Chapter 2: I'm going to make a big case

  In the courtyard of the county bureau, police officers wearing red epaulets and blue uniforms come and go, occasionally a three-wheeled motorcycle with a sidecar " zooms" away, as for now the only one parked in front of the office building is a green jeep, which is Deputy Director Gao Zhikai's vehicle.

  Due to work requirements, Guangning County Bureau has two jeeps, one of which naturally became Zhang's dedicated vehicle, and the other was assigned to Gao Zhikai, also reflecting the deputy director's status in the bureau.

  Although the coastal areas of Wushan County are said to be economically developed, there are very few county-level unit leaders who have been allocated cars, and all township leaders ride bicycles to and from work. However, due to the special nature of the public security system, vehicle allocation is relatively more relaxed.

  Lu Zhong is a deputy political commissar of the county bureau, but he doesn't even have his own car, and his office is shared with Ma Yuewu, the first deputy political commissar and vice director.

  The two people's desks face each other, and they can see what the other is doing with just a glance.

  Ma Yuewu is an old public security officer, his hair has turned white, he is very down-to-earth, likes to chat about family and neighborhood matters, completely without the airs of a deputy director of the Public Security Bureau. This is also the good style of many old cadres in the 1980s. After all, nowadays there are not so many special treatments, even the county party secretary and county magistrate have to line up with ordinary employees in the county committee compound's canteen to buy food, without distinction between large and small canteens.

  But despite Ma Yuewu's affable and approachable nature, being able to chat with ordinary police officers for hours on end, he just didn't like to bother with Lu Zhong and Gao Zhikai. It was only natural that he felt these two young deputy directors were not on the same wavelength as him, especially Gao Zhikai. Originally, the Jeep that had been applied for by the bureau should have been a shared vehicle available for use by all members of the bureau's team, but Gao Zhikai had long since monopolized it due to the special nature of his work in criminal investigation, and it had gradually become the exclusive vehicle of the criminal investigation team. Ma Yuewu looked down on this, and even got into a heated argument with Gao Zhikai over it, which left him so enraged that he almost suffered a heart attack.

  Ma Yuewu also had no good impression of Lu Zhong, thinking that this military-turned-official was young and had poor business abilities, completely a roughneck.

  Today was just like any other day, the two deputy directors of the county bureau were each busy with their own tasks. In the office, apart from the rustling sound of papers being turned over, there was only the gentle gurgling sound of tea being drunk.

  Lu Zhong was flipping through the case files, Ma Yuewu shook his head and picked up his tea cup, making a "gulping" sound as he drank the tea.

  He shook his head and Lu Zhong saw it, knowing that this old man, Gong An Ding, thought he was just fooling around, a layman pretending to be an expert, but actually didn't understand anything.

  The office door was open, and a figure suddenly appeared at the entrance, knocking on the door. It was Lao Zhao, a detective from the criminal investigation team.

  When he saw the people from the criminal investigation team, Ma Yuewu's face turned cold. The entire criminal investigation team almost all looked up to Gao Zhikai as their leader. As for Gao Zhikai's actions of pulling strings and creating his own faction, Ma Yuewu also strongly disapproved.

  "Lao Zhao, something's up?" Lu Zhong asked with a smile, but he also knew that people from the criminal investigation unit usually didn't bring good news.

  "Yes, something's up." Old Zhao slowly walked closer, looking at Lu Zhong's face with some trepidation, hesitating, but still pointing to the documents in Lu Zhong's hand, saying: "Deputy Director, the materials you brought back, Director Gao said they're useful right now and wants to take a look."

  The file Lu Zhong was browsing through was the current focus of the entire police force's work. The materials and files from the "615 Special Case Group" started from June 15th last year, when a series of dismembered body cases occurred in Guangning County, causing extremely bad social impact. The county bureau set up a special case group for this, with Gao Zhikai as the leader, and Lu Zhong, who was also the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, was assigned to be the vice-leader of the special case group.

  In the project team, it's no wonder that Lu Zhong is always under pressure from Gao Zhi Kai and is basically in a state of being marginalized. Nowadays, Gao Zhi Kai has become more and more overbearing, and just as Lu Zhong was about to review some materials, he sent someone to take them back.

  Lao Zhao was being cautious because he knew the role he was playing, after all, it didn't matter if he offended Lu Deputy Director, but he was just a small soldier, and if Lu Deputy Director got angry, he would have to bear the brunt of it. Moreover, Lu Deputy Director had a military background and had always had a bad temper, and it was said that just a few days ago, he had led Hou Jianjun and his men to beat up the people from the Industry and Commerce Bureau.

  Contrary to Lao Zhao's expectations, Lu Zhong did not get angry, but instead closed the volume with a smile and patted it, saying, "It's all here, take a look?"

  Lao Zhao was startled, and it seemed that something unexpected had happened. However, he didn't know which part of the story Lu, the deputy director, was referring to. He hastily said, "No need, no need, I'll return it to you after Director Gao has finished reading." He nervously picked up the thick stack of files and quickly left.

  Lu Zhong picked up a police magazine and flipped through it. Ma Yuewu, who was sitting across from him, shook his head, clearly thinking that after more than a year, the young man's fiery personality had been worn down, and even this small advantage had disappeared without a trace.

