The Bank Burglary Case (Conclusion)

Chapter 19

Ning Xiangxiu and her husband were terrified. They had only come out after hearing a commotion, only to find their second uncle standing there. Having just woken up, the two adults didn’t immediately process the situation and assumed it was all a misunderstanding.

“Officer, there’s been a mistake. This is my second uncle.”

Yun Song said, “The machete on the floor is his. You two, go look at the pumpkin on the bed.”

The couple was first startled by the large machete on the ground. It did indeed belong to the uncle’s family; they had even borrowed it during the New Year to chop pig trotters.

Then they looked at the bed. A large pumpkin had been hacked to pieces, revealing the pulp and seeds inside.

This pumpkin had originally been kept under the bed. The one who was supposed to be sleeping on top of it was a person.

A chill ran down the couple’s spines, and their hair stood on end.

Yun Song took out her handcuffs and restrained Mei Qiang. This was the first time in her police career that she had handled such a case independently.

She had previously worked at a city police station. For a long time, her handcuffs had mostly been used on two types of people: drunks who got into fights and petty thieves in residential compounds.

Furthermore, the environment in the city was different. When you took a suspect away, they were simply gone.

Now she was in a village, and Mei Qiang’s family and relatives were all right here.

If they were discovered, there was a high chance they would be blocked from leaving.

Yun Song thought for a moment and decided to take the man back to town immediately.

“I’m taking him back to town first. You all go back to sleep.”

This was actually risky. Walking mountain roads at night with a prisoner while being alone was an invitation for trouble.

Ning Xiangxiu’s mind worked quickly. She immediately realized it wasn’t safe for Yun Song to go to town alone at this hour. She had never experienced such a major event in her life, but at this moment, her first thought was that she had to get involved. Thus, Ning Xiangxiu said, “I’ll go with you. We can look out for each other on the road.”

Her husband immediately added, “I’m going too. Otherwise, you’ll be walking back alone.”

Mei Yue, who had been crying from fright, quickly wiped her tears. “I want to go too.”

The family of three looked at Yun Song in unison. Even Mei Yue, despite her fear, was no longer afraid.

“Yes, the three of us will go together,” Ning Xiangxiu repeated.

Yun Song did indeed need help. Moreover, since she was bringing the money back to town, she would eventually need the bank to issue the reward. Having the whole family present would make things easier.

After a quick pack, the five of them set off.

Yun Song mentally reviewed the entire incident.

The person in charge at the bank said fifty thousand yuan had been stolen, but so far, they had only found over ten thousand.

Yun Song had a suspicion about the missing portion, but she wasn’t certain yet.

As she led Mei Qiang back to town, everyone remained very quiet.

Because they were escorting someone they knew personally, Mei Yue’s family was filled with mixed emotions and had no desire to speak.

Mei Qiang didn’t say a word either. Yun Song noticed that whenever they passed a house, Mei Qiang became extremely tense, treading very lightly.

This was a true “society of acquaintances¹.” Everyone had grown up together, and Mei Qiang had previously enjoyed a decent reputation. He was terrified of being seen by his neighbors while being led away in handcuffs.

The journey was marked by silence.

Once they reached town, Yun Song dropped Mei Yue’s family off at the Liao couple’s home to rest for a while.

Yun Song then took Mei Qiang back to the school.

Their current conditions were abysmal. Not only did they lack a proper detention cell, they didn’t even have a room for interrogation.

Tang Chao and Tong Jin were stunned when they saw Yun Song return with a suspect.

“You already found the suspect? Is he the one suspected of killing Tian Gui?”

“It’s complicated. It’s highly likely we have another body to find.” Yun Song suspected that Wang Jiawang, who had never appeared, was probably dead.

“…”

“He hasn’t spoken since he was caught. Let’s find a place for a first round of interrogation.”

“There’s an empty dormitory next door.”

Yun Song remembered how this family mentioned Mei Qiang buying a backpack for Xiao Mei every time his name came up. She said, “Tang Chao and I will go to the classroom. Tong Jin, you go get some sleep. After we’re done with the interrogation, I’ll need you to watch him.”

Yun Song and Tang Chao found an empty classroom and brought Mei Qiang inside.

The blackboard at the front of the room still displayed the homework assignments the teacher had written the previous Friday.

