Chapter 320: Chapter 312 Old Stories_1
March 13, 2012, 8:00
As the notification sound chimed, Zhou Ning hurried to the computer and clicked to receive the email, while Liu Yongxin leaned in as well. Mr. Qu went to the printer and brought over the printed report.
Zhou Ning stared at the computer, skimmed through the content, and when he reached the end, he leaned closer to the screen and held his breath.
The fingerprints collected from the three axes belonged to Ai Qingsong. Surprisingly, residual DNA was found on two of the axes, and after comparison, the DNA matched that of Zhu Yufen.
Seeing this result, Zhou Ning was stunned. Although they had suspected Li Hua or Zhu Yufen’s involvement before, he didn’t expect that it would be Li Hua’s fingerprints on the plastic sheet and Zhu Yufen’s DNA found on the murder weapon. Could it have been the work of three people cooperating?
For a moment, Zhou Ning was also somewhat confused.
Just then, the mailbox blinked several times, and a few more emails arrived. Zhou Ning glanced at them and saw they were the submitted samples with only their identification numbers, clearly those Mr. Zhao They had sent in after the scene investigation. Regardless, Zhou Ning clicked to print.
"I wonder what time Mr. Zhao and the others finished."
Before he finished speaking, the office door was opened, and Mr. Zhao and the others entered, with Bai Hua following behind. Their eyes were bloodshot with fatigue, but their spirits were unquestionably high.
"Did you start missing me as soon as I was gone?"
"I saw some things Mrs. Cui sent that you had submitted for testing. When I went to sleep last night at twelve, you hadn’t returned yet. What time did you finish up?"
"We sent stuff for testing at eleven, and it was probably past one when we finished clearing the scene completely. Doctor Bai stayed with us the whole time. I realized the forensic doctors from the county’s morgue are all pretty amazing, almost like all-rounders. During our investigation, Doctor Bai’s sampling methods were simpler, really opened my eyes."
Liu Yongxin hummed twice, showing a smile towards Bai Hua.
"Of course, we don’t have a trace examiners here, so we have to do everything ourselves, at most having someone to help run errands."
Bai Hua was somewhat embarrassed; she was well aware of her capabilities. After all, she studied the headless serial murder case every day without finding as many details as Zhou Ning and his team did in less than a week; that’s what professionalism looked like.
"Don’t flatter me; I’m embarrassed to listen."
Zhou Ning smiled and moved away from the computer to let Mr. Zhao and the others see.
"Alright, come and take a look. Mrs. Cui has sent the report. You didn’t label the items you sent in clearly, just used a bunch of numbers. What are all these things?"
Mr. Zhao’s eyes lit up, and he quickly tossed his bag to Zhu Xingxing and dashed to the computer, clicking to print, examining the results carefully, and beckoning Bai Hua and Yang Xuetong over.
After a glance, Mr. Yang was filled with astonishment, while Bai Hua looked incredulous, and Liu Yongxin coughed.
"Are you making fun of the old man? Hurry up and tell me what all this stuff is?"
Mr. Zhao grinned, throwing a USB drive to Yang Xuetong, and after fiddling with Mr. Qu, they projected some images onto the screen. Seeing the wall of ’collectibles,’ Zhou Ning froze.
Instinctively, he turned his head to look at Mr. Zhao.
"Say, did you get it wrong?"
Mr. Zhao’s laughing face froze, and he crossed his arms while humming at Zhou Ning.
"Don’t make fun of me, Zhou Xiaozhou. What’s with that look? Do you really think so little of me? This was found in a room on Hongqi Road No.29, in the biggest office, where there is a lounge. Several doors were locked, but the key to the lounge was hidden under the doormat. It looked like no one had been there for a long time."
Mr. Zhao looked towards the inspection results, pointed at one section with a laser pointer, and continued:
"Unexpectedly, most of the DNA found on these collectibles were Zhu Yufen’s and Zhu Kelin’s. This uncle of hers, Zhu Yufen, is really no good at all.
As for the bathtub, floor crevices, step edges, decorative trim on the headboard, top crossbeam of the desk lamp, and other places, various splatters and wiped bloodstains were found. Although they had been cleaned, DNA from the three victims was still extracted."
Zhou Ning dialed Cui Lili’s cellphone number. In the report he had just received, the DNA comparison results for Zhu Yunping and Zhu Yunhai were missing. Cui Lili would definitely not forget them; was there a problem somewhere?
"Sis, have you arrived at the office?"
"Yes, wait a minute. Two more comparisons just finished. I’ll send them to you right away. Let me check; they’re named Zhu Yunhai and Zhu Yunping, right?"
"Right, have they been compared with Zhu Kelin and Zhu Yufen’s DNA?"
"I wanted to ask you, both of the couple have the surname Zhu?"
"Zhu Yufen is the daughter of Zhu Kelin’s aunt. After her father died and her mother disappeared, she was adopted by Zhu Kelin, making her the Zhu Family’s foster daughter. However, Zhu Yufen’s aunt passed away twenty years ago."
"Oh, what a mess of relationships. The report has been sent, and both children are the biological offspring of Zhu Kelin and Zhu Yufen."
’Click’, the phone was hung up, and at the same time an email arrived in the mailbox, Mr. Qu went to open the email while Zhou Ning gestured to Mr. Zhao.
"Call Director Xu to the meeting room. We have finished our investigation here. Let’s summarize the findings with him. These relationships are so complicated, I don’t even know how to explain them."
