Chapter 32: Investigation

The person in front of her had dry, yellowing hair, though it was neatly combed. Hearing the sound, she looked up, revealing a haggard face.

Their eyes met. When “Li Yujia” saw it was her, the corner of his mouth twitched, revealing an uncontrollable flicker of emotion.

Struck by a strange sense of familiarity, Qiong Cang studied his face for a long moment before tentatively calling out, “Brother Q.”

He Jueyun maintained a cold, expressionless face, pretending he hadn’t understood.

Qiong Cang lowered her head and let out a muffled laugh.

The facade of calm on He Jueyun’s face finally shattered. He gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw tightening.

Why did he have to be mocked twice? Huh? Why!

“Are you going to question me or not?” He Jueyun said impatiently. “Don’t forget your position. You’re taking your job so lightly, is this how you honor the badge on your shoulder? What kind of police officer are you?”

Qiong Cang stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow, not understanding why he was reacting so strongly.

With a dark expression, He Jueyun urged her, “Just do the interrogation properly. Hurry up.”

“Alright.”

Qiong Cang cleared her throat and sat down next to him. She gestured to the female officer across from them. Understanding the cue, the officer got up and left, giving them some privacy to talk.

As soon as the female officer left, He Jueyun immediately slacked off. No longer bothering to play the role of the resentful, wealthy housewife, he slumped back in his chair with a rough, unrefined posture and gestured for Qiong Cang to get on with the questioning.

Qiong Cang smiled, putting on a professional front as she pulled out a notebook and a pen. Flipping to a blank page in the middle, she said, “A surveillance system was installed in your home. I looked at where the cameras were placed, and they cover a very wide range. Most of the house is captured, and a few are even aimed at the bathroom and bedroom doors. Usually, if a household doesn’t have pets or children, they wouldn’t install so many cameras, would they?”

He Jueyun said, “Because of the media frenzy, constantly reporting on Fan… Ning Dongdong seeking revenge after getting out of prison. Wu Ming was one of the witnesses back then, and he was terrified, so he grew paranoid. Coincidentally, he felt like he was being followed recently, so he installed the surveillance system at home just to give himself some peace of mind.”

Qiong Cang asked, “Have you watched the footage?”

“No, I just got back. I found Wu Ming dead as soon as I returned, so I called the police,” He Jueyun said. “The police arrived in less than ten minutes, so I didn’t have time to check the footage.”

Qiong Cang nodded, staring at his face as she asked, “That night, the two of you had a heated argument.”

He Jueyun said indifferently, “Yes. Afterward, I stormed out the door.”

Qiong Cang: “Where did you go?”

“To a friend’s house. You can go ask them,” He Jueyun said. “If you don’t believe my friend’s testimony, I drove there myself, so you can check the GPS records in my car, or look at the traffic cameras.”

Qiong Cang held the pen between two fingers, tapping it repeatedly against the notebook.

“What did the two of you argue about?”

“To put it broadly, domestic trifles. But in some people’s eyes, it might just sound like whining.” He Jueyun let out a sarcastic snort. “He’s dead now anyway, so I don’t mind telling you. You’d find out sooner or later. Neither he nor his mother had any conscience. Wu Ming went from an obscure, rootless country boy to the city’s most promising young entrepreneur. I was the one who supported him through his rise. Heh, the moment he made it, he changed completely, and it only got worse later on. Or maybe he was just showing his true colors.”

As He Jueyun spoke, a fierce, venomous resentment broke through his attempt to remain detached. “A couple of days ago, his mother, Zhou Langxiu, pushed me straight down the stairs. I was crying in pain on the floor, but they wouldn’t even call an ambulance for me. It was me; I had to crawl back up the stairs myself, get my phone, and dial emergency services. The two of them just stood there watching me coldly the entire time. Can you imagine that look? Can you imagine what kind of monsters those two are?”

Qiong Cang played the straight man¹. “I really can’t.”

He Jueyun glared at her again before continuing, “Afterward, neither of them even came to the hospital to see me. They probably wished I were dead. I never received an ounce of respect in that house. Is it so unusual that I got angry and had an argument with him?”

Qiong Cang said, “It’s not my place to comment on family matters. We will request your medical records from the hospital to verify the details.”

He Jueyun asked, “Is there anything else you want to ask?”

