The small townhouse was divided into two floors. The first floor consisted of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and storage room. The maid’s room had been converted into a gym, complete with a home treadmill. The second floor included the master bedroom and a study. There was no bed in the second bedroom, with three walls adorned with glass cabinets showcasing various figurines.
Qu Zhi is also an ACG enthusiast, and his most proud collection is the Holy Clothes Myth from Bandai. As soon as he entered the second bedroom, he was blinded by the shaking, and shouted: “Fuck, why don’t I have such a rich father? I saved a lot of money by being frugal and she can buy a whole house while traveling around!”
“Are you jealous?” Hua Chong asked.
“How can I not be?” Qu Zhi exclaimed. “Having money is really great.”
Hua Chong said ‘uh’ without making any comments. After casually scanning the room, he walked to the study.
The study was larger than the guest bedroom, but once the antique and luxurious mahogany bookshelves were placed inside, the whole room seemed much more crowded. The shelves were filled with books and DVD game box sets. The two were so distinct that they seemed to exist in two worlds.
There were a variety of game discs, including horror, action, and gunplay. In comparison, the types of books were much more monotonous, with a row of travel guides from both domestic and international locations, while the rest consisted entirely of historical literature.
The hefty volumes of ‘Zizhi Tongjian’, ‘Records of the Three Kingdoms’, ‘Records of the Grand Historian’, ‘Book of Han’, ‘Book of the Later Han’, and others occupied the most prominent spots on the bookshelf. Various contemporary historical writings were placed separately. Even the dozens of comics in the corner were based on the Three Kingdoms, such as ‘The Ravages of Time’.1You can search what each book is about on Google, but the ones mention early is historical book, while the comic is a Hong Kong comic
Hua Chong took out a folder from the bookcase that was about as thick as a thesaurus, and what was collected in it was not financial bills, but tickets from various tourist attractions. The time was printed on the tickets, and the ones at the top of the folder were already yellowed and were from seven or eight years ago, so it was evident that Xu Qiangsheng was right; Xu Yujiao had indeed been obsessed with traveling since she was in college.
“Hua ge,” Qu Zhi who was feeling a headache at the sight of classical texts, quickly put away a volume of ‘Records of Wei’ after flipping just a few pages. “You just said you came to confirm a suspicion. What suspicion?”
“Xu Yujiao loved traveling, but she paid more attention to the cultural and historical aspects than natural scenery.” Hua Chong put down the folder, “This trip wasn’t in vain. It’s indeed as I thought.”
Qu Zhi was puzzled: “But what does this have to do with the case? Was she targeted by the murderer because of her preference for cultural and historical aspects?”
“It’s hard to say for now.” Hua Chong said, “But this may be an important breakthrough point. Now that we’ve found this, we can’t overlook it.”
Qu Zui still couldn’t figure out the connection, so he asked again: “How did you guess it before coming here? It can’t be a wild guess, right? Tell me, I want to learn.”
“Do you remember Xu Qiangsheng mentioning that Xu Yujiao often went on short self-driving trips during the weekends?” Hua Chong asked.
“En, to make Xu Yujiao’s travels more convenient, Xu Qiangsheng even bought her a Land Rover. Tsk, she was so spoiled.”
Hua Chong explained, “There’s not much natural scenery worth seeing around Luocheng. Instead, there are historical sites everywhere. When Xu Yujiao went on weekend trips by car, she hardly left the province. The places she could visit were mainly ancient battlefields, tombs of famous people, and museums. So, I guessed that she was a rather passionate enthusiast of cultural and historical aspects. The room full of books just confirmed that suspicion.”
Qu Zhi pondered for a moment and nodded, “Makes sense.”
“Take note of as many clues as you can and go back and analyze them one by one.” Hua Chong put the laptop on the table into the evidence bag and handed it to Qu Zhi: “Let the technical team check the Internet traces of this computer.”
As soon as he mentioned the technical team, they were there.
Hua Chong’s cell phone suddenly rang, and Yuan Hao on the line shouted: “Captain Hua, you asked us to check the surveillance at Xinluo Bank and its surroundings, and we really got something! We found a suspicious man in the subway surveillance nearby. On the evening of the 13th, Xu Yujiao was with him! Employees at Xinluo Bank confirmed that this man is Xu Yujiao’s boyfriend who she’d been dating for half a year!”
