When she was alive, Chen Yuan must have known that none of her personal property would escape notice. Even her close relative had eyes on him—during the critical days after He Zhongyi's body was found in the West District, Wang Hongliang had gotten nervous and sent someone to shadow the clueless Chen Zhen. So what about Chen Yuan, who had waded in deeper?
She was a girl without support. How had she been able to dodge Wang Hongliang's vast nets and secretly deposit something with Cui Ying?
He didn't know at the moment whether Wang Hongliang and the others had closely investigated Chen Yuan's contacts, but it seemed that for now at least they had no quarrel with Cui Ying. Why?
There were only two possibilities. Either Wang Hongliang and his crowd of bastards were all stupid, or they thought they had already gotten what they'd wanted.
Chen Yuan had used some means to deliver something to Cui Ying, and not long after, Chen Yuan had died, and at the same time Wang Hongliang and his crew had restrained themselves and not touched Cui Ying—what did that say?
Luo Wenzhou's expression cooled.
Two possibilities: first, the naive, easily-probed girl in front of him had sold out Chen Yuan.
Second, the panic-stricken Cui Ying had consigned the whole thing to someone she trusted—Zhao Haochang.
Zhao Haochang, never mind why, had sold Chen Yuan out to Wang Hongliang.
Just then, Tao Ran's phone got a call from the City Bureau. Tao Ran listened in silence for a while, then looked down and typed on his phone for Luo Wenzhou to see.
"Wu Xuechun just finished giving her statement. She identifies Huang Jinglian and the others as having protected the drug trafficking network, participated and deducted a percentage. But she never saw Wang Hongliang."
Luo Wenzhou frowned slightly.
Tao Ran typed quickly. "As for Chen Yuan, she says they call that 'morsels' over there. Wu Xuechun's own words are: There was someone else above Huang who never showed his face. He thought the place's girls were dirty and only liked to play around outside. When he ran into a girl who was hard to 'tame,' he'd use some drugs. When he got tired of her and she was worn out, they'd drop her off over there with them.
"Wu Xuechun said that one of Huang Jinglian's crowd liked filming things. Following her identification, we found some videos on that person's computer. Most of them are group sex and drug-taking. One of them shows Chen Yuan. From the images, the medical examiner judges that she was likely dead then."
Luo Wenzhou shot Tao Ran a questioning look—had Huang Jinglian given anything up?
Tao Ran shook his head.
Luo Wenzhou silently spun a pack of cigarettes around several times, then suddenly spoke. "Have them send over that video."
His careless manner had abruptly turned solemn, startling Cui Ying.
Cui Ying looked very much like a student. Her hair was long, she wore delicate glasses, and she had a slight tendency to chew on her straw. When she opened her eyes wide and looked ahead, there was an unsophisticated innocence in them.
The innocent one was sitting here sipping a drink and jumping at shadows; the not innocent one was dead.
"When it comes, let her see it." Having reversed his earlier buffoonery, Luo Wenzhou pushed the drinks on the table to one side. "Cui Ying, I don't want to beat around the bush with you anymore. I'll tell you the truth—your Teacher Zhao has been arrested."
Cui Ying's eyes widened. "Wh…"
Tao Ran's phone vibrated, a segment of a video file arriving. Luo Wenzhou took the phone, opened it, and put it right in front of Cui Ying. The lights in the image were dim. There was a crowd of people in all kinds of contortions, cries rising and falling. The cameraman's hands were unsteady, the image shaking dizzyingly.
A man wobbled out of a small door and waved a hand to the person behind the camera. "Come look, guys. I think this one's done for."
He'd started to laugh weirdly to himself before the words were out of his mouth; this sort of confused laughter was a typical symptom of a drug overdose. Then he bent over and dragged a naked woman out of the door behind him.
Cui Ying didn't know what kind of restricted film this was; she subconsciously wanted to turn away her gaze, but Luo Wenzhou stared fixedly at her. "Zhao Haochang is suspected of murder, disposing of a corpse, abduction, and other crimes."
Gooseflesh rose on Cui Ying's forearms.
Then, in the video on the phone, the camera suddenly pulled in close, the cameraman saying in a voice like a spoiled child's, "Let me film her, let me film her!"
The camera lens travelled up and down Chen Yuan's corpse, constantly focusing on her face and private parts. Cui Ying covered her mouth, looking like she was about to throw up.
At the same time, Luo Wenzhou smacked the table. "You see, this is how Chen Yuan died."
Cui Ying stood up at once.
Luo Wenzhou said, "She trusted you, put a very important secret in your care, and you turned around and gave it to a scumbag! You let her come to this end."
"No, it wasn't…" Cui Ying shook her head, her voice weak.
"If it wasn't him who sold out Chen Yuan, are you going to tell me it was you?" Luo Wenzhou asked callously. "Do you want to explain to me why she died a few days after calling you?"
