The corner of Chen Zheng’s eye shifted slightly.
Cheng Cu continued. Strictly speaking, Li Wan had not been one of the investors. He had accompanied a friend who came to inspect land and stayed in the area for a while. Because no deal was ultimately reached, there was no written record, but locals remembered Li Wan and said he often spent time with Kong Chunxiang.
Major Crimes tracked down Li Wan’s friend, whose surname was Tian. He was a rich second-generation heir who wanted to make money buying land like everyone else, only to lose money on every investment. He thought Li Wan was reliable, so he asked him to help. In the end, Li Wan somehow got word that the high-speed rail line would not be coming through for the time being.
Tian remembered Kong Chunxiang. He said Kong was a bookworm, and he could never understand what the bookworm was talking about, though Li Wan and Kong had plenty to discuss. After leaving Dahe County, Tian had no further contact with anyone there and did not know whether Li Wan and Kong Chunxiang stayed in touch.
The year large numbers of investors descended on Dahe County was also a relatively chaotic one there. An old bachelor named Zhou Feng disappeared. Some people said he had gone away with younger men to find work; others said he had gone to stay with relatives elsewhere. People left Dahe County every year, so no one paid much attention.
This time, however, Major Crimes investigated in great detail. They learned that Zhou Feng had beaten his wife to death when he was young. During his years as a bachelor, he had never kept his hands to himself and had harassed many widows. Kong Chunxiang’s mother, Qiu Pingping, who later drowned, had run a convenience store while she was alive, and Zhou Feng frequently went there to grope and harass her.
The missing bachelor Zhou Feng, Qiu Pingping, who had drowned, Li Wan, who had gotten along unusually well with Kong Chunxiang, and Kong Chunxiang, who had been murdered. Photographs of all four were pinned to the evidence wall. Chen Zheng stared at them in silence.
Major Crimes had questioned people in Dahe County thoroughly enough that more than one person had seen Zhou Feng harassing Qiu Pingping. Although Kong Chunxiang was much younger than Zhou Feng, he was not as physically strong. Zhou Feng made his living working the fields and was all wiry muscle, and he was a thug besides. When he went berserk, even several Kong Chunxiangs put together would not have been a match for him.
Qiu Pingping died before rumors began that Dahe County would get a high-speed rail line. Local police believed homicide was unlikely. Qiu Pingping often went to the river to wash clothes and might simply have been swept away by the current. After Kong Chunxiang rushed home, he refused to allow an autopsy. There were few suspicious circumstances, and the case was ultimately closed as an accident.
A month later, Li Wan accompanied his friend to Dahe County to inspect the area and met Kong Chunxiang. It was during that same period that Zhou Feng disappeared from Dahe County. Not long after Li Wan left, Kong Chunxiang went away to find work. In October of that year, Kong Chunxiang and Zhong Lishan were murdered and their bodies dumped at the Time Alley Stationery Factory in the outskirts.
The following March, Li Wan disappeared on the Nianbei Plateau.
Cheng Cu looked troubled. “Right now all we have are things the locals told us. There’s no concrete evidence proving any connection between them.”
Chen Zheng said, “Finding this much was already difficult. At the very least, the Kong Chunxiang and Zhong Lishan case is now connected to the Nanxi Middle School case. I’ll tell you what I think. If you see any problems, speak up.”
Cheng Cu nodded. “All right. I’m listening.”
“Qiu Pingping’s death was not a homicide, but that doesn’t mean she necessarily drowned by accident, and Kong Chunxiang knew very well what had driven his mother to the end. He refused to let the medical examiner autopsy her for two reasons. First, he did not want his mother’s body cut open. He was traditional-minded and wanted her buried as soon as possible. Second, he knew that even if the police discovered Zhou Feng had harassed Qiu Pingping for a long time, they still would not be able to make Zhou Feng pay for it. Qiu Pingping was already dead. Kong needed the police to drop the matter quickly so he could deal with Zhou Feng himself.” Chen Zheng continued, “At this point we have almost no chance of obtaining solid evidence about exactly what Qiu Pingping went through, but we can infer that Zhou Feng’s harassment may have reached a point she could no longer endure. He may even have sexually assaulted her. She might have seen it as an unbearable humiliation and, unable to get past it, taken her own life. There’s another possibility too. She may have seen Kong Chunxiang growing angrier and known that sooner or later he would settle accounts with Zhou Feng, while also knowing her son was no match for him and would only get hurt. She may have wanted to protect her son and end the torment.”
