The Counterattack of a Loner

  Gu Changjun was handed over to the criminal police brigade for interrogation. The leaders drove away one after another, heading to the hospital to visit Ma Guoqiang who was injured on duty. Before leaving, Song Jianfeng smiled and said: "Everyone relax a bit, although it's a homicide and gun case, there are no casualties among public security personnel or innocent civilians, nor have any guns been lost. The case is not as complicated as imagined. Let's boost our morale and crack the case as soon as possible, to bring peace of mind back to the people."

  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the leader was indeed farsighted.

  The fireworks management office and the police station are responsible for cleaning up the scene, convening a meeting of active law enforcement personnel overnight to convey the spirit of their superiors and calling on them to go deep into the masses to dispel rumors. This is just a case of fighting and beating, don't believe in rumors or spread them, creating panic sentiment.

  Bao Yuemei, the landlady, was the first to respond. If someone dies in a house, it's hard to rent it out and the economic income is greatly affected. She naturally responded actively to the organization's call. The rest were also retired party members and cadres who had nothing to do and actively implemented whatever the organization said without any hesitation.

  Inside No. 108 Tiehua Street, the bullet heads on the wall were dug out, the bullet holes were filled with cement, and the bloodstains had long been washed clean, but the work was done a bit roughly, not excluding that there might still be some brain pulp stuck to the ceiling, fortunately, there are not many residents, the impact is not great, and the people on this street are all used to seeing fights and killings, so it's not difficult to do the work of appeasing the masses.

  The gate was blocked with a rope, and late-returning residents were not allowed to enter. Zhang's sister took her children to a relative's house, while Xiaoli and Xiaohong simply slept in the hair salon. The mahjong players all returned home, each to their own family. Zhu Xiaoqiang came back holding an umbrella, as it was raining that day. He had taken the umbrella to pick up his crush from school, but unexpectedly, she was picked up by an Audi instead. Now he was being blocked outside the gate by the police, and he couldn't help feeling a mix of sadness and anger in his heart. But he didn't dare say anything, so he sulkily went to the Emperor Internet Cafe on the street corner to spend the night.

  Leaders arrived at the Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Ma Guoqiang's abdominal bullet has been removed, anesthesia from surgery has not yet worn off, he was transferred to the inpatient department, the ward is overcrowded, can only temporarily sleep on a folding bed in the corridor.

  Ma Guoqing's loved one has arrived, she is a retired ticket seller from the bus company. With her professionally trained loud voice, as soon as she saw the high-ranking police officer in white shirt coming over, she immediately rushed up to cry and complain, saying our family's old Ma has been working for the public all his life, without even a formal bed, leaders must take charge of this matter for us.

  Song Jianfeng immediately gave instructions, instructing the municipal office to coordinate with the hospital to try to get Ma Guoqiang admitted to a ward tonight. He held Ma Guoqiang's wife's hand and said: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, there is an organization here, Old Ma is a hero, we all need to learn from him."

  Ma Dajie finally stopped her crying.

  A ponytailed girl came out of the bathroom holding a bowl and chopsticks, saw that the provincial and municipal leaders had arrived, pulled out a 54 pistol from her waist and spun it on her fingers, scaring the entourage so much that their hair stood up, just short of shouting: Protect the leaders!

  Song Jianfeng smiled and said: "You are Ma Ling, indeed a tiger father has no dog daughter."

  Ma Ling grasped the barrel of the gun and pointed the butt at Song Jianfeng: "My dad's gun, take it."

  Song Jianfeng took the pistol and skillfully checked that there were no remaining bullets in the chamber before handing it to his assistant, saying: "Comrade Xiao Ma, our public security agency has some questions that require your cooperation to answer. We need to make a written record. Do you have time?"

  "Alright."

  Song Jianfeng glanced at the watch on his wrist, an 80s-style HMT quartz three-hand watch, which can be found second-hand on Taobao for no more than fifty yuan.

  "It's late, let's not disturb Old Horse's rest. If there are any difficulties, report to the organization in time. Oh, and leave two young comrades to take care of Old Horse. It's inconvenient for a girl to take care of her father after all."

  "Yes, make arrangements immediately." The attendants nodded and said.

  Song Jianfeng returned to the provincial public security department office, convening an overnight meeting to discuss the case. As the top official of the provincial department, he should be responsible for overall work, and such cases do not need to be personally handled. However, he keenly sensed that this case could be dug deeper, starting with Gu Changjun, to excavate the toxic roots of the Shifeng Group, and perhaps there would be a big harvest.

  There is one key witness who must be found, Liu Handong.

  ……

  At dawn, at the Jiangbei Railway Freight Yard, Liu Handong jumped off a coal train and walked along the railway for a long time before seeing the city. He took a bus into town and got off in an old residential area, feeling a sense of homecoming as he looked around at the familiar surroundings.

  At the entrance of the residential area, there were several breakfast stalls. Liu Handong bought a bowl of soy milk and fried dough sticks and wolfed them down. Before he finished eating, the city management came, and the stall owner hastily packed up his belongings. Liu Handong helped him put the small stool on the tricycle and watched as the stall owners hurriedly left, then walked into the residential area gate.

  Binhe residential area was built in the early 1990s and is now old and dilapidated, with garbage everywhere, roads lined with parked private cars, and weeds growing in the green belt. Liu Handong arrived at a building at the end of the community and knocked on the door of Unit 2, Room 101.

  The anti-theft door opened, and a spirited old man stood inside.

  "Xiao Dong is back," said the old man.

  "Ah, Grandpa, I'm back." Liu Handong entered the house, and the furnishings were still the same. On the wall hung his grandfather's young photos, a 55-style military uniform, a second-class Liberation Medal, an army lieutenant colonel rank badge, next to which was his grandmother, also in military attire, with a senior captain rank badge and a medical soldier emblem.

