pjbooks Chapter 121 The Deliberate Son and the Stepmother
Chapter 121 The Deliberate Son and the Stepmother
Coincidentally, the police searched the surrounding area using the location of the public phone as the center point, checking all places with accommodations, but found nothing.
Just when everyone thought this might be Dong Youli's counter-surveillance tactic, deliberately making a phone call from a distance to pretend to expose himself and mislead the police, a dramatic scene unfolded.
Old Su went to bang on the door again!
Among the relatives who rushed over to dissuade him, one said that he had recently spent a lot of money because Su Qiang's colleague had been eating and staying at his place for a week.
They thought they could get a bigger share of Su Qiang's money because of this, but their remarks caught the attention of the police. The First Brigade had previously given them a heads-up, so the matter was reported to the First Brigade.
Upon receiving the news, Liu Chengyu quickly located the person in question. Through identification, based on the other party's statement that he was someone close to the boss, he took out a photo of Dong Youli for identification and finally confirmed that it was indeed the long-lost Dong Youli.
The auto repair shop owner's identification, coupled with Sun Yan's withdrawal of money before his disappearance, basically confirms that this person is very likely the mastermind behind the murder-for-hire that Sun Zhengdao mentioned.
No matter who the target was, the assassination attempt failed, and it was highly likely that the assassination attempt was discovered, which is why Dong Youli fled.
With current technology and methods of catching criminals, he could easily have gone to the coastal areas or the less developed southwest and northwest regions, so why didn't he go there?
All of this may only come to light after the other party is brought to justice.
Zhou Yang thought of a possibility, picked up the phone and called Qiao Songnian's house. He had written down the phone number when he inquired earlier that day.
After the phone rang a few times, a pleasant voice answered, "Hello!"
"Hello, Mrs. Zhong, this is Zhou Yang from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. I'd like to ask if Boss Qiao has returned yet, and also, did the family receive any phone calls after we left?"
Upon hearing Zhou Yang's question, the people in the room quickly lowered their voices, afraid of disturbing him.
"Oh, Officer Zhou!" Zhong Honglan seemed busy with something. "Old Qiao hasn't come back, but he sent a message saying he won't be back tonight; he has some things to take care of!"
Zhou Yang's heart skipped a beat: "Who sent the message, and what did it say?"
Seemingly startled by Zhou Yang's quick response, Zhong Honglan paused for a moment: "It's Old Qiao's former driver, Brother Li, what's wrong?"
"Ms. Zhong, please wait at home. Some of our colleagues will be over in a bit and will explain to you then!" Zhou Yang said, then hung up the phone with a click.
Hearing the busy tone on the other end of the phone, Zhong Honglan paused for a moment, then put down the phone: "Xiaobao, are you dressed yet? We're going to Grandma's house for a delicious meal tonight!"
It seems they disregarded Zhou Yang's words.
"Dong Youli has made an appointment with Qiao Songnian!" Zhou Yang put down the phone and turned to look at Liu Chengyu.
He said it was an agreement, but he felt that coercion would have been a more appropriate term.
"This Qiao Songnian is no simple character either!" Liu Chengyu immediately made arrangements for people to go to Qiao Songnian's house to set up surveillance.
Now, Zhou Yang knows why Dong Youli didn't leave: he was waiting for Qiao Songnian.
Today, the day has finally arrived!
"It seems there will be changes to tonight's arrest!" Dai Yan looked at Zhou Yang with a wry smile.
They had already figured out that Dong Youli had been staying at Su Qiang's relatives' place recently, and that he always went out during the day and went back to sleep at night, which was a very regular routine. The police thought that tonight would be no different, so they could just arrest him directly.
Who knew that Zhou Yang's one phone call would lead to a completely different result.
"Don't you think he got what he deserved?" Xiao Jiale scoffed.
He had heard that when Zhou Yang and Fang Duo were at Songhe Trading, the person in charge called Qiao Songnian's house and received a reply that they could come and inquire.
However, when the two of them arrived, they found that Qiao Songnian was not there. According to Zhong Honglan, he had some business with his superiors and couldn't wait. This was a nice way of putting it; the truth was that he had run away.
But this evasion had a serious consequence: Dong Youli made a phone call, and logically speaking, it was highly likely that Dong Youli had already kidnapped Qiao Songnian.
Keep in mind that Qiao Songnian is almost 60 years old this year, his son Qiao Zhemao is 37 or 38 years old, while Dong Youli is in his prime and can easily control him.
"Now, can we deduce that Sun Yan and Sun Weixin were entrusted by Qiao Songnian to kill Dong Youli, but somehow they were exposed and killed instead? Dong Youli has been hiding and waiting for revenge, and now he has finally gotten his chance?" Dai Yan adjusted his glasses and looked at the crowd with a questioning gaze.
"I still lean more towards the idea that Dong Youli hired the killer, because he withdrew the money around the time of the Qingming Festival, and Sun Yan happened to leave in a silver-gray car at that time. By then, Su Qiang was already dead, and Dong Youli was driving the car!" Xiao Jiale held a different opinion.
Zhou Yang remained silent, sensing that the case was not as simple as it seemed.
Suppose that the company has encountered a major problem that Su Qiang needs to take responsibility for, but he refuses and is then persecuted to death by the two men. Logically speaking, as the perpetrators, Qiao Songnian and Dong Youli should have each other's weaknesses, so things shouldn't have escalated to this extent.
The truth is that not long after Su Qiang died, Sun Weixin, Sun Yan, and Hu Hao also died. This was certainly not what they wanted to see, but why did it happen?
"Is there a third person?" For some reason, the images of Zhong Honglan and Qiao Zhemao suddenly appeared in Zhou Yang's mind.
"What?" Liu Chengyu seemed to hear Zhou Yang mutter something and turned to ask.
"It's nothing!" Zhou Yang shook his head. "Master, have the other teams released any results from their investigations into Qiao Songnian's Songhe Trading?"
Liu Chengyu rolled his eyes and completely ignored him.
Zhou Yang scratched his head sheepishly, only then realizing that from the moment he thought of this matter until now, less than an hour had passed since he asked his master for help to investigate. It would be strange if he could find out anything.
Ring ring ring...
The office phone rang shrilly, and Wang Chao, who was closest to it, grabbed it: "Ning'an City Public Security Bureau, First Brigade..."
A moment later, he looked at Zhou Yang and Liu Chengyu with a grim expression: "Our people go over there, but the Qiao family is gone!"
What?
Fang Duo and the others immediately changed their expressions. They had just heard Zhou Yang say that the police would be coming to their house soon and that Zhong Honglan should wait at home. Why was no one there?
"Make it clear, is there no one here, or is Zhong Honglan not here?" Zhou Yang's expression remained normal. He remembered that the other party's family seemed to have a nanny.
"No one's here, the gate is locked, and according to people around here, they left about 20 minutes ago!" Wang Chao said.
Zhou Yang looked up at the clock on the wall. 20 minutes, which meant that Zhong Honglan left the Qiao family almost immediately after he hung up the phone.
But why is that?
She didn't know whether this would put Qiao Songnian in danger, or whether she was doing it on purpose.
Zhou Yang didn't think for long before picking up the phone and dialing another number. The phone rang a few times, but no one answered.
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yang's expression was somewhat strange: "Qiao Zhemao isn't home either!"