Chapter 254: Chapter 251: I’m Dodging a Hitman_1
In the laboratory garage below Technical Division.
All the doors of Wen Xiue’s car were open. Mr. Zhao and Zhu Xingxing were examining the vehicle; after all, Yang Xuetong and Sun Gaotie hadn’t returned yet, and Zhou Ning walked around it.
Mr. Qu walked in and proceeded with the scanning of the fingerprints that Mr. Zhao had handed over.
"These are all Wen Xiue’s fingerprints, are there any more?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head, constantly sighing.
"I collected fingerprints from all four car doors and any reachable place inside the car, but why aren’t there any prints from Wen Xiue’s son and daughter-in-law on here?"
This statement captured Zhou Ning’s attention, and he walked over to take a look.
"Check the household registration information and let me see."
Mr. Qu quickly conducted a search, and the household registration information appeared on the big screen: Wen Xiue age 42, her son Zhang Ping’an age 26, daughter-in-law Liu Xiuning age 24. Among the information of those who had deregistered, Wen Xiue’s husband Zhang Yonggui was 52 years old.
Mr. Zhao glanced over, smacking his lips.
"Giving birth at sixteen, thirty years ago in the countryside, that might be possible. Were they residents of Lishugou?"
Mr. Qu flipped through the household registration transfer information and discovered that was indeed not the case.
"In 2008, Wen Xiue and her son’s household registrations were transferred from Hai’an City. Zhang Yonggui died that year, and it seems like it was after her husband’s death that she returned to his place of origin. As for the house, it was rebuilt by Zhang Yonggui in 1998, but their names are not on the village registry, as the area had been developed quite some time ago."
Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes, somewhat unconvinced; after all, he found it hard to believe someone would have a child at sixteen.
"Check Zhang Yonggui’s marital information, see if he had a previous marriage."
Mr. Qu was startled briefly before he proceeded. Upon finding some of the initial scanned records, he raised his head in surprise.
"Team Leader Zhou, Zhang Yonggui was indeed in a second marriage. He married Wen Xiue in 1998, and Zhang Ping’an is his stepson. What else shall we check?"
Mr. Zhao’s face lit up with excitement, his mind hitting upon a sudden inspiration.
"Check Wen Xiue’s workplace. After ’95, details about workplace and education in the household registration were mandatory. Our Qindao City is quite thorough in implementation, and we have a foundation from previous census information.
Look here, although it shows they are married, Zhang Ping’an’s registration has always followed Zhang Yonggui, and it was also moved here in 2008. Doesn’t this suggest they have always been working in Hai’an City?"
Mr. Qu shook his head, unsure of this as well.
Following the location of the household registration intake, he conducted a reverse search and found a work unit letter of introduction in the original register. The letter was signed by Beishan Group Qindao Julili Environmental Protection Co., Ltd.
The letter clearly stated that the employees Wen Xiue, Zhang Yonggui, and his son Zhang Ping’an were coming to handle the household registration procedures, please contact.
The date on the letter was 1998. Regarding incoming information, Zhang Ping’an’s registration was transferred from Luxi Province, while Wen Xiue’s was transferred from Longtai City, and on Wen Xiue’s outgoing registration, Zhou Ning saw that her mother was Ren Shufen—this surname gave Zhou Ning pause.
"Mr. Qu, check for the surname Ren in the list of people convicted in the Beishan Group case."
Mr. Qu didn’t ask questions, and quickly began searching for information. An announcement appeared with the names of over thirty individuals, the list of personnel involved in the Beishan Group case. Upon reviewing it, it became apparent that there were three individuals with the surname Ren, although their names were not very prominent and appeared towards the end of the list.
They were Ren Guangyun, Ren Guangming, and Ren Tao, among whom Ren Guangming and Ren Tao were father and son, Ren Guangyun and Ren Guangming were brothers.
Mr. Zhao suddenly understood.
"I finally get why the department was already familiar with Guanghai Pharmaceutical Group’s issues. Ren Guangzhi and these few people are obviously brothers; even if they don’t have the same mother, they are likely paternal cousins.
They have been paying attention to this area ever since taking down Beishan Group but lacked concrete evidence, hence they kept observing the situation. So when they knew we were investigating these three deceased individuals, they decided to make a big move."
Zhou Ning didn’t say anything but agreed with Mr. Zhao’s judgment. With this, Wen Xiue turns out to be a cousin of the Ren family; no wonder her involvement was so deep.
"Is this Qindao Julili Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. still around?"
Mr. Qu chuckled, shaking his head.
"When the Beishan Group went bankrupt, this company went through asset liquidation, huh?"
As Mr. Qu uttered that sound, Zhou Ning and Mr. Zhao looked over, only then realizing that the legal person of the company was now Wen Xiue. There had been a change in the company’s legal person in 2000, before which it was Zhang Yonggui.
Zhou Ning slowly laid out the connections:
"In 2000, Wen Xiue and Zhang Yonggui married, moved their registrations, including the stepson’s, to Hai’an City. Before 2000, Zhang Yonggui managed this environmental protection company, and after his death, Wen Xiue took over as the legal representative.
Also that year, they moved their registrations to Zhang Yonggui’s registered residence. By 2008, when trouble arose and the company was liquidated, she retreated to Lishugou with her stepson and became Fang Wenjie’s nanny in 2009. What happened afterwards goes without saying."
Mr. Zhao blinked, slightly overwhelmed by the flood of information. What appeared to be a fragile nanny had suddenly undergone so many identity changes that he was struggling to keep up.