  "Have you eaten? Grandpa will take you downstairs." The old man lived alone and was very robust.

  "I've eaten, I had breakfast at the entrance of the community," Liu Handong replied. He was raised by his grandfather since he was a child, and his grandfather was the closest person to him. This house held almost all of his childhood memories, from learning how to swim, ride a bike, box, and shoot a slingshot with his grandfather, who even helped him make matchstick guns.

  The old man said: "Xiao Dong, what's wrong?"

  Liu Handong said: "How did you know something was wrong."

  The old man said: "Youngster, your grandfather is in his nineties and has seen everything. What's the big deal? Speak up, what kind of trouble have you gotten into?"

  Liu Handong said: "I didn't cause trouble, I just fought back." He sat down and told them what had happened over the past few days.

  The old man thought for a moment and said: "What are you going to do?"

  Liu Handong said: "Wait and see first, if there's no turning point, we can only go to the Burmese side to hide."

  The old man added emphasis: "What are you hiding from? You're not a criminal!"

  "Grandpa, it's true that real culprits can escape punishment while innocent people are wrongly imprisoned for over a decade."

  The old man said, "Xiao Dong, what you said is true, but you are different from them. You can find enough evidence to prove your innocence. You protected the daughter of the Xia family, and they will help you too. If you run away, it will give them a reason to frame you."

  "What should I do now? Turn myself in?"

  The old man said: "You haven't committed a crime, you should cooperate with the police investigation."

  Liu Handong fell silent for a moment before saying, "I want to go see my mom first."

  The old man said: "First help Grandpa water the flowers and calm his mind."

  ……

  Half an hour later, Liu Handong arrived at the coal machine factory dormitory on Boai Road. It was a 1970s-style tube building with peeling red bricks on the exterior wall and rusty water pipes. On the fourth floor, he took out his key to open the door to a one-bedroom apartment packed with stuff. The TV was an old-fashioned 21-inch flat-screen Longhua color TV, the green paint had fallen off the refrigerator door, and the wardrobe mirror had advertisements from the 1990s stuck on it. The balcony was filled with drying clothes.

  Liu Handong sat down on the worn-out sofa, feeling the spring's elasticity. When he was young, he often did his homework sitting on it. The coffee table was still the same one as before, and the glass had been ground into a flower pattern.

  The sound of rustling came from outside the door, someone was unlocking the door. The simple anti-theft door opened, and a middle-aged balding man with a stout build wearing an old camouflage uniform stood at the entrance. Seeing Liu Handong, he hastily put down the vegetable basket in his hand and said: "Dongdong is back, have you eaten? I'll go buy some buns for you."

  "Never mind, where's my mom?" Liu Handong said.

  This man is his stepfather and also a comrade-in-arms of his biological father, who died in battle in Vietnam, while he returned unscathed and married his own mother.

  Liu Handong looked down on him and was unwilling to talk to him unless absolutely necessary.

  "Your mom has gone to the market, selling fish at the morning market, business is good." Stepfather said, walking into the narrow kitchen, taking out a package of noodles "Let's cook some egg noodles for you to eat."

  "I won't eat." Liu Handong said, and walked out with a swagger.

  There is a farmer's market near home, under the big shed are all kinds of fresh vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs and fish, bustling with people, dirty water flowing on the ground. Liu Handong stands quietly in the corner, watching the stall selling live fish, his mother skillfully scoops out a lively fish from the basin, slams it onto the board, removes the scales, and takes out the gills.

  Liu Handong felt a sour nose, his mother's temples were already white, every day getting up early and working late doing small business, wasn't it all for saving money to buy a house and get married for himself? He was already in his twenties, but didn't even have a job, how could he bear it.

  Mom saw Liu Handong, beckoned to her fellow vendors to watch the stall for her, took off her gloves and walked over with a smile: "Dongdong, when did you arrive? Have you eaten? Mom will give you money to buy McDonald's."

  He took out a handful of coins with fishy smell from his pocket.

  "Mom, I've eaten already, I just came back to take a look, nothing's wrong." Liu Handong said.

  "Dongdong, have you found a job?" This is Mom's biggest concern.

  "Found it, let someone else drive, it's a work unit." Liu Handong lowered his head, this was the first time he lied since he grew up.

  "It's great to work in a state-owned unit, with guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood. Just do your job well, have some tact, and try to get on the good side of the leaders, so you can become a permanent employee." Mom was very happy and asked: "What is the name of the unit?"

  "Call......" Liu Handong was speechless for a moment.

  "A vocational technical school affiliated with the Omi Transportation Bureau, driving a big bus for the school is absolutely a good job. Think about it, sister, the transportation bureau is such a profitable unit, with welfare benefits alone amounting to several thousand yuan each month, can its subordinate units be any worse?" A man walked over from behind and said with a smile.

  "The school under the Transportation Bureau, this job is too good, Dongdong you must work hard, who is this?" Mom was overjoyed.

  "Oh, I'm a colleague of Liu Handong's. My name is Han Guang, from the Logistics Department of the Academy." The man introduced himself briefly, then turned to Liu Handong and said: "Today I drove to Jiangbei to pick up students, and also let Little Liu go home for a visit."

  Liu Handong nodded.

  "Mom said: "Oh, there's official business, don't be late, you've seen it, hurry up and go." She counted out three red big tickets from her pocket and stuffed them into Liu Handong's pocket.

  "Mom, I'm leaving." Liu Handong followed Han Guang out of the farmer's market and turned back to see his mom still waving at him from the entrance.

  "Thanks," said Liu Handong.

  "Jiangbei City Public Security Bureau Criminal Police Detachment 2, Han Guang."