Chen Zheng said, “Teacher Zhang, I came today because there’s something important I need you to verify.”
Zhang Bin grew nervous. “What? Hasn’t the No. 2 Middle School case already been solved? D-did you find something about Hao Le?”
“Don’t get worked up yet.” Chen Zheng opened a screenshot on his phone. “Does this watch look familiar?”
Zhang Bin started. “Th-this looks exactly like the watch I got as an award!”
Chen Zheng said, “I saw a photograph on your desk the last time I was here. Do you still have your watch?”
Zhang Bin opened his mouth, then fell completely silent.
Chen Zheng said, “Teacher Zhang?”
Zhang Bin let out a long sigh and waved a hand. “I gave it… to Hao Le.”
A flash of lightning seemed to split through Chen Zheng’s mind. The shapeless suspicion he had been forming was gradually taking on substance.
“You gave it to Hao Le? When?”
Zhang Bin sat down on a stone bench in the residential complex, his back to the laughter of the elderly residents, and told Chen Zheng another story from his past with Hao Le.
Before trouble struck the Hao family, Hao Le had been extremely engaged in class and often discussed complicated mathematics problems with Zhang Bin. Zhang Bin marveled at his talent. As long as Hao Le wanted to ask questions, Zhang Bin was willing to spend every spare minute explaining them. At the time, he wore his award watch every day. It was not valuable, but to him it represented an honor. The students, however, all looked down on it and thought it old-fashioned.
One day, after solving a difficult problem, Hao Le rested for a moment and asked, “Teacher Zhang, where did you get that watch?”
Zhang Bin touched the watch and said with some pride, “It was an award from when I was named an outstanding teacher a few years ago. Everyone says it looks old-fashioned, though.”
Hao Le leaned closer to study it. “It doesn’t look old-fashioned. It looks steady and dignified. It suits a teacher.”
The compliment delighted Zhang Bin. “Right? I think so too.”
The Hao family was poor, so naturally Hao Le did not have a watch of his own. “Teacher Zhang, can I borrow it for a little while?”
Zhang Bin readily agreed. Hao Le put it on and admired it in the light for quite some time, envy showing in his eyes. “I wish I had a watch too. Last time I was doing a competition problem, there wasn’t a clock in the classroom and I almost ran out of time.”
On impulse, Zhang Bin blurted, “Then Teacher will give you this one!”
Hao Le froze, then hurriedly took it off. “How could I accept that?”
The more Hao Le refused, the more determined Zhang Bin became. “This watch is more useful on your wrist than mine. Keep studying mathematics. Teacher believes in you!”
Hao Le smiled shyly. “Thank you, Teacher!”
But Zhang Bin’s hopes ultimately came to nothing. Because of his family situation, Hao Le first began missing school for long stretches, then simply dropped out. College entrance exams, competitions, everything was abandoned.
At the time, Zhang Bin had been furious over Hao Le leaving and forgot all about the watch. By the time he remembered that he had given it to Hao Le, the boy had already been missing for a long time.
When Zhang Bin finished remembering, he suddenly understood why Chen Zheng had come. He shot to his feet in excitement. “This… this is the watch I gave Hao Le! You found the watch, so where is he?”
*Where was he…*
Chen Zheng held down his emotions and opened a photograph of Jiang Luoqing. “Do you know this man?”
Zhang Bin gripped the phone and stared for a long time. “Isn’t this Teacher Jiang from No. 10 Middle School?”
Chen Zheng frowned. “You know him?”
“I met him a few years ago at a citywide mathematics teachers’ meeting.” Zhang Bin remembered Jiang Luoqing rather well because the younger man had taken the initiative to greet him.
Zhuquan City’s educational resources were mediocre overall, but there was still a clear pecking order among schools and teachers. Teachers from key middle schools looked down on ordinary schools, and teachers from a delinquent-heavy school like No. 2 received even more contempt. Even though Zhang Bin had been named an outstanding teacher when he was younger, to the fresh talent at elite schools he was only a mediocre old teacher who had spent a lifetime achieving little and had never produced a student worth mentioning.
Whenever he attended exchanges with teachers from other schools, Zhang Bin knew his place and sat quietly in a corner without volunteering opinions, making himself nearly invisible. After the meetings, other teachers gathered to discuss things, but he never joined them, and no one came over to speak with him either.
