My Promotion Story Through Time Travel

Chapter 85 Meeting

They probably felt that there were no useful clues in Pingding Village, so they left two yamen runners to guard the crime scene, while Shi Yong and the other yamen runners returned to the county yamen.

Chief Constable Qi convened a meeting with the members of the three shifts.

Over the past ten days, while the fast team was out investigating clues, the other members of the strong team did not relax their interrogation of Qin Niang, but no matter what they did, Qin Niang remained silent.

Several constables who went to Zezhou checked the accounts of Baotong Money Shop. The silver notes were indeed issued by Baotong Money Shop in the nineteenth year of Shunhua, but there were too many people using them, so there were basically no clues. They also found that the gold hairpins were the style of Fengxiang Silver Shop from a few years ago. Although the silver shop had sales ledgers, so many years had passed, and there was no way to verify it.

"Chunhua Tower? Zhang Ershun's wife said that Hu Xinhua said Qinniang works at Chunhua Tower." Lin Ziping couldn't help but say.

Seeing that Constable Qi was frowning, Old Huang quickly tugged at Lin Ziping's clothes, signaling him to be quiet.

Lin Ziping looked around, realized he had spoken out of turn, and quickly lowered his head.

The sound of Constable Qi banging on the table echoed through the air: "Bang...bang...bang..."

"So you mean we've gained nothing after all these days?" Constable Qi asked sternly, scanning the crowd.

People at the scene all lowered their heads.

"Bang..." Upon seeing this, Officer Qi slammed his hand on the table without saying a word.

Lin Ziping's heart skipped a beat. He squeezed the jade pendant in his pocket, wondering if taking it out now would be considered as keeping evidence of his hoarding. He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed that he had been so foolish as to leave the jade pendant behind when he handed over the gold hairpin and silver notes.

"Officer Qi, the most urgent thing I think is for Qin Niang to confess her motive. After all, we witnessed this case with our own eyes. As long as we get Qin Niang's confession, the truth will surely come out." Just as Lin Ziping was struggling with whether or not to hand over the jade pendant, Old Huang's voice rang out from the side.

Before Constable Qi could speak, one of the constables said, "We've interrogated her many times, but the woman won't say anything."

Old Huang looked at Constable Qi and saw that his brows had relaxed. He said, "We didn't have any silver notes or gold hairpins before. Shall we try again with these? Constable Qi, I'd like to take these with me to meet this Qin Niang again."

After a moment's thought, Officer Qi asked, "Old Huang, how confident are you?"

"Isn't this just a last resort? We have no leads and no progress, so I'm just offering this suggestion to try. What if it works?" Old Huang said with a grin.

The tense atmosphere seemed to be broken, and Shi Yong said, "What Lao Huang said makes sense, and I think it's worth a try."

The others nodded in agreement.

"I will report this matter to Zhang, the clerk, and let him make the decision," said Constable Qi.

"Officer Qi, I suggest that Shi Yong and Lin Ziping also participate in this interrogation. After all, Shi Yong has many years of interrogation experience, and it was Lin Ziping who discovered the gold hairpin and silver notes. Their participation will make things more reliable," Old Huang said, clasping his hands in a fist salute to Officer Qi.

Upon hearing this, Lin Ziping looked at Lao Huang, his mind flashing back to the torture methods in ancient prisons depicted in TV dramas. Was Lao Huang asking him to become a henchman? This... he couldn't do it, he couldn't bring himself to do it!

Officer Qi nodded and said, "I will also report this matter to Clerk Zhang. Let's call it a day."

After Constable Qi left, Shi Yong clasped his hands in a fist salute to Old Huang and said, "I hope Brother Huang can give me more guidance."

Old Huang chuckled and said, "No problem, no problem."

Shi Yong glanced at Lao Huang twice, then turned and left.

At noon, Lin Ziping finally found a chance to speak to Old Huang alone: ​​"Uncle Huang, I... I don't understand anything. Wouldn't it be more troublesome to interrogate him?"

