Cao Pingzhang seed not to give up, switched the report to his other hand, walked up to Liu Yongxin, and gestured in Zhou Ning’s direction with his chin.
"Forget it, when it cos to technical stuff, I can’t compare, nor will I make things difficult for myself. You’re all experts with exceptional predictive abilities. In the end, verifying your own guesses is making feel out of my depth. Let’s not talk about the case for now.
Your precious apprentice is quite good-looking, and her capabilities are impressive, too. How co you haven’t helped to find her a match? My sister’s daughter, who’s in her senior year, is definitely a sweetheart and also the president of the school’s music club. She’s a very beautiful and talented girl, studying at Qin University. How about I introduce her?"
Such a remark left everyone stunned, and Zhou Ning even stopped in his tracks. Before Cao Pingzhang could say another word, Liu Yongxin had already covered his mouth.
"You better behave yourself, okay? What’s gotten into you today? Have you solved the case and now don’t want to keep in touch with us anymore?
If you want to sever ties from now on, just keep ssing around. And about your sister’s kid, did you know my apprentice has a girlfriend? No, that’s not right, to be precise, a fiancée. They’ve t the parents and visited each other’s hos, only the wedding date is left to be set. It hasn’t been easy for them to get to this point today, yet here you are offering soone from your sister’s family."
Cao Pingzhang was relentless, not knowing what got into him, and kept on saying in a low voice:
"What’s wrong with just eting, isn’t it because I think Director Zhou is excellent and want to bring soone excellent into my family? My niece really is very pretty."
Liu Yongxin was speechless, and Mr. Zhao joined the conversation.
"Doctor Cao, why don’t you introduce soone to Mr. Qu instead? Even though we call him Mr. Qu, he’s a PhD from Qin University, the deputy director of the software developnt center. Don’t just focus on Director Zhou. His fiancée is incomparable.
In terms of looks, the beauty queen of Qin University is but a maid in her eyes. As for work capability, she’s the lead researcher in charge of a project team at the technical center. Regarding family background, her father is a deputy mayor, and her mother is a university professor. Do you think there’s any comparison?"
Cao Pingzhang was taken aback, for Mr. Zhao didn’t seem to be joking. The titles he threw out really stunned him. He hadn’t expected that Zhou Ning’s father-in-law would be a deputy mayor. There was no point in comparing, and he gave up on his previous intentions.
"There’s no comparison, so I won’t compare. But when Director Zhou gets married, you must tell . I want to attend and see what this Qindao beauty looks like. I can’t even imagine it!"
They all laughed, and Zhou Ning nodded nonstop.
"I will let you know when I’m getting married."
"Let’s go, let’s go listen to the interrogation."
Saying this, they already arrived outside the criminal police squad’s interrogation room. A young criminal officer greeted them when he saw Doctor Cao and the others.
"Uncle Cao, you’ve arrived. Chief Huang said to tell him when you get here, to go directly to the observation room next door and watch. He asked to give him the forensic report, oh right, you’d better highlight the key points, that stuff is really hard to understand."
Cao Pingzhang glanced at Zhou Ning, who had already signaled Mr. Qu to find a docunt. After opening it, he handed it over to Cao Pingzhang.
"I’ve organized so of the key points from the forensic reports, summarized a copy for each person, aligning with the tiline and details of the cri. Combined with the reports during the interrogation, the effect will be better. Of course, we can also let Mr. Qu connect our software to observe if the suspect is lying."
Cao Pingzhang chuckled, dragging Mr. Qu with the young officer to the interrogation room, while Zhou Ning and the others didn’t dally and went straight next door.
One could feel that the observation room had just been cleaned. Everything was wiped so clean, and on the table next to the one-way glass that adjoins the interrogation room, a row of headphones was neatly arranged. The setup was quite considerate.
Zhou Ning walked over, put on the headphones, and looked into the interrogation room. Huang Youdao was sitting inside, with a clerk beside him. Wu Chunming was nowhere to be seen, and sitting on the interrogation chair was Yang Liang. This was the first ti Zhou Ning had seen Yang Liang in person.
The old man looked older than his actual age, seemingly in his sixties, with a sowhat vacant gaze. Such continuous interrogation had pushed him to the extre.
Starting with him was actually a good thing.
When Mr. Qu and the others entered, Huang Youdao stood up, his face visibly brightening. After chatting with Cao Pingzhang, Cao Pingzhang left, and Mr. Qu, not needing direction, went beside the clerk and printed out the file that Zhou Ning had listed earlier. Only then did he hand over the report to Huang Youdao.
Huang Youdao glanced at the content, and one could feel his confidence surging.
He closed the door, not sitting next to the clerk and Mr. Qu, but pulled out a chair and sat directly opposite Yang Liang. He rummaged through the reports in his hand, picked one out, and found a photo, which he placed right in front of Yang Liang.
"Let’s cut to the chase. This is the body found yesterday in the cellar of your yard. After DNA identification, we, the police, can confirm that this body is indeed Feng Shujuan.
During the removal of the sand, we found an eight-gauge wire bent into a semi-circle below Feng Shujuan’s neck, with a spiral at the end, and also discovered a dagger with her blood on it.