That day had been different. During the meeting, he noticed Teacher Jiang from No. 10. The introduction said Jiang was a promising young teacher who had only recently joined the school and was a graduate of Wanqing Tech.
Zhang Bin had sighed inwardly that teachers of the new generation really were different. Even No. 10 Middle School now had a Wanqing Tech graduate. How could an ordinary teacher compare with that kind of pedigree? Back in his own day, he had only graduated from an ordinary teachers’ college, had no special talent, and then worked for decades. He had probably held back every truly gifted child who passed through his hands.
Because of Jiang Luoqing, Zhang Bin had become distracted several times during the meeting. Afterward, he packed his things alone and was about to leave when someone called, “Teacher Zhang.”
He assumed it was an old acquaintance. When he looked up, however, Jiang Luoqing was smiling politely at him. Zhang Bin was astonished. Why would a promising young teacher like this come looking for him?
“Teacher Jiang, hello, hello! Did you need something from me?”
Jiang Luoqing shook his head. “I heard you’re one of the city’s most outstanding and experienced veteran teachers, so I specifically wanted to come say hello. I hope you’ll give me plenty of guidance in the future.”
Zhang Bin froze. Top graduates usually looked down on old fossils from schools full of delinquents like theirs, either ignoring them or offering a perfunctory greeting. No one had ever treated him with such courtesy. He hurriedly took Jiang Luoqing’s extended hand. “Not at all, not at all! It’s you young people who should be helping old fellows like us.”
Jiang Luoqing said, “Not at all, Teacher Zhang. You’re a model for us.”
After that, Zhang Bin saw Jiang Luoqing several more times. Each time, Jiang took the initiative to speak with him and showed him respect. But thinking back carefully, Jiang Luoqing’s admiration had always remained verbal. He never discussed mathematics with Zhang Bin.
“Maybe he thought I couldn’t keep up with the way young people think anymore.” Zhang Bin said, “Still, being respected like that… looking back, it felt good.”
Chen Zheng asked, “You never thought he looked familiar?”
Zhang Bin looked confused. “Familiar? Like who?” A moment later, realization struck. He stared in disbelief. “The watch is on him? Hao Le? But… but that can’t be right. They don’t look alike, and their voices…”
Chen Zheng asked, “Their voices what?”
Zhang Bin’s hands began trembling with nerves. “If I absolutely had to say it, their voices are a little alike. Teacher Jiang’s is deeper. If Hao Le grew up, maybe… maybe that’s what he would sound like! Officer Chen, what does this mean? Is Hao Le Teacher Jiang? Hao Le came back? He actually got into Wanqing Tech? But why did he become someone else?”
Chen Zheng pushed open the interrogation-room door again. Jiang Luoqing still appeared composed and could even force out a smile. “Officer Chen, can I leave now? My students…”
“Stop worrying about your students for the moment.” Chen Zheng cut him off. “Let’s talk about your teacher.”
Wariness flickered through Jiang Luoqing’s eyes, his brow tightening slightly. “My teacher? I don’t understand how my teachers have suddenly become involved. Do you mean the ones at Wanqing Tech or No. 1 Middle School? I swear, there may have been some irregularities when I attended school temporarily and returned home for the exam, but my teachers were definitely innocent.”
Chen Zheng studied him. “Teacher Jiang, I’ve noticed you like swearing oaths. But police trust oaths least of all. Statements are never as important as physical evidence.”
Jiang Luoqing seemed to sense danger. “Then what are you trying to say?”
Chen Zheng said, “Your former teacher. Zhang Bin. Teacher Zhang.”
Jiang Luoqing sat completely still, but his eyes widened beyond his control. He seemed to want to hide his shock, yet his rigid facial muscles and faintly trembling lips betrayed him. A moment later he forced out two syllables. “Teacher… Zhang?”
Chen Zheng said, “You aren’t going to claim you’ve forgotten him, are you? He remembers the watch on your wrist very clearly, because he gave it to the most mathematically gifted student he ever taught. Unfortunately, that student disappointed him.”
Jiang Luoqing tried to compose himself, pressing both hands hard against the table. The watch was no longer on his wrist. Chen Zheng did not know where he had put it.
Chen Zheng said, “Would it be more appropriate if I called you by another name? Hao Le?”