“Either way, in Kong Chunxiang’s eyes, Zhou Feng was the one who killed his mother, yet that kind of ‘killing’ was not enough to make Zhou Feng pay with his life. After Qiu Pingping died, Kong Chunxiang desperately tried to think of a way to take revenge. Other than taking Zhou Feng down with him even at the cost of his own life, he may not have had any good options. Then Li Wan appeared, just as Dahe County entered a relatively chaotic period because of the rumors and the influx of outsiders. How Kong Chunxiang and Li Wan became friends is difficult to pin down. Maybe they simply got along, or maybe they shared the same kind of pain. Kong Chunxiang ‘accidentally’ let Li Wan learn about his vendetta. Kong himself could not deal with Zhou Feng, but Li Wan, a wealthy man from a big city, might have been able to. For reasons we don’t yet know, Li Wan agreed, or perhaps even volunteered, to help him deal with Zhou Feng.”
“So Zhou Feng’s disappearance should be laid at Li Wan’s feet,” Cheng Cu said, frowning deeply. “Once Zhou Feng was taken care of, Kong Chunxiang could finally leave his hometown without anything holding him back. Then the next step…”
“Not necessarily Li Wan alone,” Chen Zheng said. “Based on what I understand of Li Wan, Kong Chunxiang may still have been the one who actually acted, while Li Wan helped in other ways, such as moving the body or removing traces. Afterward, he advised Kong Chunxiang to leave Dahe County. There’s something worth noticing here. When Kong first arrived in Nanshan City, things went badly. He couldn’t find suitable work and kept getting shut out until Zhong Lishan, a fellow villager, helped him settle down. Why didn’t Li Wan help Kong Chunxiang?”
Cheng Cu said, “Because he couldn’t! He couldn’t let anyone else know how close the two of them were!”
Chen Zheng nodded. “Exactly. That’s why I think Li Wan had an ulterior motive for helping Kong Chunxiang get rid of Zhou Feng. He wanted Kong Chunxiang to do something for him.”
The meeting room fell silent for a moment. Cheng Cu said, “You found that the real killer in the Nanxi Middle School case might have been a student. Li Wan and that student knew about each other, and Li Wan later disappeared because the student silenced him. Then Li Wan may also have wanted that student gone!”
“Right. There are probably still gaps in what we know about Li Wan’s relationship with that student, but there’s little doubt Kong Chunxiang was being used.” Chen Zheng tapped Kong Chunxiang’s photograph. “Kong worked at construction sites while carrying out tasks Li Wan gave him. Maybe all he had to do was watch someone. His identity provided cover, and having Zhong Lishan beside him made him even less suspicious. But eventually Kong was exposed, bringing disaster down on himself and on Zhong Lishan, who was innocently dragged into it. That would explain why they were killed and why there was cicada graffiti nearby.”
Cheng Cu drew in a long breath. “That student was Lou Xiaoguo.”
Chen Zheng said, “Once everyone else is ruled out, he’s the only possible answer.”
Cheng Cu thought for a long time. “But Bro Chen, I still have one question. Why would Lou Xiaoguo dump Zhong Lishan and Kong Chunxiang’s bodies at the stationery factory? That feels like an unnecessary extra step.”
Chen Zheng nodded. It really was baffling, and at this stage he could not think of any reasonable explanation.
Cheng Cu continued, “Back then there were two people who wanted Li Shuxing dead: Lou Xiaoguo and Li Wan. Li Wan was calculating and experienced. He followed Li Shuxing for a long time, waiting for the right opportunity. Lou Xiaoguo was still just a child, so even if he had planned it beforehand, there would’ve been an impulsive element to what he did. Xue Chenwen would only have covered for a student, which is why we think Lou was the real killer. But here’s the problem now. Once Lou grew up and realized Li Wan might know his secret, he would have a reason to silence Li Wan. But Li Wan hadn’t committed a crime. He had Kong Chunxiang watch Lou Xiaoguo and may even have had Kong try to kill him. Why would he do that? There was no need.”
A flash of insight shot through Chen Zheng’s mind. Cheng Cu’s question had struck a crucial point. He was right. Li Wan had no reason to move against Lou Xiaoguo. If he discovered Lou threatened his life, he could simply have gone to the police. Acting this way made Li Wan look more like… a killer.
