Twelve years ago, I was 34 years old and was having a great time at the city’s criminal police team.
I was looking forward to getting promoted to deputy captain in another two years. However, Captain Cao Yin suddenly recruited a police academy intern.
The young man was called Yang Rui. Among the old police officers who were puffing away on cigarettes, he was submissive, taciturn, just like a schoolboy who had strayed into an adult party.
The battle that made his name, only Captain Cao and I watched the whole process.
As soon as the case was over, Captain Cao called him into the office and talked to him for more than three hours.
At that time, I called him Little Yang.
Now, I call him Captain Yang.
That case was very strange.
Late at night on March 8th, a rainstorm mixed with hail suddenly hit the north of the city.
At 9 am the next day, the team received a police report: An unknown female corpse was found in the northern suburbs. The death scene was tragic, and the reporter was scared out of his wits.
The corpse was hidden in a small forest, more than twenty meters away from the dirt road. The heavy rain the previous night had washed away the hillock, revealing a section of a red shoe, which was then discovered by the reporter.
But the heavy rain also destroyed the trace evidence on the corpse. Coupled with the muddy road, it was impossible to extract footprints, and the available clues were very limited.
The female corpse was wearing a pregnant woman’s cotton – padded clothes. Her clothes and pants were all covered in blood. She was lying on the ground in a big – character shape, with obvious strangulation marks on her neck.
Captain Cao said “excuse me”, and then pushed aside the hem of the clothes. Only then did we see clearly that the corpse’s belly had been vertically cut open by a sharp blade, and the fetus in the abdomen was missing!
Looking at this tragic scene, even though it was early spring, I was shocked into a cold sweat.
Surprisingly, Little Yang was calmer than expected.
After investigation, there was no murder weapon left at the scene, nor any information that could prove the identity of the corpse.
Twelve years ago, it was not as developed as it is now. Fingerprint, DNA records, and the Tianyan system, suggest “surveillance system” were not perfect. We could only use old – fashioned methods – identifying the characteristics of the corpse and checking the missing person’s report records.
The female corpse was around 30 years old, with a fair face. She was obviously an indoor worker. There was a washed receipt in the pocket of the cotton – padded clothes. We could only barely recognize that she had bought dog – skin plasters, six pieces in a box; and there was also a tube of polyvinyl alcohol drops, half of which had been used.
With only this little information, it was very difficult to determine the identity of the corpse.
Little Yang, however, mentioned something: “Brother He, could she be an accountant?”
This statement left me stunned.
He pointed at the polyvinyl alcohol and explained: “This is an artificial tear, generally used to improve eye dryness. Dog – skin plasters can reduce swelling, relieve pain, promote blood circulation, and remove dampness. But pregnant women are prohibited from applying them on the waist and abdomen. If the victim bought them for herself, she would only apply them on her hands, feet, shoulders, or neck. When collecting evidence, I smelled a very faint smell of safflower oil on the tiger’s mouth of her right hand and on the sleeve.”
Little Yang concluded that, given the age of the deceased, the possibility of her being an accountant was very high as she suffered from dry eye syndrome, cervical spondylosis, and tenosynovitis at the same time.
“Of course,” he added, “it’s just a guess.”
Little Yang’s guess was too bold. The diseases could not be confirmed, and inferring the identity of the female corpse based on this could easily interfere with the investigation ideas.
I felt that he had observed something else, but he didn’t say everything, obviously leaving himself some leeway.
Surprisingly, four days later, an old lady reported that she couldn’t get in touch with her daughter – in – law. The missing person was called Miao Qing, 28 years old, and 36 weeks pregnant.
Her occupation was – an accountant at a real – estate group.
Almost at the same time, an abandoned baby was found 3 kilometers away from the crime scene.
The baby was premature. The corpse was thin and shriveled, wrapped in a cotton – linen bedsheet, and its body was clean.
After DNA comparison, it was exactly the baby girl that Miao Qing had lost!
When notifying the old lady to identify the body, Miao Qing’s husband rushed back from another place. He was a small contractor who had taken on a job in the county. He had gone to the project site after the Spring Festival and had only talked to his wife on the phone twice.
Originally, the old lady was going to move to the city after the Spring Festival to take care of her daughter – in – law during childbirth, but her husband accidentally broke his waist. By the time she had dealt with the matter at home, she couldn’t get in touch with Miao Qing anymore.
Miao Qing’s husband was eight years older than her. He had a dark face like a laborer, and his hands were full of calluses and scars. He lowered his head, covering his face, and there were tears between his fingers.
“What happened? Everything was fine during the Spring Festival. I just went out to work. How come when I came back, she was gone? And the baby was gone… What happened?”
What happened?
This question hit everyone’s heart heavily.
The autopsy report showed that Miao Qing died between 8 pm and 10 pm on March 8th. There were large patches of bruises on her upper arms. She had taken sleeping pills before her death, and the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation.
The murder weapon was not a hard object like a rope or a belt, but more like a soft fabric such as a scarf or a long towel.
There were undigested strawberries in Miao Qing’s stomach. Little Yang and I took the crime scene as the center and searched the surrounding area within a 6 – kilometer radius. We found a newly built strawberry garden. After seeing the photos, the owner said that on the day of the crime, Miao Qing went there for fun by car with two other people, a lame man and another pregnant woman.
