Chapter 321: Chapter 312 Old Memories_1
March 13, 2012, 8:00
A notification tone rang out, and Zhou Ning quickly rushed to the computer, clicked to receive the email, while Liu Yongxin also leaned in. Mr. Qu went to the printer, fetching the printed report.
Zhou Ning stared at the computer, flipping through it once, and when he got to the end, he leaned in closer to the screen, holding his breath.
The fingerprints collected from the three axes belonged to Ai Qingsong, but what was unexpected was that 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. He had indeed suspected that Li Hua and Zhu Yufen were involved, but he didn’t expect Li Hua to leave fingerprints on the plastic cloth, and Zhu Yufen’s DNA to be on the murder weapon. Could it be a collaboration among three people?
For a moment, Zhou Ning was somewhat confused.
Just then, the inbox flashed several times, and a few more emails came in. Zhou Ning glanced at them and saw that the items sent for testing all had sample numbers, which obviously were the ones Mr. Zhao and his team had collected after inspecting the scene. Regardless, Zhou Ning clicked print.
"Mr. Zhao and the others, I wonder what time they finished."
Before he could finish, the door to the office opened, and Mr. Zhao and others walked in, with Bai Hua following. They had bloodshot eyes and looked weary, but their spirits were definitely high.
"Miss me already after such a short while?"
"I saw Mrs. Cui sent some things you’d sent for testing. I was asleep by midnight last night, and you still hadn’t come back. What time did you finish up?"
"We sent the samples for testing at eleven, and after we thoroughly cleaned up the scene, it must have been past one o’clock. Doctor Bai has been with us the whole time; I’ve found that the forensic doctors in the county offices are incredibly well-rounded talents. When we were inspecting, Doctor Bai’s sampling methods were simpler, which was an eye-opener for me."
Liu Yongxin hummed in agreement and smiled at Bai Hua.
"Of course, there’s no trace evidence technician here, so we have to do everything ourselves, at most have someone to run errands."
Bai Hua felt a bit embarrassed. She was well aware of her abilities; after all, on this headless serial murder case she studied daily, she hadn’t noticed so many details. However, once Zhou Ning and his team arrived, in less than a week they had all but solved the case, showing real professionalism.
"Stop flattering me, I’m too embarrassed to listen."
Zhou Ning smiled and made way from the front of the computer, then said to Mr. Zhao and the others:
"Alright, come over and take a look. Mrs. Cui sent the report, you didn’t precisely label the names of the items sent for testing, just lots of numbers. What’s all this about?"
Mr. Zhao’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly tossed his bag to Zhu Xingxing, sprinted to the computer, clicked print, inspected the results carefully, and gestured to Bai Hua and Yang Xuetong to come over.
After a glance, Mr. Yang was filled with surprise, while Bai Hua looked incredulous, and Liu Yongxin cleared his throat.
"Picking on the old man, eh? Hurry up and tell me what all this stuff is about?"
Mr. Zhao grinned, throwing a USB drive to Yang Xuetong. He and Mr. Qu fiddled for a bit, then directly displayed some images through the projector, showing a wall of ’collectibles.’ Zhou Ning was shocked.
He turned back instinctively, looking towards Mr. Zhao.
"I’m saying, did you play the wrong thing?"
Mr. Zhao glared with a frozen smile and placed his hands on his hips, humming at Zhou Ning.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, don’t you tease me. What’s that look mean? In your eyes, am I really that bad?
This was found in a room at Hongqi Road No.29, the largest office room, which had a lounge. Several doors were locked, but the key to this lounge was hidden under the door mat. By the looks inside, it hadn’t been visited by anyone for a long time."
As he spoke, Mr. Zhao looked at the test results and pointed at a spot with a laser pen, continuing:
"Unexpectedly, on these collectibles, most of the DNA found belonged to Zhu Yufen and Zhu Kelin. Zhu Yufen’s uncle really isn’t a good person.
As for the bathtub, the floor crevices, steps, the decorative panel of the bedhead, the light fixture’s top crossbeam, and so on, remnants of splattered or rubbed blood stains were found. Even though they had been cleaned, DNA from the three victims was still recovered."
Zhou Ning dialed Cui Lili’s cell phone; the report he had just received was missing the DNA comparison results for Zhu Yunping and Zhu Yunhai. Cui Lili would not forget about that; could there be some issue here?
"Sis, arrived at the office yet?"
"Yeah, hang on a sec. Two more comparisons just finished. I’ll send them to you right away. Let me check, the names are Zhu Yunhai and Zhu Yunping, right?"
"Yes, have their DNA been compared with Zhu Kelin and Zhu Yufen?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, are both members of the couple surnamed Zhu?"
"The situation is somewhat complicated. Zhu Yufen is the daughter of Zhu Kelin’s aunt. After her father died and her mother disappeared, she was adopted by Zhu Kelin. She is considered a foster daughter of the Zhu family, but Zhu Yufen’s aunt has been dead for twenty years now."
"Oh, what a messy relationship. The report has been sent, and it turns out that both children are indeed the biological offspring of Zhu Kelin and Zhu Yufen."
’Click’, the phone was hung up, and at the same time, an email was received in the inbox. Mr. Qu went to open the email, and Zhou Ning waved at Mr. Zhao.
"Please call Director Xu to the conference room. Our investigation on this end is essentially complete. We need to summarize the results with him. This relationship is so tangled; I wouldn’t even know where to start explaining it."
