WWY Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Falling – The tranquility of the campus is shattered…

Jiannan University is a key university in the province, located in Beiqing District, with several of its programs ranking among the best in the country and a strong faculty.

The teaching building where the fall occurred had already been cordoned off with caution tape. Forensic doctors and crime scene investigators were busy both upstairs and downstairs. Shengbo Xia and Li Wu had already begun searching for witnesses everywhere.

The tranquility of the campus was broken, and youthful faces gathered outside the caution tape. Tuxi Ling looked around and asked the school authorities to cooperate with the police in dismissing the students.

“Alright, everyone, disperse, stop taking pictures! Go to class if you have class, do what you need to do!”

It worked when the school leaders came forward. The students dispersed, but one girl refused to leave. Ignoring the school leader’s reprimands, she kept craning her neck to look inside. When she met Tuxi Ling’s eyes, she quickly waved.

Tuxi Ling walked over: “Miss, is there something you need?”

The girl hesitated and asked, “Officer, did Professor Qiu Na commit suicide?”

Tuxi Ling shook his head: “It can’t be determined yet.”

“I want to tell you something, but you didn’t ask me, can I still say it?”

A bit naive and cute.

“Is it related to Professor Qiu Na’s death?”

The girl nodded.

Tuxi Ling took out a black leather notebook with the national emblem printed on it and used his mouth to pop open the pen cap: “Tell me.”

“Um, did Professor Qiu fall from that rooftop?” She asked, pointing to a corner of the H-shaped teaching building.

Tuxi Ling nodded: “It seems that way for now.”

“Well, after lunch, I saw him walking towards Channel C, which leads to that rooftop, with someone. I don’t know if it has anything to do with his fall.”

Tuxi Ling didn’t expect to find such an important clue so suddenly, and his expression became more serious: “What kind of person? Someone from the school? Please describe what he looks like.”

The girl recalled while shaking her head: “Judging by his age, he seemed to be from the school, in his early twenties, but I’ve never seen him before. He was about 1.8 meters tall, very thin, wearing a baseball cap, ivory white, with a pinkish-white sweatshirt and dark brown cargo pants. Oh? That outfit seems to be a new release from some big brand, I can’t remember exactly. I also saw a bit of his face, he was very handsome. He was chatting and laughing with Professor Qiu, seemed like they were very familiar.”

Tuxi Ling quickly wrote down the keywords and asked, “Anything else?”

“That’s it, pretty much…” The girl suddenly remembered, “Oh, right, he was holding a few sheets of paper in his hand.”

“Paper?” Tuxi Ling paused. “What kind of paper?”

“A4 paper, not many, about three to five sheets.”

“Did you hear what they were saying?”

“No, it was quite far away. I just took a few more glances because that young man was very handsome…”

“What time did you see them, approximately?”

“I came out of the cafeteria and went to the teaching building to prepare for the first class in the afternoon, around 12:40.”

“Channel C, right?”

“Yes.”

Tuxi Ling thanked her and called Shengbo Xia: “Bozi, go to the security department and check the surveillance. Around 12:40, Channel C, there was a young man wearing a baseball cap with the deceased.”

“Huh?” Shengbo Xia on the other end was quite surprised. “Isn’t it suicide then?”

Tuxi Ling said sternly, “Don’t jump to conclusions. Go and investigate quickly!”

Then, he went to the location where the deceased fell. Forensic doctor Chongfei Ai was craning his neck and gesturing towards the building, while crime scene investigator Jin Xiao was also responding with gestures from the rooftop.

The place where Qiu Na fell was a lawn, and the body was hidden behind bushes.

From a height of eleven stories, a person falling directly onto the ground would have virtually no intact internal organs. Qiu Na’s body was twisted beyond recognition. The part of his head that hit the ground was completely caved in, and his white shirt was almost entirely stained red with blood.

Tuxi Ling carefully stepped over the bushes and asked from a distance, “Lao Ai, what’s the situation? Can you determine the time of the fall?”

Chongfei Ai walked towards him, taking off his mask: “Based on preliminary judgment, it was about an hour ago. Judging from the food residue overflowing from his mouth when he fell, he had just finished lunch. There was residue in his esophagus that hadn’t been completely swallowed!”

Tuxi Ling glanced at the time on his phone and muttered to himself, “So it really was around one o’clock…”

“What, are there any witnesses?” Chongfei Ai added a deduction, “Xiao Jin and I think it’s suicide.”

“Suicide? Are you sure?”

Ai Chongfei was an old hand and saw a clue from his expression, quickly denying, “Not sure, but judging from the trajectory of the fall and the footprints on the rooftop, he jumped down himself.”