The two pregnant women chatted almost the whole time. The man was busy running around, picking strawberries and handing water. It seemed very harmonious.
After six o’clock, the three of them left without having dinner.
Captain Cao knocked on the blackboard, on which there were many sticky notes pasted: “These two people must be Miao Qing’s friends. Why did they leave her alone in the suburbs? Did something happen, and Miao Qing asked to get off the car? Or did the two of them jointly murder her?”
Whoever the murderer was, the top priority was to find those two people.
Miao Qing’s mobile phone was missing. Her husband was busy at the construction site and was not familiar with his wife’s social circle. We could only start from the real – estate group and check the men and women who were close to her.
Soon, the target was locked on a young couple.
The man was called Li Guangji, 31 years old, a real – estate consultant, and he and Miao Qing belonged to different project departments of the same company. Due to work relations, the two of them had frequent contacts.
According to colleagues, Li Guangji was a very caring man. He knew that Miao Qing had dry eye syndrome and had given her a bottle of eye drops.
The woman was called Yao Ting, 28 years old, currently unemployed and staying at home.
Li Guangji was born into a poor family, while Yao Ting came from a family of scholars.
The two were from the same school. Li Guangji was two grades ahead of Yao Ting. He had served as the vice – minister of the college youth league committee and was very popular among girls. Yao Ting grew up in a well – off environment, simple and innocent, and was very fascinated by Li Guangji.
When Little Yang and I went to their house, only Li Guangji was at home.
He was limping, with his right hand wrapped in gauze, and was cooking. When he opened the door, he was holding a kitchen knife with a cold light, which almost startled me.
After letting us in, Li Guangji went back to the kitchen and closed the door.
I didn’t beat around the bush and directly asked him about his itinerary on March 8th.
Li Guangji had a decent appearance. Perhaps due to his professional needs, he smiled very kindly: “It was Women’s Day. I took Tingting and Xiaomiao to the strawberry garden to play. We set off at around 1 pm. It was very congested that day, and we didn’t arrive until after 3 pm. We played until sunset.”
I asked: “Did you go back to the city together?”
Li Guangji shook his head: “Xiaomiao separated from us. Originally, we were going to a farmhouse for dinner, but I suddenly received an overtime call. It was a big order, and the client was urging me to sign the contract. I had to rush to the project site to summarize the materials immediately. Xiaomiao didn’t want to delay my work, so she said she would take a taxi back and asked me and Tingting to go first.”
I frowned: “Miao Qing was a pregnant woman. Were you at ease leaving her alone in the suburbs?”
Li Guangji smiled somewhat awkwardly: “I know this is not very polite, but Xiaomiao’s home and the project are in two different districts. I couldn’t take her. And not far from the place where she got off, there was a main road. It wasn’t very difficult to take a taxi. I was in a hurry, so I didn’t stand on ceremony with her.”
After dropping off Miao Qing, Li Guangji sent Yao Ting into the urban area. Yao Ting went home by herself, and he drove to the project site and was busy until nearly ten o’clock.
Considering that he might drink alcohol while accompanying the client, Li Guangji didn’t drive but took a taxi to the appointed nightclub with the materials and indulged in debauchery until early morning. He was worried about waking up Yao Ting when he got home, so he opened a room in a nearby hotel and slept until dawn. He drove home the next day.
“Who would have thought that Tingting thought I was out having a good time,” Li Guangji had a bitter look on his face, “There were indeed a few ladies that day, but I really didn’t do anything. I just got a little perfume smell on my clothes. Tingting wouldn’t let it go and had a big fight with me. She was so angry that she packed her luggage and went back to her parents’ home. I haven’t coaxed her well yet.”
At this point, the clue seemed to be broken.
Little Yang suddenly blurted out: “Mr. Li is very good at growing flowers?”
Both Li Guangji and I were taken aback.
He reacted faster than me. He glanced at the flowers and plants next to the coffee table and said it was just a hobby.
Since I entered the door, I had noticed that there were several pots of flowers and two empty flowerpots next to the coffee table. One of the clivia was particularly eye – catching. There was a bright red flower bud on the thick leaves, and the soil was fresh and moist, obviously newly changed.
Little Yang nodded, meaningfully: “It’s not easy for clivia to bloom. This pot has such a beautiful flower bud. It must have been carefully taken care of for several years.”
Little Yang’s words seemed to come out of nowhere. I was about to interrupt when I heard him add one more sentence.
“If you take care of it so carefully, you should know that you can’t change the pot during the flower – bud stage, right?”
This sentence made me instinctively get goosebumps all over.
I immediately remembered that Miao Qing’s husband had mentioned that Miao Qing had a silk scarf. It was warm in winter and cool in summer, and it was cheap and good – quality. She usually liked to wear it. After her death, the silk scarf was gone.
Before Li Guangji could react, I reached out and stirred the soil, and sure enough, I dug out a handful of fibers that had not been completely burned!
At the same time, Little Yang got up and walked towards the kitchen.
Li Guangji ignored me and jumped up, blocking Little Yang. He refused to let him in, saying that he had just been cooking and the range hood was broken, and the kitchen was full of oil fumes.
I put on gloves and told Little Yang to break in.