Qiong Cang closed her notebook and slipped it back into her pocket. “When I was in the house earlier, I saw a lot of medication.”

“It’s mine,” He Jueyun said. “I originally thought that having a child with him would improve our relationship. I wanted to go the distance with him. I didn’t expect myself to be so naive.”

Qiong Cang gave a meaningful, “Oh…”

He Jueyun curled his lip and added, “This is all the character’s actual testimony, not my own ad-libbing.”

Qiong Cang nodded. “I understand, I understand.”

He Jueyun: “Mm.”

Qiong Cang stared at him for a long moment, then asked, “Is your current attitude because of your terrible acting, or did Li Yujia really make no effort to hide her hatred for Wu Ming?”

“You’re questioning my acting?” He Jueyun flared up, looking far more agitated than he did over his dead “husband.” Leaning forward to loom over Qiong Cang, he growled, “You? Questioning my acting? Do you even know what a character concept is? Do you know what OOC² means?”

“I know, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Qiong Cang pressed a hand to his shoulder, gesturing for him to calm down. “What I actually wanted to ask is, what kind of feelings did Li Yujia ultimately have for Wu Ming?”

He Jueyun’s lips remained tightly pressed, clearly still annoyed. In the end, he lowered his gaze and said flatly, “She loved him once. But there was no love left between them.”

Influenced by his superb acting, Qiong Cang actually felt a wave of empathetic melancholy. She patted He Jueyun on the shoulder to comfort him. “Don’t lose your way over a scumbag. He’s not worth it.”

He Jueyun looked at her with an incredibly complex expression, then let out a sharp, disdainful click of his tongue.

The viewers in the Live Stream Room burst into fits of laughter.

“I’m standing right in front of you, how much do I look like a scumbag? This couple is so satisfyingly messy.”

“Tsk, tsk. What a scumbag. Boss, where did your gentleness go?”

“Men. Fickle and heartless.”

“The boss’s self-reflection is always so deep and spot-on.”

“Brother Q’s acting is pretty good. I’m almost getting sucked in.”

“As everyone knows, a Player in Case Analysis might not be a good Kogoro³, but they’re definitely a drama queen. 【Excellent】”

·

Just as Qiong Cang was finishing up her questions, a commotion came from the entrance of the villa. It sounded like a middle-aged woman screaming in agony.

Qiong Cang quickly stood up and walked over, only to find that the victim’s family member, Zhou Langxiu, had arrived.

Zhou Langxiu stood on the main road near the entrance, grabbing an officer tightly and pulling hard at his uniform, ignoring his resistance.

Outside the police cordon, a large crowd of residents who had woken up early had gathered. Some were still in their pajamas, holding up their phones to snap photos and record videos of the scene.

“My son! How could he die such a horrible death? It must be that Ning Dongdong! Why haven’t you police arrested him yet? He’s already killed three people, and you’re still shielding him! What are you trying to do? Who on earth is he?!”

Zhou Langxiu’s makeup was ruined from crying, leaving two black streaks of tears running down her eyes. Her neatly styled red curls had been rubbed into a messy bird’s nest.

She had dressed up early in the morning and rushed to the villa in a huff, intending to check on Li Yujia and warn her not to talk to outsiders. She never expected that instead of seeing Li Yujia, she would walk right into the crime scene of her own son’s murder.

She hadn’t seen the body yet, as the officers advised against it, fearing the gruesome sight would traumatize her. But after hearing the police describe the wounds, she was already on the verge of losing her mind.

“Give me back my son’s life!” Zhou Langxiu directed all her fury at the police. “You must arrest him! My son cannot die such a horrible death!”

The officer’s shirt was half-torn off, his collar leaving a dark red mark around his neck. His face was flushed red, but he didn’t dare lay a hand on her. He could only patiently try to reason with her, “We will find the murderer, ma’am. Please calm down.”

Zhou Langxiu shrieked, “How can I calm down?! Did you not see that my son was hacked to pieces? Neighbors, everyone, listen to this! My son was hacked to pieces! Who could stay calm? He is my own flesh and blood! It feels like my own life is over! I wish I were the one who died instead! That cursed Ning Dongdong, ah!”

Her screaming dissolved into grief-stricken wails, but her hands still clutched the officer’s uniform tightly, refusing to let him go.

Qiong Cang lifted the police tape and walked under it. To her surprise, He Jueyun followed right behind her.

