Aside from a "learning to farm" field trip organized by her school when she was little, Lang Qiao had never left the city. Having heard this much, for a time she couldn't comprehend it and couldn't resist following up, "No, what you're saying is… A tree at the Zhao family's gate caught fire and fell, and the whole family burned to death? Did the whole family live in a single room?"
"Their house was a bad one," Mother He explained softly. "We're behind the times over there, I remember…it was after we had Zhongyi that it became normal to re-roof houses with brick and tile. Their family's man couldn't work, and there were a lot of children, they could barely manage to live. Where would they get the money to put up a new roof? They always lived in the old house. If a bit of snow fell in winter you had to sweep it away at once, or else the roof would come down.
"They'd managed to get their eldest out to study, and the whole family had such hopes for him. The old couple praised heaven and earth, said their son was working in the city, he had money, the family could rely on him and put up a new roof, and the deaf-mute youngest and the second girl would have hope, too. The roof had just been stripped off the wing then, the two girls had nowhere to stay, so they slept on the floor of their parents' room. When the burning tree came down, the ceiling beam collapsed, and the old couple were crushed right away. The two girls were both still young. One got her leg trapped, and the other one couldn't hear. Maybe she was a little slow, too. She panicked and tried to pull her little sister out, so she couldn't get out herself. The little one wasn't even two years old. There's nothing to say, there."
Lang Qiao was stunned for a long time, then quickly opened her notebook. "The fire happened while the house was being repaired? Where was Zhao Haochang—Zhao Fengnian at the time? In Yan City?"
Mother He thought about it for an age. "No, I think he'd come back home especially because of the house… But he wasn't there that day. He'd gone to the county seat to see his teacher or something. Oh, it would have been better if he'd been there. That family of little ones and cripples, if there'd been a perfectly good sturdy young man there, how could they have come to an end like that?"
This unusual story made Lang Qiao break out in gooseflesh. "Then…how did they know it was the idiot who'd done it?"
"He was right there, with a box of matches in his hand. When the first people came to put out the fire, they saw him sitting nearby, totally unconcerned, burning leaves for fun. They asked whether he'd set the fire, he giggled and nodded."
"How was this handled afterwards?"
"How else could it be handled? Like that. An idiot who didn't understand anything, what could you do to him? His parents were gone, his brother and sister-in-law saw him as a burden, the sister-in-law made a scene all over the place, said her family had no money, they weren't responsible, told them to go tie him up and shoot him. The police station in town sent people. When they saw that it was an idiot, they couldn't do anything, either. They took some photographs and left."
Lang Qiao spoke. "How could they not be responsible? If an incompetent individual injures another person's life or property, wouldn't the guardians bear the liability?"
Mother He looked back at her in confusion and fear. She didn't understand this imperial edict Lang Qiao had pronounced.
Lang Qiao exchanged a helpless look with her, then suddenly noticed that she'd said something stupid and felt so awkward she forgot how to speak for a time.
Just then, Fei Du, who hadn't uttered a sound all this time, put in a timely word. "Do you remember what kind of person this Zhao Fengnian was? What his relationship with Zhongyi was like?"
"Of course I remember. The whole village knew that the Zhao family's eldest had great prospects. Zhongyi and the other little ones were always following him around. He was a big boy, not willing to play with them, he would usually say something to get them to leave him alone, but with those little idiots it was always 'Fengnian-ge this, Fengnian-ge that.'" Mother He had said this much when she thought of something, and her eyes reddened. Someone passed her a wet paper towel, and she took it and mopped her face for a long time. "The Zhao family's eldest was pretty studious, when he was at home he didn't go out, just sat alone indoors reading. When he'd go out in the fields to help his family, if he met anyone he knew from the village, he'd say hello and nothing else. He was a very quiet child."
Fei Du nodded thoughtfully. "And afterwards, this Zhao Fengnian never went back."
"I didn't know where he'd gone. I never expected he was in the city, and he'd changed his name and become so important…" Mother He's words suddenly paused, and her eyes slowly opened wide. She seemed to be awakening from a dream. "The person driving the car who took me away yesterday was the Zhao family's eldest? I…I didn't recognize him! Why…why didn't he tell me? Does he have something to do with my son's case?"
