Since Lian Dazhang had confessed everything, the next step was to go to the police station to make a formal statement.
Lian Dazhang agreed to everything, only saying, “No problem, please give me some time to pack my things and delegate some work.”
The two left the office and waited in front of the elevator, giving Lian Dazhang some space.
Ji Xun stood leaning against the wall, tossing a coin he had gotten from somewhere back and forth, a blank look on his face.
“Feeling drained?” Huo Ranyin glanced at him and said.
“A little bit,” Ji Xun mumbled in response. The reasoning part was brilliant, and the narration also required focus and tight logic, but once everything was done, it felt like he could just lie on a soft bed and daydream.
He felt the wall behind him was swaying.
After a couple of sways, Huo Ranyin’s hand reached out and steadied his shoulder. Only then did he realize it wasn’t the wall swaying, but himself.
“You can lean on me…” Huo Ranyin began.
“It’s not tomorrow yet,” Ji Xun said, suddenly alert. After he said it, he saw the corners of Huo Ranyin’s mouth curve up into a half-smile.
It was rare for the other to make such an expression while working.
“…Work, work,” Ji Xun abruptly changed the subject. “What do you think of this ending?”
“There’s no ending or not ending,” Huo Ranyin’s expression became neutral, and he said lightly, “Ji Xun, it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. This is reality, that’s all.”
“Captain Huo, you’re really no fun.”
“We can save the fun things for tomorrow,” Huo Ranyin said calmly.
Ji Xun let out a quiet snort. Lian Dazhang was taking a long time to come out. He was getting so sleepy waiting that he took a coin out of his pocket and played with it to stay awake. As he was playing, he flicked the coin up with his finger and caught it between his teeth.
Huo Ranyin, beside him, furrowed his brows, looking as if he wanted to come over and snatch the coin from between his lips.
Ji Xun, now energized, gave him a casual smile and bit the coin provocatively.
What’s the use of just thinking about it? Come and take it if you dare.
“Oh my, how annoying…”
Just then, the elevator dinged and stopped on their floor. The faint sound of conversation came from inside the elevator car. Someone was about to come out.
Both of them paused, then, with guilty consciences, averted their gazes from each other.
Ji Xun dropped the coin back into his palm and idly watched the elevator in front of them. Soon, the elevator doors opened, and two young women in professional suits walked out. The one on the left was a tall woman with short hair, and the one on the right was a shorter woman with long hair.
The long-haired woman was holding a bouquet of dried flowers, her face troubled.
“I accidentally bought the wrong thing. I wanted to buy fresh flowers.”
“Dried flowers last longer than fresh flowers. And fresh flowers are a hassle to take care of.”
“But fresh flowers are pretty, and you can smell their fragrance.”
“You can just spray some perfume and it’ll be fragrant too,” the short-haired woman coaxed. “I just bought a new bottle of floral-scented perfume. A few more sprays, and I guarantee it’ll be more fragrant than fresh flowers.”
Ji Xun’s temple suddenly felt like it had been hit by a heavy punch. His brain jolted violently!
“What’s wrong?”
Huo Ranyin’s surprised voice sounded. Only then did Ji Xun realize he was gripping Huo Ranyin’s hand tightly.
“I thought of something,” Ji Xun said. “Do you remember how strong the scent on the letter Kong Shuiqi received was?”
Huo Ranyin frowned. “Considering the letter had been sent a long time ago, the residual scent was indeed quite noticeable, but we also have to consider that Kong Shuiqi kept it in a plastic bag…”
“Quite noticeable” is enough!
Ji Xun didn’t wait for Huo Ranyin to finish, but dragged him directly to Lian Dazhang’s office.
The glass wall of the office was still spotless. Behind the glass wall, Lian Dazhang had his back to them, facing his unusually large desk, wiping a balance scale that was placed on it.
The sound of them entering startled Lian Dazhang. He turned his head apologetically. “Have you been waiting long? I’m sorry, I’ll be ready in a moment.”
