The morning after Jade Mountain River and Li Long divided their profits, Li Long was at the Purchasing Station watching the newly hired workers scrub sheepskins when he heard Dad, Li Qingxia, calling from the counter for him to answer the phone.
Li Long hurried over. As Dad handed him the receiver, he whispered, "The Forestry Police Station."
Li Long immediately understood what this was about.
"Hello, this is Li Long."
"Hello, Comrade Li Long. This is Zhao Tianhe, deputy chief of the Forestry Police Station. I'm calling to thank you again for supporting our work. We've finished investigating the two suspects you handed over to us.
"The older one had entered Southern Mountain to dig up medicinal herbs illegally for the fourth time. The year before last, he robbed someone in the mountains and accidentally beat them to death. Following his directions, we've now found the remains he buried..."
He really was a murderer!
Li Long was a little surprised, then rather pleased with himself.
"...Thank you very much for helping us catch this criminal. Otherwise, as you know, Southern Mountain is so vast that if he hid in some ravine, he'd be very hard to find."
Deputy Chief Zhao Tianhe was quite talkative and chatted with Li Long at length, both to express his thanks and to build a relationship. After all, Li Long had once been a part-time forest ranger. Li Long understood his meaning: he wasn't telling Li Long to stop trading in fritillaria, only asking him to contact them promptly if he encountered anything similar when entering the mountains.
The call lasted over ten minutes, without a single mention of Li Long firing his gun. Both sides had an unspoken understanding, which pleased Li Long.
Finally, Zhao Tianhe said they were still questioning the suspects