Outside the police station, Yan Xishan was using a public phone to call Chen Meilan.
It was almost midnight, and the police were still working overtime, waiting for Yan Xishan's testimony.
They needed to determine whether Hu Xiaomei and Qi Dongmei's baby theft was spontaneous or premeditated. If spontaneous, the sentence would be 3 months to 1 year detention. If premeditated, it would be 3 to 5 years in prison.
Yan Xishan's testimony was crucial and could save Qi Dongmei and her daughter from 3 years in prison.
Yan Xishan hung up the phone, smoked a cigarette, rubbed his eyes for a while, then entered the police station and said without hesitation: "Hu Xiaomei and Qi Dongmei premeditated it. They intentionally stole the child!"
Qi Dongmei's kindness in helping him, Hu Xiaomei secretly following him for five years when he had nothing but his face at the start. During those five years, they introduced him to Fan Xiang and helped him make big money to become nouveau riche. All that goodwill had vanished the moment they deliberately and secretly stole Teacher Huang's son.
When Yan Xishan called Chen Meilan, it was the first time in his life he cried. He considered himself a despicable bastard, but he never imagined Hu Xiaomei could be 10,000 times worse.
Being cuckolded and set up by Fan Xiang didn't hurt him as much as them stealing Teacher Huang's child. They had completely shattered his defenses.
After finishing the investigation on the baby theft case, Yan Zhao was about to question Yan Xishan about the hit-and-run case.
The victim's name was Li Fugui, of rural origin, who did some small engineering projects.
The driver was Huang Quanan, even more powerful than Yan Xishan, responsible for handling waste recycling for Dongfang Group.
He drove a black Xiali, belonging to the category of rich but low-key nouveau riche who don't flaunt their wealth.
Li Fugui died at 29, and today, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, his family was holding his funeral.
Meanwhile, Huang Quanan had gone home to reunite with his wife and children. It was said he planned to sell the black Xiali and buy an imported Crown to drive.
An imported Crown, worth 300,000 yuan!
While Li Fugui, worth 30,000 yuan, one life, left cleanly.
The reason Yan Xishan knew everything was because he had given money to Yan Bin to keep following Fan Xiang. He had a complete chain of evidence that could prove Fan Xiang's premeditated murder.
But work belongs to the state, while life belongs to oneself.
Even if Yan Zhao took down Fan Zhenhua, Fan Xiang still had a classmate working in the provincial government. They were all in the same boat, with a network as dense as a spider's web. If Yan Zhao arrested Fan Zhenhua and his son, yes, Jindong District would be rid of one corrupt official-merchant gang.
But what if someone sought revenge on him? Yan Xishan was afraid of retaliation too.
Ma Bo also looked at Yan Zhao, hesitating whether to investigate this case.
These soldiers who had come down from the battlefields of war, after more than half a year of reality's baptism, had discovered that on the battlefield, at least you knew who the enemy was. But at work, it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe. The biggest enemy was money - from leaders to ordinary people, everyone had no bottom line when it came to money.
Moreover, everyone had wives and children. Who wouldn't be afraid of retaliation?
Yan Zhao gave Yan Xishan paper and pen: "Sit here and write down your statement properly. Ma Bo, don't alert anyone yet, investigate this matter privately."
Ma Bo nodded: "Alright."
Just then, Deputy Bureau Chief Zhao knocked on the door. The door was open, and he stood at the doorway with a smile, handing Yan Zhao a file: "Captain Yan, please sign this."
What Deputy Chief Zhao held was the file for the baby theft case. Actually, this case didn't require the deputy chief's attention, but because it involved Fan Zhenhua's wife, Deputy Chief Zhao had snatched the case from Xiong Xiangdang's hands and took charge of it.
"How come our 'Smiling King of Hell', little Fei Xiang, is in Captain Yan's office?" Deputy Chief Zhao asked with a smile while signing.
Yan Xishan gave a bitter smile, but Yan Zhao calmly said: "We're relatives, just some personal matters."
Of course, Zhao Lei knew that Yan Zhao had married Yan Xishan's ex-wife, a relationship that was truly complicated and hard to untangle.
