Good and Evil, Chapter 80: The Suspect with "Clarity"

Any theory unsupported by evidence is untenable.

Earlier, Shu Yue had briefly told Ning Yanran over the phone about Zhang Chengwang’s death, but Ning Yanran was a police officer, and an investigator at that. Police work is grounded in facts; everything must be proven. So the first thing Ning Yanran did next was ask Dou Xihua about the investigation into Zhang Chengwang’s death.

What made the whole thing almost laughable was that, from the time the case was reported in the morning until Ning Yanran and the others arrived at the branch station in Fangxi County, Dou Xihua had done nothing at all beyond questioning Xu Lang and Zhang Chengwang’s family. He had not ordered an autopsy, nor had he properly examined the scene. Ning Yanran’s anger flared even higher at that.

After getting a grasp of the situation, Ning Yanran said to Dou Xihua, “Chief Dou, you don’t need to handle this case anymore. Leave it to us.”

At her words, Dou Xihua first froze, then his face darkened. With a stern expression, he said, “Captain Ning, you may be from the city bureau, but this is a homicide in Fangxi County. By rights, it should be under our branch station’s jurisdiction.”

Ning Yanran did not bother with him. She picked up her phone, called Lu Ye, and explained the situation from beginning to end. Only after that did she tell him that Xu Lang had been beaten at the station and was now unconscious in the hospital.

After hearing all this, Lu Ye’s fury was obvious even through the phone. Standing nearby, Dou Xihua could hear the sound of Lu Ye slapping the desk hard on the other end. He shuddered at once. He knew he had kicked an iron plate this time, and a hundred thousand curses surged through his mind.

After letting the silence hang for about a minute, Ning Yanran handed the phone to Dou Xihua, signaling for him to take the call.

Dou Xihua took the phone, first glancing at Ning Yanran, then drawing a deep breath as though preparing to face execution with heroic resignation.

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

“I know.”

“Got it.”

“Don’t worry, Director. I will fully cooperate with Captain Ning’s work.”

No one knew what Lu Ye had said on the phone, but Dou Xihua kept nodding the whole time. When he finally finished his last sentence, the call had already ended. Sweat covered his round face, making him look greasy and nauseating.

Dou Xihua returned the phone to Ning Yanran and said with an ingratiating smile, “Captain Ning, well, that was all just a misunderstanding, I—”

Before he could offer any further explanation, Ning Yanran cut him off with a wave of her hand. Then she said, “I need to go to the crime scene. Chief Dou, arrange for someone to show us the way.”

“Of course, of course. Xiao Zhang, come here!” Dou Xihua shouted toward a young man who was busy at work.

At the sound, a very young officer holding a stack of documents hurried over and looked at Dou Xihua. “Chief, you called me?”

“Mm. Take the two officers to Zhangjiatun,” Dou Xihua said.

“Yes, Chief.”

Ning Yanran glanced at the officer called Xiao Zhang and gave him a slight nod. Then she and Zhao Hua left the station, first going to the hospital to pick up Li Lei, then driving on toward Zhangjiatun.

After Ning Yanran left, the smile on Dou Xihua’s face vanished at once, replaced by a hideous expression. He very much wanted to curse in the direction she had gone. How old was Dou Xihua? Forty-three already this year. And how old was Ning Yanran? Only in her twenties. They were more than a decade apart in age. It would have been one thing if she failed to show him any respect as an elder, but she had even scolded him harshly in front of his subordinates. And that was not all; Director Lu had also verbally blasted him through the phone. Dou Xihua felt so wretched he could have screamed. He really wanted to swear the place down, but after thinking it over, he decided against it. What he had done to Xu Lang just now had already been seen by Ning Yanran and the others. Though Ning Yanran had not asked about it, Dou Xihua knew full well that once Zhang Chengwang’s case was over, Xu Lang and the others would settle accounts with him in due time. After some thought, he left the station, bought a fruit basket from a roadside shop, and went to the hospital to visit Xu Lang, hoping at least to silence him for the moment.

