Lin Shuyue watched his trembling steps, afraid he would fall. She quickly stood up to greet him. “Grandpa, please walk slowly, slowly.”

“Aye, aye,” the old man responded.

Zheng Zhonglu helped him sit down on a single sofa and apologized to Lin Shuyue. “I’m sorry, Reporter Lin. It’s been too long since a reporter came to our house. My father is too excited.”

“It’s alright, I understand.”

Old Man Zheng urged Zheng Zhonglu to quickly pour water for Lin Shuyue. Without waiting for Lin Shuyue to ask, he began to recount the story he had told countless reporters over the years.

In this regard, he and Zhengjun were indeed father and son, even their way of doing things was the same.

“My son Zhengjun and my daughter-in-law Liang Haihui were in love and married on their own free will. Their relationship was very good. In the four or five years that Ah Fu and Haihui were married, they were always harmonious and loving, and they rarely argued.”

“To say that my son killed Haihui, not just me, but no one in the entire village would believe it. But what’s the use of us not believing it? Ah Lu and I have been running back and forth to the court and the Public Security Bureau all these years, but it’s been completely useless. The court told us that this matter was done by my son Ah Fu, and the evidence is conclusive.”

“How could our Ah Fu kill Haihui? Their relationship was so good. On the afternoon of the day the incident happened, Ah Fu came back for dinner and even went a long way out of his way to buy Haihui the pig trotters she liked to eat.”

Zheng Zhonglu affirmed his father’s statement from the side. “My dad is right. They were a well-known, loving couple in the village. Both of them worked at Limin Real Estate. Every time they had a holiday, my younger brother would do all the laundry and cooking. Haihui didn’t have to do anything. Because of this, my mother even had a big conflict with Haihui.”

After his eldest son finished speaking, Old Man Zheng continued, “When I was young, I had a little money. After my two sons got married, we divided the family property. We built a house for each of them. Because Haihui and Ah Fu usually had to go to work, their child always stayed with us. Sometimes when they got off work late, the child would stay with us overnight.”

Through Zheng Zhonglu and Old Man Zheng’s narration, Lin Shuyue pieced together the way Zhengjun and the victim Liang Haihui interacted.

The two were classmates, fell in love freely, and were very loving after marriage. Because both of them worked at the same place, they usually went to and from work together. Their social circles were also very simple.

Moreover, Liang Haihui was beautiful and gentle, with a relatively peaceful personality. She had grown to be over twenty years old without making any enemies. Extramarital affairs were even more out of the question!

It was precisely because of this, and the fact that the doors and windows of their home showed no signs of forced entry after her death, that the police could only focus their attention on Liang Haihui’s husband, Zhengjun.

And they felt he was a prime suspect in his wife’s murder.

There were two pieces of evidence to support this:

First, Zhengjun’s job was as a salesman, and sometimes he wouldn’t return home until late at night due to social engagements. He also sometimes went to places like clubs and dance halls. Liang Haihui had argued with Zhengjun about this. This was the testimony given by Liang Haihui and Zhengjun’s mutual colleagues.

Second, during the interrogation of Zhengjun, Zhengjun had admitted that before he left that night, the two of them had a few words because he was going out late at night again for a social engagement.

Based on these two points, they reconstructed the entire process of Zhengjun killing his wife.

Because the couple had argued, Zhengjun and Liang Haihui quarreled. Later, the argument escalated, and during the struggle, Zhengjun accidentally strangled Liang Haihui to death. Afterwards, to conceal the evidence, he took a kitchen knife and slashed Liang Haihui’s neck, and messed up the house to make it look like a burglary.

Then, he went to the kitchen, turned on the gas cylinder, and lit a mosquito coil, attempting to ignite the gas to destroy the body and eliminate the evidence. However, because the gas ran out, his plan failed.

After staging the scene, he took the opportunity to go out to the banquet, using this to create a perfect alibi.

Furthermore, the police had simulated the distance between Shuanglin Village and the Red Romance Clubhouse, where Zhengjun was supposed to attend the banquet. The conclusion was that at Zhengjun’s cycling speed, it would take him twenty minutes to arrive, but from the time Zhengjun received the call to the time he arrived at the Red Romance, a full fifty minutes had passed.

The thirty minutes in between were completely enough for Zhengjun to commit the crime.

Zheng Zhonglu also took out the rebuttal he had written for his younger brother over the years.

Zhengjun had explanations for all these points.

First: Liang Haihui did indeed have some complaints about Zhengjun going out for social engagements. But that was because Zhengjun had a stomach problem, and during these engagements, he mostly just drank alcohol without eating. Every time Zhengjun came back from a social event, he would be completely drunk, and he would always have a stomachache in the latter half of the night. He had even been hospitalized because of it. To prove the authenticity of this rebuttal, they also included two emergency room medical records from Pengcheng Hospital from the middle of the night. The official seal of the hospital and the doctor’s signature were all there.

Second point: That night, Zhengjun was going out for a social engagement, and he did have a few words with Liang Haihui. The content of the argument was still about asking Zhengjun to drink less alcohol. Zhengjun repeatedly assured her, but Liang Haihui became increasingly angry. Zhengjun persuaded her for a long time before he was finally able to leave.