"Have a good talk. I'll keep an eye on Hu Xiaomei and Qi Dongmei's case. We're all familiar with each other, I'll try to downplay the case as much as possible, and we'll give them lenient treatment." Zhao Lei said as he left.
Yan Xishan immediately raised his eyebrows at Yan Zhao.
This was the current state of police work, everything based on personal relationships. Deputy Chief Zhao Lei was Fan Zhenhua's eyes and ears in the branch bureau.
Could Yan Zhao really manage Jindong Road Branch Bureau well? Could he manage the entire Xiping City, or the national public security system?
It was simply a fool's dream.
This bastard had no idea that he, Meilan, Yuanyuan, and the others were already in extreme danger.
"Yan Zhao, I'll write the testimony, but if you can really take down Fan Xiang, I'll eat eight jin of shit." Yan Xishan wrote in beautiful handwriting, then signed his name.
Still feeling it wasn't enough, he opened his small crocodile skin bag, took out 15,000 yuan, and slapped it down in front of Yan Zhao.
"What's the money for?" Yan Zhao asked.
Yan Xishan angrily said: "It's the profit I secretly saved from selling coal these past few months. I originally wanted to give it to Hu Xiaomei, but she's no longer human. Can't I give this money to my daughter as New Year's money?"
In case he was killed by Fan Xiang, and still had no son, at least with the money in Yuanyuan's hands, he'd feel a bit more at ease.
Was that not okay?
"Alright, thank you." Yan Zhao accepted the money.
In the blink of an eye, it was the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. Yan Zhao had worked overtime for six consecutive days before finally heading home.
At home, Chen Meilan was also facing a troublesome matter.
Chen Degong had returned to his hometown for the New Year, leaving only Jinbao to guard the construction site. Just last night, Jinbao had slept deeply and didn't notice anything. When he woke up in the morning, he discovered that all the nylon ropes on the site had been cut, and all the screws on the bamboo scaffolding and steel pipe clamps had been removed.
Before the New Year, Chen Degong had bought an electric tricycle for easier transportation of goods. Last night, all four tires of the tricycle had been punctured.
Chen Degong and Zhou Qiaofang came to see Chen Meilan. Chen Degong got straight to the point: "Meilan, let Yan Zhao investigate. This kind of thing happening at the construction site must be because someone is jealous of us and wants to cause trouble. We have a policeman in the family, we can't just let people bully us like this, can we?"
Zhou Qiaofang, being more pessimistic, chimed in: "Meilan, I think we should just give up on this project."
"Shut your mouth. If you don't speak, no one will take you for a mute," Chen Degong reprimanded Zhou Qiaofang.
Zhou Qiaofang took a deep breath. After all, she had no say in family matters and could only keep quiet.
"Brother, just swallow this for now. Don't report it. From today on, you and Jinbao shouldn't stay at the construction site anymore. Rent a place to live for now. I'll cover the losses and handle this matter," Chen Meilan said.
Chen Degong was puzzled. He took a deep drag on his pipe and said: "Meilan, have you offended anyone? I'm not the type to provoke people, and the workers I hired are all kindhearted. I've never mistreated them."
This incident, while not too major, had no surveillance footage. On a construction site in the middle of nowhere, there were no eyewitnesses either. If they reported it, how could the police investigate?
Moreover, today it was just theft. If they reported it and the police came tomorrow, what if it angered the perpetrators and they decided to harm someone next time? Weren't Jinbao and her brother's lives worth more than these things?
Chen Meilan was crystal clear in her heart that Fan Xiang had instructed someone to do this.
The reason for doing this was to embarrass her, to show her who's boss, to intimidate her from taking on Dongfang Group's project.
Fan Xiang hated Chen Meilan more than anyone. Back then, with just a pair of underwear, she had directly shut down Yan Xishan's coal mine, and it had been nearly a year now.
Qi Dongmei went to steal a child, failed to get the child, and even implicated Fan Xiang's daughter-in-law in the process.
That was another failed attempt.
