CJLTNS Chapter 10

For the next half hour, Yu Xin didn’t say a word. No matter how much Yuan Kai scolded or threatened him, Yu Xin acted as if he hadn’t heard anything. He simply kept his head down, right hand gripping his left wrist, occasionally glancing at his watch.

Jiang Chong and Yuan Kai exited the interrogation room. Yuan Kai slammed his notebook down on the table.

“This guy’s mouth is tight as hell. I’m pretty sure he’s the killer.”

Jiang Chong placed a hand firmly on Yuan Kai’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Yuan Kai, we don’t have any evidence yet. Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Yuan Kai rubbed his shoulder, wincing in pain. He muttered under his breath, “Jeez, Captain’s grip is strong…”

Ma Pingchuan and Tang Qijun also came out from the interrogation room next door. Ma Pingchuan opened his notebook and said, “Wu Gang was working the night shift at an internet café last night and left around 2 a.m. There’s surveillance footage to confirm that. As for the courier shop owner, it’s the 618 shopping event season, so the place has been swamped. He and his staff stayed in the store overnight. Both of them have alibis backed by surveillance and witnesses. Neither is the killer.”

“Li Fangfei, how’s the surveillance on your end? Did you spot Yu Xin on any footage?”

Li Fangfei rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Captain, I checked the footage from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. and didn’t see Yu Xin at all. He didn’t go in, and he didn’t come out. It’s like he was never there.”

“That’s strange. The surveillance shows no trace of Yu Xin, but he admitted going to see Li Gui. And Li Gui’s cup had his fingerprints on it.”

Yuan Kai scratched his head and started to question Li Fangfei. “Fangfei, are you sure you didn’t miss anything while checking the footage?”

That was a pretty blatant accusation. Li Fangfei couldn’t just take that lying down. “Impossible. I kept my eyes wide open and reviewed it three times. I watched every single person who went in and out. I’m telling you—Yu Xin wasn’t there.”

Jiang Chong still trusted Li Fangfei, even though she tended to fangirl now and then. When it came to work, she was diligent and responsible. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept her on the criminal investigation team.

“Enough arguing. Old Ma, you look into the relationship between Li Gui and Yu Xin—see if there were any conflicts between them. Tangyuan, you two check out the people who did appear on the footage and see if there are any other suspicious individuals. Li Fangfei, come with me to speak to the victim’s son.”

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“Officer, is something the matter?”

“Are you Li Gui’s son, Li Bo?”

At 9 p.m., in a café under an office building, Jiang Chong and Li Fangfei met the victim’s son, Li Bo. He wore a white dress shirt and slacks, dressed just like any other office worker around. When they had called earlier, they thought he was at home. Who would have thought—after identifying the body at the police station, he went right back to work.

Li Bo didn’t look well—understandably so, with a death in the family—but still going to work under such circumstances? That was either real dedication or something else entirely.

Jiang Chong noticed the bloodshot veins in Li Bo’s eyes and asked, “Mr. Li, coming to work at a time like this… don’t you think that’s a bit too dedicated?”

Li Bo gave a bitter smile and took a sip of his coffee. “The economy’s bad right now, and jobs are hard to come by. I only took a half-day off, and even that annoyed my boss, so I’m working overtime.”

“Mr. Li, we asked you here to learn more about your father’s social circle. Do you know if he had any enemies?”

Li Bo shook his head. “I moved out after I graduated from college. My dad had a bad temper and used to get drunk and throw tantrums, so I rarely went home. I don’t know much about his life. I only heard he often got complaints about delivering packages too slowly and frequently argued with customers.”

They talked with Li Bo for over half an hour, and what he said was consistent with their previous investigation. After leaving the café, Li Fangfei noticed that instead of heading home, Li Bo went into an office building.

“Sigh, I thought we were working overtime a lot already, but it turns out people out there are just the same,” Li Fangfei clicked her tongue in sympathy and, for a moment, found her job in the Criminal Investigation Unit a bit more tolerable.

By the time they got back to the station, it was already 10 p.m. The lights in the Criminal Investigation Unit office were still brightly lit—everyone was racing against time. The golden window for solving a case is seventy-two hours, and almost a full day had already passed. Every minute of delay reduced their chances of solving it.

“Found it!”

Ma Pingchuan stood up from a pile of documents, holding a piece of paper and handed it to Jiang Chong.

“Captain, I found the connection between the victim, Li Gui, and Yu Xin. Six years ago, Li Gui worked at a construction site, mainly driving a cement mixer truck. On the afternoon of June 18th, the truck he was driving crashed into the car of Yu Xin’s father, Yu Huai, killing him on the spot. The investigation later showed that Li Gui suffered from heatstroke and was mentally confused at the time of the accident. He showed remorse and was sentenced to two years.”

