The Foreman

The three of them spent an hour inquiring at seven or eight construction sites before finally finding the contractor the village chief had mentioned.

The contractor's name is Zhu Zhenbiao, from Hunan Province, and he has been in Shenzhen for two or three years.

When they found him, he was busy at the construction site. When his coworkers called him down, he was covered in mud.

Judging from his attire alone, Gu Huai knew that he was not the kind of contractor in the traditional sense.

He's more like the kind of construction worker who leads a group of brothers to work and incidentally helps them get some jobs.

There are more people like this in this era. In a few years, these people will gradually become the kind of contractors who are completely off-the-job in people's minds.

Since Gu Huai had not yet been officially promoted, and he also wanted Hou Hao to show some promise and ease his emotions, she took the initiative to walk up to Hou Hao and nudged him, signaling him to go and ask him questions.

After being nudged by Gu Huai, Hou Hao reluctantly came up from behind.

"Let me introduce myself. We are from the Criminal Investigation Division of the Municipal Public Security Bureau. My name is Hou Hao, and this is my identification."

Zhu Zhenbiao glanced at the ID, then quickly wiped his hands on his pants before reaching out and grasping Hou Hao's hand.

"Officer, you must have made a mistake. All the officers here are law-abiding citizens. They have absolutely not done anything illegal or disorderly."

Seeing that Zhu Zhenbiao was overreacting, Hou Hao spoke up to reassure him, "Comrade, don't misunderstand. We're here to ask you about the situation."

Seeing that they weren't there to cause trouble, Zhu Zhenbiao felt a little relieved. "Officer, don't worry, I promise I'll tell you everything I know, no matter what you ask."

Upon hearing this, Gu Huai, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth.

He had seen many such glib-tongued people before.

Don't be fooled by his sweet talk; if your question concerns his own interests, he'll never tell you the truth.

However, he did not interrupt Hou Hao's question, but instead focused intently on observing Zhu Zhenbiao.

As long as he dares to cheat or slack off, he will definitely not escape my watchful eye.

After receiving the answer, Hou Hao subconsciously waited a moment. Seeing that neither Gu Huai nor Ling Yue showed any intention of speaking, he had no choice but to continue asking.

Do you know Zhang Zhenhua?

Upon hearing the name Zhang Zhenhua, Zhu Zhenbiao's expression immediately changed, and he took a step back, making a move as if he was about to run away.

Seeing this, Hou Hao quickly took a step forward and grabbed him, saying, "Don't move!"

"I knew you Shenzhen people were unreasonable! We agreed not to call the police, what's wrong with us asking for our wages!"

When Zhu Zhenbiao tried to escape, Gu Huai initially thought he was hiding something, and was even somewhat pleased that the case was progressing.

But upon hearing what Zhu Zhenbiao was shouting, Gu Huai immediately lost his joy.

It was obvious that Zhu Zhenbiao believed the three of them were there to arrest him.

As for the reason, it was naturally to cause trouble by gathering a crowd.

At that time in 1993, the atmosphere of local protectionism was still quite strong.

Unlike later times, in the present era, no matter which city it is, whenever a conflict arises between locals and outsiders, the police will choose to protect the interests of the locals as soon as possible.

Zhu Zhenbiao's agitated reaction suggests he's encountered similar situations many times before.

Glancing around, Gu Huai noticed that the construction workers were gradually gathering around him, so he had to spread his arms and shout, "Everyone, don't come any closer, there's nothing to see!"

I had heard before that people from Hunan Province were known for their belligerence. If I were to be surrounded by this group, and some social unsettling elements were to shout at me, it might escalate into a bloody incident.

Thinking of this, he walked over to Zhu Zhenbiao and whispered, "I think you've misunderstood. We're here to find out the specifics, not to arrest anyone."

"real?"

