Jinsi Island? Where was that? Fan Lihua had never even heard of the place!
Compared with the day Luo Yingqiang’s mother had just died, she had calmed down considerably and turned the pros and cons over in her mind again and again. By then, she already knew Luo Yingqiang was no truly filial son, and he would never feel safe simply letting her leave. Did she have the ability to stand against Luo Yingqiang? No. Then she had no choice at all. She could only stay and play the role of Luo Yingqiang’s mother.
“I’ll sign.” Her hand trembled as she picked up the pen, and she saw a satisfied smile appear on Secretary Zhao’s face.
At first, she was glad she had made that decision. Being Luo Yingqiang’s mother meant never worrying about food or clothing, having servants at her disposal, and only occasionally dressing herself in gold and jewels to make an appearance when Luo Yingqiang needed to display his filial devotion.
But year after year, she began to feel like livestock kept in a pen. Luo Yingqiang would not allow her to take a single step outside the residence. Her every word and action was watched. She lost her freedom and became a prisoner of fear.
Every time Luo Yingqiang staged one of his public displays, he dictated what she had to say and what expression she had to wear. Failing to perform would not necessarily bring any punishment, yet Luo Yingqiang’s cold gaze always made her feel that he might kill her.
Through endless loneliness and constant fear, she finally understood what Luo Yingqiang’s mother had meant by that apology before she died. The woman had probably known long ago what her son was planning, yet she had never warned Fan Lihua. Instead, she had helped lure her into the Luo family.
Even so, Fan Lihua could not bring herself to hate her. In Fan Lihua’s eyes, Luo Yingqiang’s mother had been even more pitiable than she was. She had fallen seriously ill, and her son had no time to stay beside her. He clearly felt little affection for her, yet he could not allow her to die, because once she died, how was he supposed to show off his widely praised filial devotion? She was already dead, and still he had to find someone to impersonate her. And what about her ashes? In what lonely place had they been buried?
The detective taking notes sucked in a breath after hearing Fan Lihua’s account.
Chen Zheng continued, “Have you ever met any of Luo Yingqiang’s other family members? His wife, for example?”
“Du Fangfei is a good person. She… she actually helped me.” Fan Lihua shook her head as she spoke. “It was exactly because she was too good, because she had a conscience, that Luo Yingqiang couldn’t tolerate her!”
Chen Zheng gently guided her. “What do you mean by couldn’t tolerate her?”
Fan Lihua said that while Luo Yingqiang’s mother was seriously ill, Du Fangfei had come to visit twice, but both visits were hurried. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had held each other and cried. At the time, Fan Lihua did not understand why Du Fangfei had been so cautious. Only later did she realize that the conflict between Du Fangfei and Luo Yingqiang had already become very deep.
Du Fangfei and Luo Yingqiang had gotten together when they had nothing. After Luo Yingqiang made his fortune, however, he grew suspicious of the people around him. Not even the person who shared his bed could earn his trust. Du Fangfei knew Luo Yingqiang’s mother was gravely ill, but Luo Yingqiang did not want her visiting. One more person knowing about his mother’s condition meant one more risk of the truth leaking out.
After Fan Lihua began impersonating Luo Yingqiang’s mother, every channel connecting her to the outside world was cut off. Only Du Fangfei, as the nominal Mrs. Luo, could still find excuses to come and see her.
Du Fangfei once told her something heavy with meaning. “People like us are all just tools Old Luo uses to maintain his fake image. Money is the only thing he sees. Family? To him, that’s worth less than dirt. Aunt Fan, you have to stay alive.”
After that, Du Fangfei never appeared again. Fan Lihua later saw Luo Yingqiang on television saying that, so their child could receive a better education, his wife had flown to Country A to accompany her.
“They’re just like me. They’re ‘in prison’ too. People like us know what he’s really like. If outsiders ever found out, the image he built would collapse.”
Chen Zheng told Fan Lihua to get some rest, then left the hospital room. What Fan Lihua had said brought the victim, Luo Yingqiang, into much sharper focus, but the police still had not managed to contact Du Fangfei and her daughter in Country A. Luo Yingqiang’s carefully manufactured public image also did not appear, for the moment, to have any direct connection to his murder.
Chen Zheng was more concerned by Fan Lihua’s mention of Jinsi Island. Fan Lihua did not know the place, but he did.
Jinsi Island was an archipelago belonging to Country M. More than a decade earlier it had been almost uninhabited, but by now it had been transformed into a paradise for tourism, special services, and gambling. The Liang family’s twin sons had died there, and Yunquan Group’s project had once been located there too.
