Lady's Home

Chapter 35

"Ah..." Ling Ge gasped, looked up at him, and exclaimed, "1500 yuan?"

"To be precise, it's 1580 yuan. It's worth the price. I won't mention the brand. As long as you like it, you don't need to pay me back."

"I can't accept these, they're too valuable!" Ling Ge returned the shoes to him; he had expected her to do this.

"Fine, you don't want it, huh? Then I'll throw it away!" He picked up the two shoes inside, walked straight to the window, and just as he was about to throw them out, Ling Ge snatched them away.

"You're such a spendthrift! How could you throw away such expensive shoes?" She hugged the two shoes as if they were gold ingots.

“Rouyuan, I think your feet deserve these shoes. This is a gift for you, you really don’t need to return it.” He advised gently, “Someone just sent me some royalties yesterday, so I used it to buy you these shoes. For me, it’s just a small amount of royalties, so please don’t refuse.”

Ling Ge held the shoes, looking at him helplessly, her face flushing red and then pale. After a long while, she said pitifully, "But the police can't take such valuable things. And they're so expensive, how could I bear to wear them? I was even thinking of depositing them in the bank."

“Darling, our relationship isn’t just a normal police-civilian relationship. We’re a couple in the making. I ate tomatoes yesterday, did I forget?” He looked at her with a smile.

She blushed and glared at him, whispering, "You call that eating tomatoes? It's more like a chicken pecking at rice."

"I was just afraid, weren't I?" This time it was his turn to feel a little embarrassed. He subconsciously touched his stomach. "I'm afraid I'll get a stomachache if I eat too fast." Seeing that she didn't answer, he smiled and urged her:

"Alright, alright, stop talking. Hurry up and put it on so I can see. Do you want me to put it on for you?"

She reluctantly changed her shoes.

"How is it? Is it suitable?" he asked.

"Perfect! So comfortable! This is the first time I've ever worn such expensive shoes!" She seemed to cheer up again, smiling broadly. She raised her head and walked a few steps solemnly around the room, then suddenly turned back to ask him, "How did you know my shoe size?"

He laughed loudly.

"How could I not know?"

16. Is he dead or alive?

For Lin Zhongjie, questioning Xiang Bing was no longer a difficult confrontation, but rather an easy question-and-answer game. The key wasn't how Xiang Bing answered, but how Lin Zhongjie asked. He believed that as long as he asked, Xiang Bing would answer truthfully. He was much easier to deal with than the woman in the house; he had long since given up resisting. From his confrontation with him, Lin Zhongjie clearly understood what "giving up" meant. He gave up struggling, gave up defending himself. Lin Zhongjie felt that it was less like being interrogated and more like committing another form of suicide. However, the police weren't so easily manipulated; they wouldn't just shoot you if you wanted to die.

"So, you smashed Su Zhiwen's head with a vase?" Lin Zhongjie asked.

"Yes," Xiang Bing replied, head bowed.

Where was he standing at that time?

"He was standing in front of the metal box, which was open."

"What is he doing?" Lin Zhongjie asked.

"I don't know. I wasn't paying attention. I was watching him the whole time, thinking about how to make my move." Xiang Bing's eyes were wide open, as if Su Zhiwen's head was reappearing in front of him.

Was he carrying anything in his hand?

“He…” Xiang Bing looked up and thought for a while, “He had something in his hand, it was very long, I couldn’t see it clearly.”

"Did you make such a mess of the storage room?" Lin Zhongjie asked, thinking of the cheongsams and books scattered all over the place.

"I smashed his head and left." Xiang Bing rolled his eyes at Lin Zhongjie with an unfriendly look. "I wouldn't do something so unnecessary. I'm not in the mood."

Were all the other boxes closed at the time?

Xiang Bing turned his face to the left, thought for a moment, and said, "Yes, they're all locked."

"Besides that big iron box, which box is the closest to him?"

"Yes, it was a green suitcase. I saw it at his feet as soon as I walked in," Xiang Bing said.

Lin Zhongjie was delighted; after the third interrogation, he had finally made a new discovery. The green suitcase was at Su Zhiwen's feet, and Su Zhiwen was holding something in his hand, so it seemed he was preparing to put something in the suitcase. But what was it? Could it be the scroll painting by Huang Yaliu that Shen Biyun had mentioned?

