Now that the police station had a decision on the next step, Wen Yangyang returned to the interrogation room and told Wei Zhenzhu:
“Miss Wei, you’re fine for now. You can sign here and go home first.”
“What about my husband?” Wei Zhenzhu asked. She signed her name on the file. Her handwriting was fluid and bold, not looking much like a woman’s script, but more like…
Wen Yangyang took a couple more glances.
Wei Zhenzhu seemed to be able to read Wen Yangyang’s mind. She smiled and said, “My husband and I practice with the same copybook at home, so our handwriting is somewhat similar.”
Wen Yangyang said “oh.” “Duan Hongwen can’t go home for now.”
Wei Zhenzhu slowly nodded. She didn’t get up in a hurry, but said, “Gao Shuang is also dead, right? How did she die?”
“I’m sorry, the case is not closed yet. This is confidential and I can’t tell you.”
“I shouldn’t have asked.” Wei Zhenzhu lowered her head. “I don’t think there’s anything new, she was probably also killed by a man.”
She stood up. As she was leaving the interrogation room, she made an unexpected request to Wen Yangyang.
“You’re saying, Wei Zhenzhu wants to go with us to Zhuo Cangying and Gao Shuang’s villa?” Ji Xun asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Wen Yangyang asked. “Does this comply with procedure?”
“Let’s not talk about whether it complies for now. From your tone, you seem to want to help Wei Zhenzhu fulfill her wish?”
“Not really, it’s just…” Wen Yangyang was a little shy. “She’s been so cooperative with us, and her request doesn’t seem to be a very difficult one.”
“It’s a good thing to be compassionate. It seems you’ve learned your lesson from the Xi Lei case. But whether she can go or not, it’s not up to me.” Ji Xun’s tone changed. “The one who calls the shots is your Captain Huo.”
Huo Ranyin had no objection. “She can.”
The police had agreed, but women with families were always more troublesome. Before going to the scene, Wei Zhenzhu still had to go home first to prepare dinner for her young daughter.
Wei Zhenzhu herself felt embarrassed and apologized repeatedly in the car. When she got out of the car, she even invited Wen Yangyang and Hu Yuan to go upstairs with her.
“I’m cooking at home anyway. If you don’t mind, please come upstairs and have a meal with us.”
Wen Yangyang: “Ah, no need, we police officers can’t—”
Hu Yuan: “Okay, thank you for your trouble.”
Wen Yangyang: “?”
“If she runs away, it would be a lot of trouble. Someone has to go up with her.” Hu Yuan was not afraid to speak bluntly in front of Wei Zhenzhu. “I haven’t had dinner yet anyway. Sorry for the trouble.”
Being suspected like this, Wei Zhenzhu was not angry. She shook her head good-naturedly. “It’s no trouble. We are the ones who have troubled the police.”
She led the two female police officers upstairs, and from beginning to end, she didn’t glance once in Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin’s direction.
Ji Xun got out of the car, his arms crossed. It wasn’t until the three women had entered the building that he spoke to Huo Ranyin. “Under normal circumstances, even out of politeness, she would have asked us, right?”
Huo Ranyin was indifferent. “It’s not the first time she’s shown she’s a man-hater.”
“That’s true. It’s good that we don’t have to go upstairs, we can take a break.” Ji Xun said, “What do you want to eat tonight? Let’s have a burger, something simple. We can eat it here, so that if something really happens, we won’t be late.”
The three women entered the house.
Just as the door opened, they saw Changchang squatting at the entrance, looking at a flashcard. She didn’t hear the door open, so it wasn’t until Wei Zhenzhu’s shadow was cast on the flashcard in her hand that she suddenly looked up, ran over to hug her mother’s leg, her two eyes smiling into crescent shapes.
She was truly a lovely little girl, and with her disability, it was no wonder Wei Zhenzhu couldn’t put her mind at ease.
Wei Zhenzhu bent down, hugged her daughter, and made gestures in front of her. She said in sign language: Mom brought two sisters home tonight to have dinner with Changchang. Changchang, say hello to the two sisters.
Then she said to the two of them, “Officers, please make yourselves at home. I’ll go cook some noodles. It’ll be quick.”
Wen Yangyang didn’t know sign language, but Wei Zhenzhu’s gestures were simple, so she could guess some of it.
Changchang hugged her mother, looked timidly at Wen Yangyang and Hu Yuan, picked up the flashcard on the floor, and showed it to her mother.
When Wei Zhenzhu saw the chocolate on the picture, she understood what her daughter wanted. She patted her daughter’s shoulder. “Okay, mom will get you money to buy it right now.”
She turned back to the cupboard and picked up a jar. Next to the jar was a notebook. She took both things down, then glanced inside, and put them back. She hesitated, patted her daughter’s shoulder, made a gesture, then took out a packaged cookie from the snack box and gave it to her daughter.