Could there have been two killers in the old case? Li Wan might not have been the killer himself, but could something he did also have pushed Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi toward their deaths?
Chen Zheng asked, “Captain Cheng, what else did you find on Lou Xiaoguo?”
Cheng Cu flipped through his notebook. “The night Luo Yingqiang and He Yunchao were killed, Lou never went back to his own residence. He lied about that.”
Chen Zheng remembered that when he first took Lou Xiaoguo’s statement, Lou said he had gone home after work and that “Zhang Yinan” would come over after school so the two of them could go to the foot spa together. Chen Zheng asked, “Then where did he go?”
Cheng Cu said, “We checked the cameras in his residential complex and didn’t see him. We checked the shop’s footage and found he left later than usual, at eleven-thirty. Didn’t you find out his mother runs an esports hotel? We checked those cameras too. He actually went there at three in the morning, and even his mother didn’t know about it.”
Chen Zheng stood. “Then we have something to talk to Lou Xiaoguo about.”
Lou Xiaoguo was brought into the interrogation room. He looked around, then turned toward Chen Zheng as he entered. “Officer Chen, are you serious? You dragged me, the victim, into a place like this?”
“You’ll know soon enough whether we’re serious.” Chen Zheng said, “From the night of December thirteenth into the early hours of the fourteenth, you weren’t home at all. Why did you lie?”
Lou Xiaoguo’s eyes shifted almost imperceptibly. “What lie? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“When I asked where you were the night He Yunchao died, you said you were at home. But in fact, you went to your mother’s esports hotel in the middle of the night, stayed there for a few hours, then left after daybreak.” Chen Zheng said, “Remember now?”
Lou Xiaoguo blinked, unconcerned. “That? I forgot. Yeah, I went to my mom’s place because I suddenly wanted to play games. The computer at home isn’t powerful enough.”
“Suddenly?” Chen Zheng said. “You picked quite a convenient moment for that sudden urge. You closed the shop at eleven-thirty and didn’t reach the esports hotel until three in the morning. What were you doing for those three-plus hours?”
The feigned ease gradually left Lou Xiaoguo’s face, replaced by gravity. Then he suddenly laughed. “Officer Chen, are you saying I used those three-plus hours to go to the foot spa, kill He Yunchao and Luo Yingqiang, then hide at my mother’s place? Do I look capable of something like that?” He spread his arms to display his frail build. “Since you’ve seen the surveillance footage, you should know I was wearing the same clothes when I went in and out of my mom’s place as when you saw me during the day, and the same clothes the next day too. If I were the killer, why wouldn’t I throw them away? If I were the killer, I killed people without getting a single drop of blood on me? Is there such a killer? That would be fucking incredible!”
Chen Zheng frowned, realizing the police might have stepped into Lou Xiaoguo’s trap. Lou may have anticipated long ago that he would become a key person of interest. Normally, he should not have concealed where he went. Once he lied, suspicion around him would only grow stronger. Yet he had allowed the esports hotel’s surveillance cameras to record him, and he truly had not changed his clothes.
Lou Xiaoguo shrugged. “When I found out He Yunchao was selling himself behind my back and even his name was fake, I really was so angry I wanted to kill him. But by then he was already dead.” He stressed again, “Officer Chen, I really don’t have the ability to kill anyone.”
Lou Xiaoguo’s trip to the esports hotel was unexpected, and Chen Zheng could not come up with a reasonable explanation for it yet. He set it aside for the moment rather than follow Lou’s train of thought and took out three photographs. “Look familiar?”
The photographs showed the dragonfly graffiti, the cicada graffiti, and the ant graffiti.
Lou Xiaoguo leaned closer to look. Chen Zheng noticed his pupils contract almost imperceptibly.
“Insects.” Lou looked up with a smile at the corner of his mouth. “I really like insects.”
“I could tell the last time I went to your place.” Chen Zheng asked, “Do you know where these were drawn?”
Lou pretended to think. Half a minute later, he shook his head. “How would I know if you don’t tell me?”
“This one was near the table-tennis court that collapsed and burned. Your classmates Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi died inside.” Chen Zheng tapped the first photograph and stared at Lou Xiaoguo.
Lou opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. “That…”
“This one was at the Time Alley Stationery Factory in Lanwanba, where two workers were murdered and their bodies dumped. It was a couple of years ago. Maybe you saw it in the news?” Chen Zheng said.
