Proofreader & Editor: Lotas
Jiang Yuan opened his contacts and saw two friend requests.
One was from the usually listless Daily Lethargy, and the other from the trace examiner Li Rui.
Jiang Yuan accepted both requests and then messaged Daily Lethargy: "May I ask which department you're from? Do you have a work ID? It's related to evidence."
Daily Lethargy promptly sent a work ID and said with a laugh, "You're quite cautious."
Upon opening it, Jiang Yuan was impressed—it was from Wan Baoming, the Deputy Director of Changyang City's Criminal Science and Technology Center. In terms of rank, he was on par with Liu Jinghui, just one step away from wearing a white shirt, and even higher than Huang Qiangming. Of course, officials from big cities are generally higher in rank than those from county towns.
Still, Jiang Yuan politely responded, "Hello, Director, I didn't recognize you. Please wait, I'll send the information through the internal network."
"Take your time, no rush," Daily Lethargy replied, sounding exceptionally polite.
Soon after, Jiang Yuan sent the matched fingerprint data to Wan Baoming via the internal network. After expressing his thanks, Wan Baoming fell silent. After a while, Daily Lethargyi's avatar lit up again, and messages came in bursts:
"Indeed, it's a match."
"Amazing!"
"Our trace examination office has been working on this for a while without success."
"This homicide case is considered solved. Really didn't expect this, didn't expect... Wait, I'll notify them to make the arrest. The local precincts are going crazy, dozens of people have been up all week, and I've been pressured every day. I didn't expect you to solve it so quickly."
"I noticed you at the provincial fingerprint competition, but there was a case at the time, and we didn't meet. If you're ever in Changyang City, be sure to let me know."
Jiang Yuan didn't want to keep him sending messages, so he quickly replied, "Of course, no need to be polite."
Daily Lethargy:
"It's not politeness, you're really impressive."
"I'll have Old Wang treat you to a meal."
"Kneeling.gif"
Then came several more messages.
Using his Document Examination (LV3) skills, Jiang Yuan deduced that Wan Baoming was likely a relatively young middle-aged man, around thirty-five or thirty-six. Older middle-aged people tend not to text much, preferring voice messages, which they find more formal, or they would just call. It's the early middle-aged group, just over thirty, who are willing and prefer to text. Younger ones are unlikely to be deputy directors and their tone would be different. Also, young people's WeChat names are not like those of middle-aged people, who prefer text and tend to be pretentious.
Jiang Yuan silently used his Document Examination skills to analyze the leader, replied to Wan Baoming a few times, and then ended the private chat.
Upon reopening the group chat, he saw Wan Baoming had already started singing his praises:
Daily Lethargy: "Truly in the presence of a master."
Daily Lethargy: "I would rank Jiang Yuan among the TOP 3 fingerprint experts in Shannan Province. I don't say the first to avoid attracting envy."
Daily Lethargy: "It's outrageous, our office worked on those fingerprints for days, and Jiang Yuan solved it in a few hours, or was it minutes? That would be too much."
Seeing this, Jiang Yuan felt obliged to reply, carefully saying, "I was lucky, marked three characteristic points, took over two hours."
The "Qinghe Skills Sharing Group," which had sporadic comments, once again fell silent.
Named a skills sharing group because the members had skills to share, such as forensic, fingerprint, and toxicology skills. In other words, they were all technicians, not exactly interconnected, but they understood each other to some extent. Especially fingerprints, which are very common and popular in the police system. Not only technicians can do it, but ordinary detectives can also do basic fingerprint comparison. Those with a bit of knowledge find it interesting to watch a master at work. And when they themselves are experts in a field, seeing someone else excel even more in another field gives a very different feeling.
Solving a homicide with fingerprints in two hours is like solving a homicide in two hours. And these two hours were not just Jiang Yuan bragging. The group members watched as Jiang Yuan compared the fingerprints. Such efficiency in solving cases was extremely abnormal for ordinary people, making everyone doubt their life in front of their computer screens.
Trace Examiner Li Rui: "Feels like I've lived in vain before."
South March North War: "Bro, did you get a gem?"
Trace Examiner Li Rui: "Pay attention to the context."
South March North War: "It's the content of your reflection that's inappropriate."
The technical group was thus revitalized.
A quick look at "pawread dot com" will leave you more fulfilled.
Jiang Yuan shook his head and put away his phone, continuing to build the wall on the balcony.
