Song Xingzhi lebte während der Regierungszeit von Kaiser Huizong

Kapitel 5

Zhou: That kind of answer is really misleading, but it's often the kind of person you are who, once they fall for someone, will do anything for them. Haha, that sounds so stifling, don't let it get to you...

Jane: Are you talking about me? (A smiley face)

Zhou: Let's go, let's go. If we keep talking, I'll really fall in love with you. Let's kiss online first, (big red lip image) haha, don't run away.

Jane: Thank you, I'll take it.

Jian Dongping read these dialogues several times and had formed a preliminary impression of Zhou Jin's experience, but he was not entirely sure. So, he decided to call Zhang Zhao, the editor in charge of the information exchange section.

"Damn it! Dongping, what's going on so early in the morning?" For Zhang Zhao, anything before noon is "early in the morning".

"Are there any spots left in the missing person notice section?" Jian Dongping asked directly.

"They're long gone. You want to post a missing person ad? Your girlfriend got kidnapped?" Zhang Zhao chuckled.

"I'm looking for Zhou Jin."

"Zhou Jin? That woman in the cheongsam?" Zhou Jin's visit caused a sensation at the magazine at the time.

It's her.

"Why are you looking for her? It's normal for outsiders to come and go. Why are you so concerned about her?" Zhang Zhao asked, puzzled.

“Have you forgotten that my girlfriend is a criminal investigator? She made me do this, I had no choice. She’s a reader of Zhou Jin’s, and she suspects that Zhou Jin has disappeared. You know how police officers are, they’re just so paranoid.”

"I told you not to call the police! But judging from her appearance, she doesn't seem like the type to boss you around." Zhang Zhao had met Ling Ge before. Because Jian Dongping often managed to get all sorts of free tickets, Ling Ge had come to the magazine office to wait for him after get off work a few times so she could go see the dolphin show with him. She carried a crumpled cloth bag, sat next to him reading gossip magazines, and occasionally let out a giggle. He had never formally introduced their relationship to his colleagues, but most people assumed she was his girlfriend because, at least on the surface, they seemed quite close.

"It's a long story. I'm completely ensnared by her now," Jian Dongping said with a smile and a sigh.

"Your Achilles' heel has probably been seized, hahaha, of course you can't escape now." Zhang Zhao laughed.

"Yes, yes, I'm in a terrible situation right now. Please get me an empty seat, otherwise I won't be able to explain myself."

"Damn it, you're useless. Fine, I'll go see if I can take some things down first and send them to you first," Zhang Zhao said.

"I want a quartercopy." Jian Dongping hung up the phone.

"That big? Jian Dongping! Where are we going to find so many empty seats!" Zhang Zhao shouted.

"That way it'll be more noticeable. I'll pay the money."

"Keep dreaming! There's not that much space for you!" Zhang Zhao roared angrily.

"You've got a way, Lao Zhang, thank you in advance."

After hanging up the phone, Jian Dongping quickly drafted a missing person notice and sent it, along with the photo Zhou Jin had sent him, to Zhang Zhao's email address. He was eager to know if anyone would come looking for her after the notice was sent out. The weekly magazine had a large circulation; surely someone would see it. Perhaps one of her neighbors subscribed to the magazine, and since she said she was doing odd jobs, her colleagues might recognize her. Where in the city was Zhou Jin active? Was she still here? Or had she already left? Would she call him after seeing the notice? If she did contact him, then all his guesses could be disproven; at least it would mean she was still alive…

Jian Dongping believed that although Zhang Zhao was yelling and screaming and was extremely unwilling, he would eventually help him resolve the matter, because they were not only good friends, but Zhang Zhao had also asked him to do many things before.

Ling Ge arrived a little after 10 a.m. She seemed particularly agitated today. As soon as she entered, she rushed to him, her face flushed and her braids twitching, and shouted, "Jian Dongping, the last person Zhou Jin contacted is dead! Zhou Jin must have killed him! She has a criminal record!"

