In the past, Zhong Yibin had never considered having their relationship revealed to the public. This was in consideration of Chu Qin’s career. He had never once thought of coming out of the closet in front of the entire country. This Director Yu was truly too courageous.
This novel idea caused Zhong Yibin’s heart rate to speed up. If he could control public opinion and let the entire country know that Chu Qin belonged to him without any word of opposition, that would simply be too exhilarating.
“I want a share too,” Zhong Yibin’s eyes lit up.
Yu Tang smiled and toasted him. “You’re welcome to join in.”
Zhong Jiabin dispatched people to investigate the whereabouts of that phone. Since Lin Xiaoxiao had passed the phone to the police, there was no way this piece of evidence could have been lost. By getting the higher-ups to pressure their subordinates and trace the clues down the ranks, they realized that the trail was lost at the community police. The people who collected the evidence at the hospital were from the police bureau. All other pieces of evidence were kept at the police station before being handed over, but the two articles of clothing and phone were directly retrieved by the police bureau.
Now, the people from the police bureau refused to admit ever seeing the phone. The prosecution dispatched people to accompany Chu Qin to the police bureau to search through the evidence, but after looking through all the materials that had been transferred over, there was no such phone.
The people at the police bureau had on detached looks, as if Chu Qin was filing false charges against them.
Someone was interfering in this matter, but it was unknown exactly how powerful the person behind it was – this person could even seize evidence and refuse to concede. Even the two police officers who took the evidence from Lin Xiaoxiao’s hands insisted that they had never seen any phone.
“We only took two coats back at that time, there was no other object,” One of the officers surnamed Hao said loudly. His tone of voice was exceptionally confident and the other officer surnamed Lu also followed along to nod.
Officer Hao was burly while Officer Lu was skinny. They were extremely impatient in the face of Chu Qin’s persistent questioning.
“The evidence for a criminal case is of extreme importance. I believe you won’t treat your future and reputation lightly,” Chu Qin told them with a gentle expression.
Officer Hao snorted coldly before turning around to leave. However, Officer Lu’s gaze was somewhat unsteady and he hurriedly moved off as well. The attitude of the manager at the bureau had always been good. Any requests that Chu Qin and the prosecution made were fulfilled, whether it was to answer a question or to let them see something.
All their answers matched up perfectly with one another, so much so that Chu Qin had a slight suspicion that Lin Xiaoxiao remembered wrongly. The person from the prosecution also had on an ugly expression. After wasting an entire afternoon, nothing had been found.
“Mr Chu, we understand your urgency in catching the criminal but investigating the case is our job. We will do our best to complete it. As the victim, you only need to wait for the news. Feel free to ask us any questions you might have,” The staff member from the prosecution furrowed his brows. From his perspective, Chu Qin’s worries were without basis.
Chu Qin apologized to the staff member. Constantly worrying was indeed one of his shortcomings. He constantly felt that something would go wrong if he didn’t personally oversee every segment.
The people from the bureau were also standing at the side with contemptuous expressions. They had countless years of experience handling cases. To them, Chu Qin’s worries were all jokes. How was it possible for evidence that had made it into their hands to be lost when protocol was so strict?
Chu Qin pursed his lips and went back to the station.
“How is that possible! I even took a picture!” Lin Xiaoxiao immediately jumped to her feet after hearing about the situation. Taking out her phone, she showed the pictures she took at that time to Chu Qin. She’d secretly taken a few pictures at that time because she felt that those two police officers had arrived very suddenly.
It was lucky that she took a few photos, otherwise she would have suspected that her own memory had failed her.
Chu Qin was surprised. The coarse Lin Xiaoxiao actually had moments when she was careful. If the pictures captured the two police officers receiving the phone, then it would be considered irrefutable evidence and they wouldn’t be able to refuse to admit it even if they wanted to.
However, the disappointing thing was that Lin Xiaoxiao had not captured the moment the evidence changed hands. There were a total of three pictures. One picture was of a hand holding the the phone. The hand was not Chu Qin’s and should belong to one of the officers. The second picture was a back-view of the two officers leaving the hospital room. The third picture was even more useless; her hand was shaky and only captured half of Officer Hao’s face.
Chu Qin was silent for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
That afternoon, Chu Qin brought Lin Xiaoxiao, Qian Liang, someone to video them, and Zhong Yibin’s two bodyguards to the police bureau.
“Hello, we’re reporters from Shengshi TV. We would like to interview you,” Chu Qin held the microphone and flashed a professional smile.
When they saw that it was Chu Qin, their heads started aching. Originally, the security guard wanted to shoo them out, but he hesitated upon seeing the flashing video recorder.
“This is the police bureau, you can’t film here,” The security guard went forward and tried to cover the camera lens.
“This team is from our station’s legal program. We would like to carry out a special interview regarding my case. Apologies for disturbing you,” Qian Liang smiled as he said, “If we can’t go in, can we request for Officer Hao, Officer Lu and the manager of the police department to come out for a while?”
Qian Liang was the anchor for the legal program. Moreover, he debuted on the national broadcasting station. He was so familiar with it that he could do it even with one hand tied, so their afternoon program had always been handled by him. He would even occasionally interview a foreign reporter as a special guest.
Shengshi’s legal program had always been very well-received but to official organizations, they were the most terrifying. They were relentless and would strip one bare. If any problems were sieved out by them, the one in charge would definitely lose their job.
The manager came out in a flurry and received them with a smile. “Is there a problem?”
“It’s like this, the audience are very curious about Chu Qin’s case so we thought of doing it as a special topic. We’ll air it after the case is settled,” Qian Liang smiled in an upright manner.
“We have a few questions to ask,” Lin Xiaoxiao was holding onto a picture that had been made into a board. The picture was the one she had taken of Officer Hao’s hand and the phone. “I passed this mobile phone to the two police officers at the hospital, why did it not appear in the evidence list?”
