On the nightclub strip in northern Nanshan City, there was a small niche bar that served as a regular gathering place for people like Lou Xiaoguo. He occasionally went there for a drink and to see whether anyone caught his eye. But ever since he had set his sights on He Yunchao, he had not been there in a long time.
Some of his “sisters” invited him out, so he went. He did not see anyone he liked, but someone he definitely did not like began harassing him. The man was thin as a stick and looked like a monkey. Yet in a scene where tops were scarce and bottoms plentiful, this “Monkey” was surprisingly popular. Lou was not interested and politely turned him down, but Monkey was probably accustomed to being sought after and had not expected rejection. Embarrassed and angry, he refused to leave Lou alone. Lou was thoroughly annoyed and about to go when a familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
It was He Yunchao!
He Yunchao stepped in front of Lou and shoved away Monkey, who had been clinging to him like a plaster. Monkey saw that the newcomer was taller and stronger than he was, then saw Lou sheltering behind He Yunchao like a little bird. He no longer dared cross the line and left resentfully.
Lou stared at He Yunchao in surprise. “You…”
He Yunchao looked both annoyed and helpless. “Why are you in a place like this?”
“Are you trying to discipline me?” Lou gradually regained the upper hand in his little contest with the university student. “How did you know I was here? Were you following me?”
He Yunchao froze and said awkwardly, “You’re allowed to follow me, but I’m not allowed to follow you?”
Lou’s “sisters” started cheering and teasing. Lou knew he had already hooked the big fish. He broke into a brilliant smile, suddenly took He Yunchao’s hand, and said, “It’s too loud here. Let’s go somewhere else to talk.”
That “somewhere else” was the hotel next door to the bar. Afterward, Lou forced He Yunchao to explain why he had shown up there. Blushing, He Yunchao said he had fallen for Lou at first sight the very first time Lou sat diagonally across from him. He could tell Lou was interested too, but could not understand why Lou had come to Nanshan University so many times without ever stopping him to say anything.
Lou burst out laughing. He Yunchao looked deeply embarrassed and admitted that he finally could not stand it anymore, so he followed Lou, only to find him being harassed by Monkey.
“So if no one had bothered me, were you planning to keep following me silently without saying a word?” Lou teased with obvious interest.
He Yunchao’s face grew redder and redder. “Stop talking.”
And just like that, they got together. Lou had assumed He Yunchao would be another man he casually picked up for fun and soon lost interest in. But the fun lasted a year and a half, and Lou realized he seemed to have genuinely fallen for He Yunchao and wanted to build a real life with him.
He Yunchao was busy with school and came home sometimes on weekends, sometimes during the week. Lou began learning to cook and fussed over He Yunchao almost as if raising a son. He Yunchao had previously considered himself straight, and Lou gradually guided him into understanding this side of himself. Lou’s desire to open his own shop was also because of He Yunchao. Once He Yunchao graduated, he would surely find a decent job, and Lou did not want to fall behind. Only when they both had stable careers, he thought, could their relationship last.
“I never imagined he was going out and selling himself behind my back!” Lou became agitated again. “Whenever I think about him doing this and that with that Luo guy, then coming back and doing this and that with me, I just… ugh…”
Chen Zheng saw many traces of He Yunchao’s life in the apartment. His textbooks sat on the desk, his clothes hung in the wardrobe, his toothbrush and rinsing cup were in the bathroom, and even the dishes in the kitchen came in matching pairs. At first glance, it truly looked like a little home the two of them had carefully built out of love.
But seeing those things only made Lou angrier. He picked up a cup, ready to smash it. Chen Zheng stopped him and took it away. “If you don’t want these things anymore, we’ll temporarily take them for testing.”
“Fine, fine. Take all of it. Just don’t bring any of it back. Bad luck!” Once Lou had exhausted his anger, he dropped wearily onto the sofa.
Chen Zheng asked, “Last time you said He Yunchao’s family never visited. Back then, you thought his father was Zhang Mu. What about this man? Do you recognize him?”
The photograph Chen Zheng handed him was of He Shuyou. Lou studied it for a long while, then looked blank. “No. So this is his real dad?”
“Looking back now, is there anything about your time together that strikes you as unusual?” Chen Zheng asked.
