I left the special investigation team at dawn. My flight was at nine, and I arrived at the airport before seven, two hours early for ticket collection. Flights to anywhere these days require tickets to be exchanged outside.
The Hohhot airport isn't very large. I walked around several times but couldn't find Li Qian. Had she gone to the boarding gate? If she had, I wouldn't be able to find her.
Just then, I suddenly saw a somewhat familiar person dragging a suitcase into the ticket hall. Seeing this person, I let out a wry smile. I'd been tricked again. This Li Qian wasn't leaving at all.
This familiar figure, wearing sunglasses, was still recognizable to me. We didn't know each other, but I had watched hours of video footage and was too familiar with his figure and movements. This person was Director Zhou, the one connected to Zhang Keqiang.
Familiarity breeds skill. After being deceived so many times, one gets used to it. Seeing Director Zhou, I knew Li Qian had no intention of leaving. She had lured me here to catch him.
So, I walked up to Director Zhou. Looking at his gentle, scholarly appearance behind his glasses, I didn't say a word and slapped him across the face.
...
After taking Director Zhou to the police station, I went back to school and slept for a day and a night. I finally woke up at five the next day, feeling refreshed after a good sleep. When I arrived at the "Black Gold" special investigation team, I realized they were the real iron warriors. They had taken turns sleeping and had conducted surprise interrogations of Director Zhou, Sun Jinhua, Wang Bing, and Wang Jun. All of them confessed.
The matter dated back to 1998. Jin Bengui set up a scam in Hohhot, but it was exposed by a migrant worker with only a junior high school education. This greatly puzzled Jin Bengui. He found the migrant worker, Zhang Keqiang, and after a long conversation, they hit it off. Jin Bengui invited Zhang Keqiang to be his partner.
Using some of Jin Bengui's fraudulent gains, they established a wool sweater export factory in Hohhot under Jin Bengui's identity as a Hong Kong resident. In the same year, they fabricated orders, creating the illusion of a flourishing wool sweater factory.
The following year, at an important meeting, Zhang Keqiang was introduced to Director Zhou of a branch of the Agricultural Bank in Hohhot through an acquaintance. To foster this valuable friendship, Zhang Keqiang began to secretly bribe Director Zhou and invited him to tour their factory, gradually drawing Director Zhou into their scheme.
As Director Zhou's appetite for bribes grew, Zhang Keqiang subtly proposed a request: to issue acceptance bills. Director Zhou, enjoying his ill-gotten gains, had no reason to refuse. Thus, Director Zhou introduced Zhang Keqiang to Sun Jinhua at the business department.
Without proper sales contracts, deposits, or valid guarantees, Jin Bengui's company was unqualified to apply for acceptance bills. Despite this, due to a verbal instruction from his superior, Sun Jinhua still issued acceptance bills worth five million yuan to Jin Bengui's company.
When there's a first, there are many more.
From that day on, Jin Bengui and Zhang Keqiang had the bank as their powerful backer. Zhang Keqiang even boasted drunkenly once, claiming he had as much money as the city had.
Over three years, whenever the bank inquired about authenticity, Sun Jinhua would respond. They repeatedly committed offenses, illegally issuing nearly two hundred million yuan in acceptance bills over three years. During this period, Jin Bengui's enterprise grew, renaming itself Hongying Industry, and began targeting the booming real estate sector.
However, Jin Bengui and Zhang Keqiang were focused on fraud and did not genuinely manage this vast financial empire. Starting last year, their enterprises faced an economic crisis. To sustain the scheme, Jin Bengui began to rob Peter to pay Paul, using new notes to cover old debts, continuing to siphon off state assets. During this time, the value of the fake bills they shorted reached a staggering one billion yuan.
It was at this point that Lao Tie's mining operations emerged. Jin Bengui wanted to buy Nanshan Mining to secure an energy line and stabilize the collapsing "commercial dam." Thus, Jin Bengui invested two hundred million yuan in Nanshan Mining in a short period.
But what Jin Bengui never expected was that Lao Tie was one of the remnants of the "Logical Paradox" organization he had abandoned. Lao Tie, a con artist, not only swindled Jin Bengui out of two hundred million but also, under the guise of negotiating with Jin Bengui, lured him into a flat that had been rigged with explosives and then detonated the bombs, staging the scene of their mutual destruction.
Upon learning of Jin Bengui's death, Zhang Keqiang knew exposure was inevitable. He took several million in cash and prepared to flee Hohhot. Director Zhou and Sun Jinhua also knew the scheme was falling apart.