“The perfume on the letter was sprayed on purpose. From the time the letter was sent to when the police received it, almost two days had passed, and the scent of perfume still lingered. So it wasn’t accidentally stained.”
Ji Xun looked at this proper and refined face and said slowly:
“Lian Dazhang, the lies you just told were truly brilliant. Everyone was deceived by you.”
“No, that’s not right. Most of what you said was the truth. You just processed them a little. A true lie. You are truly worthy of your education, your profession. You are a master of this art. You were right, Xin Yongchu shouldn’t have to bear so much, because you—are the true mastermind of this case!”
The balance in his hand was put down by Lian Dazhang.
He looked at Ji Xun with great interest, didn’t speak, but made a gesture for Ji Xun to continue.
A series of testimonies from different people flashed rapidly through Ji Xun’s eyes and mind. Finally, it settled on a sentence he and Huo Ranyin had overheard next door in the hotel.
Lian Panpan had complained: “It’s even more troublesome now. I have to wait for him to open the door for another round of spot checks.”
Ji Xun’s focus returned. Various pieces of evidence, various logics, were broken down and reassembled in his brain. He spoke a completely different line of reasoning than before—or rather, a further step in the reasoning:
“When Xin Yongchu came to you, you didn’t want to participate in this revenge. Perhaps Xin Yongchu’s initial plan was what he did in the murder video: find Zhao Yuanliang and force him to confess his accomplice. And in your eyes, this behavior was extremely laughable and unlikely to yield any useful results, so you did not immediately agree.”
“But you are a smooth person, and you did not immediately refuse him either. On one hand, you were worried that Xin Yongchu, pushed to this point, would do something desperate. On the other hand, you had received help from Tang Zhixue in your time of need. To refuse immediately would make you seem ungrateful.”
“You had multiple contacts. On one occasion, you were accidentally seen by Lian Panpan, who had come home in the afternoon. That day, Lian Panpan hid from Xin Yongchu, who had climbed in through the window, and you hid from Lian Panpan, who had suddenly come home.”
“You were shocked. Why would your daughter skip class without your knowledge? You secretly followed her. You saw her get into a strange man’s car, and at night, she would sneak out and only return at dawn.”
“This is also why you, who rarely managed your daughter before, have recently started to linger at Lian Panpan’s bedroom door at night. You had long discovered her little secret at night. This also explains why, at the police station, when your wife completely broke down, you appeared so calm, perfectly playing the role of the most understanding and greatest father.”
“But at that time, when you had just found out about this, you were furious and confused: Lian Panpan was monitored by your wife almost 24/7, either at home or at school. How did she have time to do such things? How could a 15-year-old girl withstand the investigation of a professional lawyer like you? Soon, you discovered her cosplay hobby, her high spending, her relationship with Chen Jianying, her circle of friends, and the source of all the evil—Fuxing Education.”
“Lian Dazhang, you know Sun Fujing,” Ji Xun said. “There was a testimony from your colleague, mentioning that you are a profit-oriented person. When your daughter needed tutoring, you would go and flatter the tutoring center’s boss.”
“I don’t know when you became suspicious of Sun Fujing. You and Xin Yongchu are actually very similar. He suspected Zhao Yuanliang because he was poor in the past but is now rich. You, of course, also have reasons to suspect Sun Fujing, especially that Qian Shumao next to him. His original name was Qian Xingfa, but for some reason, he changed his name.”
“You are a timid person. You made a discovery, but you didn’t dare to dig deeper, nor did you want to. You just hid your suspicions in your heart.”
“Until you discovered your precious daughter had gone astray at Fuxing Education. This not only ignited the flames of revenge in your heart but also brought out this old suspicion.”
“Just at that moment, a brilliant idea flashed through your mind.”
“As I said before, once you figure out the blind spot of ‘the victim is the murderer,’ your and Sun Fujing’s cases can be deduced from one to the other without any reasoning.”
