"Yeah, yeah, I know." Jia Dapeng had never had the patience to listen to such advice. He hastily left the hot pot restaurant, straight to Zhang Dali"s car.
!!!
At the Tianhe City Public Security Bureau Director"s Office.
Jia Quan stared at the mobile phone in his hand. He sat as if in a trance.
He"d been the director of the Tianhe Public Security Bureau for years. Nothing had ever disrupted his world, but this strange call made him inexplicably tense.
He stroked his long, thinning hair. Though he could not cover up the bald patch no matter how he tried, it had been his habit for many years to comb over it. Especially when he was nervous, his hands could not help moving back and forth.
Before this call came, the deputy director of the provincial security department, Guo, had called and personally inquired about a person named Zhao Jun. Originally, Jia Quan thought that this guy did something terrible to arouse the attention of the provincial department, but what Director Guo said was a little vague. He just mentioned Zhao Jun, but did not say anything specific about him. He just said that this Zhao Jun fellow was worth taking care of because he had played a certain role in promoting the development of Tianhe over the past few years. Then, he hung up.
Then came the strange call.
It, too, mentioned Zhao Jun.
"First, indulge him; let him get overconfident. When things start to go down, sweep them all away."
This was the core message of the strange phone call.
Although Jia Quan could not guess who the caller was, his intuition told him he was definitely above Director Guo. Otherwise, there would have been no such coincidence.
These days, everyone had to be very careful when doing things off the books. Forget talking over the phone; even if they spoke face to face, they would not say things so clearly and directly that there will be no room left to maneuver, and the meaning would often be only hinted at to the other party.
Intelligent subordinates could understand and get the job done. If a stupid person failed, they could be easily replaced and would not put the leadership itself at risk.
A few days ago, the news of his son, Jia Dapeng, beating up a sanitation worker in broad daylight was covered up, but it still spread like wildfire through unofficial channels and reached Jia Quan"s ears.
He urged Jia Dapeng to hold back. He wanted to personally ask him why he had done that and personally take him to the hospital to apologize to the sanitation worker.
Jia Quan had been able to maintain his position over the years not only by relying on his iron fist, but also by maintaining a public image of protecting the common people. If he did not pay attention to a lot of minor matters, bad rumors would soon begin spreading.
In his view, as long as his son showed repentance and generosity, the matter would practically solve itself. Sanitation workers were very poor. He"d just give the old man 200,000 Yuan and, no matter how seriously he was hurt, he would go home smiling. As long as he did not press charges, the scandal would soon be forgotten.
Fortunately, Director Guo didn"t bring up any of Dapeng"s shenanigans.
As for Zhao Jun, Jia Quan had dealt with him several times. The man was very… slippery. He owned several nightclubs which were quite popular. But what impressed Jia the most was that the most popular among them, the Free Man Bar, had never once produced an "offering" for protection.
Of course, there were already plenty of people who gave him offerings on any given day. Jia Quan wasn"t short of money, and Zhao Jun himself also came to pay his respects to him on every New Year"s celebration. As for the Free Man Bar"s staff, Jia Quan hadn"t investigated them, but he had a bad impression.
Thinking of this, Jia Quan called Li Faxian, the chief of police, through a private number that only he had access to. Li Faxian was his distant cousin, who held his position at the mercy of Jia Quan.
When Li Faxian received Zhang Dali"s phone call on the day of Jia Dapeng"s incident with the sanitation worker, he immediately denounced his police officers" actions and ordered them to escort Jia Dapeng away from the scene.
"Cousin!" Li Faxian shouted excitedly, seeing Jia Quan"s number on the screen of his mobile phone.
"Regarding Dapeng"s situation… Is n.o.body going to make a scene?" Jia Quan asked. "You keep an eye on it for me and do not allow the incident to escalate. I will take Dapeng to the hospital tomorrow to talk to the sanitation worker."
"Oh, cousin, why are you bothering yourself with this? I"ll come by the hospital to give him face. If I can"t persuade him, I"ll find a reason to arrest him. What the big deal?"
Li Faxian was smoking and playing cards in his office at the time. Half an hour earlier, he had received a hefty monthly offering from an oil-stealing gang.
Upon hearing this remark, Jia Quan said angrily, "Get your head out your a.s.s. How many times do I have to tell you? You have to be careful in handling these things, take into account other people"s feelings, and do not abuse your power. Do you understand? We"re not in the jungle here; your every move is under scrutiny, understand? If you can"t handle being the chief of police, I"ll send you back to the factory to continue being a mechanic!"
"Oh, oh, cousin, cousin, don"t scare me!" Li Faxian was scared straight. "I"ll do whatever you say!"
"Tell me, has that fellow Zhao Jun been up to anything recently?" Jia Quan asked. "Do you have a regular meeting with his people every month?"
People like Zhao Jun and Meng Zhaolin were all registered and monitored by police stations and public security bureaus across the country all year round. Li Faxian specialized in this. Every month, he would convene with them for some "political education" cla.s.ses. Basically, he would affirm his superiority and tell them not to mess with the police, and then remind them that they should "pay their dues" and so on.
.
In fact, no one wanted to spend half of their life in prison. Therefore, people like Zhao Jun operated only within the scope of power and responsibility that Li Faxian allocated to them. This usually kept everything working smoothly.
Things like rape, murder, kidnapping, et cetera, were usually committed by unaffiliated criminals.
"Well, yes. I"ve been following my cousin"s advice, keeping a close eye on these people and saving you the trouble of dealing with them," Li Faxian said nervously.
"Keeping an eye on their money bags too, right?" Jia Quan said.
Li Faxian was stunned. Did his cousin mean he hasn"t been giving him enough offerings recently?
"Cousin, did Zhao Jun get up to something? I"ll subpoena him right now. Son of a b.i.t.c.h, what a mess!" cried Li Faxian.
"No need for that yet. I just got a mysterious call regarding him. You"ve been keeping an eye on his movements for some time, so you tell me what"s going on."
"Well, don"t worry, cousin. I"ll keep an eye on him 24/7."
!!!
Qin Feng left the hospital. He received a strange phone call just as he approached the door of the Free Man Bar.
"Qin Feng, if you do not want Xiao Jinhua to die, come immediately to the No. 5 salt farm."
Qin Feng stopped in his tracks, completely flabbergasted.
"What?!"
He ran into the barroom, where Kun was standing by the front desk and chatting with a DJ who had come early. It was just six o"clock in the evening and the club did not have any customers yet.
"Where is Sister Flower?!"