Chapter 429: Chapter 404 Why Kill Her?_1
Cao Pingzhang seemed not to give up, switched the report to his other hand, walked up to Liu Yongxin, and gestured in Zhou Ning’s direction with his chin.
"Forget it, when it comes to technical stuff, I can’t compare, nor will I make things difficult for myself. You’re all experts with exceptional predictive abilities. In the end, verifying your own guesses is making me feel out of my depth. Let’s not talk about the case for now.
Your precious apprentice is quite good-looking, and her capabilities are impressive, too. How come you haven’t helped to find her a match? My sister’s daughter, who’s in her senior year, is definitely a sweetheart and also the president of the school’s music club. She’s a very beautiful and talented girl, studying at Qin University. How about I introduce her?"
Such a remark left everyone stunned, and Zhou Ning even stopped in his tracks. Before Cao Pingzhang could say another word, Liu Yongxin had already covered his mouth.
"You better behave yourself, okay? What’s gotten into you today? Have you solved the case and now don’t want to keep in touch with us anymore?
If you want to sever ties from now on, just keep messing around. And about your sister’s kid, did you know my apprentice has a girlfriend? No, that’s not right, to be precise, a fiancée. They’ve met the parents and visited each other’s homes, only the wedding date is left to be set. It hasn’t been easy for them to get to this point today, yet here you are offering someone from your sister’s family."
Cao Pingzhang was relentless, not knowing what got into him, and kept on saying in a low voice:
"What’s wrong with just meeting, isn’t it because I think Director Zhou is excellent and want to bring someone excellent into my family? My niece really is very pretty."
Liu Yongxin was speechless, and Mr. Zhao joined the conversation.
"Doctor Cao, why don’t you introduce someone to Mr. Qu instead? Even though we call him Mr. Qu, he’s a PhD from Qin University, the deputy director of the software development center. Don’t just focus on Director Zhou. His fiancée is incomparable.
In terms of looks, the beauty queen of Qin University is but a maid in her eyes. As for work capability, she’s the lead researcher in charge of a project team at the technical center. Regarding family background, her father is a deputy mayor, and her mother is a university professor. Do you think there’s any comparison?"
Cao Pingzhang was taken aback, for Mr. Zhao didn’t seem to be joking. The titles he threw out really stunned him. He hadn’t expected that Zhou Ning’s father-in-law would be a deputy mayor. There was no point in comparing, and he gave up on his previous intentions.
"There’s no comparison, so I won’t compare. But when Director Zhou gets married, you must tell me. I want to attend and see what this Qindao beauty looks like. I can’t even imagine it!"
They all laughed, and Zhou Ning nodded nonstop.
"I will let you know when I’m getting married."
"Let’s go, let’s go listen to the interrogation."
Saying this, they already arrived outside the criminal police squad’s interrogation room. A young criminal officer greeted them when he saw Doctor Cao and the others.
"Uncle Cao, you’ve arrived. Chief Huang said to tell him when you get here, to go directly to the observation room next door and watch. He asked me to give him the forensic report, oh right, you’d better highlight the key points, that stuff is really hard to understand."
Cao Pingzhang glanced at Zhou Ning, who had already signaled Mr. Qu to find a document. After opening it, he handed it over to Cao Pingzhang.
"I’ve organized some of the key points from the forensic reports, summarized a copy for each person, aligning with the timeline and details of the crime. Combined with the reports during the interrogation, the effect will be better. Of course, we can also let Mr. Qu connect our software to observe if the suspect is lying."
Cao Pingzhang chuckled, dragging Mr. Qu with the young officer to the interrogation room, while Zhou Ning and the others didn’t dally and went straight next door.
One could feel that the observation room had just been cleaned. Everything was wiped so clean, and on the table next to the one-way glass that adjoins the interrogation room, a row of headphones was neatly arranged. The setup was quite considerate.
Zhou Ning walked over, put on the headphones, and looked into the interrogation room. Huang Youdao was sitting inside, with a clerk beside him. Wu Chunming was nowhere to be seen, and sitting on the interrogation chair was Yang Liang. This was the first time Zhou Ning had seen Yang Liang in person.
The old man looked older than his actual age, seemingly in his sixties, with a somewhat vacant gaze. Such continuous interrogation had pushed him to the extreme.
Starting with him was actually a good thing.
When Mr. Qu and the others entered, Huang Youdao stood up, his face visibly brightening. After chatting with Cao Pingzhang, Cao Pingzhang left, and Mr. Qu, not needing direction, went beside the clerk and printed out the file that Zhou Ning had listed earlier. Only then did he hand over the report to Huang Youdao.
Huang Youdao glanced at the content, and one could feel his confidence surging.
He closed the door, not sitting next to the clerk and Mr. Qu, but pulled out a chair and sat directly opposite Yang Liang. He rummaged through the reports in his hand, picked one out, and found a photo, which he placed right in front of Yang Liang.
"Let’s cut to the chase. This is the body found yesterday in the cellar of your yard. After DNA identification, we, the police, can confirm that this body is indeed Feng Shujuan.
During the removal of the sand, we found an eight-gauge wire bent into a semi-circle below Feng Shujuan’s neck, with a spiral at the end, and also discovered a dagger with her blood on it.