The forensic doctor on the special case team conducted an autopsy on Feng Shujuan’s body and found defensive cuts on her fingers, a stab wound between the second and third ribs, and cut marks remaining on the ribs. She was stabbed, then strangled with the wire, and thrown into the cellar.
However, you were not strong enough, or perhaps you were nervous at the ti, so the wire wasn’t twisted tight. While you were burying her with sand, Feng Shujuan regained consciousness, broke free from the wire around her neck, but due to lack of oxygen, she was unable to climb out of the sand and ultimately died.
It can be said that your relationship with Feng Shujuan was quite secretive; even your neighbors didn’t know you knew her from Heping Zhuang, let alone had an intimate relationship. However, these last few days, after conducting surveys in Heping Zhuang and confirming with Feng Shujuan’s children, we learned that you were her intimate partner.
According to Feng Shujuan’s daughter, her mother had found an old man, a widower, who had lost his son. They got along very well, but he didn’t want to get married legally. They had argued about it multiple tis, and her mother had even considered going south to join her children. However, because her children were busy with work, the matter was postponed.
Don’t hurry to refute , listen to finish. I haven’t ntioned Fu Chunyu’s matter. You have made too many excuses before, and I don’t want to hear those. Now, I’m just asking you, did you kill Feng Shujuan? Why did you kill her?
Right now, I’m giving you a chance to speak. All the evidence is conclusive—your fingerprints and DNA were found on both the dagger and the wire. There isn’t much to say. We can submit this case to the procuratorate without waiting for your testimony, and then you truly won’t have the chance to speak, and you’ll also be charged with stubborn resistance. Think carefully!"
Yang Liang fell silent, bowed his head, and closed his eyes—an expression Zhou Ning knew well. It ant that he was tornted inside, just like Professor Li Chengbin had summarized in his book.
Except for the very few who are bloodthirsty by nature, a suspect who has committed murder lives in tornt almost every day. Anything that could be linked to the victim plunges the suspect into deep fear.
There once was a suspect who had been on the run for twenty years. He even hung around the public security bureau’s entrance, hoping the police would catch him in ti, because the tornt was maddening, making it impossible to sleep, eat, or work, always hiding in the shadows—this torture was even worse than being in prison.
At that mont, Yang Liang’s state was clearly just like that. After a short wait, Yang Liang opened his eyes, his fingers trembling slightly.
"It was who killed her, but I had no choice."
Huang Youdao didn’t rush, stood up, and handed Yang Liang a paper cup filled with water. Yang Liang took the cup and had a sip, even offering Huang Youdao a word of thanks.
"Don’t rush, just have a casual chat with about what happened."
"I t Feng Shujuan at a market gathering; it was probably before Labor Day last year, right in Heping Zhuang. She lost her money and couldn’t find her phone either. She had bought so fish but couldn’t pay for it, and it seed she had guests at ho and was in a hurry to buy it, so when she was negotiating with the fishmonger, the person flat-out refused.
I was next to the fishmonger’s stall and stopped the sowhat irate fishmonger and paid 174 yuan for her. Feng Shujuan was very grateful, hurried off with her things, and didn’t even give her na.
The fishmonger said he’d seen too many like her, and though she sounded like a local from her accent, many people aren’t so kind. The next ti they co to the market, they act like they don’t recognize you and don’t repay the money, warning not to do it again, as I probably couldn’t earn 174 yuan in a day selling vegetables.
I didn’t mind, and after going to the Heping Zhuang market a couple more tis and not running into Feng Shujuan, I let the matter drop. When I helped her, I didn’t even think about getting the money back. But on my third trip to Heping Zhuang market, I saw her right away.
I could tell she had dressed up specially, wearing a red coat that made her look very young, and she had a nice figure. She ca up to to say thank you, apologizing for rushing off without leaving a phone number last ti, then after giving the money, she left her phone number and address and invited to co to her house for a casual al after the market.
After exchanging pleasantries, Feng Shujuan didn’t leave, wanting to wait until I was done. I went to her house at noon, and the al was simple but definitely not the rough food cooked by the village wives, rather it was quite refined, more like what city folks would make.
During our conversation, I learned that on that day her children had all co back and were rushed to go south since her daughter-in-law had given birth. However, after staying for a week, communication was impossible because they couldn’t understand each other and had different living habits. So, she simply gave them so money and returned ho.
I was touched at the ti, and we got along really well. I started visiting her weekly at Heping Zhuang market, always bringing her sothing, and having lunch at her house.
By August, I thought we were getting along so well and we both had lost our spouses, it seed right to get together. She was also inclined to this idea and said she would discuss it with her children, even though they were not local, fearing their objections.
In the following months, she would visit my house once a week, or I would visit hers, usually going over at night and leaving at dawn. Before the Spring Festival this year, she told her children were not completely satisfied and wished I would show so sincerity.
I asked if they were hoping for a house or sothing, because we both lived in the village, and if we moved to the city, managing the greenhouses would be impossible, and we’d be left with nothing to do. She said it wasn’t necessary to buy a house, but at the very least I should give her so security.
Being older than her, there was a chance I could die and then she’d have served for nothing. She wanted to give her gold equivalent to the value of my house; only then would she marry . I was startled and directly refused this demand. Where was I going to get two hundred thousand yuan from?"
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