Chapter 308: Chapter 302: A leg hanging on the train_1
Zhou Ning nodded.
"The autopsy and the crime scene investigation report show that no drag marks were found around the first victim, Zheng Chuguang. Besides the plastic sheet on the ground, there was no blood found on the surrounding surface. The victim’s head had been severed, and even if the blood had drained completely, there would still be some spills from dragging the body.
Indeed, it would be impossible for one person to do all this. However, it’s impossible to determine whether the killer was two men or a man and a woman. But the primary crime scene of the second victim, Yu Guangyao, definitely involved a woman. Have his social connections been investigated?"
Bai Hua turned around, searched through the files, took out several records, and handed them to Zhou Ning.
"Yu Guangyao’s social connections were complex. His construction company owed lots of debts, all of which were triangular debts. After Yu Guangyao’s accident and the compensation for substandard construction sections, his assets were also used to repay debts. His wife went to the municipal government many times without reducing the penalty.
It’s said that only about two hundred thousand yuan remained in the end, which was from the auction of one of Yu Guangyao’s properties by the court to settle the debts. In fact, Yu Guangyao had ample assets, and his family wouldn’t have been unable to survive. As for those bearing grudges against him, the number reached up to a dozen. At the time, everyone was scrutinized one by one, but none had the opportunity to commit the crime."
Zhou Ning exhaled. All three victims were not exactly good people. The first two victims died too long ago, but Bai Hua had followed the investigation of the last victim, so she knew a bit more.
With that in mind, Zhou Ning asked:
"Let’s put aside the first two victims for now, as it’s been a long time. For the last victim, Zhang Qiujiang, do you have any opinions? I mean your suspicions, not the content reflected in the autopsy report."
Bai Hua was silent for a moment, and when she looked up, her eyes were much more determined.
"Zhang Qiujiang’s death is tied to many things. Zhang Da was involved in investigating this case at that time. I accompanied personnel from the municipal police forensic department in participating in the crime scene investigation and autopsy. When the victim was found, I felt that his posture seemed to be kneeling in plea for forgiveness, but due to the rain, the body was leaning forward.
I don’t know if you’ve ever visited Yue Fei Temple, and although he was headless, that posture was just like Qin Hui’s in front of the temple, especially after the evidence of Zhang Qiujiang’s bribery was uncovered, it further seemed to me that the killer was acting out of a sense of punishing evil and promoting good. Of course, I shouldn’t say this, but Zhang Qiujiang really deserved to die."
As Bai Hua explained, Zhou Ning looked at the crime scene photos of Zhang Qiujiang’s murder.
Indeed, Zhang Qiujiang looked like he was kneeling, but his upper body was naked, lying on a plastic sheet, and the rain made it easy to alter the posture. However, seeing the glycemic index value, Zhou Ning slightly furrowed his brow.
"Have you checked Zhang Qiujiang’s previous medical reports? This glycemic index doesn’t match his physique. With his slender limbs and large belly, his sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels shouldn’t be low. Was he always taking insulin?"
Bai Hua shook her head.
"We did not retrieve his medical reports. Zhang Da sent someone to inquire with Zhang Qiujiang’s family. His daughter-in-law said Zhang Qiujiang only had slightly high blood pressure, 140/90, everything else was normal, especially his glycemia. I think the victim might have been starved for a while, which caused the blood sugar to drop to the limit, especially since at the time of autopsy, his stomach was completely empty and there were no residues in the intestines."
Zhou Ning hummed and dialed Xu Dayuan’s cell phone; the call connected on the second ring.
"Director Xu, while investigating the three victims, could you check their medical records? I remember they are kept at the medical center for thirty years and can be retrieved."
"Okay."
...
March 12, 2012, 10:22 AM
In the conference room, Xu Dayuan looked around.
"The social connections from primary school to university for Zheng Chuguang, Yu Guangyao, and Zhang Qiujiang have all been organized. Mr. Qu, please tell us the result of your data comparison after your statistics."
"Alright, I’ll introduce the findings. After two days of investigation, including school transfers and class changes, the three individuals had 321, 337, and 386 classmates, respectively, totaling 1,044 people. Among them, seven individuals were in the same class as all three at some point.
Of course, if we expand to the same grade level, there are 174 people who have had contact with all three. The three victims attended Hai’an Experimental Primary School at the same time during their elementary school years, although they were in different classes.
Yu Guangyao and Zhang Qiujiang both lived in Hongqi Road Community at some point. After an investigation, Zheng Chuguang’s grandfather’s house was also in Hongqi Road Community. So, I also did an investigation on those who lived in the same community and, like the three, attended Hai’an Experimental Primary School. This includes six of those seven individuals."
With that, Mr. Qu opened a spreadsheet with a list of seven names, but the last person’s color was lighter, suggesting that the first six were individuals who attended the same school and lived in the same community as the three victims.
Xu Dayuan stared at the list for a moment, then gestured with his hand.
"Go on, have these six people been contacted? Where are they? When can they come to assist the investigation?"
Tao Zhenshan quickly said:
"As soon as we received Mr. Qu’s information, we began contacting these six. Through the household registration system, we found five of them. One person could not be reached by phone. Among the five, two are out of town, three have been notified to come in the afternoon to assist the investigation. We haven’t disclosed what the investigation entails."