Now Chen Meilan wanted to cut off Fan Xiang's source of income. The fact that Fan Xiang hadn't sent someone to run over Meilan with a car, but only had people cause some damage at her construction site, was already out of consideration that Yan Zhao was also in law enforcement.
Chen Meilan had no way to deal with this kind of thing, she could only pin her hopes on Yan Zhao.
She hoped Yan Zhao could really take down that local snake, Fan Xiang.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
On the seventh day of the New Year, Yan Zhao came home.
"Dad, what did you say?" Little Wang suddenly shouted from outside the door.
Yan Zhao came in and said decisively: "Buy a piano."
"Mom, did you hear that? Dad said he wants to buy Yuanyuan a piano." Little Wang jumped right through the door.
Yuanyuan let out a "Wow" and said to Little Wang: "Dad must have received a bonus."
Little Wang also helped Yuanyuan make up an excuse: "That's right, Dad must have received a big bonus, that's why he wants to buy Yuanyuan a piano."
"Did you really get a bonus?" Chen Meilan was a bit skeptical.
"The money is from Xishan," said Yan Zhao.
Chen Meilan declared firmly: "Impossible. All of Yan Xishan's money is in Yuanyuan's public account. Where would he get the money from? It must be a bonus from your military unit, right?"
Yan Zhao repeated: "The money is from Xishan."
Chen Degong chimed in: "Yan Zhao is just being too modest."
Zhou Qiaofang said: "Xishan is such a miser. He didn't give Meilan a penny during the divorce. How could he give her money now? Give me a break!"
No one in the family wanted to believe that Yan Xishan, that stingy fellow, would give Yuanyuan a whole fifteen thousand yuan.
So even Chen Meilan spontaneously assumed that the money was Yan Zhao's bonus!
It was only natural for Yan Zhao to bring things into the home. Willing to buy Yuanyuan a piano, this stepfather was doing a very good job.
Yuanyuan should have a piano, but Chen Meilan had only gained empty promises in the past six months. Not only did she have no money on hand, but she had also lost so many things at the construction site and would have to pay to replace everything.
"It's fine to buy the piano. I'll pay you back when I earn money," she smiled, and taking advantage of the children's inattention, she softly called near Yan Zhao's ear: "Thank you, Third Brother."
In a flash, Yan Zhao's ears not only turned red but also seemed to stand up like a rabbit's.
With all the children around, he quickly turned and left the room.
Chen Meilan suddenly felt a bit jealous. Calling him "Third Brother" really pleased this man.
What a strange quirk.
If other women called him that, wouldn't his ears turn red for them too?
Putting that aside, let's talk about the piano first.
It wasn't easy to buy a piano now, and department stores didn't sell them. To find out where to buy a piano, they had to ask Qin Yu.
Qin Yu had taken unpaid leave and had been running some engineering projects for a while.
Such projects required connections and ability. As an ordinary person, she couldn't manage it, so after a while, she gave up. Recently, she had been idle at home, bored out of her mind, and was preparing to recruit some children to open a music school.
To see if she could earn some money.
Otherwise, with only Yan Dawei's salary to support the family, his tone had been getting increasingly unpleasant lately. Not cooking, not washing dishes, acting like a lord at home - Qin Yu could hardly stand it anymore.
Hearing that Chen Meilan wanted to buy Yuanyuan a piano, and knowing that she had taken on work for the Dongfang Group, Qin Yu assumed she must have earned a lot of money to afford a piano. She felt envious but knew she couldn't compete, as she didn't have the connections Meilan had.
"It's not easy to buy a brand new piano. You'd have to order one from the capital, and it might take half a year to get it. But I know an old pianist from a theater troupe who's planning to sell an old piano. He's played it for ten years - a Steinway that you can't buy anymore. Why don't you wait a moment, and I'll make a call to ask?" Qin Yu said.
Yan Zhao asked Chen Meilan: "Why don't we buy a new one?"
A new piano would cost over ten thousand yuan even now. An old piano should be cheaper.