Jian Dongping was drinking coffee when her loud voice startled him so much that he spat it all over the computer screen. She hurriedly grabbed a tissue from next to his computer to wipe it up, but Jian Dongping quickly grabbed her wrist and gently pushed her aside.

“Thank you, I can do it myself,” he said gently. He didn’t like anyone touching his personal belongings, especially his computer, cell phone, and filing cabinet, not even Ling Ge, whom he knew so well.

"Are you even listening to me?!" she asked excitedly.

"I'm listening." He carefully wiped the coffee off the computer screen and calmly asked, "Who was the one who died?"

"Su Zhiwen. He's Shen Biyun's husband. Your magazine did an interview with Shen Biyun and her husband before, and we even discussed this matter, remember?"

Ling Ge was very careful with her money. To save money, she never subscribed to newspapers or magazines. So after they met, Jian Dongping would send her a copy of the weekly magazine "Letter" every year. From then on, he discovered that almost all of her common sense about life and gossip came from this magazine. Sometimes, she was far more familiar with the contents than Jian Dongping was, because Jian Dongping almost never read any sections other than the travel section.

“Yes, we did talk about it once. Su Zhiwen is a few years younger than Shen Biyun.” Jian Dongping remembered this.

"It's not just a few years younger! The age difference between them is too big! Shen Biyun is 22 years older than Su Zhiwen, she could be his mother, and Su Zhiwen is a very handsome and refined man!" Ling Ge said, raising his voice.

Jian Dongping sensed the unspoken message in her tone: "What a pity, why didn't I run into her?" and couldn't help but laugh.

"You mean Uncle Lin took this case?"

“Yes, yes,” she replied, pacing back and forth in front of him with her hands in her pockets.

Jian Dongping felt that Ling Ge was like a hen about to lay an egg, her cheeks flushed, excitedly running around the room. He needed to calm her down to figure out what kind of egg she was going to lay, so he grabbed Ling Ge's arm, pressed her down onto the chair opposite him, and then asked:

When did Su Zhiwen die?

“I don’t know the specifics. I haven’t seen the forensic report yet. I only know that he was discovered two weeks ago, and Uncle Lin is in charge of the case. I’ll go and inquire about it tomorrow.” After sitting down, her emotions calmed down a bit. She took a breath and suddenly asked, “Do you think I should tell Uncle Lin about Zhou Jin?”

“You don’t need to tell him, he will find out anyway. He will definitely check Su Zhiwen’s call records. However, although Zhou Jin did speak with Su Zhiwen in the end, Su Zhiwen may not have spoken to Zhou Jin in the end. We still need to investigate this.”

"Okay, I'll check again," Ling Ge said seriously.

“You’d better print out all the phone records from March to now,” Jian Dongping glanced at her. “Never mind, I’ll just do it myself.”

"No need for that, I'll handle it. I already know the lady who checks phone records. I told her I'm a police officer, and she was very polite to me," Ling Ge said. It was clear she was very enthusiastic about it.

"By the way, should I tell Uncle Lin what I'm thinking?" she asked again.

What are your thoughts?

"I think it's possible that Zhou Jin killed Su Zhiwen."

"Please don't. Just tell me." Jian Dongping felt relieved; he was afraid she would go around making things up, and wondered if she even wanted to get back to work. "What makes you think Zhou Jin killed Su Zhiwen? You even know the time of Su Zhiwen's death. Just because she has a criminal record? What did she do?"

“I was absolutely right, she committed a crime in her hometown and that’s why she ran away,” she said with absolute certainty.

"First, tell me her name. Is it Zhou Jin?"

“That’s not her name.” She stared intently at him, then suddenly smiled smugly. “Although her name isn’t Zhou Jin, I still managed to find her. Her name is Zhou Qin, the Qin of piano. The person in the photo is her. I recognized her at a glance. Remember, your magazine published her photo. I even compared it with the photo in that magazine. It’s her. Although she seems to have gained a little weight later, it’s definitely her.”

Jian Dongping was somewhat surprised.

How did you find out?

"She mentioned her name in one of her articles."

"Is there?"