Lou said, “I don’t think so? We actually didn’t spend that much time together. I had work and he had school. He’d tell me which day he was coming home, I’d pick him up, and then we’d buy groceries together. I cooked and he helped. Right, I hate cleaning, so every time he came over, he’d tidy the place for me.”
Sadness crossed Lou’s face. “Back then I thought we were genuinely happy. He was different from every man I’d met before. While we ate, he’d tell me about school. I liked listening to it. It made me feel younger too. After dinner we’d go for a walk, then come home and do the ‘important stuff.’”
Chen Zheng asked, “You’re certain he never mentioned Yingqiang Group?”
Lou shook his head. “I don’t pay attention to social issues at all, and I don’t like watching TV. I honestly can’t understand how he could’ve become a rent boy. If anyone was going to sell himself, it should’ve been me, not him!”
That made the detectives searching the apartment stare again and cough repeatedly.
Lou raised his voice. “I’m telling the truth! Our scene is messy. People will do anything for money. But Zhang Yi… He Yunchao wasn’t that kind of person. He was… he was too clean.”
The word “clean” sounded especially jarring. Lou did not have a police investigator’s instincts, but his intuition was correct. He Yunchao had approached Luo Yingqiang for a reason. He had absolutely not simply been kept as a lover. Looking further back, even the scene He Yunchao staged at the bar may have had another purpose. He had realized Lou was following him and interested in him, so he went along with it and used Lou’s feelings.
Lou, with nothing left to lose, shouted, “I should thank whoever killed him. A scumbag like that deserved to die! Officer Chen, do you think the killer was someone else he tricked before? So this time they killed both of those cheating bastards together?”
Chen Zheng stepped onto the open balcony, where many green plants were growing. Back at the Luocheng Municipal Bureau, his most reliable subordinate had also loved growing flowers and plants on a balcony.
Distracted by the memory, Chen Zheng’s gaze shifted among the greenery. When he saw a large spider crouched on a branch, he instinctively took a step back. Looking more closely, he realized it was inside a transparent enclosure. Several other clear boxes sat among the plants as well, some holding snails, others moths.
Lou quickly said, “They’re all contained. You don’t need to be scared!”
Chen Zheng was not afraid exactly, but he disliked insects and similar creatures. Suddenly seeing specimens much larger than those normally found around Nanshan City made him physically uncomfortable. “Did you raise these, or did He Yunchao?”
“Of course I raised them. If I didn’t like them myself, would I dare keep them?”
Chen Zheng nodded and asked casually, “You like insects?”
Lou suddenly smiled with genuine warmth. “Yeah. Don’t you think insects are the kindest race in the world?”
That caught Chen Zheng’s attention. Lou’s tone when talking about insects was almost fanatical, and he had used the word “race.” In Lou’s mind, what race did insects correspond to?
The detectives had almost finished their search, and pieces of evidence were being sealed into bags one by one. Chen Zheng made one last circuit of the apartment, and his gaze stopped on an insect coloring book on the desk. Books like this were common on the market, usually sold with brightly colored pens so people could fill in the illustrations and pass an entire afternoon. There was nothing strange about Lou owning one. They were sold in gift shops.
But after seeing the insects kept on the balcony, Chen Zheng felt a sudden unease when he looked at the drawings. He picked up the coloring book. “You don’t mind if I take this back with us, do you?”
Lou’s expression changed slightly. “That’s my coloring book. He never touched it.”
Chen Zheng gave him a reason. “I know, but it was kept with He Yunchao’s books. He may have flipped through it. I want to see whether there’s anything useful inside.”
Lou pursed his lips, clearly reluctant. “Fine. But when you’re done checking it, you have to give it back.”
On the way back to the municipal bureau, one of the detectives asked Chen Zheng, “Teacher Chen, I still don’t understand why you took that coloring book. It doesn’t seem useful.”
Chen Zheng was remembering his conversation with Wu Zhan. In the case he had helped investigate as a student, the suspect Xue Chenwen confessed, but Wu Zhan had never been able to let the case go because of the contradictions in Xue Chenwen and the inexplicable dragonfly doodle near the scene. Three years ago, another Nanshan City murder had involved a cicada doodle. This time, it was an ant.
Insects. All of them were insects. And Lou Xiaoguo loved insects and was the boyfriend of one of the victims. In terms of motive alone, Lou actually could have killed He Yunchao. If so, was the detailed story Lou had just told them entirely true, or a mixture of truth and lies?
