(1) Body Parts

The phone number provided by Yang Chunling is for the shop. She said that every time, she contacted Yan Bing through this phone.

The shop is located on an old street, with several residential buildings from the 1980s in the alley. It used to be a family compound, and due to its remote location, the occupancy rate is low now.

For those without a phone at home, they usually contact the outside world through the shop’s phone. The shop owner is used to helping people get in touch, as they are all neighbors and everyone knows each other.

After receiving Cui Luo’s call, he helped as usual to look for the person. A few old local men were sitting in front of the shop. After inquiring, he found out that there was no one by the name of Yan Bing living nearby.

Usually, people who call are residents of the area. The shop owner found it strange and went inside the building to inquire. He learned that no one had any dealings with anyone named Yan Bing.

In the 1990s, if anyone bought a bottle of soy sauce, it would become common knowledge. If Yan Bing lived here, it would be impossible for no one to know him.

People would inevitably gossip about the person’s background.

After asking around, the shop owner confidently told Cui Luo—there is absolutely no such person in the area.

If there is no such person, it means that either Yan Bing or Yang Chunling lied.

Yan Bing was no longer someone who was supposedly helping Yang Chunling as a friend.

The argument suddenly stopped.

The old detectives looked at each other, all impressed by Shen Wanwan’s intuition.

No wonder they could never outsmart their wives, a woman’s intuition is truly terrifying!

She randomly thought about it and ended up being right!

Could it be that Shen Wanwan could predict the future?

Hearing this result, Shen Wanwan became even more uneasy.

She couldn’t quite figure out why she felt uneasy, but the images from her interrogation of Yang Chunling kept coming to mind. Her face had always been pale, restless, and uneasy. Shen Wanwan thought that she was just afraid of the criminal police…

Shen Wanwan suddenly stood up.

Tao Jiang looked over.

“Captain Tao, should we go check on Yang Chunling’s condition?”

Tao Jiang asked, “What did you think of?”

“Yang Chunling is doing things according to Yan Bing’s instructions, and I’m worried… Yan Bing might silence her.”

Zou Guodong hadn’t recovered from the shock yet. “What? Yan Bing silencing her? Isn’t she Yang Chunling’s friend? Didn’t she break the law to help her?”

Tao Jiang’s expression stiffened. He immediately ran out, followed closely by Shen Wanwan, and Cui Luo and the others also ran out.

Yang Chunling was brought out again. She seemed to be in poor condition. “Do you still want to ask? I don’t feel well, I want to rest.”

Shen Wanwan observed Yang Chunling. “Where do you feel unwell?”

“I don’t know, dizziness, nausea, and I feel like throwing up.”

It seemed like symptoms of poisoning.

It makes sense…

Shen Wanwan immediately said, “Captain Tao, we need to take her to the hospital.”

Shen Wanwan didn’t sound like she was asking, and no one else in the team dared to speak to Tao Jiang like that.

Although they were comrades who had been in the same trenches for a long time, after all these years, everyone knew who could be approached and who was not to be trifled with, so they avoided stirring up trouble with difficult people.

Only the newcomers dared to speak like this.

However, Tao Jiang didn’t show any sign of reprimand. Instead, he followed Shen Wanwan’s instructions and ordered, “The hospital is right next door, Old Zou, get the car ready. Two of you, help her, hurry!”

As they walked to the car, Shen Wanwan took the opportunity to ask, “Yang Chunling, we haven’t found anyone by the name of Yan Bing. Were you deceived? Do you have any other contact information for her? What does she look like? Any distinctive features?”

Yang Chunling felt lightheaded, her eyelids heavy with exhaustion.

She couldn’t even fully comprehend Shen Wanwan’s words.

She was deceived? Yan Bing deceived her?

That night when she met Yan Bing, Yan Bing was dressed conservatively, in stark contrast to the fashionable young people in the dance hall.

Yan Bing didn’t talk much, but she was beautiful, and several people invited her to dance, all of which she declined.

Yang Chunling was drawn to her uniqueness, and the two of them exchanged a few words. She learned that Yan Bing wanted to experience a different life in her final moments.

At that moment, Yang Chunling felt a deep connection with Yan Bing.

Yan Bing’s life was nearing its end, and as for her… losing Cheng Liang, she wouldn’t be able to live on either.

She told Yan Bing her story, but Yan Bing’s response was cold. She didn’t empathize with her but instead advised her to let go, saying that holding onto money was more important than so-called love.

Yang Chunling wasn’t a teenager, she knew Yan Bing was right, but she couldn’t help it—she couldn’t stop wanting to hold onto Cheng Liang. Even she didn’t understand why someone who had been through so much and was used to shallow relationships would be so devoted to one man.

Although she couldn’t let go of Cheng Liang, Yang Chunling accepted Yan Bing as a friend, thinking Yan Bing had her best interests at heart.

What happened after that?

Yang Chunling left her contact details, and Yan Bing began arranging meetings with her.

Most of the time, Yang Chunling would complain about Cheng Liang, and Yan Bing would just listen.

Looking back carefully, Yang Chunling almost never took the initiative to contact Yan Bing, she always appeared at the right moments.

Later, she became lovesick, torn between love and hatred for Cheng Liang.

But she never seemed to consider causing trouble for Qi Xia. In her eyes, Qi Xia was just an ordinary woman who wasn’t well-liked by her husband, and posed no threat to her.

Then, what did Yan Bing say?

Yang Chunling’s pupils contracted, and she grabbed Shen Wanwan’s hand, enduring the increasing discomfort as she struggled to speak, “She has a mole on her face, on the right side, near the chin… and also…”

Yang Chunling fainted in Shen Wanwan’s arms.

