(3) Release from Prison

Zou Guodong took the initiative to share the workload with Cui Luo and Shen Wanwan, letting the two girls handle the matter of troubling Tao Jiang.

The two of them went together to meet the reporter who published the article. The reporter, however, was adamant, saying, “I have my own informants. All the information comes from them.”

The reporter didn’t mention evidence, only the informants.

Cui Luo was so angry she wanted to punch someone.

Shen Wanwan separated Cui Luo from the reporter, saying, “I suppose you can’t reveal who your informants are?”

“Of course I can’t. If I disclose their identities now, who would want to provide me with tips in the future? Police officer, you should also consider my career.”

The conversation ended unfavorably.

After leaving the newspaper office, Cui Luo cursed angrily, “They always talk about cooperation, and now suddenly they’re talking about their career. He publishes irresponsible reports without thinking about other people’s careers!”

Shen Wanwan tried to calm her down, “Sister Luo, there must be a reason behind him publishing this report.”

Cui Luo knew that Shen Wanwan didn’t say things casually and asked with confusion, “What do you mean?”

“If the report were true, it would be fine. But this report is mostly based on personal speculation and lacks evidence. Yet, he still chose to publish it. He must have received some kind of benefit. We need to find out who’s trying to target Captain Tao.”

Saying this was easy, but doing it was much harder.

Tao Jiang had arrested countless criminals, both those in prison and those who weren’t, it was impossible to count them all with two hands.

As soon as Shen Wanwan returned to the team, she started reviewing the cases Tao Jiang had investigated. The files alone were enough to take up the whole day.

Cui Luo, on the other hand, went to check who the reporter had been in contact with recently. She didn’t return to the team until seven in the evening.

Both of them made progress.

Cui Luo was the first to bring out the address she had found. “This person met with the reporter the day before yesterday and handed him a black bag. I suspect the reporter was bribed.”

Shen Wanwan looked at the address and smiled widely. “What a coincidence. I’ve been looking into several suspicious people, and one of them is a criminal who was just released from prison a few days ago. It’s the same address.”

The criminal was named Li Wen, a former university teacher who had been arrested by Tao Jiang for intentional injury.

From the file, it appeared that Li Wen had beaten his lover. He had violent tendencies and would often resort to physical abuse. His lover couldn’t endure it anymore and chose to report him.

However, the records showed that his lover had reported him once before but later reconciled with him. This time, she was firm about sending Li Wen to prison.

While having an affair was immoral, Li Wen was far from a good person.

After the incident, Li Wen was fired from the university, and his future was ruined.

From this perspective, he was very likely to harbor resentment toward Tao Jiang. However, his primary target should have been his lover, not Tao Jiang.

In order to get to the bottom of things, Cui Luo and Shen Wanwan bought a pound of pig’s head meat, a pound of peanuts, and brought a bottle of white wine to visit Tao Jiang at his home.

Tao Jiang’s home was not wealthy. He still lived with his parents, who were simple people. When they heard that colleagues were coming over, they specifically went out to buy meat and vegetables and even cooked a few small dishes.

Tao Jiang seemed to be in pretty good shape—wearing a sleeveless undershirt and fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, looking like he’d started his retirement life early.

While pouring wine for Tao Jiang, Cui Luo told him about Li Wen’s situation.

Tao Jiang said, “You’re right. After his girlfriend reported him, he managed to talk her into withdrawing it. So I had a conversation with her. Now that he’s out of prison, he’s lost his job and his life’s worse than before. It’s normal for him to resent me.”

“What kind of person is that! He does something wrong and then blames us? Did we force him to cheat and beat people?”

Tao Jiang smiled, which was rare. “Why are you angrier than me?”

“They got you suspended! How could I not be mad? Captain Tao, you better keep your guard up. What if a real case pops up right now? We can’t manage without you.”

What Cui Luo said was sincere, though not entirely—there was also a bit of comfort mixed in for Tao Jiang.

Tao Jiang seemed to see through her, saying, “That’s enough. Just focus on your work and do it well—that’s the most important thing.”

The conversation shifted from those trying to frame Tao Jiang to Cui Luo and Shen Wanwan’s future work.

Tao Jiang usually didn’t talk much, but with more wine, he became more talkative and looked more approachable than usual.

He didn’t dare let the two girls drink, so the bottle of baijiu that Cui Luo brought was almost entirely finished by Tao Jiang alone.