However, Director Zhou and Sun Jinhua were different from Zhang Keqiang. Although Director Zhou was not from the local area, he was a civil servant. Sun Jinhua was a local and had just purchased a villa of over three hundred square meters.
Sun Jinhua did not want her beautiful life to end. She discussed with Director Zhou that before Zhang Keqiang could escape, she would enlist the help of Wang Zhi, the brother of a distant relative, to capture the escaping Zhang Keqiang.
Originally, Sun Jinhua gave Wang Zhi three million yuan and instructed him to find someone who could help kill Zhang Keqiang. Wang Zhi agreed and gave one million yuan to Wang Jun, who often socialized with disreputable characters, to handle the matter.
However, to everyone's surprise, Wang Jun actually intended to kill someone for one million yuan.
...
In the past, to entertain these wealthy and influential locals, Jin Bengui had instructed Zhang Keqiang to open a restaurant and install hidden cameras in every room. When this evidence-gathering restaurant was being built, a distant relative of Sun Jinhua happened to have a property for rent. Zhang Keqiang simply put Wang Jun's name down as the legal owner of the restaurant.
Zhang Keqiang managed the restaurant, giving Wang Jun 50% of the profits, saving on rent and alleviating the suspicions of Director Zhou and Sun Jinhua. This place became a legitimate venue for discussing acceptance bills and a base for Zhang Keqiang to collect evidence.
Serving multiple purposes...
...
Originally, Director Zhou and Sun Jinhua had planned that by killing Zhang Keqiang and fabricating evidence that he had siphoned off ten billion yuan overseas over several years, they could use the 107 major fraud case to escape criminal liability for illegally issuing acceptance bills.
However, things changed because Wang Jun wanted to earn one million yuan. While Zhang Keqiang was imprisoned, he recognized Wang Jun's voice and told him that he possessed evidence of Director Zhou, Sun Jinhua, and their illegal issuance of acceptance bills. If he died, this evidence would be immediately sent to the Inner Mongolia Procuratorate by relevant parties. Zhang Keqiang also provided some video evidence. To obtain other evidence, Wang Jun, under Wang Zhi's instruction, held Zhang Keqiang under house arrest for several months, beating him daily and torturing him. Zhang Keqiang's resilience is admirable; his will was firm, and knowing that speaking out meant death, he remained silent no matter how Wang Jun tortured him.
...
After Luo Bo finished explaining the whole story, I felt uneasy. I had a question: how did Zhang Keqiang die? Did Li Qian kill him? Honestly, I didn't want Li Qian to be a murderer. After these days of interaction, I had begun to admire her as a calculating strategist, even wanting to learn from her how to control situations so perfectly. If Li Qian had killed someone over this matter and was being hunted by the police, it would truly be a loss for me.
Luo Bo, being intelligent, seemed to read my mind. He smiled and said, "Zhang Keqiang was not killed by Li Qian."
"Brother Luo, I..."
"According to Wang Jun's confession, Zhang Keqiang was almost rescued a few days ago. During his escape, Wang Jun stabbed him in a vital spot, but the rescued Zhang Keqiang was beyond recovery and died."
I was quite puzzled. "Wang Jun confessed this?"
"No, he confessed the facts, thinking that the stab wound hadn't killed Zhang Keqiang. But the autopsy report shows that the stab wound Wang Jun mentioned was indeed the fatal one."
"That's good then." I felt a wave of relief.
At this moment, Luo Bo's expression turned serious. "Now that we understand the mystery of the ten billion yuan disappearance, we should invite Li Qian to the special investigation team for a chat. Tang Nan, do you have any ideas?"
"Let's use some technology."
Saying that, I gestured with my phone, the meaning clear: Li Qian and I had always communicated via phone. We could find her through phone location.
Just then, my phone rang.
"Tang Nan, you caught Director Zhou, right? I'm in Mandar and I think we can have a good chat now."
"Okay, I just woke up. I'll be there after I brush my teeth."
The phone's location function proved that Li Qian had lied again. She wasn't at the Mandar mall but at the train station. It seemed Li Qian was planning to leave by train.
I didn't participate in the arrest. I felt a sense of melancholy. I understood that Li Qian had played me. Li Qian might play an even more crucial role as an informant in the subsequent stages of this case. Based on this, the special investigation team needed to find her, and I agreed with that. However, in my heart, I clearly hoped Li Qian would not be caught.