“I vaguely remember it.” Lou Xiaoguo’s Adam’s apple moved.
“This one is recent. It was right beside the bathing pool where Luo Yingqiang and He Yunchao were killed.” Chen Zheng said, “If you went to the foot spa that night, maybe you saw it?”
Lou Xiaoguo looked shocked. “Officer Chen, are you trying to trap me? I didn’t go to the foot spa and I never saw it. I’m not the killer.”
Chen Zheng said, “But I gave the illustrated insect book from your home and photographs of the decorative murals at your mother’s esports hotel to experts for comparison. Their conclusion was that the style was highly similar to these three photographs and that there were matching details as well. Lou Xiaoguo, you may be the person who drew all three.”
Lou Xiaoguo’s eyes widened. “But if they’re highly similar, does that automatically mean I drew them?”
Chen Zheng thought, This man has remarkable composure. I underestimated him when we first met.
“You can’t say that, can you?” Lou Xiaoguo said. “Even the experts won’t give you a definite conclusion, which is why you’re here testing me. But I’ll tell you this: I’m not the killer. No matter how much these drawings look like mine, I didn’t draw them.”
Chen Zheng said, “The killer? When did I ever say the person who drew them was the killer?”
Lou Xiaoguo froze, then coughed. “You didn’t? Then I was too nervous. Sorry. But Officer Chen, you’ve made the implication pretty obvious. You keep talking about the crime scenes and the drawings, so anyone listening would think the artist was the killer.”
“I only think the person who drew these is suspicious,” Chen Zheng said calmly. “The suspect also happens to be someone who loves insects, which is why he used insect graffiti as a ‘signature’ at the scenes. That’s a lot like you.”
Lou Xiaoguo said, “So now you’re saying I’m the suspect again?”
Chen Zheng shook his head. “I’m asking you to help analyze the suspect’s mentality. After all, the two of you share a fondness for insects.”
“But I’m not a detective. I’m not very educated, and I don’t have your kind of perspective.” Lou Xiaoguo looked helpless. “How would I know what he’s thinking?”
Watching the surveillance feed, Cheng Cu sighed. “With a mentality like that, tell me he’s never killed anyone and I wouldn’t believe it.”
“All right. I’ll have someone else examine the stylistic details again.” Chen Zheng saw Lou shift in his chair and asked, “Getting restless?”
Lou Xiaoguo said, “If I am, can you let me go? This chair’s kind of hard.”
Chen Zheng laughed softly. “It’s still early. I have quite a lot to ask you today.”
Lou Xiaoguo frowned, clearly unwilling.
“You still remember Teacher Xue Chenwen, right?” Chen Zheng said.
Lou Xiaoguo looked puzzled. “How could I forget? I was still a student at Nanxi when he killed people.”
Chen Zheng asked, “Did he ever teach your class?”
Lou Xiaoguo shook his head.
“I heard that before the incident, a lot of students at Nanxi Middle School liked him. Even students he didn’t teach thought he was a good teacher.” Chen Zheng asked, “What about you?”
“Now all I remember is that he was a lunatic who killed students.” Lou Xiaoguo asked, “Why are you suddenly asking about him? He’s been dead for years.”
Chen Zheng said, “Because he has been dead for years, but the real killer of Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi is still committing crimes. The insect graffiti supports that.”
Lou Xiaoguo thought for a moment. “Then I understand even less. Are you saying I didn’t just kill He Yunchao and Luo Yingqiang, but also killed Li… Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi? And I killed those two workers too?”
Chen Zheng said, “Objectively speaking, you do have motive.”
Lou Xiaoguo shook his head, looking as though he had heard an absurd joke.
“I went to see Teacher You, your middle-school PE teacher, and learned one detail. Compared with the other athletic-specialty students, you were unusual. You didn’t get into Nanxi Middle School on the strength of your running. Your family paid a hefty fee to get you into Nanxi Middle School, and only after you entered did Teacher You notice you. But there were no athletic-specialty slots left for your year. Another student had already secured a slot, yet Teacher You believed it should go to you because you had talent and the other student didn’t.” Chen Zheng said, “The person who did all the work only for you to reap the benefit was Li Shuxing.”
Lou Xiaoguo’s expression darkened. He apparently had not expected Chen Zheng to uncover details this specific.