How could Li Guangji be a match for a police academy student? In a few moves, Little Yang pressed him back onto the sofa. I pointed at him and shouted “Be honest”, which scared him into a shiver.
A few minutes later, Little Yang brought out a set of kitchen knives.
The knives were well – maintained and shiny. Only one boning knife was missing.
Little Yang looked at me, and I looked at Li Guangji. The latter’s face was ashen, and he didn’t say a word.
It wasn’t difficult to take Li Guangji back to the police team, but it wasn’t so easy to ask Yao Ting to assist in the investigation.
Yao Ting’s father, Yao Changyuan, was a university professor, and her mother, Meng Huiqin, ran a women’s aesthetics institution. Although they couldn’t be called extremely wealthy, they had some influence.
When they learned that we came because of Li Guangji, Yao Changyuan directly showed a bad face.
Meng Huiqin was wiping a family photo, which was of the three – member Yao family. Her attitude was a little better. She explained that Yao Ting had been in a bad mood recently, couldn’t sleep all night, had just taken some medicine and lay down, and was still resting.
I asked Meng Huiqin to wake Yao Ting up. Yao Changyuan suddenly threw the newspaper in his hand: “What do you want my daughter to do now? Assist in the investigation or what? If it’s assistance, wait until she has a good sleep; if it’s to arrest her, show the detention warrant!”
Meng Huiqin quickly came to mediate and asked us to wait for half an hour to let Yao Ting get enough rest.
This request was not too much. Yao Ting was at home and was a pregnant woman. Little Yang and I guarded the entrance and exit, not afraid of any trouble.
Meng Huiqin asked the nanny to make tea, moved the sundries on the low table, and invited us to sit down. I glanced at the medicine box she moved away and suddenly felt something was wrong.
It was a box of diazepam tablets, that is, Valium, mainly used to treat anxiety disorders and various functional neuroses, especially very effective for anxiety – related insomnia.
I subconsciously asked: “Is this what Yao Ting is taking?”
Meng Huiqin was taken aback and then nodded.
Little Yang saw through the mystery: “Miss Yao isn’t pregnant?”
Meng Huiqin was even more confused: “Is Tingting… pregnant?”
Little Yang and I looked at each other, and immediately the alarm bells went off.
Diazepam is a prohibited drug during pregnancy. The owner of the strawberry garden could recognize that Yao Ting was pregnant, so she must have been showing. Meng Huiqin definitely wouldn’t give her this!
After careful questioning, we learned that Yao Ting had secretly married Li Guangji right after graduation, without telling her parents. Because of this, Yao Changyuan almost cut off the parent – child relationship with her.
But soon, Yao Ting got pregnant. Meng Huiqin couldn’t bear to see her daughter suffer, so she persuaded Yao Changyuan to let go of his prejudice, held a wedding banquet for the two young people, and also gave the down payment for a house and a car as a dowry.
Who would have thought that when Yao Ting was five months pregnant, the two went on a trip. Li Guangji drove after drinking and had an accident, resulting in Yao Ting’s miscarriage, and he also injured his lower body. Part of the nerves in his right leg necrosed. After more than a year of recuperation at home, Li Guangji still had a sequela, and he also lost his stable job as a civil servant.
In the following five years, the two of them never got pregnant again.
I finally understood why Yao Changyuan’s attitude was so bad: He didn’t want his daughter to have any more trouble because of Li Guangji.
This idea was confirmed when I saw Yao Ting.
The woman helped downstairs by Meng Huiqin was slender, pale, with long hair setting off a small face, especially delicate and touching. She had dark circles under her eyes, was wearing a white dress, and was so weak that she seemed to be blown away by the wind.
Looking at her graceful figure, anyone could tell: She definitely couldn’t be pregnant!
Yao Ting’s appearance made the case fall into a thick fog.
On March 8th, why did she pretend to be pregnant?
I sensitively realized that the answer to this question might be related to Miao Qing’s death!
Considering Yao Ting’s poor mental state, Meng Huiqin offered to accompany her.
Back at the team, just as an ambulance was speeding out with its lights flashing. I stopped a colleague and asked what was going on.
He sighed: “The family members of the deceased Miao Qing came and wanted to take the body of their little granddaughter away for burial. Captain Cao led them to identify the body. When the old lady saw the appearance of the child, she had a hypertensive attack and fainted on the spot. Forensic Doctor Lin asked to send her to the hospital immediately…”
“What?”
Before my colleague could finish speaking, Yao Ting spoke up.
I turned around and saw that the girl was staring straight at the colleague who was speaking, her face deathly pale, and her whole body was shaking.
“Dead… dead?”
Before we could react, she rolled her eyes and fainted!
Little Yang was quick – eyed and caught her. The two of us hurriedly sent her to the infirmary. Fortunately, Yao Ting was young, otherwise I would have to run out of the police station to chase the ambulance.
After settling Yao Ting down, I rushed back to the observation room, sweating profusely.
As soon as I pushed the door open, Captain Cao was standing there with a sullen face, his arms folded, intently observing the interrogation room through the one – way glass.
I took a couple of steps closer and found that Li Guangji was actually chatting with the interrogators about “what kind of house type is suitable for raising children”?
The interrogation room was bustling, while the observation room felt like an ice cellar.
I was dumbfounded. “Captain Cao, what’s going on?”