Yun Song and Tang Chao sat across from Mei Qiang. Yun Song conducted the questioning while Tang Chao took notes.

“We are officers from the Jinguang Road Police Station of the Southern District Branch of the Pingcheng Public Security Bureau. We need to speak with you regarding the bank burglary and your attempted murder of Mei Yue with a machete at 1:25 AM this morning.”

Mei Qiang kept his head down, staring at the handcuffs, refusing to speak.

“Name,” Yun Song asked.

Mei Qiang still refused to communicate. He was different from the suspects Yun Song had encountered before. Those people usually had a whole repertoire of excuses and lies, having dealt with the police many times and learned the ropes.

Mei Qiang had spent his whole life in the village. He existed in a different ecosystem.

At this moment, he was using silence as his resistance.

Yun Song didn’t get angry. She simply reminded him, “We only have two methods of investigation: questioning the suspect or visiting relatives.”

She offered a kind warning: “If you don’t speak, we will have to return to the village and question everyone there.”

It truly was a well-intentioned warning.

Only then did Mei Qiang look up.

Yun Song asked again, “Name.”

“Mei Qiang. Don’t you already know that?”

Yun Song continued, “State your date of birth, place of birth, family background, and level of education…”

She knew these things, of course, but she needed him to engage in a dialogue with her from a place of his true self.

These questions were simple and didn’t trigger defensiveness.

Mei Qiang answered, “I was born on June 28, 1940, in Sanli Village, Tonglin Town. I have seven siblings: four older sisters, one older brother, and one younger brother.”

He paused.

Yun Song said, “And your level of education.”

“I finished primary school.”

Yun Song remarked, “To have finished primary school in that era was not an easy feat.”

He lowered his head and fell silent again.

Yun Song said, “Mei Yue is your brother’s child. I heard every member of their family mention at least once that she got into junior high school. Other relatives might feel a bit bitter about it, but their family has always remembered that you bought her a schoolbag. Ning Xiangxiu even kept saying how grateful she was that you ran into Xiao Mei that night and walked her home.”

Using these incidents, Yun Song quickly constructed a small psychological space. Within this space, Mei Qiang saw his true self.

Yun Song needed him to believe he was that kind of person. People always prefer to believe that their good deeds come from their true nature, while their bad deeds are forced by circumstance.

It was as if Mei Qiang was suddenly pulled back into those moments, rather than the here and now.

He spoke up. “When I was in elementary school, my grades were quite good. Back then, my brother was digging coal for people in Xiangjin Town to pay for my schooling…”

Yun Song asked, “And then?”

“I got into the health school², but at that time… there was no way.”

“You could say that a lack of money ruined your life. If you’d had money, you would have had a different life.” Yun Song asked, “So, how did you feel when you saw that Wang Jiawang had so much money?”

How did he feel? Mei Qiang was brought back to that night of drinking by her words.

What was the feeling then?

Yun Song said, “Did you feel angry? Did it feel unfair? A man like him had so much money, while you couldn’t see that much money in a lifetime of hard work.”

All the things accumulated in his heart were articulated clearly by the policewoman before him at this moment.

“Yeah, I’ll never earn that much money in this life. Many young people in the village are saying that times are better now and they can go out to work. Some come to the town, some go to the city. They’re all young, but I’ll never have that chance in this life.”

“When Wang Jiawang showed me all that money, I thought to myself, why? A man like him, a cheat and a slacker who even killed someone, ends up with all that money.”

“How did you know Wang Jiawang killed someone?”

“He was drunk. I wanted him to share some with me at the time. To scare me, he said he’d killed the other person who was supposed to split the money.”

“And then you killed Wang Jiawang?”

“He was a murderer too. Killing him was saving the state a bullet³.”

“Then where is his body?”

Mei Qiang fell silent for a moment.

Yun Song said, “If you’re willing to tell us, I can guarantee that when we go to recover the body, we’ll choose a time when no one is around.”

Mei Qiang looked up.

Yun Song gave another kind reminder. “If you don’t speak, we’ll have to search the mountains. We might need the help of the entire village then. You know this place better than I do; you should know how they’ll gossip about this.”

Based on her experiences over the past day or two, Yun Song could already hear the voices of these people gossiping in her mind.

Mei Qiang was a local; he knew even better what the situation would be. He confirmed once more, “Officer, keep your word. If I tell you the place, you pick a time when no one is around to dig.”