Hua Chong wasn’t surprised, he just raised an eyebrow almost instinctively, “Keep investigating, I found something at Xu Yujiao’s house as well. I will give it to you when I come back.”
After hanging up the phone, Hua Chong turned to Qu Zhi: “We’ll have to work overtime tonight.”
“That’s not news.” Qu Zhi grunted, “Any progress?”
Hua Chong: “Looks like Xu Qiangsheng doesn’t really know Xu Yujiao well enough.”
“What?”
“She might have a boyfriend.”
•
Sang Hai huddled in the interrogation room’s chair, with his shoulders hunched high and his head was buried very low. his messy curly hair covering his eyebrows and eyes while both arms trembled uncontrollably.
Hua Chong looked at him with his arms crossed, his voice a little cold, “What’s so pretty about the floor? Lift your head up and look at me.”
Sang Hai didn’t lift his head, only his eyelids fluttered beneath his forehead, staring at Hua Chong with a terrified expression. He bit his whitening lips, tremblingly said, “I didn’t kill her. It wasn’t me, really, it wasn’t me!”
On the way back to the city bureau, Hua Chong had gained a preliminary understanding of Sang Hai. At this moment, his reaction was not surprising.
“You’re 23 years old this year, from Huaxian. You came to Luocheng for college at 18 and are currently a graduate student at the School of Literature and History at Luocheng University,” Hua Chong said casually. “Xu Yujiao’s colleagues mentioned that you started dating her six months ago, and you two have an age gap.2The original word here is 你们是姐弟恋 literally means ‘Are you in a sister-brother romance?’, meaning that a relationship with a quite an age gap, so I just translated to this Is that true?”
Sang Hai pursed his lips tightly and let out a heavy gasp.
Hua Chong feigned impatience, “Hey, I told you to look at me, not hide your eyes behind your hair. Am I that scary?”
Sang Hai slowly lifted his head. After about half a minute, he nodded slightly.
“Xu Yujiao was a bank customer manager, and you are a graduate student. How did you two meet?”
“At… at a college event,” Sang Hai said softly.
“College event? Be specific.”
Sanghai took a deep breath: “Our college occasionally organizes public lectures on various subjects. People interested in history, ancient literature, and traditional culture would sign up to attend. Yu… Yujiao came to one of those.”
“Are you a lecturer?” Hua Chong asked.
“I am a lecturer’s assistant.”
Hua Chong had no interest in the young man’s romantic history. After a few more questions, he got straight to the point, “On the evening of the 13th at 6:14 pm, you and Xu Yujiao took Line 3 from Kehu Road Metro Station in Anluo District to Wusheng North Road in Mingluo District. After leaving the subway station, you went to a coffee shop called ‘Cat Angel’ and sat for half an hour. Then, you walked to the ‘Zhenlong’ hot pot restaurant in the same shopping district, where you had dinner, and left at 9:04 pm.”
Sang Hai, who had already calmed down a lot, started to tremble again when he heard this. He opened and closed his lips, “I really didn’t kill her, we only had a meal together that night, I don’t know anything else. You have to believe me!”
“All the times and places I mentioned earlier have evidence from subway records, public surveillance, and the cameras in the coffee shop and hot pot restaurant. I already know where you went after that,” Hua Chong’s voice grew stern. “Now, tell me, after you and Xu Yujiao separated at Wusheng North Road subway station at 9:18 pm, where did you go? And where were you after 10:30 pm?”
“I…” Sang Hai’s eyes were full of fear, and sweat was dripping from his forehead, “I went back to school. I didn’t go anywhere else!”
“Lie,” Hua Chong crossed his legs with a calm attitude, but the air around him seemed to solidify layer by layer with him as the center of the circle.
“Didn’t you understand what I just said? The surveillance captured footage of you and Xu Yujiao before you separated, so naturally, it also recorded after. After seeing Xu Yujiao off at the subway, did you really go back to school?” Hua Chong lifted the corners of his eyes, and his gaze became as sharp as a sword, piercing Sang Hai’s body with chills.
