Mr. Zhao prodded Zhou Ning.
"I’m saying Zhou Xiaozhou, isn’t this Ye Chengchen lying?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Seems fragile, but I feel she’s the mastermind."
Mr. Zhao clicked his tongue twice, constantly shaking his head.
"Well then, this whole testimony puts all the bla on Zhang Bo. I wonder what he’ll think when he hears it, saying that she was naive, just deceived by Zhang Bo, and that she was often insulted by Zhang Bo, and had to follow his instructions.
Even when caught red-handed, she could claim that it was Zhang Bo who forcefully grabbed her hand and made her do it, effectively explaining away all our evidence, so she can dust her hands off, without a care in the world?"
Ye Chengchen had already been taken away, Liu Yufei was reviewing the record.
Mr. Zhao was not convinced, and Yang Xuetong seed to notice sothing, rubbing his chin and moving closer to Zhou Ning.
"Boss, was what Mrs. Fei and Director Xu did just now on purpose?"
Zhou Ning glanced at Yang Xuetong, who quickly covered his mouth.
"No coercion or bribery was involved, just the presentation of evidence and case facts, and Ye Chengchen refuted it on her own, admitting that what she said was the truth. There’s nothing intentional or unintentional about it. I am actually curious to see how Zhang Bo will react when he sees this testimony and the video of Ye Chengchen’s account."
After Zhou Ning finished speaking, he looked towards the interrogation room. Yang Xuetong stuck out his tongue, while Zhu Xingxing and Mr. Zhao, one by one, gave Yang Xuetong a thumbs up. Yang Xuetong gave them a white-eyed look, everyone understood what Zhou Ning ant.
Getting Ye Chengchen’s nonsensical statent quickly was the key to finding Zhang Bo’s inconsistency, breaking down soone’s psychological defenses is considered the best and most efficient thod.
Of course, this approach does not work for everyone; when disaster strikes, so choose to scatter, while others choose to face adversity together. That split-second choice leads to vastly different outcos.
At that mont, Zhang Bo was brought in by Zhang Ping and others, handcuffed to the interrogation chair, the handcuffs tightened to the maximum, Zhang Bo obviously grimaced towards Zhang Ping, while Zhang Ping seed oblivious and even checked the chains before leaving.
Xu Dayuan, with his arms folded, sat in front of Zhang Bo.
"All kinds of test results have co out. Over twenty-four hours and you haven’t been released, you should know the reason why. We just interrogated Ye Chengchen, and she confessed everything about how you coerced her into the cri. Yufei, I’m tired of talking, just show him the video directly."
Liu Yufei waved the remote control, and on the TV on the wall of the interrogation room, they played Ye Chengchen’s interrogation process, of course, it had been edited, capturing only the entire process of Ye Chengchen’s own confession.
Watching Ye Chengchen’s aggrieved and very fragile narrative, Zhang Bo’s breathing beca unstable, and at the end, he gripped his hands to control the trembling of his fingers.
The video ended, and Zhang Bo hung his head. Xu Dayuan pointed to the enormous cara behind him and said:
"Do you see the cara? This is the cara that recorded everything. I don’t want to waste words; now the chain of evidence is complete. Of course, according to Ye Chengchen’s testimony, you are the mastermind. You coerced Ye Chengchen into killing both children. Do you have any objection to this?"
Zhang Bo still didn’t speak, staring silently at his hands.
Xu Dayuan glanced at Liu Yufei and waved at her, apparently preparing a strong dose of dicine.
"All right, since you don’t object and acknowledge Ye Chengchen’s testimony, there isn’t much else to say. Sign it."
Zhang Bo lifted his head, his expression sowhat dazed, full of confusion as he looked at Xu Dayuan.
"No, I won’t sign."
Xu Dayuan leaned forward, staring at Zhang Bo and said word by word:
"What do you an by not signing? You do not deny Ye Chengchen’s testimony, but you don’t want to sign, is that what you an? It doesn’t matter; even if you don’t sign, the evidence we have is enough to prove that you are a suspect. At trial, the court will deal with you more severely."