Tuxi Ling thought for a moment and realized that was right. Maybe someone was holding a knife to his neck? Could it be the person who walked into Channel C with him?

Ten minutes later, the news from Shengbo Xia made his jaw drop.

“What? Who? Lan He?”

“Yes, Captain Ling, the person who walked onto the rooftop with Qiu Na through Channel C was Lan He!”

“…”

Tuxi Ling was speechless for a moment.

How could it be him? How is it him again?

“Also, don’t worry, there’s surveillance on the rooftop. The surveillance shows that Lan He chatted with Qiu Na for a while, and they both seemed quite happy. After he left, Qiu Na stood on the rooftop for a while and then jumped.”

Tuxi Ling really breathed a sigh of relief this time, and half of the weight on his heart lifted.

“Captain Ling, should we call Lan He to the station to take a statement? Although there was no physical contact, maybe there were verbal hints or something. And he showed Qiu Na a few sheets of paper. It looked like drawings on the surveillance footage!”

Tuxi Ling believed that Lan He wouldn’t be involved in the case, but every required procedure had to be followed, so he agreed, “Then you contact him.”

He hadn’t yet resolved the argument from their last meeting, and this time he was indirectly implying that the other party was suspected of committing a crime. He was afraid that Lan He would misunderstand, so he decided to temporarily avoid the limelight and be a coward, letting Shengbo Xia come forward and handle it officially.

Aside from anything else, he hadn’t even given the interest on the 800,000 he borrowed from him!

Shengbo Xia asked again, “Door-to-door investigation or summons? I think summons are more convenient!”

Tuxi Ling thought that it was convenient for you, but since the suggestion had already been made, he had no reason to refuse.

When Lan He was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Detachment, he was completely confused.

When he was taken to the interrogation room and saw the two unfamiliar policemen in the room, his face immediately showed displeasure.

He sat down rudely in the chair and raised his eyebrows to ask, “Where’s Shengbo Xia? Wasn’t he the one who called me here?”

The two police officers exchanged glances, a little embarrassed: “Officer Xia has gone to the scene and hasn’t returned yet. We are responsible for asking you a few questions. Please cooperate.”

“I won’t cooperate.” Lan He said coldly, “Call him back, or have your Captain Ling come and ask me. Otherwise, I won’t say a word!”

After all, he wasn’t a criminal suspect yet, so the attitude couldn’t be too harsh. The two policemen were helpless and went out to call Shengbo Xia.

Shengbo Xia was driving back to the team, and he got angry as soon as he heard: “Won’t cooperate? On what basis?”

The other side must have said something, and he glanced at Tuxi Ling: “Got it, Captain Ling and I will be there in twenty minutes!”

Tuxi Ling vaguely understood that they had run into a snag, and still asked, “What’s wrong?”

Knowing that their Captain Ling had a good relationship with Lan He, Shengbo Xia still “tsk”ed sourly: “Rich people are tough, huh? Even when they’re in trouble, they’re not afraid at all. They just know we can’t do anything to them, right?”

Tuxi Ling smiled wryly: “What evidence do you have to do anything to him?”

“I think he must have hypnotized Qiu Na!” Shengbo Xia seemed to have something to hide. “That person, he’s weird. Captain Ling, stay away from him!”

Tuxi Ling pursed his lips, inexplicably wanting to punch him.

Lan He was still wearing a pinkish-white sweatshirt and brown cargo pants, crossing his legs, leaning back, leisurely drinking the hot milk tea that the police officer had bought for him.

Even so, he didn’t have a good look on his face.

After drinking a cup of milk tea to the bottom, Tuxi Ling finally pushed open the door. Lan He’s cold and hot eyes made him almost forget to release his grip on the doorknob.

“Captain Ling!” The two police officers quickly stood up.

“Thanks for your hard work, you can go and busy yourselves with something else!” Tuxi Ling greeted them, pulled a chair and sat down, and opened his notebook.

The two faced each other with a large table in between, making them both uncomfortable with this kind of conversation.

The corners of Lan He’s mouth were turned up, but you couldn’t see any smile: “Oh, Officer Ling is personally interrogating me?”

Shengbo Xia, who was sitting next to Tuxi Ling, knocked on the table: “Watch your mouth! What do you mean ‘interrogating’ you? This is an inquiry room, not an interrogation room!”

Tuxi Ling glared at him: “Shut up.”

Tuxi Ling had absolute authority in the Second Detachment of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, and Shengbo Xia immediately swallowed back the following words, with some indignation still on his face.

Lan He curved his eyes triumphantly, and Tuxi Ling turned to him to explain: “I just want to understand the situation a bit.”

“Does understanding the situation require such a big show?” Lan He said lazily, “Even on the day my father died, I was a suspect, and you didn’t make such a big fuss!”