Captain Cao’s face was as ugly as if he had eaten a green – headed fly. “Can’t you tell? We got played.”
When Little Yang and I went to the Yao family, all the physical evidence related to Li Guangji had been handed over for identification. While waiting for the results, our colleagues used the old method of getting friendly with Li Guangji, chatting about daily life, trying to find new clues.
No one expected that this usually effective method would fail on a real – estate consultant.
He quickly took the initiative, perfectly avoiding the case and leading the conversation in a completely new direction. Captain Cao didn’t remind the colleague, just wanting to see how far this guy could manipulate the situation.
“He’s enjoying it,” Little Yang walked closer to the one – way mirror, looking at Li Guangji who was talking eloquently. “He enjoys the pleasure of controlling the whole situation. It makes him feel that he’s the only winner.”
Captain Cao nodded. “He’s young, but unexpectedly difficult to deal with.”
Captain Cao called out the colleague and started to “ignore” Li Guangji. The latter relaxed and leaned back in the chair, then turned to look at the one – way mirror and showed a strange smile.
It was hard for me to say what was hidden in that smile. I just felt that he was overly calm.
If the little episode in the interrogation room only made people think that Li Guangji was “difficult”, then the preliminary identification results of the physical evidence raised the “difficulty” to “troublesome”:
The fibers found in the potted plant were a cotton – linen blend, commonly used to make large scarves. But they were burned beyond recognition, and no useful information could be extracted.
The missing boning knife was found in the community garbage station. The blade was missing a corner, and there were three sets of fingerprints on the handle. After sampling and comparison, they belonged to Li Guangji, Yao Changyuan, and Meng Huiqin respectively. But the knife was cleaned thoroughly, and no DNA belonging to Miao Qing was left.
As for Li Guangji’s white Toyota Vios, after a thorough cleaning, the interior was completely replaced. Although a hair belonging to Miao Qing was found under the back – seat floor mat, no luminol reaction was detected in the car.
All the evidence seemed to be no evidence.
However, on the night of March 8th, Li Guangji had several hours of “blank time”!
The building that Li Guangji was in charge of was still under development. There was only a marketing center on the construction site. There were no security guards, not even surveillance cameras, so it was impossible to determine the time he drove in. A few days ago, the hard drive of Li Guangji’s computer was damaged, and the data could not be restored, so it was also impossible to determine the time he used the computer.
Only at around 10 am on March 9th, a neighbor saw Li Guangji drive into the community parking lot.
From 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm on the night of the crime, no one knew what Li Guangji was doing.
Facing the table full of physical evidence, Captain Cao was so worried that his temples were throbbing.
“It’s impossible. There can’t be no trace left at all.” I flipped through the report over and over again. My mind was full of the image of Miao Qing’s husband with tears all over his face. “With such obvious clues like the silk scarf, the murder weapon, and the time gap, how could we not be able to arrest Li Guangji?”
After sending away Miao Qing’s husband, I closed my eyes, trying to recreate the situation on the night of the crime.
That day, Li Guangji first sent Yao Ting back to the urban area and then turned around to find Miao Qing. Maybe they had agreed to talk about something, or maybe Li Guangji contacted Miao Qing temporarily. No matter what the reason was, they met again in the northern suburbs.
There was no financial dispute between Miao Qing and Li Guangji, but whether there was an emotional dispute was uncertain.
Miao Qing’s husband was away all year round. Li Guangji was eloquent and a caring man, obviously winning Miao Qing’s favor. And his married status also reduced Miao Qing’s vigilance.
The car accident five years ago was likely to have caused Li Guangji or Yao Ting to lose their fertility. Whoever it was, it affected Li Guangji’s attitude towards pregnant women.
To marry Li Guangji, Yao Ting could cut off the parent – child relationship with Yao Changyuan. To make him happy, it was not impossible for her to pretend to be pregnant to add some couple’s fun.
But a fake pregnant woman could never be compared to a real one.
Miao Qing got into Li Guangji’s car, drank the drugged drink, and fell asleep.
Li Guangji might just have wanted to take Miao Qing away and rape her. If he was infertile, the semen couldn’t be used to test DNA. As long as he was careful, he could leave no evidence. But due to physical reasons or insufficient drug dosage, Miao Qing woke up early. A dispute occurred between them, and in a hurry, Li Guangji strangled Miao Qing to death with a silk scarf.
The shock of death made Li Guangji recall that near – death car accident and the sense of powerlessness of being controlled by fate.
He found a secluded place to dump the body, lifted Miao Qing’s upper arms, and transferred the body to the small forest. He took out the boning knife that he had prepared for emergencies, and a cruel but exciting picture emerged in his mind.
Just as Little Yang said, Li Guangji enjoyed the pleasure of controlling the whole situation.
Five years ago, the car accident took away his and Yao Ting’s child and the future of their “three – person family”. Five years later, on that out – of – control night, he had the opportunity to regain control of the situation.
Cutting open the abdomen to take out the fetus and holding the child’s life in his hands, Li Guangji regained his misplaced confidence.
He wrapped the still – breathing child with a silk scarf, left the northern suburbs, changed his blood – stained clothes, and took the materials that he had already summarized to the nightclub, creating a clever alibi for himself.