“So, whether you were inspired by Sun’s methods, or you designed the trick of poisoning yourself with silver nitrate and then worked backward to Sun, at that moment, you had already confirmed that Sun Fujing was the murderer who killed Tang Zhixue 22 years ago.”
“But you didn’t tell Xin Yongchu.”
“Because you wanted revenge. You completely used him.”
“You—through his revenge, wanted to draw out the police, lead them to investigate your daughter, and then send Sun Fujing to the gallows!”
“On January 15th, not long after the winter vacation started, which was the day after Lian Panpan’s testimony about seeing Xin Yongchu at the beginning of her vacation, you came up with your revenge plan, told Xin Yongchu, and had him buy silver nitrate.”
“You probably told him that, as a lawyer, you know the police too well. Ordinary means would not make the police re-investigate a 22-year-old cold case.”
“Xin Yongchu believed you.”
“As for how to send letters to the media later, how to word them, that was all your doing.”
“After all, how could someone like Xin Yongchu, who has been on the run for 22 years, know the media, know about online water armies, know how to hype up a topic, and know how to force the police into a corner, like you do?”
“You deliberately sprayed Lian Panpan’s perfume on the letter sent to Kong Shuiqi. You knew the police would definitely investigate the victim’s social circle. Once they found out you and Xin Yongchu had an old grudge, it was highly likely to be a targeted poisoning.”
“And a targeted poisoning can always be linked to a conspiracy with someone close to you.”
“So, the perfume and the printer ink could both clearly point to your daughter, making her a suspect.”
“Your plan went very smoothly. Officer Huo and I, step by step, followed the steps you had preset and found Chen Jianying, found Fuxing Education, and found Sun Fujing.”
“The law judged Sun Fujing, malice killed Qian Shumao, Xin Yongchu got his revenge on Zhao Yuanliang, Chen Jianying went to prison, and your daughter, in the police station, learned that her rebellion was just a money-making tool for others and broke down in tears.”
“At this time, you stood up and became a wall in front of your daughter.”
“How nice. How smart you are. You are not like those ordinary parents who would have a huge fight at home and even hit their child once they found out their daughter had gone astray. You are a smart person. You look down on such simple and crude methods. You know that doing so would only provoke more rebellion from your daughter. Even if she yields for a moment, it would only be a superficial submission.”
“So you chose an exquisite method of revenge to mend the situation.”
“You didn’t need to have any intense conflict with your daughter at all. The police played the villain for you, piercing the truth of the matter.”
“You just needed to stand up when it was all over. Your daughter will love you. She will start to worship you. You are a father, you are a mountain, you are a hero.”
Having said this, Ji Xun took a breath and then said coldly:
“And Xin Yongchu. As you said, he didn’t want to hurt anyone. He felt guilty that you willingly took the poison. So you knew, you were one hundred percent sure, that in his final confession in prison, you would be that small, insignificant, self-sacrificing, and self-devoted companion. A humble person who had courage only once in his life, a role you just performed so vividly.”
“What a beautiful, perfect crime! Using everyone and still getting away with it!”
This long narration was like a judgment on him.
During Ji Xun’s speech, Lian Dazhang sat down in his seat.
When one’s actions are laid out one by one by others, it’s hard for one’s thoughts not to be stirred. The first thing that flashed through his mind was his daughter.
His daughter.
His 15-year-old daughter.
He had followed her to the hotel. The thin walls of the hotel couldn’t block anything. He heard those unbearable, filthy, ugly moans. His body was shaking, his teeth were chattering, even his brain was shaking.
His mind went blank, as if someone had lifted the top of his skull and poured in freshly boiled water. His white brain matter exploded inside.
It was at that moment that he made up his mind.
“Officer Ji—” Lian Dazhang said three words, then smiled to himself, his gaze shifting between Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin. “Sorry, I misspoke. Teacher Ji, although you are not a police officer, sometimes you do more than a police officer. In the police station, there was one sentence I said from the bottom of my heart.”
“I have indeed failed Panpan,” Lian Dazhang said. “This is my sin, and also my responsibility.”
