Chapter 5: The Female Corpse in the School Building (5)

By evening, Mu Zhiquan was taken into custody. Placed before him was the pair of jade-green earrings.

Han Changlin and Zhao Leiting conducted the interrogation, while Meng Siqi took notes.

Faced with the photographic evidence of Zhou Jieli wearing the earrings, Mu Zhiquan admitted, “Yes, I took them. But I didn’t kill her. I stole them from her desk yesterday evening while she was at the cafeteria.”

Mu Zhiquan was trying to weasel his way out.

Bang!

Han Changlin slammed the table with such force that the interrogation room seemed to tremble. Mu Zhiquan flinched, instinctively shrinking back.

Meng Siqi’s pen slipped, leaving a jagged line on her paper. She pressed a hand to her chest to steady herself.

“Mu Zhiquan,” Han Changlin’s voice was sharp and commanding as he pointed at him. “If you don’t start telling the truth, don’t blame me for what happens next.”

“Captain Han, even if you beat me to death, I didn’t kill her!”

“I have ways to make you talk!”

The atmosphere grew unbearably tense. Sweat trickled down Mu Zhiquan’s forehead, yet he maintained a stubborn defiance, as if resigned to his fate.

Meng Siqi knew that if Mu Zhiquan insisted he had only stolen the earrings, they had no solid way to break his defense. Perhaps Han Changlin was deliberately using intimidation.

Han Changlin tried a different approach. “You expect me to believe you stole the earrings last night?”

Mu Zhiquan hesitated. “Captain Han, I admit I have a habit of taking small things, but I swear I didn’t kill anyone. How could I? Zhou Jieli was a teacher I deeply respected!” His voice wavered with a hint of suppressed sobbing.

“If you were stealing, why not take the cash from her drawer?”

That question hit the mark. Mu Zhiquan swallowed hard, his eyes darting around. “I… I’ll be honest…”

Meng Siqi’s pulse quickened. Was he about to confess?

But Mu Zhiquan merely lowered his head and said in a pitiful tone, “A woman like Teacher Zhou… Which man in this school wouldn’t admire her? I just… I wanted to get closer to her. That’s why I took her earrings.”

Meng Siqi’s hand froze mid-stroke. Her pen halted abruptly, the ink pooling on the paper like a tiny black stain.

Han Changlin’s expression darkened. “So you tried to assault her, and when she resisted, you killed her!”

Mu Zhiquan frantically waved his hands. “No, no! I didn’t!”

Meng Siqi had been observing him closely. Though he looked like he was on the verge of tears, his eyes still held a certain cunning. She suspected much of what he had said earlier was fabricated. His claim of seeing Zhao Guanghui last night could have been a deliberate misdirection to clear himself of suspicion.

The interrogation reached a deadlock. Han Changlin continued his relentless questioning, while Mu Zhiquan, now openly crying, kept insisting he was innocent. There was no way to make him confess.

Frustrated, Han Changlin suddenly stood up and slammed a notebook on the table. He didn’t throw it at anyone, but the force of the impact sent it flying across the room. It landed right in front of Meng Siqi.

As she picked it up, her gaze fell on the forensic report inside. One line stood out: “No fingerprints from the suspect were found at the crime scene.”

Something clicked in her mind.

Han Changlin might have his own methods to break Mu Zhiquan, but Meng Siqi wanted to try a different approach.

While Han Changlin stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Mu Zhiquan, she spoke up. “Captain Han, I have something to say.”

Despite his frustration, Han Changlin forced himself to calm down. “Go ahead.”

“Dr. Chen should be finishing up the fingerprint analysis about now.”

Han Changlin turned slightly toward her, while Zhao Leiting looked at her in surprise. They all knew that no fingerprints had been found at the crime scene.

The word “fingerprint” immediately caught Mu Zhiquan’s attention. His eyes darted toward Meng Siqi, a flicker of unease appearing in them.

Meng Siqi deliberately kept her tone casual. “Last night, when you tried to take the earrings off Zhou Jieli, your hands were trembling. You had no choice but to remove your gloves…”

She spoke as if she had seen it happen firsthand. It was a fabrication, but the next part came from the vision she had experienced.

Mu Zhiquan’s expression changed dramatically. Before, he had been defiant and stubborn. Now, his pupils shrank in fear, and his face turned rigid.

Meng Siqi continued, “Even after taking off your gloves, you still struggled to remove the earrings. In the process, your fingers accidentally brushed against her ear. That means your right index fingerprint is still there…”

“Impossible!” Mu Zhiquan blurted out. “I never touched her!”

The room went silent.

It took a moment for the weight of his words to sink in.

Zhao Leiting straightened abruptly. Han Changlin’s shoulders twitched slightly.

Meng Siqi hadn’t expected Mu Zhiquan, who had been so stubbornly resistant, to expose himself with just a single slip of the tongue.