“Could Yu Xin be seeking revenge for his father?” Li Fangfei, clearly tired, rested her face on her hand and speculated.

“Has Yu Xin eaten yet?”

Yuan Kai shook his head. “No way. He’s been giving us such a hard time—no way we’re letting him eat. We were planning to starve him a bit, then give him a cup of instant noodles at midnight.”

“Yuan Kai, go outside the main gate and buy a bowl of wontons—no chili—and bring it to Yu Xin.”

“What? Captain, he’s a major suspect right now, and you’re giving him something that good?”

Jiang Chong pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet and handed it to Yuan Kai. “Just go. Get a few more bowls while you’re at it, for everyone else too—late-night snacks.”

Through the one-way glass, Yu Xin and Jiang Chong ate the same bowl of wontons. The wontons had just been cooked and were steaming hot. Yu Xin burned his tongue slightly and stuck it out a little, sucking in air.

Yu Xin ate slowly, taking two or three bites per wonton. Jiang Chong had finished long before him and waited patiently outside for Yu Xin to finish.

The portion was large, and Yu Xin could only finish half before pushing the bowl aside, ready for the second round of questioning.

Seeing that Yu Xin had finished, Jiang Chong instructed Li Fangfei to bring him a glass of water.

Li Fangfei was about to grab a disposable cup from the water dispenser when Jiang Chong added, “Don’t use a disposable cup. Go… there’s a ceramic mug on my desk—use that one.”

“Ah! Captain, this…”

Everyone knew that Jiang Chong hated others touching his things, especially things that went into his mouth like cups. For a moment, Li Fangfei didn’t react. Jiang Chong urged impatiently, “Just go, hurry up.”

Jiang Chong brought in a white porcelain cup. There was a yellow symbol painted on it—it looked like a souvenir from some event.

He placed the cup on the table in front of Yu Xin and moved the leftover wontons to the side.

There were still seven or eight wontons left. Jiang Chong frowned—Yu Xin had eaten so little, even less than Li Fangfei.

Yu Xin looked at the cup on the table. The yellow symbol on the outside had started to peel off—it looked like the cup had been used frequently.

Li Fangfei set up the camera and signaled to Jiang Chong that he could begin.

“Yu Xin, you said you went to Li Gui’s house at eight o’clock, but how come we didn’t see you on the surveillance footage?”

Yu Xin clasped his hands together. After eating the wontons, his face had a bit of color again, his lips looking healthier.

“Officer, I’m an entertainment journalist. My job is to follow and photograph people every day. Of course, I don’t want to be caught on camera myself. If certain celebrities find out, wouldn’t they come after me for revenge?”

The explanation was a bit far-fetched, but still somewhat plausible. However, without surveillance footage, there was no proof of what time Yu Xin entered or left the apartment—which was very disadvantageous for him.

“According to our investigation, six years ago, Li Gui caused a fatal car accident due to heatstroke and fatigue, killing your father, Yu Huai. Did you kill him out of resentment?”

At the mention of Yu Huai’s name, Yu Xin’s face turned pale in an instant. His lips pressed tightly together as if trying to suppress his emotions. He lowered his head, clutching the ceramic cup tightly—his fingertips turning white from the force.

As a police officer, questioning a suspect was part of the job. Every question Jiang Chong asked followed standard investigative procedure.

Jiang Chong’s gaze fell on Yu Xin. Seeing Yu Xin’s thin shoulders, Jiang Chong suddenly had the urge to hug him, as if trying to make up for the time lost when Yu Huai died six years ago.

After nearly a minute, Yu Xin looked up and met Jiang Chong’s eyes. In a calm voice, he said, “I didn’t kill anyone. He was the one who caused the accident that killed my father. If I truly hated him, why would I wait six years to act? Besides, if I were the killer, wouldn’t I have cleaned up all my fingerprints, hair, and any trace of my presence? Isn’t that right, Officer Jiang?”

“Fingerprints, hair, and footprints are the most common clues left by suspects. The case we just solved was cracked because of a partial fingerprint on a doorframe,” Jiang Chong said.

A 23-year-old Jiang Chong sat on a white sofa. A 22-year-old Yu Xin leaned against his shoulder, poking Jiang Chong’s chest with a finger. “Yes, yes, if I ever commit a crime, I’ll make sure to erase every trace, so Officer Jiang can’t catch me.”

Jiang Chong grabbed Yu Xin’s mischievous hand. “What nonsense are you talking about? As a policeman’s partner, you must have self-awareness. You must never knowingly break the law, understand?”