"I couldn't find her in the list of Zhou Jins, so I looked at her earlier articles. In her earliest article, 'Little Kailing,' someone mentioned her name. The girl named Little Kailing was the daughter of a small innkeeper. She wanted to be a singer and sang for the guests at the inn every night. One day, she told Zhou Jin, 'I've decided to change my name, like yours, using a musical instrument as my name. A name related to music might bring me good luck.' She even asked Zhou Jin, 'Do you think I can become Faye Wong someday?' Well, what are some musical instrument names? It wouldn't be the erhu, nor the trumpet. If it's a girl, I think the most likely names are three characters: 'qin' (琴, piano), 'zheng' (古筝, zither), and 'di' (笛, flute). 'Qin' is the most common, so I guessed Zhou Jin's real name might be Zhou Qin. I asked Xiao Zhou in the archives to check Zhou Qin, and hey, the answer popped up immediately! Her name really is Zhou Qin!" Ling Ge's eyes sparkled.

Jian Dongping hadn't had a chance to look back at Zhou Jin's column, so he hadn't thought of this little detail. He was quite shocked by Ling Ge's sudden burst of intelligence, but at the same time, he was also very happy. He couldn't help but smile and pat her on the shoulder.

“Xiao Ge, you’re amazing,” he said. “Then you must have checked her family records and criminal history as well.”

“Yes.” Ling Ge was very proud. She looked up at the wall and suddenly seemed to have something to say, but she held back. Jian Dongping knew what she wanted to say, but he pretended not to see it.

"Where is she from?" he asked.

"You guessed right, she's from Nanping, Fujian, and she's 24 years old this year."

It seems that Zhou Jin was telling the truth on this point.

"It turns out she didn't graduate from university at all. She ran away from home after graduating from high school at the age of 18. She even burned down her family's house when she left. Fortunately, no one was killed and the neighbors were not affected, but her parents still reported the case to the police. The case was never resolved, and it seems that she has never gone back since then."

His parents weren't burned to death, nor did the neighbors suffer, which meant she was just venting her anger and didn't really want to kill them. Or perhaps the fire didn't fully ignite, meaning she didn't use any accelerants. Why did she burn the house? Or maybe she wasn't burning the house, but something inside? Jian Dongping felt his curiosity gnawing at his heart like ants, and he desperately wanted to drive to Zhou Qin's hometown immediately to find out the truth.

"Her parents are really something. There was no loss, and no one was injured, so why did they report it to the police? That's their own daughter! It's so heartless of them to do that!" Ling Ge commented.

Did you make copies of these documents?

“I’ve made copies.” She said, taking several photocopies out of her rustic denim backpack and handing them to Jian Dongping. “The phone records, Zhou Jin’s file, and her parents’ police report are all in here.”

"Don't forget to get me Su Zhiwen's materials," Jian Dongping said while flipping through the documents.

“That’s a bit difficult. Uncle Lin is keeping a close eye on me, and I’m afraid he’ll get angry, so I don’t dare ask him. But it’s okay, he has a new policeman under him now, and he’s getting along really well with me. The other day after I got scolded, he even gave me some preserved plums. He was transferred from another place last month,” Ling Ge said happily.

"Isn't it a bit effeminate for a man to keep preserved plums in his drawer?" Jian Dongping said as he placed the photocopy in the drawer.

"What sissy? Little Zheng is very manly, and his martial arts skills are excellent. He can take down three of you at the same time." Ling Geli showed an admiring expression.

Jian Dongping looked at her, paused for a moment, and then said:

“Ling Ge, I don’t even need to fight him to kill him, and he’ll die a horrible death.”

Ling Ge's expression became a little unnatural.

"You're so boring. Why do you have to pick on Xiao Zheng? You don't even know him."

That's true. Hearing her say that, Jian Dongping also felt a little confused, so he subtly changed the subject:

"Besides Su Zhiwen, who else did Zhou Jin call?"