Fei Du sighed and leaned slightly forward. Using a soothing voice, he said, "They're still investigating. Why did you go with him? What did he say to you?"
"He said…that he was a person who specially handled lawsuits for people. That there was a person surnamed Liu who did the same job, and he was that rich person's…—that person who came to the Public Safety Bureau last night."
"Attorney Liu," said Fei Du.
"Right, attorney. He said this Attorney Liu had evidence of who the killer was, and he'd snuck over to the Public Safety Bureau to report it because his conscience was bothering him, but there was no use having evidence, because the murderer was an important person, the police didn't dare to touch him. My son would have died for nothing… I panicked, asked him what to do. He said, in this society, if you want to right a wrong, you have to make a splash—"
When Tao Ran took Lang Qiao's phone call, he was serving as driver, taking Captain Luo, lightly wounded and refusing to leave the front, towards Yan West Polisci.
"I sent someone to investigate. When Zhao Haochang had just graduated, he didn't have money to rent an apartment and lived in the West Flower Market District for the better part of a year. That should explain why he's so familiar with the West District's terrain. Also, I confirmed with Attorney Liu that Zhao really was very concerned with Zhang Donglai's case. Before Zhang Donglai was released, he paid even closer attention than Zhang Ting." Lang Qiao took a breath and continued, "And Attorney Liu also says, since the business of the tie concerned his career, he didn't breathe a word about it to anyone but the police, not even his wife. Zhao Haochang definitely couldn't have known."
The phone was on speaker in the car. Luo Wenzhou interrupted her. "But he can quibble and say all important people are like that, or perhaps he'll simply say that it was something he made up to fool Wang Xiujuan. 'Make a splash' doesn't necessarily mean he was telling her to go kill herself. He just meant for her to cry out her wrongs in public—it's too vague, is there anything stronger?"
"Not yet, although there's something very fishy about what happened to his family. If it had happened to an ordinary villager and then been left unresolved, I'd believe it, but Zhao Haochang was already working then. Would he have let it go at that? He seems to be pretty competent at manipulating public opinion."
"Write up a report quickly, go through the formalities, and obtain the official records of the Zhao family's case from their town's police station." Luo Wenzhou considered. "Can we trace the phone he gave He Zhongyi?"
Lang Qiao sighed. "Smuggled goods. We can't track it."
"What about the 100,000 yuan?" said Luo Wenzhou.
A voice unhurriedly put in a word from beside Lang Qiao. "In some rather intricate M&A projects, a 'reliable' legal advisor will often get some gray income (37). Sometimes it may simply be cold hard cash. You won't find it."
Luo Wenzhou: "…"
It was clearly an objective statement. Then why did it seem like a provocation coming out of a certain person's mouth?
"What brilliant ideas does President Fei have?" said Luo Wenzhou.
The phone line was silent for a while, and Luo Wenzhou was thinking that he'd just put in a word and left—that was something Fei Du would do—but then, Fei Du suddenly said, "I called Zhang Donglai this morning and asked if he remembered where his tie had gone. It turns out that he didn't even know he'd lost the tie. He thought about it for ages before he remembered and said that the day of the party at Chengguang Mansion, he had in fact gone to work during the day. In the evening he changed at the office in order to attend the event and left his previous outfit there. He couldn't have put something as big as a tie in his pants pocket. If he lost it when he changed, then my earlier inference was perhaps in error. When Zhao Haochang took that tie, he must not have known that He Zhongyi was waiting outside the mansion for him, and he didn't know he'd use the tie to strangle someone. So his motive for doing this is worth deliberating."
"You're saying he simply stole it."
"Given his income, such a small, worthless thing isn't worth pilfering," said Fei Du. "There's no saying but that he was just hoarding a memento."
Luo Wenzhou shuddered. "…hoarding Zhang Donglai's stuff?"
"If I recall correctly, that was the first time Zhang Donglai took him to a social occasion like the one at Chengguang Mansion in a private capacity," said Fei Du. "While chatting with He Zhongyi's mom, I suddenly thought that his character seemed very closed-off. Perhaps he would have some special way of commemorating events. Why don't you go investigate?"