Yu Xin nodded and slipped his hand under Jiang Chong’s shirt hem. “Ah, don’t be so stingy. With such obvious chest muscles—come on, let me feel them!”

Seeing Jiang Chong’s ears turn red, Yu Xin made even more of a fuss, until Jiang Chong finally pinned him down on the couch. Only then did Yu Xin obediently pull his hand back.

The clock in the interrogation room struck twelve with a loud clang, snapping Jiang Chong out of his thoughts.

Jiang Chong didn’t doubt Yu Xin’s words in the slightest—Yu Xin was the type to seek revenge on the spot if he had a grudge.

Li Gui’s accident had been caused by heatstroke-induced fatigue, not intentional behavior. He had even served time in prison. He’d been released four years ago. If Yu Xin had really wanted revenge, why would he wait all these years?

Moreover, according to the forensics report, the perpetrator had cleaned the crime scene thoroughly. Places like cups—where fingerprints were easily left—should’ve been a key focus for cleaning. If Yu Xin were the killer, why would he have left prints there?

Still, Yu Xin remained the prime suspect. He was 1.8 meters tall and a bit thin. His fingerprints had been found at the scene, and he had admitted to being there, yet there was no evidence showing when he left.

All these factors put Yu Xin at a serious disadvantage. Even though Jiang Chong believed he wasn’t the murderer, he couldn’t let him go—at least not within the 24-hour legal period for cooperation in the investigation.

Jiang Chong and Li Fangfei stepped out of the interrogation room and instructed Yuan Kai and Lao Ma to transfer Yu Xin to the holding cell.

The holding cell only had an 80-centimeter-wide bed. After entering, Yu Xin didn’t lie down to rest. Instead, he just sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly into space, silent.

Jiang Chong returned to his office. Behind his desk, he had a foldable bed for nights spent working overtime on cases.

He picked up a thin blanket from the bed and went downstairs to Yu Xin’s cell. “The cup in the cell probably isn’t very clean. Use mine.”

Yu Xin turned his head to look at Jiang Chong and nodded. “Thanks.”

Jiang Chong saw the emotionless expression on Yu Xin’s face. He wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say.

As a child, Yu Xin had been lively and wore his emotions on his sleeve—completely opposite to Jiang Chong’s reserved nature.

Yu Xin’s cheerful personality had always been popular with the elders. Whenever they praised Yu Xin, they’d say Jiang Chong should learn from him. That’s why, as a child, Jiang Chong had most disliked Yu Xin’s face.

After they got together, Jiang Chong often told Yu Xin to tone it down—especially at work. Wearing your heart on your sleeve could get you into trouble. But Yu Xin never took it seriously, always using the excuse that he was younger by a year and would tease, “With you and the Jiang family backing me up, I can wave your tiger skin all I want—no one dares to mess with me.”

But now, there was no smile on Yu Xin’s face. He looked like he had grown up a lot. His eyes were full of burdens. Yet Jiang Chong couldn’t feel happy seeing Yu Xin like this.

Jiang Chong left the cell and ran into Director Wu.

Director Wu, full name Wu An, was the chief of the Kangzhou City Branch Bureau. He was a veteran detective with over thirty years of experience and also Jiang Chong’s mentor. When Jiang Chong first joined the criminal investigation unit, it was Wu An who trained him.

Wu An handed a cigarette to Jiang Chong, who took it and lit it for him with a lighter from his pants pocket.

The two of them stood in the silent hallway. Jiang Chong took a drag of his cigarette, feeling some of the frustration in his chest ease.

“Jiang Chong, I heard that Yu Xin is a suspect in the 5.26 case?”

Jiang Chong hadn’t hidden his past with Yu Xin from his mentor. Wu An was one of the few people in the police system who knew about his relationship with Yu Xin.

Jiang Chong nodded while taking another drag. “His fingerprints were found at the scene.”

“Didn’t he go abroad? Why did he suddenly come back?”

“He told me before that one of his former classmates started a company and invited him back to help.”

Wu An took a puff, looking at Jiang Chong—who was even taller than him. In his thirty years of experience, Wu An had trained many disciples, but Jiang Chong was the one he was most proud of. From a fresh rookie to captain of the criminal investigation team, Jiang Chong had achieved at thirty what Wu An himself only achieved in his forties.

Yu Xin was Jiang Chong’s ex-boyfriend. Wu An wanted to ask if Jiang Chong needed to recuse himself and let someone else take over the case, but then decided Jiang Chong would handle it properly. After finishing the last puff, he patted Jiang Chong’s shoulder. “Get some rest, don’t stay up too late!”

Jiang Chong nodded, threw the cigarette butt into a nearby trash bin, and returned to his office. He pulled up the surveillance footage they had copied back and carefully watched every person in it.