He had seen Sun Fujing.
Last year, he and Bei Jia had brought a fruit basket, with a bank card hidden under a dragon fruit, to visit the owner of Fuxing Education’s home. He had even found Bei Jia quite amusing. Paying for school and giving gifts to teachers during festivals was one thing, but even for a tutoring class, she had to pull strings.
Bei Jia had said it was lucky that Mrs. Sun happened to have business dealings with her, which gave them a lot of face.
They entered the house, and he saw Sun Fujing. Qian Shumao was also there. He recognized them.
But Sun Fujing had already forgotten him. The old man, now with a kind face and a scent of incense about him, just said, “You look a bit familiar,” and even introduced Qian Shumao. Urged by his wife’s gaze, he laughed it off, handed over the fruit, and asked them to take good care of his daughter.
They had a pleasant conversation that day. Sun Fujing promised to take good care of Panpan. As they were leaving, Sun Fujing even chased after them and playfully returned the bank card.
At night, when they went to bed, Bei Jia was still chattering to him, “We saved a lot of money. It’s all thanks to your good face.”
He found it ridiculous.
But what if it was ridiculous? As Bei Jia said, be realistic. He had achieved success, had a wife and child. So much time had passed—just let it pass completely. The dead shouldn’t disturb the lives of the living anymore.
But what happened later was even more ridiculous.
Evil doesn’t disappear just because you close your eyes and cover your ears.
He once had the chance to persist in seeking justice for Tang Zhixue and catching this evil. He gave up. When Tang Zhixue’s family came to him, he did feel pain and shame, but there weren’t so many flowery words. His own life was more important than repaying a debt of gratitude, so he gave up.
And so, when he had achieved success and had a wife and daughter, retribution came.
His daughter, because of Sun Fujing’s Fuxing Education, had stepped into an abyss.
Round and round it went. His closing his eyes and covering his ears had finally brought retribution upon his daughter.
It was he who brought his daughter into this world.
Now, he had the responsibility to correct this mistake.
“In court, we only talk about evidence, not reasoning,” Lian Dazhang sighed heavily. “So I’m sorry, Teacher Ji. Everything you said is just reasoning.”
“The judge will only see that Xin Yongchu’s video proves his murder was a spur-of-the-moment, passionate crime. I cannot be constituted as a co-conspirator as you reasoned, Teacher Ji, so there’s no talk of being a mastermind. I only posed a threat to my own life. Although this sounds like sophistry, even if I don’t say it, my lawyer will say it for me in court.”
Ji Xun almost gritted his teeth. “Even the idea of filming it was yours?!”
“Laws are made by people,” Lian Dazhang said, not answering the question. “Since that’s the case, they are destined to be exploited by people. My teacher once told me that my weakness was that I didn’t understand the law at all. I have great admiration for the police and for those who persistently seek the truth. But it’s undeniable that executing justice has a cost. Otherwise, why do you always need to set up a special task force for major cases? Not all wronged people can meet smart police officers like you and Officer Huo—Tang Zhixue, back then, couldn’t.”
“So you chose to use your method to shift the cost and steal justice,” Ji Xun sneered. “To understand the world is to have knowledge; to be worldly-wise is to be an expert. Lawyer Lian, you’ve taught me a lesson.”
“Everyone is teaching others a lesson. Xin Yongchu is also teaching me a lesson. He hit me back then because he looked down on my cowardice. After he hit me, he told me that when you’re bullied, you have to remember to fight back. Xin Yongchu and I are not enemies. We are friends. It’s just that friends don’t necessarily have the same goals.”
This was Lian Dazhang’s last sentence.
Then he raised a finger, his index finger sealing his lips.
He sat in the large boss’s chair. Behind him was a floor-to-ceiling window, and below it, a magnificent city with bustling traffic.
In front of him was a huge desk, with a balance scale placed directly in front of him.
Under the balance, he once again extended his hands to Huo Ranyin, polite and refined:
“Come on, place me under administrative detention. That should be all you can do.”