Judging from Yao Ting’s reaction, she didn’t know that Miao Qing was dead. But when she saw Li Guangji bring home a bloody child, she realized that something was wrong.
The two had a big fight, and Yao Ting fled back to her parents’ home. She didn’t know whether she should expose her husband or not. She was tormented by fear and anxiety day and night and had to take medicine to fall asleep.
And Li Guangji, who was alone at home, had a lot of time to deal with the evidence.
I suddenly opened my eyes, grabbed the photos of Miao Qing and the dead baby. “No matter what we missed, the breakthrough must be with Yao Ting. I’m going to the infirmary!”
Little Yang, however, said: “I want to talk to Li Guangji.”
Although with Captain Cao around, it wasn’t up to me to disagree, but I was in a mess at that time and directly retorted: “You don’t have enough experience. You know that bastard is a tough nut to crack, and yet you want to throw yourself into his mouth? If he finds out that we don’t have evidence, the subsequent interrogation will be even more troublesome!”
Little Yang wasn’t annoyed. He just said: “I want to know why he did this.”
“What else could it be? He’s a psychopath. Captain Cao, please stop this high – achiever from causing trouble for us.”
After saying that, without waiting for Captain Cao’s response, I turned around and went to the infirmary.
Yao Ting had already woken up and was answering the female police officer’s questions with Meng Huiqin’s company.
I changed shifts with my colleague, pulled a chair and sat down beside Yao Ting, getting straight to the point. “Tell me, what exactly happened on March 8th.”
Yao Ting’s eyes were red, and she lowered her head without answering.
Meng Huiqin was about to speak when I raised my hand to signal her to be quiet and slapped the photos in front of Yao Ting. The two lifeless faces came into Yao Ting’s view. She let out a scream and buried her head in Meng Huiqin’s arms. Meng Huiqin was furious and asked me how I could do this, but I just looked at Yao Ting.
“Miao Qing’s due date was today. Originally, she should have been waiting nervously and happily for the baby to be born with her husband and mother – in – law. She gave the baby a nickname – ‘Duoduo’, meaning a lot of blessings, a long life, and a colorful life. But now, Miao Qing and the baby are lying in the freezer. It’s minus 15 degrees. Even in the coldest winter in this city, it doesn’t get that cold.”
Meng Huiqin comforted Yao Ting, arguing that this had nothing to do with her daughter and asking me not to harass the patient.
I ignored her, pointed at the photos, and raised my voice. “Miao Qing was the same age as you, liked children as much as you, and liked eating strawberries as much as you. You still have countless opportunities to eat strawberries, but her life was forever frozen at the age of 28. I just want to know, what exactly happened on the day she died with her eyes wide open!”
Yao Ting’s whole body trembled. She turned around and looked at me, her eyes so red as if they had been scrubbed by a brush. “I… we… we went to the strawberry garden and played until the sun set before leaving.”
I asked, “And then?”
“Originally, we were going to a farmhouse for dinner, but Brother Ji suddenly received an overtime call. The client was urging him to sign the contract, and he had to rush to the project site to summarize the materials… Miao Qing didn’t want to delay Brother Ji’s work and said she could take a taxi. So we separated.”
Yao Ting answered every question, but I always felt something was off. I asked her what happened next.
Yao Ting said that after dropping off Miao Qing, Li Guangji sent her into the urban area, and she went home by herself, while Li Guangji drove to the project site and didn’t come back until the next day. She found that besides the smell of alcohol, there was also the perfume smell of a woman on Li Guangji. She firmly believed that Li Guangji had been out having a good time all night, had a big fight with him, and then, in a fit of anger, packed her luggage and went back to her parents’ home.
This was exactly the same as Li Guangji’s statement.
I tried harder, appealing to her emotions, and asked again.
Still exactly the same.
But it shouldn’t be the same.
Under normal circumstances, due to differences in life experiences and personalities, people’s focus and emphasis on one thing are bound to be different. So when describing the same thing, even if the general situation is the same, there will be differences in details. However, Yao Ting and Li Guangji’s confessions were almost identical, except for a few words.
I had an ominous premonition: Li Guangji and Yao Ting had colluded on their confessions.
When and under what circumstances did they reach an agreement?
Just as I was trying to start from the fake pregnancy to expose Li Guangji’s perverted feelings towards pregnant women, the female police officer who was here before led two colleagues in and directly handcuffed Yao Ting.
Not only Meng Huiqin and Yao Ting, but even I was stunned. I quickly pulled the female police officer aside and asked what was going on.
The female police officer gave Yao Ting a meaningful look. “She’s the murderer. Li Guangji has been protecting her.”
It was like a bolt from the blue!
I strode back to the observation room. Only Captain Cao was in the room. He motioned with his chin towards the one – way mirror.
“Yang Rui found out.”
I turned my head and saw that there were photos scattered all over the floor in the interrogation room. Most of them were of irrelevant people left over from the investigation of Miao Qing’s social relations. Only one was particularly eye – catching: It was a scene photo of a female victim with her throat slit in another case.
The photo showed blood splattered everywhere, a tragic sight.
Li Guangji was bowing his head, his hands tightly clasped together, his knuckles turning white.
Captain Cao said that when I rushed to the infirmary, he agreed to let Little Yang talk to Li Guangji, but he had to wear a communication device and follow the command throughout.
