The scorching summer had passed, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching day by day. In this season of crisp autumn air, the sky was a clear blue with wisps of clouds, high and distant. Sunlight streamed down unobstructed. The ancient city's streets were adorned with advertisements for various brands of mooncakes, all indicating the imminent arrival of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a symbol of reunion.
After half a month of suspension and reflection, Rui Xiaodan returned to work, throwing herself entirely into the intense workload, burying her feelings for Ding Yuanying deep in her heart, like an internal wound.
That afternoon, the Criminal Investigation Team held its weekend meeting in the conference room. Each task force leader reported on their work, and Captain Lei Jianfeng analyzed and summarized the week's work, making arrangements for the next steps. He concluded, "The East Suburb taxi robbery and murder case is closed, this team is disbanded. Yan Shoujun and Qi Hong will take over the Food City theft case. Zhou Wei, Rui Xiaodan, and Xu Donglin will join the Ma Wang criminal gang task force. If there are no other issues, the meeting is adjourned."
After the meeting, everyone dispersed. Rui Xiaodan returned to her office, followed by Zhou Wei, who placed the "Ma Wang Criminal Gang Case" materials on her desk and said, "I've already reviewed these materials. Take a look and familiarize yourself with the situation."
Rui Xiaodan said, "Alright."
She opened the file folder, pulling out the materials and began to read, occasionally making notes or reminders in her notebook. Time passed unnoticed, and by the time she finished, her colleagues had already left for the day. Zhao Guoqiang and Zhou Wei had called her to leave together, but she said she had just a few more pages to read, staying alone in the office to finish.
The Ma Wang criminal gang was led by Ma Wentao and Wang Mingyang. The primary leader, Ma Wentao, was 46 years old, with a bachelor's degree in law from the Political and Law University. He was formerly the head of the supervision department at the provincial prosecutor's office. In 1986, he resigned and founded the "Masterpiece Books and Culture Co., Ltd." in the ancient city the same year. He was well-experienced, ruthless, and cunning. The second-in-command, Wang Mingyang, 38 years old, held a bachelor's degree from the Art Academy, unmarried, and was the strategist of the gang. He was proficient in law and sociology, calm, cruel, with a stable psychological state and high intelligence. He personally planned and directed 12 major criminal cases and was nicknamed "Cold-faced Zhuge" within the gang.
The Ma Wang criminal gang had 19 main members. Under the guise of a cultural company, they engaged in large-scale smuggling and piracy of books and audio-visual products. The known criminal amount was nearly 1.1 billion yuan, involving 16 large and medium-sized cities across the country. The gang had killed one person to maintain internal discipline, killed two and crippled one in conflicts with other city gangs, severely injured four people resisting law enforcement, and killed three people in retaliation, including informants and law enforcement officers. Due to their criminal activities being mostly in other cities, the gang was not well-known in the ancient city, where their "Masterpiece Bookstore" had a good reputation for its cultural image and service.
The "Ma Wang Criminal Gang Case" was highly prioritized by the provincial public security department. Due to the gang's tight organization and high individual capabilities, the investigation had been difficult. So far, only three members had been arrested, one was shot dead, and 15 key suspects were still at large.
Rui Xiaodan was fully engrossed in the case files. She didn't realize it was dark until the light was dim. She got up, turned on the light, and continued reading. Just then, her desk phone rang. It was the gatekeeper, informing her that a man in his thirties had been waiting for her at the gate for several hours, asking when she would be done.
There was just a little bit left to read, but Rui Xiaodan had already grasped the general situation. She put away the files, turned off the lights, locked the door, and greeted her colleagues in the duty room as she passed. She wondered who could be waiting for her at the gate for so long. It wasn't until she saw from a distance that she realized it was Feng Shijie.
Feng Shijie greeted Rui Xiaodan with an awkward smile as she walked out of the gate.
Rui Xiaodan politely said, "Sorry, I didn't know you were waiting. Is something wrong?"
Feng Shijie, looking both restrained and earnest, said, "It's like this: your speakers and cabinet are ready. The speakers are being tested. Tomorrow is the weekend, and I wanted to ask if you could come and check them out. If you're satisfied, we can bring them over to install. That pile of equipment has tied up a lot of Ye Xiaoming's funds, and he's quite anxious."
Rui Xiaodan said, "Ye Xiaoming is a businessman. He should have assembled everything before asking me to check it out."
Feng Shijie explained, "His audio store is being transferred, and other than the stock, there's nothing else he can do. Once the transfer is complete, he has to vacate immediately. It's not suitable to test the speakers there, so he's moved the equipment to the woodworking shop. If there are any issues, it's easier to resolve them on site. Once they're at home, it will be much harder without the proper space and tools. We'd have to bring them back again."
Rui Xiaodan thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let's go tomorrow morning."
Feng Shijie said, "Set a time and place, and I'll pick you up tomorrow. If you feel uncomfortable, bring a few friends. I don't mean anything else, just..."
Rui Xiaodan understood and said, "Tomorrow morning at 9, I'll wait for you at the north gate of Rose Garden Community. We'll pick up Ouyang Xue at the Venus Hotel on the way. The two of us will go."
"Alright, it's settled then." Feng Shijie said. He then asked, "Where are you heading now? I can give you a ride. Wait here while I get the car." He headed to the parking lot by the gate to bring the car around.
Rui Xiaodan felt this matter was a bit overdone. This kind of subtle overdoing could be someone's personality or habit, or it could be a hint of something more. She didn't think much of it, but a faint and unclear feeling flashed through her mind. Although she didn't want to take the ride, she got in out of courtesy and said, "Just drop me off at the Venus Hotel. Thank you."
When they reached the Venus Hotel, Rui Xiaodan got out of the car, and Feng Shijie drove away.