22 - Laozi reckons the son is contrary

Zhou Chi took the thermos and put it in a plastic bag. She understood: “When this thermos is full, it becomes a good deal heavier. Heavy enough to be used to bludgeon someone to death. After the murder, it would be even less conspicuous to pour out the water and put it back. The paint flecks are so similar in color to rust so as to confuse the eye. Who is this Shi Xiaoran? How is she so cunning?”

“I don’t think that it’s necessarily her idea alone. She has her maternal uncle with her to help her plot.” Zhou Yanling said: “Bring this bottle back for testing. There might be fingerprints or even blood on it. For the time being, it’s best to seal the kitchen until the police arrive and thoroughly investigate, otherwise evidence will likely be destroyed.”

Zhou Chi took a phone call and her expression became very grave.

“What’s happened?”

“Rong-ge just called and said that he’s finally gotten Shi Xiaoran’s mother’s name. It’s Huang, Huang Zhongyu. The homeroom teacher also gave the mother’s number, but Huang Zhongyu didn’t answer. I wonder if she already knows what’s happened with Shi Xiaoran.”

Zhou Yanling practically blurted out: “It’s Huang Ye!”

Zhou Chi asked: “Do you know the mother’s brother?”

There was a certain conversation that had touched Zhou Yanling’s heart and agreed with his way of thinking. Huang Ye had already said that there was a girl in his family that he doted on, a girl who liked buy skirts and dress up. At that time, Zhou Yanling believed that Huang Ye was talking about his own daughter, who was maybe around six or seven years old. But “their family” didn’t mean Huang Ye’s family with his wife, but rather his sister’s entire family. That girl, Shi Xiaoran, was Huang Ye’s niece!

However, Zhou Yanling was unsure about one thing. If Huang Ye, as he said, really cherished this niece, Shi Xiaoran, wouldn’t he be opposed to Hé Youan and Shi Xiaoran’s relationship? If it were Zhou Yanling’s beloved child who spent all night at an internet cafe with her boyfriend – and even worse, if his child had accidentally killed someone for her boyfriend – his first response would be to personally flay the flesh from this boyfriend’s bones. Since Hé Youan had already plead guilty, Huang Ye ought to have fled with Shi Xiaoran at the first opportunity, at Wancheng in fact. Yet he still helped Shi Xiaoran come back for Hé Youan. Did he bring the two together so that they could continue dating?

If Huang Ye hadn’t spoiled Shi Xiaoran as much as he did, then it wouldn’t have been necessary to secretly protect her the entire trip to Baihe. Even more, it wouldn’t have been necessary to plot for her, and he wouldn’t have needed to help her kill again, this time an innocent woman.

This uncle’s heart was very large and unusual. What sort of caregiver would spoil a child so blindly and to such a great extent?

“It’s Huang Ye for sure. But this still requires investigation.”

Wu Fengrong nodded his agreement: “I’ll have others at the station review the surveillance tapes. I suspect that it was Huang Ye, not Shi Xiaoran, that brought Chen Hongping to that place. It would be much easier for a large man to carry a woman. Even though Chen Hongping had suffered deadly blows to the head, if there was no blood on the body, or if the blood wasn’t noticeable, then people would just assume that she was merely unwell. One more thing. You said before that Huang Ye might have been the person to bump into you at the station or, in other words, that he might be the spy for that mysterious person. Do you still think that?”

This supposition wouldn’t make sense. If Huang Ye was the spy, his primary duty would have been to ensure that Zhou Yanling found the real killer of the 9/27 Tongzhou murder case, which was Shi Xiaoran. On one hand, he wanted to protect Shi Xiaoran. On the other hand, if he was the spy, he would have watched Zhou Yanling to make sure that he caught Shi Xiaoran. These goals were clearly contradictory, proving that Huang Ye was not the spy.

Zhou Yanling also thought of this: “That was my mistake. I talked with him before and there’s no proof whatsoever proving that he’s the spy. He’s overly spoiled Shi Xiaoran so it’s unlikely that he would allow others to arrest her.”

Wu Fengrong said: “In that case, the person who attacked us on the train and caused my head injury isn’t him but someone else. If we don’t catch Shi Xiaoran, then I fear that we’ll be attacked again. You said that you spoke with him before? What did you both talk about?”

Zhou Yanling more or less remembered what they’d discussed during the conversation: “He knew a lot about Baihe, so he ought to have worked there for a while. He probably recognized me immediately, even though he didn’t say anything. He probably told Shi Xiaoran that I’d talked with him, and Shi Xiaoran probably immediately believed that I was investigating the matter. This worried her greatly, so she immediately went to talk to Hé Youan. As a result, Hé Youan then resolutely decided to report me to the police. The best outcome would be that I’d be caught and face those charges. If the police instead found that they’d made a mistake, Hé Youan was also prepared to take the fall for Shi Xiaoran. Regardless, the next thing we did was grab Hé Youan.”