Wen Yangyang only saw the smile on Changchang’s face fall, but soon, the little girl nodded obediently and sat back down, flipping through her cards. Wen Yangyang watched the whole thing and wondered, “What’s wrong…”
Hu Yuan was flipping through a magazine on the coffee table, her tone light. “You can’t even understand this? The woman has no money of her own. To buy anything, she needs to take money from the family’s money jar, and after taking the money, she has to keep an account. There’s probably no money in the jar today, and she can’t ask her husband who’s still at the police station for it right away, so she has to wrong her daughter and have her eat cookies instead of chocolate.”
Hearing this, Wen Yangyang couldn’t help it. She whispered to Hu Yuan, “You keep an eye on Miss Wei for me. I’ll go talk to Changchang.”
Hu Yuan raised one of her slender eyebrows, the arch of her brow like an affirmative answer from her master.
Wen Yangyang ran to Changchang. She stared at the little girl who couldn’t speak or hear for a while, then took out her phone and typed a line on the screen:
“Changchang, did you want to eat chocolate just now? I’ll buy it for you, okay?”
Hu Yuan was still flipping through a magazine on the sofa, but if you got closer and observed her carefully, you would find that she wasn’t really looking at the magazine in her hands. She was looking at the person in the kitchen.
Wei Zhenzhu, who had entered the kitchen, took out her phone and made a call.
At this time, who was this call to?
Hu Yuan thought as she flipped through the magazine.
In the dark night, two burgers had arrived on Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin’s phones. Just as Ji Xun was about to tear open the outer packaging, a message came to his phone.
Ji Xun glanced at it and said:
“A message from Hu Yuan says that Wei Zhenzhu upstairs made a call. Although we can check with the telecommunications bureau, I don’t think it’s necessary. Wei Zhenzhu’s social circle is simple. I guess this call was most likely to her parents. With such a big thing happening at home, it’s instinctive to contact your family.”
“Huh, Wen Yangyang also sent a message,” Ji Xun said again. He looked at the screen and slowly read, “She wants me to buy… chocolate?”
Beside him, Huo Ranyin was silent for a long time. “Why do they both send you messages?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Ji Xun said. “Of course, it’s because I’m kinder, more amiable, and smarter than you—”
Just as he finished speaking, a gust of wind came, and his nose felt a chill.
Ji Xun was momentarily bewildered. He looked at Huo Ranyin, unsure. “Did something land on my nose?”
The wind brought a flurry of white snow, dotting the dark night. One flake landed on the tip of Ji Xun’s nose.
It was like a small white flower, gently and softly embracing the straight tip of his nose.
Huo Ranyin stopped Ji Xun’s hand as he was about to rub his nose. He raised his hand and tapped the perfectly placed snowflake, a teasing smile playing on his lips:
“Be careful, the wind is strong. It didn’t flash your tongue, but it flashed your nose.”
The chocolate arrived just before the noodles were ready. Wei Zhenzhu, carrying the bowl of noodles, was stunned for a moment when she saw the chocolate in her daughter’s hand. Wen Yangyang, who had done this on an impulse, was also a little uncomfortable. She quickly came forward to take the bowl from Wei Zhenzhu’s hands and said, “Thank you for your hard work.”
Wei Zhenzhu came back to her senses.
She didn’t show any embarrassment or anger, emotions that Wen Yangyang had been worried about. Instead, she smiled gently. “Thank you.”
Then she asked her daughter to come over and taught her to thank the police officers.
After a simple dinner, it was time for them to leave. After watching her daughter drink a whole glass of water, Wei Zhenzhu put her daughter to bed and went around to close the windows in each room. She said, “It’s cold at night. If you’re not careful, the child will catch a cold.”
The first window she closed was her daughter’s room, and the last was the kitchen window.
During this time, Wen Yangyang was on the balcony, a little aimless. Next to the balcony was the daughter’s room. Standing on the balcony, she could see Changchang leaning on the window, looking outside.
The little girl stared out eagerly, unable to hear or speak.
The soft spot in her heart was touched. She raised her hand and pressed it against the windowpane, thinking secretly: Sigh, although it’s indeed cold in winter, and it’s snowing outside… but with all the windows closed, the child who can only stay inside alone will feel stuffy, right…
“Officer Wen,” Wei Zhenzhu called her.
“Hey, I’m coming,” Wen Yangyang said and hurried away.
The group finally arrived at the Huayi residential complex—that luxuriously decorated villa.
Hu Yuan and Wen Yangyang took Wei Zhenzhu downstairs. Wei Zhenzhu was very focused, looking at the living room, at the sofa, as if this could make her remember something.
Waiting next to Wei Zhenzhu to pick up any dropped testimony was of course one way to solve the case, but with so many people at the scene, one more or one less didn’t make a difference. So Ji Xun didn’t wait, but went upstairs.
He went to Gao Shuang’s room.
As long as the murder case was unsolved, the crime scene would not be cleared. Gao Shuang’s room was basically in the same state as when they had last seen it. On the bedside table, the humidifier and alarm clock were still there. Only the photo frame with the child’s picture had been put away.
Those put-away things were not taken away, but were collected in a box—a box very similar to the one Qi Yuan had used to store his sister’s belongings.