Wu Zhan had not fully disclosed the insect clue to Major Crimes, so Chen Zheng could not explain too much. He smiled and said, “It’s just one book. We already brought back plenty of other things. This doesn’t add much weight.”
The detective scratched his head. “Teacher Chen, you really know how to joke.”
The western outskirts were crowded with media, countless camera lenses aimed at Canyang Nursing Home.
Some members of Major Crimes continued searching the nursing home, primarily for any trace of Yin Shuwen. The building where his room had been was flattened in the explosion, but the other two buildings had not collapsed. According to staff and residents, Yin Shuwen was gentle and attentive and often visited residents in their rooms to talk with them. It was therefore possible that clues remained in those rooms.
Other officers canvassed the western outskirts. The “western outskirts” were not an administrative district, merely a semi-rural extension west of the city, dotted with small factories and logistics stations and home to relatively few permanent residents.
After returning from Yanshui Town, Ming Han rested for one night, then joined the canvass in the western outskirts. Li Sifeng’s testimony suggested that Zhao Zhi’s actions at the nursing home were probably connected to Yin Shuwen. Yin Shuwen was still missing, and apart from surveillance images, he appeared to have left no trace. Major Crimes had already searched Zhao Zhi’s residence and found no evidence that anyone other than Zhao had ever been there. He had prepared in advance.
Cheng Cu wanted to question Zhao Zhi again, but Chen Zheng stopped him. Cheng Cu did not understand. “Bro Chen, we have Li Sifeng’s testimony now. Let’s see how Zhao Zhi can keep denying everything!”
Chen Zheng shook his head. “Zhao Zhi is determined to make Yin Shuwen ‘disappear.’ If we question him now, we’ll only make him more certain that we don’t have the crucial evidence.”
“Then what do we do?” Cheng Cu asked. “Do we have to find Yin Shuwen first? If we can’t find him, do we just keep waiting?”
“Not necessarily. Why do you think we’re searching the nursing home and the western outskirts right now? We’re trying to find biological material from Yin Shuwen. That’s what Zhao Zhi most wanted to erase. Once we find it, we put the result right in front of him. Then we control the interrogation.”
Cheng Cu asked, “What if we can’t find any?”
Chen Zheng frowned. “Two days.”
“Two days.” Ming Han turned Chen Zheng’s words over in his mind and smiled to himself. “You really know how to give me a hard assignment, Bro.”
Based on Chen Zheng’s reasoning, Yin Shuwen had secretly returned to China for some reason without Luo Yingqiang knowing and had hidden at the nursing home. The western outskirts were less convenient than the city center, but that made them a good place to avoid Luo Yingqiang and live quietly.
Yin Shuwen sometimes stayed at the nursing home and sometimes went home, so his residence was unlikely to be far away. Most likely, it was somewhere in a residential area of the western outskirts. The search was difficult because a large transient population passed through the area, and unlike an old residential neighborhood, people did not all know one another.
Ming Han appeared to wander the street aimlessly, but he was actually observing everything around him with patience. Suddenly he stopped in front of a flower shop. The western outskirts had plenty of convenience stores and vegetable stalls, but this was the only flower shop Ming Han had seen. People here were busy making a living. Romance was not something most of them pursued.
Ming Han looked up at the sign and walked inside.
The owner was a woman in her thirties. Because she had to care for the flowers and plants, the shop had no heat running, and it was as cold inside as outside. Her fingers were red from the cold. Hearing the entry chime, she came out. “Hello. What kind of flowers are you looking for?”
Ming Han’s gaze fell on the roses, and an image of Chen Zheng receiving roses appeared in his mind. He smiled, then took out his identification and a photograph. “Sorry to bother you. You’ve heard about what happened at the nursing home, right?”
The owner froze, then sighed. “Those elderly people were so pitiful. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Ming Han said, “We’re looking for this young man. He was a caregiver at the nursing home and may have spent time around this area. Have you seen him?”
The moment the owner looked at the photograph, she exclaimed, “It’s him?”
Ming Han asked, “You know him?”
She nodded nervously. “Don’t tell me he was the killer? That can’t be. He looked so… kind.” By the end, she sounded uncertain herself and glanced cautiously at Ming Han.
