going to take the villagers out to gather wild produce to make some money, and we were worried you wouldn’t take us along!” Dongzi said frankly.
Li Yi thought it was something serious, but it turned out to be just that.
“What are you thinking? When did I ever say I wouldn’t take you guys?”
“Brother Yi, does that mean you’ll still take us along to make money in the future?” Shitou said excitedly.
Li Yi nodded and said, “I’ve already thought this through. Before school starts, you’ll keep doing what you’ve always done—we’ll go up the mountain together every day to pick mushrooms.”
“But once school starts in September, you’re all going back to school. Got it?”
The younger kids didn’t seem to mind, but Dongzi, Shitou, and the others were completely baffled.
They were all sixteen or seventeen years old and had dropped out of school years ago—there was no way they could go back.
“Bro Yi, do we have to go back to school too?” Dongzi asked, looking dejected.
“Do you think you’d be able to focus in school?” Li Yi retorted.
“No way! We’re not cut out for school at all!” Dongzi said.
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Since you can’t focus on studying, then don’t go. Until September, you’ll keep doing what you’re doing now—taking the younger kids into the mountains to pick mushrooms.”
“What about after September?”
“After that, you’ll come help out at my place. You’ll work for me, and I’ll pay you a wage!” Li Yi said.
“Deal!”
Li Yi then looked at the children in front of him and added, “Also, starting tomorrow, there’ll definitely be a lot of people from the village going up the mountain to pick mushrooms, so you won’t be able to gather as much as you do now!”
“So starting tomorrow, just like the adults, you’ll bring the mushrooms back, have them weighed, and get paid—two mao per jin.”
At that moment, Qiangzi immediately asked, “Are we going to be paid separately?”
“No, we’ll still calculate it together. If we split it up, you’ll inevitably end up picking separately, and I don’t feel comfortable with that!” Li Yi said.
“Alright!”
“Any other questions?” Li Yi asked again.
“What about us? Will we be paid by weight too?” Zhong Na couldn’t help but ask.
“Yep! It’ll be the same from now on—two mao per jin. But each of you can only pick a maximum of 20 jin; I can’t eat any more than that!” Li Yi said.
“Alright!”
…….
It was almost eight o’clock by the time they got home. After unloading the cart, Li Yi tied up the big red mule.
After filling its trough with fresh grass, Li Yi finally went inside!
Inside, his mother had already prepared dinner and called everyone to eat as soon as he returned!
After a simple dinner, his older sister’s husband suddenly mentioned that he’d been staying there for about ten days now, so he was thinking of going back to work.
Li Yi didn’t object to this, but he thought his older sister should go report to the factory first.
As for actually starting work, they could wait a bit—it wouldn’t be too late until after the baby was born!
His brother-in-law had no objections, but he was a bit worried that the sugar factory might not agree.
Li Yi assured him not to worry; after all, with Factory Director Liang on board, it would be a piece of cake!
After discussing his eldest sister’s family matters, Li Yi chatted with his second brother-in-law, planning to have him return to their village the next day to begin the mushroom procurement business.
To that end, Li Yi set aside 1,000 yuan for himself as emergency funds and handed the remaining 3,800 yuan to his second sister’s husband to use as startup capital.
All in all, this winter would be a huge opportunity for him.
If he seized it, it would bring in hundreds of thousands in revenue.
With that money, he would have completed his initial capital accumulation, and from there, the sky would be the limit.
After settling his second sister’s husband in, Li Yi took his third sister to the main hall and taught her step by step how to knead dough.
Li Yi planned to entrust the production of liangpi to his third sister, while he would focus on the mountain produce business for the time being—that was the real money-maker.
…….
County Bureau, Criminal Investigation Division Office!
While Li Yi was busy settling his family in, Wang Anguo and the others were in the midst of a meeting.
The spacious office was filled with cigarette smoke. Everyone present had furrowed brows, and the atmosphere in the conference room was heavy.
From the head of the table, Deputy Director Zhou of the County Bureau spoke in a low voice: “Comrades, the gold stolen from Factory 812 this time weighed over three jin and was valued at more than 20,000 yuan. This is the largest theft in terms of value ever recorded in our county since the founding of the People’s Republic. County Secretary Wang, County Magistrate Huang, and others are taking this very seriously and have demanded that our bureau solve the case within a set timeframe. Do any of you have any ideas on how to crack this case?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Wang Anguo looked up and said, “Deputy Director Zhou, we rushed to the scene immediately after receiving the report. Our preliminary conclusion is that this was an inside job!”
“Oh, are you certain?”
“Absolutely!”
Wang Anguo continued, “After conducting an on-site investigation at Plant 812, we discovered that as a key gold and silver smelting facility in our province, the plant maintains an extremely high level of external secrecy.Neither personnel communications nor document exchanges ever specify that the plant smelts precious metals. Internally, gold is referred to as ‘No. 100’ and silver as ‘No. 200,’ so outsiders have no way of knowing that Plant 812 specializes in smelting gold and silver.”
“Furthermore, for security reasons, Plant 812 has established numerous security measures outside the facility. Not only have they reinforced the factory’s high walls, but they’ve also assigned dedicated personnel to patrol the premises. All entries and exits require identity verification and registration, making it virtually impossible for outsiders to sneak in and commit theft.”
“In contrast, internal management within the plant is extremely lax—almost non-existent—and relies solely on everyone’s sense of responsibility to prevent theft.”
“These factors alone aren’t enough to prove that the gold was stolen by an insider, but they can serve as a lead for the investigation!” said Deputy Director Zhou.
At that moment, Li Gang immediately interjected, “Director Zhou, our investigation has revealed that the stolen gold was smelted just the afternoon before the theft. It was scheduled to be shipped to the provincial capital the following morning—which is today. Very few people knew about this, so the thief must be an insider!”
“Do you have any suspects?” Deputy Director Zhou asked after a brief pause.
“Yes. At this point, the employees in the packaging team and the warehouse guards are the most suspicious, as they had the greatest opportunity to access this batch of gold!” Li Gang said.
“Then start your investigation with those employees. I expect the stolen gold to be recovered within a week!”
“Yes, sir!”
Although everyone spoke with great conviction, neither Team Leader Wang Anguo nor Deputy Team Leader Li Gang felt truly confident.
This afternoon, they conducted detailed interrogations of some of the factory employees based on this line of thinking, but the results were not as expected.
Almost everyone had an alibi, and each had witnesses to corroborate it.
The case seemed straightforward at first glance, but upon closer examination, it became increasingly confusing.
Solving the case within just one week would be extremely difficult!
But with things having come to this, they had no better options—they had no choice but to plunge in headfirst!