If Lou Xiaoguo had still felt some sympathy for He Yunchao while listening to the earlier part of his story, by this point all that remained was a cold sneer. This good-looking university student had nothing but a handsome face. He was stupid and rotten enough to use Lou Xiaoguo of all people. And to think Lou had once believed he had found a decent partner, even started imagining a future with him.
People really were filthy. Li Shuxing was. Ping Yiyi was. Li Wan was. He Yunchao was too.
The evil ember that had lain dormant in Lou Xiaoguo’s chest for so long flared into a blaze again. This time I wanted to live properly. I didn’t want to hurt anyone else. They were the ones who had to come throwing themselves at me.
Fine. Fine. Fine.
Murderous intent surged through Lou Xiaoguo, but none of it showed on his face. He pulled He Yunchao into his arms with a worried expression and said he understood.
He Yunchao was overjoyed. While confessing his guilt, he kept professing his feelings. “Bro Xiaoguo, I did have an ulterior motive when I got together with you, but now I really do like you. I know saying this is irresponsible, but since we’ve already talked this far today, I… I want to ask, if you’re willing, after I get my revenge, could we… could we…”
Lou Xiaoguo was too disgusted to keep listening. Pretending to cover He Yunchao’s mouth affectionately, he said gently, “Yinan, I’m still used to calling you by this name. Go do what you need to do. I’ll wait for you. If you need my help, just say the word.”
He Yunchao firmly believed Lou Xiaoguo truly loved him and was willing to take risks for him. Lou had coached him until he could convincingly pass as a gay man, and when the opportunity came, He Yunchao seized it.
Luo Yingqiang really was interested in male university students. He Yunchao was brought before him. Luo Yingqiang looked him up and down, then slowly said his name. “Zhang Yinan.”
For one instant, terror closed around He Yunchao’s throat. Did Luo Yingqiang know that the stepson Zhang Mu had sent abroad long ago was named Zhang Yinan? Was that why Luo had summoned him?
But Luo Yingqiang’s reaction afterward was completely ordinary. He did not linger on the name Zhang Yinan and went straight to business.
He Yunchao became a lover kept by Luo Yingqiang. Every time Luo summoned him was another nightmare he never wanted to remember. Yet he never found an opportunity to make a move against Luo. Before, in his desperation, He Yunchao had thought he could simply die together with Luo Yingqiang. But now he had Lou Xiaoguo. He wanted to get out alive, or at the very least avoid dragging Lou down with him.
Lou Xiaoguo mocked his naivety inwardly while saying aloud, “If you’re afraid, then we’ll do it together.”
He Yunchao asked, “How?”
Lou Xiaoguo told him that the foot spa invested in by Yingqiang Group would open soon, and the place would certainly be chaotic that day. It would be the perfect opportunity to kill Luo Yingqiang. “Keep him occupied in the bathing pool. When it gets past midnight, I’ll make my move.”
He Yunchao jumped. “You? Bro Xiaoguo, don’t do anything reckless!”
Lou Xiaoguo soothed him. “I don’t want to wait any longer. If we don’t settle this, we’ll never be able to truly be together.”
He Yunchao was deeply moved. What Lou Xiaoguo was actually thinking was: I can’t keep acting this out with you anymore. You and Luo Yingqiang can both fucking hurry up and die.
Killing was no longer especially difficult for Lou Xiaoguo, even when the target was the richest man in Nanshan City. He made the arrangements with He Yunchao, disguised himself that night, and went to the foot spa. Using credentials He Yunchao had stolen, he passed through security and successfully hid on the sixth floor.
Luo Yingqiang was drunk and completely unable to fight back. Lou Xiaoguo killed him in the bathing pool. Before He Yunchao could even celebrate, Lou sent him to the afterlife as well.
He Yunchao stared at him in horror. Right up until his death, he never understood why Lou Xiaoguo had killed him.