Had Yingqiang Group also taken an interest in Jinsi Island back then? Or was Chen Zheng simply being too sensitive?
Chen Zheng stood outside the inpatient building, sorting through his thoughts, when the corner of his eye caught someone waving at him. He focused and realized it was Wu Zhan, whom he had only recently run into.
A suspicion formed in Chen Zheng’s mind. Wu Zhan had seemed to have something to say earlier but had held back for some reason. Now he had not left and was waiting here for Chen Zheng. Had he hesitated and then finally decided to speak plainly?
“Director Wu.” Chen Zheng said, “Something you need?”
Wu Zhan tilted his chin toward the building. “How did the talk with the old lady go?”
Chen Zheng gave him a stripped-down version of Fan Lihua’s account. Wu Zhan’s brow drew tighter and tighter. “Luo Yingqiang, that man…”
Chen Zheng watched his expression and felt that asking about Fan Lihua had only been a way to test him. Wu Zhan did not truly care what Fan Lihua had said.
“Director Wu, you must be busy. You didn’t wait around here this long just to chat with me, did you?”
Wu Zhan’s gaze darkened. “Would you mind coming to my car?”
Chen Zheng had come with people from Major Crimes, while Ming Han had driven his car away. He followed Wu Zhan into the vehicle. “Director Wu, you parked pretty far out of the way.”
Wu Zhan gave a short laugh. “I’d already left. Then I suddenly realized I still couldn’t let it go, so I found somewhere to park.”
Chen Zheng asked, “What exactly is this about?”
Silence filled the car. Even Chen Zheng could not quite make sense of the situation. Was Wu Zhan trying to draw information out of him? Was there recording equipment in the car? But Wu Zhan was a deputy director. What would be the point of doing something like that?
At last, Wu Zhan spoke. “Do you still remember the Nanxi Middle School case?”
It was true that Chen Zheng’s only real overlap with Wu Zhan had been the Nanxi Middle School case, but hearing him bring it up after more than a decade, under circumstances like these, still felt strange. “Of course. I wasn’t officially a criminal investigator yet back then. Director Wu, wasn’t that case solved? Did something go wrong?”
Wu Zhan fell silent again, and Chen Zheng rapidly reviewed the broad outline of the case in his mind. Nanxi Middle School was one of Nanshan City’s key schools and had never experienced a criminal case before. Two students from Class Two of the ninth grade, Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi, disappeared after an extracurricular activity. The school searched every corner of the campus and found nothing. When the police became involved, surveillance cameras had not yet been widely installed in schools, so they could not even confirm whether the two students had left campus.
Their desperate parents used every connection available to them but found no information about their children. Rumors flew everywhere. Some said the students had run away because they could no longer stand the pressure from school and family. Others claimed the parents themselves had hidden the children, then reported them missing in order to demand compensation from the school.
Three days later, a fire suddenly broke out in the sports area of a long-abandoned factory. Firefighters arrived quickly and put it out, discovering that the fire had started at the table-tennis court and caused the shelter above it to collapse. There was no condition there that could have caused spontaneous combustion, so the fire could only have been deliberately set. When firefighters entered the ruins of the court, they found two charred bodies. DNA comparison confirmed them as Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi.
The fire, together with the water used to extinguish it, had washed away nearly every trace at the scene, and the investigation briefly stalled. Eventually, the police focused on the two students’ Chinese-language teacher, Xue Chenwen.
Come to think of it, Ming Han had contributed to that.
Once the case was essentially solved, Chen Zheng and the criminal investigators who had come to assist left Nanshan City. Later, Chen Zheng read the follow-up work in internal files. Xue Chenwen confessed to the crimes, but while awaiting trial, he suffered a heart attack and died.
Police found large quantities of psychoactive drugs in his home. The forensic pathologist concluded that long-term use of those drugs had caused cardiovascular failure, and the enormous pressure of committing the crime and facing trial had triggered the heart attack. But the drugs were foreign-made, and Xue Chenwen could not have obtained them through legitimate channels.
Police found Xue Chenwen’s doctor. Terrified, the doctor said Xue Chenwen had last come to him for treatment more than a year earlier, that he had absolutely never prescribed anything like those drugs, and that he had also failed to cure Xue Chenwen.
All the clues suggested that Xue Chenwen, desperate for a cure, had purchased the medication himself on the black market.
With no evidence of poisoning, once Xue Chenwen died, the murder case effectively ended with him.
“Near the collapsed shelter over the table-tennis court, we found a simple drawing of a dragonfly. It was very crude,” Wu Zhan said. “It looked like something a child had doodled.”
