Chapter 148: Chapter 147 One of the Participants_1
Interrogation room.
With a smack, Xu Dayuan slapped the table, startling the nonchalant Sun Yannian sitting opposite him, whose constantly trembling legs also stopped shaking.
"I’ll reiterate this for you one more time, this is the Criminal Police Force, not a local police station, so don’t bring that insouciant attitude here. I won’t even mention your unlicensed driving, but just for your forgery alone, you could be looking at 3-10 years. Do you think I’m joking with you?
If you understand what I’m saying, then answer my questions seriously. Don’t put on that act with me. You are already over sixteen years of age and can bear partial legal responsibility. Got it?"
Sun Yannian nodded, then realizing his nod might not seem sincere enough, he finally said:
"Understood."
"Then I’ll ask you, why did you skip class yesterday morning and go to Lijiang West Road in Jingkou District?"
Sun Yannian was silent, and this time, Xu Dayuan did not urge him. Mr. Zhao poked Zhou Ning’s arm.
"Do you think this kid was being used?"
"Doesn’t seem too bright, spoiled by his mother, and everything came too easily—never thought things through. I feel like his trip to Jingkou District was definitely instigated by Wang Mengmeng."
Mr. Zhao was slightly taken aback and leaned in closer.
"You’re saying Wang Mengmeng is the murderer?"
"Perhaps one of the participants, but how much she took part, or if she was completely unaware, that I don’t know."
Just then, in the interrogation room, Sun Yannian lifted his head and hesitated, as if reluctant to speak. Xu Dayuan directly interjected.
"Think carefully, and speak only if you’re telling the truth. If you’re still intending to hide something at this point, then all that awaits you is the path to trial."
Sun Yannian shivered and finally seemed to make up his mind as he said:
"After school yesterday, Wang Mengmeng said she wanted to eat the truffle xiaolongbao, crab roe xiaolongbao, golden shrimp balls, and the gourmand’s braised pork from the Din Tai Fung in Jingkou District today. She asked me to go over early in the morning. I said I would ask for leave.
She snorted and said just come as usual in the morning, and sneak out during morning self-study using any excuse. That way, you can be back by the third period, and nobody would know. As long as I could let her have those four dishes for lunch, she said I could play wherever I wanted!"
By the end of his recount, Sun Yannian’s voice had nearly faded to inaudible.
Zhou Ning shook his head non-stop. A sixteen-year-old lad can be in the throes of spring fever, but to have his head filled with nothing else, that would be a waste.
Mr. Zhao coughed twice.
"Not bad, the kid is gullible enough to do whatever he’s told. If he was asked to murder someone, would he just go and do it?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"The reason is too far-fetched."
"Lying?"
"Don’t know, but the reason seems off. It’s not time-controllable, how should I put it—it seems flippant. If, according to my previous judgment, Wang Mengmeng is one of the participants, then how could she guide him to be at the accident scene at a specific time without seeming contrived?"
Mr. Zhao blinked his small eyes, looking at his phone.
"Constantly calling? Or continually talking through voice messages? But then how could he drive? Besides, Xu Da already said they checked their mobile phone records and didn’t find many interactions..."
Zhou Ning paused.
"The phone, check what phone he’s using and what phone Wang Mengmeng is using. Look through their chat history!"
The moment Zhao Xinli heard this, he hurried out. At the same time, the door to the interrogation room across was knocked on, Xu Dayuan stood up to open the door, saw Mr. Zhao coming in quickly and immediately closed the door. After a short while, he returned and headed straight to Sun Yannian, taking his phone in hand.
"Unlock it."
Sun Yannian quickly entered the screen lock password, Xu Dayuan opened the phone, found QQ, and saw that the chat history hadn’t been deleted. He tossed the phone to the clerk beside him. Noticing the explicit pictures, Mr. Zhao pressed his face onto the one-way glass.
"Damn, should’ve gone in myself, didn’t see clearly."
"You sure have guts, flirting with girls while driving. But what’s with these intermittent video calls?"
Sun Yannian had wilted, his secret revealed, naturally, he lost his previous confidence.