Lou watched the two bodies slowly grow cold, numb and expressionless. Before leaving, he drew the “signature” he left after every crime on one of the columns. This time it was an ant, still carrying the meaning of life continuing without end.
Lou Xiaoguo let out a long breath and looked at Ming Han through half-lidded eyes. “That’s everything.”
Ming Han seemed not to have reacted. For a full half minute, he said nothing.
“What’s wrong, old classmate?” Lou Xiaoguo laughed. “Don’t know what to ask me?”
Ming Han was not actually stunned. Quite the opposite, his mind was racing, much as Lou Xiaoguo’s had while listening to He Yunchao explain how and why he intended to take revenge on Luo Yingqiang.
Lou Xiaoguo was extraordinarily arrogant. He placed himself in the position of a god or Buddha looking down on He Yunchao. Killing had become a trivial matter to him. Xue Chenwen could never have imagined that the “good deed” he performed before his death would water such a poisonous vine into existence. Lou’s account overflowed with contempt for He Yunchao, and he had omitted not a single detail that could make himself seem clever. Yet when it came to killing Luo Yingqiang and He Yunchao, he brushed over everything in a few sentences.
Why? Was that not precisely the sort of thing he should have repeated and flaunted?
Or did Lou Xiaoguo not know how to describe it because he did not know the details at all?
“Lou Xiaoguo may not have been the one who killed Luo Yingqiang and He Yunchao.” Chen Zheng looked away from the surveillance monitor.
Wu Zhan said, “But the drawing on the column…”
“He did go there intending to kill someone that night, but he arrived too late.” Chen Zheng braced both hands on the table, light from the display flickering across his face. “They were already dead when he got there. He may even have seen the killer. But for some reason, he pretended the murders were his and left his signature behind.”
Wu Zhan picked up an unlit cigarette. “That…”
What Chen Zheng said next startled him even more. “Director Wu, Lou Xiaoguo wasn’t the real killer in the Nanxi Middle School case either.”
“Then who was?”
“Li Wan.”
The interrogation had gone on too long, and exhaustion was beginning to show on Lou Xiaoguo’s face, so Ming Han temporarily left. The moment he returned to the conference room, he heard Chen Zheng and Wu Zhan discussing the Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi case. Ming Han poured himself a glass of water and sat down beside Chen Zheng.
“Li Wan?” Wu Zhan frowned in thought. “He did have more than enough motive, and after Li Shuxing disappeared, he was excessively proactive.”
Chen Zheng said, “I looked over Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi’s autopsy reports again a couple of days ago. Their bodies were badly burned, but the medical examiner was still able to determine that the fatal injuries were to the head. After they fell, they lost the ability to move, then were killed by the bricks and roof tiles that collapsed after them.”
Wu Zhan said, “That’s right.”
Chen Zheng continued, “The fall alone wasn’t enough to kill them. The condition that made it fatal was the bricks and tiles striking their heads. At the time, Xue Chenwen said he watched them fall, panicked, and fled immediately. He claimed he returned later to confirm that they were really dead, then, afraid police would discover clues at the scene, poured oil over the whole table-tennis shed and burned it down. Of course he said that to hide Lou Xiaoguo. But the first half came from Lou Xiaoguo’s point of view. The one who fled was Lou. Lou never went down into the shed to check whether Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi were actually dead.”
Wu Zhan’s heavy eyelids lifted. “You mean…”
Ming Han said, “Li Wan had a reason to get rid of Li Shuxing. And as an adult, he thought things through much more carefully than Lou Xiaoguo did. Half of Lou’s actions were impulsive and irrational. Li Wan, on the other hand, had been planning it for a long time and looking for a chance to kill Li Shuxing. That day, the opportunity fell right into his hands.”
“Exactly.” Chen Zheng continued, “Lou Xiaoguo was too frightened to check the bodies. He thought Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi were already dead and fled in panic, handing Li Wan the perfect opportunity. First, Li Wan saw Lou Xiaoguo and followed him to the table-tennis court. Second, after Lou left, Li Wan went to where Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi had fallen. They weren’t dead. They asked him for help. Would he save them? Of course not. From the collapsed roof above, he pushed bricks and masonry down onto their heads.”