The doodle was not treated as evidence. In an abandoned place like that, there were simply too many random markings.
Wu Zhan said, “Xue Chenwen has been dead for many years, but whenever I think of him, I still remember his eyes. Compassionate. Kind. Innocent.”
Hearing Xue Chenwen’s full name spoken aloud brought Chen Zheng’s memories back little by little. He had met Xue Chenwen too. The man had been refined and mild, even somewhat frail at first glance. He spoke softly to the police and remained remarkably calm even when he finally confessed.
His confession had baffled many people. He was widely regarded as a good man, a devoted teacher. How could someone like that viciously kill two children? His confession was that the two students had been arrogant and domineering, had shown him no respect as their teacher, and that he had acted on impulse. By the time he regretted it, it was already too late.
The suspect’s confession was complete, and so was the physical evidence. The only thing that remained lodged in Wu Zhan’s mind was Xue Chenwen’s gaze. Wu Zhan was an experienced criminal investigator, and he felt that a true monster should not have eyes like that.
Years passed and Xue Chenwen was forgotten. Then, three years ago, Nanshan City saw another case that appeared completely unrelated to Nanxi Middle School. Two workers were murdered. Police conducted extensive canvassing around them, and the leads pointed toward a random attack. At the scene, Wu Zhan noticed a familiar insect doodle. This time it was not a dragonfly, but a cicada.
Chen Zheng’s breathing tightened. “You think someone else committed the old murders?”
Wu Zhan shook his head, his eyes exhausted, then handed Chen Zheng his phone. On the screen was a photograph of an insect doodle: an ant.
Wu Zhan said, “Cheng Cu and the others didn’t notice it. This was drawn on a pillar on the sixth floor of the foot spa. It’s very fresh, obviously put there recently.”
A jolt raced up Chen Zheng’s spine and struck his brain. “You suspect this case is connected to the Nanxi Middle School case and the workers’ case from three years ago?”
Wu Zhan took back his phone, clenched one hand into a fist, and lightly tapped his forehead with it. “I don’t know whether these insect doodles are a coincidence. But Xue Chenwen, even though he confessed firmly, simply didn’t seem like someone whose nature fit murder.”
Chen Zheng calmed himself. “In the Nanxi Middle School case, whoever the killer was would have faced the death penalty once caught. If someone else was the real killer, that person must have been extremely close to Xue Chenwen for him to be willing to die in their place. If he was coerced… Director Wu, from what you remember, did he look coerced?”
Wu Zhan shook his head. “If he was taking the blame, I think he did it willingly. He never looked forced.”
Chen Zheng thought for a moment. “That still doesn’t add up. I remember how difficult the investigation was. Conditions were poor back then, and he had more than enough time to erase evidence. If he hadn’t confessed so quickly, the case might have dragged on indefinitely and turned into an unsolved cold case.”
Wu Zhan said, “And in the workers’ case, we still haven’t caught the killer.”
Chen Zheng’s thoughts churned. “If the real killer got away and then killed again years later, leaving a ‘signature,’ why was there such a long gap?”
Wu Zhan said, “No. If this frightening theory is true, then the killer may have murdered far more people than the ones we know about. Simple insect drawings are ordinary. Anyone could make them. And neither the one near the table-tennis shelter nor the one at the foot spa was drawn right beside the bodies. They were some distance away. A normal scene examination would never pay attention to them. I only noticed the surrounding walls because I could never let go of the Nanxi Middle School case.”
Chen Zheng was silent for a moment. “That’s why you personally came to the hospital, hoping to learn something from the victim’s mother. So what is Major Crimes going to do next?”
Wu Zhan sighed. “For now, we’ll keep investigating the way Cheng Cu planned. Xue Chenwen has been dead for so many years that he took the truth to the grave long ago. Whether these cases were committed by the same person is, in the end, only my private suspicion. I can’t let it interfere with the normal investigation.”
Chen Zheng turned toward him. “Then Director Wu, you came to me because…”
Wu Zhan abruptly changed the subject. “Captain Chen, Cheng Cu told me you came here this time while following a lead. Can you tell me what kind of lead?”
Chen Zheng’s lips moved, but he did not answer immediately. It was not that he distrusted this veteran investigator who had worked diligently for so many years. The problem was that even within the Provincial Department, information about Heaven-Measuring Ruler was not casually disclosed. Both his and Ming Han’s actions had to be backed by Tang Xiaoli. How could he simply tell someone else?
