“Our colleagues from the Forensic Science Division said a lot of evidence was washed away by the water on the floor,” Zhang Ming elaborated.
“So the killer did it on purpose?” Wei Muran asked. “The tap was left running on purpose to cover up the trail, at the same time diverting someone’s attention to discover the body here.”
Qi Youxuan nodded, then patted Wei Muran’s head with pride. “Mumu is such a fast learner.”
Wei Muran coughed embarrassingly.
“Since the victim was hung all the while, the corpse suffered no altercation.” They heard Bai Mo explaining as they walked up to Wei Guangzheng’s body in the living room.
“Victim’s time of death is somewhere between nine to ten last night. His abdomen was stabbed several times before he was hung up,” Mo Bai clarified.
They saw that Wei Guangzheng’s abdominal area had obvious knife wounds, all cut up. His shirt was stained dark red with blood, all the way from the abdomen to his chest area, including his lower back. It was to the point where they could not distinguish the original color of his shirt.
“With an abdominal wound, the cause of death can only be from loss of blood. The entire process will last fifteen minutes,” Qi Youxuan said, “To have him hung at this point, the hatred must’ve run deep.”
“Victim’s nails show signs of strangulation, an obvious sign of his struggles while being strangled. This shows that he didn’t immediately die from the abdominal wound,” Mo Bai further justified Qi Youxuan’s claims.
“The room had signs of a fight breaking out,” Jiang Yuecheng said. “The victim had retaliated prior to his death.”
“The back of his head also shows signs of injury,” Bai Mo added.
“Putting aside how he died, the result is the same as Feng Haoli,” Qi Youxuan said thoughtfully.
“The doorway shows no signs of a brawl or struggle. We’ve asked the neighbors, and they confirmed to be home before and after nine o’clock at night. They did hear movements around the door, but there were no sounds of conflict or fighting so they thought it was just a normal visit from a friend.” Zhao Yiyang elaborated, “The neighbors aren’t really close to the victim and they hardly meet each other. Occasionally they’ll greet each other as they meet while riding the elevator. The neighbors from the other floors are unfamiliar with him.”
“This is a high-class residential area. The whole community totals to only six buildings. As the area was a high priority rushed construction project, the price point is definitely above average. Apart from rich kids like that of our victim, the others will be rather busy. It’s no wonder they don’t run into each other that often,” Qi Youxuan rationalized.
“Jiadong, you go with Muran to the company Wei Guangzheng worked at and ask around for his social behavior to see if he crossed anyone,” Jiang Yuecheng ordered. “Yiyang, you go with Zhang Ming to that club once more.”
The four of them split up. Jiang Yuecheng and Qi Youxuan returned to the patrol, leaving Yang Shaozhan to investigate further on Kaimu Cycling Club’s information.
Along with that, Yang Shaozhan was also tasked to investigate the information on the remaining three people from that Mêdog county trip.
When Zhang Ming and the rest returned, Xing Jiadong started, “I’ve asked the people in his company. Wei Guangzheng doesn’t socialize much with the normal employees. However, the finance manager does try to get close to him and managed to carry a few conversations with him. Unfortunately, he hardly knows anything about his private life. Wei Guangzheng’s father, Wei Yuefei1, provided a list of people who were close to Wei Guangzheng. They’re mostly rich kids similar to Wei Guangzheng.”
“Heh, this Wei family is rather interesting. Their name sounds so righteous. The dad’s name is Yue Fei[1], the son is Greatness, Honest, and Righteous,” Zhang Ming could not help but chime in.
Xing Jiadong rolled his eyes at Zhang Ming, and then said in a flustered manner, “I’m not done yet!”
“Go on, go on.” Zhang Ming smiled as he made a sweeping gesture.
“According to his father, Wei Guangzheng loved to hang out at night clubs. The father seems disapproving of his social circle, referring to them as wine and meat friends. Wei Guangzheng spends most of his time having fun, showing no motivation to improve his life. Him working in the company was also forced, and hardly showed any result working within the company,” Xing Jiadong added.
“There was hardly any information from the club. Apart from showing up at cycling events that he has an interest in, he wouldn’t appear at the company. Most of the normal employees didn’t recognize him. The only one that gets in touch with him more frequently would be the club’s general manager Yu Zhijie, but he claims to know nothing. I still feel that he’s hiding something.”