“No, he isn’t the killer, but he may have important evidence about the killer. He’s missing now, and we need to find him as quickly as possible.”
The owner relaxed and pressed a hand to her chest. “I knew it. How could he be a bad person? You mean he might be in danger?”
Ming Han asked, “Did he come here often to buy flowers? What did you talk about? Do you know where he lives?”
Still flustered, the owner spoke in fits and starts. She thought the man in the photograph was surnamed Wen, so she had called him Mr. Wen. The first time Mr. Wen came in was around this same time the previous year. He had browsed the flowers, and because he looked kind and dressed neatly, she had formed a good impression of him. She assumed he wanted flowers for a girlfriend or wife, but instead he smiled and asked whether she had anything suitable for an elderly person.
She immediately assumed an elderly relative might be in the hospital and asked. He said no. An older man he knew was simply feeling down, and he wanted to cheer him up with flowers.
The owner was attentive and conscientious, so she asked what kind of elderly person he was buying for. Mr. Wen said it was an older neighbor whose children had not visited in a long time and who felt lonely. She quickly chose suitable flowers and could not help telling him, “You’re such a good person.” He only smiled gently and shook his head.
Mr. Wen came back several times after that, buying a small bouquet each time, though they were not always for elderly people. On one occasion, he bought roses, and there was a freshly dressed chicken in the shopping bag he carried. The owner guessed Mr. Wen was going to see his girlfriend.
The owner often wrapped flowers outside the shop and had seen Mr. Wen walking along the slope across the street. She guessed he probably lived somewhere up there.
Before leaving, Ming Han showed her Zhao Zhi’s photograph. She shook her head blankly and said she had never seen him.
A residential area sat up the slope opposite the flower shop. With the search area narrowed, Ming Han and Major Crimes went door to door and essentially identified Yin Shuwen’s residence. The building had no elevator but was relatively clean. When they opened the apartment door, no one was inside. A vase lay shattered on the floor, the flowers that had once stood in it now withered, and slippers had been tossed about haphazardly. Whoever lived there had clearly left in a hurry.
The crime-scene examiners collected three separate biological samples. In a bedroom drawer, Ming Han found a framed photograph. Yin Shuwen and Zhao Zhi were smiling at the camera with the sea behind them, the ocean breeze lifting their hair. They looked utterly carefree.
At roughly the same time, the officers searching the nursing home found a hair suspected to belong to Yin Shuwen. An elderly resident said hoarsely that his newly changed bedding had felt uncomfortable, probably because the duvet cover had not been put on properly. Other staff had brushed him off and refused to redo it, but Yin Shuwen came to his room smiling, removed the cover, and put it on again. It was on that bed that the officers found a strand of hair they suspected had fallen from Yin Shuwen.
Multiple biological samples were sent to the municipal bureau. The DNA from the elderly resident’s room matched the DNA recovered from Yin Shuwen’s apartment, and that DNA in turn produced a parent-child match with Luo Yingqiang. The missing Yin Shuwen really was Luo Yingqiang’s son.
Zhao Zhi sat in the interrogation room staring at the report Chen Zheng had placed in front of him, his body rigid as a piece of iron heated red-hot.
Chen Zheng placed the photograph Ming Han had found on top of the report. “Luo Yingqiang asked you to look after his son, but it seems your relationship with his son became something else. Where is Yin Shuwen?”
From the moment Zhao Zhi saw Yin Shuwen’s DNA report, his shoulders began to tremble. His eyes, full of hostility, locked onto Chen Zheng as though he could not believe the police officer in front of him had already glimpsed the truth.
“Before Yin Shuwen was brought to Luo Yingqiang’s home, his name was Zhang Yinan, the same name used by the other victim in this case. He is the son of Luo Yingqiang and Yin Xiaoyang, and you once lived together with Yin Shuwen.” As Chen Zheng spoke, he watched Zhao Zhi’s reactions. The high-definition cameras captured every tiny movement. Zhao Zhi shook his head faintly, perhaps instinctively denying it, perhaps simply unwilling to accept that the police had found Yin Shuwen.
