Chapter 149: Chapter 148 Trial in Progress_1
Seeing everyone in such a serious state, Bai Ruixin’s voice also softened, scratching his head, wondering if he had done something wrong again.
"What’s wrong, boss, did I arrange something incorrectly?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head and glanced at the time on his phone.
"Did Wang Mengmeng come with her parents’ knowledge?"
Bai Ruixin nodded.
"We picked her up from school, but the school said we had to inform her parents. I thought she didn’t want Sun Yannian to have an issue with forged documents. Since she was just complying with the investigation, she agreed. I called Wang Wenjing, and she blew her top immediately, saying she did not agree.
I said, according to the law, we could take her with a teacher, but if you strongly insist on accompanying her for the record, you can follow. She just kept yelling at me to shut up, saying she did not agree. Seeing my insistence, she later said to let her fiancé accompany her here."
Xu Dayuan’s eyes lit up.
"Where are they?"
Bai Ruixin, looking somewhat puzzled, pointed towards the other end of the corridor.
"They’re in our office right now."
Xu Dayuan waved his hand.
"Call them over. Bring both of them here and say we are making a record here."
Bai Ruixin jogged off, and Xu Dayuan yelled after him.
"Don’t run, and don’t hurry. Take it easy and steady, delay the time a bit."
Taken aback by such a sudden shout, Bai Ruixin almost stumbled. He looked back, then slowed his pace and cautiously walked towards the office area.
Zhou Ning looked at Mr. Zhao.
"Call Mr. Cui and ask them to speed up the toxicology test. We urgently need the results here."
Mr. Zhao hurried to make the call at a side, sweet-talking with one ’sister’ after another, claiming how hard they work, insisting that he did not want to rush them, all the urgency coming from Xu Da...
By that time, Xu Dayuan had already dialed Mr. Zeng’s number.
"Zeng Liang, note down this phone number and verify it right now. Find out how many black, old-model Santanas this training institute has in Qindao, and find the drivers and cars for me. Ask them who went to Qindao Central Hospital on the morning of July 4th, delivering a patient with a fracture.
Especially verify if they know Chen Chunxi or Wang Wenjing, then pull the surveillance footage from the intersections near the Central Hospital. Find out which black Santana was at the hospital’s emergency entrance at 7:50 AM on July 4th, double-check that for me.
And the last thing, look for surveillance footage from the tunnel entrance on July 4th. You know Chen Chunxi’s license plate number, so check carefully to see if his car passed through, and let me know the results as soon as possible."
After hanging up the phone, Xu Dayuan exhaled a sigh of relief.
"If it wasn’t Chen Chunxi who took Wang Wenjing to the hospital, then he has no alibi for the time of the incident. As for any colleagues or workers, as long as they saw him that morning, they wouldn’t pay attention to the exact time."
Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes.
"Wait, the stomach contents of Zhang Guanglei and Sun Manqing both included fried dough sticks, spicy shredded vegetable, and tofu brains, and they ate about half an hour before death. This means they might not have eaten in Dongtai District before heading to Jingkou District.
Or perhaps they went there early in the morning. Let’s check if there’s a place near Lijiang West Road where they serve breakfast. I recall that area being surrounded by the Petroleum College or theme parks and such. Since the Petroleum College isn’t finished yet, to eat such breakfast, they would have to go to a residential area."
As he spoke, Zhou Ning opened Baidu Maps on his laptop and searched the area around Lijiang West Road.
Scrolling up with the mouse, a line of small eateries appeared on Changjiang Road, north of Lijiang West Road. Among them, a Nanjing soup dumpling shop stood out conspicuously.
Zhou Ning clicked on Street View, and a storefront appeared on the screen, displaying a sign with Nanjing soup dumplings and a mobile number. Xu Dayuan dialed it directly.
"Hello, I am from the Qindao City Criminal Police Brigade. I wanted to ask, have you installed surveillance cameras?"
The other party was rather startled by this opening statement.
"Ah, hello officer, yes...we do have surveillance...but I don’t know how to use it."
"That’s fine, don’t be nervous. We’re investigating a case and just want to check if the suspect ate breakfast at your place. Do you serve tofu brains, fried dough sticks, and spicy shredded vegetable?"
"Yes, we mainly sell soup dumplings, but we’ve also started making fried dough sticks and tofu brains in the past half year, as it better suits the local taste."
"Great, I’ll send someone over right away, they should arrive in about twenty minutes. Please wait for us in your shop."
"No trouble at all!"
Xu Dayuan explained the situation to Liu Yufei on the phone, since she was still in Jingkou District and had not returned. He also texted the phone number and address to Liu Yufei. After sorting all this, Mr. Zhao had come over as well.
"We should have the results in twenty minutes."
Xu Dayuan breathed out, gesturing to the two of them.
"Go to the observation room. I will wear earphones later, and if you think of anything, or the test results come out, let me know immediately."
After finishing speaking, he handed his phone to Zhou Ning. The two hurried into the observation room and from a distance, heard footsteps. Mr. Zhao peeked out the door, then carefully closed it.
"Here they come. Wang Mengmeng is quite mature," he commented.
Zhou Ning moved closer to the one-way mirror, grabbing the headphones. The two were led into the interrogation room, followed by Bai Ruixin, who brought in two chairs and gestured for them to sit down. He wore a smile, appearing quite polite.
