National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 934 - 870: Money Laundering

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Wu Jun pulled down the garage door in one smooth motion, instantly plunging the interior into total darkness.

"Don’t turn on the light." Wu Jun pressed down on Jiang Yuan’s hand to prevent him from taking out his phone.

"Oh." Jiang Yuan obediently responded; having returned to Ningtai County, he was prepared for this.

Releasing Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun moved forward two steps, rustling sounds following his movement.

With a crisp "ding", a torch-like flame sprang to life before them.

The flame swept forward with a "whoosh", successively lighting three candles.

"That Dupont lighter your dad gave is really useful." Wu Jun commented, gesturing with his hand, "Come on, pay your respects."

In the small garage, the image of Lord Guan was faintly visible, with a Bagua mirror beneath it. Cushions were placed on the floor, surrounded by multi-colored crystals.

Jiang Yuan stepped forward and knelt to worship, skilled in the ritual. Wu Jun casually sprinkled some incense ash on him, tapped him all around with a Peach Wood Sword, and then dotted him up and down with a five-colored feather.

After completing these steps, Wu Jun performed a gesture with his hand and said, "Alright, get up. The office probably prepared cake and such for you; go and take care of your business."

"That’s it?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised.

"Good practice is about quality, not length. Before you came back, your dad and I had been preparing for several days. There’s more to come. I’m just about to retire otherwise I wouldn’t have time for all these rituals."

"You’re not eating the red eggs?" Jiang Yuan had specifically saved room in his stomach. Now, he felt not only hungry but also as if his deductive reasoning was being challenged.

"The five-colored feathers we used are from wild chickens, no need for red eggs, it’s covered. Besides, can you even eat that much? How many cases have you solved this time? Instead of red hen’s eggs, red goose eggs are three times heavier, they could choke you." Wu Jun was busy at the altar while speaking, "Right, I’m retiring soon. The higher-ups don’t feel comfortable with just Rui Xiang handling everything alone, they are thinking of bringing in another forensic doctor. They’ll probably want someone experienced, so you’ll have to keep an eye on that."

"Why need a mature forensic doctor? Just rehire yourself." Jiang Yuan knew a bit about his master’s thoughts.

Wu Jun coughed twice, almost blowing out the candles, and said with slight embarrassment, "It’s quite rare for a forensic doctor to be rehired. Besides, with you in the county, there’s no need for me to exert myself."

"I haven’t performed any autopsies in the county recently. I’m in favor of bringing in another forensic doctor. If you’re willing to come back from retirement, I think that would be even better. When you have time, you can supervise, and when you’re busy, you can mentor Rui Xiang and the newcomer. I see many places have built forensic centers; if opportunity arises, we could build one too. A forensic center with four forensic doctors doesn’t take up much space," Jiang Yuan said these ambitions easily.

He had the capability to make it happen.

Wu Jun believed in Jiang Yuan’s words even more and couldn’t help saying, "Having a forensic center would really be great. Currently, our autopsy room is still at the funeral home. Not to mention anything else, it’s inconvenient for you to perform autopsies at night, and it’s also quite unsettling."

"You also find the funeral home unsettling?" Jiang Yuan didn’t expect his master to have such thoughts.

Wu Jun corrected him, "It’s the funeral home at night that’s unsettling. There’s nuances to it..."

"I understand, I’ll work to get Commissioner Huang to build the forensic center as soon as possible!" Jiang Yuan quickly excused himself. The funeral home was unsettling enough, and Jiang Yuan didn’t want to hear more about just how unsettling the funeral home could be at night.

In the office.

Wang Zhong and his colleagues from the Criminal Investigation Squad, as well as members of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team, gathered together and shared a cake bought with the department’s funds to welcome him.

Jiang Yuan blew out the candles.

"Welcome back, Captain Jiang, in glory."

Captain Lu Jianfeng of the Criminal Investigation Squad led the applause.

Jiang Yuan humbly replied, "I don’t deserve such praise. Thank you all for your hard work in my absence."

"It was nothing."

"It won’t affect anything."

"And there aren’t really any bodies."

The last line was said by Ningtai County’s only full-time forensic doctor, Miao Ruixiang.

"Regarding the last point, it really is a problem," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. If a forensic doctor doesn’t have any bodies, what’s the value of this occupation, this job?