As she said this, Chu Qin took out an A4 size paper printed with the proof of evidence. “This is the prosecution’s proof of evidence. I can confirm that there is no phone on it, but my colleague took a picture after handing the phone to the two bureau officers when I was unconscious. This is one of the photos.”
The manager immediately panicked and drops of cold sweat seeped out of his forehead. “How could such a thing have happened? I’ll immediately get someone to investigate it clearly. Do you mind leaving this photo with me?”
Lin Xiaoxiao passed the photo to the manager. The faces of the two officers were pale. They hadn’t noticed Lin Xiaoxiao taking the photos at that time. Moreover, they really did collect the evidence in broad daylight, and hadn’t cared about any photos taken…
After they threw down this bombshell, the three people put on an act and asked about the state of the situation. They agreed to meet a few days later to interview them about the case’s progress before leaving gracefully.
Not long after that, the police bureau passed the outdated phone vacuum-sealed in a bag to the prosecution. The explanation was that Officer Hao and Officer Lu accidentally lost it and concealed it for fear of being punished. After that, it was found in an office drawer and immediately turned in. The two people had already been punished.
Now that the key evidence had been found, all parties began investigating the case intensively. The person hidden in the darkness started panicking.
Zhong Jiabin was holding onto a piece of news with deeply creased brows.
Due to Yu Tang announcing his intention to acquire Old Waves’ shares, the price of the shares was on an upward trend. Yuhua had long decided to buy Old Waves’ shares. Thus, after seeing the trend, they hurriedly finalized their decision.
Yuhua’s decision to buy Old Waves was for the purpose of making money in the global market. If they were going to buy them, they had to buy the right to control the company. In contrast, Yu Tang had bought too much. It was impossible for them to co-exist.
Yu Tang fought with Yuhua for it and continuously increased the price. The higher-ups of Old Waves were immensely happy. While the two parties were battling, Old Waves urged them on while trying to get a third party to participate as well. However, when Yuhua offered a high price, Yu Tang suddenly decided not to buy.
“It’s not essential for me. At such a high price, it’s not worth it,” Yu Tang suddenly changed his mind, causing Yuhua and Old Waves to become dazed.
Since it had already reached this point, Yuhua could only grit their teeth and foot the agreed-upon price.
At this moment, the auction with the plot of land that Shengshi wanted started.
This plot of land was a rare section of land in the second ring. It was very expensive but its location was incredibly good. If it was auctioned, it would rake in tremendous profit, regardless of whether it was used for residential or business purposes.
Quite a few Groups were eyeing it, and the ones with the most ability to obtain it were Shengshi and Yuhua. Shengshi had always been a well-known company in the capital’s real estate scene and Yuhua was no worse. The two had always been in competition and their relations were like fire and water.
On the day of the auction, Zhong Yibin personally brought people to the venue to keep an eye on the auction. Yuhua hesitated in their purchase of Old Waves and their funds were a little lacking, so they were somewhat unenthusiastic during the auction.
Yuhua Group was also a family business. The family was surnamed Hua. The next generation’s successor to the Hua family, Hua Jiaxing, was also present at the venue.
Hua Jiaxing was about the same age as Zhong Jiabin. Seeing that the person who came was Zhong Yibin, he couldn’t help frowning. “What? Your brother didn’t dare to come, so he sent you?”
Zhong Yibin smiled. “My brother said he doesn’t need to personally attend to such a small thing.”
Hua Jiaxing choked, his lips twisting into a sneer.
The auction started and the price rose rapidly. Ultimately, only Shengshi and Yuhua were left competing.
Zhong Yibin raised his hand, indicating for his secretary to raise the paddle.
“Director, we’ve already exceeded our budget. The money for the land has to be paid within one month after the auction’s completon. A portion of our funds is still being used to pressure Old Waves, we can’t raise it any higher,” Yuhua’s secretary nervously wiped his sweat as he gripped the data analysis materials and persuaded Hua Jiaxing.
“Don’t bid if you don’t have the money, don’t lose your pants for the sake of buying,” Zhong Yibin crossed his legs, raising his chin at Hua Jiaxing in a crafty manner.
The Zhong family’s second young master knew how to rile up others with his words! Hua Jiaxing gritted his teeth and increased the price yet another time.
“Director!” The secretary couldn’t help howling. This price had already exceeded their forecast. Like this, if they didn’t dump the shares they just obtained from Old Waves, they would really lose their pants!
“5.38 billion going once!” The auctioneer on stage yelled.
Hua Jiaxing lifted his chin slightly and waited for Zhong Yibin to increase the price.
“5.38 billion going twice!” The auctioneer increased his volume. This price was not as high as they had predicted. He inadvertently looked towards the Zhong family’s second young master. The Zhong family was determined to win this plot of land, so why wasn’t he bidding anymore?
Hua Jiaxing turned to look at Zhong Yibin. “What? Your brother didn’t give you that much money?” His eyes were full of ridicule.
Zhong Yibin didn’t seem to hear anything. He stuck a finger in his ear and sent a message to Chu Qin on Wechat. [Baobei, what do you want to eat after work?]
“5.38 billion going thrice, sold!” The auctioneer reluctantly slammed the hammer down. “Congratulations to Yuhua Group!”
Hua Jiaxing was stunned.
The author has something to say: All the parts in the text involving the police bureau and protocol for handling cases were completely fabricated. It’s a mishmash of the organizational structure of multiple countries, there’s no link to the police stations in reality~
Small theater:
Chick: No time to think of something for the small theater, praise me
Er Bing: Not enough time to see my wife this chapter *flies*
Big Brother: Not enough time to say my lines this chapter *flies*