He had been on a tiring business trip these past few days, and now he didn't really want to look at the various work-related group chats. As the sun set and hunger set in, Jiang Yuan reopened his phone to see that his father, Jiang Fuzhen, had left a message saying he had gone to collect rent with the uncles and brothers from the same village.
The people of Jiang Village rented out houses not only for ordinary people to live in but also to companies and individual businesses. This kind of money was easy to collect when things went smoothly, with payments arriving on schedule without question. But there were times when it was difficult to collect, requiring a group effort to handle. The people of Jiang Village were extremely united in such matters. However, this also meant that Jiang Yuan would have to dine alone that evening.
After some thought, Jiang Yuan decided to light the small barbecue grill on the terrace, boil some cooked meat, and slowly roast it over a low flame. This method, different from grilling raw meat, had its own flavor. Once the meat was ready, he set up a lounge chair and lit a mosquito coil.
Jiang Yuan's phone vibrated with a "buzz," and he saw a transfer from Jiang Fuzhen.
Since Jiang Yuan started working, Jiang Fuzhen had quietly increased the frequency and amount of his transfers, filled with his concern, appreciation, and trust for Jiang Yuan. Judging by the time, it was probably when everyone gathered to collect rent or had successfully collected it. At that moment, relatives and friends were likely comparing the rent they received. The amount of Jiang Fuzhen's transfer would certainly be seen by everyone. Without a doubt, Jiang Fuzhen would also take the opportunity to boast. After all, in Jiang Village, there weren't many young people who could make their fathers feel secure enough to transfer large sums of money.
The next day was another day of wall building.
With the flower bed on the terrace completed, Jiang Yuan moved on to help with wall building and partitioning in a few vacant rental houses. Different factories and workers had different living requirements; some could tolerate bunk beds in multi-person rooms, while others needed single rooms. Jiang Fuzhen used to entrust such houses to relatives, but now that Jiang Yuan was free, he took on the work himself.
He indulged in his holiday before heading home, only to find someone waiting for him downstairs.
"Jiang Yuan," the visitor greeted him with a beaming smile, and upon seeing him covered in dust, asked, "Did you go to dig up a body?"
"I went to build walls," Jiang Yuan replied.
"You're spending your holiday in a strange way," the visitor chuckled, pointing at himself and adding, "I'm Wan Baoming, we chatted yesterday."
"Ah, is there a problem with the fingerprint?" Jiang Yuan's first thought was about the fingerprint match from the day before.
"No, no, the fingerprint is fine, the suspect has been arrested and confessed. Old Wang is still busy with the case and hasn't had time to come over. Honestly, I couldn't sleep last night, tossing and turning at home." Wan Baoming sighed, "Solving a homicide in two hours, I still get chills thinking about it."
"It just happened to work out," Jiang Yuan said.
"You would say that..." Wan Baoming didn't dwell on it and quickly changed the subject, "I have another fingerprint I'd like you to look at."
He didn't need to say it; Jiang Yuan could guess his intentions. If he wasn't here to solve a case, he certainly wasn't here to borrow money.
"Let's go to my room to see it," Jiang Yuan led Wan Baoming upstairs to the study and examined the fingerprint he brought.
The fingerprint was blurred and unclear, not in the best condition.
"Is it another homicide?" Jiang Yuan casually asked while examining it.
Wan Baoming nodded gravely, "It's a case from last year, you might have heard of it. Someone was pushed off a rooftop, and this fingerprint was lifted from the victim's clothes. The police have identified several suspects, but none have matched the fingerprint, and the case has reached a deadlock..."
"A case from Changyang City," Jiang Yuan murmured.
"Yes."
"There's a bit of an issue here..." Jiang Yuan finished examining the fingerprint and looked at Wan Baoming.
Wan Baoming's heart skipped a beat, "You can't do it either? I've actually consulted several experts on this case, it's quite complicated..."
"That's not what I meant," Jiang Yuan waved his hand, "You need to give my superiors a heads-up, after all, we're public servants."
"Oh, that's no problem," Wan Baoming breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "I'll call Captain Huang. I'm actually quite familiar with him."
"Good. Once Captain Huang agrees, I'll get to work," Jiang Yuan said modestly, then lowered his head like a humble wall builder.
Wan Baoming swiftly took out his phone and called Huang Qiangming. In just a few words, Wan Baoming's hand began to tremble.
He quickly stood up, found a corner, and whispered with his left hand pressing down on his right, "Captain Huang, you're asking for too much. That's too harsh."
"If you don't want it, someone else will. Jiang Yuan's time is limited, think it over..." Huang Qiangming's voice was cold and merciless.