Feeling a bit drunk, he began to talk to Shen Wanwan and Cui Luo about his thoughts. “To be honest, I don’t think you two should be working on the front line—it’s too dangerous. What if something happened to either of you? How would I explain that to your families?”

Cui Luo laughed, “I told you already, men and women are the same.”

“No, no, they’re not the same,” Tao Jiang said, cheeks flushed, shaking his hand firmly. “Saying men and women are the same, that’s just a slogan! You know what a slogan is? When a man does something wrong, how many people scold him? But if a woman cheats after getting married, how many people will curse her? And if your husband cheats, people would even tell you ‘a prodigal who turns back is worth more than gold’…”

Tao Jiang lowered his voice, “My older brother and sister-in-law are examples.”

Just as he was about to spill more family secrets, his parents quickly cut him off.

Since both Cui Luo and Shen Wanwan were girls, they didn’t stay too late. After chatting a little more, they left.

Before they left, Tao Jiang waved them off with a smile.

After so many years as a criminal investigator, he’d never gone out of his way to curry favor or soften up to anyone. He believed in the integrity of his teammates, trusted that they wouldn’t suck up or kick someone when they were down—but he had truly never expected to become friends with anyone on the team.

Tao Jiang didn’t think he needed friends, but having them… didn’t seem so bad.

Shen Wanwan was determined to help Tao Jiang.

She couldn’t explain why—she just felt that a good police officer shouldn’t be slandered or lose heart.

But just as she returned to the team, she received word that there’d been a murder case near Xuzhou Station, in their jurisdiction.

She had no choice but to set Tao Jiang’s situation aside for now and follow Zhu Jianhua to the crime scene.

The community where the crime occurred was fairly upscale, and the buildings were all relatively new.

When Shen Wanwan saw the name of the residential area, she froze for a moment—the victim lived in the same complex as Li Wen.
Was it just a coincidence?

Shen Wanwan asked Zhu Jianhua, “Do we know the identity of the victim?”

“Li Wen. He was just released not long ago—not exactly a good person.”

—

Li Wen was asleep when he was killed. A knife had been stabbed into his abdomen. His wife, Jiang Huining, had been living at her parents’ house ever since Li Wen went to prison. She returned home this morning, only to find his body—already cold.

Shen Wanwan arrived at the scene with Zhu Jianhua.

Li Wen’s home was nicely decorated, and his standard of living was considered upper-middle class in Xuzhou.

He had been a university teacher. His parents were also well-educated and respected in Xuzhou, with decent social standing and benefits.

Before Tao Jiang sent Li Wen to prison, his life could be described as happy and prosperous.

Shen Wanwan entered the bedroom. Against the wall was a 1.5-meter-wide bed. Li Wen was lying in the center, with the knife still lodged in his abdomen.

Cui Luo followed her in, and upon seeing the scene, tugged on Shen Wanwan’s sleeve and whispered, “This can’t be just a coincidence, right?”

They had just identified someone who was very likely trying to frame Tao Jiang—and now that person was dead, and murdered no less.

Zhu Jianhua asked, “Coincidence? What do you mean?”

Cui Luo explained the results of their investigation in full detail.

Zhu Jianhua’s expression didn’t change. “Then this makes sense—we’ve already found our first suspect.”

“You’re suspecting Captain Tao?!”

Zhu Jianhua said, “I’m suspecting everyone who had a grudge against Li Wen.”

Cui Luo couldn’t accept it. “You can’t suspect Captain Tao. Don’t you know what kind of person he is? You… Old Zhu, don’t tell me you’re doing this on purpose because of the past.”

Zhu Jianhua let out a strange laugh, which made Cui Luo even more uneasy.

Although the feud between Zhu Jianhua and Tao Jiang had lasted for years, Cui Luo always believed they were simply incompatible—not bad people. She never expected Zhu Jianhua to kick someone when they were down.

She mumbled under her breath, “Captain Tao was drinking with us last night. How could he have gone out and killed someone? Seriously, Zhu…”

Shen Wanwan comforted her, “The innocent have nothing to fear. It’s okay. Sister Luo, look at the body—it’s a little strange.”

Cui Luo frowned and looked over. “It is weird. The knife to the abdomen should’ve been the fatal wound, right? But there’s no sign of struggle—he looks like he just fell asleep. Unless…”

Shen Wanwan finished her sentence, “Unless he was already unconscious before he was attacked.”

She then went to examine the bedroom window.

There were signs the room had been searched. According to Jiang Huining, 500 yuan in cash and a wristwatch were missing.

