Chapter 157: A Major Lead
County Police Bureau. Criminal Investigation Division!
Wang Anguo and his team were analyzing the case. They were about to follow the lead provided by Li Yi and re-investigate all the senior officials at Plant 812.
Just then, Li Yi returned with Liu San!
Seeing Li Yi again, Wang Anguo was somewhat surprised.
“Brother Li Yi, why are you back? And who is this?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “His name is Liu San’er. He’s a younger brother of mine!”
Li Yi then pointed at Wang Anguo and said to Liu San’er, “I don’t need to introduce him to you, do I? This is Wang Anguo, Captain of the Criminal Investigation Division at the County Bureau!”
Liu San’er usually trembled at the sight of even a neighborhood volunteer with a red armband; he’d never met someone as high-ranking as a Criminal Investigation Division captain, so he immediately grew nervous.
Wang Anguo was the first to greet him: “Hello, I’m Wang Anguo!”
“I… I’m Liu San’er!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Don’t be nervous. Captain Wang is a really nice guy!”
“Uh…”
Then Li Yi turned to Wang Anguo again and said, “Captain Wang, I brought Liu San here because I just got a new lead from him regarding the gold theft case. It might help you solve the case!”
Upon hearing this, the entire office—including Wang Anguo—fell silent, and everyone’s eyes fixed on Li Yi.
Wang Anguo’s face lit up immediately, and he hurriedly asked, “Really? What kind of lead?”
Li Yi turned to Liu San and said, “Captain Wang is asking you a question. Go on!”
“Huh?”
Seeing the bewildered look on the young man’s face, Li Yi shook his head helplessly, thinking to himself that although Liu San was usually pretty sharp, he still lacked real-world experience.
To turn him into a competent partner, he’d need some serious training!
Since the kid was no help, Li Yi had no choice but to speak up himself.
He said, “Captain Wang, this young man of mine usually hangs out on the streets, doing shady deals and other under-the-table stuff!”
Hearing this, Liu San was completely dumbfounded.
Bro, this is the county bureau’s criminal investigation team! Everyone around here is a police officer!
Is it really appropriate to say things like that right in front of them?
Sure enough, the expressions on everyone’s faces changed—they started glaring at him menacingly.
Liu San even had the illusion that these people would charge at him the next moment and slap a pair of heavy, thick silver handcuffs on him.
However, Li Yi acted as if he hadn’t noticed, continuing, “I was just chatting with this kid. According to him, just a few days ago, someone approached him, asking him to help fence a batch of gold for a fee of 500 yuan!”
When they heard the 500-yuan fee, Wang Anguo and the others couldn’t help but perk up.
To be sure, the fact that someone had approached this small-time thug to sell gold wasn’t particularly unusual; these days, quite a few families did indeed have gold stashed away at home.
It was perfectly understandable that someone might want to sell it for cash in case of an emergency.
But a fee of 500 yuan is a different story; the current market price of gold is only about 10 yuan per gram.
If you were to use 500 yuan to buy gold, you could get about 50 grams—roughly one tael.
Most of the gold held in private households today exists in the form of jewelry—such as gold bracelets, rings, necklaces, and hairpins—with only a small amount consisting of gold bars of various sizes minted during the Republic of China era, commonly known as “big yellow fish” and “small yellow fish.”
A “big yellow fish” weighs no more than ten taels, while a “small yellow fish” weighs just one tael.
For someone to offer a reward worth the price of a “small yellow fish,” it can only mean one thing: this person must possess far more than just one liang of gold.
It’s unthinkable for an ordinary household to possess that much gold, yet Factory 812 had three jin of gold stolen in a single incident—such a coincidence is unheard of.
At that moment, Wang Anguo fixed his gaze on Liu San and asked, “Comrade Liu San, could you give us a detailed account of that person’s circumstances?”
Liu San was taken aback again. Was he suddenly being addressed as “Comrade”?
“I… I…”
Li Yi immediately slapped him on the back of the head and said, “Come on, take a deep breath. Don’t get nervous!”
Following Li Yi’s instructions, Liu San took a few deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.
“Now, tell Team Leader Wang and the others exactly how that person found you!”
“Yes!”
Liu San then proceeded to recount in detail to Wang Anguo and the others exactly how that man had tracked him down, as well as the benefits the man had promised him.
After listening to Liu San, Wang Anguo asked, somewhat puzzled, “I don’t quite understand. Why did they approach you? Logically, shouldn’t they have gone after someone with more clout?”
“That… I really don’t know!” Liu San replied.
Just then, Li Yi spoke up: “I might know a thing or two about this!”
“What?”
“Although this kid is just a street thug, he’s actually known in the underworld for being loyal and trustworthy—his character is beyond reproach.”
Li Yi continued, “Plus, he’s in the business of buying and reselling goods. Since he’s a young newcomer, having him handle this allows them to better conceal their own identities.”
“From this perspective, the other party clearly intends to make this a one-time deal.”
Wang Anguo nodded and said, “I see!”
At that moment, Li Yi spoke again: “I asked him, and he said he remembers what that person looks like. Maybe you could bring over photos of the leaders and staff from Plant 812 for him to identify!”
“If it really is someone from the plant, he should recognize them at a glance.”
“That’s a good idea!”
Wang Anguo immediately had someone bring over the personnel files of all the staff and cadres at Plant 812, then had Liu San identify them one by one.
These files had originally been stored at Plant 812, but after this case occurred, the county bureau had taken all the personnel files back to their headquarters, saving them a trip back to Plant 812.
Factory 812 didn’t have many employees; all the files fit into just a few simple manila folders.
After the police officers under Wang Anguo’s command retrieved the files, they had Liu San identify them one by one.
Since they started with the factory’s leading cadres, they had barely identified a few people when Liu San pointed to a photograph and said, “It’s him—that’s the one!”
Wang Anguo and the others were instantly elated and immediately picked up that person’s file to examine it.
When they saw the details clearly, everyone was stunned!
It was actually him?
Although there was currently no evidence proving that Director Hao was the one who stole the gold, the fact that Liu San could identify him at a glance from these files—assuming Liu San wasn’t maliciously framing him—clearly indicated that this man had indeed approached Liu San to discuss selling the gold.
Combined with the sudden disappearance of so much gold from Plant 812, this man was clearly a prime suspect.
Immediately, Wang Anguo and his team placed Hao Guanchang under investigation as a prime suspect.
Identifying the culprit from such a vast crowd is indeed quite difficult.
However, with a clear suspect in hand, determining whether he was guilty and whether he had the opportunity to commit the crime became much easier.
Soon, Wang Anguo and his team discovered major inconsistencies in Hao Guanchang’s interrogation transcript. His so-called alibi had a gap of one or two hours—a timeframe more than sufficient to carry out the entire theft.
Immediately, Wang Anguo and his team headed back to Factory 812…
…….