Eternal Good Cop Tao quietly got into position. "Don't scare her.—Young lady, less than two weeks after the last time Chen Yuan contacted you, she met an unnatural death. My partner isn't lying to you about that.—Were the two of you on good terms?"
Cui Ying collapsed back into her seat. "You're talking nonsense, Teacher Zhao isn't that kind of person…"
Tao Ran softly asked, "Then what kind of person is he?"
"He's very mature, and very calm… He, he said to me, there's nothing new under the sun, he wasn't surprised at all. The reality is that the weak are prey to the strong. The people who become carnivores by a fluke of luck will mercilessly divide up their prey's flesh and blood…
"Only a tiger can hunt the wolves and jackals. A rabbit can only wait, wait for the right time to become a tiger itself." In a tearful voice, Cui Ying said, "He said the police are all trash, he wouldn't get down in the mud with them."
Only when the words were out of her mouth did she realize that the two people in front of her were also police. She quickly broke off and sobbed silently.
"Do you believe us?" Tao Ran said.
Cui Ying twisted the edge of her clothing.
"Your Teacher Zhao has already become a tiger," said Luo Wenzhou coldly. "Last night's failed suicide attempt in the East Flower Market District flooded social media, did you see it?"
Tao Ran added, "Zhao Haochang committed a murder, then dumped the body in the so-called 'Golden Triangle Lot.'—Judging by your reaction, you know the place?"
Cui Ying sucked in a breath, looking like she'd frozen stiff.
Tao Ran lowered his voice further. "What's wrong?"
"He…he was joking with me once, and he said that if he'd killed someone, he'd go around them and drop the body where they did their business, those pieces of trash definitely wouldn't dare to investigate…"
"Cui Ying," said Luo Wenzhou heavily, "what was it that you gave Zhao Haochang?"
"A video," said Cui Ying numbly, "just a video."
Saying it, she clenched her teeth and pulled a red cord up from around her neck. A protection amulet in the form of a chicken bone hung from the cord. She split the chicken bone in two; there was a pocket flash drive inside.
While Luo Wenzhou was sighing in gratitude that this silly child actually had something on her, Lang Qiao was leading some people into Zhao Haochang's apartment.
It was brightly lit, beautifully decorated in a rather Western style; there were huge floor-to-ceiling windows and a bar. It was located in a building in a prosperous area and had a view of awe-inspiring immensity.
At a glance, there wasn't anything unusual in his apartment. It was a typical middle class home in the city.
The searchers combed over it several times and finally determined that there were no secret doors or hidden vaults. It was as clean as a sample room in a hotel.
"There's nothing." Lang Qiao stood in the brilliantly sunlit living room, hands on her hips as she spoke to Luo Wenzhou over the phone. "Cabinets, closets… We looked under the bed, too. It's an ordinary building, the developer sold hundreds of apartments like this at the same time, there's no way they would have built him a secret room. It's about a hundred square meters, we've gone over it centimeter by centimeter. Unless this place has an Anywhere Door(38), there can't be anything hidden here. Chief, I've looked into it, there aren't any other properties under Zhao Haochang's name. If it's really like President Fei guessed, would he have hidden something so freakish in someone else's territory?
"Oh, right." Lang Qiao paused and added, "The material about the fire came through. There's nothing useful. For one thing, it was too long ago, and for another, all the villagers said the idiot had done it, so they didn't do a thorough investigation, just took some photographs of the scene and the arsonist."
The idiot in the photograph in fact had a look of being not all there. He was dressed in a tattered jacket with only one sleeve, almost too dirty to look at, that on very close examination could be distinguished as having a delicate floral pattern.
Luo Wenzhou paused briefly. "Wait a moment. Accept the incoming videoconference request."
Lang Qiao stared, hit "Accept," and saw a computer screen on the other end. Yan City's City Bureau's entire Criminal Investigation Team, along with Director Lu, were gathered around it.
A video was playing on the computer. It had been shot with a pinhole camera. At first it faced a blurry dark background; then there was a cry, and a young woman with disheveled hair fell into the center of the screen. Her expression was vague, her face ashen. She desperately reached out a hand, seeming to be thirsting for something but also refusing.
Just then, someone spoke outside the frame. "Just about there. Give it to her."
The camera's angle shifted slowly to the person who had spoken—it was Wang Hongliang, and Huang Jinglian was next to him, bending down to say something to him in a low voice!
The whole office filled with the sound of sucked in breaths.
Director Lu raised a hand and smashed it down on a table. "This time he won't get away!"
The camera focused on the woman again and backed up a few steps. Then a tray appeared in front of the camera, and a pair of hands picked up a syringe—
A moment later the restless woman let out a long breath and twitched a couple of times as if convulsing. Then her face relaxed, showing its graceful outlines.
She lay unmoving on the small couch, exchanging a long look with the person behind the camera.