Only the bedroom window in the entire house was open, and there were shoeprints on the windowsill.

Li Wen’s home was on the first floor and had no security bars. If he had forgotten to lock the window, the killer could have come and gone freely.

Based on the scene, it appeared to be a burglary that ended in murder upon encountering the homeowner.

Since no one had been living in the house for a while, it wasn’t surprising it caught a thief’s attention.

But the problem was, Li Wen seemed to already be deeply asleep before he was stabbed. If a thief had discovered someone at home, they could have simply left—or, at most, continued searching for valuables while being cautious. Why would they go straight to murder?

Zhu Jianhua understood this point. He sent everyone out to make inquiries, but even after the entire morning, they found very few clues.

Shen Wanwan had been running around all morning. When she got back to the station, she drank a large container of water first.

She barely had time to rest before being called in by Zhu Jianhua for a meeting.

There was a conference room at the city bureau, but Tao Jiang found it troublesome. Unless a higher-up was present, most meetings were held right in the main office.

Zhu Jianhua was even more casual. When he said they were having a meeting, he didn’t even bother dragging the chalkboard over—it was Cui Luo who took care of that.

Zhu Jianhua lazily asked, “Do we have a full picture of Li Wen’s personal relationships?”

Xiang Dong was the first to speak. “Li Wen got along well with his neighbors. Before the incident, everyone had a good impression of him. They all said he seemed like a polite man, always smiling and greeting people.”

Cui Luo added, “I went to the school where Li Wen used to work. His colleagues said the same. Plus, he had a humorous teaching style, didn’t enforce rules strictly, and was very popular with students. Back then, Li Wen’s lover was one of his students. Their affair wasn’t just an extramarital one—it was also a teacher-student relationship. After the incident, the girl’s family sent her abroad.”

“If she could be sent abroad, her family must’ve been well-off,” Zou Guodong remarked. “Yet she still chose to be with an older man? A teacher-student romance, huh…”

Cui Luo said, “It’s normal for students to idolize their teachers. The problem is when the teacher harbors bad intentions, and the student is too naïve. But she never came back to the country, so this probably has nothing to do with her.”

Shen Wanwan had gone to see Li Wen’s wife. Normally, the husband or wife are both considered suspects.

“Jiang Huining and Li Wen were childhood sweethearts. Their families were close, and the marriage was arranged from a young age. They held a wedding banquet when Jiang Huining was eighteen, and had a daughter a few years later. Jiang Huining said their relationship had always been good, but her parents’ neighbors claimed her parents often complained about their son-in-law. It seems the couple argued a lot.”

Xiang Dong added, “Neighbors mentioned frequently hearing the two of them fighting. A few times, they even saw bruises on Jiang Huining’s face.”

Li Wen had a tendency to use violence with his mistress, and even more so with his wife.

“That’s domestic abuse,” said Zou Guodong. “Pretending to be nice to strangers while turning into a different person with his own wife. A man like that is pathetic. If he wants to fight, he should go pick on someone his own size—what kind of man hits his wife?”

Zhu Jianhua said thoughtfully, “It seems Jiang Huining is a strong suspect. Wanwan, did you find anything else?”

“Jiang Huining said today was her first time coming back home. She wants to divorce Li Wen. The two of them met briefly on the day he got out of prison, but he refused. She came back today to try convincing him again—only to find him dead. She claims she stayed at her parents’ house all night, but a neighbor said they saw her running out of her house in a panic. I asked her parents—her mother said she left after receiving a phone call.”

Cui Luo asked, “She lied? That makes her even more suspicious.”

After Shen Wanwan finished speaking, Zhu Jianhua looked at Zou Guodong.

Zou Guodong gave a sheepish laugh. “Do I even need to say it? Captain Tao doesn’t care about Li Wen at all. I chatted with him a bit about the case—he already ruled out burglary. Captain Tao couldn’t possibly be the killer.”

Zhu Jianhua asked calmly, “Where was he yesterday? Does he have an alibi?”

Zou Guodong remained silent.

Cui Luo quickly spoke up, “Wanwan and I can vouch for him. When the two of us left yesterday, Captain Tao was already drunk—there’s no way he could’ve gone out and killed someone.”

Zhu Jianhua asked, “What time did you two leave?”

“A little after seven.”

“Then how do you account for the time after that? You’ve been a cop for this long—do I really need to teach you this?”

Cui Luo was left speechless.

Zhu Jianhua motioned for Zou Guodong to continue.