"How long is the thing in his hand? Is it a scroll painting?" Lin Zhongjie prompted.

"No," Xiang Bing answered without hesitation.

"Why are you so sure?" His straightforwardness puzzled Lin Zhongjie.

“Because that thing wasn’t as long as the scroll painting, it was only about the length of an arm, flat, and white. It was like…” Xiang Bing’s eyes rolled to the ceiling, as if he was thinking about what words to use to explain the mysterious object he had seen. Lin Zhongjie waited patiently, knowing that haste makes waste. Given Xiang Bing’s cooperative attitude, he would surely provide him with an easy solution.

About two minutes later, Xiang Bing finally turned his gaze back to Lin Zhongjie's face.

"It looks a lot like a jade ruyi. I've never seen a real jade ruyi before, so I don't know if it is. Anyway, it looks very similar," Xiang Bing said.

Jade Ruyi! Lin Zhongjie's brain seemed to have been slapped by something. In Shen Biyun's long and rambling autobiography, "The House of Ladies" (thankfully, he finally finished reading it after three nights), a jade ruyi was mentioned. It was the family heirloom of Shen Biyun's second husband, Fang Guohua.

"After you knocked him unconscious, didn't you check what that thing was?"

“When I went in, he seemed to be hiding that thing in his clothes. I didn’t pay attention at the time. After he collapsed in the box, I was only concerned about whether he was dead. I pushed him a couple of times and checked his breathing. He wasn’t breathing.” Xiang Bing shook his head dejectedly. “I never thought that I would be so unsuccessful at everything, but killing someone would be so easy. I didn’t think much at the time and used his finger to write the words ‘Not Xiang Bing’ on the inside of the box, and then I left.”

When Lin Zhongjie first heard that the four words "not Xiang Bing" came from Xiang Bing, he found it unbelievable, and then he found it funny. He had to admit that although the four-word message was childish and ridiculous, and had the air of trying to hide something, it could not be called a bad move. At least for a period of time, it misled the police.

Lin Zhongjie wasn't ready to tell him that the real killer was someone else, so he asked, "What did you say to Su Zhiwen?"

“My footsteps probably startled him. He turned around and saw it was me. He seemed a little surprised. I explained that I had come to the wrong door. He interrupted me and said that there was no one outside and I should leave quickly, otherwise it would be bad if someone saw me. He also said that this was a forbidden area of this house, and only the Empress Dowager's permission could be used to enter. After he finished speaking, he turned his head back. I took this opportunity to smash the back of his head with a vase.”

"You said he was very surprised, what did he say? I mean his exact words." Lin Zhongjie wanted to know Su Zhiwen's first reaction when he saw Xiang Bing, as he felt it was very meaningful.

“His exact words were… ‘How come it’s you?’” Xiang Bing frowned and thought for a moment, then added, “Xiang Bing, how come it’s you? That’s what he said.”

"What else did you say? Only these few sentences?"

“I… chatted with him a bit to mislead him.” Xiang Bing sighed dejectedly and said, “I told him that the box was originally yours, and I saw it in the alley under the stairs this afternoon.”

What did he say?

"He said I had a sharp eye. I told him I worked in the tourism industry and was particular about things like suitcases. I said this suitcase was of poor quality and probably a defective product. He said it was fine as long as it worked. Then he told me to go outside."

"Did you really see that box under the stairwell?"

"That afternoon, when I was taking out my phone to make a call in the hallway, a coin in my pocket rolled down the stairs. I saw the green suitcase there, but it was wrapped in cloth and newspaper."

Don't you find it strange?

“I’m not surprised. That place seems to be just a dumping ground for miscellaneous items. Besides, I couldn’t tell whether the box was new or old. I don’t know,” Xiang Bing said indifferently.

"You said you saw Su Zhiwen enter the storage room through a window in the ground floor corridor?"

"Yes."

Did he carry this box?

“He didn’t,” Xiang Bing said.

So, someone else must have pushed the suitcase into the storage room. If no one had entered the storage room before Su Zhiwen, then the person carrying the suitcase must have entered after him. Su Zhiwen couldn't have missed seeing the suitcase being dragged into the storage room. If the suitcase was near his feet, it means two things: first, he not only knew who was dragging the suitcase, but they had also planned it beforehand. Second, that person was present at the time; she was hiding somewhere and witnessed Xiang Bing's attack on Su Zhiwen, then used a pre-prepared rolling pin to insert into the keyhole. She was there, perhaps intending to do this anyway, but Xiang Bing did the first step for her.