“We should approach this from the perspective of the Mêdog county trip. Two out of the five that took part in that event are dead, and they all died hanging. This is definitely not a coincidence.” Qi Youxuan then continued, “Go investigate the three others in the picture. Apart from their personal information, check those they are close to, family, and friends. Start from last year and see if there are any major changes.”
Zhao Yiyang was extremely excited and motivated as he took the initiative to take up this task.
At that moment, a female officer unexpectedly brought a young woman around twenty-five or twenty-six years old into the room.
“This young woman claims that she has some information to provide,” the female officer explained.
Zhang Ming shot a glance at Qi Youxuan and immediately urged the young woman to enter.
“I… I’m an employee at Weihao. This afternoon you were there for questioning,” the young woman said, quickly identifying Xing Jiadong and Wei Muran.
Xing Jiadong had no recollections of her as the female employees were questioned by Wei Muran.
“Right, I recognize you.” Wei Muran was in thought for a bit, sifting through her memories. A name came up, “You’re Li Ruan from the marketing department, Miss Li.”
Li Ruan nodded, not expecting Wei Muran to actually remember her.
“Marketing department. Isn’t that the department Wei Guangzheng is in?” Xing Jiadong asked.
Li Ruan nodded.
Wei Muran frowned, then asked, “When we were there for questioning this afternoon, didn’t you say that you’re unclear about Wei Guangzheng’s incident?”
Li Ruan looked at her apologetically, “That’s because there are many eyes in the company. If I told the truth and someone brings it up to Director Wei, I’ll lose my job. Wei Guangzheng’s personality is known to everyone in the company. We’re just trying to keep our jobs so we dared not speak up. Also with this being none of our business, who would willingly go against our employer?”
“Then why are you here?” Xing Jiadong pouted, unconvinced.
“That’s… because my friend had been taken advantage of. I can’t let it slide, so I came here secretly without letting my colleagues know,” Li Ruan said with her head lowered, not daring to meet Xing Jiadong’s eyes.
Zhang Ming led Li Ruan to take a seat, then threw a pack of Lipton tea into a disposable paper cup and made a cup of tea for her.
“Thank you.” Li Ruan accepted the paper cup, and then said, “I don’t know what Director Wei told you about Wei Guangzheng, but everyone in our company knows that Wei Guangzheng is a good-for-nothing wastrel. He does nothing in the company, and spends his time there checking which female employee looked better. Even rabbits don’t eat the grass around its nest, yet he had no such regards. When he meets a beautiful employee, regardless of whether she had a boyfriend or not, he would try to have sex with her, yet wouldn’t bear any responsibilities after that. Furthermore, using his authority, if the female party was unwilling, he would have the company fire her and drag her name through the mud, making it very difficult for her to find a new job.”
“If the female party agreed to it, then it would not be just once. He would take photos and use them to blackmail her. As long as he wants it, she has to be available anytime. As those pictures are in his hands, regardless whether his threats are real or not, the female party will never take such a risk unless he’s grown tired of her and moved on to a new target. However, with the photos still in his hands, they wouldn’t dare to act rashly. Even if he’s no longer looking for you, there’s the risk that he could just think of you out of the blue.”
Li Ruan took a sip of the hot tea. “You see the female employees of the company acts as though nothing had happened on the surface. In truth, those that you find pretty had most likely done it with him or maintained an improper relationship with him. From what I know, he had maintained a relationship with more than two female employees at the same time. Sometimes he would even have two or three of them go to his house or a hotel. Because of Wei Guangzheng, the company is unbearably filthy.”
“At first, my friend was skeptical of this and stuck to her decision to resign. In the end, she was slandered by Wei Guangzheng, causing all the companies within the same industry to not hire her. Running out of options, she had to move out of state.” Li Ruan’s face filled with disgust, “The company is now a horrible place thanks to him.”
Li Ruan looked at Zhang Ming, “When you came over this morning, didn’t you talk to Wei Guangzheng’s secretary? She too had relations of that sort with Wei Guangzheng.”
“You asked if he had any bad blood with others?” Li Ruan sneered, “If he could behave like that in the company, he will definitely be worse out there. Who knows if he pissed someone off, or some boyfriend or husband of his victims were seeking vengeance.”
“Miss Li, I think you look quite beautiful too,” Qi Youxuan suddenly piped up.
His words stunned everyone. Xing Jiadong then stared at Qi Youxuan then at Wei Muran disapprovingly.
