Chapter 736: We’ve Landed a Big One!
Qingshan County!
By the time Li Yi and the others reached the county’s main street, it was already 11:30 a.m.
Perhaps because the New Year was approaching, the town was bustling with people, especially on the main street, which was filled with locals bundled up from head to toe.
Some were driving oxcarts or horse-drawn carriages, others were leading donkeys or mules, but most were simply walking along the street.
“Dad, are you coming with us to the county bureau, or are you going to the supply and marketing cooperative first?” Li Yi asked.
“Let’s go together. I’d like to have a chat with the third son too!” his father replied.
“Alright!”
Zhang Ziqiang then drove the car straight toward the County Bureau.
When Li Yi arrived at the county bureau, he found people coming and going, each with a grave expression on their face; the atmosphere seemed solemn and tense.
No sooner had they gotten out of the car than they saw a young police officer striding toward them: “Comrade Li Yi, you’re here!”
Li Yi recognized him immediately. The young man was a squad leader in the Criminal Investigation Division—his name seemed to be Xing Chao—and they had met just yesterday.
He smiled and asked, “Where’s Captain Li? Is he here?”
“Captain Li is in a meeting. He told me to keep an eye on things here. If you guys arrived, I’d take you to the communications room first. He’ll be over as soon as the meeting’s done!”
“Alright!”
The group then strode over to the county bureau’s communications room.
Once there, Team Leader Xing exchanged a few words with the staff inside, and they escorted Li Yi and the others inside.
They then dialed the number Li Yi had provided!
After a few rings, Li Na’s familiar voice came through the receiver: “Grassland Beef and Lamb Grill & Hot Pot Restaurant. How may I help you?”
Before the police officer could speak, Li Yi reached out and took the receiver, then said, “Sis, it’s me!”
“Xiao Yi, you little rascal—you’re just now calling me back?”
“Do you think this is my personal phone? Like I can just call back whenever I want? Besides, I only just found out you wanted me to call you back!” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“All right, enough with the small talk. The shop’s already open—let’s keep this short!”
Then Li Na continued, “The gifts you mentioned yesterday morning arrived—they nearly gave me and your brother-in-law a heart attack!”
“What happened?”
“Do you have any idea how many gifts there were? Two whole truckloads!”
“Sis, it was a lot, but surely not enough to scare you and my brother-in-law, right?” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“Do you know what was in those gifts? Aside from some household items, there was a lot of jewelry, and even a piano, a motorcycle, and a car. From what your brother-in-law said, it seems to be some ‘Ben’ brand…”
Hearing his third sister’s words, Li Yi couldn’t help but be a little surprised.
Actually, when he received Zhou Rui’s call, he already knew these gifts were out of the ordinary, but he hadn’t expected that his friends in Hong Kong would actually send his sister a motorcycle and a car.
In the mainland, these aren’t things you can just buy with money; it takes several days for a private individual to get a car.
No wonder Zhou Rui said these gifts were worth a fortune. To put it simply, a Mercedes-Benz alone was likely worth a pretty penny.
After all, a few years later, even a standard Volkswagen Passat could fetch 180,000 yuan—let alone a Mercedes-Benz.
Just then, Third Sister’s voice rang out again: “Xiao Yi, your brother-in-law and I have discussed it—these gifts are simply too valuable. We can’t accept them!”
“Sis, while these gifts may be a bit excessive and expensive, they’re wedding gifts people gave to you and my brother-in-law. What are we supposed to do if you refuse them?” Li Yi said.
“These people gave them to us just to save face for you. We don’t even know them—how can we possibly accept their gifts!”
Then Li Na added, “Besides, gift-giving is all about reciprocity. We can’t possibly return such expensive gifts, so you’d better handle this yourself!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Did Long Zhanjun say all that?”
“Call him ‘brother-in-law,’ or I’ll spank you when we get home!” Li Na said.
“Oh, him? He just overthinks things. It’s not that complicated!”
Li Yi continued, “Since they’ve gone to the trouble of bringing these things over, just accept them. As for returning the favor or whatever—that’s my problem!”
