Chapter 230: A Jade Pendant
The night passed without incident, and when Li Yi woke up the next day, it was already past nine in the morning.
Tang Xue hadn’t slept well the previous night; she’d wake up crying from her dreams every so often, which meant Li Yi hadn’t slept well either.
On top of that, he’d spent the first half of the night investigating the truth of the matter, so he hadn’t slept well either, and inevitably woke up a bit late.
When he finally got up, he found that Tang Xue had already bought breakfast and was sitting by the window, lost in thought.
Hearing the sound of Li Yi getting dressed, Tang Xue finally turned her head and said, “Hurry up and wash up and eat. Comrade Long is already waiting for you outside!”
“Dajun’s here? Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?” Li Yi asked as he got dressed.
“You didn’t sleep well last night either. I wanted you to get some extra rest!” Tang Xue replied.
Li Yi could feel Tang Xue’s concern, and his mood instantly improved.
“You get ready too. I’ll be done in a minute!”
With that, Li Yi grabbed his toiletries and headed for the bathroom.
Men don’t take showers or put on makeup in the morning, so they’re usually pretty quick.
After wrapping things up in a few minutes, Li Yi wolfed down the meat buns Tang Xue had bought, then led her out the door of the guesthouse.
Outside the guesthouse, Long Zhanjun and Ni Qiu were waiting for them.
Seeing Li Yi and Tang Xue come out, they immediately came over to greet them.
“Brother Yi, Sister-in-law!”
Li Yi nodded and asked, “Any news from the police?”
Long Zhanjun replied immediately, “Yes, Old Xiao just stopped by. They’re getting ready to go to the steel mill to make some arrests. He told me to tell you to meet them at the cotton mill at 10:30!”
“Hmm! Looks like the leaders at the county bureau are finally taking this matter seriously!”
“Right. Old Xiao said the bureau has set up a special task force, and he’s been promoted to deputy head of it!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “Not bad. Looks like once this is over, that guy will at least land a position as deputy captain or deputy chief!”
“No problem—and Old Xiao’s family has connections too!” Long Zhanjun said.
“Let’s go. We’ll head over to the cotton mill and wait there first!” Li Yi said.
“Alright!”
The cotton mill wasn’t in the city proper but on the outskirts of the county, not far from Xinjing Town.
Led by Long Zhanjun and the others, it took Li Yi and his group over half an hour to arrive.
However, they didn’t go straight in. State-owned enterprises these days were very formal, and it wasn’t easy for ordinary people to gain access.
Fortunately, Xiao Zhanwu didn’t keep them waiting long. Less than twenty minutes later, they saw a jeep bearing the words “Public Security” pull up at the main gate of the cotton mill.
Two uniformed police officers then stepped out of the vehicle, and leading the group was none other than Xiao Zhanwu.
Upon seeing Li Yi, Long Zhanjun, and the others, Xiao Zhanwu immediately waved them over, and the group walked straight toward him.
As soon as they met, Li Yi asked, “Have they been apprehended?”
Xiao Zhanwu smiled and said, “Yes, we brought him in at 8:30, and the interrogation is already over!”
“Did he confess?”
“Haha, they’re just a bunch of cowards. As soon as they saw Tang Meiqin, they spilled everything without us even having to scare them!” Xiao Zhanwu said with a laugh.
“So what do we do now?” Li Yi asked immediately.
“Although they’ve confessed, we can’t rely solely on their statements. We need to establish a chain of evidence for everything, so we have to find all the victims first before we can pin the charges on those bastards!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“What if we can’t find them?” Tang Xue suddenly asked.
“It doesn’t matter if we can’t. After all, you’re a victim too. But it would be best if we could find your biological parents!”
“Okay!”
Just then, Xiao Zhanwu suddenly remembered something and said, “Comrade Tang Xue, there’s something I forgot to tell you. The Tang family still has an item that belonged to your biological mother. You can take it back once the case is closed!”
“What is it?”
“It’s a jade pendant!”
“A jade pendant?”
“Yes. According to Tang Jizhong’s confession, after your mother woke up and learned she had given birth to a stillborn baby, she buried the child outside Xinjing Town and placed a jade pendant on the child’s body.”
Xiao Zhanwu continued, “But Tang Jizhong didn’t want his child to be buried in the wilderness, so he secretly dug the child up and reburied it near the Tang family’s ancestral graves.”
“However, when he buried the child, he left that jade pendant behind. Now that jade pendant has become the evidence used to convict them!”
Tang Xue looked at Xiao Zhanwu and asked, “Is that jade pendant a white jade piece carved in the shape of a phoenix, with a single character on it?”
“Have you seen it?”
“Yes, I saw it once a few years ago. My mother… Li Hongmei said it was a family heirloom, to be passed down to Tang Lei after he got married!” Tang Xue said, her expression growing somber.
She remembered it clearly. She had found the jade pendant while cleaning the house during the New Year, in a box hidden in a very secret spot.
She had been quite young at the time and thought she’d found a treasure, so she brought the jade pendant to her parents to show off.
Instead, her mother slapped her hard across the face several times, explaining that the jade pendant was a family heirloom they had deliberately hidden away to pass down to Tang Lei in the future, to be handed down from generation to generation.
At the same time, Li Hongmei warned her never to touch that jade pendant again—one touch meant one beating.
At the time, she couldn’t understand why her mother had reacted so strongly.
Now she finally understood: the jade pendant had always belonged to her; they were the ones who had stolen it from her.
So when she touched the jade pendant, whether it was Li Hongmei or Tang Jizhong, they both felt like thieves caught red-handed.
This made them feel terrified and uneasy, and above all, ashamed.
“When will the case be concluded?” Li Yi asked in a low voice.
“That depends on the results of the investigation. If things move quickly, under normal circumstances, the case can be transferred to the procuratorate within a month, and an indictment will be filed within three months. The trial and sentencing will take about four or five months!”
Xiao Zhanwu continued, “Of course, if things don’t go smoothly, it could take much longer—possibly six months or even a year!”
Li Yi frowned and said, “Can’t it be done faster? You know we can’t stay here too long!”
Xiao Zhanwu shook his head. “I don’t have that kind of authority, especially since this involves the procuratorate and the court!”
“Can we take that jade pendant with us early? After all, we’ll be returning to North Sai Province soon,” Li Yi said.
“I’ll submit a request to my superiors, but don’t get your hopes up too high. After all, that jade pendant is crucial evidence in this case. As long as the case isn’t closed, it’s highly unlikely they’ll let you take such important evidence with you,” Xiao Zhanwu replied.
“Mm-hmm!”
Just then, Tang Xue suddenly spoke up, “By the way, they extorted three thousand yuan in cash from me. Can we get that back?”
“Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm!”
“If that’s true, then of course we can handle it!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“Then I’ll leave it to you!”
Whenever Tang Xue thought about how Tang Jizhong and his wife had not only forced her to be separated from her biological parents for 19 years, but also tried to marry her off to that old widower, and then had the audacity to take the 3,000 yuan Li Yi had worked so hard to earn, she felt extremely upset.
Now that she had a chance to get that money back, she certainly wasn’t going to pass it up.
After exchanging a few more words, the group set off together toward the cotton mill!