The ropes, bamboo scaffolding, and steel pipes at Chen Meilan's construction site had all been damaged and needed to be replaced.
Yan Zhao had fifteen thousand yuan. If they saved some money, her construction site could reopen.
"Qin Yu, please ask that old pianist. We'll buy his piano," Chen Meilan said.
That old pianist was actually Qin Yu's teacher. It was said that the Steinway had been retired from the disbanded Provincial Cultural Troupe. It was a good piano. Qin Yu, now humbled by the harsh realities of life, wanted to open a music school and continue teaching Yuanyuan. Of course, she praised Yuanyuan excessively, saying she was her proudest student, with even more talent for playing the piano than Ningning.
For pianists, especially old artists, it wasn't so much about selling the piano as it was about passing on a good instrument to a good child.
Right there on the phone, they actually reached an agreement. The Steinway was offered for only 3,000 yuan.
It was said that the piano was bought in 1978 for 20,000 yuan, purchased directly by the Provincial Cultural Troupe.
Moreover, the pianist who owned it had maintained it well, and the piano still looked nearly new.
Since the deal was settled, and Little Wang, Little Lang, and Yuanyuan all loved the piano so much,
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Yan Zhao called Yan Bin to help, and they went to the old pianist's house to move the piano.
The 3,000-yuan Steinway had a pure white finish, with a matching pure white piano bench, each covered with a fine red velvet cover.
In these times, not to mention in the city, how many people in the countryside had ever seen a piano?
As the pianist's home was only two kilometers from Yanguan Village, Yan Bin and Yan Zhao carried the piano back themselves. Along the way, many people turned to look, curious about what was under the bright red velvet cover.
The moment the piano cover was lifted, Chen Meilan let out a "Wow!"
The piano was as beautiful as a white swan.
There was one problem though - it was too big to fit through the door. In the end, they had to call several villagers to hoist it over the wall and remove a window to get it into Yuanyuan's bedroom.
Once the piano was moved home and placed in Yuanyuan's room, Qin Yu came personally to tune it for Yuanyuan.
Seeing Yuanyuan sitting impatiently on the piano bench, Qin Yu reached out and tugged the little girl's ear: "I've always coveted this piano and wanted to buy it, but I couldn't afford it. You're lucky." Quietly, she added, "Yuanyuan, I'm going to open a music school later. Will you continue to learn piano from me?"
"You want to open a music school? That's great," Little Wang chimed in, patting his little wallet. "Auntie, how much money do you need? I can invest my money in your school. When your music school makes money, we can split it, okay?"
Qin Yu smiled and asked Little Wang, "How much money do you have?"
Little Wang pulled out a stack of ten-yuan notes from the crocheted wallet Yuanyuan had made for him. There was at least 200 yuan.
Qin Yu stared at Little Wang, speechless.
The Chen Meilan family was too good at making money. Not only Chen Meilan but Yan Xiaowang was simply a little genius.
In the bedroom on the other side, Yan Zhao stood by the window, watching Yuanyuan in the opposite room. She was sitting at the piano, tuning it under Qin Yu's direction.
"It's the New Year, and we didn't call the capital on New Year's Eve. It's the Lantern Festival today, shall we make a call now?" Chen Meilan came in and said.
Yan Peiheng was said to be a leader at the level of Chief of Staff.
The eldest son, Yan Jun, was abroad, and Chen Meilan guessed he might have emigrated, though she wasn't sure. The second son, Yan Wei, was still in the military but was expected to transfer to civilian work soon. Yan Wei's wife, named Mi Lan, was doing business in the capital and was said to be quite wealthy.
This information was all gleaned by Chen Meilan from Song Huaihua and Liu Xiaohong.
Yan Peiheng had worked in the military all his life. He might not have much money, but he surely had powerful connections.
But since marrying Yan Zhao, Chen Meilan had discovered that Yan Zhao's work environment was not just precarious, but fraught with danger at every turn. If Yan Peiheng could put in a good word upstairs, letting the provincial leaders know he had connections above, it might make his work a bit easier.
But obviously, Yan Peiheng had never spoken to the provincial leaders.