Chen Zheng continued, “On the surface, Ping Yiyi didn’t seem to have any conflict with you. But first, she and Li Shuxing were very close friends. At that age, peers influence each other easily. Second, as far as Ping Yiyi was concerned, you were standing in the way of her direct admission into the high-school division. You should know Nanxi Middle School’s rules at the time better than I do. Athletic-specialty and arts-specialty students competed in the same pool. It was an unreasonable rule, but it existed.”
Lou Xiaoguo scratched his hair. “That rule did exist, but it had nothing to do with me.”
“No, it had everything to do with you,” Chen Zheng said. “It meant you became a thorn in the side of both Ping Yiyi and Li Shuxing. One had lost a slot he could have gotten because of you. That was the past. The other stood to lose her chance at direct admission to the high-school division because of you. That was the future. They had ample motive to target you and turn the rest of your middle-school years into darkness. And you had no way to escape their bullying except by going to your teachers or your mother.”
“No!” Lou Xiaoguo’s emotions surged visibly, and his back hunched. “I barely knew them! I didn’t know anything about any slot! Teacher You told me athletic-specialty students got subsidies and had an easier time getting into high school, so I joined. He never told me I was taking someone else’s slot! And Ping Yiyi makes even less sense. There were so many athletic-specialty students. Why would she only target me?”
“She targeted you because she was Li Shuxing’s friend. Didn’t I just say that? Close friends the same age influence each other easily. It would be hard for her not to connect what happened to Li Shuxing with her own situation and see you as an imagined rival.” Chen Zheng paused. “Since you’re in such a hurry to deny it, let me ask you something else. For a period before Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi were killed, you kept coming home very late and looking a mess. Your mother asked what you had been doing, and you couldn’t explain. I understand you didn’t want her to worry. You were the kind of person who didn’t want to ask teachers or parents for help. Back then you couldn’t bring yourself to say it. Can you explain now?”
Lou Xiaoguo sat with his back rigid and said nothing for a long time. Only after Chen Zheng prompted him did he look away. “I don’t remember. I must’ve been doing extra training.”
Chen Zheng said, “I already checked with Teacher You. There was no extra training then. Since you refuse to say it, I’ll have to guess. When you came home late, you were either being bullied by Li Shuxing or trying to avoid him, while Ping Yiyi kept watch or joined in. Your pride kept you from asking anyone for help, and eventually it led to something that could no longer be taken back.”
“Hahahahaha…” Lou Xiaoguo laughed theatrically. “Something that couldn’t be taken back? Murder? I killed Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi over something like that? Hm, I suppose it makes sense. Isn’t that how plenty of young-adult fiction is written these days? But Officer Chen, even if you ignore how young I was back then and ask how I could possibly have dealt with Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi together, you still have to explain why I wasn’t the one who got caught in the end. Teacher Xue was. The case was huge back then. The police were out in force. I was just a kid. How did I make all of you believe I wasn’t the killer? Why would Teacher Xue protect me, a murderer? I can’t figure it out, Officer Chen. Can you?”
Chen Zheng did not answer. Instead he said, “You call him Teacher Xue.”
Lou Xiaoguo paused, and the force in his manner abruptly receded.
Chen Zheng said, “I’ve spoken with many people about Xue Chenwen. No one calls him Teacher Xue anymore. Even those who once admired and respected him believe that after doing something like that, he no longer deserves the title of ‘teacher.’ You’re the only person still willing to call him Teacher Xue. And as you just said, he never taught you. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t your teacher.”
Lou Xiaoguo’s hand clenched on the table, veins standing out across the back of it. Chen Zheng’s gaze dropped briefly. “Is it because you still respect someone who had little to do with you, or because deep down you know very well that he never did that? Everything he did was to protect a student who had made a mistake, and he was willing to pay with his life for it?”
Lou Xiaoguo remained silent.
“Your PE teacher couldn’t understand why you were doing so well as an athletic-specialty student and then suddenly wanted to quit, giving up even though you had a chance at direct admission into Nanxi’s high-school division. Your mother thought Xue Chenwen’s killings traumatized you and made you afraid to stay at Nanxi. Neither of them understood you well enough. If you stayed in the athletic-specialty program and kept studying at Nanxi, it would have been very hard for you to forget what you did that day.” Chen Zheng said, “You needed a completely new environment.”