Suddenly, the image shook, as if the person behind the camera had been pushed. Huang Jinglian appeared in the frame and said urgently, "Hurry up and leave. Don't get in the way."
He pushed the person behind the camera all the way to the door, at which point the camera once again had the opportunity to focus on the inside of the room.
A cigarette in his mouth, Wang Hongliang was just strolling up next to the half-unconscious woman. He stroked her shoulder, then looked up and smiled, seeming greatly moved. In the direction of the camera, he said, "When you've seen enough of this kind, it's like eating plain congee every day. A little dull."
The person behind the camera hurriedly backed up a few steps and shut the door of the room with a bang. The video ended.
"The woman who was injected with narcotics in that video is dead. Cause of death is again a drug overdose. The case was resolved exactly the same way as Chen Yuan's." Luo Wenzhou lit a cigarette. "Chen Yuan filmed that video, and not long after she was buried among the files in the same way, as if she'd recorded her own ending.
"When Chen Yuan was at school, she often worked to make some money to bring home. She had a lot of absences, and her grades weren't especially good. After graduation, she didn't pass the Judicial Exam(39), and because of her family background, she couldn't stay on to pursue her studies like her classmate. At first she tried a law firm, but because she lacked the relevant credentials, her salary wasn't ideal. To lighten the strain on her household as quickly as possible, she found a sales job with comparatively good pay and flexible hours. She wanted to get by for a while, pass the next year's Judicial Examination, and find regular work.
"The company she worked at sold counterfeit brand-name imported liquor. The Great Fortune Building was one of their major customers. That's where she met Huang Jinglian and the others. Huang Jinglian took a fancy to her because of her unusual qualities. Huang tricked her into drinking alcohol with some stuff in it, and that's how she became the 'morsel' Wu Xuechun spoke of."
"A university student who'd received a proper legal education." Director Lu sighed.
"Chen Yuan originally wanted to kill herself, but when she was on the point of it, she felt unreconciled.—This is the testament Chen Yuan left for her friend Cui Ying," said Luo Wenzhou slowly. "She used her company's online store to place an order for Cui Ying, put all the evidence she'd collected in a package of red wine and mailed it. This video was included, as well as some locations where they did business and their codenames, and a letter.
"'No one can save me now, but I must give myself an accounting.' That's the first line she wrote in the letter." Luo Wenzhou paused. "That's all Cui Ying knows.
"Besides that—" Luo Wenzhou turned the phone around. "Lang Qiao, are you still listening?"
"I'm here, chief. Whatever you need."
"Cui Ying revealed this matter to Zhao Haochang. Zhao Haochang heard half of it, then interrupted her, told her not to say it over the phone, and arranged to meet her at a little wineshop in a suburb. I looked into it while I was on my here; that wineshop's owner leased collective property for commercial use and illegally constructed some houses with limited property rights that he later sold a part of—(40)"
"Give me the address." Lang Qiao understood his intention and at once stood up straight, waving a hand at the people next to her. "Come with me!"
Under the burning sun, the laid-out grape trellises were a little wilted. The scattered scholar tree flowers were nearly all withered. Glumly hanging their heads, a row of little "mini-villas" was hidden silently in an unnoticed corner. The landscaping wasn't finished yet, giving them the uncouth air of the urban-rural fringe.
A crowd of police pushed aside the trembling manager, opened the door to one of the houses, and split up to search.
"There's a basement here!"
Lang Qiao was the first to go down the cramped stairwell. The smell of moisture absorber hit her in the face. She pressed the switch of the wall lamp and looked up. She was stunned.
After taking Lang Qiao's phone call, Luo Wenzhou didn't say anything. Feelings weighing heavily on him, he went to the door, putting a cigarette in his mouth.
After a week of non-stop work, the details of these two connected cases had nearly all been clarified; they'd even found persuasive evidence. But for some reason his misgivings were becoming heavier and heavier.
Tao Ran came over. "What are you thinking of now?"
Luo Wenzhou didn't want to say much and casually fobbed him off, saying, "I'm thinking of Fei Du."
"Oh?" said Tao Ran in astonishment.
Before Luo Wenzhou could speak, someone next to them asked, "Thinking of me? Curious. What noble errand does Captain Luo have?"
----
Author's note:
(38)- Or Dokodemo Door, from the anime Doraemon, does exactly what it says on the tin.
(39)- National Judicial Examination, required test for anyone going into legal professions, including lawyers, public procurators, notaries (with about a 10% pass rate, for reference). Superseded in 2018 by the National Unified Legal Professions Examination, which expands the professions included.
(40)- Fairly clear in context, but it's a conventional usage that refers to housing built in rural areas on what's meant to be public land, not registered with or paying taxes to the central government but receiving authorization from the village authorities; in sum: they receive no official legal protection, and property transfers are unrecorded.