But Zou Guodong kept his mouth shut.

Zhu Jianhua reminded him, “Think carefully—do you think hiding the truth helps or hurts Tao Jiang?”

“Captain Tao really couldn’t be the killer… fine, fine, I’ll say it. After he drank, he went out again.”

Shen Wanwan’s heart sank.

Drunk, no alibi, and possibly being framed—Tao Jiang’s name might not be cleared until the real killer is caught.

But Zhu Jianhua remained unfazed. “Keep an eye on him these next few days.”

Zou Guodong protested, “Old Zhu, you’ve gone too far. You really suspect Captain Tao? If he were the killer, would he cover it up in such a sloppy way? That’s not the kind of person he is!”

Zhu Jianhua said with a stern face, “If you’ve got a problem, take it up with the captain.”

“You really think you’re in charge just because someone handed you a feather and called it a command?” Zou Guodong exploded in anger. “Fine, do whatever you want. I’m done!”

He stormed out of the office in fury.

Cui Luo also felt that Zhu Jianhua was being a bit too much, but the case still had to be solved—someone had to keep going even if the others walked away.

Zhu Jianhua remained unmoved. “If Zou Guodong doesn’t want to go, Xiang Dong, you go.”

Xiang Dong agreed.

Zhu Jianhua then assigned Shen Wanwan to pick up the autopsy report.

Cui Luo took the chance to leave with her. As they walked, he said, “What’s going on with Old Zhu? He’s always been annoyed with Captain Tao, but this is over the top. Could he really be trying to use this chance to get revenge for his brother?”

Shen Wanwan wasn’t sure either. She knew that to Zhu Jianhua, his brother’s case was no small matter.

A talented detective who had stayed away from front-line investigations for so many years, yet still held a grudge about that old case—you could tell he was someone who hated evil to the core.

If it were Shen Wanwan, and someone she cared about was labeled a traitor right before death, she probably wouldn’t be able to let it go either.

As the two of them were discussing, a man brushed past them.

Only after he walked by did Shen Wanwan notice him. She glanced quickly at his back—it looked familiar.

Ten minutes later, Shen Wanwan and Cui Luo returned to the office with the autopsy report.

There was now an extra man in the office—the very one Shen Wanwan had just seen.

He was quite young, with neatly parted short hair, wearing a white T-shirt and gray shorts. His thin frame made him look fragile. Yet his features were refined and attractive—thick brows, a high nose bridge—but his eyes held a cold indifference.

Zhu Jianhua introduced him, “He Xingyuan, newly transferred to our team.”

Shen Wanwan stared at him in shock.

It was He Xingyuan?

The once-renowned genius of their alley?

If she remembered correctly, just yesterday someone had been badmouthing He Xingyuan for falling in with a group of thugs, and now suddenly he was a detective?

Shen Wanwan didn’t have a strong impression of He Xingyuan. There wasn’t much information about him—he was like a mystery that had suddenly appeared before her.

She didn’t say much and handed the autopsy report to Zhu Jianhua. “Time of death was between 9 and 11 p.m. yesterday. The fatal wound was a knife to the abdomen, but the forensic doctor said there are signs of poisoning. Samples have been sent for analysis, but the results aren’t back yet.”

He Xingyuan lifted his eyelids slightly, then quickly lowered them again.

Zhu Jianhua flipped through the report and said, “There are no restraint marks on the body. It seems Li Wen was already disoriented from the poisoning before the killer made a move. There were no fingerprints on the dagger—the killer was well prepared.”

Shen Wanwan asked, “Was the poison administered by the killer?”

“Still unclear,” Zhu Jianhua replied. “You and He Xingyuan should know each other, right? I saw your addresses are quite close.”

Shen Wanwan didn’t know whether that counted as “knowing” someone, so she said, “I’ve heard of him.”

“In that case, you’ll take him around today to help him get familiar. Also, Li Wen had a daughter named Li Yunyi, she’s still in high school. You’ll go with He Xingyuan to visit her—see if you can indirectly learn more about the relationship between Jiang Huining and Li Wen.”

Last time she met He Xingyuan, his attitude hadn’t exactly been friendly.

Shen Wanwan didn’t enjoy managing interpersonal relationships. For those who weren’t friendly to her, she didn’t bother to offer kindness in return.

But Zhu Jianhua had given a task, so Shen Wanwan had no choice but to accept.

She walked toward He Xingyuan. “Do you have a bike? Want to ride there?”