"Silly boy, although you can't compare to those who came with you, you can't fall too far behind. Don't worry, Uncle Huang is here for you," Old Huang patted Lin Ziping on the shoulder to comfort him.

Lin Ziping was not comforted at all; instead, he became more wary. There's no such thing as a free lunch. He and this old Huang were not related, so why was he being so kind to him?

Suppressing his doubts, Lin Ziping said gratefully, "Thank you for taking care of me, Uncle Huang."

Seemingly sensing what Lin Ziping was thinking, Old Huang sighed and said, "Little Lin, I felt a connection with you the first time I saw you, but one must seize one's own opportunities. Do you know why I stopped you at Chunhua Tower? And why I brought Shi Yong along this time?"

Lin Ziping shook his head.

“Chunhua Tower has been open for so many years, it’s practically everywhere in Dazhou. There must be someone behind it. How could a few lowly constables like us question and investigate it?” Old Huang glared at Lin Ziping. “You were too reckless just now.”

Has Chunhua Tower become so powerful? Lin Ziping thought of what Xiao Fuzi said when she left. He hadn't been able to find out anything about it all these years. He had originally planned to use Qinniang's matter to get the Fuchun County government to investigate Chunhua Tower in Zezhou. He never expected that even a county government would be so wary of Chunhua Tower.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Old Huang waved his hand in front of Lin Ziping when he saw that Lin Ziping didn't speak.

Lin Ziping smiled sheepishly: "Uncle Huang, I'm sorry, I was just wondering why Qingyang has Chunhua Tower but Fuchun doesn't."

“How can Fuchun compare to Qingyang? Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore. This time, we’ll have Shi Yong join us for the investigation. You’ll follow him for the next couple of days and see what he does,” Old Huang said.

Why should I follow Shi Yong? Lin Ziping asked, puzzled.

“Shi Yong definitely has a backup plan. Xiao Lin, you are an honest child. I have a daughter who is about your age. You two… I’ll let you meet her in a while.” Old Huang looked at Lin Ziping with a kind expression.

Uh... this is changing so fast! We were just discussing work, and now we're talking about blind dates. I'm still a baby!

"Uncle... Uncle... No need for that, no need to see me." Lin Ziping said awkwardly, "I just arrived in Fuchun and haven't settled in yet."

"Settle down first, then build a career..."

Seeing that Lao Huang had started pressuring him to get married, Lin Ziping quickly said, "Uncle, I'll go see what Shi Yong is doing."

Without waiting for Lao Huang's response, he hurriedly left.

Upon reaching the barracks, Lin Ziping glanced back with lingering fear, only relaxing when he saw that Lao Huang hadn't followed.

"There's a dog behind you, what's the rush?" Shi Yong said to Lin Ziping when he saw him in the barracks.

Lin Ziping had just been talking to Lao Huang about Shi Yong when the man suddenly appeared in front of him. Feeling inexplicably guilty, he said, "No...no."

Seeing this, Shi Yong laughed and asked, "I just saw you with Lao Huang, what were you talking about?"

Alarm bells rang in Lin Ziping's mind. He had clearly seen that no one was around just now, so how did Shi Yong know?

"Hehe, let me ask him how he interrogates Qin Niang." Lin Ziping chuckled twice. "I don't know what Lao Huang was thinking, making me interrogate her with you guys. I don't know anything about her! He even made me meet his daughter. It scared me to death."

"Haha, don't mind Old Huang. He always introduces his daughter to every new person who comes to the county government." Shi Yong's smile didn't fade. "Don't be afraid, I'm here for you. Inspector Chai told me to take good care of you, and I will definitely help you."

"Thank you very much, Brother Shi." Lin Ziping clasped his hands in a gesture of respect.

"You just follow Lao Huang and see what he does so we can make plans," Shi Yong said.

Lin Ziping nodded with a smile on his face, but in his heart he couldn't help but complain: This is asking me to be a double agent! Old Huang told me to keep an eye on Shi Yong, and Shi Yong told me to follow Old Huang. How did I end up being a pawn in their game?