Chapter 689: The True Identity of "Reattached Finger"
Translator: Azza
Editor: Conspiracing
Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue quickly caught up with Chunli who was trying to escape. She was terribly frightened and stammered, "I suddenly had something come up and I need to go to my classmate's house."
Chen Shi said, "I think you should come back with us."
After a few weak attempts at resistance, Chunli was finally taken to the bureau in a dejected state. However, she refused to say anything while sitting in the interrogation room and remained silent.
"Did this young lady really murder Ma Xiang?" After calming down and re-examining previous deductions, Lin Dongxue had some doubts.
While Chen Shi was thinking, Lin Dongxue received a text message from Xu Xiaodong. She told Chen Shi, "There weren’t any suspicious people found in the surveillance video from Ma Xiang’s residence, but 22 had been there before Ma Xiang’s murder... Also, the hospital receipt found in Ma Xiang’s residence was for a kind of medicine that treats lung cancer.”
"Ma Xiang had lung cancer?"
"Captain Peng's autopsy report didn't mention it, so maybe he didn't discover it."
"According to his usual practice, if the deceased suffered from a certain disease, he would definitely mention it. It’s impossible that there weren’t any findings when lung cancer is so obvious.”
"Maybe it's just early-stage cancer. Or he wasn’t the one taking the medicine."
Chen Shi thought of something. "I have to go somewhere."
"I’ll go with you."
"No, I'll be back soon. You wait for 22 and the others here!"
With that said, Chen Shi drove away. Lin Dongxue knew that he must be verifying an idea.
As dusk set in, Ai Ying, 11, 22 and the others arrived together. 22 said apologetically, "Sorry, I’ve made all of you wait so long. I had something to deal with at my company."
Ai Ying said sympathetically, "Sister 22 is a very busy person. We understand."
22 said, "Everyone hasn't eaten yet, right? I'll treat you all to dinner."
The crowd cheered. Lin Dongxue called 22 aside and asked, "I have something to ask you. When we went to Ma Xiang's house to investigate, we found that you had been there before. Did you need to meet him for some matter?"
"I visit him regularly." 22 replied calmly. "Although we’re divorced, we’re still friends. Ma Xiang has several investments in which I have partial ownership of. I collect interest regularly."
"We watched the housing district’s surveillance footage. You visit your ex-husband a bit too frequently."
"Officer Lin, do you have to suspect this too? Due to the matter with Chang Juan a while ago, I went over to tell him not to play with fire anymore. Who knew it would end up like this..." 22 sighed.
Ai Ying and 11 had already booked seats in the restaurant and they came out to urge them to come in. Lin Dongxue didn't want to eat with them, so she found an excuse to leave. When she was leaving, she heard 22 coughing violently. She was holding on to the edge of the table and coughing so much that she couldn't straighten her back. She covered her mouth with a handkerchief. Lin Dongxue seemed to see something red in the handkerchief.
Ai Ying asked her what was wrong and 22 smiled, "I’m fine. I choked after drinking tea because a small piece of tea leaf got stuck in my throat."
After the group of people had eaten, they went to the Public Security Bureau. Lin Dongxue was waiting there. She said, "I'll bring Chang Juan to the interrogation room. After that, we’ll begin!"
"Where’s Police Officer Chen who’s usually with you?" 22 asked.
"He has something to do. He’ll come over later. We won't wait for him."
Chang Juan was taken to the interrogation room. Although she had been detained for a few days, she looked well.
Lin Dongxue turned on the recorder. Except for 22, Chang Juan didn’t know the identities of the other shareholders. They introduced themselves one by one, and then 22 said, "Now, the general assembly of shareholders collectively vote that you have to disclose everything that happened on the evening of February 11th. No details must be concealed."
Chang Juan said calmly, "I went to the abandoned resort where my parents were killed that night according to the decision of the shareholders’ meeting. 39 said he would invite the murderer to go there. I saw Ma Xiang. He told me that it would be impossible for the murderer to turn up, but he wanted to see me. Then he started making advances on me. I had brought a small knife for self-defense. When Ma Xiang pounced over, I stabbed him with the knife. He clutched his wound and collapsed onto the floor. For some reason, when I stabbed him with a knife, I felt a strange pleasure, so I stabbed him again and again, as if I was popping pimples on my face. When the police arrived, I suddenly came to myself. I had stabbed Ma Xiang until he no longer looked human.”
Chang Juan's unchanging tone made the atmosphere in the interrogation room weird. Ai Ying couldn't bear to listen anymore and said, "39, this bastard. I knew he harbored evil intentions towards you!"
"Chang Juan, are you telling the truth? This is murder!" 11 was heartbroken.
Little 4 said, "Knowing that it would cause such a situation, why did you still vote in support of 39?!"
Lin Dongxue raised her voice to interrupt everyone's quarrelling, "Chang Juan, you’re lying!"
"I didn't lie." From the expression in her eyes to the tone of her voice, Chang Juan was unusually calm.
"You’re defending someone. Do you want me to name her? Chunli!"
When she heard the name, Chang Juan’s pupils clearly contracted. Lin Dongxue continued, “We’ve found out that Chunli was also at the scene that night. She was very close to the crime scene. Why didn’t you say a single word about her presence?"
22 said, "Chang Juan, tell the truth!"
Chang Juan furrowed her brows. "I killed him. This is the truth. Chunli may have been there, but I didn't know about it."
"If you didn't tell her about it, she wouldn't have been there." Lin Dongxue exposed her lie.
"I didn't know Chunli had been there!" Chang Juan said emphatically with a firm attitude.
"Did 39 order you to lie to the police?" A voice was heard and they saw Chen Shi walking in.
Everyone's eyes were on him. Lin Dongxue noticed that Chen Shi's expression was slightly different. It seemed that he made an important discovery, which made her look forward to how things would unfold.
"39's order?" Ai Ying was confused. "39 is already dead. He has no voting rights."
Chen Shi pointed to the shareholders and asked Chang Juan, "Do you know who they are respectively? How many equity shares does each person own and what are their names?"
Chang Juan didn’t speak. 22 replied for her, "She only knows Ai Ying and I."
"There was a major misunderstanding with this whole case." Chen Shi said calmly, looking across every face that held varying expressions. "We all thought 39 was Ma Xiang. Before and after Ma Xiang appeared, there wasn't any decisive evidence to prove that he was 39. What made us think he was 39 were your words..." Chen Shi looked at “22”. "After we met that night, you said that 39 is called Ma Xiang and your ex-husband, so we always thought so."
22's expression became a bit unpleasant. She said, "If 39 isn’t Ma Xiang, who else could it be? How can you talk nonsense like that? I stopped Ma Xiang the time he went to look for Chang Juan. 13 also knew about this. You can ask him!"
"No, it was indeed Ma Xiang who went to look for Chang Juan that time, but he had another purpose. That’s because Ma Xiang is ‘Reattached Finger’, the murderer who killed her parents. It was you who appeared in time to protect Chang Juan, because you’re 39. On the night of February 11th, the murderer who was called to the scene by 39 was Ma Xiang!"
Everyone was shocked. They all stared at Chu Shifang. She pursed her lips and there was a quiet change in her expression.
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