1993, Pengcheng Police Affairs

Chapter 69 Hidden Clumsy

There are actually quite a few people in the market, and everyone is doing their own thing.

Chen Guodong is obviously a frequent visitor here and is very familiar with the layout of the market. Occasionally, people will greet him.

Gu Huai followed behind him, listening quietly.

Finally, he led Gu Huai to a stall and stopped.

The stall owner was a big fat man. Even though it was February, he was still wearing a vest and sitting in front of the stall, taking apart a gearbox.

"Old Li," Chen Guodong called out.

The fat man looked up and saw that the person who came was Chen Guodong. His expression changed for a moment, but he quickly recovered.

"Officer Chen, what brings you here again?" the fat man said with a bitter expression. "I haven't even made a single sale today. With you here, I'm sure I'll have worked for nothing again."

Chen Guodong completely ignored his complaints and pointed at Gu Huai, saying, "This is a police officer from Pengcheng. He's here to ask you some questions."

The fat man glanced at Gu Huai, his eyes filled with wariness.

"Pengcheng? I've always done business in Yangcheng, why would a police officer from Pengcheng come looking for me?"

"Boss Li, don't be nervous." Seeing how nervous he was, Gu Huai spoke up, "I'm asking you, has anyone bought a taxi from you recently? Whether it's a whole car or parts, including the engine or something."

"No." Fatty Li shook his head without even thinking. "Officer, everything I collect here is taken from legitimate scrapped cars, and there are all the necessary paperwork."

"What about the other stalls?" Gu Huai pressed. "Have you heard of them?"

"Never heard of it." Fatty Li shook his head again. "Officer Chen knows. I'm the most cooperative person. I'll tell you everything I know."

Gu Huai wanted to press for more information, but Chen Guodong glanced at him and shook his head slightly.

Seeing this, Gu Huai had no choice but to shut his mouth and walk out of the stall with him.

After they came out, Chen Guodong finally spoke, "Are you curious why I shook my head?"

Gu Huai nodded.

"People in this line of work are very tight-lipped," Chen Guodong explained. "When you come for the first time, they won't tell you the truth. Only after you come a few more times and become familiar with them will they be able to get anything out of you."

Gu Huai nodded, indicating that he understood.

"These things can't be rushed." Chen Guodong lit a cigarette and held out his hand. "I've been investigating in Guangzhou for so many years, and these kinds of cases usually take three to five months to be resolved."

Gu Huai took the cigarette from his ear, lit it with Chen Guodong's lighter, and took a deep drag.

In his view, although the fat man Li was definitely not telling the truth, he had no evidence.

There were no obvious flaws in what he said.

The crux of the problem is that in a city as big as Guangzhou, finding spare parts for a few taxis is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Even a few months is an optimistic estimate. If there are any setbacks along the way, it's common for the time to be more than six months short.

However, Gu Huai didn't have half a year left.

It wasn't that Gu Huai was in a hurry to solve the case and gain merit, but he knew very well that the murderers would not stop, at least not until next year.

Furthermore, the later the stage, the more frequently they committed crimes.

It was precisely because of this that the Shenzhen police in the previous life were able to find their weakness and arrest them.

Therefore, he no longer has time.

Every little bit of time I delay could mean the murder of an innocent person.

Gu Huai took a deep drag on his cigarette, silently chanting, "[Don't rush, don't rush, there must be a clue.]"

He had experienced this situation countless times in his past life and knew that the more critical the moment, the less he should rush.

Because if you get anxious, you might overlook things that you don't usually pay attention to.

After finishing his cigarette, Chen Guodong took Gu Huai around the market for an afternoon, asking almost every vendor he knew.

There was only one conclusion: no one had received any of the large parts from the taxi, and no one knew who had received them.

Back in the car, Chen Guodong handed Gu Huai a bottle of water. "Gu, don't be too anxious. Tomorrow I'll take you to those small markets again. Maybe we'll find some clues."

Gu Huai unscrewed the mineral water bottle, took a sip, and nodded silently.

The car started to drive back. Gu Huai leaned back in his seat with his eyes slightly closed, his mind constantly reviewing what had happened that day.

Throughout the day, Chen Guodong took me around the market. Judging from his behavior, he wasn't just going through the motions; this is definitely how he usually investigates cases.