"It’s actually all thanks to you, Jiang Yuan," Lu Jianfeng criticized Jiang Yuan with the demeanor of a middle squad leader, saying: "Now across the whole county, there’s a big push for surveillance systems. The number of criminal offenders at the grassroots level and the number of criminal acts have both decreased. With no such criminal basis, the homicide rate keeps hitting record lows. Where would the bodies come from then?"

"It’s true, the number of cases now is indeed too few," Yan also nodded.

Wang Zhong: "The roots have been completely dug up. This year, compared to fingerprint analysis, those from our county are all active in other places."

"The county’s economy is also better than before, employment has increased, people’s time has all been taken by capitalists, naturally leaving no time to do what they want," Lu Jianfeng further summarized: "Our bureau now also has a sufficient workforce. Now we’re adopting a grid-based management and team-service approach. We’re knocking at your door before you even start creating trouble; those inclined to passion killings have lost their passion."

Jiang Yuan listened and nodded. For the control of homicide cases, there have long been established methodologies in the country. Simply put, it’s to resolve conflicts at an earlier stage. Posh terms like "modernization construction of municipal social governance" apply; as for more practical police operations, terms like "management and control of key mentally disturbed individuals causing trouble," "investigation and resolution of conflicts and disputes"...

Most homicide cases, both the public and the police have some summaries. To say that they can be completely stopped is too big of an ask, but reducing them by a certain proportion is always possible.

"In this regard, there really is a problem," Jiang Yuan summed up as well.

The middle squad leader Lu Jianfeng, who had just been happily discussing, was taken aback, looking at Jiang Yuan and thinking, My point was a negation of affirmation; you should have understood, right?

At this time, Jiang Yuan said: "Just now, Captain Lu mentioned that the homicide rate is hitting record lows, and it posed the question of where the bodies would come from. In fact, the bodies don’t necessarily all have to come from homicides, at least not all from local homicides."

"Really?" Several people turned their gaze to Jiang Yuan.

"I remember we talked about the issue of bodies in the Tai River Basin before. Perhaps, we could collect those bodies here," Jiang Yuan suggested.

"Collecting other people’s bodies, what would we be doing with that?" Lu Jianfeng felt Jiang Yuan was being sarcastic.

Working on homicide cases is purely expending resources, and definitely a high expenditure at that. Compared to consumerism, homicide investigations are far more costly. What so-called top-tier rich kids spend on dating ten girlfriends doesn’t even match the expense of processing a single body.

Thus, the idea of proactively collecting bodies from other cities seemed unreasonable to Lu Jianfeng.

At this point, Jiang Yuan quite naturally said: "Let the Provincial Department pay for it, other cities through which the Tai River flows could also contribute. This way, not only would it resolve the difficulties of other cities, but it would also spare the Provincial Department the trouble of allocation every time. All parties should be willing."

The issue of body attribution along the river has always been a headache; after all, no police force wants to increase drama to this extent.

Especially during holidays, if a body suddenly floated down the river, the thought of policemen ready to go home for the holidays would be?

Therefore, some places would set up river basin management organizations, including policing management departments to allocate these. The Tai River may not be a major river, but because it flows through several major cities’ central districts, the number of bodies drifting each year is substantial, always a cause of controversy within the Provincial Department.

Listening to Jiang Yuan’s analysis, Lu Jianfeng actually found it very reasonable.

If someone else proposed such an idea, it would definitely encounter many problems. But coming from Jiang Yuan, it would likely be agreed upon by all parties.

"The Provincial Department and the cities should be willing to pay, though there may be issues with the proportions," Lu Jianfeng essentially agreed.

"Let’s discuss it and see how it goes; Ningtai County can’t end up without a single body for dissection in the end," Jiang Yuan returned to the essence of the problem and then asked, "Have any responsible persons from other districts and counties come over?"

He returned to Ningtai County and the counties and cities in need should be coming over.

Wang Zhong immediately said, "Yes, several counties from our city, Longli County, Liyuan County, and so on have come over, and police stations from Jianjiang City, Qingbai City should also have sent representatives."

Jiang Yuan finished a piece of cake and said, "Then I’ll go meet them."

After seeing off Jiang Yuan, Lu Jianfeng returned to his office and couldn’t help saying: "You know, Director Huang and the others, when they did cases for other cities and counties before, it was always about tangible compensation, paired assistance and the like. If we implement a charging mechanism for the Tai River Basin, wouldn’t that be a money launder?"

Yan passed a piece of cake to Lu Jianfeng, "Captain Lu, let’s talk about something positive..."