  At the same time, in the third-floor office, Gao Zhikai was reviewing the suspect's confession. The 27-year-old wore a blue police uniform with a red collar badge, looking handsome and spirited. He was originally one of the county bureau's famous handsome men, but after Lu Zhen arrived, he was surpassed in this aspect as well. Although Lu Zhen couldn't be considered handsome, his ruggedness had a strong masculine aura, and as a battle-hardened hero who had been to war, he had a more attractive masculine charm than Gao Zhikai. The female police officers in the bureau privately compared them and thought that Director Lu's masculinity was more appealing. Gao, on the other hand, looked somewhat delicate and feminine.

  Lu Zhong had just arrived at the county bureau, but he was truly surpassed by Gao Zhi Kai everywhere, which made Gao Zhi Kai, who had been a proud child since childhood, feel lost for the first time.

  But now? Gao Zhikai's mouth corner revealed a smile, in one year, Lu Zheng basically became a marginal person in the county bureau. A few days ago, I heard Director Zhang say that he was going to remove Lu Zheng from his position as head of the Public Security Bureau, so later, Lu Zheng would become an idle job with a deputy commissioner title and completely lose his right to speak within the bureau.

  Although Lu Zhong has walked to this day, there are also reasons why he was set up by others behind his back, but mainly it is still his own fault. One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, yet Lu Zhong does not understand this principle. Thinking back to when they were once sworn brothers, isn't that laughable?

  Moreover, Lu Zhong has no background, his adoptive parents are ordinary people, and they were extremely cruel to him. Lu Zhong transferred back to Guangning almost a year ago, but he hasn't met with his adoptive parents yet. He had inadvertently revealed these messages to Director Zhang and some county leaders, which made Lu Zhong lose points invisibly. No matter how successful one becomes, can they forget the kindness of those who raised them?

  It seems that Lu Zhong's adoptive parents are unaware that their son, who had run away from home, has returned and is now very successful. In this regard, he has been helping to keep it a secret, lest he hear rumors at the office and rush back home to see his old father and mother, whom he hasn't seen in years. Perhaps the knot of the past would be untied, and they would have a happy ending as a filial son and loving parents. In that case, this secret would no longer have any destructive power over Lu Zhong.

  Lu Zhong resented himself for being unable to get along with himself, who made him go against himself everywhere and disgust himself everywhere? Although, perhaps he himself didn't even realize it.

  Let's talk about the "615 serial dismemberment case" that the whole county is paying attention to. The suspect has already been caught, the perpetrator has confessed, and even a piece of underwear belonging to one of the victims was found in the perpetrator's home. But Lu Zhong insists on saying that there are too many doubts and the case cannot be closed hastily. Isn't this just an excuse for himself to get out of trouble? What does he know about criminal investigation?

  Looking at the confession of the suspect Li Weijun, Gao Zhikai nodded in satisfaction. Undoubtedly, cracking this major case would add a heavy stroke to his own policing experience and be extremely helpful for his promotion. Perhaps Lu Zheng also saw this opportunity and hoped to leave his mark on this case?

  Unfortunately, without a diamond drill bit, he insisted on doing ceramic work, which was nothing but asking for trouble.

  Gao Zhikai put down the volume, slowly picked up his tea cup, and after a few days, Lu Zhong's name would no longer be his worry.

  The office door was gently knocked, then pushed open, and the slightly plump woman standing at the door was his lover Zhao Hongxia, who worked at the county TV station established this year.

  "Shall we go eat? What time is it already?" Zhao Hongxia pointed to her wristwatch, she didn't work today and came specifically to supervise her husband's meal. In her eyes, her husband was a good cadre who put all his mind on work, forgetting to sleep and eat for the sake of work, which was really heart-wrenching.

  Gao Zhikai and Zhao Hongxia went downstairs, Zhao Hongxia said: "Zhiqiang's thing, Xiaotong disagrees." The Xiaotong mentioned by Zhao Hongxia is Tong Susu, a temporary borrowed announcer and host from the municipal TV station to the county TV station, who is extremely beautiful. Gao Zhikai wanted to ask Zhao Hongxia to play matchmaker, introduce Tong Susu to his younger brother Gao Zhiqiang, and see if they could be a couple.

  Actually, Gao Zhikai didn't think it was reliable either. Although his younger brother Gao Zhiqiang worked in the county committee's organization department and had graduated from university, he was handsome and had a very promising future, making him one of the top sons-in-law in Guangning. However, after all, she was from the city, beautiful, and probably one of those who looked down on others, so it was unlikely that she would take his younger brother seriously.

  But Gao Zhikai couldn't withstand his brother's constant nagging, and finally agreed to ask Zhao Hongxia to meet up, thinking that if things went well with his brother, it would be great, but if not, he could just let his brother give up on the idea.

  Tong SuSu disagreed with meeting in person, so Gao ZhiKai furrowed his brow and said: "But having a good face, being from the city, what's there to be proud of?"

  As they were talking, when they came out of the building, they saw Lu Zhong and Du Xiaohu walking in front of them.

  Zhao Hongxia elbowed Gao Zhikai and nodded, "Is that Lu Zheng?" Then she raised an eyebrow, looking very disdainful, "How virtuous!"

  Gao Zhikai looked at Lu Zhong's back and a cold smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.