"Send these to Xu Da; I think it will be of help for the subsequent interrogations if Xu Da knows about this."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Mr. Qu, organize these details and send them to Xu Da in image form. If we send him a bunch of text, he won’t look through it carefully. Mr. Zhao, spray Luminol all over the back seat of the vehicle."
Both of them started moving. Zhu Xingxing didn’t lean in; she was now staring at the gap in the back seat, searching carefully, when suddenly she picked up two long strands of hair with tweezers.
"Team leader, I found two strands of long hair with follicles, women’s hair. Its color is chestnut brown—I remember Fang Wenjie has this hair color," she announced.
Zhou Ning gave her a thumbs-up.
"Doctor Zhu is meticulous. Send it directly for analysis and label it with the number, time, place of discovery, and evidence information," he instructed.
Zhu Xingxing smiled and went to bag it up while Mr. Zhao sighed, began spraying Luminol, and found blood traces on the right rear door. After collecting a sample, Mr. Zhao quickly handed it to Zhu Xingxing.
Only then did he climb out of the car.
"Zhou Xiaozhou has finished checking; let’s look at the next white CC," he suggested.
"Okay."
Mr. Zhao drove the Sonata away since the inspection was complete. As for the CC, they used a crane arm to move the vehicle right to their front.
As the car opened, a faint fragrance mixed with the smell of blood was noticeable. Zhou Ning thought it smelled familiar, and Mr. Zhao immediately said,
"That’s the scent from Fang Wenjie’s home; it’s from a perfume called Miss Dior Cherie, a luxurious one. People without much money would buy a bottle but hesitate to spray it. Fang Wenjie used it like an air freshener."
Indeed, in the recess in front of the central armrest, they found an upside-down bottle of perfume.
"I can smell the perfume. Amidst its scent, can you smell the blood?" Zhou Ning asked.
Mr. Zhao shook his head, and Zhou Ning didn’t say any more.
Mr. Zhao started to collect fingerprints from inside and outside of the vehicle, and Zhu Xingxing, having returned, quickly joined in. Just as they opened the rear door, Zhou Ning caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a piece of tape under the driver’s seat, stretched and snapped back in place.
Zhou Ning picked it up with tweezers and noticed serrated edges on the tape—including a finger print made of dotted marks, clearly left by a leather glove. Nearby, there were some hairs stuck to it, very fine as though they were sweat hairs.
Zhou Ning felt a surge of excitement, hastily took the tape, and together with the tweezers, tossed it into the evidence bag. Mr. Zhao collected many fingerprints, and after a quick comparison by Mr. Qu, results were soon available.
The fingerprints of many people were found, including Wen Xiue, Fang Wenjie, Chen Wenchi, Chen Pengyu, and Qin Xuejin, along with several unidentified prints, all confined to the car doors.
After finishing with the front, Zhou Ning opened the trunk, where the smell of blood was even more pungent, with a hint of decay.
Quickly approaching the trunk, Zhou Ning was somewhat taken aback. A large cardboard box was tossed inside, wrapped in plastic. Through the plastic, it was evident that the box was stuffed with newspapers and blood-stained plastic—a box full of them.
"Mr. Zhao, come over!" Zhou Ning called out.
Zhao Xinli and Zhu Xingxing crowded around, and Mr. Qu also tiptoed to get a look, but he didn’t dare come any closer.
Mr. Zhao glanced over, evidently surprised by the contents.
"No way, Wen Xiue didn’t dispose of these things? Why not?" he wondered aloud.
Zhu Xingxing tilted her head and said,
"I think it’s self-preservation. If ever things came to light, she could claim innocence, just like now. Even though she drove to Qin Xuejin’s place and even lured out Fang Wenjie, she could argue she was coerced. After all, her daughter-in-law is pregnant. That’s a compelling excuse."
Mr. Zhao looked at her disdainfully.
"Shoo, shoo, why are you interfering? We have footage of her from the residential area’s surveillance, and she was even driving the white CC, hiding the license plate. How can that be coercion? She’s trying to bamboozle a ghost?"
Zhu Xingxing, not convinced and hands on hips, retorted in a loud voice,
"Stop despising me. Although we found the surveillance footage that shows her taking the killer to the scene and hiding the victim’s vehicle, the killer is dead now. Of course, she thinks she can get away with it. She kept these things as evidence to wait for the police to show up!"
Mr. Zhao fell silent, turning to Zhou Ning, who gestured with his hand.
"First, send it for inspection."
...
In the interrogation room.
Wen Xiue’s face was a picture of panic, continuously tugging at her clothes with trembling fingers, which caused her handcuffs to jingle crisply.
"Officer, I didn’t mean to hide it. If I had, why would I be at Miss Fang’s home? I was just hiding from someone. If they captured me, I’d be the next victim!" she said frantically.
Xu Dayuan narrowed his eyes and hummed a response.
"Oh? Who are you hiding from?"
Tears streamed down Wen Xiue’s face as she gripped the edge of the table, urgently looking at Xu Dayuan.
"I’m avoiding the killer. He threatened me, saying that if I didn’t obey him, he would kill my daughter-in-law, who is eight months pregnant. I’m about to become a grandmother, how could I ignore the life or death of my child?
Officer, I kept evidence. It’s stuff the killer told me to throw away, all hidden in the car, that white CC of Fang Wenjie’s, in the trunk!
Could I also make a call to my son? I don’t know if they’re safe. Please!" she begged.
