Perte de contrôle précise - Chapitre 26
With that 60,000 yuan, and countless days and nights, the hoodlum gradually came back to life. The old house was renovated and cleaned up, and the walls were covered with his calligraphy and paintings. His eight years in prison were not wasted; he learned to paint, learned calligraphy, and read many books.
His mother went around asking people to introduce him to potential partners. When the matchmaker came to their house, all she saw were several paintings on the wall, mostly black and red. Although she couldn't tell whether the paintings were good or bad, she could still make out the words:
Of all pursuits, only studying is noble.
When it comes to a bowl of porridge or a meal, we should think of how hard it was to come by; when it comes to a thread or a strand, we should always remember the difficulty of obtaining resources. We should prepare for a rainy day rather than digging a well when we are already thirsty.
A moment of patience brings calm, a step back opens up a vast horizon.
Insult me, curse me, ruin me, betray me—I am nothing. Let him be, tolerate him, endure him, forgive him, ignore him.
The matchmaker said, "Where can you find such a cultured and interesting man these days? You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't measure the sea with a bucket. So what if he's short?"
He was lucky to have a family again.
Those were the years when the home renovation industry boomed. A guy named Hunzi bought a small, half-decker truck and worked as a porter at the building materials market. He had plenty of work, no taxes, and a decent income. Life was getting better, and he made a few friends. One night, he and three friends went out for grilled lamb skewers and beer. They drank to their hearts' content, until some of them needed to use the restroom. But where were the restrooms at the roadside barbecue stalls? So they went to relieve themselves in an alleyway by the roadside. Whether it was because they had drunk too much and couldn't urinate quickly, or because young men these days suffer from prostatitis, they didn't come back for a long time.
The loner was getting bored drinking alone and was about to leave when he noticed a cell phone on the table. It was a new gadget, and he wanted to buy one but didn't have the money. Now he had one for free to play with – great! He immediately grabbed a napkin to wipe the table, and when he got to the phone, he pulled it into his hand. He then paid the bill, stood up, and said, "Please tell them when they come back. I'm leaving now, thank you, thank you!"
Five days later, in the evening, Hunzi's mother was watching TV in the living room. Hunzi had prepared hot water for her to wash her feet and brought it over so she could soak her feet while watching TV. Hearing a knock at the door, Hunzi opened it and his face immediately changed. He quickly turned back and helped his mother into the house before coming out and saying to his three friends who were eating skewers and drinking, "Brothers, please sit down, please sit down. I'll make you some tea."
Without a word, one of them grabbed him by the collar, and another kicked him from below, causing him to fall to the ground. After the three of them gave him a good beating, he got up, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed several times, begging the brothers to let him go.
They said, "Okay, hand over your phone and compensate us for the loss of 1,000 yuan."
He thanked them profusely, took out money and his phone, and finally managed to get rid of them.
Two days passed, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt cheated and resentful. So, the hoodlum wrote a letter of complaint to the police station, signing his real name and home address to expose the three people who had extorted 1,000 yuan from him.
The police found the thug and his three friends. After investigating the case, the three men admitted to stealing our phones—a brand new Motorola, worth over three thousand yuan! We searched for him all over the city by taxi for five days before finally finding him. He should have compensated us for our lost wages! Is one thousand yuan too much for three people?
The police realized that this made sense; a thousand yuan divided among three people wouldn't be enough to warrant a case, even if it was extortion. On the contrary, he stole a cell phone worth over three thousand yuan, which was enough to warrant a case. The police immediately took evidence from the three people, made him pay a four thousand yuan fine, released him on bail, and sent him to a labor camp.
The hoodlum was going to be sent to a labor camp, but his mother and wife still had to make a living, so he had no choice but to sell his car. The car was valuable when he bought it, but it was worthless when he tried to sell it; he bought it for 30,000 yuan but couldn't even sell it for 10,000 yuan.
In the end, he was diagnosed with stage III tuberculosis, and the labor camp wouldn't accept him. However, he had already sold his car, which was his only means of supporting his family, so the hoodlum had no choice but to go to Shenzhen and Guangzhou to work as a security guard.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a piece of land is washed away by the sea, the continent is less. Any man's death makes me a part of myself, because we all belong to mankind. And never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for the people and for me.
On-site: Don't ask for whom the bell tolls.
The bureau chief told Wang Liguo, "Your concerns are our concerns too. Therefore, the bureau has decided to activate a retrospective investigation mechanism during the investigation of the June 29 case. We will investigate all police officers for responsibility, negligence, oversight, and inaction. Anyone who is not working hard will be severely punished. Now, all police officers need to know about this."
We are able to live peacefully and tranquilly every day because there are some people who are constantly guarding that tranquility.
Liu Ming, a police officer at Taiping Police Station of Chaoyang District Public Security Bureau, received the "Basic Characteristics of Suspects Under Investigation" and read it countless times. He worked tirelessly from dawn to dusk, going down to his assigned area to investigate and queue up people. He felt that there was such a person, not tall, with small eyes, a lean and strong appearance, and about the same age, but he just couldn't remember where he had seen him before.
After thinking about it for several days, I finally met this person in apartment 401, unit 3, building 47 of Xingfuli, and then I suddenly remembered the children's park.
Liu Ming had seen him practice martial arts in the children's park, chopping trees with his arms and kicking them with his legs. Two pieces of bark had already peeled off that pine tree, clearly from the chopping and kicking. That's why he thought this person was a bit strange and took a few more glances at him. He wasn't tall, had small eyes, was thin and wiry, and dark-skinned. Later, he actually did one-arm pull-ups while holding onto a pine branch, and he could do several in a row, with both arms. Even more impressive, he could also do one-arm handstands. Liu Ming remembered that when he was studying at the Criminal Police Academy, he could do the most pull-ups in his class—forty—but couldn't do a single one-arm pull-up.