The sudden turn of events forced Tao Jiang to call a meeting with everyone again.

Zhu Jianhua leisurely sipped his tea, humming a little tune when he saw Tao Jiang’s bad mood, “Some people~ intuition’s no good~ can’t compare with the newcomers~ better go home and practice intuition~”

Cui Luo handed Zhu Jianhua a piece of peach crisp, “Bro, if you’re tired of living, that’s fine, but can you let us live a little longer?”

Tao Jiang didn’t respond to him.

“Yan Bing is the key. I suspect that her initial approach to Yang Chunling wasn’t pure, and she’s the only one who has directly contacted Cheng Li. From here on, we need to focus on finding her. Any good suggestions?”

Shen Wanwan raised her hand, “Even if Yang Chunling never actively contacted Yan Bing, they’ve always contacted each other through this number, so Yan Bing definitely went to this store. We can start by finding people who resemble Yan Bing, and then let the store owner identify them.”

Xiang Dong asked, “Where do you plan to find people who resemble Yan Bing? We don’t even know her real identity yet.”

“Look into Cheng Li,” Shen Wanwan said firmly, “Yan Bing was able to contact Cheng Li, knew he was in Xu Zhou, and even got him to commit murder. If we investigate the people Cheng Li interacted with, we will definitely find Yan Bing. Also, I suspect that Cheng Li was murdered by Yan Bing.”

At this point, Tao Jiang seemed to be in a bad mood, and Zou Guodong and the others didn’t dare to speak.

Hearing Shen Wanwan directly accuse Yan Bing of being a murderer, they were even more reluctant to say anything.

Tao Jiang, however, nodded in agreement, “Indeed, the only one who knew Cheng Li’s connection to Yang Chunling is probably Yan Bing.”

“Does this matter?”

“Did you forget that Cheng Li’s body was hanging outside Yang Chunling’s window?” Tao Jiang said. “I don’t think this is a coincidence.”

The problem was, they had already checked Cheng Li’s current social circle, and it was mostly men from the construction site—no one had seen Cheng Li interact with any women.

They also hadn’t found Yang Chunling’s 100,000 yuan.

“Cui Luo, take Shen Wanwan to the construction site and Cheng Li’s house again. The rest of us will keep looking for Yan Bing. We need to find her!”

Near the construction site were several rows of neat single-story houses. Each row had ten rooms, with each room about ten square meters.

Cheng Li’s home was one of these ten-square-meter rooms.

His home wasn’t messy, but not because he liked cleanliness—it was simply because there wasn’t much in it.

Besides the bed and a table, there was no furniture, and even his clothes were just thrown at the foot of the bed.

There was nothing in the house to entertain him.

“Actually, he did put in some effort, and he didn’t earn a small amount at the construction site. It doesn’t seem like he had any special expenses. Where did his money go?” Cui Luo pulled out Cheng Li’s neatly folded clothes, “Look, they all have patches, the collar is torn, and he doesn’t even bother to change them.”

Shen Wanwan said, “I don’t understand either. If it were me, I wouldn’t have gone back to Xu Zhou. If he came back because he missed home, he would’ve at least contacted his parents. How could he not even know his older brother was moving?”

Cui Luo asked, “Are you suspecting that he had other motives?”

Shen Wanwan couldn’t explain it.

It was a pity she only became Yang Chunling’s pet and didn’t get a chance to become Cheng Li’s pet instead.

The two didn’t find any new clues in Cheng Li’s house, so they went to the construction site.

The foreman, wearing a safety helmet, was walking around when he saw the two women approaching and shouted, “You can’t come in here! Go around!”

Cui Luo coldly curled her lips and stared into the foreman’s eyes.

The foreman felt a chill and muttered, “Where did this tigress come from? Running into a bunch of men, isn’t she afraid something might happen?”

“From the police station,” Cui Luo glanced up and down at the foreman and pulled out her ID. “Next time I come, should I give you a heads-up in advance?”

The foreman, looking shameless, was no match for Cui Luo’s audacity.

She stepped right in front of him, and without even needing to pull out her ID, she was enough to make him back off.

The foreman, who had been in the business for many years, was a man who knew how to handle situations. Seeing that she was a detective, he immediately broke into a sincere smile. “No need, no need! If you’re coming, just let me know, and I’ll personally greet you.”

Cui Luo wasn’t fooled by his act. “Stop with the nonsense. I’m asking you about Cheng Li…”

“It wasn’t me who killed him!” The foreman swore to the heavens. “I suspected he was stealing money, but I didn’t need to kill him, right? I could’ve just kicked him out, right?”

In the past couple of days, the team had sent several groups of people, and the foreman was already scared out of his wits.

Cui Luo asked, “Did he have any dealings with women?”

There had been many detectives visiting, but it was the first time anyone specifically asked about women.

The foreman looked confused. “Women? He didn’t have any women, and I’ve never seen any woman come looking for him. His mother never even showed up, so how could there be any women?”

“He never mentioned anything about it?”

“No, he never did. He just keeps his head down and works. He doesn’t seek any fun, let alone women. He seems completely uninterested. Once, I saw him standing in front of a women’s clothing store in the department store. I joked, saying he had found a girlfriend. The look he gave me was like he was going to eat me alive. He definitely doesn’t have a woman.”

Cheng Li had a history of misconduct with women, and it wasn’t just one person. Yet now he was living a simple and quiet life, and Shen Wanwan didn’t believe he had turned over a new leaf.

But why did he return to Xu Zhou? Why had his personality changed so drastically? And where had his money gone?

Shen Wanwan asked, “Which women’s clothing store did you see him at? Do you remember?”