“Luo Yingqiang favored sons over daughters. In his eyes, the daughter Du Fangfei bore him was not qualified to inherit the business empire he built. Only Yin Shuwen, his son born outside the marriage, would do. Luo sent Yin Shuwen to Country A, gave him an excellent education, and more importantly, kept him hidden until the right time to bring him back.” Chen Zheng continued, “You were Luo Yingqiang’s most trusted secretary and the older-brother figure Yin Shuwen relied on when he was young, one of the few people who knew the secret. Luo Yingqiang must have instructed you to help deal with any problems Yin Shuwen encountered in Country A. So why did Yin Shuwen secretly return to China and hide in your nursing home?”
Zhao Zhi suddenly laughed, his expression savage and cruel, as though the lives lost in the explosion meant nothing to him. “So it turns out you don’t know everything after all, Officer Chen. You’re so capable. Why don’t you investigate it yourself instead of asking someone like me, who’s already facing a death sentence?”
Chen Zheng asked, “Do you think Luo Yingqiang loved this son who appeared out of nowhere?”
Zhao Zhi froze, seemingly unable to understand why Chen Zheng had suddenly shifted to that question.
“He gave Yin Shuwen a privileged life. In Country A, Yin Shuwen could probably be called carefree. In the future, once Luo Yingqiang died, or even before that if he stepped back from the business, Yin Shuwen would inherit wealth beyond what ordinary people can imagine. But…” Chen Zheng paused. “Luo Yingqiang didn’t even know Yin Shuwen had returned to China long ago. What kind of love is that? Even his son was nothing more than a tool to him.”
The muscles in Zhao Zhi’s jaw stood out as he clenched his teeth and said nothing.
“You certainly deserve some credit for helping conceal it, but deep down, both you and Yin Shuwen knew that when Luo Yingqiang no longer needed you, the two of you would become nothing. Right, you regarded Luo Yingqiang as your benefactor, but Yin Shuwen may not have. Did his mother, Yin Xiaoyang, never tell him who his father was? He had no father-son bond with Luo Yingqiang. He only wanted to escape him.”
Zhao Zhi shook his head. “Enough.”
Chen Zheng said, “Not enough. You went to the western outskirts often, didn’t you? Someone saw Yin Shuwen going home with roses and a freshly dressed chicken. The roses were for you, and the chicken was meant to be cooked for you too.”
Zhao Zhi’s eyes widened. His voice came out hoarse. “What did you say?”
Chen Zheng raised an eyebrow. “What, you never received them? That’s strange.”
Zhao Zhi lowered his head. After a moment, the corner of his mouth curved faintly, as though he were remembering some ordinary but sweet piece of daily life.
“There was a large age gap between you, but you loved him, and he loved you. When he fled his home in a hurry, he accidentally smashed a vase. The flowers he liked were still inside it.” Chen Zheng said, “I spoke with many people at the nursing home about him. They said he was a kind and gentle young man. Very few caregivers were as attentive and thoughtful as he was. He must have been genuinely trying to build a life with you. If you really loved him, why would you make him carry a sin he can never wash away for the rest of his life?”
Zhao Zhi’s eyes were already red. He stared at Chen Zheng for a long time without managing to speak. It was as though his entire body had been forced beneath bitter water that could poison a person into silence. He opened his mouth and tried to cry out, but not a single word came.
After a long silence, Zhao Zhi finally said hoarsely, “He’ll live well, far away from all this conflict. That’s enough.”
Chen Zheng frowned, feeling pressure lodged heavily in his chest. The interrogation was suspended for the moment, and he leaned against the corridor wall to rest.
He closed his eyes and let his mind go blank for a moment. Suddenly, something brushed lightly against the tip of his nose, followed by a faint fragrance.
He opened his eyes and saw a single red rose. Ming Han was holding it.
Chen Zheng snatched the rose from him with very little gentleness. Ming Han immediately said, “You’ll break it! You’ll break it!”
“Where did this come from?” Chen Zheng held the stem and lightly tapped Ming Han on the head with it.
“I just bought it at the shop Yin Shuwen used to visit.” Ming Han said, “Bro, it’s for you.”
Chen Zheng seemed utterly unromantic. “I sent you to investigate a case, and you went shopping on the side?”
Ming Han looked aggrieved. “It’s one flower. I paid for it myself.”
Chen Zheng finally smiled and put his hands behind his back, hiding the rose there. The two returned to the temporary office together. Chen Zheng filled a mineral-water bottle halfway with water and placed the rose inside.
Not long afterward, an officer hurried in and called out urgently, “Yin Shuwen is here.”