Chapter 146: The Hall Master Investigates

Early morning, around 8 AM. Dragon City, Tianhong Port in Zha'nan District.

Wei Xiangzuo sat on his sofa at home, bleary-eyed, pouring tea.

"Hall Master, you came back yesterday?" a man asked somewhat nervously from across him.

"Ah!" Wei Xiangzuo yawned and picked up his teacup, beckoning: "Have some tea."

Beside them, a team leader pushed a teacup toward the man, saying softly: "Tell the Hall Master what you told me."

"Uh, there's not much to say about this," the man scratched his head and narrated softly. "Since Old Gu's incident until now, I've been called to the Police Bureau four times, all asking about the cars."

"The cars the bandits used were yours?" Wei Xiangzuo asked.

"Yes, those two cars were contraband cars I collected, no papers," the man immediately explained. "The purchase price was very cheap. I had people reassemble them, originally planning to sell them to small companies working in the port. As long as they didn't leave the port, there basically wouldn't be any problems - no one here would stop them."

"Then what?" Wei Xiangzuo asked.

"Then the cars disappeared," the man said with furrowed brows. "They vanished from the alley behind my sister-in-law's restaurant."

"When were they stolen?" Wei Xiangzuo asked, holding his teacup.

The man recalled: "Should be the day before Old Gu's incident."

Wei Xiangzuo calculated in his mind: "You didn't report it?"

"How can you report contraband cars?" the man replied with a bright smile. "This is what we do - I still have over ten in my warehouse. Going through officials would be trouble, plus they weren't worth much."

"Did you look privately?" Wei Xiangzuo asked again.

"Yes, but couldn't find anything," the man shook his head. "Everyone in the port knows each other, they usually wouldn't touch my things. When they were stolen, I thought it was kids from some district coming to steal."

"You're sure it was the day before Old Gu's incident?" Wei Xiangzuo asked again.

"Sure, my sister-in-law called me that day," the man nodded.

"Were the cars moved before they were stolen?" Wei Xiangzuo looked at him.

"Except for my sister-in-law's restaurant using them twice for deliveries, they basically weren't moved," the man paused before replying. "They just stayed there. You know, these cars aren't hard to sell, they could be driven away anytime."

"Alright, I understand," Wei Xiangzuo nodded. "Thank you, Old Lu!"

"Don't mention it, it's what I should do," the man replied with a smile.

"You can go back then," the team leader stood up and beckoned to the man.

"Good!" The man stood up and said to Wei Xiangzuo with repeated nods and bows: "Then I'll go first, Hall Master!"

"Ah, good!" Wei Xiangzuo replied politely.

After the man was escorted out, Wei Xiangzuo sat on the sofa, deep in thought.

After a while, the team leader returned from seeing the man out and said to Wei Xiangzuo: "Big Brother, his story doesn't match what the other side said. The Yu family said the cars appeared at Tianhong Port six days ago - that's correct, but the cars were stolen the day before Old Gu's incident. This doesn't prove the gunmen arrived a week ago."

Wei Xiangzuo took a sip of tea and replied with furrowed brows: "The cars weren't moved much, they might have been targeted early on."

"Why do I feel like you really trust that surnamed Su kid?" the team leader said with a smile.

"What do I trust about him?!" Wei Xiangzuo waved his hand and replied: "After Old Gu died, have these few days been peaceful in the dock gang?"

The team leader considered for a while: "Indeed not peaceful. These two days while we were gone, Old Xu has been constantly networking, and there's still a meeting tonight."

"I don't trust that Su kid, but I also don't want to be someone's gun," Wei Xiangzuo stood up. "Let's go to the port, wait for Little Feng to come back."

"What did he go do?"

"Right now I just want to know exactly when these gunmen entered Dragon City," Wei Xiangzuo replied expressionlessly.

......

At the Su family home.

Su Tianyu sat in his room, working on the association establishment materials.

For Dragon City's social organizations, from declaration, approval, and filing to final official recognition, they needed to submit materials to the Dragon City Public Affairs Bureau for processing.

The Dragon City Public Affairs Bureau had a very high administrative level but didn't set up subordinate offices. For all matters, units only needed to draw lots and queue at the bureau in Longkou District, and the approval process was very complicated.

To avoid a situation of "one matter taking three years," Su Tianyu could only call Wang Daolin to introduce him to a friend at the Public Affairs Bureau, to use connections and speed up the approval process.

In the morning, Su Tianyu filled out the most important categories of materials according to the Public Affairs Bureau's application forms at home, then called Kong Zhenghui to go meet Wang Daolin's connection together.

Before leaving, Third Sister found Su Tianyu: "Little Brother! Busy?"

"Just finished, what's up?" Su Tianyu smiled and stood up.

Third Sister blinked and stepped to Su Tianyu's side, saying softly: "I told Tianbei about Daxiong's matter. He said he'd go look, but why hasn't there been any news?"

Su Tianyu was stunned for a moment: "Ah, he took people to that air raid shelter but didn't find any clues."

"None?" Third Sister pressed.

"None," Su Tianyu shook his head.

"Ah," Third Sister sighed. "Daxiong's life... really is quite bitter."

"Originally I wanted to find him, try to arrange for him to leave, but we can't even find him, so there's really nothing we can do," Su Tianyu replied softly. "However, Dragon City has had a lot of incidents lately, the Police Bureau is extremely busy, police forces are scattered, so fewer people are watching for Daxiong. I estimate this guy has probably already run away by himself."

"Hope he ran," Third Sister slowly nodded.

Su Tianyu looked at her: "You care about him quite a bit."

"...Actually, besides family members, I don't really have many friends at the company," Third Sister said somewhat emotionally. "The sanitation workers are all men - besides work, there's not much private interaction. Only Daxiong was close to me - he was diligent, helped me a lot at the company."

"Mm," Su Tianyu nodded.

"...Ah, alright, go do your work!" Third Sister put up her hair. "I'm going to the company."

"Good, I'm going out for a bit!" Su Tianyu smiled and nodded, reaching out to pat Third Sister's arm saying: "Daxiong would probably be quite happy knowing you're thinking of him."

"Don't talk nonsense, I'm just thinking of him as a friend," Third Sister rolled her eyes.

After they finished talking, Su Tianyu took the materials and left to find Kong Zhenghui and Big Bai.

Before getting in the car, Su Tianyu sent Tianbei a text message.

......

At 1 PM.

In a tea shop at Tianhong Port, Wei Xiangzuo sat under a sun umbrella and asked with his hands in his sleeves: "How's the investigation going!"

"I sent out fifty or sixty people to ask around the area, and only got a bit of news," a team leader sat in a chair and said softly. "About a week ago, there were indeed several unfamiliar faces who entered the port, no familiar people leading the way. They stayed at the Xishui Ting Foot Massage City the first day."

Wei Xiangzuo paused before asking: "Can this be matched to the gunmen?"

"Normally it wouldn't match, but after Old Gu died, these people haven't appeared again," the team leader replied.