Mr. Zhao hurried out while Zhou Ning, with his team carrying all the reports, also arrived at the meeting room. Soon, Xu Dayuan, along with Tao Zhenshan, Zhang Chunbo, and a group of personnel showed up.
"Have the various examinations and inspections on your side come to a conclusion?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Let me introduce the findings separately. First, the examination results show that on the three axes found in front of Cui Yushang’s grave, we discovered Ai Qingsong’s fingerprints and Zhu Yufen’s DNA. Previously, in the interlayers of the three plastic sheets where the body was discarded, we found prints of latex gloves with club-shaped fingers, as well as Li Hua’s fingerprints.
Additionally, at Hongqi Road No.29, we found a specially decorated room with many items for special fetishes, where Zhu Yufen’s and Zhu Kelin’s DNA were left on various objects. In the cracks of the floor at the scene, we found DNA from the residual bloodstains of the three victims.
Based on these remains, we believe that this room was the first crime scene where the three victims were killed and also the place where Zhu Yufen was abused by Zhu Kelin. Zhu Yunping, the son of Zhu Kelin, and Zhu Yunhai, the son of Zhu Yufen, are both the sons of Zhu Kelin and Zhu Yufen."
After Zhou Ning finished speaking, Zhang Chunbo’s face was filled with shock, and it took him a long time to recover. Xu Dayuan, however, remained calm, looking at Zhou Ning and everyone else while nodding firmly.
"You’ve worked hard. Zhenshan, please report on the investigation findings from this side. Since everyone is here, we might as well do a roundup, and the related persons are also on their way here."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ning glanced at Xu Dayuan. Li Hua and Zhu Yufen were local, and just last night, Xu Dayuan had people watch them. These two wouldn’t be able to escape.
"We investigated Zhu Yufen’s ex-husband, Fang Guoli. He and Fang Guoying, who previously came here for an investigation, are twins. Fang Guoli married Zhu Yufen because she was pregnant and asked for his help, so the two divorced shortly after the marriage to give the child an identity.
As for the investigation of Ai Qingsong, it was discovered that he had also worked at the planning bureau, being classmates and colleagues with Li Fang. After Li Fang was murdered, he took over her job and was targeted in his work, even poisoned. In 2000, after multiple unsuccessful reports, he was forcibly dismissed from his position.
The 270,000 yuan taken in bribes by Zheng Chuguang were for him helping Yu Guangyao and Zhang Qiujiang’s company to forge related design drawings, company qualifications, and bidding affairs. Before the county-to-city reform, Zheng Chuguang’s uncle was the deputy county magistrate in charge of construction projects and bidding pilot work.
The municipal engineering fraud case uncovered after Yu Guangyao’s death was previously reported by Ai Qingsong in 1999 but was not accepted. The issues of shoddy work in the building of No.7 in Liuyuan Community by Zhang Qiujiang had also received whistle-blower letters before Zhang Qiujiang’s murder, but those too were suppressed.
That’s the situation from our investigation. Liu Yufei arrived in Hushang City and spoke with the doctor and Ai Qingsong himself. Liu Yufei and Mr. Zeng are bringing Ai Qingsong back on a flight, estimated to arrive at nine. I’ve already arranged a car to pick them up."
Xu Dayuan nodded and looked around.
"Alright, everyone is aware of the situation. Now that the investigation has yielded some results, Li Hua and Zhu Yufen have been brought in. We’ll interrogate them separately later.
Li Hua, Zhu Yufen, and Ai Qingsong all left fingerprints and DNA at the primary crime scene and the body dumping site without a doubt. This is conclusive evidence. My principle is to clarify the course of the case without omission. Zhenshan and Chunbo will be responsible for the interrogation later. Now, the meeting is adjourned."
Everyone immediately started discussing, after so many days of turmoil, the relationships were now somewhat clearer.
However, Zhou Ning’s face didn’t show any sign of relief. But his work was essentially finished, and what was left now was dependent on the abilities of Xu Dayuan and his team. At that moment, Zhou Ning always had a feeling.
These three people coming together to take revenge on the three victims couldn’t just be because of their corruption or the disadvantage caused by the whistleblower reports. There had to be some hidden reason.
As for what that reason was, Zhou Ning couldn’t say. Perhaps it was related to Cui Yushang, or perhaps it was similar to Cui Yushang’s situation, yet even more heinous, something that could affect the lives of the three of them.
He remembered reading a lawyer’s memoir before, which told a story.
In the north, a girl was "bullied" by a man, bullied terribly not only beyond repair in terms of her value system, but she also had her face disfigured and one eye blinded, with the other retaining only the sense of light.
The man who bullied her thought she was dead and fled. But the girl, who was resilient, crawled out of the coal pit to report the crime and was rescued. She didn’t die, and her single goal in surviving was to make the man who bullied her pay with his life for the injuries she suffered.
The man was captured, and the sentence handed down. He was given a fixed-term imprisonment, not the death penalty, because he was under eighteen years of age when he committed the violent acts.
But the girl, unable to escape the shadow of the event for the rest of her life, kept seeking help from various people to apply for a retrial, contacting legal scholars and leaders, employing every method she could think of. Trapped in that event, nobody could help her out.
Many years later, on the very day the man was released on parole, the girl committed suicide by jumping from a building.
Zhou Ning closed his eyes, pondering over this case. If someone was "bullied" in their youth, their entire life would be lived in hatred, unable to escape from it.
For their entire life, they would only think about how to take revenge, so perhaps Zhu Yufen wasn’t the only one who was ’bullied’.