Jiang Luoqing’s pupils dilated. The next instant, as if in self-defense, he turned his gaze aside. “Officer Chen, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I don’t know this person you mentioned either. Teacher Zhang? I do know him, but only because I met him a few times at teaching seminars.”
Chen Zheng said, “Then why is the watch he gave his favorite student on your wrist?”
Jiang Luoqing reached toward the wrist where the watch had been. “I already told you. My father gave the watch to my uncle years ago, and my uncle later returned it to me. What does that have to do with Teacher Zhang?”
Chen Zheng said, “Then why won’t you cooperate with us and contact your Uncle Jiang Ming in Country A? Is he really your uncle?”
Jiang Luoqing said, “I don’t want these ridiculous little matters disrupting his life. He has already done a great deal for me.”
“He would help you?” Chen Zheng said. “I doubt it. His actual distant nephew is dead without even a grave. Why would he help an outsider like you?”
Jiang Luoqing frowned. “Officer Chen, that’s going too far.”
Chen Zheng smiled instead. “Since you refuse to tell the truth, I’ll tell you what I think the truth is. Hao Le, ten years ago on Xuebu Mountain, Feng Feng and the others nearly killed you. They even smashed your head open, thought you were dead, and buried you deep in the mountain. But you weren’t dead. Someone saved you. Your injuries were extremely serious, though. Plastic surgery wasn’t only about changing your identity. It was also part of treating what had happened to you.”
“After you recovered, you didn’t choose to take revenge on the people who hurt you. You had a larger goal. Or rather, the person who saved you had a larger goal. You no longer needed the identity of Hao Le, because Hao Le was already a dead man. That identity would only become a burden. You needed a brand-new identity and a completely new place to begin again.”
“The people behind you chose Jiahui City. It’s a small coastal city with poor public security and no shortage of people who could provide you with a new identity. With your money and capability, arranging something like that would have been easy. The family of the thug Jiang Luoqing entered your sights and became your prey.”
Heavy breathing filled the interrogation room. The corners of Jiang Luoqing’s eyes were faintly red with anger. His hands clenched tight, as though he could not believe the police officer in front of him had seen through his calculations.
Chen Zheng kept watching him and continued. “People on Linping Street now say the Jiang family died while being smuggled abroad. That was part of your setup too. All you needed was Jiang Luoqing’s identity. How his family died was irrelevant to you. But taking the identity alone wasn’t enough. The real Jiang Luoqing came from the bottom. You needed academic credentials to package yourself and climb back to the position your own abilities should have reached.”
“The college entrance exam? Your schooling had been interrupted for years, and mathematics was your only strength. Your other subjects were weak. So you were placed at Zhuqing No. 1, a key high school with an extraordinary elite-university admission rate. There, you rapidly made up the high-school material you were missing, then returned secretly to Jiahui City to sit the college entrance exam. Wang Mai, who helped you, lost his value after he was used and was killed to silence him. By then, you had already begun your new life at Wanqing Tech.”
“Your assignment was to become a teacher, which happened to align with what you once wanted anyway. When Teacher Zhang gave you that watch, you also believed you could become someone like him. What happened afterward sent your life crashing to the bottom, but once you became Jiang Luoqing, you could return to the path you had once been on. You are Hao Le. That’s why you came back to your hometown during your second year at university. That’s why after graduation you stayed neither in Wanqing City nor Jiahui City. Zhuquan was the place you had to choose. Your real age is older than the age on your documents.”
Jiang Luoqing narrowed his eyes. His gaze was dangerous, like a corpse frozen upright in place.
“The people behind you told you to spend a few quiet years as a teacher first. You were genuinely outstanding. Your first class produced excellent results. When I looked through your teaching record, one thing bothered me. Why would a young teacher with so much drive suddenly refuse to take a Grade 12 class?” Chen Zheng said. “Because you received an assignment. You no longer had enough time or energy to take those students all the way to graduation. Liu Wenran admired you, which meant controlling her would have been almost effortless. You gave her the doll. You were the one who interfered with the cameras. No… you have a team. Someone on your team did it.”
“Liu Wenran is in your hands. You engineered her disappearance. Once police began investigating, stories about the doll would spread wildly through the schools. Imaginative students would start causing trouble on their own, malice would be drawn out, and the campuses would descend into disorder. Yu Zhenxiao, the first person to make one of those dolls, was another part of your plan, just like Liu Wenran. She resented Zhou Xi, but the fact that she spent so much time volunteering at the welfare home shows that she was gentle and kind at heart. Your specialty is releasing the darkness hidden inside kind people. You approached her long ago and used her to spread the dolls. Once the situation took off, you used Xu Xinghao to sell them. Xu Xinghao is dead now. What about them?”
