Chapter 131

This grand event only happens once every five years. To watch this fireworks show, tens of thousands of people will gather on the open square by the Lunjiang River.

With so many people standing together, there is a high risk of a stampede, an increase in theft, and the possibility of children going missing.

To maintain order at the scene, personnel from the city bureau, sub-bureaus, and various police stations have long been on high alert, as if facing a major enemy.

The seven-day holiday is eagerly anticipated by office workers. But as police officers, they are not as fortunate as the general public. Traffic police have to manage traffic, community police need to increase patrols, anti-theft units are out catching thieves, and even anti-vice and narcotics teams are busier than usual.

The only ones somewhat better off are the detectives; they only need to get busy if there is a death. If there are no deaths, they can enjoy a bit of the holiday.

But it seems that things don’t go as planned. A murder case has occurred during this festive time.

When Song Wen and Lu Siyu exited the cinema, the detailed address was sent over: Hongfang Street, Lotus Moon Tower. This is a well-known Cantonese restaurant in Nancheng. It is expensive, usually hard to get a reservation, and even more so during the holidays.

Song Wen and Lu Siyu left the screening hall with their bags. Song Wen made sure to throw away the popcorn bucket and drink cup, washed his hands, and got ready to start working. When they stepped out of the cinema, the sky was already completely dark.

By this time, there were noticeably more people on the streets, with crowds heading towards the Lunjiang River. Song Wen and Lu Siyu were squeezed in the crowd and soon saw the iconic round moon and large white lotus of the Lotus Moon Tower. The electronic screen beside it flashed the words “Business Suspended.”

Lotus Moon Tower is a famous chain restaurant, and this one is its Nancheng flagship store, standing five stories tall and combining ancient and modern styles. Its dishes are based on traditional recipes with modern creative touches.

The flagship store is known for its giant round moon and outlined lotus logo, visible from several blocks away.

Its signature dish is the renowned Lotus Banquet, offered in limited quantities during the lotus blooming season each year, using the freshest ingredients like lotus seeds, lotus pods, lotus flowers, lotus leaves, and lotus roots to create various delicious dishes.

As Song Wen and Lu Siyu walked over, they saw a dried bloodstain on the pedestrian path not far from the restaurant’s entrance. Despite the short time since the incident, the bloodstain had already been trampled by the crowd and was difficult to pinpoint. The latecomers were unaware that a murder had just taken place here.

Lu Siyu crouched down, frowning slightly. With so many people on the street now, it seemed that the arriving officers and restaurant staff had moved the body to avoid causing a scene.

This behavior was understandable. At this moment, a dead body on the street could easily cause onlookers to gather and potentially trigger a stampede. However, the primary crime scene had been thoroughly disturbed, leaving behind little useful information.

The dried bloodstains, trampled by countless footprints, were no longer recognizable.

Song Wen looked up. This area was the busiest part of Nancheng. The Lotus Moon Tower was situated at the corner of an intersection, not very tall compared to the towering buildings surrounding it, which reached dozens or even over a hundred stories high, their various lights making this spot look like a depression in the modern cityscape.

The windows on this side of the Lotus Moon Tower had safety bars, but there was a sizable open-air platform on the fifth floor.

Although the restaurant building was relatively tall, with the fifth floor being about twenty meters above the ground, equivalent to the seventh or eighth floor of a regular residential building.

The deceased seemed to have fallen from the platform. Song Wen patted Lu Siyu and said, “Let’s go, the outside is too disturbed. Let’s check inside.”

They knocked on the door of the Lotus Moon Tower, and inside, a junior police officer was already present.

The regular customers had already been dismissed, leaving the entire first-floor lobby empty. The tables were still cluttered with unfinished food, and the air held a faint smell of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall ^[1]Also known as Buddha’s Temptation or Fotiaoqiang – a variety of shark fin soup in Fujian cuisine. The dish’s name is an allusion to the dish’s ability to entice the vegetarian … Continue reading

The manager, a man in his forties, was still relatively composed despite his worried expression. He was likely concerned about the business disruption and the potential loss of future customers.

When he saw the two officers enter, he approached them and said, “You must be from the city bureau, right? There were too many people outside, so we moved the body inside…” He pointed to a corner of the lobby where the body was temporarily placed, covered with a blood-stained white cloth.

The head waiter added, “We were busy in the restaurant when we suddenly heard a loud thud outside. Someone screamed that someone had fallen from upstairs. Then a few people, who were dining with the woman, ran down from upstairs, calling out ‘teacher’ and other things. We immediately called the police.”

Song Wen asked, “Is there any eyewitness who saw how she fell?”

The manager shook his head. “No one saw it. The woman who fell was a guest in a fifth-floor private room near the platform. They came together for a gathering. Our platform is usually open for guests to smoke or chat, and it’s been open for a long time. Recently, with the cold weather, not many people go up there. The railings and security measures on the platform meet standards. We never expected someone would fall from there.”