Yan Zhao had also always deliberately avoided mentioning who his father was.
Times had changed. Yan Zhao was already in a precarious position. If he didn't improve his relationship with his father and have someone up there to look out for him, given how strict he was at work, something was bound to go wrong sooner or later.
So Chen Meilan really wanted to make a call to the capital soon.
Her father-in-law probably found her, this ugly daughter-in-law, annoying, but for her husband's safety, this ugly daughter-in-law had to gain her father-in-law's approval.
However, Yan Zhao said: "For over twenty years, except for a call on New Year's Eve, we've rarely been in touch. Zhou Xueqin borrowed about five thousand yuan from my father, and I don't know what happened between them, but since then, my father has become even more estranged from me and my mother. But these are all old stories, let's not talk about them. We'll call again next New Year's Eve."
Next New Year's Eve?
Was this family's contact measured in years?
Chen Meilan knew that Yan Peiheng and Su Wen's initial falling out was because of their deceased daughter, Yan Xing.
Mixed up in this was also a "black five" category person who later smuggled himself out of the country.
She didn't know what Zhou Xueqin had done. Logically, when there's conflict between in-laws, the daughter-in-law should try to mediate. But after going to the capital, she somehow managed to sour the relationship with Yan Peiheng to the point of no return, and even borrowed a lot of money from him.
A harmonious family is the foundation for all prosperity, and Su Wen was a good mother-in-law.
Chen Meilan had met her before - she was kind and beautiful, though in her old age her mind became confused and she grew senile. When she died, there wasn't a single family member by her side.
Yet she had clearly left a house for Yan Peiheng, hoping he would come back to live there.
What exactly did Zhou Xueqin say or do to make the conflict between Yan Peiheng and Su Wen escalate to the point where they refused to see each other until death?
Leaving that aside, Chen Meilan knew the true reason for Yan Xing's death.
That's why she was particularly angry. She felt the mother-in-law had done nothing wrong, and that Yan Peiheng was simply a bigger jerk. She wanted Yan Zhao to call him - at the very least, Chen Meilan wanted to give Yan Peiheng a piece of her mind about Yan Xing's death.
Yan Zhao suddenly pulled out a photo from a book and handed it to Chen Meilan: "Look, it's Yan Xing."
It was a photo of a little girl, about 4 or 5 years old.
Chen Meilan took the photo and gasped: "This is Yan Xing?"
It was a little girl who looked at least 90% like Yuanyuan. In the black and white photo, the little girl with two pigtails had eyes as bright as stars. Her smile seemed to radiate through the photo, touching Chen Meilan's heart.
It was only at this moment that Chen Meilan understood why Yan Zhao had smiled at Yuanyuan the first time he saw her.
He didn't have much money himself, but he still bought little leather shoes and dresses for Yuanyuan.
As it turned out, it wasn't that Yan Zhao had special feelings for her, but because Yuanyuan looked exactly like his deceased younger sister.
"Let me finish Fan Xiang's case first, then I'll make the call," Yan Zhao said.
In truth, this call would be particularly difficult to make, but Chen Meilan didn't know that.
...
"Dad, look at the piano! I have a piano now, my dad bought it for me." Yuanyuan's shout came from outside the window, and Yan Xishan entered the room with a smile.
Little Wang and Little Lang looked smug, confronting this uninvited guest with righteous indignation: "Our dad bought it."
So Yuanyuan had a piano now?
This was now Yan Zhao's home, and by rights, Yan Xishan shouldn't enter uninvited. But as soon as he came in, he could hear Yuanyuan already playing the piano.
She was playing "Two Tigers," both cheerfully and melodiously.
But something wasn't right - where did Yan Zhao get the money?
"It was bought with my dad's bonus. Dad, does it sound good?" Yuanyuan asked Yan Xishan with a smile after she finished playing.
Yan Xishan nearly jumped. Something was fishy here. He had given Yan Zhao 15,000 yuan on the seventh day of the lunar new year. Surely it couldn't be...
"Yan, that piano... it was bought with my money, wasn't it?" Yan Xishan rushed into the room.
