sjar Chapter 1047 The Deceased Zhang Guijun
Chapter 1047 The Deceased Zhang Guijun
As time went on, a sense of frustration spread among the team members. Old Zhou started smoking incessantly, piling up cigarette butts in the ashtray; Technician Liu kept typing on the keyboard, muttering, "This damn system should have been upgraded a long time ago"; even the usually composed Xiao Zhou, after 36 hours without sleep, punched the computer that had suddenly crashed. But no one stopped working; the screening continued, medical records flooded in like a tide, and they struggled through the massive amount of information to find that crucial clue.
The turning point came on the evening of the seventh day. Xiao Zhou found a medical record in the archives of the Maternal and Child Health Hospital that had been mistakenly categorized as "Miscellaneous Surgical Cases." The patient's name was listed as "Zhang Guijun," age 49, who underwent a Billroth-II gastrectomy for a gastric stromal tumor in 2019. The progress notes described the surgical procedure in detail, but in the "Past Medical History" section, it clearly stated, "In 2015, the little finger of my left hand was fractured in a construction accident and did not receive proper treatment."
"Immediately extract a blood sample from the surgery for DNA comparison!" Xiao Zhou's voice trembled with excitement. For two hours, the entire team waited in an eerie silence. Finally, the technical department announced: "A perfect DNA match! The deceased is confirmed as Zhang Guijun!" At that moment, the emotions suppressed for days erupted. Xiao Lin cried and hugged her colleague, while Lao Zhou slammed his hat to the ground, then bent down to pick it up and carefully dusted it off, muttering, "Finally found her."
Xiao Zhou pulled up Zhang Guijun's social relationship file and discovered that he had been a subcontractor for Wang Jialiang Construction Company, and six months ago, he had a fierce conflict with the company's management over a project payment dispute. This discovery cheered everyone up; previously seemingly unrelated clues now appeared to be converging. "Notify Team Leader Li," Xiao Zhou said firmly, looking at the rising sun outside the window, "We finally know who the deceased is!"
In this seven-day, seven-night screening campaign, they reviewed nearly ten thousand files from 23 hospitals across the city, made thousands of verification calls, and ruled out countless suspected cases. Those sweat-soaked documents, bloodshot eyes, and hoarse voices finally yielded a crucial breakthrough. But what awaited them was an even more complex truth and an ultimate showdown with the murderer.
After confirming the deceased's identity as Zhang Guijun, Li Ming quickly divided the task force into five groups to conduct a comprehensive investigation into his interpersonal relationships. The morning sun slanted into Zhang Guijun's transportation company, the tin signboard creaking in the wind, the rusty characters "Junda Freight" seemingly telling the story of the company's vicissitudes.
The first group, led by Xiao Wang, arrived at the company first. The office reeked of a mixture of diesel fuel and cigarette smoke; the calendar on the wall was frozen on the day Zhang Guijun disappeared. Accountant Lao Wu took off his reading glasses, frantically wiping the lenses, his voice trembling: "Manager Zhang's departure was sudden; the company's business has come to a standstill. He was usually very loyal, just a bit short-tempered. He and his partner, Li Yong, had argued a few times about profit sharing, but those were all business disputes." Xiao Wang flipped through the ledgers and discovered that the company's cash flow had been tight for the past six months, with many project payments overdue.
When they found Li Yong, his partner, he was drinking at a small restaurant, his face covered in stubble and his eyes unfocused. “I admit I argued with Lao Zhang,” Li Yong said, taking a large gulp of baijiu (Chinese liquor) and slamming the bottle down on the table. “He insisted on taking low-profit jobs, and I disagreed. But how could I possibly kill him?” Xiao Wang noticed a fresh abrasion on his right index finger and, under further questioning, Li Yong stammered, “I got it while repairing a car a couple of days ago. You can check if you don’t believe me!”
Xiao Zhou's team then went to Zhang Guijun's home. The apartment complex was an old, walk-up building, with clutter piled up in the stairwell. Upon knocking on the door, a musty smell hit them. Zhang Guijun's wife, Zhou Xiulan, sat on the sofa, her hair disheveled, her eyes red and swollen like walnuts. "We've been married for fifteen years," she said, clutching her faded apron. "He's completely devoted to his company, often not coming home for days at a time. Starting about six months ago, he became very strange. He always avoids me when answering the phone, and when I ask him anything, he only talks about business." When asked if she knew anyone at the Wangjialiang construction site, she shook her head blankly: "I've never heard him mention it."
In Zhang Guijun's bedroom, investigators found a locked metal box. Prying it open, they found several contracts and a yellowed photograph inside—a young Zhang Guijun with his arm around a man, with a high-rise building under construction in the background. The back of the photo read, "2010, with Lao Chen at the Yuanda construction site." Zhou Xiulan identified the photo and stated that Lao Chen was a close friend of Zhang Guijun from his early years, but they hadn't been in contact for many years.
The third group visited Zhang Guijun's circle of friends. At their usual mahjong parlor, the players sat together, chattering amongst themselves. "Old Zhang is a real smug guy," the fat man with the gold chain spat out a sunflower seed shell. "Last year he said he'd landed a big project, but after drinking too much, he let it slip that he was actually working on the project himself and couldn't even get the money back." Another person added, "He also borrowed money from Brother Zhao, a loan shark. I once saw Brother Zhao bring some people to his company to confront him."
The investigation into Brother Zhao did not go smoothly. This man, who had connections in the underworld, was very wary. When questioned by the police, he said with a forced smile, "Zhang Guijun did borrow money, but he paid it back on time. I have no grudge against him." However, bank statements showed that Zhang Guijun had transferred 20 yuan to Brother Zhao's account just a week before his disappearance.
Inquiries with Zhang Guijun's relatives yielded little result. His elderly parents, living in the countryside, only knew that their son had worked hard in his business. His younger brother, Zhang Guimin, choked up on the phone: "My brother has taken care of me since I was little. I really can't understand what happened to him. He has indeed been under a lot of pressure lately, saying that he has a few bad debts that he can't collect, but he never said that anyone has threatened him."
As the investigation deepened, more and more clues emerged, but none of them were directly related to the Wangjialiang construction site. Just when the task force was at a loss, Xiao Zhou recovered a deleted recording from Zhang Guijun's phone cloud. In the recording, Zhang Guijun roared angrily: "You guys are playing dirty tricks! Did you think I wouldn't know it was you just because you changed the construction site? I'm not done with you about this batch of goods!" In the background, the sounds of vehicles and noisy voices could be faintly heard.
Li Ming convened a meeting of the special investigation team, where the whiteboard was densely covered with information on relationships and clues. "Although there is currently no evidence to suggest that Zhang Guijun's death is related to the Wangjialiang construction site," he circled several key figures in red, "his unusual behavior before his death, his financial pressure, and this recording all indicate that he was involved in a dispute. If we continue to dig deeper, breaking through from the directions of usury, construction debts, and former friends, the truth must be hidden in some detail that we have overlooked."