"Xiang Bing, it's you?" Perhaps Su Zhiwen and that person initially thought it was someone else, perhaps Shen Biyun. Therefore, she had to hide, because she had no reason to stay there.

So where could she hide? Lin Zhongjie thought the only place to hide was behind those two murals. Based on body type, that person fit the description, and considering the timeline, only that one person did. However, it seemed too early to draw conclusions, as many things weren't fully connected yet. He didn't understand why Su Zhiwen had agreed to go to the storage room with this person. Undoubtedly, Su Zhiwen planned to pack something in that green suitcase, which included not only the paintings Shen Biyun had asked him to take, because if it were just paintings, he wouldn't need a suitcase; he could simply carry them under his arm.

Imagine if Su Zhiwen wanted something else, what does that have to do with that person? Why would she get involved? Does Su Zhiwen really need her guidance to get that item? Perhaps she has a key that can open one of the boxes, and inside that box is what Su Zhiwen wants. If so, that proves the box belongs to her, but why would she willingly hand it over to him? Does she want Su Zhiwen to sell it? Or is this actually... extortion? ...

"I just find one thing strange."

Lin Zhongjie was deep in thought when Xiang Bing interrupted his train of thought.

"What did you say?"

“I think something is strange,” Xiang Bing said.

"What is it?" Lin Zhongjie loved hearing strange things.

"My phone has been found," Xiang Bing said, his eyes unfocused.

"What happened? Tell me in detail," Lin Zhongjie urged.

"Maybe it was because I was too nervous, or, well, I was too flustered when I got the gloves, but after I left the storage room and returned to the garden, I found that my phone was missing. I looked everywhere but couldn't find it. But later, when I finished showering and was getting ready for bed, my phone rang. It was in my pocket. I'm sure I searched all my pockets when I left the storage room, and it wasn't there. I don't understand how this happened... Who did this?" Xiang Bing looked at Lin Zhongjie with pleading eyes.

"That must have been your wife, Zeng Yushan, who got it back for you. She went into the storage room after you, and only she could have put the phone back in your pocket," Lin Zhongjie thought. "That's probably why Fang Qi cried so bitterly when she met her again after 10 o'clock."

Perhaps she didn't know at the time that Xiang Bing had attacked Su Zhiwen; she only knew that her newlywed husband had sneaked into the storage room. She assumed he wanted to steal something, and she was upset that she had married such a despicable man, but she couldn't say it outright because her family disapproved of her marriage. At that time, she was just generally troubled. However, after learning that Su Zhiwen had died in the storage room, her suspicion and disgust towards Xiang Bing deepened. She couldn't admit that she had picked up his phone at the scene, because that would prove she had also been to the storage room. She could only repeatedly steer the investigation towards him during interrogations. She believed that Xiang Bing was the one who killed Su Zhiwen. Lin Zhongjie spent an hour completing the second interrogation of Xiang Bing and immediately went to Lane 45, Tonghua Road. A few minutes earlier, Jian Dongping had called him mysteriously, saying that he had found a key witness in the "Su Zhiwen" case and asked him to come immediately.

Lin Zhongjie knew that Jian Dongping wouldn't easily contact him unless he had important evidence, so he had no choice but to make this trip.

"Hi, Uncle Lin." As soon as they met, Jian Dongping came up to greet him warmly. As always, he looked energetic and full of vitality. Today he was wearing a blue T-shirt, paired with white shorts, and a brown nylon bag was slung across his shoulder.

"What key witness do you want me to meet?" Lin Zhongjie asked bluntly.

"Didn't Xiao Ge report Zhou Jin's matter to you?" Jian Dongping asked instead of answering.

It turns out it's about the missing woman. Lin Zhongjie has already had his subordinate Xiao Zheng conduct a basic investigation. So far, the only thing that can be confirmed is that Zhou Qin's disappearance is related to Su Zhiwen's death, but the specific connections have not yet been verified.