"Er-Lang, did you hear that? Request a warrant to search Zhao Haochang's home." Luo Wenzhou issued a prompt decision, heard Lang Qiao's affirmative, then quickly hung up the phone. He turned his head and expressed to Tao Ran, "An idiot burned his whole family to death, and Zhang Donglai, who's no better than an idiot, 'strangled' someone from his hometown. The young genius Attorney Zhao has truly lived surrounded by injuries from idiots of all kinds."
Tao Ran's lips moved. He didn't speak.
"And what brilliant ideas do you have, Deputy-Captain Tao?"
"Nothing." Tao Ran hesitated for a long time. "It's not about this… I just…suddenly had an outrageous idea."
"Report it to the throne. It won't kill Our Imperial Presence."
While they were stopped at a light, Tao Ran turned his head and looked at him. "What do you think, could there be someone who already knew who the murderer was before we made a breakthrough?"
"Nonsense." said Luo Wenzhou. "You killed someone, aren't you going to know about it? You need the police to affix their seal?"
"Aside from the murderer?" asked Tao Ran.
Luo Wenzhou froze. "Tao Ran, what are you trying to say?"
Just then, the light changed, and the driver behind them honked somewhat testily to hurry them. Tao Ran pursed his lips, turned back to the road, and drove on.
"It's nothing," he said. "Forget it. My imagination's running away with me. I think I could go write novels.—Yan West Polisci's graduate campus should be up ahead."
"Right." Luo Wenzhou picked up a folder. "First I'll try calling Cui Ying."
The girl's photograph, department, phone number, and other such materials were all there. Luo Wenzhou had just dialed when several young people came out of the graduate campus's back gate. Among them, one girl fished a phone out of her bag and seemed to be hesitating about an unfamiliar incoming number.
Tao Ran looked at the students from afar, then looked at the photograph in the folder. He suddenly poked Luo Wenzhou with his elbow. "Look, doesn't that young lady look like the one you're searching for?"
As he said it, the girl picked up the phone. At the same time, a hesitant "Hello?" came over Luo Wenzhou's speaker.
"It's her." Luo Wenzhou got out of the car on the spot and called out, "Hey, Cui Ying, here, look to your right—"
The students next to her, hearing a strange young man calling to her in the middle of the street, all began teasing her. Cui Ying looked around in bewilderment. Then, her gaze fell on the police license plate. The girl's face immediately changed, as if she'd seen a ghost. Then without any warning she turned and ran!
"What's going on?" Luo Wenzhou asked Tao Ran as he gave chase. "That young woman turned and ran when she saw you. You're done for, Tao Ran, doomed to be single all your life."
Tao Ran clenched his teeth. "You scared her!"
Luo Wenzhou had no plans whatsoever of finding a young lady to share his days and therefore was untroubled. The two of them cooperated in tacit understanding, one chasing and the other blocking. They had nearly caught Cui Ying when she suddenly leapt heedlessly straight into the road. A taxi was just driving by. The sharp sound of its horn pierced the air.
Tao Ran deftly grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled fiercely, yanking Cui Ying back to the side of the road. The hastily braking taxi narrowly brushed past her shoulder, the sharp wind raising the girl's hair behind her.
Recovering from his fright, the taxi driver rolled down the window and let out a torrent of abuse. A breath had caught painfully in Tao Ran's chest. He could only wave his hand in apology.
Twenty minutes later, Tao Ran and Luo Wenzhou took Cui Ying to a brightly lit cold drinks bar.
"This'll do, right? You chose the place yourself, and the street outside these French windows is full of people. If you yell, you can call over half a city's worth of people. You can send a text message to your friends telling them where you are." Luo Wenzhou irritably tossed his work ID on the table. "My badge number. You can take a photograph and post it on Weibo—but don't post my photograph directly, pixelate it or Photoshop it."
Cui Ying: "…"
Tao Ran ordered some drinks. Worried that Cui Ying's wariness was too strong, he didn't touch them but asked the clerk to put them in front of Cui Ying. "Why did you run?"
Head down, Cui Ying didn't speak.