Catching sight of her daughter-in-law out of the corner of her eye, Zhou Langxiu’s crying paused, and her expression turned vicious. She stopped fixating on Ning Dongdong as the murderer and redirected all her fury toward Li Yujia.

“Is it her? Did she kill my son? Officers, let me tell you, it must be her! My son was a good man. She’s the only one who wished for his death every single day. They even had a massive fight not long ago. Bah! A low-class nobody who tricked her way into our family. My son couldn’t even get a divorce when he wanted to. It has to be her. Officers, I’m accusing her!”

The officer said, “We are currently investigating the scene. Please go rest to the side for a moment. If we find anything, we will let you know immediately, all right?”

Zhou Langxiu refused to listen. “My son was only in his thirties! He was so young! How am I supposed to go on living now that he’s gone? Arrest her quickly, it’s her!”

He Jueyun watched her throw her tantrum with a cold gaze.

Qiong Cang spoke up, “Whether she is or not depends on the evidence. I advise against making public accusations of murder without proof.”

Seeing Qiong Cang intervene, the officer looked at her as if she were his savior and called out, “Chief, what should we do? Why don’t you handle the victim’s family?”

Hearing that a higher-ranking officer was present, Zhou Langxiu immediately let go and ran toward Qiong Cang.

Qiong Cang stepped forward and caught her hands to prevent her from colliding into her. “I understand your grief,” she said, “but if you get too worked up, it will only hinder our investigation. If you have any leads, please go with our colleague to make a statement. We also want to catch the real murderer as quickly as possible. Please cooperate.”

Zhou Langxiu sobbed, letting out a series of shaky whimpers.

Seeing her calm down, He Jueyun added fuel to the fire by saying, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving. I have an appointment with a lawyer, among other things.”

Zhou Langxiu glared daggers at her, snorting heavily through her nose. One could even hear the harsh grinding of her back teeth.

Qiong Cang said, “Wait a moment.”

She asked her colleague for confirmation, “Has Li Yujia’s alibi been verified?”

A female voice came through the communicator, “I just contacted the friend Li Yujia mentioned, and also got in touch with the property management of that residential area. I’ve confirmed that what Li Yujia said is true. Around one in the morning, her car entered the gates. Both her license plate and face were clearly captured on camera. Because it was so late, the security guard also remembered her. Based on the distance between the two locations and Wu Ming’s time of death, it’s impossible for her to be the murderer.”

Qiong Cang: “All right.”

Qiong Cang then said to He Jueyun, “You may leave. But please keep your phone on. We might contact you at any time.”

He Jueyun nodded. As he turned around, he curled his lips in a provocative smirk at Zhou Langxiu, sending the already unstable woman straight into a frenzy. Then, he casually strolled away.

Qiong Cang: “…” Was this man always like this? Did he always enjoy stirring the pot[^4] so much?

Seeing that the person had really left, Zhou Langxiu threw herself onto the ground and began to wail relentlessly. A moment later, she scrambled back up, shouting that she was going to contact the media and expose them.

The young officer, lacking experience and having never dealt with such a situation, felt his eyes grow hot. He was so anxious he almost wanted to drop to his knees before her.

“Just comfort her for now. Just make sure she doesn’t damage any physical evidence at the scene. Let them take all the photos they want, but close the door.” Qiong Cang patted the poor young officer on the shoulder, ignoring his pained look, and addressed the rest of the team, “Everyone else, if you’re free, come over for a meeting. If you’re busy, report your findings from the neighborhood inquiries.”

Five minutes later, Qiong Cang sat back in the cramped car, listening to her colleagues reporting over the radio channel.

“We interviewed the nearby residents, and they had a pretty good impression of Wu Ming. They thought he was polite, gentle, and easygoing. After all, he worked in the influencer industry, so he was always careful about his public image. No one mentioned him offending anyone. Last night, the neighbors on both sides said they didn’t hear any suspicious activity. We also checked the alibis of some residents in the compound⁵, but since it was late at night, most people were asleep, so we don’t have any concrete proof.”

“I think Li Yujia is highly suspicious. She has the strongest motive. But she was too candid. When I took her statement, she didn’t hide her hatred for Wu Ming and his mother at all. Most people would have tried to cover it up.”

“But she didn’t have the time to commit the crime.”

“With a mother-in-law like hers, she couldn’t hide it even if she tried. She might as well be upfront about it.”

