Murder Call

“Uncle Zhou has a son, but he never really took care of him. He sent Zhou Ziming to a boarding school and gave all his fatherly love to me. When we were kids, Zhou Ziming always hated me. He thought I stole his dad. Honestly, I didn’t want it to be like this either. It wasn’t until I got to high school that my relationship with Zhou Ziming got a bit better.”

“In my senior year, Uncle Zhou asked Zhou Ziming to tutor me. Around that time, Liu Yun had a fight with my uncle and suddenly showed up at my house with her luggage. Liu Yun fell in love with Zhou Ziming at first sight and started pursuing him like crazy.

She’s a spoiled rich girl who’s never had a hard day in her life. She had maids to do everything for her. When she came to my place, she treated me like her maid. She was arrogant and rude, didn’t care about me at all. I thought of her as my cousin, so I put up with it. Plus, Uncle Zhou was my uncle’s bodyguard, and I didn’t want to make things difficult for him. So no matter how much she mocked me, I endured it.

Liu Yun slowly started to accept me, but in a very peculiar way. I became her personal servant. When she was in a good mood, she’d give me a watch she wore once. When we went out, she’d take me along as her sidekick, making me carry her stuff. She never asked what I wanted. To her, I was just someone she could boss around. Even though she was generous, it wasn’t what I wanted.

Everyone said Liu Yun and I were close, but I didn’t like her. She was a spoiled rich girl who never considered others’ feelings. She always wanted to take what I liked…”

At this point, Wan Shu suddenly stopped.

“You guys asked me why I wasn’t sad when she died. Why should I be sad? I always hated her!”

Wang Yue passed by the interrogation room and was surprised to see Mo Lin had actually gotten Wan Shu to talk.

“How did Teacher Mo do it?”

Li Meng was also puzzled: “Teacher Mo didn’t say much, just asked about Zhou Wen.”

Wang Yue frowned upon hearing this: “Zhou Wen again? What’s her relationship with Zhou Wen?”

Wan Shu adjusted her emotions, returning to her initial state. She leaned back in her chair: “How did you know I know Xia Yin?”

Mo Lin enlarged a photo on his phone and showed it to Wan Shu: “Someone gave us this photo.”

Wan Shu stared at the photo on the phone, looking a bit surprised.

Mo Lin’s light eyes narrowed slightly: “You just said you and Liu Yun celebrated Xia Yin’s birthday. Who took the photo then?”

Wan Shu suddenly frowned, seeming to hesitate: “It was… Liu Yun.”

Mo Lin had an “I see” expression: “Then she must have been standing on a stool to take it. The angle is from above.”

When Mo Lin said this, Wan Shu’s eyes clearly flickered.

“A naturally proud young lady standing on a stool to take a photo, I’m quite surprised,” Mo Lin said with a smile.

“That’s not a big deal. Liu Yun loves taking photos and has high standards for them,” Wan Shu explained.

Mo Lin: “But I think this photo isn’t that great. Don’t girls usually like taking photos from below?”

“I remember now. Xia Yin’s dad was there that day too. He might have taken photos of us. It’s been so long, I got mixed up,” Wan Shu explained.

Mo Lin: “How many people were at the birthday party that day?”

Wan Shu: “Three. Xia Yin’s dad took photos and then went to play mahjong, so I didn’t count him.”

Mo Lin looked into Wan Shu’s eyes and said seriously: “Clarify, which three?”

Wan Shu was stunned for a moment: “Just me, Liu Yun, and Xia Yin!”

Mo Lin: “Are you sure?”

Wan Shu: “Sure.”

Mo Lin leaned forward, suddenly getting close to Wan Shu: “What are you nervous about?”

Wan Shu moved back guiltily: “I’m not nervous. I just miss Uncle Zhou too much.”

Seeing Wan Shu still unwilling to tell the truth, Mo Lin had to continue asking: “After Zhou Wen disappeared, you filed a complaint with the provincial public security department as a letter-writer. Why did you complain back then? Did you know something?”

Wan Shu fiddled with her fingers, keeping her head down and silent.

Mo Lin looked at Wan Shu seriously: “The provincial public security department’s criminal psychology consultant is right in front of you. If you miss this chance, there won’t be another.”

Mo Lin was waiting for Wan Shu to make a choice, but she seemed to be in a dilemma.

“Since you won’t say, I’ll have to ask myself.”

Mo Lin stood up, bracing his arm on the table, leaning forward, his eyes fixed on her, a smile playing at his lips as he asked word by word: “The reason you know the killer isn’t Zhou Wen is because on the day of the incident, you didn’t leave, right?”

Wan Shu looked up in shock, staring at Mo Lin in disbelief, while his light eyes seemed to tell her: Don’t try to lie to me, I know exactly what you’re thinking.

Wan Shu’s eyes widened at the person in front of her, her whole body pressed against the back of the chair, a moment of panic and confusion evident.

