In a breakfast shop thick with the smell of cooking oil, Su Rui held a fried dough stick between his fingers and pushed a bowl of soy milk in front of Peng Guoqiang. "You haven't had breakfast, have you? Help yourself."
The breakfast rush had already passed, and theirs was the only occupied table in the little restaurant.
Peng Guoqiang did not stand on ceremony. He grabbed a bun from the plate, took two bites, and smiled. "I really didn't expect someone rich like you to be chewing fried dough sticks and drinking soy milk in a place like this..."
"Then what should rich people eat for breakfast? Braised Siberian tigers and stir-fried African elephants?" Su Rui casually cracked a joke. "Captain Peng, your understanding of rich people seems a little biased."
"Haha..."
Peng Guoqiang laughed as well.
The somewhat heavy atmosphere immediately relaxed after Su Rui said a few words.
"Do you hate Lin Jiatao?" Su Rui wiped the grease from his hands and went straight to the point. He did not have much time; he needed to reach the company before eight thirty.
Before then, he needed to reach an agreement with Peng Guoqiang in the most direct way possible.
"It may not be appropriate for someone in my position to say this, but since you asked, I'll tell you properly." At the mention of this, Peng Guoqiang wolfed down the bun in his hand. He instinctively wanted to pull out a cigarette, only to remember that he had thrown away even his cigarette pack outside Su Rui's door.
Su Rui smiled and pulled an unopened pack of Zhonghua Cigarettes from his pocket, handing it over.
"You smoke too?" Peng Guoqiang was taken aback. He had not smelled the tobacco scent that habitual smokers carried on Su Rui, nor were there any nicotine stains yellowing the spaces between his fingers.
With the sharp observation skills of a veteran detective, he concluded that Su Rui probably did not smoke.
"I don't smoke, but I always keep these on me." Su Rui smiled.
This was a situation that often came up in life.
Veteran smokers would certainly be familiar with it. When their craving hit but they had no cigarettes on hand, and a non-smoker like you pulled one out and offered it to them, they would feel that you were thoughtful and considerate.
Although such a gesture might not have much influence at the time, that tiny action could subtly shape the impression others had of you.
Many major, decisive matters were slowly won through little tactics like this.
This was one of the many ways of socializing.
"Thanks..." After hesitating for a moment, Peng Guoqiang tore open the packaging, casually lit one, and let out a long breath. His gaze became steady. "I do hate Lin Jiatao, but not because he cut off my path to promotion back then."
"What I hate is unfairness!"
Su Rui nodded calmly. He knew about Peng Guoqiang's experience.
For a veteran detective who had solved countless cases and worked diligently for more than a decade, such an outcome was indeed hard to accept.
"What kind of person is Lin Jiatao? Pull anyone off the streets of Tongzhou City and ask them, and eight out of ten would say he's a gangster! He amassed wealth through violence, gathered mobs for brawls, and showed utter contempt for the law! In the years since he made his fortune, how many deaths and disappearances has he caused? At least twenty!" Peng Guoqiang kept his voice low, but the undisguised fury in his tone was still audible. "Trash like him would have been executed a hundred times over back in the eighties!"
"But the reality is that not only was he not locked up, he put on a suit, drove luxury cars, lived in luxury villas, and transformed into an Outstanding Entrepreneur." Su Rui picked up where Peng Guoqiang left off.
"Exactly!" Peng Guoqiang took a hard drag, his eyes reddening. "Even someone like him can have his company become a key target for support from the higher-ups, while I, a detective who worked diligently for more than a decade, was stripped of my position as Captain just because I offended him once and they found some excuse! Tell me, is that fair?"
Peng Guoqiang had kept those words bottled up for years.
Ever since he had been removed from the Captain's position, his life had changed completely. He made repeated mistakes at work, became irritable and volatile, and even fought with his wife over it many times, eventually ending in divorce.
"Officer Peng, let me ask you something." Su Rui glanced at the time. "How old are you this year?"
"Thirty-seven..."
"Thirty-seven... Almost forty. That means you're no longer an elementary school kid who can barely talk. So..." Su Rui suddenly paused, his smile turning strange. "Why do you still believe that so-called 'fairness' exists in this world?"
That single question left Peng Guoqiang speechless.
He remained silent, his throat bobbing.
Fairness. Justice.
He had once believed that fairness truly existed in this world, but reality had delivered him a vicious slap and told him, "Wake up. This world is nothing like what you imagined!"
"Fine, then let me ask you another question." Seeing that Peng Guoqiang said nothing, Su Rui continued. "How much power do you think Lin Jiatao needed to use to take you down?"
"I don't know." Peng Guoqiang's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly exhausted.
"Just one phone call," Su Rui said expressionlessly, raising a single finger.
"Impossible." Peng Guoqiang stubbornly shook his head. "I was a Captain with Real Authority. I handled countless major cases. Even if Lin Jiatao wanted to move against me, it wouldn't have been that simple."
"Let me put it this way... In the eyes of the higher-ups, for Tongzhou City, who is more important—you or Lin Jiatao?" Su Rui became increasingly blunt. "Lin Jiatao has a net worth of over Ten Billion. The taxes he pays every year are astronomical, not to mention his company's investments and developments within Tongzhou City. It's no exaggeration to say that with Lin Jiatao around, he can create at least Two Billion in fiscal revenue for Tongzhou City every year!"
Su Rui watched Peng Guoqiang's changing expression. "Do you know what that means?"
"In the eyes of the higher-ups, with Lin Jiatao around, the province's annual fiscal targets can be met very easily. Whoever is in office gets to claim those as their political achievements!"
"If the higher-ups were planning development in some impoverished region but lacked a large amount of funding, and Lin Jiatao said he was willing to answer the call and invest, with the sole additional condition being that you step down, who do you think they would protect—you, or Lin Jiatao?"
"There is no shortage of Peng Guoqiangs in China who can catch criminals and solve cases. But a capitalist like Lin Jiatao, who actively cooperates with the higher-ups, invests when asked, cooperates when asked, and donates large sums every year to government poverty-relief funds without charge—there's only one of him."
Peng Guoqiang's hands were slightly trembling.
"I know you have dirt on Lin Jiatao. I also know you've been secretly investigating him for a long time and are ready to wrap things up," Su Rui said. "But trust me, don't submit those materials to the higher-ups yet. There definitely won't be any result."
Su Rui knew very well what would happen if Peng Guoqiang submitted the evidence in his possession.
The higher-ups would protect Lin Jiatao. To keep the matter from escalating, they would use every means possible to minimize its impact and might even deal with Peng Guoqiang.
But that did not mean there was any collusion between the higher-ups and Lin Jiatao, or any money-for-power relationship between them. It simply meant that, compared with Peng Guoqiang, Lin Jiatao carried more weight for Tongzhou City.
Those not in a position of authority should not concern themselves with its affairs. In the eyes of the higher-ups, Tongzhou City's long-term development was far more important than solving a few cases.
Before you continue