Dou Xihua’s rough treatment of Xu Lang was not because he believed Xu Lang had anything to do with Zhang Chengwang’s death. He had been a police officer for more than ten years. Although he was now only the chief of a county branch station, that did not mean he was a fool. Zhang Chengwang’s death was so horrific that, when Dou Xihua saw the body, he instantly realized, from years of dealing with crops and the land, that Zhang Chengwang had died of poisoning.

There were witnesses to Xu Lang’s visit to Zhang Chengwang’s house and to his departure from it, so Xu Lang could not possibly have been a suspect. The reason Dou Xihua kept interrogating him was the gunshot wound on his body. That morning, after being notified by Ye Du, Xu Lang had rushed to Zhang Chengwang’s house in a hurry, dressed carelessly, and the bandage beneath his shirt had been exposed. Dou Xihua had seen it immediately.

After bringing Xu Lang back to the station, Dou Xihua had someone remove the bandage from Xu Lang’s left shoulder and examined the wound. Anyone accustomed to handling guns would recognize it at a glance as a gunshot wound. Such wounds were uncommon across the country, after all, because the ban on firearms was common knowledge. That made the wound on Xu Lang’s body all the more suspicious. Dou Xihua therefore interrogated Xu Lang about it. But after arriving at the station, Xu Lang said nothing at all. That led Dou Xihua to suspect he was a murderer who had done something dirty outside and come back to Zhangjiatun just to lie low and evade the police. So the harsher measures naturally came into play.

What Dou Xihua had not expected was that Xu Lang was actually a police officer, and not just any officer, but a criminal investigation consultant for the S City Public Security Bureau. That left Dou Xihua in the classic position of swallowing bitter herbs with no way to complain.

After Xu Lang was taken to the hospital, the doctors immediately treated his wound. In truth, his injury was not severe. He had fainted mainly because the pain had overwhelmed him. After all, anyone would feel agony if someone shoved a finger into an open wound.

After some treatment, Xu Lang woke not long afterward. Seeing Zhang Lei and Ye Xuefei standing by the bedside, he was momentarily startled, then gave a wry smile. “You’re here?”

Seeing that he had awakened, the two finally let out the breath they had been holding. Zhang Lei remained his usual irreverent self, grinning as he said, “Brother Lang, people used to say you were the Grim Reaper and I didn’t believe it. But now I do. Brother Lang, you really are the Reaper in the flesh.”

At his teasing, Xu Lang could only smile helplessly and say nothing. He struggled to sit up, and Ye Xuefei quickly bent down to help him into a better position. Their eyes met. In Ye Xuefei’s gaze, Xu Lang saw deep concern, and warmth rose in his heart. Then, as if remembering something, Xu Lang looked away and no longer met her eyes. Ye Xuefei seemed to think of the same thing as well; she too turned her gaze aside, her expression dimming.

Zhang Lei, sitting nearby, seemed not to notice any of this. Once Xu Lang had sat up, he asked, “Brother Lang, what happened?”

Xu Lang first asked who had come this time. When he learned that everyone from the second criminal investigation team had arrived except for Lu Xing, he felt moved, but also a little guilty. After all, Fangxi County was still quite far from the city, and it would take at least three hours by car to get there. Still, he did not say anything sentimental. Instead, he got straight to the point. “Zhang Lei, go to the station immediately and interrogate Xie Xintong. She’s an important suspect.”

“Got it, Brother Lang.” Zhang Lei agreed at once.

Xu Lang thought for a moment, then added, “Lei Zi, contact Captain Ning right away and have her send people to Xiejia Valley Village immediately to detain Xie Xintong’s mother, Xiang Shuifeng. I suspect she’s deeply involved too.”

Zhang Lei nodded, took out his phone, and called Ning Yanran. He relayed Xu Lang’s instructions. After hearing them, Ning Yanran immediately had Zhao Hua contact Dou Xihua and take several officers to Xiejia Valley Village to control Xiang Shuifeng, while she and Li Lei went to the victim Zhang Chengwang’s house to inspect the scene.