Little Yang took a stack of photos and entered the interrogation room. Li Guangji noticed his “special equipment” at a glance. For Li Guangji, dealing with Little Yang was a piece of cake after he had outsmarted the old police officers.
Underestimating the enemy was the first trap that Little Yang set for Li Guangji.
After chatting for a few words, Li Guangji knew that Little Yang had just graduated from the police academy. He put on a smile and told Little Yang not to be nervous, saying that he would definitely cooperate with the investigation.
Little Yang then showed Li Guangji the photos one by one, asking about his relationship with the people in the photos.
The whole process was boring and lasted nearly five minutes.
Captain Cao couldn’t help it and notified Little Yang to get to the point. He seemed flustered and started rummaging through the photos. All these actions were seen by Li Guangji.
Little Yang took out the photo of the female victim, asking “Do you know Miao Qing?” while showing it to Li Guangji. Perhaps because he had completely relaxed his guard against the “inexperienced” Little Yang, or maybe he was dazzled by looking at the photos, Li Guangji only took a quick glance, his face changed drastically, and he immediately turned his eyes away, not wanting to look anymore.
Captain Cao also realized what Little Yang was up to: Li Guangji didn’t know how Miao Qing died at all and showed a normal strong repulsion to the corpse.
One link was broken, and all the links were broken.
Little Yang handed a stack of photos to Li Guangji, with the misidentified crime – scene photo on top. “You gave us a seemingly perfect story. Now, I’ll give you one in return.”
Little Yang’s “story” overturned all my previous assumptions.
“On March 8th, you received an overtime call and separated from Miao Qing in the northern suburbs. But it wasn’t Miao Qing who took a taxi, it was you. As a caring man, you would definitely leave the car to the two women, so that they could go to the farmhouse for dinner, and you took a taxi to the company to work overtime. After the social event, you slept in a hotel for the night and didn’t go home until the next morning. But then you saw a very strange scene – Yao Ting was holding a newborn baby girl.
“Because of Yao Ting’s dependence on you, many people thought that it was you who arranged for her to pretend to be pregnant, but actually it wasn’t. After the car accident, you two couldn’t get pregnant. Whether it was you or Yao Ting who had the problem – of course, I tend to think it was you – it made Yao Ting more and more obsessed with getting pregnant, even pretending to be pregnant. Maybe to take care of her mental state, or maybe out of guilt, you acquiesced in her ‘capricious behavior’ and took good care of her until you saw a child of unknown origin.
“Such cases are not rare. There have been several cases in Europe, America, and East Asia. Women who pretend to be pregnant want to get a real child and enjoy the process of the child’s birth, so they will target pregnant women. Maybe you didn’t know these cases, but you knew that Yao Ting wasn’t pregnant. When you saw the blood – stained clothes and the knife, you immediately drove to the northern suburbs, wanting to save Miao Qing. But we had already set up a cordon, and you couldn’t get in.
“Back home, looking at the handbag that Miao Qing left in the car, you remembered that she and her husband were separated and seldom contacted. You realized that it would take us some time to confirm the identity of the corpse. And this time difference was enough for you to come up with a wonderful plan.”
Facing his mentally unstable wife, Li Guangji firmly believed that only he could solve this huge problem.
He immediately arranged for Yao Ting to go back to her parents’ home and coordinated the confessions with the three members of the Yao family. Then he started to forge “physical evidence”.
Li Guangji burned the blood-stained silk scarf that wrapped the baby and buried it in the flowerpot. Using the excuse of “quarreling with his wife,” he “angrily” smashed the car window glass, injured his hand, and then drove the blood-stained car to the repair shop, reasonably asking for a thorough cleaning, and destroying the blood-stained seat covers, steering-wheel covers, etc. At the same time, he damaged the computer hard drive to erase the work traces of that night and found an opportunity to throw away Miao Qing’s bag and the still-born child.
Li Guangji knew very well that if he left the child with Yao Ting, there would definitely be trouble, so he found a reason to take the child away.
The baby girl was premature and already weak. Without professional treatment, she was on the verge of death at that time. However, Yao Ting didn’t know this. She firmly believed that Li Guangji would take good care of their child until she heard that the child was dead and fainted in fear.
Li Guangji did all this to mislead the police and make himself the prime suspect.
But all the physical evidence couldn’t prove that Li Guangji had killed anyone. As long as the whole family stuck to their confessions, the possibility of him being sentenced was very low.
Little Yang took a sip of water and looked at Li Guangji, whose face was ashen. “The part I admire the most is that you bought a boning knife exactly the same as the murder weapon online, printed your fingerprints on it, and then cut off the blade and threw it away. Even if we found the knife, it would be impossible to detect Miao Qing’s DNA on it.”
“You…” Li Guangji suddenly laughed. “Comrade, your imagination is truly astonishing. I don’t understand how you can just blurt out such a horrifying charge? Do you have any evidence?”
“Yes, I do.”
Little Yang put down the cup and also smiled. “I admire your plan to buy the knife, not because this fake evidence was so ingeniously made, but because the account you used to place the order belongs to Meng Huiqin.”
Captain Cao said that as soon as Little Yang said this, the color instantly drained from Li Guangji’s face.