The forensic doctor on the special case team conducted an autopsy on Feng Shujuan’s body and found defensive cuts on her fingers, a stab wound between the second and third ribs, and cut marks remaining on the ribs. She was stabbed, then strangled with the wire, and thrown into the cellar.
However, you were not strong enough, or perhaps you were nervous at the time, so the wire wasn’t twisted tight. While you were burying her with sand, Feng Shujuan regained consciousness, broke free from the wire around her neck, but due to lack of oxygen, she was unable to climb out of the sand and ultimately died.
It can be said that your relationship with Feng Shujuan was quite secretive; even your neighbors didn’t know you knew her from Heping Zhuang, let alone had an intimate relationship. However, these last few days, after conducting surveys in Heping Zhuang and confirming with Feng Shujuan’s children, we learned that you were her intimate partner.
According to Feng Shujuan’s daughter, her mother had found an old man, a widower, who had lost his son. They got along very well, but he didn’t want to get married legally. They had argued about it multiple times, and her mother had even considered going south to join her children. However, because her children were busy with work, the matter was postponed.
Don’t hurry to refute me, listen to me finish. I haven’t mentioned Fu Chunyu’s matter. You have made too many excuses before, and I don’t want to hear those. Now, I’m just asking you, did you kill Feng Shujuan? Why did you kill her?
Right now, I’m giving you a chance to speak. All the evidence is conclusive—your fingerprints and DNA were found on both the dagger and the wire. There isn’t much to say. We can submit this case to the procuratorate without waiting for your testimony, and then you truly won’t have the chance to speak, and you’ll also be charged with stubborn resistance. Think carefully!"
Yang Liang fell silent, bowed his head, and closed his eyes—an expression Zhou Ning knew well. It meant that he was tormented inside, just like Professor Li Chengbin had summarized in his book.
Except for the very few who are bloodthirsty by nature, a suspect who has committed murder lives in torment almost every day. Anything that could be linked to the victim plunges the suspect into deep fear.
There once was a suspect who had been on the run for twenty years. He even hung around the public security bureau’s entrance, hoping the police would catch him in time, because the torment was maddening, making it impossible to sleep, eat, or work, always hiding in the shadows—this torture was even worse than being in prison.
At that moment, Yang Liang’s state was clearly just like that. After a short wait, Yang Liang opened his eyes, his fingers trembling slightly.
"It was me who killed her, but I had no choice."
Huang Youdao didn’t rush, stood up, and handed Yang Liang a paper cup filled with water. Yang Liang took the cup and had a sip, even offering Huang Youdao a word of thanks.
"Don’t rush, just have a casual chat with me about what happened."
"I met Feng Shujuan at a market gathering; it was probably before Labor Day last year, right in Heping Zhuang. She lost her money and couldn’t find her phone either. She had bought some fish but couldn’t pay for it, and it seemed she had guests at home and was in a hurry to buy it, so when she was negotiating with the fishmonger, the person flat-out refused.
I was next to the fishmonger’s stall and stopped the somewhat irate fishmonger and paid 174 yuan for her. Feng Shujuan was very grateful, hurried off with her things, and didn’t even give me her name.
The fishmonger said he’d seen too many like her, and though she sounded like a local from her accent, many people aren’t so kind. The next time they come to the market, they act like they don’t recognize you and don’t repay the money, warning me not to do it again, as I probably couldn’t earn 174 yuan in a day selling vegetables.
I didn’t mind, and after going to the Heping Zhuang market a couple more times and not running into Feng Shujuan, I let the matter drop. When I helped her, I didn’t even think about getting the money back. But on my third trip to Heping Zhuang market, I saw her right away.
I could tell she had dressed up specially, wearing a red coat that made her look very young, and she had a nice figure. She came up to me to say thank you, apologizing for rushing off without leaving a phone number last time, then after giving me the money, she left her phone number and address and invited me to come to her house for a casual meal after the market.
After exchanging pleasantries, Feng Shujuan didn’t leave, wanting to wait until I was done. I went to her house at noon, and the meal was simple but definitely not the rough food cooked by the village wives, rather it was quite refined, more like what city folks would make.
During our conversation, I learned that on that day her children had all come back and were rushed to go south since her daughter-in-law had given birth. However, after staying for a week, communication was impossible because they couldn’t understand each other and had different living habits. So, she simply gave them some money and returned home.
I was touched at the time, and we got along really well. I started visiting her weekly at Heping Zhuang market, always bringing her something, and having lunch at her house.
By August, I thought we were getting along so well and we both had lost our spouses, it seemed right to get together. She was also inclined to this idea and said she would discuss it with her children, even though they were not local, fearing their objections.
In the following months, she would visit my house once a week, or I would visit hers, usually going over at night and leaving at dawn. Before the Spring Festival this year, she told me her children were not completely satisfied and wished I would show some sincerity.
I asked if they were hoping for a house or something, because we both lived in the village, and if we moved to the city, managing the greenhouses would be impossible, and we’d be left with nothing to do. She said it wasn’t necessary to buy a house, but at the very least I should give her some security.
Being older than her, there was a chance I could die and then she’d have served me for nothing. She wanted me to give her gold equivalent to the value of my house; only then would she marry me. I was startled and directly refused this demand. Where was I going to get two hundred thousand yuan from?"