“You can’t say, right?” Wu Zhan nodded. “I understand. I’m not trying to pry into Mobile Unit secrets. I still know the rules. It’s just that I’ve thought of some bad possibilities, and I hope I’m overthinking things. Hear me out.”
Chen Zheng’s eyelid suddenly twitched.
“In the Nanxi Middle School case, Ming Han did play a part. At the time, our attention wasn’t on Xue Chenwen at all. Ming Han was the one who pointed us toward him,” Wu Zhan said. “You’ve worked criminal investigations for so many years, so you know that sometimes the reason we can’t find a killer is that the person simply isn’t in our field of view. Once we start looking at them, finding evidence becomes only a matter of time. In other words, even without Ming Han, we would eventually have investigated Xue Chenwen. But time naturally erases evidence, and getting him to confess would not have been so simple.”
Chen Zheng stared straight ahead, his expression grave, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.
“Xue Chenwen wasn’t coerced into confessing. He did it voluntarily. He was protecting someone. By the same token, Xue Chenwen must also have been someone very important to the killer. After Xue Chenwen died, would that person hate Ming Han? I think so,” Wu Zhan continued. “What I can’t let go of is that you two arrived in Nanshan City, and almost immediately afterward this case happened. I don’t know what you came here to investigate, and I don’t know whether whoever is hiding in the dark is targeting Ming Han. But Captain Chen, both you and Ming Han need to be careful.”
Chen Zheng said solemnly, “Thank you for the warning. I’ll discuss it with Ming Han. Also, can I take a closer look at the case from three years ago?”
Wu Zhan said, “When we get back to the municipal bureau, I’ll take you to the investigation files.”
Ming Han was still in Huaili Town. The sun had gone down, and many vegetable farmers had already returned home, while others had gathered at the wholesale market to play cards or chess and talk loudly. Ming Han watched for a while and picked out several men in their fifties. They were no longer young, but they were full of energy, boasting about what they had been capable of in their youth. A few beers later, their faces were glowing.
They were all small business owners. City people might have found them crude and unsophisticated, but luxury cars were parked outside the wholesale market, and gold chains and expensive watches hung from their necks and wrists.
Ming Han walked over, played the appreciative audience for a while, then asked, “Boss Sun, you used to work with Luo Yingqiang?”
The produce dealers who had delivered goods from the city that day had already brought back news of Luo Yingqiang’s murder, so naturally everyone was talking about him. In his early years, Luo Yingqiang had personally come to Huaili Town to negotiate business, and most of the older vegetable farmers had dealt with him. Boss Sun was one of them. He said smugly, “Hmph, you young people don’t know anything. What do you mean, I used to work with Luo Yingqiang? Back then he had nothing. All he had was a slick mouth that knew how to call everyone brother or uncle. Don’t look at how he became some big boss later. Back then, around here, he had to beg me to do business with him!”
“Ooooh!” Everyone around them jeered and cheered. Ming Han followed up, “How did he beg?”
A pile of beer bottles sat in front of Boss Sun. He was not drunk, but he was in an exceptionally talkative mood. “He begged us to let him take our vegetables cheap and sell them! He had no money, so he’d take the vegetables away empty-handed. If he hadn’t acted so humble, looked like such an honest man, and had that brother of his guarantee him, who would’ve given him such a good deal? So I’m telling you, he owed his later success to people like us!”
Ming Han asked, “Brother? Which brother?”
Boss Sun found Ming Han annoying and waved him off impatiently. “I’m talking. Don’t interrupt!”
Ming Han smiled and nudged a small stool over with his foot. “All right, all right. I’ll just listen. Won’t interrupt.”
Boss Sun looked at Ming Han, such a huge man folded onto such a tiny stool, and suddenly laughed. Looking down at him, he said, “You know, you really do look like Old Luo. Back then he sat just like that too, begging us to supply him!”
Boss Sun reminisced for a moment and sighed over what a good person he himself had been.
Every household in Huaili Town grew vegetables. Over the decades, some hired outside workers and gradually became large-scale growers. Others had only small plots that produced little beyond what the family could eat and what they could carry out in baskets to sell themselves. The larger growers also bought vegetables from smaller ones and hauled them into the city.
Back then, Huaili Town’s market had been chaotic. The large growers constantly fought over resources. They might look impressive inside the town, but once they reached the city, dealers squeezed them on price, and transportation costs were enormous. In reality, they did not make much money.
Gradually, produce dealers began coming directly to Huaili Town to buy vegetables. These people were shrewd and had established sales channels. Truck after truck would line up while they pushed the farmers’ prices down. But when everyone did the math, although the unit price was much lower, they no longer had to worry about finding buyers or paying transportation costs. All they had to do was deliver the vegetables to the wholesale market, and they got paid.
