Peng Guoqiang's Past

"Do you still need me to go to the city bureau with you?" Su Rui asked with a smile. "I need to be at the company before 8:30."

Last night, Li Ruobing had told him that she would handle his onboarding procedures.

So, starting today, Su Rui was a shareholder of Mingzhu Company and the President of the Qiantang New Store.

As a new official taking office, there were naturally some matters to handle, and he didn't have much time to waste here.

"No need, just a few questions." Peng Guoqiang rubbed his eyes, habitually took out another cigarette and lit it, then his gaze suddenly caught Su Rui's slightly furrowed brow, and he gave a dry laugh before extinguishing it. "Mr. Su, on the 19th... that is, last night, at 8:17 PM, where were you?"

Su Rui's brow lifted slightly. This time was when Lin Jiatao had his accident.

"Probably... I had just left Haochi Building and went straight home."

"Haochi Building? Before that, had you been in contact with Lin Jiatao?" Peng Guoqiang asked again.

"Haochi Building is Lin Jiatao's base camp, of course I was in contact with him. We talked about some things in his conference room," Su Rui didn't intend to hide anything. "It was for about an hour."

"Talk about what?"

"I had a fight with his son, so we talked about compensation," Su Rui shrugged.

Peng Guoqiang paused, licked his chapped lips, and suddenly said, "Mr. Su, do you know... less than ten minutes after you left, Lin Jiatao was shot?"

He stared into Su Rui's eyes, trying to detect any change in his expression, even the slightest hint, which he could capture.

At this moment, Peng Guoqiang once again became like a hawk.

"Oh..." Su Rui's tone was very flat, he didn't even blink, showing no ripple of emotion. "Is he dead?"

"When ordinary people hear news like this, over eighty percent will be surprised, some might even exclaim; twenty percent will change color, their brows will furrow, even those with deep thoughts will show subtle changes in expression... like a slight lift of the eyebrows, a slight flaring of the nostrils, or a contraction of the pupils. These are subconscious instinctive reactions of the human body and cannot be controlled at all," Peng Guoqiang's expression was very serious, and he said word by word, "But I didn't see any of these reactions in you!"

"There are only two explanations. One is that you already knew about this; the second is that your facial muscles are stiff and cannot react normally!"

"Do you think I look like I have facial paralysis?" Su Rui blinked and asked.

"No." Peng Guoqiang shook his head, then said again, "So only the first possibility remains, you knew about this before! Lin Jiatao was shot, your suspicion is very high!"

"Oh... suspicious, can that lead to a conviction?" Su Rui tilted his head again, the smile on his face hadn't even disappeared, and his tone remained relaxed. "Or are you planning to take me back and detain me for twenty-four hours?"

The muscles on Peng Guoqiang's cheeks twitched, his fingers tightened slightly, and his knuckles turned a little white.

"Officer Peng, let's get straight to the point," Su Rui said with a light laugh, pointing to the body camera on Peng Guoqiang's shoulder. "Turn that thing off, and I'll talk to you about something useful."

"During the mission..."

Su Rui impatiently waved his hand, his tone suddenly becoming stern. "Officer Peng, are you really carrying out a mission from the city bureau?"

Peng Guoqiang was startled, then his face turned a little ugly, and he said in a deep voice, "Of course I received orders from the city bureau to investigate the Lin Jiatao shooting case!"

"Have you ever seen a police officer on a mission, where the captain comes out to handle things while the auxiliary police officer stays in the car playing on their phone?" Su Rui pointed expressionlessly at a young man in a loose police uniform in the passenger seat of the police car. "This 'auxiliary police officer' comrade, did you pull him from a construction site to impersonate a colleague on a mission with you?"

Peng Guoqiang's face instantly turned pale.

China's police system is very strict. Generally, when going out on a mission to investigate a case, it's done by two or more people together; firstly, to avoid emergencies, and secondly, to supervise each other.

And the young "detective" in the passenger seat had messy hair, red-rimmed eyes, and his eyes were full of gunk, yet he was playing PUBG with great enthusiasm.

If this were under normal circumstances, he would have been chewed out long ago!

"Investigating the case of Lin Jiatao being shot is your personal action," Su Rui took a step forward and directly pressed the power button of the body camera. "Am I right?"

Peng Guoqiang's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he silently took out the crumpled cigarette pack again, pinched out a cigarette, and put it in his mouth.

Smoke curled around.

Peng Guoqiang gave a wry smile. "Just based on an auxiliary police officer, you can tell the truth?"

Su Rui slowly shook his head.

Of course, it wasn't just for this reason.

The incongruous "auxiliary police officer" was just one aspect, but more importantly, Lin Jiatao was shot last night, and he absolutely dared not call the police!

Not only that, but Lin Jiatao would also try his best to conceal this matter and secretly transfer to a private hospital for treatment.

Because the gun and the person both belonged to Lin Jiatao.

Once it made the news, no matter who the mastermind behind it was, Lin Jiatao would definitely be implicated; if someone with ulterior motives dug deeper, they might even uncover some unsavory things within Lin Jiatao's company!

When he was shot, Lin Jiatao only suffered an injury to one leg; but if this matter escalated, the injury would be far more than just flesh and blood.

His influence and certain upper-class figures allowed him to do some outrageous, even lawless things in the dark; but in the public eye, he absolutely could not expose too much, as that would bring extremely negative consequences to his company and family.

Furthermore, Lin Jiatao came from a background in the underworld, so he never considered resolving this matter through the police.

Su Rui understood Lin Jiatao too well; he would never swallow his anger. After Lin Jiatao recovered, he would use his own methods to get revenge!

Only then could he satisfy his hatred!

With these two points combined, Peng Guoqiang's disguise was easily seen through.

"Let me guess why you, who have always been passive about work, are so focused on Lin Jiatao's case..." Su Rui circled around Peng Guoqiang, like a king cobra watching its prey, smiling silently. "There are three possibilities."

"One! You want to change your work attitude and return to the core position of the police force, hoping to attract the attention of the police leadership with this."

Su Rui held up one finger. "But this possibility is very small, because this case is very complicated, and if it's not handled well, the effect will be counterproductive."

Peng Guoqiang smiled, but it was a bitter, self-mocking smile. He shook his head and remained silent, just taking a hard drag on the cheap cigarette in his hand.

"Second, Lin Jiatao and you have private contact, and you accepted his bribe to do things for him!"

As soon as these words came out, the expression on Peng Guoqiang's face froze. Immediately after, veins bulged on his forehead, and anger condensed in his eyes. "Saying something like that is a goddamn insult to me!"

Su Rui didn't get angry. He narrowed his eyes into slits, smiling sinisterly.

"Then, there's only one last possibility, Officer Peng... You want to use this matter to bring down Lin Jiatao?"

Peng Guoqiang paused, his expression somewhat bitter.

"Because the person who offended you back then and completely severed your career was Lin Jiatao!"

Su Rui's voice was clear and resonant, each word like a heavy hammer pounding on Peng Guoqiang's heart!

Crack!

The crumpled cigarette pack was thrown to the ground. Peng Guoqiang clenched his fists, his eyebrows twitching violently.

Su Rui smiled silently. He leaned slightly towards Peng Guoqiang's ear and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "If you had just told me directly, why go through all this trouble?"

"I can help you."

Peng Guoqiang's pupils contracted.

At this moment, on Su Rui's personal computer, within two documents.

In the document of people to befriend, on the first row, fifth position, the three characters "Peng Guoqiang" were marked in bold font!