Chapter 174: Chapter 173 I Don’t Know_1
The car arrived at Zhonghe Jin’an.
Mr. Zhao, carrying the inspection kit, followed Xu Dayuan to the front of Building No. 6.
Although this was also a high-rise, it was clear at first glance that it was a luxury complex, with none of the apartments being small. Moreover, this location was no more than a kilometer in a straight line from Shanhai Building, just separated by a road. It wouldn’t take long to get there, whether driving or walking.
Taking Yi Xiaou up to the 18th floor, they opened the door to the apartment, and Mr. Zhao smiled at Xu Dayuan.
"Leaders, please wait a moment, I’ll be quick!"
Xu Dayuan waved his hand, signaling Liu Yufei to take Yi Xiaou down, but Yi Xiaou disagreed.
"I’m not going down. I want to watch. Although I don’t live here much, there are quite a few things inside. If something goes missing, you wouldn’t want to get sued, right?"
Indeed, those who work at a law firm sure do have sharp tongues.
Unaffected and smiling cheerfully, Mr. Zhao suited up, put on headphones, turned on the body-worn camera on his chest, and then entered the room. He didn’t rush to begin the inspection; instead, he kept turning in circles.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, ask Mr. Qu, where could the surveillance be, and am I looking for an old mobile phone?"
"This is Mr. Qu. Don’t move forward, turn back and look at the top near the door, there’s a surveillance camera, and there’s another one on the living room TV cabinet. These two are wireless; just bring them back, they have SD cards.
The data stored in here won’t be much. This kind of high-end device usually gets a cloud storage account directly. Look for her computer; I think she can check on her mobile phone. If I know the account and password, I’ll be able to log in."
Mr. Zhao made two sounds of agreement, hung up the phone, and along with two detectives, began the search.
After checking around, they found a laptop in the study and, in a drawer under the desk, three mobile phones that didn’t seem very old. Mr. Zhao didn’t spare any of the books on the bookshelf either.
An hour into the search, Mr. Zhao approached Xu Dayuan, several evidence bags in hand.
"Leader, the inspection is done. We found quite a few items. I’m not sure if Mr. Qu can crack them, locate the cloud storage. Also, I noticed lots of sportswear in Yi Xiaou’s possession, but not a single piece of yoga attire."
Xu Dayuan squinted his eyes.
"You mean, she might have destroyed it?"
Mr. Zhao nodded.
"It’s possible. However, Yang Xuetong just called to say a bag with a yoga mat and strap was found in her car. I think she must have a fitness location, where she might have stored items.
So, I told Yang Xuetong to contact the larger yoga studios in the city, the ones with high-end chain memberships, to check if Yi Xiaou has a membership card. We’ll hear back soon and I’ll go over after we return to the city center."
"Let’s pull out."
...
Inside the interrogation room of the city bureau.
He Ruxing sat on the chair, looking panicked. Whenever he moved, the handcuffs made a sharp sound, and from time to time, he looked up at Tao Zhenshan.
Zhou Ning and Xu Dayuan stood in the adjacent observation room. Xu Dayuan glanced at the time and tossed the half-eaten boxed lunch onto the table.
"When will the lab results be out?"
"Everything will be out by five, but some results will start trickling in sooner. Mr. Qu has already found the cloud storage and is breaking the password. The mobile phone will take some time, after all, we don’t know which phone had the spyware installed; it’s based on luck."
Xu Dayuan glanced at Zhou Ning. He understood the reasoning; after all, the killer had plenty of time to destroy the evidence over the past two months.
"The Jingkou Branch Bureau’s investigation was sloppy, which I think gives the killer confidence. Moreover, I believe you’ve got the Midas touch, always pulling through in desperate situations."
Zhou Ning gave a sideways glance, thinking what is this, am I some sort of lucky charm?
"What about Yi Xiaou? Is Mrs. Liu interrogating her?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"No, she’s left alone in a room to cool off. That woman is exceptionally sharp. Left to her own devices, she’ll start scripting various scenarios. We are waiting for the lab results and information from the yoga studios.
So there’s no rush, and furthermore, we still don’t know the relationship between He Ruxing and Yi Xiaou. We’ve checked their household registrations and found no family connections, not even from their grandparents’ generation. Let’s see how He Ruxing holds up first; he’s young and easier to handle. Plus, it’s best to start with the easier tasks first."
Zhou Ning didn’t respond, just picked up a pair of headphones. Tao Zhenshan’s voice came through from the interrogation room.
"You just looked at my police badge, listen well, I’ll only say this once. This is the first team of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the city bureau, not some local police station. I’m not just scaring you. Without hard evidence, you wouldn’t be here, let alone sitting in this chair with handcuffs, got it?"
He Ruxing nodded, and Tao Zhenshan patted the table.