This was also one of the reasons why Zhengjun was half an hour late to the Red Romance.

Regarding this point, Zhengjun had a witness. He happened to run into the owner of the village store, who was taking his child back to the store to watch TV, when he left.

The store owner’s testimony was also there. According to his account, he saw Zhengjun around eight o’clock, which was the time when the news broadcast on TV ended and the drama started. That day, his one-year-old son had finished eating and insisted on going out for a walk. He had no choice but to take his son out for a stroll. To watch TV, he timed it perfectly and rushed back home with his child. After meeting Zhengjun, the two of them even chatted for a while. He also saw Liang Haihui come out and close the door after Zhengjun left.

Lin Shuyue read these two sets of materials over and over. “There are witnesses and physical evidence. Why was this case still judged like this?”

Old Man Zheng sat on the sofa and slowly shook his head when he heard this. “We don’t know. The court said they didn’t recognize the evidence we provided. We went to the police station, but the police avoided us whenever they saw us. They said my Ah Fu’s wife-murder case was closed and told us not to make trouble.”

“Every year, we submit applications for retrial to the court. But the court has rejected our requests every single time.”

Old Man Zheng was sixty-two years old this year, and he had been submitting this appeal for eight years. His wife couldn’t bear the thought of their beloved youngest son being a murderer. She became depressed and fell ill, not even making it to spring before passing away.

Old Man Zheng’s health was also deteriorating. He always felt that his time was running out, and he didn’t know if he would live to see his youngest son come out.

Lin Shuyue took photos of all these materials and saved them.

Unknowingly, Lin Shuyue had already stayed at the Zheng’s house for three hours. It was now almost five o’clock when footsteps were heard, and a girl in a school uniform with a backpack walked in.

She was about sixteen years old, tall, with a cold and aloof appearance, somewhat resembling Zhengjun but bearing a seventy percent resemblance to the photos of Liang Haihui that Lin Shuyue had seen.

From her appearance, one could glimpse the beauty of her mother in her younger years.

After entering the house, she first called out “Uncle” and then “Grandpa.” She also nodded politely at Lin Shuyue before taking her backpack into her room.

“This is Ah Fu’s daughter, her name is Zheng Jiao,” Zheng Zhonglu introduced her to Lin Shuyue. “She’s fifteen this year and in her third year of junior high school at Taijiang No. 1 Middle School. Her grades aren’t very good. My wife and I are thinking of sending her to a medical school next year to become a nurse. It’s a stable job.”

Zheng Zhonglu had a good relationship with his younger brother. He only had two sons himself, and both he and his wife doted on this niece.

Lin Shuyue said, “That’s good. Doctors, nurses, and teachers are all good jobs nowadays. Good benefits and high social status.”

Lin Shuyue’s words really resonated with Zheng Zhonglu, and he was very happy.

Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Shuyue stood up to say goodbye. Before leaving, Lin Shuyue remembered what the prison guard had said at the prison. “I heard that Zhengjun’s former boss still often goes to see Zhengjun? Have they come to see you?”

Old Man Zheng insisted on seeing Lin Shuyue downstairs. Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on his worried face. “Boss Yang is a good person. From the time Ah Fu started working for him, he never mistreated Ah Fu. After Ah Fu got into this trouble, he was the only person in their company who believed that Ah Fu didn’t kill anyone.”

Old Man Zheng was very grateful to Zhengjun’s boss. “He has taken good care of our family over the years. Last year, when I was hospitalized, I ran into him at the hospital, and he was the one who helped me find a doctor. He also comes to see us during festivals.”

“It’s just that our Ah Fu and Haihui didn’t have the good fortune.” Old Man Zheng had thought countless times that if this incident hadn’t happened, his Ah Fu, having such a good boss, would be living a very good life.

Back then, Ah Fu’s colleagues, weren’t they all high-ranking executives at Limin Real Estate now? Driving cars and living in apartments, who wouldn’t be jealous?

As they were talking, they had already gone downstairs and were saying goodbye when Lin Shuyue’s phone rang. She picked it up and saw that it was Hang Jiabai calling.

“I was organizing case files this afternoon and took a look at the case you’re currently investigating. Did you make any progress on your end?” Hang Jiabai’s voice on the other end of the phone was deep and magnetic. Lin Shuyue couldn’t help but rub her ear.

“Yes, shall we meet up?” Lin Shuyue was just about to go to the Public Security Bureau to find He Yuling. After all, she knew quite a few police officers, but He Yuling was the one she was most familiar with.

But before she could go, Hang Jiabai had come to her door. What was it called when someone brought you a pillow just when you were feeling sleepy? This was it!

Hang Jiabai, on the other end of the phone, had the same intention when he called. He thought for a moment and said, “I remember there’s a cafe in front of your newspaper office. Let’s meet there.”

“No problem, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Lin Shuyue hung up the phone and started the car. She drove quickly and soon arrived at the cafe across from Dingsheng Building. As she parked the car and got out, Lin Shuyue saw a man in a dark blue suit talking to Hang Jiabai from afar.

The two seemed to know each other well, and Lin Shuyue noticed that the smile never left Hang Jiabai’s face.