Just as Ji Xun was about to go to the box, a shadow was suddenly cast on the back of his hand. He sighed, “Captain Huo, you really come and go like the wind, walking without a sound.”
“The floor is carpeted, it absorbs sound.”
“No need to explain. Everyone knows you’re a man who walks with a terrifying effect.” As he spoke, Ji Xun opened the box. On top were some photos and some videos.
After a person dies, even the most precious gems are just prettier stones. Photos and videos, things that are common everywhere, become the carriers of memories, the first things to be cherished and preserved as relics.
“Besides, what are you doing up here? Why aren’t you downstairs seeing if Wei Zhenzhu can remember something more decisive?” Ji Xun asked again.
“The reason I came up is the same reason you came up,” Huo Ranyin said. He also reached into the box, but his purpose was slightly different from Ji Xun’s. Ji Xun was looking at the photo album, while he was looking at the papers.
Although it was not explicitly stated, Ji Xun could still smell the hidden rivalry in Huo Ranyin’s words.
Is he trying to see who can find the clue first?
Ji Xun accepted the challenge and improvised, rambling on, “As of now, Gao Shuang either committed suicide or was killed by Zhuo Cangying. As a doctor, it’s not difficult for Zhuo Cangying to obtain cyanide. If he killed his wife, he would have thought to place a suicide note next to her and brazenly bring Duan Hongwen back to the house where someone had already died. Then he must have been confident that he could clear his name. Could it be that he has a perfect alibi? If so, Gao Shuang probably died around six in the afternoon. During this time, Zhuo Cangying and Duan Hongwen were having dinner, so Duan Hongwen and the restaurant staff could all be alibis. Hmm, if the time was earlier… for example, if she died at 1 or 2 in the afternoon, Mo Nai arrived at 9 at night. Seven or eight hours had passed, and the blood in the body would have completely coagulated, making it impossible to bleed the body. That blood painting in the living room would not have been possible, and the case would not have been established from the very beginning.”
Huo Ranyin: “Your current line of reasoning is that you’re creating clues where there are none, and writing riddles where there are no puzzles?”
Ji Xun clicked his tongue. “What can I do? Even the phone was completely destroyed by Mo Nai. I can only use my mystery novelist’s creative abilities to add some fun to your case.”
Huo Ranyin couldn’t be bothered with Ji Xun. He sat next to Ji Xun, looking at the text-based items, holding each page up to the light as he flipped through them, very slowly.
Gao Shuang didn’t have the habit of writing a diary. With computers so popular now, not many people would leave behind handwritten text.
Huo Ranyin flipped through a few. They were basically notebooks with one or two lines of incomprehensible graffiti, probably related to games, that had been discarded. Most of them were numbers, with an occasional word or two written in a crooked, illegible hand, none of which could be considered. He tilted his head and thought for a moment, then went to Gao Shuang’s son Xiao Jun’s room and brought back a larger box.
Xiao Jun had just started the first grade this year. Now, with the emphasis on home-school co-education, parents were often required to correct their children’s homework. His workbooks were filled with Gao Shuang’s dense corrections, and there were even model essays that Gao Shuang had written for him.
Huo Ranyin was still doing the same thing, holding up the thin workbook paper to the light.
After a while, a smile suddenly appeared on his lips. “The handwriting on the suicide note must belong to Gao Shuang. It was either written by herself or imitated by Zhuo Cangying. If it was imitated by Zhuo Cangying, the easiest way would be to find a very thin piece of paper and trace over Gao Shuang’s handwriting, which would increase its credibility.”
“Your reasoning is also based on thin air, just like mine,” Ji Xun’s words were completely unthinking. His hand stopped on a page with a photo of Zhuo Cangying, Gao Shuang, and Xiao Jun at an amusement park. In the photo, Zhuo Cangying was wearing a black down jacket.
“Of course I found evidence. To trace characters, the paper must be relatively thin. Fortunately, Xiao Jun’s usual workbook paper is also very thin, so a character that has been traced twice can be distinguished from other handwriting. Look—these two characters, ‘dad’ and ‘mom,’ have both been traced.”
“Fuck…” Ji Xun swore.
“Fuck what?”
Ji Xun didn’t follow up with a dirty joke. He snatched the workbook from Huo Ranyin’s hand, widened his eyes, and looked at it against the light for a long time. He said from the bottom of his heart, “Huo Ranyin, you’re something else. You’re amazing.”
Huo Ranyin pursed his lips slightly, suppressing the hint of smugness that was rising to his lips.
“Although it’s unfortunate that Mo Nai destroyed the suicide note, which makes it so hard for us to see, the fortunate thing in this misfortune is that Zhuo Cangying wasn’t smart enough to take a picture of it with his phone, process it on a computer, and then trace it—that would have left no trace at all,” Ji Xun concluded. “In this case, the police are neither European nor completely African, let’s just say we’re Asian.”
“…Ji Xun, not everyone has the same criminal talent as you.”
“Yeah, that’s why it’s so hard to bring me to justice,” Ji Xun said. “Will that day ever come?”
