Chapter 130: Something Fishy

“There were four people who entered the village that day.” After conducting interviews and investigations, the local police identified the individuals who had been in Jingmen Village on the day in question.

“The first was a deliveryman for the village’s convenience store, known to everyone as Peng Laosan¹. He’s been delivering goods here for several years and is quite familiar with the village. After finishing his deliveries that day, he lingered in the village for a while and didn’t leave until around five in the afternoon.” A photo of Peng Laosan, taken from surveillance footage, was posted on the blackboard. Though a bit blurry, his general features were still recognizable.

“Based on the timeline, he had the opportunity to commit the crime,” one officer remarked.

The officer leading the briefing nodded. “That’s right. His behavior was a bit unusual, so we’ve already sent someone to investigate. Moving on to the second person: a bricklayer named Hu Neng. He was hired by the Zhang family to do some repairs and had been staying in the village for the past couple of days. He left yesterday after we collected his DNA.”

Everyone felt this person seemed suspicious too. But his name was soon cleared.

“However, surveillance footage from the house across from the Zhangs shows that Hu Neng was working there the entire day on the sixth. He only stepped away for five minutes, so he didn’t have the opportunity to commit the crime.”

“The third person is named Zhu Qiang, an unemployed drifter. He came to Jingmen Village because his aunt, Zhao Guilan, lives here. According to his own account, he stayed home with his aunt all day on the sixth and didn’t go out. Zhao Guilan confirmed this as well.”

Song Changfeng glanced at his phone and asked, “Zhao Guilan is the fifth person in Liu Cuiping’s group chat, right? The earlier statement said she didn’t go foraging with the others because her nephew showed up unexpectedly?”

The officer replied, “Yes, that’s correct. When Zhao Guilan heard Liu Cuiping had gone missing, she burst into tears and said that if she’d gone up the mountain too, maybe nothing would’ve happened to Liu Cuiping.”

“Have we collected Zhu Qiang’s DNA?”

The officer shook his head. “No, he left the day before yesterday. Zhao Guilan said he’s already gone back.”

Song Changfeng nodded and didn’t press further, focusing instead on the fourth person.

“The fourth is Zhang Xing. He drove here to do some wild fishing. What’s notable is that the spot where he was fishing isn’t far from where Liu Cuiping went missing. Apparently, he comes here to fish quite often.”

Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to this. This person fit the profile of a suspect too well. Fishing alone, not far from the scene… it was entirely possible he acted on impulse and committed the crime.

“Zhang Xing left the village on the morning of the seventh. Before he left, he even drove around the village once,” the officer added.

“That’s very suspicious!”

“Exactly. Why would he circle the village for no reason? I think he was trying to gather information, maybe see how people were reacting to the incident.”

“I think so too…”

“Until we have solid evidence, we can only maintain reasonable suspicion. We can’t jump to conclusions.” Director Zhang, seated at the head of the table, spoke up when he noticed everyone focusing on the fourth person. He immediately reminded them to stay objective.

The room fell silent. Indeed, aside from Hu Neng, who had clear evidence proving he couldn’t have committed the crime, the other three had yet to provide solid alibis for what they were doing on the sixth.

“Other than Hu Neng, launch a full investigation into the remaining three. Don’t just collect their blood samples for DNA comparison, but also get a detailed account of everything they did on the sixth. Pay particular attention to Peng Laosan and Zhang Xing.”

With clear targets in sight, the officers in the conference room began assigning tasks. Since Song Changfeng had been specially invited by Director Zhang, the officers tacitly left him out of the assignments. After all, he and his police dog had already done an outstanding job. If they hadn’t found Liu Cuiping’s body, this case might still be classified as a missing person case. And if too much time passed without finding her, who knows what kind of rumors would’ve spread. Ever since the official notice was released, those “Wildman” rumors had collapsed on their own. No one was fanning the flames anymore, and the general public had become much more rational.

Once the officers had gone off on their assignments, only Director Zhang, Song Changfeng, and Aofeng remained in the conference room. Song Changfeng kept his eyes on his phone. Aofeng sat quietly beside him, itching to peek at what Song Changfeng was looking at. But with Director Zhang still present, he didn’t dare show it and simply waited patiently.

“Changfeng, what’s your take on this case?” Director Zhang asked. He had heard from Lei Liming that aside from having a remarkable police dog, Song Changfeng himself was a top-notch criminal investigator. It was his earlier suggestion that had helped steer the investigation in the right direction more quickly.

Song Changfeng looked up and said, “Director Zhang, I wouldn’t call it an opinion, but there’s something I find very strange. Take a look at Liu Cuiping’s chat history.”

Director Zhang took the phone and scrolled through it for a while, then shook his head. “I don’t see anything unusual. These chats are all pretty ordinary, just day-to-day stuff. What exactly do you mean by strange?”

“I didn’t realize it before either, but just now, when Comrade Xiao He was going over the analysis and mentioned Zhu Qiang, I noticed something,” Song Changfeng said.

“Zhu Qiang?” Director Zhang paused to think. “Isn’t he Zhao Guilan’s nephew? What’s wrong with him?” He tried to recall what had just been said, but nothing stood out.

“It’s not about Zhu Qiang, it’s about Zhao Guilan.” Song Changfeng pulled up Liu Cuiping’s phone records. “Look here. This is the group chat between a few of them. These are her chats with Wang Qiulan and two others, but there’s nothing with Zhao Guilan.”

Director Zhang thought for a moment, still puzzled. “Isn’t it enough to talk in the group? Why would they need to chat privately?”

Song Changfeng smiled. “Relationships between people are complicated. Everyone can see what’s said in a group chat, but some things are only said in private. Liu Cuiping had private chats with the other three, but not with Zhao Guilan. That’s very unusual. And from the group chat content, it seems like her relationship with Zhao Guilan was actually the closest.”

“Now that you mention it, that does seem odd. Could she have deleted the messages? Sometimes when my phone gets cluttered, I delete some chats too,” Director Zhang speculated.

“I think they were deleted too, but not because the phone was full. Look, her chat history goes all the way back to the year before last. Nothing else was deleted. There’s no reason she’d only delete the chats with Zhao Guilan,” Song Changfeng said firmly.

Director Zhang’s expression turned serious. “Comrade Changfeng, your attention to detail is impressive. This is an important discovery. I’ll call someone from the Technical Department right away and have them try to recover the chat history between Liu Cuiping and Zhao Guilan.”

“Director Zhang, I suggest we bring in Wan Xiaogang first. He’s Liu Cuiping’s husband, so he might have heard something from her. Also, I want him to unlock Liu Cuiping’s phone wallet so we can check her transfer records,” Song Changfeng said.

Director Zhang asked, “You think this case might have been motivated by money?”

Song Changfeng nodded. “Generally speaking, criminal cases usually revolve around money, lust, or revenge. The couple didn’t seem to have any major grudges with others, and if it were just about lust, that seems unlikely too.” Although he didn’t have direct evidence, he had a strong feeling that money played a major role in this case.

As he stood up and pulled out his phone, Director Zhang said, “What you’re saying makes sense. I’ll have someone bring Wan Xiaogang over right away. We’ll question him first, then work on recovering the chat history between Liu Cuiping and Zhao Guilan.”

Translator’s Notes