Jiang Luoqing finally laughed. “Officer Chen, I’m a mathematics teacher. I have no idea what any of this is supposed to mean. All I can tell you is that I’m not Hao Le, and I could never hurt my students. I understand how hard police work is, but failing to find the killer doesn’t mean you should lose your minds, does it?”
He even extended an arm. “You say I’m Hao Le? Then run a DNA test. Prove it.”
Chen Zheng knew better than anyone that there was no comparison to run. Hao Le had never left DNA information on file back then. Jiang Luoqing knew that too. That was precisely why he dared say it.
Chen Zheng ignored the provocation. “Liu Wenran, Yu Zhenxiao, Xu Xinghao, and yes, Zhao Yu, who disappeared much earlier, were all cogs in your plan. You had complete control over them, and once they were no longer useful, you killed them to silence them. But Lü Ou was an exception. He suddenly tore through your net, forcing you to act against him. This unexpected disruption unsettled you. He’s a smart kid. Maybe he even provoked you? Your emotions were unstable, so before going to work you dug out the watch you hadn’t worn in a long time and put it on, looking for calm and support. You remembered Teacher Zhang telling you when he gave it to you, ‘Teacher believes in you.’ You needed that kind of reassurance.”
Jiang Luoqing’s expression changed again, as though Chen Zheng had struck something true, but he still admitted nothing. “I’m worried about Lü Ou disappearing too. In the end, isn’t all of this happening because you police have taken so long to solve the case?”
Chen Zheng smiled. “Don’t worry. The suspect has already delivered himself to our door. Solving it is only a matter of time.”
Jiang Luoqing’s gaze darkened. Chen Zheng stood and looked down at him. “Teacher Jiang, I’ll ask you one more time. Is there anything you want to confess?”
After half a minute of silence, Jiang Luoqing ground out, “I’m innocent.”
Chen Zheng’s interrogation left even Kong Bing stunned. He had never expected Chen Zheng to organize such a complete chain of reasoning in so little time. But that was also the problem: the police still had no evidence capable of convicting Jiang Luoqing. He flatly insisted he was not Hao Le, while on Ming Han’s side, it had become almost impossible to find any of Jiang Luoqing’s relatives.
“What are you worried about? We already have our first opening.” Chen Zheng placed an evidence bag in front of Kong Bing. Inside was Jiang Luoqing’s watch. “Jiang Luoqing says his father gave this to his uncle before the uncle went abroad. That would make it at least thirty years old. Teacher Zhang received his award a little over twenty years ago. If we can establish that this watch was manufactured around the time Teacher Zhang received his award, we can prove Jiang Luoqing lied. It isn’t direct evidence, but something is better than nothing.”
Kong Bing took the evidence bag and stared at Chen Zheng.
Chen Zheng had just finished the interrogation and let his mind drift for a moment, so he did not immediately notice Kong Bing watching him. Several minutes passed before their eyes met. “Hm?”
Kong Bing clicked his tongue. “Nothing. I just suddenly realized you can get this fired up too.”
Chen Zheng repeated, “Fired up?”
Kong Bing looked a little embarrassed, unable to quite find the words. “It’s just… you said all that to Jiang Luoqing and he denied every word. We still can’t really do anything about him. I thought you’d be… pretty frustrated. But instead you look like somebody lit a fire under you.”
Chen Zheng laughed. “He poured a bucket of oil on it. I never expected pure reasoning to make him confess. If he were that easy to deal with, these cases wouldn’t have held us up for so long. Look at his reactions. His mouth says he’s innocent. Is he really innocent?”
Kong Bing grunted. “Forget police. Any ordinary person could tell there’s something wrong with him. The way he reacted when he heard Hao Le’s name was impossible to hide!”
“Exactly.” Chen Zheng said, “Now we have our eyes on him. Everything he does will be magnified. There is no way every action he has taken left absolutely no trace. Finding evidence is only a matter of time. Still nothing new from his communication devices?”
Kong Bing shook his head. “They’re too clean. His home is too clean too. It was obviously scrubbed.”
