Chapter 180

Wang Lei listened to Hong’s mother wail, a flicker of impatience in his eyes.

He stepped forward and firmly helped Hong’s mother to her feet.

“Auntie, let’s not disturb the police while they’re working. The sooner they catch the killer, the sooner we can avenge Brother Hong.”

Moved by Wang Lei’s words, Hong’s mother got up quickly, fearing she would delay the police’s efforts.

The police officers all breathed a sigh of relief, looking gratefully at Wang Lei.

Even though Wang Lei was also part of the Red Committee, he was far more reliable than the average member.

Although Hong’s mother stopped wailing, she didn’t leave and instead sat down at the police station.

Wang Lei sighed but didn’t insist on taking her back.

The police couldn’t say much either; it was tough enough for anyone to bear the pain of losing a child.

Fortunately, Comrade Wang Lei was around. He had been running errands for Hong’s family these past few days.

Sometimes the police couldn’t help but marvel, thinking that even someone like Qin Hui had three loyal friends.

Their investigation revealed that Hong Bo’s death was well deserved, yet he still had friends like Wang Lei helping him out.

As the officers who were out investigating returned, the special task force at the police station began summarizing and reporting their findings.

Eventually, they narrowed down the suspects to two families.

One was the Qin family. The elderly couple had once been capitalists, and despite donating most of their wealth, they couldn’t escape being sent to the countryside.

They had a daughter who caught Hong Bo’s eye. After he got his hands on her, she died shortly after.

Now the Qin family had been rehabilitated and returned. They also had a son, Qin Shuo, who was a key person of interest.

The other was the Lou family.

The Lou family had been a prominent traditional Chinese medicine family in Jinling, with considerable assets. Seven years ago, they were sent to the countryside as a typical example of Western remnants.

The Lou family had a granddaughter who was extremely beautiful.

Hong Bo took a liking to her and took her away.

The exact circumstances weren’t known, but during their investigation, the police found out that she died shortly after her family was sent away.

Now the Lou family had also been rehabilitated, but only the old patriarch had survived and returned.

Three generations were reduced to just him.

The police concluded that Qin Shuo was the primary suspect.

After all, breaking into someone’s home to commit murder required strength, which the elderly Lou patriarch lacked after years of hardship and losing his family.

With a primary suspect identified, the task force leader split the team into two groups: one to focus on the Qin family, and the other to monitor the Lou family.

But the latter group was not to focus on the elderly Lou patriarch, but rather to see if anyone particularly close to him appeared.

In the Qin family’s villa, Qin Shuo looked at a photo of his sister, his eyes red.

He murmured, “Sister, Hong Bo is dead. It’s karma! After all these years, you can finally rest in peace…”

Although the family had been rehabilitated, his parents had suffered numerous illnesses from their time in the countryside, and his sister was gone. No amount of compensation could change that.

Even now that they had returned, home didn’t feel like home.

Still, with the enemy dead, there was some consolation.

After carefully putting away his sister’s photo, Qin Shuo went to the kitchen to prepare a meal. His parents were still waiting for him to take care of them.

In the afternoon, the police officers visited the Qin household again.

Seeing the police, Qin Shuo calmly welcomed them in.

He said, “My parents are unwell and resting upstairs. Please keep your voices down.”

The police didn’t make things difficult for him, just following procedure by asking, “On the night of August 6th, you said you went to the hospital to get medicine for your parents. Since it was late, no one saw you. Have you thought of any other witnesses during this time?”

Qin Shuo replied, “No.”

The police then asked, “What about the doctor who gave you the medicine? There must have been one, right?”

Qin Shuo nodded, “Yes, but at that time, the doctor was in the pharmacy, and we didn’t see each other’s faces.”

The pharmacy had only a small window, through which the medicine was handed out, so nothing else could be seen.

The two police officers exchanged glances, feeling this was too much of a coincidence.

“What medicines were prescribed at that time?” one of the officers asked.

Qin Shuo replied, “I don’t know the names of the medicines.”

With that, he went upstairs and brought down the medicines.

They were several packets of white pills wrapped in plain white paper.

Truly unremarkable, with no distinguishing features.

The only markings on the paper were a couple of wave-like lines.

But none of the officers recognized the writing.

The police, seeing no other option, asked for the paper packets to take to the hospital for verification.

Qin Shuo didn’t object, re-wrapped the pills, and handed over the packets with the handwriting to the police.

The two officers took the packets and left.

Watching them leave, Qin Shuo’s eyes were deep with contemplation.

His goal was to delay as much as possible and obscure the police’s investigation.

The two police officers went to the hospital and found the doctor who was on duty in the pharmacy on the night of August 6th.

The doctor, surnamed Wang, examined the paper packets the police brought and said slowly, “It’s not easy to recognize. Many people came for medicine that night. You know, with the increasing number of people being rehabilitated recently, many have been worn down by their time in the countryside, and our hospital has been busier than usual these days.”

He added, somewhat apologetically, “So, when we’re busy, the handwriting can be so rushed that even we might not recognize it later. Plus, the probability of identical pills is high, making it hard to confirm who came for medicine.”

After a few more questions, the police left without success.

As soon as they left, a nurse came to Dr. Wang and said, “Dr. Wang, could you help me identify which medicine is for bed six and which is for bed four?”

The medicine got mixed up when a nearby child bumped into the nurse while she was preparing injections.

The new nurse couldn’t decipher the scribbles on the packages.

Dr. Wang picked up the two packets and confidently sorted them out.

“This one is for bed six, and this one is for bed four.”

The young nurse marveled at Dr. Wang’s expertise as she looked at the wave-like scribbles on the packets.

The investigation at the Qin household was not going well, and things weren’t much better at the Lou household.

The old patriarch had a very bad temper.

Yesterday, the police were nearly driven out, and today, they still received a cold reception.

Mentioning Hong Bo made the old man curse furiously.

He used to be a kindly old traditional Chinese medicine doctor known for his good temper, but that was long gone.

When the police stopped mentioning Hong Bo, the old man’s emotions finally stabilized.

Seeing this, the police officers breathed a sigh of relief and asked gently, “Old man, do you have any family left? Do you need any help with your daily life?”

The old man’s eyes became empty for a moment.

He slowly walked to a photo frame, which now held only two black-and-white photographs.

One was a family portrait, and the other was a photo of his granddaughter and the grandson of an old friend.

The photos were already somewhat damp and blurred.

With a sorrowful tone, he said, “No one is left…”