Chapter 19: Expenses

Interestingly, it is said that this man once tried to deliberately abrade his fingerprints to avoid leaving traces when committing crimes, hoping to mimic what he had seen in movies—smoothing his fingerprints until they were erased. Unfortunately, real life is not like the movies. Just as Li Wei could only ever be a petty thief but never a “master thief,” such unrealistic efforts ultimately ended in failure. He only succeeded in slightly blurring his fingerprints.

According to the police officers at the local station who had dealt with him frequently, Li Wei was usually quite cautious in his actions. Having served a second sentence that was lengthened due to injury-related charges, he had developed a habit of scouting locations before making a move, almost always targeting homes that were evidently unoccupied. Each time, he calculated the value of what he intended to take, trying to keep the total below the threshold that would trigger harsher sentencing.

Only when there was no opportunity to break into an empty home, and the temptation was great enough, would he take the risk of striking during the late night hours when the homeowners were deeply asleep and unlikely to wake easily.

One could say he was a very seasoned and cunning individual.

Since his fingerprints were found at the scene, and there were signs of burglary inside the house, it was almost certain that Li Wei had been at the crime scene. However, the key distinction was whether he had broken in before the murder, when Deng Qingrong and her son Chang Junchao were still alive, or whether he had entered after the mother and son had already been sealed in cement, their bodies cold and lifeless. This difference was crucial.

It directly determined what role Li Wei played in the case—whether he was a murderer who killed to cover up his crime, or simply an unfortunate soul who stumbled into the crime scene by accident.

Finding Li Wei was naturally no simple matter. Such a shadowy “warehouse mover” would never brazenly appear in public view. The only way to locate him was to enlist the police officers who regularly dealt with him for assistance, and to contact the criminal investigation team immediately whenever there was any news of his whereabouts.

After handling this, Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan hurried off to the bank without pause.

Generally speaking, a person’s daily expenditure patterns can reveal much about their recent lifestyle and circumstances. Since the mother and son could no longer tell their story themselves, the silent records might be the only way to understand their situation.

Chang Junchao’s bank statements were quite normal, showing regular income. Part of it came from his workplace; another part came from his various side jobs.

On the expense side, the items were all routine living costs, including high-strength cement which the landlord had helped to verify. Ning Shuyi found corresponding records in Chang Junchao’s bank statements, confirming the cement had been purchased more than five months ago. Why the renovation had not started, with the cement left piled at home until just before the murder, was unclear.

Judging by the side income over the past six months, it seemed likely that Chang Junchao was simply too busy to find the time and energy to renovate the bathroom.

He had almost no savings under his name. After covering daily expenses, little money remained. For a man in his thirties to have less than two thousand yuan left in his bank account was somewhat tight financially.

But no matter how tight, it was still within the bounds of normalcy.

By contrast, the situation regarding Deng Qingrong was somewhat strange.

At first, Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan found no bank accounts in Deng Qingrong’s name, which was already quite unreasonable. Even a housewife who had never worked outside the home would normally have at least one bank account. This clearly defied common sense.

With the bank’s cooperation, they checked if Deng Qingrong had any accounts that had been closed. Indeed, they discovered one.

This long-closed account was also peculiar: it had been opened and closed within less than half a month. During that brief span, this “short-lived” account recorded withdrawals totaling half a million yuan.

On the fifth day after opening, 500,000 yuan was deposited. Six days later, the entire sum was withdrawn in cash, and the account was subsequently closed.

The person who withdrew the cash was naturally Deng Qingrong herself.

All this had happened nearly eight years ago.

Half a million yuan was no small sum, and Ning Shuyi and Huo Yan found it hard to believe when they uncovered this transaction.

On one hand, there was Chang Junchao’s frugal yet “living paycheck to paycheck” financial situation and the modest, somewhat worn living conditions of the mother and son.

On the other hand, there was the massive sum of 500,000 yuan withdrawn eight years earlier, with no subsequent deposit records in the names of Deng Qingrong, her son, or even her then-living husband Chang Rong. It was as if the money had been swept away by the wind after being withdrawn.

There was a strange contradiction between these two realities.

Fortunately, the bank records clearly identified the remitting party—it was a factory in City W.

Ning Shuyi recognized the name of the factory and quickly pulled out her notebook to cross-reference the key details she had recorded earlier. Sure enough, it matched what she remembered.

“The remittance came from the factory where Chang Junchao’s father worked before he passed away,” Ning Shuyi explained to Huo Yan.

Huo Yan raised a brow slightly. “Chang Rong’s death wasn’t ordinary illness, was it?”

“Right,” Ning Shuyi agreed. “Judging by this, it looks like he died from an untreated industrial injury. Otherwise, the factory wouldn’t have paid such a large sum without reason.

“And look at the timing of the transfer—less than half a year after Chang Rong’s death. So the purpose of this money is pretty clear without needing further investigation.

“But why Deng Qingrong withdrew the money, and where it went afterward, we have no way to find out. It’s been seven or eight years since then.”

“Let’s ask the factory that paid the compensation,” Huo Yan suggested after some thought. “From the time the money arrived to Chang Rong’s death, there’s about a six-month gap. If it was for medical expenses, they wouldn’t have withdrawn all the cash at once. There’s probably something going on behind the scenes that outsiders don’t know.”

Both of them agreed without hesitation, and Ning Shuyi warmly welcomed Huo Yan’s idea.