Tuxi Ling felt that Shengbo Xia had offended the person thoroughly today. In his impression, Lan He had always been easy to talk to, but today he was unprecedentedly sarcastic.

Forget it, when he calms down, he’ll apologize for the previous conflict along with this one!

He cleared his throat: “Lan He, did my colleague just say why we asked you to come over?”

Lan He crossed his arms: “Didn’t say, and I don’t want to listen either.”

“It’s like this.” When it came to the case, Tuxi Ling’s expression became serious: “This afternoon, we received a report that a professor named Qiu Na at Jiannan University fell to his death this afternoon at around one o’clock. Through witness testimony and surveillance videos, we discovered that before that, you went up to the teaching building’s rooftop with him.”

When he said “fell to his death,” Lan He put away his cynical expression. After he finished speaking, Lan He sat up straight completely, frowned and said, “You said Teacher Qiu is dead?”

Tuxi Ling nodded: “Preliminary view is that he committed suicide.”

Lan He was stunned, lowered his eyes and pondered for a long time, and asked, “Suicide? What do you suspect me of?”

“I don’t suspect you.” Tuxi Ling hurriedly clarified, “We want to understand, what did you go to him for?”

“He’s an expert in the study of ancient jade Bi, I wanted him to help me identify some things.”

Shengbo Xia couldn’t help but be curious: “Identify what things?”

Lan He glared at him for a moment unhappily, and then looked intently at Tuxi Ling again.

Tuxi Ling felt his throat was a little itchy, and coughed softly: “Identify what things?”

Are you a repeater?

Lan He expressionlessly took out his mobile phone, opened the album, and showed him the ballpoint pen drawings he had taken before: “Four jade Bi, asking Teacher Qiu to help me look at the dynasty and authenticity.”

The jade Bi in the drawings had delicate brushstrokes, fully presenting the ancient and warm texture, and every detail was clearly discernible, no different from a photograph.

“Where did these drawings come from?” Tuxi Ling suddenly remembered that Lan He liked to draw, and tried asking, “You didn’t draw them, did you?”

“Yes!” Lan He narrowed his eyes, looking quite a bit smug.

“Really? Amazing!” Shengbo Xia widened his eyes, moved the phone in front of him, zoomed in on the picture again and again, and when he looked up again, the way he looked at Lan He had changed.

He had always thought that Lan He was a spoiled young master from a rich family, who couldn’t do anything right and only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun all day long. He had a deeply ingrained prejudice against him. In addition, Lan He had never given the police a good look, and Shengbo Xia really disliked him a bit. Today, his perception was directly subverted by seventy or eighty percent.

Tuxi Ling also felt very shocked. He thought that Lan He’s drawing was just a hobby, but he didn’t expect it to be very professional, and his level was no less than that of their team’s sketch artist.

He asked, “What are these drawings of?”

Lan He knew that he definitely couldn’t hide it, so he told him the explanation he had given to Han Dan again, and emphasized that it was just his personal hobby.

At the end, he said a little sadly: “Today was also the first time I met Teacher Qiu. A friend introduced us to each other. Teacher Qiu was a very good person, and he explained the knowledge of cultural relics to me very carefully. I really didn’t expect…”

Hearing the words “cultural relics,” a certain string in Tuxi Ling’s heart tightened, and a strange feeling flashed by.

Shengbo Xia asked while recording, “What friend?”

“An old expert retired from the National Museum, who is currently recuperating in a sanatorium opened by my family doctor.”

Tuxi Ling took over: “When you were chatting with Professor Qiu, did you notice anything wrong with him?”

Lan He said without thinking, “No, he was very happy.”

“Happy?”

“Because of the drawings I brought, he said that the cultural relics in the drawings were very valuable for research.”

“From what you just said, you saw these cultural relics in museums abroad?”

“Yes, look at this.” Lan He flipped to the next photo on his phone, “A dragon-patterned jade Bi from the Warring States period, so complete. When I saw it in the museum, I thought it was a modern imitation.”

Shengbo Xia was shocked again: “You can draw it after seeing it just once?”

“What’s so difficult about that?” Lan He suddenly smiled slyly, glimpsed Tuxi Ling’s equally curious gaze, and beckoned his fingers, “Paper and a ballpoint pen.”

Shengbo Xia didn’t believe it, ran back to the office to find a ballpoint pen, took a stack of A4 paper, and asked him to draw on the spot.

Lan He didn’t even raise his head and kept scribbling on the paper. In less than ten minutes, he threw the pen on the table and pushed the painting in front of the two of them.

“Wow! Amazing!”

Amid Shengbo Xia’s exaggerated exclamations, Tuxi Ling’s earlobes quietly heated up.

Lan He’s drawing was of him.