Realizing what he had just said, Mu Zhiquan’s face turned deathly pale. Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

The interrogation room was sealed tight. There were no windows, only a small ventilation duct for airflow. The phrase “Confess and be lenient. Resist and face severe punishment.” was painted boldly on the wall, looming over the now-despairing Mu Zhiquan.

A few minutes of silence passed.

Then, finally, Mu Zhiquan broke down and confessed.

“I… I really admired Teacher Zhou…”

Throughout his confession, he never once referred to Zhou Jieli by name. He only called her “Teacher Zhou.” His voice carried a tone of reverence, a twisted form of admiration that had led him to commit the unthinkable.

The difference in status between the two was quite significant. Zhou Jieli was a well-known beauty and an outstanding teacher who had been repeatedly recognized as an excellent educator. In contrast, Mu Zhiquan was lazy and aimless. After his wife left him for another man, he remained single for years and had no stable job.

Through a relative’s introduction, he secured a job as a security guard at the high school. The first time he saw Zhou Jieli, he was instantly captivated by her. However, due to his deep-seated inferiority complex, he never dared to look at her directly.

Zhou Jieli became the object of his sexual fantasies. Every day at school, his attention was entirely focused on her. Over time, he also learned a lot about Zhou Jieli’s husband, Zhao Guanghui.

There was an incident where Zhao Guanghui assaulted Zhou Jieli at school. Seeing this awakened Mu Zhiquan’s sympathy for her. He believed she did not deserve such a man. This realization made him feel that Zhou Jieli was not as unattainable as he had once thought, so he began to approach her intentionally.

Bringing her food became his only way to get close to her. Over time, they became more familiar with each other. However, Mu Zhiquan knew deep down that there was never any real possibility between them.

During the Spring Festival, a cousin returned from Guangdong and gave him a small glass bottle containing a drug. His cousin told him that if a woman inhaled it, she would become completely submissive.

At first, Mu Zhiquan never entertained the idea of using it. But things changed when Zhou Jieli started staying at the school dormitory more frequently.

His cousin’s warning that the drug would expire soon kept ringing in his ears. Eventually, Mu Zhiquan could no longer suppress his desires. He bought some oranges and injected half the bottle’s contents into two of them. It was a large dose.

That evening, he nervously knocked on Zhou Jieli’s door. Since they were familiar with each other and he was responsible for school security, she had no reason to be wary of him.

Mu Zhiquan placed the oranges on her desk and even started peeling one for her, claiming it was a gift from his hometown and insisting she try it.

Zhou Jieli politely declined while picking up a stack of student assignments she was grading, turning away from him. It was a subtle way of signaling that she was busy and wanted him to leave.

Feeling disheartened by her indifference, Mu Zhiquan realized that all his efforts had meant nothing to her.

The dim yellow light in the room cast a soft glow around her figure. Her well-proportioned body made his heart race wildly. His hands trembled as he held the orange peel. If only he could touch her…

He reached into his pocket, quickly poured the drug into his palm, and rushed forward to cover her mouth. The woman struggled weakly, but the drug soon took effect, and she lost consciousness.

Lying on the floor, she was as silent as a sleeping beauty. Her breathing was steady, and her body exuded the intoxicating scent of a mature woman.

Afraid that she would wake up, he poured the remaining drug into her mouth. As his gloved fingers brushed against her soft tongue, a shiver ran through his entire body.

His blood boiled with excitement as his true nature was finally unleashed. He reached out with trembling hands, touching her face and body. Due to his job, he always wore gloves. Seeking greater sensation, he carefully removed her clothes.

However, overwhelmed by anxiety and the fear of her suddenly waking up, he was unable to go through with his plan.

Frustrated by his failed attempts, he removed one of his gloves, preparing to stimulate himself. Just then, Zhou Jieli’s long eyelashes fluttered, and her eyelids slowly opened.

At that moment, Mu Zhiquan felt as if he had been doused in cold water. Terror, guilt, and the instinct to escape consumed him. In a panic, he grabbed her throat.

Zhou Jieli was too weak to resist. Her wide-open eyes stared at him, unwavering.

When he was certain she had stopped breathing, he collapsed backward, gasping for air.

All he had wanted was to touch her, yet he had ended up killing her. He liked Zhou Jieli. He never intended to harm her.

A sudden thunderclap shook him to his core. He could no longer carry out his plan. In a panic, he scrambled out of the room.

Later that night, after calming down, he returned to the scene. He cleaned up the room, wiped his fingerprints off her neck, and took her earrings as a keepsake.

“If only she had eaten the orange I peeled for her, she wouldn’t have died…”

Mu Zhiquan’s confession was chilling and devoid of remorse.

From his words, Meng Siqi could clearly see a man whose desires and fantasies had consumed him. His so-called love for Zhou Jieli was nothing more than an excuse for his twisted obsession.