Chen Zheng said, “A teacher like him, once his job stabilized, would normally buy a home. But he has kept renting. Huaquan Residential Complex may not be the only place he stays.”
Kong Bing frowned. “Where else would he live?”
“That’s what we need to canvass.” Chen Zheng said, “Jiang Luoqing’s hobby is running. He often runs in the early morning and after evening self-study. His routes vary. He claims he simply runs wherever he feels like going, but I suspect he follows a relatively fixed route.”
Kong Bing looked as though someone had poured a bucket of oil on him too. “I’ll check right now!”
Chen Zheng was left alone in the office. The boiling emotion from the interrogation gradually subsided. Although he had just joked to Kong Bing about having oil poured on him, Chen Zheng knew very well that the closer the first light of a solved case appeared, the calmer a criminal investigator needed to become, and the more prepared he had to be to shoulder whatever pressure might suddenly fall.
After drifting for a moment, he abruptly remembered again that he was no longer the person who needed to carry that pressure. So why did he not reject it? Why did it even feel faintly familiar?
“Bro, I’m back.” Ming Han tossed his travel bag onto a chair, looking dusty and travel-worn.
Chen Zheng looked up and instinctively checked the time. “That fast?”
Ming Han had finished investigating in Zhuqing and Jiahui. Jiang Luoqing had covered his tracks thoroughly enough that remaining there had little value. Chen Zheng knew he was coming back, but had not expected him so soon.
“I figured you needed me, so I couldn’t wait to get back.” Ming Han held out a hand. The golden light of evening fell over both of them. “I brought back two pieces of news. Want to hear them?”
“Yes.” Chen Zheng lightly slapped Ming Han’s extended hand. “What is it?”
Ming Han said, “Jiang Ming, that uncle of Jiang Luoqing’s in Country A, was killed five years ago because he couldn’t repay his debts.”
Chen Zheng had already considered the possibility, but still drew in a breath. “He’s dead.”
Ming Han explained that Jiang Ming was extremely difficult to investigate through ordinary channels. He was essentially a symbol Jiang Luoqing had inserted into his story, and that symbol lived on the other side of the world, beyond the practical reach of Zhuquan City’s police.
But one senior member of the Mobile Unit had participated in international operations before. Ming Han asked him for help, and through personal contacts they reached the local police and obtained the information.
After arriving in Country A, Jiang Ming initially could only work off the books. Through hard work and some street smarts, he gradually established himself, accumulated enough capital to start a business, and entered the middle class. He and his wife had two sons. But beginning around ten years ago, he became involved in illegal betting and accumulated large debts. Five years ago, unable to repay them, he was hunted down. His entire family was burned to death in what was supposed to be a safe house but looked more like a trap.
Chen Zheng said, “The whole family died? Burned to death?”
Ming Han nodded. “Public security there really isn’t great, and businesspeople often have some degree of contact with gangs. But an entire family being burned to death is extremely rare. Even gangs care about their reputation. The debt may have been used as a pretext. Jiang Ming really did owe money, but it shouldn’t have ended like this. Someone wanted him and every relative around him permanently silenced, and they used fire, the ‘cleanest’ method.”
Chen Zheng said, “Silencing a witness. Just like Wang Mai.”
Ming Han said, “Both of them knew the secret of the current Jiang Luoqing. If they had a biological sample from Jiang Ming, Jiang Luoqing’s identity would collapse immediately.”
Chen Zheng thought for a moment. “Killing a vice principal’s family inside China and manipulating gangs abroad… the force behind Jiang Luoqing may be larger than we imagined. What’s the other piece of news?”
Ming Han said, “Bro, remember the day Liu Wenran received the gift, when the surveillance cameras inside and outside Class 13 were interfered with?”
“Of course,” Chen Zheng said. “That camera interference is exactly what brought Lü Ou into our sights.” At the mention of Lü Ou, his expression darkened. There was still no news of the boy. With Jiang Luoqing now in police custody, there was no telling whether the people outside would act against Lü Ou.
Ming Han said, “Lü Ou interfered with cameras using his own crude method. But the person who disrupted them that day used a device. Zhuquan’s technical investigators had never seen anything like it and couldn’t trace it. I sent the data back to the unit, and today they gave me an answer. The device looks a lot like a kind of jammer commonly used in casinos abroad, and it came from the same source as the proxy server Wei Youtai used.”