WWY Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Notebook – Every page filled with poems of varying lengths…

Tuxi Ling read the interrogation record over and over before putting it down, clasping his hands together and rubbing his face to relieve the tension.

The cases of Qing Gu and Weiyu He were clear, but the case of Man Qin’s murder couldn’t be closed at all.

After the interrogation of Qing Gu, Li Wu went out for a late-night snack and brought back a portion for him. The sweet and sour stir-fry smell emanating from the bag prompted him to reach out instinctively.

Li Wu held onto the bag, pointing outside: “Captain Ling, there are two groups of people waiting for you outside. Why don’t you go and meet them first?”

Tuxi Ling was taken aback: “Who is it this late?”

“Man Qin’s parents, probably here to ask about the case’s progress. They insisted on seeing you today. And that Lan He, Young Master He, hasn’t left since he dropped you off. He probably has something to say?”

Seeing Tuxi Ling coming out of the corridor on the side of the interrogation room, the three people on the waiting area bench stood up together.

Both sides seemed to realize that they were waiting for the same person, sizing each other up across the aisle.

The faces of the two elderly people carried the simple honesty typical of people from the Northwest. Due to the perennially dry climate, their faces were deeply lined. Their son’s accident had turned their temples gray in just a few days. Their expectant yet hesitant gazes were heartbreaking.

Lan He put his hands in his pockets and sat down again.

Tuxi Ling felt bad, first walking to the two elderly people: “Uncle, Auntie, I’m sorry, wait for me a moment.”

The two elderly people hurriedly agreed and sat down. He then went over and asked Lan He in a voice only they could hear: “Why haven’t you left?”

“I came to see how Qing Gu is doing.” Lan He craned his neck to see the elderly people looking over here. “You go ahead and take care of your business, don’t mind me.”

Tuxi Ling nodded forcefully: “Go home, Qing Gu is no longer here. I won’t be finished for a while, those are Man Qin’s parents.”

“Is that so?” Lan He was a little surprised, his gaze inadvertently shifting to the two elderly people. “What do they want from you?”

“It’s been over a month. They come every other day to ask about the case, but I’m often not in the team, and I’ve told others not to disclose anything. Today, there happens to be progress in the case, so I’ll chat with them.”

“Take me along to chat?” Lan He pointed to himself. “Man Qin and I used to be on good terms. I want to see if I can help them with something!”

The victim’s family wants to help the suspect’s family – a true marvel of the world.

Tuxi Ling couldn’t help but admire his magnanimity. Then he thought that he probably didn’t have much affection for Weiyu He, so he was putting himself out of the equation, right?

Feeling that this was a bit inappropriate, but unable to persuade Lan He, he had to introduce him to the two elderly people.

Man Qin’s mother was visibly nervous, protected behind her husband.

Chao Qin carefully asked: “Do you have any requests? We can… after the case is closed, we will compensate you according to the law. Our Man Qin did wrong, we are very sorry to your family!”

“Uncle, Man Qin was a good person, maybe just momentarily confused. He’s gone now, I won’t pursue the financial aspects. Please accept my condolences.”

Chao Qin and Lian Chen looked at each other in confusion. After a moment, Lian Chen sobbed.

Tuxi Ling took them to the criminal investigation team’s temporary meeting room, made a bag of tea for each of them, and gave them time to calm down.

“Uncle, Auntie, the case has progressed today. We have now confirmed that Man Qin was in debt due to participating in overseas gambling activities and was coerced by creditors, providing them with internal information about the He family for a long time, which led to the death of Weiyu He.”

“Overseas gambling?” The elderly couple heard this for the first time today, and were very shocked. Lian Chen exclaimed, “Impossible! Our Man Qin wouldn’t be so stupid, he has been disciplined since he was a child and is a very sensible child. He would never touch things like gambling and drugs!”

Tuxi Ling had to shatter the mother’s idealized image of her son: “That is the fact, although there were elements of platform inducement, it is true that he voluntarily participated.”

Chao Qin swallowed dryly and asked, “Then, then his death? Who killed him?”

“We have initially identified the suspect and are still pursuing him. Rest assured, we will definitely seek justice for him!”

Lian Chen didn’t believe it: “Man Qin did bad things, will you still seek justice for him?”

Tuxi Ling nodded firmly: “Yes!”

Lian Chen began to sob, recounting what a good child Man Qin was.

Man Qin would send money home every month. If he didn’t go home during the New Year, he would send a lot of things home – food, clothing, and necessities. And he was a gentle and considerate man, very careful. When he had time, he would make video calls with his parents, chat about recent events, and ask about their well-being.

Her trepidation over the past few days was finally relieved, as if she had found a confidant, but Chao Qin thought of something unusual from her words.

He patted his wife’s hand and said to Tuxi Ling, “Captain Ling, speaking of which, it’s really a bit strange.”

“How so?”

“Indeed, Man Qin has been contacting us much less in the past six months. He didn’t even come home for the last New Year, just made a phone call saying he was busy, and didn’t send anything home. I know he works as a family doctor in a wealthy family, and I thought maybe there was something going on in their family that he couldn’t leave, so I didn’t pay attention. Normally, for his mother’s birthday during the Dragon Boat Festival, he would send gifts back every time, all kinds of physical therapy instruments and clothes or something, but for ten years, his mother’s favorite specialties would definitely be sent back in a large box, but this time he only sent back a notebook, saying it was a poem he wrote for his mother. I figured, this kid studies medicine, not literature, how did he start writing poetry?”