Mr. Zhao hurried out, and Zhou Ning, together with his team carrying all the reports, also arrived at the conference room. Before long, Xu Dayuan, along with Tao Zhenshan, Zhang Chunbo, and a group of personnel, had all arrived.
"Have the various tests and inspections on your side yielded results?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Let me introduce the findings separately, starting with the test results. On the three axes found at the grave of Cui Yushang, we found fingerprints of Ai Qingsong and DNA of Zhu Yufen. Previously, within the layers of the three tarps where the body was dumped, special methods were used to discover latex glove fingerprints and the fingerprints of Li Hua.
Furthermore, at Hongqi Road No.29, we found a specially decorated room with many unusual collectibles on display, bearing the residual DNA of Zhu Yufen and Zhu Kelin. In the floorboard crevices of the scene, we found DNA from the residual blood of the three deceased.
Based on these remnants, we believe this room to be the primary crime scene where the three victims were killed, as well as the place where Zhu Yufen was abused. Furthermore, Zhu Yunping, the son of Zhu Kelin, and Zhu Yunhai, the son of Zhu Yufen, are both children of Zhu Kelin and Zhu Yufen."
After Zhou Ning finished speaking, Zhang Chunbo’s face was filled with shock, and he took a long time to recover. Xu Dayuan, on the other hand, remained composed, glancing at Zhou Ning and the others before nodding firmly.
"Thank you for your hard work. Zhenshan, please share the findings from this side of the investigation. It’s good timing since everyone is here and the involved parties are on their way."
Hearing this, Zhou Ning glanced at Xu Dayuan. Li Hua and Zhu Yufen were locals, and Xu Dayuan had people watching them since last night; those two weren’t going anywhere.
"We investigated Zhu Yufen’s ex-husband, Fang Guoli. He and Fang Guoying, who had previously come here for questioning, are twins. He married Zhu Yufen because she was pregnant and asked for his help. Thus, the two quickly divorced after marriage, which was done to give the child a legal identity.
In the investigation of Ai Qingsong, it was found that he was once a member of the Planning Bureau and a colleague and schoolmate of Li Fang. After Li Fang’s murder, he took over her job and was subsequently targeted at work, even poisoned. In 2000, after unsuccessful reports and being forcefully dismissed from his job.
The two hundred and seventy thousand bribe Zheng Chuguang took was for assisting the companies of Yu Guangyao and Zhang Qiujiang in forging related design drawings, company qualifications, and tendering matters. Before the county was upgraded to a city, Zheng Chuguang’s uncle was the third in command, responsible for construction engineering and tendering pilot projects.
The municipal engineering fraud case that came to light after Yu Guangyao’s death was reported by Ai Qingsong as early as 1999, but it was not accepted. The issue of Zhang Qiujiang’s Liuyuan Community building No. 7 cutting corners was also reported before his murder, but the complaint was suppressed.
That’s all for the investigation on my end. Liu Yufei arrived in Hushang City and spoke with the doctor and Ai Qingsong. Liu Yufei and Mr. Zeng are escorting Ai Qingsong back and should arrive by nine; I have arranged for a car to pick them up."
Xu Dayuan nodded and looked around.
"Alright, everyone is up to speed on the situation, and the investigation is yielding results. Li Hua and Zhu Yufen have been brought in; after this meeting, we’ll interrogate them separately.
Li Hua, Zhu Yufen, and Ai Qingsong all left fingerprints and DNA at the first crime scene and the body dumping site, which counts as solid evidence. My principle is to clarify the details of the case without missing anything. Later, Zhenshan and Chunbo will lead the interrogation. Now, meeting adjourned."
Everyone started to discuss animatedly; after so many days, the relationships were finally becoming somewhat clearer.
But Zhou Ning’s face showed no sign of relief. However, his job was essentially done, and what was left was up to Xu Dayuan and his team. Zhou Ning always had this feeling.
That these three people could come together to retaliate against three victims surely wasn’t solely due to corruption or ineffective reporting; there had to be some deeper reason behind it.
As for what these reasons were, Zhou Ning couldn’t say. Perhaps it was related to Cui Yushang or something similar to Cui Yushang’s incident, but even more atrocious, possibly affecting the three people’s entire lives.
I remember reading a passage in a psychology case study that told a story.
There was a girl who was ’bullied’ by a man terribly, not just with her value system irreparably destroyed, her face disfigured, one eye blinded, and the other left with just a sense of light.
The man who bullied the girl thought she had died and subsequently fled. The girl, however, was lucky to survive, crawling out of the coal pit to call the police and get rescued. She didn’t die, and her only goal in living was to make the man who bullied her pay with his life for the harm she had suffered.
The man was caught, and the judgment was delivered. He was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment instead of the death penalty because he was under eighteen when he committed the violent act against her.
But the girl exhausted her entire life trying to escape this shadow, persistently seeking various people to apply for a retrial, thinking of every method she could. She was trapped in this incident, unable to escape.
Years later, on the same day the man was released early from prison, the girl committed suicide by jumping off a building.
Zhou Ning closed his eyes, putting himself into the case. If someone in their youth was ’bullied,’ then they would live in the shadow of hatred for the rest of their life.
For the rest of their days, they would only think about revenge, and perhaps, Zhu Yufen wasn’t the only one ’bullied’ back then.