“Could she have hired a hitman? There were no signs of forced entry on the lock. Either the murderer had a key, or Wu Ming opened the door himself.”

“Wu Ming turned off the security cameras himself. Why would he suddenly do that?”

Qiong Cang asked, “What about the compound’s security cameras?”

“The guard on duty fell asleep last night and didn’t see anything. But according to the footage, around one in the morning, a man wearing a cap slipped through the main gate. We don’t know who he was there to see. A late-night visit like that is highly suspicious. However, both Zhou Langxiu and Li Yujia looked at the photo and said they didn’t recognize him.”

Fortunately, Wu Ming’s time of death was late at night. With so few people coming and going during those hours, the security footage was easy to review, and any anomalies would stand out clearly.

Qiong Cang asked, “Have you run a photo comparison?”

“Unfortunately, the camera didn’t catch his face.”

“Sigh…”

“He probably drove here. We’re contacting our colleagues at the traffic bureau to pull the street footage nearby. Hopefully we’ll find something.”

“Staring at all that footage is going to make us go blind.”

Qiong Cang said, “Send me the screenshot.”

Soon, Qiong Cang received a screenshot of the man on her phone.

The photo had been taken from behind him.

The man was very thin. Although his face was hidden by a baseball cap, his build and gait were highly distinctive. Anyone who knew him would likely be able to identify him just from this view of his back.

Qiong Cang forwarded the photo directly to He Jueyun.

He Jueyun quickly replied: “Don’t know him.”

Qiong Cang: I suggest you tell the truth. Although this camera didn’t catch his face, there are traffic cameras on the nearby roads. We will definitely find him sooner or later. But if we discover that you knew who he was and deliberately pretended not to, obstructing our investigation, I won’t hesitate to tell Zhou Langxiu about this.

Qiong Cang: I can bring you into the station for questioning, and then invite Zhou Langxiu to join us.

Qiong Cang: Think about it.

What a vicious threat!

He Jueyun could hardly believe this was the same person who had been comforting him just twenty minutes ago.

Hypocritical.

Heartless.

He Jueyun: Zhao Ye. He’s a private investigator. I thought Wu Ming was acting strange, and he often smelled of different perfumes, so I hired Zhao Ye to tail him.

Qiong Cang: Phone number and office address.

He Jueyun typed out the information and reluctantly sent it over.

Qiong Cang: Thanks for your cooperation. Have a wonderful day!

He Jueyun spat in disgust.

Utterly shameless.

Qiong Cang passed the detective’s information to her colleagues, and the radio channel immediately erupted with excited chatter.

“No way, that fast? Boss, how did you know? Did you already know him?”

“Boss, you’re a miracle worker!”

“So we don’t have to sift through all that footage? Captain, you really are my idol!”

Qiong Cang replied modestly, “It’s nothing. I just happen to have connections everywhere.”

The others continued their polite flattery. Qiong Cang dispatched a few officers to bring Zhao Ye in for questioning.

·

An hour later, Qiong Cang sat in the brightly lit interrogation room. Across from her, the private detective offered a sheepish, awkward grin.

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Translator’s Notes

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1. played the straight man: Refers to the ‘tsukkomi’ role in a comedic duo, where one person acts as the rational, grounded partner who reacts to the other person’s absurd or exaggerated behavior. Here, Qiong Cang is playing along with He Jueyun’s dramatic performance. ↩
2. OOC: An acronym for ‘Out of Character.’ It is commonly used in roleplaying, fan fiction, and gaming communities to describe when a character acts in a way that contradicts their established personality or ‘character concept.’ ↩
3. Kogoro: A reference to Kogoro Mouri from the long-running manga and anime series ‘Detective Conan.’ In Chinese pop culture, he is frequently used as a shorthand for a bumbling or incompetent detective, often serving as a humorous comparison for players in mystery-solving games. ↩
4. stirring the pot: A translation of the Chinese idiom ‘拱火’ (gǒng huǒ), literally ‘fanning the flames.’ It refers to deliberately provoking someone or inciting conflict to create chaos or watch the fallout. ↩
5. compound: Refers to a Chinese xiaoqu (小区), a gated residential complex. These neighborhoods typically feature enclosed perimeters, security guards at the gates, and centralized property management, which explains how the police are able to easily check gate cameras, license plates, and visitor logs. ↩