Mo Lin saw the panic in Wan Shu’s eyes and understood, so he sat back down: “Hiding the truth comes with legal consequences. If you tell the truth, maybe I can help you.”

Seeing Wan Shu still struggling with her thoughts, Mo Lin had to continue: “If this case isn’t thoroughly investigated, Zhou Wen will always be a fugitive suspect. You said you’re grateful to him, don’t you want to do something for him?”

Hearing this, Wan Shu finally showed some emotion.

Mo Lin: “What exactly happened that day?”

Wan Shu, overwhelmed by fear, surprise, and hesitation, her lips trembling slightly, spoke with a quivering voice:

“After the college entrance exam… I went to celebrate Xia Yin’s 18th birthday. Liu Yun insisted on meeting my friends. She said she wanted to see what ordinary people’s friendships were like. I knew she looked down on me, but I still took her.

As soon as she stepped into Xia Yin’s house, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, saying the place was unfit for people, wondering why there was no air conditioning, and why there was a strange smell in the room.

She criticized everything but refused to leave, just to make us uncomfortable. But Xia Yin kept smiling. That day was supposed to be Xia Yin’s birthday, but she became Liu Yun’s servant.

After dinner, Liu Yun said she was tired and went to sleep in Xia Yin’s room.

Xia Yin and I washed the dishes together, but we couldn’t find the dish soap, so Xia Yin asked me to buy some.

When I came back upstairs after buying the soap, I ran into Uncle Zhou who came to pick us up. We knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered. Uncle Zhou saw blood seeping through the door crack and kicked the door open. The moment the door opened, I saw…”

Liu Yun suddenly paused, the scene she saw that day seemed to haunt her, so much so that recalling it brought fear to her eyes:

“I saw Xia Yin lying on the ground, blood everywhere. Her hand was on the floor, as if she was crawling, or maybe she wasn’t moving at all!

I was terrified. Uncle Zhou held me and told me not to look.

But I had already seen it. Xia Yin was bleeding a lot, she seemed dead!”

Wan Shu’s chest heaved violently as she spoke:

“Uncle Zhou asked me where Liu Yun was. I said Liu Yun was sleeping in the room, but we didn’t find Liu Yun in the room. I called her phone, but it was off.

I was going to call the police, but Uncle Zhou said we didn’t know Liu Yun’s situation. If Liu Yun was taken by the criminals, calling the police would be bad for her.

Uncle Zhou told me to take a cab back to school and leave everything to him. If anyone asked, I was to say I went back to school early and knew nothing.

I went back to school and kept having nightmares. Liu Yun’s phone was always off. Uncle Zhou said Liu Yun was kidnapped, and my uncle was raising money to exchange for her, telling me not to act rashly.

I was scared, muddling through a week. I didn’t dare think about Xia Yin’s death or imagine Liu Yun’s situation. I always felt it was my fault for not closing the door properly when I went to buy things, giving the criminals a chance.

Because Liu Yun was still in the criminals’ hands, I didn’t dare act rashly, just waiting for Uncle Zhou’s reply.

Later, I saw the news on TV about a robbery and murder case in Fanzhou County. The victim’s body was dumped in the woods.

I wasn’t sure if it was Xia Yin because Xia Yin died at home.

I checked some information online and confirmed it was Xia Yin who was dumped.

I was terrified. Xia Yin’s body was clearly at home, why was it dumped in the woods? I thought Uncle Zhou did it, so I called him, but he never answered. Later, Uncle Zhou disappeared, without a trace.

The police came to question me, and I said what Uncle Zhou taught me, that I went back to school after eating cake and knew nothing.

I kept following the news, sure that Xia Yin’s body had been tampered with, but I couldn’t report it because Liu Yun was still in the criminals’ hands.

Later, Uncle Zhou became a suspect. After Liu Yun returned from the criminals, she refused to speak. My uncle said Liu Yun was traumatized and told me not to bring it up.

I asked Liu Yun later, and she said two people suddenly broke in, knocked her out, and took her away. She didn’t see who killed Xia Yin. She was blindfolded the whole time and didn’t see the criminals’ faces.

Liu Yun was deeply affected. My uncle asked me to go to the Liu family to counsel her. I didn’t want to because I didn’t like Liu Yun’s spoiled attitude, but thinking of my uncle’s help over the years, I agreed.

It seemed like the matter passed. The sun rose as usual every day, and Uncle Zhou never contacted me. I didn’t dare say anything, only filing a complaint about the case as a letter-writer, but there was no response.

Uncle Zhou’s case greatly affected Zhou Ziming’s life. He used to be the perfect school idol, but after that, rumors plagued him, and he became depressed.

Zhou Ziming sometimes came to me, asking if I had any news about Uncle Zhou.

He and I kept searching for Uncle Zhou, visiting his hometown and the places he served in the army, searching everywhere possible, posting missing person notices, but eventually, we lost hope too.”

[Author’s Note]

Even though the first ranking cooled down, I still have you guys!