“Our colleagues from the Forensic Science Division said a lot of evidence was washed away by the water on the floor,” Zhang Ming elaborated.
“So the killer did it on purpose?” Wei Muran asked. “The tap was left running on purpose to cover up the trail, at the same time diverting someone’s attention to discover the body here.”
Qi Youxuan nodded, then patted Wei Muran’s head with pride. “Mumu is such a fast learner.”
Wei Muran coughed embarrassingly.
“Since the victim was hung all the while, the corpse suffered no altercation.” They heard Bai Mo explaining as they walked up to Wei Guangzheng’s body in the living room.
“Victim’s time of death is somewhere between nine to ten last night. His abdomen was stabbed several times before he was hung up,” Mo Bai clarified.
They saw that Wei Guangzheng’s abdominal area had obvious knife wounds, all cut up. His shirt was stained dark red with blood, all the way from the abdomen to his chest area, including his lower back. It was to the point where they could not distinguish the original color of his shirt.
“With an abdominal wound, the cause of death can only be from loss of blood. The entire process will last fifteen minutes,” Qi Youxuan said, “To have him hung at this point, the hatred must’ve run deep.”
“Victim’s nails show signs of strangulation, an obvious sign of his struggles while being strangled. This shows that he didn’t immediately die from the abdominal wound,” Mo Bai further justified Qi Youxuan’s claims.
“The room had signs of a fight breaking out,” Jiang Yuecheng said. “The victim had retaliated prior to his death.”
“The back of his head also shows signs of injury,” Bai Mo added.
“Putting aside how he died, the result is the same as Feng Haoli,” Qi Youxuan said thoughtfully.
“The doorway shows no signs of a brawl or struggle. We’ve asked the neighbors, and they confirmed to be home before and after nine o’clock at night. They did hear movements around the door, but there were no sounds of conflict or fighting so they thought it was just a normal visit from a friend.” Zhao Yiyang elaborated, “The neighbors aren’t really close to the victim and they hardly meet each other. Occasionally they’ll greet each other as they meet while riding the elevator. The neighbors from the other floors are unfamiliar with him.”
“This is a high-class residential area. The whole community totals to only six buildings. As the area was a high priority rushed construction project, the price point is definitely above average. Apart from rich kids like that of our victim, the others will be rather busy. It’s no wonder they don’t run into each other that often,” Qi Youxuan rationalized.
“Jiadong, you go with Muran to the company Wei Guangzheng worked at and ask around for his social behavior to see if he crossed anyone,” Jiang Yuecheng ordered. “Yiyang, you go with Zhang Ming to that club once more.”
The four of them split up. Jiang Yuecheng and Qi Youxuan returned to the patrol, leaving Yang Shaozhan to investigate further on Kaimu Cycling Club’s information.
Along with that, Yang Shaozhan was also tasked to investigate the information on the remaining three people from that Mêdog county trip.
When Zhang Ming and the rest returned, Xing Jiadong started, “I’ve asked the people in his company. Wei Guangzheng doesn’t socialize much with the normal employees. However, the finance manager does try to get close to him and managed to carry a few conversations with him. Unfortunately, he hardly knows anything about his private life. Wei Guangzheng’s father, Wei Yuefei1, provided a list of people who were close to Wei Guangzheng. They’re mostly rich kids similar to Wei Guangzheng.”
“Heh, this Wei family is rather interesting. Their name sounds so righteous. The dad’s name is Yue Fei[1], the son is Greatness, Honest, and Righteous,” Zhang Ming could not help but chime in.
Xing Jiadong rolled his eyes at Zhang Ming, and then said in a flustered manner, “I’m not done yet!”
“Go on, go on.” Zhang Ming smiled as he made a sweeping gesture.
“According to his father, Wei Guangzheng loved to hang out at night clubs. The father seems disapproving of his social circle, referring to them as wine and meat friends. Wei Guangzheng spends most of his time having fun, showing no motivation to improve his life. Him working in the company was also forced, and hardly showed any result working within the company,” Xing Jiadong added.
“There was hardly any information from the club. Apart from showing up at cycling events that he has an interest in, he wouldn’t appear at the company. Most of the normal employees didn’t recognize him. The only one that gets in touch with him more frequently would be the club’s general manager Yu Zhijie, but he claims to know nothing. I still feel that he’s hiding something.”