“You’re very smart. You knew that if you used your own account to buy it, it would be discovered sooner or later. So, you used Meng Huiqin’s identity to apply for a new account. You also knew that it was risky for you or the Yao family members to discard the blood – stained clothes and the murder weapon. I have to praise this move. You put the washed blood – stained clothes and the real murder weapon at the Yao family’s place, and instructed Yao Changyuan and Meng Huiqin that after receiving the goods, they should, on the grounds that the goods didn’t match the description, wrap the murder weapon with the clothes and send it back to the merchant!”
Little Yang told Li Guangji that we had already sent people to intercept the package. Once the clothes and the murder weapon were found, even if they had been washed, blood residue could still be detected.
Faced with the ironclad evidence, Li Guangji finally broke down. He swept the photos off the table with a wave of his hand, constantly shouting, “Tingting didn’t do it on purpose,” “Tingting is just sick,” “Tingting didn’t mean to kill anyone,”…
Hearing this, cold sweat had already covered my back.
Every criminal police officer will piece together the situation on the day of the crime based on the crime scene, physical evidence, and witness testimony, and simulate the criminal’s psychology. After repeated practice and accumulating a lot of experience, an old police officer can “guess” the crime path.
But Yang Rui hardly needed any experience to smoothly restore the crime process.
It was so smooth as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
Not long after Yao Ting was taken into custody, Captain Cao received a call from the Ministry of Transport. The package had been successfully intercepted, and the physical evidence was handed over for identification, and the results would be given as soon as possible.
But I knew that without the results, Li Guangji had already lost completely.
On the other side, when Yao Ting learned that the criminal facts had been exposed, she just grabbed the photo of the baby and kept murmuring, “It’s my child… not someone else’s, it’s my child.”
Yao Changyuan and Meng Huiqin, who were also arrested, were completely disheartened. Under pressure, they confessed to the crimes of assisting Li Guangji and covering up for Yao Ting.
I pushed open the door of the interrogation room, wanting to call Little Yang out to rest.
Unexpectedly, Li Guangji suddenly spoke.
He stared straight at Yang Rui, full of unwillingness at the failure of his plan. “You’re Yang Rui, right? Yang, let me die understanding. Tell me, when did you start suspecting Tingting?”
Yang Rui thought for a while. “The knife we found only had your fingerprints, Yao Changyuan’s, and Meng Huiqin’s.”
Li Guangji let out a breath and slapped the table angrily. “I already told them that they must let Tingting touch that knife. Damn it, why didn’t they listen to me!”
I was completely confused and subconsciously looked at Yang Rui.
He explained, “When we went there, there were uncut meat and green peppers on the chopping board, mixed together, and the kitchen knife was placed aside. People who often cook usually don’t use one knife to cut both meat and vegetables, and the knife – work was very poor, obviously not someone who cooks often.”
It dawned on me.
Since Li Guangji didn’t cook often, it should be Yao Ting who cooked at home. But the boning knife didn’t have her fingerprints, yet it had the fingerprints of Yao Ting’s parents. This piece of physical evidence was very suspicious.
I was just about to praise Yang Rui for his careful observation when he suddenly laughed for no reason. “Are you relieved?”
Li Guangji answered, “What did you say?”
“I said that when I suspected Yao Ting because of the knife, you heaved a sigh of relief.”
Yang Rui looked at Li Guangji with great interest.
From my perspective, he seemed to be looking at a wounded and exhausted wild deer.
“I finally understand what you’re thinking, hahaha…” Yang Rui laughed and shook his head. “Pathetic self – esteem. Do you think it was Yao Changyuan and Meng Huiqin who messed up this game? Do you think that in this way, you can firmly establish your position in the Yao family by ‘selflessly protecting Yao Ting’? Do you hope that they will not only feel guilty towards you but also regret their mistakes for the rest of their lives?”
The hunt was still on.
Li Guangji clenched his fists. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What regret and guilt? Are you making a movie?”
“It’s you who have been acting, or rather… putting on a show.”
Yang Rui took out several photos of Miao Qing’s corpse and an evidence bag. Inside the bag was a half – piece of tree bark, which was extracted from Li Guangji’s tire and had been regarded as irrelevant physical evidence.
“You haven’t seen Miao Qing’s corpse yet, have you? Although her clothes were messy, they were obviously tidied up. After cutting open Miao Qing’s belly, the murderer kindly restored her clothes and pants. Although the way of cutting open the abdomen was rough, the incision was from the pubic area upwards, which was to avoid harming the fetus in the abdomen. Plus, Miao Qing had taken sleeping pills before her death. The murderer didn’t really want to kill her, but just wanted to take the child. When Miao Qing woke up in pain halfway, the murderer didn’t directly stab her to death with a knife because he was worried that the fetus would lack oxygen in the abdomen after the mother died. So the murderer knelt on Miao Qing’s arms, pressed her upper body, and wanted to strangle her unconscious with a silk scarf, but accidentally killed her. This series of behaviors don’t seem like what a male perpetrator would do.”
I clearly saw the muscles on Li Guangji’s face twitching.
He tried to control his emotions. “You suspected Tingting from the beginning? Why…”
“Because you jumped out.” Yang Rui pointed to the evidence bag. “This piece of tree bark contains cupric humate, a pesticide used to prevent and control fruit tree canker. Besides being used during the disease – prevention period, it is also used to protect the broken branches damaged by hail. The neighbor saw you drive home at 10 am on the 9th. Before that, when you rushed to find Miao Qing, you ran over a branch, right?”