Zhang Bo grabbed his hair and tore at it a few tis. Seeing Xu Dayuan stand up, he suddenly grabbed Xu Dayuan’s clothes.
"I’m saying, give so ti, please!"
Xu Dayuan said nothing, just sat back and waited a long while. Zhang Bo lifted his eyes, looked at Xu Dayuan, and then at Liu Yufei before he finally spoke:
"My cellphone, it’s hidden in the zipper of the mattress in the secondary bedroom of my house. Inside it, there are all the QQ chat records between and Ye Chengchen. We both used alternate accounts, ones not tied to our phones, including private photos we shared and voice chat records."
Xu Dayuan glanced in the direction of the single pane of glass. By then, Zhou Ning had already dialed Ma Liang’s number. The latter almost imdiately picked up.
"Ma Liang, go to room 1502’s secondary bedroom. There’s a zipper on the mattress. Look for it; it should be in a very hidden corner we didn’t notice during our search. Check the headboard side, especially near the surface area. Bring the cellphone to the criminal police brigade as quickly as possible."
The sound of Ma Liang running ca through, followed by so moving of furniture.
"Director Zhou, I’ve found it. It’s indeed on the headboard side, a zipper on the side of the mattress. There’s a phone inside, turned off and wrapped in a plastic bag. I’m bringing it straight over now."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning looked towards the interrogation room, where Zhang Bo had already started his confession.
"... I t Ye Chengchen at a classmates’ reunion," said Zhou Ning. "I was headed to the restroom when she pulled into the storage room. She told she liked the mont she saw and it’s a pity I had a wife. Her touch clouded my mind. Ye Chengchen is beautiful, on a whole different level from Zhang Manli."
"After that, I broke up with Zhang Manli. For a while, Ye Chengchen disappeared. I went crazy looking for her, spent a lot of money, and sought out her friends and colleagues one by one. Of course, Chen ilin found out and was so angry she went into labor early."
"But I didn’t care. Chen ilin wanted a divorce and to take both kids. I was furious. After all, my mom was crying fiercely and told if both kids were taken away, she wouldn’t want to live. I didn’t bother with Chen ilin, but for my mom’s sake, I declared that Zhang Yangrui’s custody would be mine, or she could forget about the divorce."
"Surprisingly, Chen ilin agreed in the end. We quickly went through the procedures. The next day, I found Ye Chengchen waiting outside my apartnt. I pulled her into the stairwell, asking why she had disappeared. She said she only showed up because she knew I was divorced."
"The following months, I was utterly captivated by her, her shyness, her wantonness, her mixed signals..."
Xu Dayuan raised his hand to stop Zhang Bo’s account, since it was getting more salacious by the mont, turning the interrogation into sothing bordering on a vice squad bust.
"I don’t need the details of what happened in bed between you two. I don’t have ti to listen to that. This is the Criminal Investigation Unit. Just get to the part about the murder plot and the whole process, got it?"
Zhang Bo sighed and nodded, continuing:
"Alright, I get it. I can’t rember the exact dates, but around last November, she told her parents wouldn’t agree to her marrying a divorcé. She tried to persuade them, but they said a divorce didn’t matter as long as the past was clean, without any kids."
"I said I’d give Zhang Yangrui’s custody to his mom, since Chen ilin had wanted it all along, but Ye Chengchen cried. She said it wasn’t about who gets the kid. It was about not having any kids at all, or else we should break up."
"So we broke up. I couldn’t let go, and hearing her repeated comnts, I gradually began to see the kids as a burden that limited my freedom. Later, Ye Chengchen ntioned that the kids probably had accident insurance, right?"
"If they fell from a building, there would be a payout, and we could leave and start anew in another city. Begin fresh, have our own kids. In the heat of the mont, I agreed. From New Year’s to yesterday, we tried three tis."
