The next morning, Mr. Ma came to his office and brewed a steaming cup of tea.

The tea aroma wafted up, and he gently blew on the floating tea leaves. Just as he was about to take his first sip, "knock knock knock"—a crisp knocking sound interrupted his action.

"Come in."

Mr. Ma put down his teacup and looked up towards the door.

Li from the secretary department pushed the door open and entered, holding a manila envelope in his hand.

"Good morning, Mr. Ma!"

Li greeted with a smile, "This is the letter of gratitude sent from Chuan City yesterday."

"Because you went out for a meeting after work yesterday, I didn't get a chance to pass it to you."

"I hurriedly brought it to you first thing this morning."

"A letter of gratitude?"

Mr. Ma took the envelope with a slight look of doubt, his fingers gently stroking the paper surface.

"Do we have any recent business interaction with Chuan City? Why suddenly..."

As he mumbled to himself, he was about to open the envelope.

Li quickly added, "Mr. Ma, this letter is not ordinary."

"Captain Jiang of the Criminal Investigation Team assisted in Chuan City's murder case, and I heard there's been a major breakthrough."

"Ah!"

Mr. Ma suddenly slapped his forehead, causing the tea in the cup to sway slightly.

"Look at my memory! Captain Jiang has been leading the team in Chuan City for several days."

He impatiently opened the envelope, "So, this letter is to thank them for the progress made in the case investigation?"

Li nodded, "From what friends in Chuan City said, the case has identified a suspect."

"The Chuan City Public Security Bureau especially thanked our department for the technical support and professional assistance."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Ma paused, holding his teacup unconsciously in mid-air, his eyebrows slightly raised, "Ah? Really solved?"

He nodded thoughtfully, "Hmm... it does indeed mention it in the letter."

Mr. Ma put down his teacup, crossed his hands on the desk, his eyes shimmering with excitement.

"With the full cooperation and strong assistance of our Jiangcheng Criminal Investigation Team, the suspect in the East District series of cases has been successfully captured, and the suspect confessed to all criminal facts without reservation."

At this point, Li slightly raised his voice, "What's more important is that several key nodes in the case resolution process were completed under the professional guidance and strong support of our Jiangcheng Criminal Investigation Team."

Hearing these details, Mr. Ma felt a surge of uncontrollable excitement inside.

He had originally thought this was just ordinary interregional cooperation, unexpectedly the collaboration between Jiangcheng Criminal Investigation and Chuan City's Criminal Investigation had reached such depth.

What surprised him even more was that, in his impression, Chuan City's Criminal Investigation had always maintained the leading standard in the province, whether in case-solving ability or technical equipment, they were exceptional.

In recent years, although under the leadership of Deputy Team Captain Jiang An, the case-solving rate of Jiangcheng Criminal Investigation had significantly improved, maintaining over 95% for two consecutive years.

But compared to the overall strength and historical accumulation, there was still some gap with Chuan City's Criminal Investigation.

Thinking of this, Mr. Ma impatiently put down his teacup, took out the gratitude letter stamped with a bright red seal from the folder, and carefully read it word by word.

Neatly printed on the letter paper was: "The Chuan City Public Security Bureau expresses its sincere gratitude to your department. Thank you for deploying strong support and excellent personnel Jiang An, Wang Junjie, and Zhang Yean to our city to guide the investigation of the case during the 'murder case' handling period."

"Under the strong support and professional assistance of your department, the case investigation progressed rapidly, achieving breakthrough progress one after another."

"Especially at several critical nodes, the Deputy Team Captain Jiang An of the Jiangcheng Criminal Investigation Team, with rich case-handling experience and keen criminal investigation intuition, repeatedly corrected the case handling direction, laying a solid foundation for the eventual resolution of the case."

"The case has now been successfully solved, and all major suspects have been captured, confessing to the criminal facts without reservation. We hereby write to express our heartfelt gratitude for your department's selfless assistance!"

The letter's conclusion was stamped with the prominent seal of the Chuan City Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Team.

Mr. Ma's fingers gently brushed over the seal imprint on the letter paper.

Holding this gratitude letter from Chuan City's Criminal Investigation Team with both hands, Mr. Ma's gaze lingered long on the paper, and a comforting smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.

As a deputy director who grew step by step from a grassroots criminal investigation captain, he understood more than anyone the weight this thin letter carried behind it.

In an instant, memories surged like a tide.

Back when he served as captain of the criminal investigation team, he had invited Chuan City's expert team to Jiangcheng many times for 'consultation' on difficult cases.

In those years, Chuan City's Criminal Investigation was in the limelight within the province's criminal investigation system. Their advanced investigation techniques and case-solving experience almost set the benchmark for provincial learning.

At every provincial criminal investigation work meeting, Chuan City's representatives were always arranged to sit on the podium, and their experience presentations were always the most welcomed part.

While Jiangcheng's Criminal Investigation, more often than not, could only sit at the back of the hall, quietly taking notes.

"Truly, how times have changed..."

Mr. Ma couldn't help but sigh. He gently caressed the bright red seal on the letter paper, savoring the genuine gratitude between the lines word by word.

The letter specifically mentioned that at several critical nodes in the case investigation, the team led by Deputy Team Captain Jiang An from Jiangcheng's Criminal Investigation Team proposed highly constructive plans, playing a decisive role in breaking through the case's bottleneck.

This kind of professional recognition is far more precious than any commendation.

"Good! Good!"

Mr. Ma suddenly laughed heartily, his voice reverberating in the office.