“We should approach this from the perspective of the Mêdog county trip. Two out of the five that took part in that event are dead, and they all died hanging. This is definitely not a coincidence.” Qi Youxuan then continued, “Go investigate the three others in the picture. Apart from their personal information, check those they are close to, family, and friends. Start from last year and see if there are any major changes.”
Zhao Yiyang was extremely excited and motivated as he took the initiative to take up this task.
At that moment, a female officer unexpectedly brought a young woman around twenty-five or twenty-six years old into the room.
“This young woman claims that she has some information to provide,” the female officer explained.
Zhang Ming shot a glance at Qi Youxuan and immediately urged the young woman to enter.
“I… I’m an employee at Weihao. This afternoon you were there for questioning,” the young woman said, quickly identifying Xing Jiadong and Wei Muran.
Xing Jiadong had no recollections of her as the female employees were questioned by Wei Muran.
“Right, I recognize you.” Wei Muran was in thought for a bit, sifting through her memories. A name came up, “You’re Li Ruan from the marketing department, Miss Li.”
Li Ruan nodded, not expecting Wei Muran to actually remember her.
“Marketing department. Isn’t that the department Wei Guangzheng is in?” Xing Jiadong asked.
Li Ruan nodded.
Wei Muran frowned, then asked, “When we were there for questioning this afternoon, didn’t you say that you’re unclear about Wei Guangzheng’s incident?”
Li Ruan looked at her apologetically, “That’s because there are many eyes in the company. If I told the truth and someone brings it up to Director Wei, I’ll lose my job. Wei Guangzheng’s personality is known to everyone in the company. We’re just trying to keep our jobs so we dared not speak up. Also with this being none of our business, who would willingly go against our employer?”
“Then why are you here?” Xing Jiadong pouted, unconvinced.
“That’s… because my friend had been taken advantage of. I can’t let it slide, so I came here secretly without letting my colleagues know,” Li Ruan said with her head lowered, not daring to meet Xing Jiadong’s eyes.
Zhang Ming led Li Ruan to take a seat, then threw a pack of Lipton tea into a disposable paper cup and made a cup of tea for her.
“Thank you.” Li Ruan accepted the paper cup, and then said, “I don’t know what Director Wei told you about Wei Guangzheng, but everyone in our company knows that Wei Guangzheng is a good-for-nothing wastrel. He does nothing in the company, and spends his time there checking which female employee looked better. Even rabbits don’t eat the grass around its nest, yet he had no such regards. When he meets a beautiful employee, regardless of whether she had a boyfriend or not, he would try to have sex with her, yet wouldn’t bear any responsibilities after that. Furthermore, using his authority, if the female party was unwilling, he would have the company fire her and drag her name through the mud, making it very difficult for her to find a new job.”
“If the female party agreed to it, then it would not be just once. He would take photos and use them to blackmail her. As long as he wants it, she has to be available anytime. As those pictures are in his hands, regardless whether his threats are real or not, the female party will never take such a risk unless he’s grown tired of her and moved on to a new target. However, with the photos still in his hands, they wouldn’t dare to act rashly. Even if he’s no longer looking for you, there’s the risk that he could just think of you out of the blue.”
Li Ruan took a sip of the hot tea. “You see the female employees of the company acts as though nothing had happened on the surface. In truth, those that you find pretty had most likely done it with him or maintained an improper relationship with him. From what I know, he had maintained a relationship with more than two female employees at the same time. Sometimes he would even have two or three of them go to his house or a hotel. Because of Wei Guangzheng, the company is unbearably filthy.”
“At first, my friend was skeptical of this and stuck to her decision to resign. In the end, she was slandered by Wei Guangzheng, causing all the companies within the same industry to not hire her. Running out of options, she had to move out of state.” Li Ruan’s face filled with disgust, “The company is now a horrible place thanks to him.”
Li Ruan looked at Zhang Ming, “When you came over this morning, didn’t you talk to Wei Guangzheng’s secretary? She too had relations of that sort with Wei Guangzheng.”
“You asked if he had any bad blood with others?” Li Ruan sneered, “If he could behave like that in the company, he will definitely be worse out there. Who knows if he pissed someone off, or some boyfriend or husband of his victims were seeking vengeance.”
“Miss Li, I think you look quite beautiful too,” Qi Youxuan suddenly piped up.
His words stunned everyone. Xing Jiadong then stared at Qi Youxuan then at Wei Muran disapprovingly.