Wu Zhan said quietly, “That would explain Li Wan’s later behavior…”
Chen Zheng went on, “Li Wan, Lou Xiaoguo, and Xue Chenwen each possessed different pieces of information. Xue Chenwen only knew what Lou told him. Lou didn’t know Li Wan was there. Li Wan didn’t know Xue Chenwen would take the blame for Lou. That’s why Li Wan was so active at the beginning of the investigation. He knew the police might suspect him, but it didn’t matter. As long as the police found the table-tennis shed, they would find the traces Lou Xiaoguo had left behind, while Li Wan had already cleaned away his own. He put on a show for the Li family elders: look how much he loved his nephew Li Shuxing. Now that Li Shuxing was gone, Li Wan became the undisputed heir to the family. What he never expected was for police to trace the case to Xue Chenwen, much less for Xue Chenwen to confess. He couldn’t understand it, and people naturally fear what they can’t understand. So later in the investigation he stopped being proactive and seemed to vanish from view.”
Wu Zhan carefully replayed the events from back then in his mind. Piece by piece, everything lined up.
“Xue Chenwen died before he ever made it to trial, while Lou Xiaoguo was still alive. The police didn’t even spend much effort on that little ‘monster.’” Chen Zheng said, “I tried putting myself in Li Wan’s position, and it’s actually terrifying. First, he didn’t understand Xue Chenwen. He didn’t know about Xue Chenwen’s blind devotion to his students or what Xue Chenwen had gone through, or that Xue Chenwen had already wanted to die. From Li Wan’s point of view, there could only be one explanation: Lou Xiaoguo had somehow threatened, bribed, manipulated, or used some crooked method to force Xue Chenwen to confess. How could a kid pull off something like that? Was he even still a kid? If Lou could do that to Xue Chenwen, could he do the same thing to Li Wan? And if Lou was already this capable, once he grew up, would he realize there had actually been another killer in the case?”
“Li Shuxing was dead, but Li Wan gained a new obsession and had to keep watching Lou Xiaoguo at all times. He probably never understood, right up until he died, how Lou had supposedly manipulated Xue Chenwen. He could never have understood Xue Chenwen’s choice.” Chen Zheng continued, “Lou quit the track team and later didn’t enter the high-school division of Nanxi Middle School. To Li Wan, that looked like avoidance. He assumed Lou was afraid the secret would be exposed too. As time passed, Lou became harder and harder for him to read. Did the police know Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi’s fatal injuries were to the head? Did they tell Lou? If Lou knew, would he eventually connect it back to Li Wan? Yes. Absolutely. Because Li Wan had been far too active after Li Shuxing disappeared. At the time, he thought Lou would die anyway and would never live long enough to work it out. But Xue Chenwen was the one who died, leaving Lou with all the time in the world to piece the sequence together. As long as Lou stayed alive, he was dangerous to Li Wan. Li Wan had to eliminate him, just as he had eliminated Li Shuxing. That’s why he controlled someone utterly loyal to him and had that person follow Lou Xiaoguo.”
Chen Zheng’s throat had gone a little hoarse. Without thinking, he picked up the glass beside him and took a sip of water. Only when he set it down did he realize he had grabbed the wrong one. It was the glass Ming Han had just placed there. He glanced at Ming Han. The corners of Ming Han’s eyes curved, and he stood to pour himself another glass.
Wu Zhan was absorbed in the case and missed the little exchange entirely. “Li Wan calculated things that far ahead. Did he go to Dahe County specifically to gain control of Kong Chunxiang?”