“So, Hé Youan didn’t report you because he’d accidentally seen you.” Wu Fengrong said: “But we caught the wrong person. This worried the mysterious person who put you on this train so he had the spy attack us both in order to force us to continue to find the murderer.”

Zhou Yanling took over the explanation: “At present, the clues end at the kitchen. Although we found the murder weapon and the scene of the murder, Hé Youan and Shi Xiaoran are still unaccounted for. I think that the mysterious person will have his spy looking for Shi Xiaoran at the same time, and it’s impossible for him to be unaware of the business with the corpse on board. Still, there’s one way that we can find the spy and then, through him, find the sweethearts.”

The two sat down next to each other. Wu Fengrong lit a cigarette and held it. While he couldn’t smoke, he could still smell the scent, which was good enough. Zhou Yanling waited patiently, unable to guess what he was thinking. Wu Fengrong’s thoughts actually weren’t very complicated. Someone had died on the train so the next part of the trip would be difficult. With any luck, the aid sent by the Ministry of Public Security would arrive before they entered the mountains, and they’d find the three and catch Shi Xiaoran. This would be the best outcome. If they were unlucky, because of the steep mountain roads, help wouldn’t come and they’d be by themselves. If the three fled midway, it would be incredibly difficult to chase after and find them again.

Zhou Yanling had proposed one method, but Wu Fengrong was slow to start to talk, unsure himself what he was waiting for. The problem was so complicated that, in the end, he was clueless. He simply sat and waited for a bit to see if there were any new developments.

When his cigarette had almost burnt out, Zhao Xintao walked in dragging a suitcase and with a massive school bag on his back.

“This is Hé Youan’s luggage. When Huang Ye took him away, he didn’t grab any luggage, only people. Fortunately, everything was tucked away under the beds where they wouldn’t be easy to be seen. Open them and take a look. Perhaps we can find something useful.”

Wu Fengrong whistled: “Pretty good. There’s still time to work towards success.”

Zhao Xintao didn’t look good: “Quickly close this case. I don’t want to hear someone say that they’d unexpectedly found a dead body anywhere ever again.”

They opened the suitcase. Very thick winter clothes burst out from within. In addition to the clothing, there was a pair of boots, a large toiletry bag, a universal adapter and various chargers, a portable heater, and a pile of essays and homework. It was, in fact, everything expected from a student’s luggage. Wu Fengrong opened the toiletry bag with a shout. Inside there were a lot of things. Things that could be used to clean to things that could be used to apply makeup, everything was in there. From inside, he picked out a lipstick that smelled of citrus and which had already been used a little. The light and gentle fragrance made Wu Fengrong raise an eyebrow. Zhou Yanling rummaged about underneath and pulled out a hair curler covered in pretty metallic peppermint green stickers and with two cats resting against each other with a peach-pink heart in the middle. He hurriedly tossed this away, fearful that contact with it would cause bad luck.

“I recognize this thing. It’s quite expensive.” Wu Fengrong picked up the electric hair curler: “Last year it was popular among young women. There was one young woman on our train who got one at a discount, which made them happy. They lined up and took turns using it. It seemed like each and every one on the train styled their hair like celestial maidens 1 . They stopped after I scolded them and went back to the regulation hairstyle.”

Zhou Yanling laughed, amused: “And you. If young women want to look attractive, then let them.

“They can do whatever they like on after work. On board, there’s a dress code and standards of appearance which I naturally have to manage. This thing costs several thousand yuan. Hé’s family must have some money, otherwise it’s unlikely that he would have given such an expensive gift to his girlfriend.”

“Is this what high school students’ gift-giving has finally come to?”

“It depends on the individual’s circumstances, I guess.”

Zhou Yanling went to open the school bag. There were video games and consoles, a tablet, a Bluetooth headphone, an exercise wristband, a miniature video camera with all the bells and whistles and, finally, at the very bottom, was a small tripod. It was as though this was the readily available inventory of an electronics warehouse. Even Zhou Yanling was stupefied. It didn’t look as though the young couple were on the run but, instead, had packed their luggage as though they were tourists going on vacation. He lifted the bag with one hand. It wasn’t light. So, it turned out a person’s life required this many electronics.

There was also a narrow compartment in the school bag. Zhou Yanling felt around inside and pulled out a brown paper envelope.

In the envelope’s lower right corner was a mark which read “Tongda Construction and Engineering Corp”. The surface was blank, and a credit card and a wad of fresh bills were produced from inside. Zhou Yanling put the money and the credit card back, and felt that the name of the business was a little familiar.

“This is from the parents’, right?” Wu Fengrong said: “There should be a signature on the back of the credit card.”

