Chapter 222 200: Suspect

Before the ferry docked, the driver Zhang Haitao was already waiting on the shore. Xu Chunliang and Mei Ru Xue didn't disembark together; Xu Chunliang came out first and got into the car.Zhang Haitao was a bit curious because he wore a hat, which wasn't his usual style, but he didn't dare to ask.

Mei Ru Xue walked over at this time, and Xu Chunliang pretended and said, "Town Mayor Mei, what a coincidence, you're on this boat too."

Mei Ru Xue was both amused and annoyed, thinking, can his acting be any more clumsy? Even if Zhang Haitao were a fool, he could see they returned together. It's truly a cover-up!

Mei Ru Xue intentionally said, "Dean Xu, you're so high and mighty, I greeted you, but you ignored me."

Xu Chunliang said, "You wrapped yourself so tightly, I really didn't recognize you."

Zhang Haitao thought to himself, go ahead and act; you really think I'm an idiot, I understand everything, but I won't say a word. Being around Xu Chunliang made him smarter too.

Xu Chunliang asked Zhang Haitao to drop Mei Ru Xue off at the town government on the way. Zhang Haitao opened the car door, and when Mei Ru Xue got in, she found the car interior extremely clean.

Xu Chunliang sat in the passenger seat, and as they passed the recycling station construction site, he noticed significant improvements: the surrounding construction waste was all cleared, and the walls were equipped with hoses to use mist for dust suppression.

Mei Ru Xue asked Zhang Haitao to stop briefly to take some photos with her phone to compare the rectification results.

As soon as they dropped Mei Ru Xue at the town government, a call from the police station came, asking when Xu Chunliang would come over. However, their attitude was much more polite this time, just hoping Xu Chunliang could cooperate with their investigation.

Xu Chunliang told them he was at the hospital and if they wanted to investigate, they should come to the hospital.

In fact, the Hu Shan Town Police Station had already come to the hospital last night. After getting beaten up, all the members of the assessment team were sent to Weishan Island Hospital and are currently receiving treatment.

Tan Haiyan took this matter very seriously, specially arranging the best-conditioned wards for the five members of the assessment team. When Xu Chunliang returned to the hospital, he didn't go to visit the members of the assessment team immediately; instead, he first searched out Wang Xiaofeng to understand their injuries.

Wang Xiaofeng said that the injuries of the five individuals were not serious, with the most severe case being Dong Changhao, who received two punches to the eyes, a local term known as an eye-sealing hammer. When he arrived, the swelling was so bad he couldn't see anything. Everyone had undergone comprehensive exams, and the results showed nothing serious.

The accountant Li Jinxia came over with the bills. None of the five individuals had paid medical fees; currently, all costs were covered by the hospital. Financially, there's a system, and to waive fees requires a responsible party's signature.

Xu Chunliang glanced at the bills; the examination and treatment fees for these five individuals amounted to over seven thousand yuan. According to Changxing's financial regulations, only Zhao Feiyang has signing authority for amounts over five thousand, so further consultation is needed.

Xu Chunliang asked Li Jinxia to leave the bills for now and said he would consult with headquarters later.

At this time, the police station personnel also arrived.

Today, it was the Hu Shan Town Police Station Director Li Chengbo himself who came. This matter had already reached the county level, and Weishan County, from top to bottom, took the assault on the investors very seriously, expressing zero tolerance and a strong commitment to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice. In fact, if the victims weren't from the Huayuan Group's assessment team, the incident wouldn't have escalated to such an extent.

Li Chengbo had met Xu Chunliang before, back during the gas explosion accident at Fish-Water Love, when both were at the rescue site, but they didn't know each other well, and at that time, Li Chengbo hadn't thought much of Xu Chunliang.

Accompanying Li Chengbo was Instructor Zhao Hong, due to the special nature of this case, both leaders personally came to handle it.

Xu Chunliang stood up and shook hands with them. Zhao Hong was the one who had previously contacted Xu Chunliang and held some grudges against Xu Chunliang for not cooperating with the work. While shaking hands, he couldn't help but make a sarcastic comment: "Getting to meet Dean Xu is truly not easy."

Xu Chunliang smiled and said, "These past two days, I've been busy with the hospital property transition, constantly dealing with affairs in the county, so I indeed couldn't make time."

Zhao Hong thought, even if you couldn't make time while in the county, after you came back, when invited to the police station, you still didn't go. In the end, we had to come to you, young people with little authority but big airs.

Li Chengbo was much smoother than Zhao Hong and smiled, "Dean Xu also has it hard, we must understand and support each other in our work."

Xu Chunliang handed them each a bottle of Junmin Spring-brand mineral water. Wang Jinwu had delivered quite a few cases to him, and now the bottled water in his room was this brand, yet Xu Chunliang didn't bother to serve these two tea.

The weather was starting to cool, and no one had the inclination to drink cold mineral water.

Li Chengbo said, "So, Dean Xu, have you heard about last night's incident?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Hearsay is unreliable; seeing for oneself is believing. I haven't had the chance to see them yet, but I've heard from the ward doctor that they've sustained superficial injuries, nothing severe."