“Not necessarily. A friend dragged him there, so meeting Kong Chunxiang may really have been a coincidence. But once he decided to help Kong Chunxiang avenge his mother, he probably had a plan in place. Still, the reason he feared Lou Xiaoguo so much was that Li Wan was the one who possessed the most information, right?” After saying this, Chen Zheng looked to Ming Han.
Ming Han had returned with his water and sat down. “Right. Even now, Lou Xiaoguo believes he was the one who killed Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi. It has never occurred to him that Li Wan might have gone back to ‘finish them off.’ His suspicion of Li Wan has always stopped at: Li Wan somehow discovered Lou was the real killer and wanted revenge. Neither of them ever escaped their respective logical traps. From Lou’s side, if Li Wan had nothing to do with Li Shuxing’s death but knew Lou was the killer, the most sensible thing would have been to call the police and hand over the evidence. From Li Wan’s side, Lou never knew Li Wan had been at the scene. To Lou, everything was already settled. Li Wan was the one who chose to stir all the dust back into the air.”
Wu Zhan let out a long breath. “After more than ten years, that case is finally clear. But Captain Chen, you just said Lou Xiaoguo probably didn’t kill Luo Yingqiang and He Yunchao either?”
Chen Zheng was about to answer when Ming Han cut in. “Director Wu, I don’t think Lou looks like the killer this time either. In his previous crimes, he preferred indirect methods. He lured Li Shuxing and Ping Yiyi into falling from a height, used alcohol to incapacitate Kong Chunxiang and Zhong Lishan, and turned Li Wan’s own plan against him. He’s very good at playing to his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses. But Luo Yingqiang and He Yunchao had their throats cut directly. That was too professional.”
Wu Zhan nodded, the furrow between his brows deepening. “I just remembered. You two didn’t come to Nanshan City because of cases that had already happened.”
Chen Zheng’s gaze darkened slightly as a name surfaced in his mind. “Heaven-Measuring Ruler.”
Earlier, while he and Ming Han were still in Luocheng, the Provincial Department had delayed taking concrete action against Heaven-Measuring Ruler. Xu Hetang, Lü Ou’s mother and someone connected to Heaven-Measuring Ruler, appeared in Nanshan City. Liu Pinchao disappeared while following her, which was why Chen Zheng and Ming Han rushed here. Yet Liu Pinchao seemed to vanish from the face of the earth, while that very night the richest man in the city, Luo Yingqiang, was murdered. They had followed the case ever since.
At the beginning of the investigation, both Chen Zheng and Ming Han had considered whether Heaven-Measuring Ruler stood behind Luo Yingqiang’s murder. But as one suspect after another emerged, suspicion toward Heaven-Measuring Ruler gradually faded. Now, however, Heaven-Measuring Ruler had come sharply back into focus.
Chen Zheng could not help wondering whether Lou Xiaoguo had some connection to Heaven-Measuring Ruler as well, and that was why he had to confess to crimes he had not committed.
“We may be overcomplicating it, the same way Li Wan overcomplicated things by assuming Lou knew about him.” Ming Han’s tone was light, and the words seemed aimed especially at Chen Zheng. “Li Wan saw Lou Xiaoguo and fell into his own trap, believing Lou would eventually discover him. We came here because of the people behind Hao Le, so we naturally assume Lou must belong to that same network. But there’s another possibility. Simpler, and more in line with Lou Xiaoguo’s personality.”
Chen Zheng looked at Ming Han. Wu Zhan asked, “What possibility?”
Ming Han laughed softly. “From what I know of Lou Xiaoguo, he’s extremely conceited. Partly because that’s just his personality, and partly because Xue Chenwen once ‘covered’ for him. The moment he learned He Yunchao had used him, what little love he had for He Yunchao turned straight into hatred. No one was allowed to deceive him like that. He had to make He Yunchao die. From Lou’s point of view, his murder plan itself had no problem. He Yunchao would keep Luo Yingqiang occupied, then Lou would arrive and kill them both. What Lou never expected was that despite all that planning, someone else would get there first. Luo Yingqiang and He Yunchao were already dead. He must have been furious and excited at the same time. Who had killed them? If he didn’t take revenge with his own hands, then the revenge meant nothing. So he still drew that so-called endless-life graffiti on the column and lied to himself that he was the one who killed them.”