Zhou Yanling flipped it over to the back: “Hé Da. It must be his father.” He picked up the envelope: “This “Tongda Construction and Engineering Corp” must be the family’s company. His father is operating a construction company so they must be well-off. A school bag full of electronics wouldn’t be a problem. The father actually appears to be quite generous. I don’t believe that he doesn’t know about this matter with Shi Xiaoran.”

Wu Fengrong said: “I actually think that the father doesn’t know. If he knew what happened with Shi Xiaoran, then he wouldn’t have allowed Hé Youan to board the train. Anyway his son didn’t kill that person, so why would he allow his son get mixed up with his girlfriend? The family is wealthy. Hé Youan already said that he was allowed to go out with his friends and play during the holidays, so I believe that his father was likely to have given him money for this.”

“Xintao, what do you think?” Zhou Yanling asked.

Zhao Xintao blinked, not expecting to be asked to contribute. He deliberated for a moment, then said: “I think it’s very likely that his father knows. I even think that it’s very likely that his father helped him in framing you.”

Zhou Yanling’s and Wu Fengrong’s brows wrinkled simultaneously.

Zhao Xintao stammered a little and said, flustered: “I’m just speculating. It’s a complete guess. If I were a minor and got into a fight where someone, by mistake, was killed, I’d have completely lost my head. Forget about framing anyone, I’d have been lucky not to wet myself in terror. My first instinct would have been to make a phone call and cry to my mom and dad for help! Hé Youan is a fu er dai 2 . In the news, don’t they constantly talk about of fu er dai running people over and killing them, and then getting out of trouble with their daddy’s help? It’s possible that, after these two sweethearts got in trouble, Hé Youan immediately made a call to Hé Da, who came out to the scene and came up with the scheme to frame someone else.”

He finished speaking, urgently and in one breath. Panting, he took a large gulp of tea and, without wiping his mouth, continued speaking: “Seriously, Hé Youan is a child with not a lot of conscience. From start to finish, it was all to protect his girlfriend. Maybe he feels guilty because he thinks that Shi Xiaoran killed for his sake. He might also genuinely care for her. No matter the reason, he’s still willing to face such a serious criminal charge for his girlfriend. Is there anything that he wouldn’t do? Even if his father opposed him going out with his girlfriend, does that mean that he has to obey his father’s wishes?”

Listening, Wu Fengrong understood: “You mean Hé Da knows that Hé Youan’s girlfriend is the murderer but, since Hé Youan wants to protect Shi Xiaoran and is determined to carry out a plan to flee to Baihe with her, Hé Da feels that there’s nothing that he can do. So, ultimately the father had to compromise and gave money to hold in reserve, helped with the luggage and got them on board?”

“Now that we’re talking about it, for Hé Da this would actually be much better. After all, Hé Youan is not the murderer, but Shi Xiaoran is. In the end, if the police catch Mr. Zhou, close the case, sentence him, and the conclusion is on the coffin’s cover 3 . He helps his son’s girlfriend escape disaster and gets the respect, love and adoration of the two children. Not only that, he’ll have also earned a large favor from Shi Xiaoran and he could use this favor to ask her to break up with Hé Youan. If the police discovered the truth, Shi Xiaoran will be caught, Hé Youan will be likely to be charged with what—he was in a fight, he didn’t participate in the murder—and at that time, Shi Xiaoran and Hé Youan would automatically be separated. Conversely, if he hastily broke up the relationship between these young sweethearts at this juncture, it more likely and be even worse if his infatuated son did something foolish, wouldn’t it? He understands his child best, just as he knows what would cause a worse outcome.”

“Laozi reckons the son is contrary.”

Zhou Yanling said: “Reckoning is not always beneficial. Sometimes parents and children can count on each other to maintain between each other a proper relationship. I’m in favor with Xintao’s theory. When Hé Da arrived at the scene, he was definitely ignorant and wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. He was just thinking how he could cover this up and decided to frame me. After he returned home, he collected himself and, after two days, realized that it actually wasn’t a big deal.”

After discussing the situation, the three decided that Hé Youan and his father, Hé Da, were colluding and that they needed to directly inquire about the situation.

Zhou Yanling held the envelope in his hand and looked at it, pensive. Sensing that something was off, Wu Fengrong leveled him with a doubtful expression.

“I feel like I’m familiar with this Tongda Construction and Engineering Corp, as though I’d heard of them somewhere. I think I’ll check that out. There might be more clues.” Zhou Yanling said: “RongRong, let me borrow your computer.”

Wu Fengrong fetched a notebook and asked: “Was it through work? With what will you investigate?”

Zhou Yanling laughed a little and pulled from his briefcase a black portable hard drive.

T/N:

仙女 : here 富二代 : children of entrepreneurs who became wealthy under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms in the 1980’s 盖棺定论 a person’s merit and demerits can only be concluded after death. Roughly similar in sentiment to ‘let death sort them out’