“One of the calls was to Fang Qi, Shen Biyun’s eldest daughter, before the call to Su Zhiwen. The other was to Shen Biyun’s home. I’ve marked them all on the photocopies. Take a look for yourself.” Ling Ge said, then looked at the wall again and suddenly said in a low voice, “Logically speaking, I shouldn’t give you these documents. I’m a policeman, and you’re an ordinary citizen. There’s a difference between us.”

“I’m very curious about Zhou Jin’s situation. When Uncle Lin introduced you to me, he said you were kind-hearted. If you don’t help me, who will? Besides, I’m helping you too. Didn’t you want to get back to your job?”

"Jian Dongping, stop trying to fool me. I don't want to be an incompetent policeman."

"You think you aren't now? Hahaha." Jian Dongping laughed loudly.

Ling Ge stood up angrily. She finally couldn't hold back anymore and pointed at the wall, asking him a question.

Why did you nail the socks I knitted to the wall?

"Did you knit me socks? Oh my god, I thought they were boots!" Jian Dongping laughed and pointed to his wardrobe. "Go check my sock drawer, is there room for these giant socks?"

“We can’t just waste extra yarn,” she argued, stamping her foot. “Besides, I told you I’m not good at knitting; you insisted I do it. You said you’ve always longed for someone to knit something for you, making it sound so pathetic.”

“So I’m giving you the highest honor right now. Besides Vivien Leigh’s picture, the only other thing on my wall is your giant stockings.” Jian Dongping looked at the pair of large blue stockings on the wall, each big enough to fit both of his feet, and a warm feeling suddenly welled up in his heart. He really liked the clumsy little red flower she embroidered on the stockings, but he didn’t want to say it. He just asked, “Are these really stockings, not boots?”

"I can't be bothered with you! I'm going to find Sister Ping." She stormed out the door.

"Don't cook for her! I don't want to eat potato skins in the soup!" Jian Dongping hurriedly followed behind her, giving her instructions.

5. Lady's House

Lin Zhongjie disliked Jian Qiming's new hairstyle at all. Although he was over fifty and it was time for him to have gray hair, dyeing his entire head silver was a bit too avant-garde. What's more, ever since he dyed his hair silver, Jian Qiming had been pretending to be his senior whenever he saw him, which annoyed him even more.

Lin Zhongjie has known Jian Qiming for 20 years. Back then, Jian Qiming was a thin, meticulously-spoken middle school Chinese teacher. Lin Zhongjie never imagined that years later he would become a chubby, eloquent, and perpetually cigar-smoking old hand. Jian Qiming is now a renowned lawyer. Although they are friends in private, they often clash in court. No one can say for sure who wins more often, but it's an undeniable fact that neither of them respects the other.

This time, because of Su Zhiwen's death, the two of them met again by chance.

Jian Qiming is the private legal advisor of Su Zhiwen's husband, Shen Biyun. When Lin Zhongjie went to Shen Biyun's house for a routine inquiry, he happened to run into him in the Shen family's living room.

"Old man, you've come in person?" Jian Qiming greeted him with his usual teasing tone.

"Is she feeling any better?" Lin Zhongjie asked.

On the previous visits of his subordinates, Shen Biyun was bedridden.

“Much better. After all, she’s a strong woman. Actually, your people have come many times already. What else do you want to ask?” Jian Qiming asked, glancing at him sideways.

“There are some additional questions, but there’s no way around it; she has to cooperate. If I ask her to answer 100 times, she can’t answer me even if I ask her to answer 99 times,” Lin Zhongjie said coldly.

As the two were talking, Shen Biyun slowly walked down from upstairs.

Lin Zhongjie thought that for a 60-year-old woman, Shen Biyun was very well-preserved. However, since Su Zhiwen's body was discovered, she seemed to have aged considerably. Today, she wore an elegant black embroidered silk dress, her face was ashen, and the bags under her eyes were more pronounced than the last time he saw her. In just a few days, a few striking white hairs had appeared in her dyed black curly hair. Despite this, her dignity remained. Lin Zhongjie felt that when she walked over with her dignified appearance and graceful demeanor, even the surrounding air belonged to her.