This matter had to be cleared up. It was his money, his!
"Yes," Yan Zhao said.
But Chen Meilan snorted coldly: "Your money? Aren't you saving all your money for Xiaomei? How could you have money to spend on Yuanyuan?"
"I made some money secretly selling coal..." Yan Xishan started to say, but seeing Chen Meilan raise an eyebrow at him, he suddenly slapped himself.
By rights, money from coal sales should go into the public account, but he had secretly sold 15,000 yuan worth of coal without recording it.
If Chen Meilan found out about this, she might assign an accountant to him tomorrow, and he wouldn't be able to save any private money in the future.
Damn it, he had been careless.
The piano was clearly bought with his money, but now no one knew about it. What could he do?
Yan Zhao had asked Yan Xishan to come because of the case, so putting aside this issue, he needed to ask about the case: "What about the witness? Have you found them?"
"I've already called them back from their hometown. They're currently at my coal yard, with the boss's wife Wu Qianhong," Yan Xishan said.
Regarding Fan Xiang instructing Huang Quanan to hit someone with his car, the two had discussed it in a private room at Dream Paris. There was a hostess there at the time, and although she was sleeping in the adjoining room when the two were talking, she had heard everything. Moreover, after Fan Xiang left, Huang Quanan got drunk and stayed overnight in the private room. He bragged to the hostess, saying that for killing a person, he would at most have to pay 30,000 yuan in compensation, but thanks to this life, he could earn 300,000 yuan in a year.
During the New Year, the hostess had already returned to her rural hometown. Yan Xishan had to get her address from Wu Qianhong and personally drive to the hostess's hometown to call her back.
The hostess was willing to testify - she dared not refuse, after all, one couldn't afford to offend either the underworld or the police.
Yan Bin, because he had been following Fan Xiang the whole time, could even identify the traffic policeman who had colluded with Fan Xiang.
But what good would that do?
Tomorrow, on the sixteenth day of the lunar new year, the leaders from the city bureau would be inspecting work at the Jindong Road branch.
Yan Zhao planned to put this case on the table at that time, bringing it up publicly and arresting Fan Zhenhua in front of everyone.
If he did that, he would essentially be publicly humiliating the leadership.
Even if Fan Zhenhua was brought down, how would the other leaders view him? How would they treat him?
In Yan Xishan's view, Yan Zhao was like someone who steals a gong and wants to beat it loudly, as if he wanted to turn himself into Zhuge Liang's straw boats, inviting all the city's leaders to shoot arrows at him.
"Let's go, I'll meet that hostess," Yan Zhao said.
"Dad, come listen to me play the piano when you have time," Yuanyuan waved goodbye.
Little Wang and Little Lang chimed in to defend Yan Zhao: "Our dad bought the piano!"
Yan Xishan, feeling more wronged than Dou E, was about to leave with Yan Zhao when he suddenly let out a sigh.
Yuanyuan had always loved him.
Although Chen Meilan hated him and thought he was too bad, the saying goes that women don't love men who aren't a little bad.
Moreover, except for Yan Zhao whom he didn't dare touch, Yan Xishan smiled at the thought that if Chen Meilan found another man, he could get rid of him no matter who it was.
He knew Chen Meilan's personality too well - kind, hardworking, and everything she did was for Yuanyuan's benefit.
It was a sudden inspiration, but it might have been Yan Xishan's deepest, most genuine thought.
If Yan Zhao really got revenge on someone, he might die, right?
If Yan Zhao, like Li Fugui, stepped on the gas pedal and sent someone flying straight to the underworld, wouldn't Chen Meilan become a widow?
The more he thought about it, the more pleased Yan Xishan felt.
Following behind Yan Zhao, he had the look of someone who thought the other was already halfway to the grave. Although he felt he was being too heartless, he couldn't help but smile a little.
In his eyes, Yan Zhao was already a dead man.
But he wouldn't tell Chen Meilan about this.
From now on, he would behave himself and focus on self-improvement. When Chen Meilan became a widow, he could comfort her properly then.