"Don’t just nod or shake your head at me, answer whatever I ask you directly," said Zhou Ning, "Let’s start. What’s your name? Gender? Age? Give me your ID number and the place you work at."
Startled by this array, He Ruxing’s lips visibly trembled. After coughing once, he quickly said:
"My name is He Ruxing, male, 25 years old. My ID number is 37021119860304****, and I work at Xingchen Law Firm as an assistant lawyer."
Tao Zhenshan flipped open a notebook on the table, his pen tapping incessantly on the pages, a gesture that made He Ruxing swallow nervously, clearly very anxious.
"Which school did you graduate from? What qualifications do you have?"
"I graduated from Southwest University of Political Science and Law with a master’s degree in 2010, but I started interning at Xingchen Law Firm at the beginning of 2010," he said.
"Who got you the internship?"
"Uh? I don’t understand."
He Ruxing was startled and looked up at Tao Zhenshan with confusion.
"Who arranged for you to go to Xingchen Law Firm? Don’t tell me it was your parents pulling strings. I have your detailed information. Your father is just an ordinary electrician with a disability in his hand, and your mother, unemployed from her former post, relies on street vending.
However, after this Spring Festival, your father retired, and your mother stopped vending, and you bought a new house in Liuhe District. Even though you took out a loan for it, the down payment alone was 470,000 RMB.
Don’t tell me your family had savings. You applied for student loans for your education, and we have verified your parents’ income statements. And at Xingchen Law Firm, your take-home pay after everything is no more than a little over 5,000 RMB a month, so tell me, where did the money come from?"
Sweat covered He Ruxing’s face, his gaze darting around. Tao Zhenshan slammed his hand on the table, startling He Ruxing.
"Are you planning to resist till the end?"
"No, I’ll confess; I borrowed the money from relatives," he said.
At that moment, Xu Dayuan’s phone rang, receiving a QQ message from Mr. Zeng. The first image was He Ruxing’s bank statement.
On January 1, 2011, a cash deposit of 400,000 RMB was made by He Ruxing himself, and in the previous November and December, there were four deposits of 20,000 RMB each, roughly one every half month.
The subsequent images were household registration information and an adoption certificate. Xu Dayuan looked over them for a while before he understood the relationships.
No wonder he hadn’t discovered this before. It turns out Yi Xiaou’s mother was adopted at eight years old by a neighboring elderly professor couple and took their surname. Originally, her surname was He, making her the eldest sister of He Ruxing’s father.
Xu Dayuan hastily forwarded the information to Tao Zhenshan. After Tao Zhenshan looked it over, he glanced at He Ruxing.
"Should I call your parents in for questioning to find out where this money really came from?" he asked.
He Ruxing quickly gestured with his hands.
"No need, I’ll tell you! I did some work for others and was compensated for it. But it’s not something that can be openly talked about, so there’s no receipt or transfer record. After all, no one wants to leave evidence behind, you understand, right?" he explained.
"Oh? Helping someone with work? What kind of work? Having affairs with married women? Then tell me how you know Fang Hua. Don’t say you don’t know her; I’m holding your statement from the Wenquan Police Station in my hands."
"It was... it was when I was going to Niniguan Law Firm to handle some affairs. I stumbled in the parking lot, rushed out, and accidentally bumped into her. Her heel broke, and feeling guilty, I drove her to get the shoe repaired. After all, she was such a beautiful woman.
Afterwards, we exchanged contact information. I swear I didn’t know she was Mr. Dong’s wife at the time. We would chat online when idle, and then we occasionally had meals together. The trip to Wenquan Town was my idea. You know why men go there, don’t you?
Only, I didn’t expect Dong Chengwen to report it to the police, and I was terrified at the time. I had just gotten a job, and if I lost it, how would I live? And knowing Dong Chengwen’s means, he could make it impossible for me to survive," he said.
He Ruxing, agitated, raised his hands only for the handcuffs to clink loudly; he then moderated his actions.
Tao Zhenshan glanced at him, arms crossed, looking at He Ruxing.
"He Ruxing, my patience is limited. I’m talking to you today to give you a chance. Do you think you’d be handcuffed without any substantial evidence? Don’t you see the situation you’re in?"
He Ruxing uttered an "Ah" sound, his face wearing an innocent expression. Tao Zhenshan stood up.
"Tell me, what is your relationship with Yi Xiaou?"
Such an abrupt shift startled He Ruxing, his eyes now filled with panic.
"No... no relationship, I don’t know her."
With a loud smack, Tao Zhenshan had already stood up, walked up to He Ruxing, and slammed his palm on the small table, causing the metal interrogation chair to tremble along with it.
"Don’t say you don’t know her. We’ve sent people to look through decades-old household registration records and adoption documents. Do I need to remind you?"