Large and small growers alike were delighted. They signed contracts with the dealers, then hired more workers and expanded their planting areas, hoping to grow even more produce.
Some farmers had known Luo Yingqiang for years already. Back when he was still running a tiny food business, he would ride a motorcycle out before dawn to buy vegetables at the lowest possible price, looking like an idiot while doing it. The farmers felt sorry for him and would slip him a little extra whenever they could. At the time, there was a major grower named Sui Ning, one of the wealthiest people in Huaili Town. His family had inherited a great deal of farmland. He had attended university and studied agriculture, which fit the work perfectly, and the vegetables he grew were both plentiful and good.
When produce dealers first began buying in town, most farmers waited and watched, unwilling to lower their prices. Sui Ning was the first to take the plunge, and he made a fortune. Only then did the other farmers follow his example.
Because he had helped the dealers open up the local market, they treated Sui Ning with great respect, giving him their best channels and prices. Sui Ning may simply have had a strong urge to help people. Seeing how hard Luo Yingqiang was struggling to make a living, he lent him money to open a small restaurant. Luo Yingqiang was quick-minded too. Once he saw the opportunity in Huaili Town, he decided to open a vegetable stall in the residential area where he lived. That would be easier than making money over a wok every day.
But Luo Yingqiang had little capital, so all he could open was a tiny vegetable stall. Residential neighborhoods in Nanshan City were packed with stalls like that. Most bought stock from dealers instead of directly from growers, while the growers, now operating on a larger scale, had no interest in Luo Yingqiang’s tiny orders. Only Sui Ning was willing to supply him cheaply without demanding payment up front. Luo Yingqiang could settle the bill once a week.
Everyone thought Luo Yingqiang had met a benefactor, and that was indeed the case. Luo Yingqiang gained not only a stable supply but also freedom from the pressure of paying in advance. The price Sui Ning charged him was far below what other vegetable-stall owners in the city paid produce dealers, so Luo Yingqiang could set his own prices lower and rapidly accumulate the capital needed to expand. Meanwhile, his little restaurant stayed open too, run mainly by his wife, Du Fangfei. Husband and wife both worked hard, and their pockets steadily grew heavier.
Luo Yingqiang was not content with the status quo. A small vegetable stall could no longer satisfy him. He wanted to become a produce dealer himself. Huaili Town was still in an era of every side fighting for territory, with growers competing against growers, dealers against dealers, and growers against dealers. Luo Yingqiang did not have enough capital to squeeze out his competitors, yet he came up with an idea that sounded absurd: he wanted to take vegetables from the farmers first and settle the accounts afterward, promising that he would make them more money than before.
Who would believe that nonsense? The farmers were practical people. Hand over your goods without being paid? Only a fool would do that. No matter how persuasive Luo Yingqiang sounded, they refused to believe him.
Once again, Sui Ning stepped forward and guaranteed Luo Yingqiang. If anyone failed to receive their money, Sui Ning would compensate them out of his own pocket. That made the farmers hesitate. After all, Sui Ning was widely regarded as an honest man, wealthy and perceptive. Following his lead had never gone wrong.
So the next time Luo Yingqiang came begging them to supply him, Boss Sun and the others agreed to give it a try. They were still suspicious, though, and each household supplied only a small amount. If they lost it, so be it. To their surprise, Luo Yingqiang really did have the ability. He sold the vegetables at higher prices and quickly settled what he owed.
Gradually, more and more farmers began working with Luo Yingqiang. He was different from the other dealers. Those dealers had mature sales channels and equipment that let the farmers earn money easily, but Luo Yingqiang offered more than money. He talked with them about the future, earnestly laying out his plans. Someday, he said, he would have his own shopping centers and supermarkets, divide vegetables into more specialized categories, supply not just Nanshan City but other cities across Han Province, and build a dedicated vegetable production base…
He was highly persuasive. Boss Sun smacked his lips and admitted he had been impressed by Luo Yingqiang. Later, he also came to understand why Sui Ning had helped him. Sui Ning had been investing in the man himself.
Ming Han, having been born and raised in Nanshan City, knew roughly what happened afterward. Once Luo Yingqiang captured the Huaili Town market, his capital snowballed. And just as he had promised the farmers, he opened supermarkets, shopping centers, and hotels, eventually becoming one of Nanshan City’s business stars.
“So where is Boss Sui now…?” Ming Han asked.