Yun Song nodded. “As long as you cooperate.”

“Wang Jiawang told me that after he killed the man, he buried him in the Li family’s manure pit, and no one would ever know. I thought to myself then, if I killed him and put him in my family’s pit, I could have all that money too.”

“So you buried the body in your family’s manure pit?”

“No,” Mei Qiang said. “I threw it into the Village Party Secretary’s manure pit.”

“Why him?”

“A few days ago, their chickens were always eating other people’s vegetables, and their family didn’t care. It made me feel uncomfortable.”

Tang Chao, who was taking notes: “…” The Village Party Secretary should probably be more careful in the future.

Yun Song asked a few more questions before finally taking him back to the empty dormitory to let him sleep and rest.

In the afternoon, investigators sent from the county arrived. That night, when few people were around, everyone went to Sanli Village to find Wang Jiawang’s body.

Wang Jiawang’s body was indeed in the Village Party Secretary’s manure pit.

The case was then officially transferred to the county investigators. Since Tonglin Town lacked the facilities to hold prisoners, they took over the follow-up matters. However, Yun Song still had one issue to handle.

The matter of the bank theft.

The money they had recovered was only eighteen thousand nine hundred yuan, but the figure reported by the bank was fifty thousand. According to Mei Qiang’s confession, some money had been blown away by the wind while he was moving the body, but that was only a little over a thousand yuan. It was still a long way from fifty thousand.

How was this discrepancy to be explained?

Furthermore, the reward money was also a bit of a problem.

The original agreement was a five hundred yuan reward for anyone providing clues.

Now…

There was Old Madam Zhang, who had wanted the reward from the very beginning.

There was the Liao couple. Their own crime was one thing, and they would be punished for it, but they had indeed actively cooperated in solving the case and finding Wang Jiawang’s body.

Then there was Mei Yue’s family; they had also provided very important clues.

The bank had been reluctant to put up five hundred yuan for the reward before. Getting them to provide fifteen hundred now certainly wouldn’t be easy.

Yun Song went to the bank.

The person in charge came out immediately.

“What brings you here? Come in and have some tea.”

Yun Song said, “No need for tea. I have one piece of good news and two pieces of bad news to tell you.”

“Is it that the case has been solved?”

Yun Song said, “We did recover part of the money, which is the good news. But it doesn’t match the amount you reported. You said fifty thousand, but we only recovered eighteen thousand nine hundred. Wang Jiawang, who robbed the bank, also told others he only stole twenty thousand. There’s thirty thousand missing in the middle.”

Yun Song observed the person in charge and continued, “Don’t worry, I came specifically to investigate your theft. I’ll definitely clear everything up before I leave.”

The other man immediately broke into a forced smile and said, “This is my fault. I forgot to tell you about this. We actually only lost twenty thousand. When we were checking the accounts, an employee was too careless and got the figures wrong. There’s no need to trouble yourself further; it was a mistake on our end. A loss of over a thousand in the process is quite normal.”

As he spoke, he gestured for a very young employee standing nearby to come over and speak.

The young man hurried over to apologize. “I really was the one who miscounted at the time. We were planning to head over this morning to find you and explain the situation, but we didn’t expect you to solve the case so quickly. You’ve already cleared everything up.”

Yun Song wasn’t familiar with the inner workings of banks and wasn’t certain if money could actually be miscounted like that. However, she knew that if she insisted on an investigation, this young employee would undoubtedly be the one to take the fall. Yun Song remained composed and said, “As long as there’s no issue with the money, that’s fine. Just be more careful in the future.”

“You can rest assured on that. We’ve learned our lesson and won’t let this happen again. You mentioned there was also some bad news. What is it?”

Yun Song frowned slightly and said, “Regarding the reward, word was sent out previously that anyone providing solid leads would be rewarded with 500 yuan. Now, three different families have provided leads, so the money…”

“If three families provided leads, then each family definitely gets 500 yuan. Don’t worry, we will certainly pay it out,” the man said hurriedly.

The case was finally considered closed.

Yun Song then called the three families over. Only after she personally witnessed the money being handed over to them did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

She had hardly had a good night’s sleep over the past few days. She decided to head back and get some rest first.

She would return to the city tomorrow.

Translator’s Notes