"Take a seat on this chair; their office is holding a meeting, so we’ll conduct the inquiry here. Don’t be afraid to sit down, Da Man’er, there’s no need to fear. It’s just a routine inquiry, just answer truthfully,"
Both of them, accorded such ’preferential treatment’, were no longer as angry as when they first walked in.
Xu Dayuan looked at the two, raising his police ID to show them.
"I am Xu Dayuan, the captain of the first detective team. This is the clerk, Feng Aiguo. Are you Wang Mengmeng? Please state your identity card number."
Wang Mengmeng, looking obedient, glanced at Chen Chunxi beside her and, seeing him nod, began to reply slowly:
"Yes, my name is Wang Mengmeng, my ID number is 3702021995******."
Xu Dayuan nodded, then continued to question:
"We’ve just taken Sun Yannian in for questioning, and he said that on the evening of July 3rd, you told him to skip the early self-study session on July 4th to get you truffle xiaolongbao, crab roe xiaolongbao, golden shrimp balls, and red braised pork from the Jingkou District’s Din Tai Fung. Is that true?"
Wang Mengmeng shook her head, tears already swirling in her eyes, her look of grievance so profound that not just Sun Yannian, but any man would find it hard to bear that expression.
"I didn’t say that. He took the initiative to say he wanted to treat me to lunch. As for what exactly, I wasn’t paying attention. On the night of the 3rd after the late self-study, it was my mom who picked me up. How could I have made such a request to him? What evidence does he have?"
Seeing Wang Mengmeng getting somewhat agitated, Xu Dayuan gestured with his hand to calm down.
"Stay calm, just clarify the problem, I told you, this is just a routine inquiry, understand?"
Chen Chunxi patted Wang Mengmeng’s shoulder, giving her a reassuring look.
"Then let me continue. Sun Yannian confessed that early on July 4th, on his way to Jingkou District, he kept messaging you and even had a video chat, did that happen? And there’s a lot of chat content in your QQ conversation, including some indecent photos you sent. Is that true?"
Wang Mengmeng burst into tears and suddenly tore open her collar, revealing skin marked with many bruises and contusions. From this distance, it was impossible to tell with the naked eye if these were bite marks or bruises from some other cause.
"He raped me. He has videos of me on his phone. I was forced. If I dared not to answer his video calls, he threatened to expose them in school. I was scared and dared not resist, I could only go along with what he wanted."
This response took Mr. Zhao by surprise.
"Damn, I hadn’t seen that coming at all. Seems like it was all premeditated."
Zhou Ning remained silent, staring intently at Chen Chunxi.
Sure enough, hearing Wang Mengmeng’s account, Chen Chunxi immediately stood up, grabbed her collar to look, and then exploded on the spot.
"I’m calling the police. Mengmeng is not even sixteen yet. This is rape!"
Xu Dayuan nodded calmly and waved at Chen Chunxi.
"Sit down, don’t be agitated. Sun Yannian has already been arrested, and if you want to press charges for rape, I will arrange for someone to take you for a medical examination shortly, to preserve the evidence. Don’t worry, the police will not indulge a criminal, it’s our job to do so."
After crying for a while and calming down slightly, Xu Dayuan stared into her eyes before continuing:
"Do you know Zhang Guanglei?"
Wang Mengmeng slowly nodded, still maintaining her tearful face, as if the question was trivial, with no sign of shock or panic.
"I know him. I don’t like him. He’s as expressive as a piece of wood. He acts ordinary toward my mom and doesn’t know how to get along with me."
The response could have earned top marks; it was neither overly evasive nor abrupt. Most people in a second marriage would consider their children’s opinions. If the daughter dislikes him, that usually spells the end of the relationship.
"Do you hate him?"
Wang Mengmeng looked up, her face showing confusion, as if to say that the question was absurd.
"I’m not familiar with him, why jump to talking about hate?"
Chen Chunxi’s expression turned serious as well.
"I’m saying, Mr. Xu, that question is not appropriate to ask a child, she’s not familiar with Zhang Guanglei."
Zhou Ning was becoming anxious; she glanced at the phone laid out on the table. From the time the call was made until now, it had been almost half an hour, and there was still no news from the lab or from Liu Yufei and Mr. Zeng.
Just as she was thinking, Xu Dayuan’s phone rang. The screen flashed with the name Mr. Zeng, and Zhou Ning answered on speakerphone.
"Hello, Mr. Zeng, this is Zhou Ning. Xu Da is handling the interrogation. Do you have any results?"
"Yes, it’s been confirmed. A driver with vehicle registration Lu B89500 took Wang Wenjing to the hospital. According to him, he received a call from his brother early in the morning to pick someone up, not expecting to find an injured person.
As for the brother, he’s a subcontractor who landed some construction work and has a few people under him. He doesn’t know who told him about this. When we inquired, it turned out, the person who commissioned him was Chen Chunxi from the China Railway Third Bureau Fourth Company."
Mr. Zhao looked thrilled, Zhou Ning hung up the call, just about to turn on the microphone.
Xu Dayuan’s phone rang again, displaying Liu Yufei, still on speakerphone.
"Hello, Yufei, it’s Zhou Ning here. Xu Da is interrogating Wang Mengmeng. Do you have any news?"
"I saw the deceased, Zhang Guanglei, and a man in the footage from yesterday’s breakfast shop. You would never guess who that man is."
Zhou Ning took a deep breath, playing along:
"Who?"