“This can only prove that I was trying to protect Tingting…”
Yang Rui nodded. “Yes, until you deliberately placed those pots of flowers next to the coffee table to attract our attention.”
I blurted out, “Those pots of flowers were on purpose?”
Yang Rui didn’t give me a clear answer but continued to expose Li Guangji.
“Even if no one knew that you shouldn’t change the pot during the flower – bud stage, you would have found a way to let the police discover the fibers in the pot because you needed to take all the suspicion on yourself to create this ‘feat’ of sacrificing yourself for love.”
Yang Rui wasn’t a talkative person, but facing Li Guangji’s last – ditch struggle, he broke down all the doubts and forced them down Li Guangji’s throat.
“Even though they agreed to your marriage with Yao Ting, the Yao family has never regarded you as one of their own. There’s a family photo hanging at home – without you in it.” Yang Rui even seemed a bit pitying. “Your relationship is very bad, isn’t it? Meng Huiqin cares so much about her daughter, but she didn’t even know that her daughter was pretending to be pregnant. Obviously, they seldom interact – because Yao Changyuan looks down on you.”
The words “looks down on” deeply stabbed Li Guangji. He stared at Yang Rui with gritted teeth, as if he wanted to skin him alive.
“What right do you have to say he looks down on me? What right does he have to look down on me?”
“Getting a girl pregnant before marriage, relying on your father – in – law to buy a car and a house, causing your wife to miscarry and your child to die in a drunk – driving accident, being fired from the civil service, and still being just a real – estate consultant at the age of 30, having to accompany clients to find prostitutes when doing business. If I were him, I would look down on you too.”
“What did you say!” Li Guangji was furious. “Do you know that it was Tingting who persuaded me to drive that day? If it weren’t for me, Tingting would have committed suicide when she found out about the miscarriage! If it weren’t for me, could Tingting have stayed at home enjoying a leisurely life these years, not going out? If it weren’t for me, Tingting would have gone to jail long ago. If it weren’t for me…”
“It’s not sacrificing. It’s an equal exchange.”
Yang Rui calmly started to pack up the photos and the evidence bag. “If the plan succeeds, you’ll be acquitted. Not only will the Yao family look at you differently, but you’ll also have evidence of Yao Ting’s crime. No matter how much Yao Changyuan looks down on you, he won’t dare to let Yao Ting divorce you.
“If the plan fails, you know that Yao Changyuan and Meng Huiqin love their daughter dearly. Even if you tell them to leave their fingerprints on the knife, as long as you don’t explain the importance of the fingerprints, to protect their daughter, they won’t let her come into contact with anything related to the murder case again. It was Yao Ting who killed someone, the doubts will be borne by the Yao family, and the Yao family will replace the murder weapon. You sacrifice everything to protect your wife, win the reputation of a good husband, and won’t be in jail for too long.”
At this point, he stopped, looked up at Li Guangji, and showed a nearly cruel smile.
“You tell me, if they know that you used Yao Ting as a bargaining chip, will she still love you? Will you still be able to get the Yao family’s property?”
Li Guangji was hit hard, as if all the bones and muscles in his body had been pulled out. He slumped in the chair all of a sudden. The eyes that were originally shrewd and bright became dull.
When Yang Rui and I left the interrogation room, a cold wind blew in from the corridor.
I shivered for no reason and blurted out, calling him to stop. “Did you know the truth from the beginning?”
Yang Rui looked at me, and once again he looked like the taciturn schoolboy he usually was. He just nodded.
I suddenly felt a bit dazed.
Since Yang Rui knew everything, as long as he told Captain Cao and me, and collected enough evidence, Li Guangji could be convicted directly. But he didn’t. He hid the criminal profiling, the cupric humate, the meat and vegetables on the chopping board. If it wasn’t for the need to mobilize other departments to intercept the package, he might not have told Captain Cao about the “return – the – knife – by – sending – it – back” plan either.
Li Guangji used Yao Ting as a bargaining chip to play with us.
Yang Rui used us as a bargaining chip to play with Li Guangji.
I couldn’t help it. Eventually, I asked, “You said you wanted to know why Li Guangji did this. You didn’t mean you wanted to know the crime process, but you wanted to know… why he placed the flowerpots so conspicuously?”
Yang Rui smiled. “Dignity. It’s an interesting thing, isn’t it, Brother He?”
I didn’t know if dignity was interesting.
I only knew that, like Li Guangji, he was enjoying the pleasure of controlling the whole situation.
After the case was closed, Captain Cao and Yang Rui talked in the office for an afternoon. No one knew what they talked about.
I took the opportunity of reporting the progress of the case to sneak in and eavesdrop.
When I pushed open the door, Captain Cao was asking, “You’re quite familiar with drugs?”
Yang Rui was sitting opposite Captain Cao, answering with a hidden meaning. “Due to family reasons, I know a little.”
In less than two minutes, Captain Cao chased me out.
Later, I never saw Yang Rui show that primitive, bloody, and beast – like aggression when luring and catching prey again.
But I’ve always been very glad of one thing – Yang Rui is a police officer.
– End –