Although this method may seem a bit clumsy, it is the best approach under the current circumstances.

From Gu Huai's perspective, the car that hasn't appeared yet either wasn't sold through the Yangcheng secondhand market at all, or the sales channel wasn't this kind of open market, but a more hidden underground network.

Back at the Municipal Bureau, Gu Huai first thanked Jiang Fanglong, and then went to the Communications Section to call Ling Yue.

Lingyue returned the call in less than five minutes.

"Ah Huai, how's it going on your end?"

"No progress." Gu Huai shook his head and said, "We've asked around in the secondhand markets in Guangzhou, but we haven't found a single useful clue."

Ling Yue paused for a moment, "It's similar on my end. I've checked with the families of the missing persons, but I haven't found any useful information. They all said there were no signs before they went missing; they were all at work as usual."

"Where's Brother Hou?"

"He's right there!" Ling Yue's voice rang with excitement as she spoke of Hou Hao. "Haozi really did a great job this time; he actually found out some things."

Upon hearing this, Gu Huai smiled, it seemed that today was not entirely fruitless.

This morning, before setting off, he specifically asked Hou Hao to go to the taxi company to investigate the missing drivers.

However, Gu Huai did not tell Hou Hao what to ask, but let him improvise.

He did this because he didn't want the investigation process to proceed entirely based on his own subjective deductions, like last time.

While this method is the fastest and most effective, it inevitably attracts unnecessary attention.

For example, he himself is now caught in the vortex of the struggle between the First Brigade and the Second Brigade, putting him in a dilemma.

Of course, this doesn't mean he was completely slacking off. Hou Hao had followed the entire investigation of Zhang Zhenhua's case, so he definitely knew how to investigate and what to ask.

If Hou Hao is the one who uncovered the clues, Wu Feilin will definitely be under less pressure.

After a while, Hou Hao answered the phone, "Ah Huai, I've found the commonalities among those drivers."

Even over the phone, Gu Huai could hear the joy in Hou Hao's voice, so he quickly said, "Take your time, don't rush."

"Hmm," Hou Hao said, catching his breath, "I asked all the missing drivers' colleagues, and I found that they all had one thing in common: prostitution."

That's right.

Gu Huai clenched his fist excitedly. As long as this was found, the case could be said to be on the right track.

"Well done, Brother Hou!" Gu Huai praised. "This information is extremely crucial."

"Don't say that, Ah Huai," Hou Hao said embarrassedly. "The reason I asked these questions is because I learned them from you. If you hadn't asked Zhang Shengli that question back then, I wouldn't have thought of these things..."

"Stop, stop..." Gu Huai quickly interrupted Hou Hao, "You did the work, you investigated the people, so the credit is naturally yours. I'm in Guangzhou now, how could this have anything to do with me? I'm not the kind of person who steals credit."

"But..."

"There's no 'but' about it." Gu Huai interrupted Hou Hao forcefully. "Go find Wang Zhi later and report this matter to him. Ask him to give you some more manpower so you can investigate and interview some sex workers tomorrow."

"Me?" Hou Hao's words were clearly incredulous. "I'm supposed to go report to Wang Zhi?"

"Yes, it's you!" Gu Huai said matter-of-factly. "If you didn't go and find out the information, who else would go?"

"Shouldn't we wait for you to come back?"

"No need. I might stay in Guangzhou for a few more days. You can go and report directly." With that, Gu Huai told Hou Hao to hand the phone to Ling Yue to prevent him from dawdling on.

After Ling Yue took the phone, Gu Huai immediately instructed her to keep a close eye on Hou Hao, urge him to report the matter to Wang Zhi immediately, and tell him the result afterward.

He needed to know Wang Weiguo's attitude towards this matter as soon as possible.

Ling Yue immediately said she understood, and after saying a few words, she hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Ling Yue stared intently at Hou Hao.

Hou Hao glanced at Ling Yue with a vacant look in his eyes, "Sister Ling, why don't you go for me..."

"Don't say anything else," Ling Yue interrupted Hou Hao directly. "Ah Huai is right. What you found out is your credit, so you should report to Wang Zhi."

Seeing that Ling Yue was determined not to let him leave until he went today, Hou Hao scratched his head in frustration.

After hesitating for a while, he finally nodded and said, "I'll go, I'll go, okay?"