While Zhang Lei was on the phone, Xu Lang turned to Ye Xuefei and said, “You should head to the station first and perform an autopsy on Zhang Chengwang’s body. Examine it carefully and determine exactly how he died.”

At that, Ye Xuefei nodded, and then she left the hospital together with Zhang Lei.

On the first floor of the hospital, Zhang Lei and Ye Xuefei ran into Dou Xihua, who was carrying the fruit basket to visit Xu Lang. The moment he saw them, Dou Xihua forced a smile and was about to greet them, but neither of them paid him any mind. They simply walked out of the hospital and returned to the station to continue their work.

Dou Xihua was not surprised by their attitude. He rubbed his nose, stood there for a moment, and considered things. In the end, he handed the fruit basket to a nurse and asked her to pass it along to Xu Lang. Only then did he drive back to the station to assist Ning Yanran and the others with the investigation.

Meanwhile, Ning Yanran and Li Lei, guided by Xiao Zhang, soon arrived at Zhangjiatun and came to Zhang Chengwang’s home.

After Dou Xihua had led Xu Lang and the others away, two officers had been left behind to guard the scene and prevent anyone from entering and destroying evidence. The measure had been correct, but the result was disappointing. Since Zhang Chengwang had married just the day before, the house was covered in the footprints of villagers from Zhangjiatun, and it was impossible to tell whose were whose. Moreover, many items in the bridal room bore other people’s fingerprints, which also complicated the investigation.

After getting out of the car, Ning Yanran and the others showed their credentials to the two officers and entered the scene. Before going in, both Ning Yanran and Li Lei put on shoe covers and gloves. Then they headed straight for the bridal room where Zhang Chengwang had died.

The festive bridal chamber still bore large red wedding emblems on the transparent glass. Colorful balloons of every size floated beneath the ceiling. The red quilt, red bedsheets, and red pillows all spoke of celebration. On the wall behind the bed hung a large wedding portrait. The groom, Zhang Chengwang, wore a black suit, one hand pinching his jacket button, the other in his pocket. He smiled with honest delight. The bride, Xie Xintong, was dressed in a pure white wedding gown, both hands clasped tightly around Zhang Chengwang’s arm, her body leaning against his, the whole scene radiant with happiness.

But the wedding bed itself was a mess. The quilt had been thrown aside, the sheets were in disorder, and the brand-new bedding had several torn holes in it. Ning Yanran bent down to look and knew at once that the fabric had been ripped open by someone’s bare hand. The two red pillows had been tossed carelessly onto the bed as well, one of them marked with dried blood that had left a dark brown stain against the bright red fabric. On the bedside table sat a cup with a little milk still in it, along with a mobile phone, an opened pack of Red Double Happiness cigarettes, a lighter, and two unopened condoms.

After seeing this, Li Lei, wearing gloves, carefully put all the items into evidence bags, then conducted a thorough search of the bridal room. There were many odds and ends scattered about, including a number of dowry items, most of them household necessities such as clothes and quilts. After inspecting them for a while, Li Lei opened the wardrobe.

At first, he found nothing. Aside from the couple’s clothes, there was nothing else in the wardrobe. But when Li Lei stepped onto a small stool and opened a little drawer at the very top, he found a small plastic bottle inside. He took it out, opened it, and sniffed it under his nose. Then he frowned and said to Ning Yanran, “Captain Ning, I found something.”

Ning Yanran came over at once and took the bottle from him. She looked at it first. It was an ordinary glass jar, the kind commonly used for canned goods. It was impossible to tell what it had once contained because the label had been torn off. Inside the bottle was still some white powder. Ning Yanran sniffed it and found the odor pungent, somewhat like rat poison. After capping the bottle, she handed it back to Li Lei. “Put it in an evidence bag. Take it back for analysis later.”

Li Lei nodded at once.

The two inspected the scene a bit longer, but in the end found nothing else. So they left the house.

As they came out of Zhang Chengwang’s home, Ning Yanran saw Shu Yue standing with a girl whose skin was slightly dark. Ning Yanran removed her gloves and walked over, greeting Shu Yue, “You’re here too?”