This man's name is Qu Baoyuan, and he is forty years old.
Qu Baoyuan was very hospitable and immediately made him tea and offered him cigarettes.
Liu Ming laughed and said, "You don't need to do anything. We have rules for visiting households: no tea, but you can smoke your own cigarettes. I'll just take a few minutes of your time to talk. How many people are in your family?"
Qu Baoyuan said they were all there: my mother, my wife, and my daughter.
Liu Ming looked around and saw that Qu Baoyuan's mother lived in the large room on the south side, while he and his wife lived in the small room on the north side. He was a little incredulous and asked, "You live in the large room?"
Qu Baoyuan said my mother lives in the big house.
Liu Ming got up and looked around the rooms. Although they weren't very big, they were spotless. Not only were the bedroom windows sparkling clean, but even the kitchen, which most decent people wouldn't pay attention to, was spotless and bright. What surprised him even more was that the walls of the small living room were covered with calligraphy and paintings. He had initially thought they were just things he'd bought, but after looking closely, he was astonished to find that the paintings and calligraphy were all inscribed with the name Bao Yuan.
He couldn't understand those paintings; he didn't know why the sky was red and the water was red, or why there was so much red and so much black in the paintings. It made him feel uneasy. However, the couplets of calligraphy and paintings by "Baoyuan" made him nod in approval:
Endure a moment's anger to avoid a hundred days of trouble.
A lack of careful consideration will inevitably lead to regret; a person who can endure a hundred times will have no worries.
Taking a step further leads to a dead end, while taking a step back opens up a vast expanse of possibilities.
Life is like a game of chess; yielding a move is not a loss for me. A heart as vast as the sea is; only by embracing all rivers can one truly be tolerant.
Life's affairs flow by like water, so don't let fame and fortune weigh on your mind. Live simply with coarse tea and plain rice, and don't strive for wealth and glory.
Liu Ming could understand these words, but he didn't know which celebrity said them.
Seeing that he was looking at it so intently, Qu Baoyuan moved closer to him and said, "If the police officer doesn't laugh, I'll write a few pictures for you. It's no big deal, no big deal."
Only then did Liu Ming understand why there was a table in the hall with a canvas, watercolors, washers, and many brushes on it. It turned out that Qu Baoyuan was also a painter! Liu Ming couldn't help but think that appearances can be deceiving. Although Qu Baoyuan was short and unremarkable in appearance, he was actually quite talented in both literature and martial arts. Although his physical characteristics seemed to match the person they were looking for, how could such a family not be harmonious between husband and wife, and between the young and old? How many men these days are as filial to their elders as he is? Such families are truly rare in his jurisdiction.
Liu Ming asked Qu Baoyuan, "What do you and your wife do?" Qu Baoyuan replied, "I was laid off and unemployed, and she has been taking care of my mother."
During their conversation, Qu Baoyuan gave Liu Ming the impression of being honest, reliable, filial to his mother, and loving towards his wife. He wrote "marital status is good" on the survey form.
Liu Ming still had so many home visits to make and was about to go to Qu Baoyuan's apartment across the street, so he didn't dare to delay any longer. Before leaving, Qu Baoyuan escorted Liu Ming to the door, shook his hand, and repeatedly said thank you, thank you, thank you.
This citywide large-scale investigation is double-insured. In addition to police officers from local police stations going door-to-door, police officers from the bureau also go door-to-door to conduct preliminary investigations. Each person works nearly 20 hours a day.
Xiao Zheng was exhausted and often dozed off while asking questions at people's homes. That day, when he was checking Unit 3, Building 47 in Xingfuli, he found several middle-aged women sitting at the door talking about a psychopathic killer. Seeing Xiao Zheng in his police uniform with a notebook and pen, they knew he was there to investigate. They asked him all at once, "Have you found any leads? When will you catch this damned beast?"
Xiao Zheng said, "We're investigating right now. Do you have any short men around forty years old here who are divorced, single, or have wives but are always arguing and fighting?"
The older women all said, "Where would you find someone like that around here? They also said that this psychopathic killer would never live here."
Wang Liguo had reviewed the crime scene investigation records and photos of the three cases on May 31, June 14, and June 29 countless times. He thought there must still be some flaws he hadn't noticed. Since the murderer had already committed the crime, it was impossible for him to be completely foolproof, unless we hadn't discovered it yet, or our concepts and methods for solving the case were still too outdated.
The murderer meticulously eliminated all traces of the crime while simultaneously and blatantly fabricating the scene. While he concealed some aspects, he also revealed others. Why did he dress the victim in shoes and socks? Why did he place food and drink in front of her? Did he imagine drinking with her at the scene? The playing cards were divided into three piles. In front of the victim were three bloodstained clubs. The other pile, facing the clubs, must have been the murderer's, containing three bloodstained hearts. Why did the murderer give the victim only clubs, keeping only hearts for himself? Why three cards instead of four or five? What is the significance of all this? Was it a last-minute decision, or was it pre-planned? Wasn't his arrangement of the scene intended to shock us?
Wang Liguo felt that whether the murderer's actions were impromptu or premeditated, they couldn't have been random; they all seemed to have a purpose, a confession. He didn't move or cover up the body, and he didn't care that the police would find it quickly. This showed that he wanted to create the biggest sensation. His committing crimes roughly every two weeks was also to create a stir; he wanted to plunge the entire city into terror and panic.