Chen Zheng was silent for a moment. “That is possible. Let Lou Xiaoguo rest, then question him again. If necessary, use Xue Chenwen to provoke him.”
Ming Han nodded. “Understood.”
The conference room was quiet for a moment before Wu Zhan remembered another inconsistency. “There’s still something wrong with Luo Yingqiang keeping He Yunchao as a lover. It’s true Luo was interested in young men, but He Yunchao was using the name Zhang Yinan. Could Luo really have forgotten that Zhang Yinan was his own son’s original name?”
Chen Zheng said, “I’ve thought about that too. Add in the doubts surrounding Zhang Mu, and the truth may have looked something like this.”
The gap in status and wealth between Luo Yingqiang and Zhang Mu had long since become enormous. Zhang Mu continued hating Luo Yingqiang, but Luo may no longer have cared about Zhang Mu at all. He might even have forgotten him. Zhang Mu vented that hatred by killing children, placing their bodies in jars, and burying them in his own fields. Years passed. Then Zhang Mu fell ill and learned he did not have long to live, while He Youqun may have discovered the secret hidden in those fields.
On one hand, Zhang Mu still wanted revenge on Luo Yingqiang. On the other, he had to silence He Youqun. He Yunchao was fairly simple-minded. Most of what he knelt in front of Lou Xiaoguo and told him had simply been lies Zhang Mu fed him. He fell for Zhang Mu’s deception completely, believing Luo Yingqiang was the man who killed his father, believing he had to abandon the identity of He Yunchao if he wanted to survive, and devoting himself entirely to revenge.
Because of the information gap, He Yunchao did not know that Zhang Yinan was actually the original name of Luo Yingqiang’s son. What Zhang Mu told him was that Zhang Yinan had been a child his late wife brought into the marriage and had already gone abroad. So from He Yunchao’s perspective, Luo Yingqiang probably had no idea who Zhang Yinan was.
Zhang Mu’s idea of changing He Yunchao’s name to Zhang Yinan was vicious in the extreme. He planted hatred inside He Yunchao and sent him toward Luo Yingqiang for revenge. If He Yunchao succeeded, Zhang Mu’s wish would be fulfilled. If he failed, how would Luo Yingqiang react to this suspicious “son” who had deliberately maneuvered his way close? Most likely, Luo would kill He Yunchao. In that case, Zhang Mu would have used Luo Yingqiang’s own hands to dispose of the man who might one day learn the truth and come after him.
Either way, Zhang Mu won.
From Luo Yingqiang’s perspective, He Yunchao’s appearance must have been startling. The real Zhang Yinan had long since changed his name to Yin Shuwen and was living quietly in Country A. Then this good-looking man appeared, also calling himself Zhang Yinan, and even wanted to become Luo Yingqiang’s lover. What exactly was he after?
Luo Yingqiang was no ordinary man. He controlled Yingqiang Group and held enormous influence over the lives of people throughout Nanshan City. In his eyes, He Yunchao was nothing more than an interesting toy. He could afford to keep him close and see what tricks He Yunchao intended to play.
He Yunchao believed the techniques he learned from Lou Xiaoguo were what made him Luo Yingqiang’s new favorite. In reality, Luo deliberately brought him close because of the name Zhang Yinan and was merely amusing himself with him.
It was precisely because Luo Yingqiang was on guard that He Yunchao never found an opportunity to make his move. Then came the night the foot spa opened, when both he and Luo Yingqiang were cut down by the “Grim Reaper’s” scythe.
Chen Zheng said, “This is only the ‘truth’ Ming Han and I pieced together from the clues we have. Most of the people involved are already gone, so whether things really happened this way will be difficult to verify.”