"One ti my mom ca back suddenly, another ti Chen ilin ca to pick up the kids early – both tis, the plan wasn’t completed. She was desperate to completely break things off with , so I talked to Chen ilin about the kids staying with for a day."
"Ye Chengchen prepared a second-hand cell phone for in advance. She said it was bought from a computer city and told to swap the SIM card so it wouldn’t be traced. Even if the police investigated, it would look like an accident.
"She also told to ditch my old phone. I couldn’t bear to throw away my new Apple phone, so I hid it instead. I had no idea it would be what proved my innocence now."
"Yesterday morning, right after my mom left, I heard knocking at the door. I hurried to open it. Ye Chengchen, in a tracksuit and down jacket with a hood, ca in. I didn’t even recognize her at first. Then she began ordering around."
"She told to pick up my elder daughter without getting scratched while she went to pick up Zhang Yangrui. We went to the master bedroom, and I hesitated when we got there. The kids struggled and scread, and Ye Chengchen kicked , grabbed the hand I was using to hold the child, and shoved hard against the screen. The child just fell like that."
"Before I could react, Zhang Yangrui was thrown down as well. Seeing cry at the window, she cried too, saying it was all for a better future. The hard part is just this mont. She told to hurry downstairs and cry for help, to ask neighbors to call 120 or 110, and everything would easily pass."
"After saying that, Ye Chengchen checked the room and left quickly. My mind was blank. The first thing I saw when I rushed down was people trying to save the kids. I was shocked. I thought the kids hadn’t died, and I never expected the police to be involved. That’s what happened. It wasn’t . It wasn’t who did it. I didn’t want to kill anyone!"
Zhang Bo cried, hugging his head and repeatedly banging it against the small desk, making loud thuds, but no one stepped forward to stop him.
At that mont, with a bang, the observation room’s door was pushed open. Ma Liang, holding a cell phone and with bright eyes, looked towards Zhou Ning.
"Director Zhou, the cell phone has arrived!"
Zhou Ning quickly called out to Mr. Qu.
"Mr. Qu, check the cell phone content. Good work, Ma Liang. Once the content is sorted out, just send the screenshots directly to the room next door."
Out of breath, Ma Liang carefully closed the door and moved behind Mr. Qu. Everyone gathered around. The phone had no password. They got into QQ and saw two linked accounts, one nad Chanafanghua and the other nad Ali.
Mr. Qu promptly clicked into the Ali account, which had just one friend nad Yingying. Their chat history was quite extensive, filled with restricted videos, photos, and frequent voice ssages.
Seeing this, Mr. Qu looked up at Zhou Ning.
"Director Zhou, the voice ssages can’t be forwarded, but I can record them and send them along. With this volu of content and the level of detail in the discussions, we can fully prove that the senders are Ye Chengchen and Zhang Bo themselves."
Zhou Ning glanced over and nodded.
"Send it!"
Mr. Qu quickly completed the task, and monts later, the information was sent to Liu Yufei’s computer. Several beeps echoed in the interrogation room. Liu Yufei opened the content, glanced at it, and passed it to Xu Dayuan. He looked over each item, then closed his laptop.
"We’ve seen the evidence on the phone, you have nothing else to add, do you?"
Zhang Bo shook his head, his face breaking into a strange and intriguing smile that felt chilling to look at.
"No, is this proof enough? Will Ye Chengchen receive the death penalty like ? The sa kind, either by shooting or lethal injection?"
Xu Dayuan didn’t speak, just gestured to the clerk, Mr. Shan.
"Sign here. Rest assured, I’ll have the files sent to the prosecutor’s office as quickly as possible. I will also explain the particularities and social impact of this case to our bureau leaders, to ensure it is processed severely and swiftly. Of course, you have the right to appeal, that’s your prerogative."
Zhang Bo laughed, leaning back in his chair and gazing into the distance.
"Dying together isn’t so bad."
User Comments
0 comments from readers