Everyone around was terrified at the time, and no one thought to look up at the platform… so there were no eyewitnesses.

Song Wen asked, “What about the surveillance footage?”

A junior officer nearby said, “We checked it earlier. It’s in a blind spot for the cameras.”

It seemed that determining the nature of this fall wouldn’t be straightforward.

In deducing the cause of death from a fall, the position of the body is crucial. However, the body had been moved, leaving only a trampled, blurry bloodstain. Without reference points, the margin of error was significant.

This meant they couldn’t use the parabola and landing position to determine how the body fell.

Lu Siyu walked over, put on his gloves, and lifted the white cloth covering the body. The body lay face down, likely moved in the same position as it had fallen, without being turned over.

The deceased was a middle-aged woman, appearing to be in her forties, with her eyes slightly open, her death was gruesome.

As Lu Siyu lifted the white cloth, a nearby waitress backed away in fear.

Song Wen said to Lu Siyu, “Since Lao Lin and the others aren’t nearby tonight, it looks like you’ll have to handle this.”

“It’s no trouble,” Lu Siyu replied, crouching down to examine the body. His pale face took on a focused expression, different from Lin Xiuran’s professional detachment. His gaze seemed to find the scene fascinating.

Lu Siyu first noted the scent of blood, mixed with a strong smell of alcohol. The woman had light makeup, now smudged, with patches of foundation sticking to her face and her lipstick indistinguishable. Her long, curly hair was a bit messy, with some strands matted with blood, making them damp.

Frowning slightly, Lu Siyu used his gloved hand to comb through the woman’s hair, then sniffed it. There was an alcohol smell and a hint of cake frosting.

Lu Siyu then carefully began to examine the body, starting with the head.

Unfortunately, there was no investigation kit at hand to test the rectal temperature, but based on the time the call was made, they could estimate the fall and death occurred between 6:40 and 6:50 PM.

It was now after 7 PM, and rigor mortis had set in. Multiple fractures were evident, primarily on the left side, such as the left wrist, shoulder, and left leg’s tibia. This indicated that the body landed on the left side, consistent with a fall.

Lu Siyu then asked Song Wen to help him turn the body over. Upon closer inspection, the body was more soaked, with fresh blood, some alcohol, clear water, and possibly some sweat. A thin layer of these fluids had soaked the deceased’s clothing. At the left rib area, Lu Siyu distinctly felt several broken ribs.

After completing the surface examination, Lu Siyu raised his fine-looking eyes, his eyelashes clear under the restaurant’s overhead lights. “The injuries are severe internally, with most on one side. The cause of death might be rib fractures piercing the lungs and heart, causing the victim to die instantly. The injuries are typical of a fall, confirming that the victim was alive when she fell. Further details will need to await the autopsy, including testing her blood for any anomalies.”

This implied that the fall involved a living person, not a corpse.

After saying this, Lu Siyu searched the victim’s pockets. There was no phone or keys, suggesting her personal belongings were elsewhere. Finally, his gaze fell on the victim’s hand, which was clenched into an empty fist. Due to rigor mortis, it was difficult to open, and upon closer inspection, he confirmed nothing was held inside and abandoned the effort.

“There are three possible scenarios: she jumped, fell accidentally, or was pushed,” Song Wen said, then turned to the junior officer. “Were there any unusual circumstances nearby at the time?”

The community officer explained to Song Wen, “Because of the evening fireworks display, this area was a priority protection zone. We were patrolling nearby and arrived at the scene within two minutes. By then, a crowd had gathered. Fearing the body on the road would cause chaos, we took some photos and, after getting approval from superiors, moved the body inside.”

Song Wen said, “Send us the photos. Are the guests who were with her still here?”

The junior officer nodded and sent the photos from his phone.

Lu Siyu looked at the photos. Due to the limitations of equipment, time, and technique, the photos were not very clear, with no scales and single angles, so they were not highly valuable for reference.

The junior officer continued, “We had the unrelated guests register and leave the restaurant. We detained all the people who were dining with the deceased—five people in total, no one was let go.”

Song Wen asked, “Have you identified the deceased?”

“The deceased is Zhang Dongmei, a mathematics teacher at Nancheng No. 1 Middle School. She was quite famous in the city as a gold medal teacher. We asked briefly upstairs, and those dining with her were all her students. Zhang Dongmei was their homeroom teacher in junior high school. They graduated ten years ago and were having a reunion dinner to thank her.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Siyu, who was crouching and examining the body, looked up.

“A thank-you dinner?” Song Wen also repeated softly.

A thank-you banquet ^[2]谢师宴 – a banquet held by students in honor of their teachers, where the teacher, who should have been the protagonist, fell from a height. Was this a case of suicide, accident, or murder?