Wu Zhan’s expression was grave, filled with anger and grief for the children who had died in Zhang Mu’s hands. “If Zhang Mu isn’t dead and we can find him, maybe one day the whole truth can still come out.”
If Zhang Mu really had cancer and it was already terminal, then he was probably long dead. But if the cancer had been another lie, then perhaps he was still hiding somewhere, waiting for He Yunchao to avenge him.
“Didn’t He Yunchao tell Lou Xiaoguo that he and Zhang Mu secretly buried He Youqun in the He family’s ancestral graveyard?” Chen Zheng said. “Opening someone’s ancestral grave is going to meet a lot of resistance. Director Wu, we’ll have to trouble you with that.”
Death was one of the most serious matters in a person’s life, and smaller communities treated burial with particular gravity. Wu Zhan knew opening an ancestral grave would not be easy, but this was a major case. They had no choice.
The next day, Chen Zheng accompanied Wu Zhan to Yanshui Town. Local police and Second Brother He arrived at the He family’s ancestral graveyard as well.
Second Brother He’s face was full of grief, but he was reasonable. He still could not believe He Youqun had been murdered. Before the grave was opened, he set off firecrackers for half an hour. The smoke faded into white mist in the mountains. Once the bricks and stones pressing down over the grave were removed, a crude coffin appeared. Inside lay a body already beginning to skeletonize. The burial cloth was stained with blood. This had unquestionably not been a natural death followed by an ordinary burial.
Second Brother He covered his face and wept, crying out for the murderer to return his younger brother’s life. The medical examiner carefully removed the remains and immediately brought them back to the municipal bureau for autopsy.
Later, Chen Zheng received the autopsy report. The remains had a parent-child relationship with He Yunchao and, combined with Lou Xiaoguo’s statement, belonged to He Youqun, who had died three years earlier. He Youqun’s skull was fractured, and the suspected weapon was a hoe. His skin and muscle had already decomposed, making other injuries impossible to determine, but aside from the skull fracture, the bones of his limbs were intact.
Zhang Mu had shown He Yunchao a corpse covered in blood, leading He Yunchao to believe Luo Yingqiang’s men had beaten He Youqun to death. But a beating severe enough to produce that appearance would have been unlikely to leave the rest of his skeleton uninjured. Zhang Mu had lied. He had deliberately inflicted He Youqun’s other visible injuries. They looked severe, but only the blunt-force injury to the head had actually been fatal.
At this point, unless the police could find Zhang Mu, there was little more they could do. Major Crimes was holding a meeting, but neither Chen Zheng nor Ming Han attended. Ming Han simply could not be bothered. Chen Zheng had been delayed comforting Second Brother He.
After seeing Second Brother He off, Chen Zheng did not find Ming Han in the office, so he followed the trail all the way to the terrace. Ming Han was leaning over the railing, lost in thought. When Chen Zheng lightened his footsteps, few people could notice him approaching. He tapped Ming Han on the shoulder. Ming Han was clearly distracted and startled, but when he saw it was Chen Zheng, some warmth returned to his eyes. “Bro.”
“Why aren’t you at the meeting?” Chen Zheng asked. “Not giving your old classmate any face?”
“Cheng Cu?” Ming Han said. “He doesn’t care about that.”
Chen Zheng asked, “Then what are you doing standing out here?”
Ming Han stretched, drawing out a long sound as he did. He lifted his arms too high, and his shirt rode up to reveal a strip of waist and abdomen. Chen Zheng almost laughed. Acting on impulse, he reached out with cold fingers and poked Ming Han right in the navel.
Elio’s Notes: Earlier chapters identify He Yunchao’s father as He Shuyou and Second Brother He as He Shuyou’s paternal cousin. In Chapters 108–109, the supplied raw instead repeatedly uses He Youqun for the father and here treats Second Brother He as his elder brother. The translation follows the current raw while flagging the continuity shift rather than silently rewriting either version.