“But…”
“There’s no ‘but’ about it—just take them!” Li Yi said.
There was an immediate silence on the other end of the line; clearly, Li Na was still hesitating. After all, there were quite a few gifts, and they were quite valuable.
Last night, after the couple had gone through the list of gifts, they did a quick calculation: even at domestic prices, these items would easily amount to at least four or fifty thousand yuan.
Not to mention some items were simply impossible to put a price on; if they were to count everything, the total could easily exceed a million.
What they didn’t realize, however, was that the Mercedes-Benz alone was worth over a million overseas.
“Sis, just accept the gifts, but you have to keep the list safe. Give it to me after I come back from the New Year holiday!”
Li Na knew her younger brother had a stubborn streak—he was as headstrong as a mule.
With that in mind, she sighed and said, “All right then. But your brother-in-law and I can’t use that car—you’re the one who’ll actually need it. Just drive it off when you come back!”
Li Yi thought about it. His third sister had a point, and besides, he couldn’t keep using the car from the Second Cotton Mill forever.
He nodded and said, “Alright!”
“By the way, we’re planning to close for the New Year’s Eve holiday. See if you can figure out how much of a bonus would be appropriate to give everyone this year—your brother-in-law and I will handle the arrangements.”
“Give everyone three months’ extra pay. Also, Third Sister, you get in touch with the Second Cotton Mill and have them prepare two sets of clothes for each of our store’s staff—the store will cover the cost!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, we’ll make the arrangements over the next few days!”
“Hmm, when are you and my brother-in-law coming back?” Li Yi asked again.
“Probably on the second day of the New Year. You’ll have to come pick us up in the city then!”
“Sure, no problem!”
Then Li Yi added, “Dad’s here too. Do you want to say a few words to him?”
“Sure, hand the phone to Dad. I’m a bit busy right now, so I can’t talk for long,” Li Yi said.
“Sure!”
After that, Li Yi handed the phone to his father, Li Shankui, and walked out of the communications room!
As soon as he stepped out, he saw Li Gang hurrying over.
Upon seeing Li Yi, he said with a look of apology, “I’m really sorry, I’ve been so busy today…”
“Come on, don’t be so formal!”
Then Li Yi asked again, “Has the case been sorted out?”
Hearing Li Yi ask about the case, Li Gang glanced around, then was about to speak…
But before he could open his mouth, Li Yi cut him off: “I almost forgot—you guys in law enforcement have strict disciplinary requirements. You absolutely can’t disclose any case details to the public until the investigation is complete. You’d better not say anything!”
Li Gang smiled and said, “We do have disciplinary requirements, but Brother Li Yi, you’re a participant in this case too. And don’t forget that you’re still our county bureau’s confidential informant—it’s no big deal to share a few details!”
Li Yi couldn’t help but chuckle, then said, “If you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d have completely forgotten I had that role as well!”
Just then, Li Gang suddenly whispered, “Brother Li Yi, we’ve landed a big fish this time!”
Hearing this, Li Yi froze for a moment, then asked, “You mean those guys aren’t just grave robbers?”
“Yeah. After we interrogated them, it turns out these scumbags aren’t just digging up graves—they’re also involved in a whole string of crimes, including smuggling and trafficking cultural relics, murder, and robbery. Plus, their gang is way bigger than we ever imagined. If we were to round up all the criminals in their network, this would definitely be the biggest cultural relics case since the founding of the People’s Republic!”
Li Gang continued, “As I said yesterday, Brother Li Yi, you set the stage perfectly, allowing our county bureau to put on a great show. I just never imagined the performance would be this spectacular!”
“Hahaha, I was just doing my civic duty. The success of this case is entirely down to you guys!” Li Yi said with a laugh.
Li Gang, being an old acquaintance, naturally understood what he meant. He smiled and said, “You, oh well, let’s not talk about that. Brother Anguo will be back this afternoon. Why don’t we sit down for a while?”
“With a case this big, you two must be incredibly busy. I’ll wait until you’re done,” Li Yi said.
“Alright, we’ll give you a call when we’re free!”
“Sure…”
……….