Shu Yue nodded and asked directly, “How is Xu Lang?”

Ning Yanran looked at Shu Yue, then at Ye Du. She seemed about to speak, hesitated, and in the end did not tell the truth. Instead, she said, “Come back to the station with me.”

Shu Yue naturally had no objection. She turned to look at Ye Du.

When Ye Du heard that she too was expected to go to the station, her first instinct was resistance. But when she met Shu Yue’s and Ning Yanran’s eyes, and recalled the image of Xu Lang being handcuffed and taken away, she unconsciously clenched her fists, nodded, and then followed Ning Yanran back to the station with Shu Yue and the others.

On the way back, through conversation, Ning Yanran learned Ye Du’s name and her relationship with Xu Lang. When she found out that Ye Du had been Xu Lang’s childhood playmate, Ning Yanran’s eyelids twitched and the corners of her mouth could not help but spasm a little. Looking at Shu Yue’s calm face, Ning Yanran had to admit that Xu Lang was not only exceptionally gifted in investigations, but also absurdly fortunate in matters of the heart. First there was the medical examiner Ye Xuefei, who clearly liked him; then there was Shu Yue, who had quietly supported him from behind all along; then there was that earlier woman named Ellen, who had been doggedly pursuing him; and now there was Ye Du as well. Ning Yanran could already feel a headache coming on for Xu Lang.

Of course, more than anything else, she felt a faint, almost gleeful sense of schadenfreude. She very much wanted to see how Xu Lang would one day face and untangle these messy, knotted emotions.

After Ning Yanran and the others returned to the Fangxi County branch station, they found that Zhang Lei was already interrogating the victim’s new bride, Xie Xintong, while Ye Xuefei had gone to the mortuary to perform the autopsy.

At first, when Zhang An and Liu Zhongshu, the elderly couple, heard that Zhang Chengwang’s body was to be dissected, they refused no matter what. Ye Xuefei tried to persuade them for a long time to no avail. In the end, it was Xu Lang, who rushed back from the hospital after hearing the news, together with Zhang Beih, the village head of Zhangjiatun, and Zhang Jing, the village secretary, who worked on them earnestly and logically until they finally agreed to the autopsy.

Rural people were unlike city dwellers. Although cremation had begun to be implemented nationwide, many villagers still preferred burial after death. They believed that a person should rest in the earth after passing on. If Zhang Chengwang’s death had not been so sudden and so strange, they might never have chosen to report it to the police. Most importantly, there was Xie Xintong’s past. After all, any woman who had already outlived three husbands in succession was bound to make her future husband uneasy. Fear comes from the unknown; that too is only human.

The interrogation of Xie Xintong went very poorly. After she was taken into the interrogation room at the station, she did nothing but cry. She kept saying that her life was miserable, that her fate was too hard, and things of that sort, leaving Zhang Lei, who handled the questioning, and the other officer recording the statements utterly helpless.

After Ning Yanran and the others returned, she immediately had Li Lei take the evidence collected at the scene back to the city and turn it over to the technical department for analysis of the medicine bottle and the milk in the quilt to determine exactly what substances they contained.

Not long after Li Lei left, Zhao Hua and several officers also returned from Xiejia Valley Village. They brought back Xie Xintong’s mother, Xiang Shuifeng. Compared with the tearful and distraught Xie Xintong, Xiang Shuifeng appeared much calmer. When Zhao Hua and Ning Yanran questioned her, she seemed to have only just learned of her son-in-law Zhang Chengwang’s death. She stood there in a daze for a long while, and then, without warning, burst into loud sobs, screaming between cries that she must have committed some grievous sin in this life to have given birth to a daughter with such a hard fate, and words to that effect. It was almost exactly the same as what Xie Xintong had said, which struck Ning Yanran and the others as very strange.

In truth, based on the case so far, Zhang Chengwang’s death was neither suicide nor accident. It was certainly murder. As for whether the killer was the new bride Xie Xintong or her mother-in-law, Xiang Shuifeng, that was still unclear. Of course, all of this was only speculation. In the end, everything would have to be proved by evidence.