Zhou Jieli had a promising future, but her life was cruelly taken by a monster’s greed.

In the end, Han Changlin raised a crucial question. “Mu Zhiquan, you previously claimed you saw Zhao Guanghui last night. Were you trying to frame him?”

Mu Zhiquan’s expression was lifeless. “No, I don’t remember. I really did see a figure. He often appears at the school and wears white clothes, so I thought it was him.”

Han Changlin did not press further. The case seemed to be resolved. While Mu Zhiquan might not have deliberately fabricated his earlier statement, it at least suggested that someone else had been at the school that night. It could have been a scavenger or someone else.

After the interrogation, Han Changlin instructed Zhao Leiting in the hallway. “Zhao Leiting, tomorrow, take Old Feng and have Mu Zhiquan identify the crime scene. Make sure to establish a solid chain of evidence. Also, verify the type of drug he used and compare it to what was found in Zhou Jieli’s body to ensure consistency.”

“Don’t worry, Captain Han. I’ll handle it.”

Han Changlin then turned to Meng Siqi. “Xiao Meng, it’s getting late. Let Zhao Leiting take you home.”

It was past nine o’clock. The last bus was still running, and Meng Siqi knew the others still had a lot of work ahead. They would likely be staying late at the station. She declined and decided to take the bus home on her own.

As she stepped outside, a gust of cold wind hit her. She wrapped her coat tightly around herself and shrank back slightly.

During the interrogation, when she had mentioned “fingerprints,” the intense moment had made her break out in a cold sweat. Only now did she realize that the inside of her coat was damp. As the icy wind brushed against her, it felt like touching ice.

She decided to stay at the police station for the night.

For officers, spending the night at the station was nothing unusual. Meng Siqi freshened up briefly in the restroom, then unfolded a reclining chair, covered herself with a blanket, and closed her eyes to rest. However, the details of Mu Zhiquan’s confession kept replaying in her mind, making her feel uneasy.

A dim wall lamp cast a faint glow in the corner of the office. When Han Changlin returned from finishing his work to write his report, he immediately noticed Meng Siqi asleep behind a tall stack of books.

For months, he had held a strong bias against her. But today, he felt his opinion wavering. If the director hadn’t spoken to him before, advising him to recognize everyone’s strengths and weaknesses instead of acting solely based on his own temperament, he might never have involved Meng Siqi in criminal investigations. Initially, he had only assigned her simple tasks like taking notes, thinking she was not capable of much else.

During the investigation, since no money or valuables were missing and Zhou Jieli’s ring was still on her finger, no one had noticed that anything else had been taken from the scene. It was only Meng Siqi’s keen intuition that caught the detail about the missing earrings.

Criminal investigations should not rely solely on intuition, but intuition itself could stem from sharp observational skills and a meticulous mind.

Han Changlin pondered for a moment, then smiled slightly and continued writing his report.

By noon the next day, Zhao Leiting had completed the chain of evidence. Han Changlin finalized his report and submitted it to the director’s office.

Director Liu smiled and said, “Changlin, solving a case within twenty-four hours—this is a first! You’re making progress. Big progress!”

Although Director Liu followed up with a few words of caution, Han Changlin kept replaying the phrase “big progress” in his mind. At that moment, he knew the successful resolution of this high-profile female teacher’s murder case within a day would quickly spread throughout the station.

How would the First Unit react? What would Lu He’s expression be?

–

Back in the office, Han Changlin clapped his hands together and said, “Everyone, listen up.”

Meng Siqi looked up and saw the others standing. She quickly stood up as well. Han Changlin remained composed and spoke confidently, “The station is very pleased with this case. Solving it within twenty-four hours is a team effort, and I’ve taken note of each of your contributions.”

As he glanced at each team member, his gaze lingered slightly on Meng Siqi, filling her with a quiet sense of pride.

“Keep up the good work! We’ll have awards for you at the end of the year!” Han Changlin concluded in a firm voice.

Zhao Leiting immediately clapped and said loudly, “Well said, Captain Han!”

The office fell into a brief silence before Han Changlin pointed at him and said, “You’re always the loudest!”

The room erupted into laughter.

That afternoon, Meng Siqi and Zhao Leiting worked on a theft case in the community. It turned out to be a simple misunderstanding—a child had taken money from home. The case was quickly resolved, leaving both in a good mood. They even stopped by a street vendor to buy snacks.

Zhao Leiting handed her a skewer of lamb, saying, “This is on me!”

“Why?” she asked.

“You made a great contribution to the Zhou Jieli case. I admire you,” he replied. Despite being older than Meng Siqi, his youthful appearance made him look younger. Meng Siqi had noticed that his greatest strength was his ability to charm people with words, which made him well-liked at the station.

“Thanks, but it was just luck.” She smiled, taking the skewer.