"You're afraid of police cars…or afraid of the police?" Tao Ran asked quietly. Seeing she still didn't answer, Tao Ran lowered his voice and said, "This may be good news. The Flower Market District Sub-Bureau's Director-General Wang Hongliang was arrested last night."
Cui Ying froze immediately. Then she at last cautiously looked up.
Luo Wenzhou knocked on the table. "Be sensible, all right? Please, young lady, push up your glasses and take a good look. Have you ever seen such a handsome bad guy? If I'd wanted to make a fortune, I'd have gone out and made it with my face long ago. Would there be any need to risk breaking the law?"
"Don't listen to his nonsense," said Tao Ran. "Young lady, I don't know how to make you trust us…"
Cui Ying suddenly said in a quiet voice, "Isn't there also one surnamed Huang?"
Luo Wenzhou exchanged a look with Tao Ran.
She did know something!
"Huang Jinglian," said Luo Wenzhou, becoming serious. He pulled up a mugshot on his phone. "Suspected of abusing his power, trafficking in drugs, murder, and other crimes. I arrested him last night. I've still got a glorious 'silk ribbon' on my back."
Cui Ying subconsciously opened her mouth to speak, then tightly closed it again. She looked at Luo Wenzhou and Tao Ran, full of suspicion, trying to use all of her limited experience to judge whether these two people had truly arrested Wang Hongliang or had only concocted these facts and taken some seemingly real pictures to trick her.
She couldn't even tell whether Luo Wenzhou's work ID was real or fake.
"Young lady," said Tao Ran, "do you know Chen Zhen? He was Chen Yuan's brother. Last night, Chen Zhen died, and we caught the killers. But because we lack evidence, we can't get to the person behind them. Are you going to sit by and watch the bad guys get away with it?"
Cui Ying bit her lip and hesitated for a long time. She said, "I…I don't know. I have to ask my teacher."
"Why do you have to ask someone else?"
"He…he has it."
Tao Ran froze, then followed up, "He has what? Did Chen Yuan give you something?"
Just then, Luo Wenzhou hit him with his elbow.
Luo Wenzhou held out his hand to Cui Ying. "Go ahead. You can call right in front of us."
Cui Ying picked up her phone, found the name "Teacher Zhao" in her contacts and dialed. She called twice, then said in surprise, "No one's picking up…"
Of course no one was picking up. He'd spent the night squatting in a little dark room.
Luo Wenzhou, with a great show of earnestness, got out a little notebook. "How about this, give us your teacher's contact information and we'll go have a chat with him."
Cui Ying hesitated.
"Chen Yuan called you two weeks before she passed away. I think she told you something. This must all have happened around that time. Investigating which teachers you had contact with and which one of them was surnamed Zhao would be easy. I'm only asking you to save a little effort. You've divulged this much already, anyway."
Cui Ying was flustered for a moment, then agreed.
"His name is Zhao Haochang. He's our shixiong. Our Practical Experience Class invited him to act as coach. He was there for three months," said the inexperienced girl. Then she told them a phone number. "That's his contact information."
Luo Wenzhou considered her for a moment, then suddenly said, "If I recall correctly, Chen Yuan didn't go on to a graduate program after graduation but went right to work. I guess your teacher didn't know her?"
Cui Ying didn't notice that he was fishing for facts and shook her head. "He didn't."
"I understand now," said Luo Wenzhou. "She entrusted something of vital importance to you that she was afraid of others getting their hands on. She didn't even give her brother a hint. You thought this thing was too scary, you were at your wits' end over having it, so you went to someone you trusted and left the thing with him. That's about right?"
Cui Ying's expression flickered. She didn't answer.
"You trust him so much," said Luo Wenzhou. "Your teacher must be pretty handsome?"
Cui Ying blushed.
On the one hand were the police, whom she didn't trust; on the other was the person she had a crush on. If they told her Zhao Haochang had been arrested, there was no need to say what Cui Ying's reaction would be.
Luo Wenzhou sighed inwardly. What was there to do? Seduce her?
Looking at the trembling Cui Ying, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind—
------
Author's Note:
(37)- A technical term for something China's got a massive problem with; in other words "good old honest graft"—bribes and gifts of dubious legality (read: illegal, but people don't like to think of them that way).