"So... driving through the tunnel, and... and at the traffic lights and stuff, Wang Mengmeng insisted that I video call her while I went to buy things. She said that way she could always watch me driving, and she even said I looked handsome doing it. I had no idea I’d run into such thick fog, let alone crash into the car from the accident. But my father’s death has nothing to do with me!"
Xu Dayuan stood up and gestured to the stenographer, who printed out all the records that had just been taken, and then had Sun Yannian sign and fingerprint them.
Although Sun Yannian was still making a fuss, everyone’s attention was no longer on him. Xu Dayuan went straight to the observation room, turned on the light, and Zhou Ning also took off his headphones.
"This Sun Yannian isn’t so smart. He’s been played by Wang Mengmeng. She timed it just right to appear at the scene of the accident. With such heavy fog and him not being a local, he couldn’t avoid it and naturally an accident happened. Once we discovered it, we would investigate thoroughly, especially with that kind of disguise, it raised even more suspicion."
Mr. Zhao kept nodding on the side, but Zhou Ning was still deep in thought, prompting Xu Dayuan to poke him.
"Speak up, don’t hold back with me. Say whatever comes to mind, how we conclude is my business, it’s not like you’ll be held responsible. What are you afraid of?"
Zhou Ning shook his head, he wasn’t afraid of taking responsibility, he just felt like everything seemed to be connected, but something was still missing. Just then his phone rang, with the words "Vitamin" flashing on the screen.
Xu Dayuan glanced over, not understanding the strange nicknames young people come up with, then looked at Mr. Zhao.
"Who’s Vitamin?"
"It’s Mr. He! Isn’t his name He Shancun?"
"And then?"
Mr. Zhao: ...
For a moment, Mr. Zhao was at a loss. While he explained to Xu Dayuan the origin of the nickname, Zhou Ning had already step out of the observation room and stood in the corridor to answer the call.
"I’m done with what I was doing. Did you check that patient’s information this morning like I asked?"
"Yeah, your colleague Doctor Chen already talked to me. He remembers that patient. So, is this about asking me out to dinner?"
Mr. He spat.
"Quit dreaming. There’s a patient in the ICU who needs a consult before I can go off duty. That’s why I called. Remember how Doctor Chen happened to see that patient, Wang Wenjing, getting out of the car? He said you had asked him if he remembered what car it was or if it had any distinguishing features. He said it was a black old-model Santana. Just now, he was scrolling through his phone and found out that he had accidentally taken photos, and it was a burst shot. There’s a logo on the side of the car, but it’s not very clear. I’ll send you the photo."
"Alright, send it to me on QQ, and thanks, Mr. He."
Mr. He was taken aback and eventually yelled from the other end of the phone:
"Hey, getting polite now, I’m calling you in a hurry, afraid of delaying your investigation, and you’re thanking me, why are we even doing this dance?"
That’s it; hanging up!
Zhou Ning ’snap’, ended the call.
Mr. Zhao was already laughing miserably, coming over to pat Zhou Ning’s shoulder.
"This guy just can’t have a normal conversation. You thank him, and he gets all uptight, I really don’t know how to describe him."
Zhou Ning opened his QQ on the phone and found the photo sent by Mr. He. It was indeed a bit distant and blurry, but the logo on the car door was clearly not the standard number of occupants but a circular pattern.
He took a glance and immediately forwarded the photo to Mr. Qu, then called Mr. Qu, putting the phone on speaker as it rang through.
"Are you busy? Restore a photo for me. I just sent it to you. Don’t worry about the rest, I just need to see clearly what’s on the door of that car."
"Okay, just a moment, don’t hang up. I’m in the lab at the school; it will be done shortly."
Xu Dayuan and Mr. Zhao both gathered around, staring at Zhou Ning’s phone. After less than a minute, a notification on the phone showed that an image file was received. Zhou Ning clicked it open, revealing an enlarged picture of the car door, with a circular yellow background, and in the middle, a few words: Ivy English Training, with a 400 number below it.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Ning thanked the caller and hung up the phone.
Before he could speak, Bai Ruixin hurried over.
"Leader, Wang Mengmeng has been brought in. Should we question her here, or go to the office?"