The two from out of town, one can make it back tomorrow, and we’ve scheduled a meeting at the Criminal Police Brigade in the morning to assist with the investigation. As for the other one who is receiving medical treatment in Hushang City for late-stage liver cancer and waiting for surgery, I’m not sure what to do about that. Should I reach out to my colleagues in Hushang and have them help with the questioning?"
Xu Dayuan glanced at the time and waved his hand at Tao Zhenshan.
"Give me their phone number, I’ll call right now to ask. Zhou Ning, is there anything in particular you need to know from your end?"
Zhou Ning thought for a moment.
"I want to know if, during their primary school years, there was anything unusual that happened at Hai’an Experimental Primary School and in the Hongqi Road Community where the three victims were involved or if there was any bullying they committed?"
Xu Dayuan nodded and immediately made the call. The phone rang for nearly a minute before someone answered it with a weak ’hello.’
"Hello?"
"Is this Ai Qingsong?"
"Speaking, may I ask who’s calling?"
"I am Xu Dayuan from the Qindao Criminal Police Brigade. I just checked and found that you were classmates with Zheng Chuguang, Yu Guangyao, and Zhang Qiujiang and that you all lived in the Hongqi Road Community. We know it’s inconvenient for you to come in person since you’re hospitalized in Hushang, but we have some questions for you. Can you talk right now?"
The person on the other end sounded stunned, as if trying to recall the past and surprised that the police knew of his current condition, then hastily said:
"It’s okay, I’m just waiting for surgery at the hospital, I don’t have anything urgent."
A woman’s voice came through from the other side, tinged with annoyance.
"Who’s looking for you? Can’t you get some peace even in the hospital? They’ve dismissed you already, what’s there to keep handing over again and again? Tell them to contact me."
"Don’t meddle, it’s not about work, the police are investigating a few of my classmates. Just close the door, please. I apologize, Officer, please continue, I can talk."
As he spoke, his breath was clearly labored. Zhou Ning raised an eyebrow, recognizing that the shortness of breath in a patient with late-stage liver cancer was a sign of heart failure, indicating that the man did not have much longer to live and the surgery likely wouldn’t be very effective.
"I think you know, these three people have been killed."
"Yes, I saw it on the news."
"During your primary school years, you were all in the same grade, right? I want to know if anything unusual happened involving those three victims, or if they did any bullying?"
Ai Qingsong hummed in response.
"The stuff from primary school is quite old. I only remember in the fifth grade, one of our classmates died. He was hit by a train. His name was Cui Yushang, shy and a bit slow, not a good student. Just a tall kid, over one meter seventy-five."
"I can’t remember the exact date, only that it was late autumn. On a Saturday after school, many boys planned to go to Hulu Bay, diagonally across from the school, to catch fish. The bay had a spring, so the water never froze even in winter, and there were plenty of small fish. Back then, supplies were scarce; catching some fish to make fish sauce for noodles was a treat."
"Cui Yushang rode his dad’s bike there. To get across the train tracks, you had to lift your bike over four or five rails. I had already entered the water at the bay and didn’t see it happen but heard that he sprained his ankle. His bike got stuck on the train track, and many people shouted at him, but he was like obsessed, refusing to let go."
"The train was already turning the corner and coming towards him. Many watched in horror as he was hit by the train and thrown into the air. It was said the body was torn apart, with a leg hanging from the train’s front still twitching. He died right there, to be precise, torn to pieces. We didn’t dare to look, and all the kids scattered."
"The next week in class, the wind blew our classroom door open. One of the boys, trying to be funny, shouted that Cui Yushang had come back. That scared a lot of the girls into crying. The teacher repeatedly told us not to talk about it anymore, but the more they said that, the more terrified the students were."
"However, one of our friends who went there with us said that it wasn’t that Cui Yushang fell and didn’t care about his bike. It was Zheng Chuguang, Yu Guangyao, and Zhang Qiujiang behind him shouting, ’Cui Yushang, if your bike is broken, your dad will break your legs.’
"After they shouted that, Cui Yushang stubbornly refused to let go. He wasn’t very sharp, and his dad would beat him with a belt for no reason. Once during a parent-teacher meeting, before it even ended, he was chasing Cui Yushang all over the school to whip him. So Cui Yushang panicked and didn’t dare let go."
"A month later, Cui Yushang’s mother ran away; his father’s beatings were just too much for her. His father died in a drunk driving accident, his grandmother went mad, died by drowning in a ditch on her way to pick him up from school, and his sister was the most pitiful one. She was sent to live with her aunt and supposedly had a hard life. We never saw her again, though."
Everyone in the meeting room was taking notes fast, with Mr. Qu particularly searching for information on Cui Yushang. However, he couldn’t find any information on this person, which made sense considering a fifth-grader at that time would not have an ID card, and all household registrations were manually recorded and not yet digitized.
He quickly typed a few words to show Xu Dayuan, who gave a slight nod and continued:
"What was Cui Yushang’s sister’s name? Do you remember?"
"I think it was Cui Yufen. I’m not sure, but she would have been two years younger than us, since she was in fourth grade when we were in fifth. She started school early."