"The woman you're talking about should be named Zhou Qin, right? She called Su Zhiwen around 5 PM on May 7th, then left two suitcases at a small hotel near the train station and disappeared. Is she the key witness you mentioned?" Lin Zhongjie asked, glancing sideways at Jian Dongping. Although he couldn't be sure, he had always felt that the woman who left the suitcases and mysteriously disappeared must have met with misfortune. Ever since he saw the suitcases she left behind, he had been waiting for her body to appear. Could it be... she's still alive? This would be a huge breakthrough! He turned back to look at Jian Dongping in surprise and couldn't help but stop in his tracks.

“Yes. She’s still alive. But she’s barely alive!” Jian Dongping’s tone left no room for argument. As he spoke, he quickened his pace. “Let’s go, Uncle Lin. I didn’t dare disturb the scene, so I didn’t touch her. I think it’s better if you handle this.”

Hearing Jian Dongping's words, Lin Zhongjie's heart clenched. Could it be that she was really alive?! Although he had personally witnessed countless crime scenes, the unexpected resurrection of a corpse was rare. Forensic doctors could certainly make a dead body speak, but a living person could obviously say far more than a corpse. And she was speaking! As a human being, he was genuinely excited by this young woman's resurrection. But… what did it mean to be only half-alive? Could she still speak? Could her organs still maintain normal life functions? If so, for how long? Thinking of this, he couldn't help but quicken his pace.

A few minutes later, Jian Dongping led him to an old building and stopped. Lin Zhongjie saw a large character circled in red on the gray brick wall: "Demolish".

“She’s in room 03 on the second floor. You go up, I’ll wait downstairs,” Jian Dongping said tactfully.

Lin Zhongjie nodded to him and walked over.

A short while later, he arrived at the door of Room 03. The door was ajar. In accordance with the regulations for entering the site, he put on gloves and shoe covers before pushing the door open and going in.

This was an old-style public housing unit with only one bedroom. The kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom were arranged in a straight line. He walked straight down the dark corridor to the room, which was pitch black and reeked of a pungent stench of urine. Upon entering the bedroom, he saw a naked woman lying on the bed. Her hands and feet were bound to the bed rails, a thin blanket was draped over her body, and an adult diaper with a yellow stain was placed under her buttocks. A baby water bottle sat beside her pillow, the straw pointing directly at her mouth. Could this be Zhou Jin? Lin Zhongjie walked to the bedside and found her eyes closed, unresponsive to his entry.

He touched her forehead and found that her body was still warm. He checked her breathing and found that she was still breathing, albeit very weakly. He hadn't looked closely at Zhou Jin's photo, but no matter who she was, there was no time to lose. He quickly took out his phone and dialed 120.

Ten minutes later, the ambulance sped away, taking away the barely alive Zhou Jin. Watching the ambulance disappear into the distance, Lin Zhongjie's mind wasn't haunted by Zhou Jin's pale, emaciated face and her thin, claw-like hands, but rather by the cotton cloth placed under the bindings on her wrists—perhaps the murderer did this to obscure the marks of the bindings.

Downstairs, he ran into Jian Dongping, who was waiting for him.

"Why didn't she scream?" he asked, her mouth not stuffed with anything.

"Why didn't she scream?" he asked, her mouth not stuffed with anything.

“At first, they definitely didn’t let her scream, and later she couldn’t scream anymore.” Jian Dongping pointed to his head and said, “I saw a scar on her head. The murderer must have attacked her first, then tied her to the bed, and probably also gave her sleeping pills. There was an empty bottle of sleeping pills in the trash can next to the bed.”

Lin Zhongjie noticed the scar on Zhou Jin's head and the empty medicine bottle in the trash can, but there was one thing he didn't understand.

"Why didn't the murderer kill her?" Lin Zhongjie asked.

“It’s summer now. If she’s killed, the body will be easy to find. Killing someone is easy for her, but disposing of the body is difficult. She has neither the strength nor the skill. So she’s waiting for a good opportunity.”

"A good time?"

“Because of the demolition, many residents in this building have already moved out, but the residents next door on the second floor are moving out this week, that’s what I just found out,” Jian Dongping pointed to the bright red “demolish” character on the exterior wall of the building. “So, I think she wants to wait until her neighbor moves out before killing Zhou Jin, so that after killing him, she can move the body next door and then leave.”

"Move the body next door?" Lin Zhongjie didn't think this was a good way to dispose of the body.