As soon as Tuxi Ling heard this, an alarm went off in his head, and he quickly asked: “Can I see it?”

“Ah?” Chao Qin was stunned, “Didn’t bring it, it’s at home…”

As soon as Lian Chen heard this, she hurriedly wiped away her tears: “I brought it, brought it!”

As she spoke, she took out a palm-sized notebook from her shoulder bag: “This is what my son left me, I have to keep it with me to feel at ease!”

As Tuxi Ling opened the notebook, Lan He’s gaze instantly froze.

The notebook was a circle larger than the palm of a hand. The inside pages were very unique – not the kind with horizontal lines, but the kind like an international chessboard, with white and light gray alternating squares.

Each page was filled with poems of varying lengths. The notebook had a total of twenty-five pages, all written full. Man Qin’s writing level was indeed mediocre. Some sentences were incoherent, and there were even typos, more like the self-entertainment of a retired old man.

Tuxi Ling flipped through it back and forth twice, but couldn’t see anything special, so he returned it to Lian Chen: “Auntie, this was written very carefully by Doctor Qin, please keep it safe.”

Lan He, standing to the side, revealed a speechless expression, rolling his eyes to the ceiling: “Auntie, can I take a look too?”

Lian Chen hesitated for a moment, but still gave him the notebook.

Lan He didn’t participate in the subsequent conversation. He looked at the notebook very seriously, staring at each page for a long time, reading every page from beginning to end, and then returned the notebook.

He smiled: “Written very well.”

Then, under Tuxi Ling’s questioning gaze, he changed his tune: “Written much better than me.”

–

A month passed, and the whereabouts of the two suspects in the Man Qin case, along with Yingying Zou, had disappeared without a trace.

At the morning meeting, Director Liu announced that this case was consuming too much police and social resources, temporarily shifting the focus of the investigation to other cases, and submitting the portraits of the suspects to the Ministry of Public Security, adding them to the wanted list.

The most uncomfortable was Tuxi Ling. He now firmly believed that those two people were after Lan He. If they weren’t caught, Lan He would be exposed to danger.

But it seemed that no one cared except him, even Lan He himself seemed indifferent. The day before yesterday when they met, he had a fit of temper because of this.

That day, they parted unhappily.

In the quiet of the night, Tuxi Ling reflected on himself. He couldn’t catch the people and couldn’t persuade Lan He. At that time, that fit of temper was a bit of an excuse, too disgraceful. And Lan He’s gaze at that time was tolerant and peaceful, his whole person like a shining Father, making himself look even more like a clown.

Every time he thought of this, his toes curled in embarrassment.

“Captain Ling!” The captain of the first squad, Yaojin Ke, stopped him, with a gloating smile on his face. “Don’t be so gloomy. Our Director Liu is right. You only care about your own little territory in the second squad. Do you know how big a case has come up in the city recently?”

Tuxi Ling was speechless, he really didn’t have the mood to pay attention: “What case?”

“Haven’t we been tracking the antique fragments from the fishing boat last time?” Yaojin Ke put his arm around his neck. “After investigation, that antique was sold by a local auction house the year before last. Because of this, we tracked down a residential murder and robbery case, but the victim lived alone, and no one reported the case all along.”

Tuxi Ling’s hand holding the water glass stopped: “The antique on the boat is stolen goods from a robbery and murder? Then what happened later? Internal strife?”

Yaojin Ke had a strange smile on his face, and slapped a stack of case files into Tuxi Ling’s arms: “If you want to know what happens next, please wait for the next episode!”

Tuxi Ling took a sip of water, leaned back slightly on the sofa, and calmly opened the case file: “Didn’t find out, did you?”

Yaojin Ke sat next to him, pointing at the case file: “The villa was turned upside down. The safe was opened and he was beaten. The other party was very professional. Whether it was the force or the landing point, they were controlled at a critical point, which could make people suffer unbearably, but not cause them to go into shock. Suspected that the suspect used torture to force the safe password. According to relatives who knew the situation, the safe originally contained at least six antiques, which were collected by the deceased for many years. There should also be some cash. The bank card was not touched.”

Tuxi Ling saw the DNA identification report of the blood extracted from the ship: “Was the DNA compared in the database?”

Yaojin Ke sighed and said, “DNA cannot be detected.”

“What?”

“Lao Ai said that it should be the plasma used for blood transfusion in the hospital. That kind of plasma has undergone strict separation and purification, and the white blood cell content is negligible, so it’s normal that it can’t be detected.” Yaojin Ke propped up his chin. “But why? Was plasma spilled on the boat?”

“Is it possible that the suspect on the boat deliberately wanted to create some kind of illusion?”

“Huh?” Yaojin Ke pinched his thigh and pondered for a few seconds, and realized, “Black eats black?”

Tuxi Ling nodded: “I think it’s possible. The person responsible for transporting the stolen goods faked his death, creating the illusion that someone hijacked the ship, wanting to dump his partners.”

Yaojin Ke immediately became energetic: “That means there are other antiques, in the hands of the person transporting the stolen goods. As long as we find out the owner of the ship, we can catch the murderer!”

Tuxi Ling nodded and continued reading. Before he finished reading, he received a report from the Beiqing District Criminal Investigation Brigade.

A professor at Jiannan University fell to his death on campus, which had a very bad impact.

Yaojin Ke sighed: “There’s more work to do.”

Tuxi Ling handed the case file back to Yaojin Ke: “You continue, I’ll go to Jiannan University.”