"We're police officers. If we say we won't arrest you, we won't. There's no need for us to lie to you over something so trivial." Gu Huai reached out and gently patted Zhu Zhenbiao's shoulder. "Of course, if you don't cooperate, we don't mind taking you back to the station for questioning."

As he spoke, Gu Huai glanced at Hou Hao.

Hou Hao initially thought he had gotten into trouble again and was still a little unhappy, but after seeing Gu Huai's look, he immediately understood what Gu Huai meant and began to play the good cop.

"Yes, if you cooperate honestly, no one will make things difficult for you, otherwise..."

As he spoke, he tightened his grip on Zhu Zhenbiao's hand slightly.

"I'll cooperate, I'll cooperate," Zhu Zhenbiao pleaded repeatedly.

While signaling to Hou Hao to release the people, Gu Huai quickly said, "Have your men disperse first."

After being released, Zhu Zhenbiao stretched his wrists. "Stop crowding around, get back to work!"

After finally getting Zhu Zhenbiao to disperse the workers, Gu Huai originally planned to have Zhu Zhenbiao find a quiet place to sit and question him.

However, because of what had just happened, Zhu Zhenbiao was afraid that the three of them were just stalling for time, and he refused to leave no matter what.

Seeing that Zhu Zhenbiao was particularly resistant, Gu Huai, thinking it was better to avoid trouble, agreed to question him at the construction site.

"Tell me honestly what you did at Zhang Zhenhua's house that day, what you did, and what you talked about with him," Gu Huai asked.

Zhu Zhenbiao hesitated for a moment, then nervously recounted the whole story under Hou Hao's glare.

Building a house generally involves several stages, from signing the contract to the arrival of materials, the arrival of personnel, and the laying of the foundation.

For each stage the construction team completes, the homeowner needs to pay a portion of the fee.

The same applies to Zhu Zhenbiao's construction team.

The reason I went to Zhang Zhenhua was to demand the overdue payment for the construction work.

It's not that Zhu Zhenbiao is heartless; the main problem is that he can't afford to pay that much money out of his own pocket.

Although the main members of the construction team were all from his hometown, it was acceptable for their wages to be paid later.

The problem is that the construction team doesn't just consist of his fellow villagers.

Because of concerns that policies might change at any time, all houses were built at a rushed pace.

If this involves rushing to build, his construction team will naturally be short-handed, and he will have to call in temporary workers from outside.

Those outsiders won't pay him on a monthly basis.

It's always been a matter of working one day and getting paid the next.

This money had to be advanced by Zhu Zhenbiao, the contractor.

Over time, Zhu Zhenbiao advanced a considerable amount of money.

According to Zhu Zhenbiao, ever since he took over Zhang Zhenhua's projects, Zhang Zhenhua would only pay him on the last day of the payment deadline.

If it weren't for the fact that Zhang Zhenhua had an elderly mother who was bedridden and his family was also struggling financially, Zhu Zhenbiao would have wanted to quit long ago.

However, the reason why the incident of blocking the door and demanding money happened last time was mainly because the Chinese New Year was approaching.

Normally, Zhu Zhenbiao's men could tolerate it, even if it was a couple of days later.

But when the Lunar New Year comes, they can't stand it anymore.

Although they couldn't go home for the Chinese New Year due to the tight construction schedule, at least the money had to be sent back home, even if they couldn't go back in person.

In addition, it would take at least seven or eight days to mail the money home from Shenzhen, so the workers were naturally a little anxious.

"If that's the case, then why did you stop going after that? What did Zhang Zhenhua say to you?" Gu Huai asked.

"He approached me privately... He told me he'd have the money in a couple of days..."

"So you believe him?" Gu Huai frowned.

"I can't disbelieve you, officer," Zhu Zhenbiao said with a bitter face. "We came to Pengcheng to make money; we can't really cause trouble, can we?"

When did he contact you?

Zhu Zhenbiao answered without hesitation, "Twenty-eight, he found me on the twenty-eighth!"