“Daoqiao Road is the place with the worst security in Fukang District and even in the whole of Luocheng. Although you’re not a local, you’ve been studying at Luocheng University for five years, so you should have some understanding,” Hua Chong tapped his index finger on the table. “The restaurant where you and Xu Yujiao had dinner is in the eastern part of Mingluo District, and Luocheng University is also in Mingluo District. However, Daoqiao Road is at the westernmost end of Luocheng. Why did you take the subway towards the west, to Fukang District, after Xu Yujiao left on the subway?”
Sang Hai’s breathing became rapid. “I… I was worried about her!”
“Why? Did she tell you something?”
Sang Hai lowered his head again, hands tightly clenched together.
“Unfortunately, many cameras on Daoqiao Road were broken, so we couldn’t see when and from where Xu Yujiao entered Daoqiao Road. But the time she left the Huahan Road subway station——which is the closest one to Daoqiao Road is clear, 10:02. As for you, you left Huahan Road Metro Station at 10:11 pm. A functional camera on Daoqiao Road captured you at 10:25 pm. I guess you and Xu Yujiao didn’t enter Daoqiao Road from the same alley.”
Sang Hai shook his head vigorously.
“What did you see?” Hua Chong asked. “Or rather, what did you do?”
“It’s not me!” Sang Hai yelled, “When I found her, she was already, she was already…”
“Already been killed?”
Sang Hai grabbed at his hair, and tears unexpectedly streamed down his face. “I didn’t do anything. I shouldn’t have followed her!”
“Crying won’t help,” Hua Chong showed a hint of displeasure. “The surveillance captured you leaving frantically at 12:43 am the next day. What were you doing in those two hours? You knew Xu Yujiao was going to Daoqiao Road, so you should have known why she went to such a remote place so late at night.”
“I told you, I was worried about her!” Sang Hai shouted.
“Worried? I doubt it,” Hua Chong leaned forward, his tone tinged with sarcasm. “If you were really worried about her, why did you say ‘I shouldn’t have followed her’ just now? You only feel you shouldn’t have followed her now because you got caught on camera, becoming a suspect we’re focusing on.”
Sang Hai was left speechless, staring at Hua Chong with a dumbfounded expression.
“I advise you to confess honestly,” Hua Chong said: “Why did you go? What did you see? Also, you’ve been dating Xu Yujiao for six months; why keep it a secret from her colleagues and parents? If Xu Yujiao’s colleague hadn’t accidentally seen you two together half a month ago, how long did you plan to hide it?”
“We, we’re just friends!”
“Friends?” Hua Chong raised an eyebrow, with a half-smirk. “Wasn’t it you who just sat in the chair and told me how you two met? Or was it a ghost?”
Sang Hai was completely panicked, startled by the word ‘ghost’, and then he realized that he had just said something contradictory.
“There are no ghosts.” Hua Chong sneered, “I’ll give you 2 minutes, think about it carefully, and don’t speak incoherently again.”
Sang Hai roughly wiped his face and said, “We, we’re indeed dating, but that night, I really didn’t do anything!”
Hua Chong slowed down his speech, “Then why did you follow Xu Yujiao to Daoqiao Road?”
The interrogation room fell silent. Sang Hai’s lips quivered, realizing he probably couldn’t hide the truth any longer. He took a deep breath and spoke: “There’s an archaeological excavation going on recently in the western part of the city. The research team found an aristocratic tomb from the Eastern Han Dynasty there. It’s a very remote place, but to get there, you have to pass through Daoqiao Road. Both Yu Jiao and I, we wanted to go see it.”
“The 13th was a Friday,” Hua Chong questioned, “Even if you wanted to go, you could have waited until Saturday. Why specifically go on Friday night? Wouldn’t you be able to see clearer during the daytime?”
Sang Hai gripped the edge of the table tightly, “Not during the day!”
“Why?”
“Yu, Yujiao was bold. She didn’t just want to go and look,” Sang Hai shouted with a trembling voice, “She wants to take the opportunity to steal some artifacts. It was too easy to be caught during the day; only at night was there a chance!”