Li Chengbo said, "Indeed, the injuries aren't severe, but the impact is very bad. Dean Xu, the Huayuan Group came this time to evaluate the assets of the Weishan Island Hospital, right?"

Xu Chunliang nodded, "Director Li, feel free to ask any questions you have."

Li Chengbo glanced at Zhao Hong, implying he should start with the questions, as one played the bad cop and the other the good cop—this was a conventional questioning technique.

Zhao Hong said, "Comrade Xu Chunliang, may I ask where you were between 8:30 to 9:30 last night?"

Xu Chunliang said, "I was in the county town."

"Which county town?"

Xu Chunliang laughed, "I feel like you're suspecting me."

Zhao Hong said, "Please answer my question, this is very important."

Li Chengbo, worried about making the atmosphere tense, laughed, "Dean Xu, don't overthink it. We're just doing a routine check, not suspecting you."

"I was in Weishan County town, dining at a local restaurant named Guerrilla near the government guesthouse."

"Who were you with?" Zhao Hong continued to ask.

Xu Chunliang frowned, "Aren't you asking for an alibi? I've already got one, why do you care who I was with?"

Zhao Hong put his pen down, his professional habit acting up again.

Li Chengbo smiled, "Here's the thing, according to our procedure, we need verification."

Xu Chunliang said, "Well, last night at this time, I happened to be assaulted by a hothead. He smashed a bottle on the back of my head. It was the Gongnong Police Station that handled it. If you don't believe me, you can contact them to retrieve the incident report."

Li Chengbo and Zhao Hong exchanged a glance, nothing is more convincing than an incident report.

Zhao Hong suggested taking a look at Xu Chunliang's wound. Xu Chunliang took off his hat for a moment, and Zhao Hong snapped a photo with his phone.

Xu Chunliang wasn't pleased, "Don't you have any manners? Shouldn't you ask for my permission before taking a picture?"

Li Chengbo said, "Dean Xu, please don't get mad, it's like this..."

"Like what? I can see it now; you two are just playing good cop, bad cop. Just stop beating around the bush and ask what you want directly."

Li Chengbo said, "I heard that you recently had a conflict with a man named Tang Tianyi in Changxing, right?"

Xu Chunliang nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Let me tell you, Tang Tianyi is the disappointing son of the Huayuan Group's chairman. We had a conflict in a bar in Dongzhou, and I ended up beating him up. You don't think I'm specifically targeting Huayuan Group people, do you?"

Li Chengbo laughed, "Just a routine investigation."

Zhao Hong said, "Someone at the scene threatened Dong Changhao to behave himself and said Tang Tianyi was his example."

Xu Chunliang said, "You two detectives, think about it carefully. If I orchestrated it, would I have let someone say such a stupid thing? Currently, Changxing is negotiating a cooperation with Huayuan Group. Anyone causing trouble is definitely trying to sabotage this cooperation. You better catch the perpetrators first; once you do, it's easy to find out who's behind it."

Li Chengbo said, "Did you say you wanted to beat them until their teeth were all over the ground?"

Xu Chunliang paused, immediately remembering he did say that to Zhang Haibin. Presumably, that guy relayed it to the investigation team, who then informed the police station. Xu Chunliang now understood why the police suspected him. He categorically denied it, saying that admitting to something with no benefit to himself was pointless. If Zhang Haibin had the guts, let him come and testify.

Zhao Hong asked Xu Chunliang to sign the transcript. Xu Chunliang signed it in a scribble that looked like a worm. Zhao Hong couldn't even recognize a single character of 'Xu Chunliang,' believing he was just being dismissive. He was about to ask him to rewrite it, but Li Chengbo gave him a look, indicating it was enough.

Li Chengbo and Zhao Hong returned to the police car. Zhao Hong looked up at the hospital ward building and said, "This kid is hard to deal with."

Li Chengbo lit a cigarette and said, "What's your take?"

Zhao Hong said, "It's probably not him. What he said makes sense, and he has an alibi."

Li Chengbo said, "Let's first verify what he provided. I still have a feeling this kid has some issues." He was coincidentally an old friend of the director at Gongnong Police Station, so he called over there. After a while, he silently hung up the phone.

Zhao Hong asked, "Is what he said true?"

Li Chengbo nodded.

Zhao Hong asked, "Continue the investigation?"

Li Chengbo shook his head, "Forget it, he probably doesn't have any issues."

Zhao Hong stared at Li Chengbo in surprise. Li Chengbo took a drag of his cigarette, looking out the car window. There was no way to explain it; he couldn't possibly tell Zhao Hong that Xu Chunliang was with Town Mayor Mei when the incident occurred last night.

Xu Chunliang did go to visit the unfortunate guys who got beaten up. Seeing Dong Changhao's appearance, he almost couldn't hold back his laughter. He got beaten so badly that even his parents wouldn't recognize him.

Xu Chunliang quickly noticed that several people's gazes toward him were unfriendly. He was very sensitive to hostility and, thinking of the police visit earlier, suspected they believed the beating was related to him and were all suspicious of him.

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