Chapter 491: Chapter 462: Who is the Suspect?_1
Zhou Ning knew Xia Momo was worried about not making it on time and reckoned the girl might speed back, so he quickly said:
"There’s enough time, Xia Momo, drive slowly."
"Alright, I’m not a road killer, don’t worry about it. You just prepare the minutiae of leading the team, and don’t worry about us. If anything comes up, we’ll contact you immediately. Zhu Zuozhang shows respect to Mr. Liu too, we’ll definitely discuss everything carefully. Even if the workload is big, it’s not a problem."
"Good, let your family know."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning sent a voice message to his grandfather and soon received a reply. It was only eight words, but it was full of concern.
Be safe, get some rest!
Zhou Ning smiled and put his phone away, pulling his suitcase and the inspection box, he headed downstairs directly.
As soon as he got downstairs, he saw Mr. Zhao dismantling the magnifying glass of the LED light at the Iveco, sorted it out, and threw it into a sorting box, dusting off his hands and checking the inventory list again.
"Everything’s ready. Not just one body, even if it’s ten or eight, we have enough equipment. I just said hi to Mrs. Cui, and Mr. Pang happened to be there, said it to both of them. Mr. Pang and Mrs. Cui said they’d take samples back for testing as soon as possible, leaving someone on standby here for 24 hours, prioritizing our tests. Anything else?"
Mr. Wang, the driver, came over, took Zhou Ning’s suitcase, and considerately stuck a post-it on it with Zhou Ning’s name.
"You just get ready, Mr. Qu probably has a lot of stuff. Mr. Wang, could you go up and help him carry it down? As for the departure time, we’ll wait for Mrs. Fei and their message. Oh, Gao Tie still hasn’t come back?"
Zhou Ning glanced at the time; they had been gone for over twenty minutes now, and they should have been back, so why was there no sign of them?
As he was thinking, Liu Yufei and the others came over quickly, with Sun Gaotie and Mr. Pang following them at a jog, Fang Mu and a policeman supporting the older man. Now that he had a closer look, the man appeared to be in his forties, with only his hair graying, and his face showing exhaustion.
He understood it all too well. His child had died, and in such a tragic way outside the rental house. Being unable to save his own child, the sadness and despair he must have felt, especially after the post-mortem, when notified of such a decision not to open a case, his world would have collapsed.
While Zhou Ning was pondering, Liu Yufei and the others had already approached. He Hongjiang was arranged to get into the car, and Gao Tie ran up to Zhou Ning.
"Boss, I finished the external examination. All the bruises and injuries have been photographed. But I think we should take some images. Do we do that here?"
Zhou Ning waved his hand, looking toward Liu Yufei as this was evidently her intention as well.
"If the rib fractures are not displaced, X-rays might not show them clearly, especially since it’s been more than ten days. A CT scan would be more accurate. Let’s get in the car and contact Mr. He on the way. We’ll go to the central hospital for the CT scan. Moreover, I think a third-party diagnosis is more convincing."
Liu Yufei nodded in agreement.
"That’s what I was thinking, but I couldn’t reach Mr. He when I called him just now; no one answered the phone.
Zhou Ning paused.
"He might be in the middle of a rescue. What about Chen Cheng, didn’t you contact him?"
Liu Yufei hesitated for a moment, then glared at Zhou Ning.
"You contact him!"
After saying that, she waved at everyone to hurry up with their things and get on their vehicles. Zhou Ning rubbed his nose, and Mr. Zhao bumped Zhou Ning’s shoulder from behind, leaning in and whispering:
"This doesn’t look good. Fang Mu has been here for over a month, and there’s been no progress with Doctor Chen. How come they’ve stopped contacting each other? Is there a change?"
Zhou Ning shook his head and immediately dialed Doctor Chen’s phone, which was answered after two rings. Glancing at the already boarded Liu Yufei, Zhou Ning quickly covered his mouth and said:
"Doctor Chen, are you very busy?"
"Director Zhou, we have an emergency here. I couldn’t get off my night shift, Mr. He is leading the medical staff in a rescue. What’s up?"
"We have a deceased’s family member here who needs an injury assessment. Mrs. Fei tried calling Mr. He earlier, but there was no answer. But why didn’t she contact you?"
Doctor Chen paused, and whether it was surprise or something else, it took him a moment to say, awkwardly:
"Not to hide it from you, but last week, I confessed to Liu Yufei, and she rejected me. I asked if she liked someone else, and she said no. She just feels her work is dangerous and she’s very limited in energy, and she’s not considering marriage for the time being.
I said, I’m not asking to get married right away, she could at least consider me as a candidate. But she said she didn’t want to delay me, especially since I’m in my early thirties, no need to wait for her. She suggested I find a woman who could take care of the house and my life.
And that was that. She doesn’t answer calls, blocked me on WeChat, I don’t know why. These past few days I’ve been covering shifts for colleagues, busy to the point of exhaustion. I haven’t had time to ask her for the reason. We used to talk just fine, I don’t know what happened."
Mr. Zhao, who was eavesdropping by the phone, heard everything clearly and was starting to get anxious.
"You too, just go straight to Liu Yufei and ask. What could be so important that it can’t wait? We’re about to go on a business trip, and once we leave, we don’t know how many days it’ll be until we return. The longer we delay, the more likely problems will arise. Besides, there are plenty of outstanding young people in the city bureau, how come you have no sense of crisis?"
"Ah, I don’t know how to salvage this. I really like Liu Yufei."
"Bullshit, if you liked her that much, you’d be restless day and night, unable to eat or sleep, and you would have already gone to Liu Yufei’s place to confess your feelings. I think you just don’t like her enough. Stop trying to act all lovey-dovey with us. We’ve informed you, and we’ll be heading over soon to take X-rays. You’ll have a few minutes to confess. This is your last chance, so it’s up to you to make it count!"
After speaking, Mr. Zhao helped Zhou Ning hang up the phone, then gestured with his hand.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, let’s get in the car. This guy needs a strong dose of reality; otherwise, the longer he hesitates, the less chance he’ll have."
Zhou Ning nodded in agreement. Mr. Zhao was undeniably competent in these matters, so Zhou Ning didn’t linger on the topic and directly got into the Iveco. Soon after, everyone else got into their vehicles, and Fang Mu came over for a roll call before the convoy set off.
Of course, their first stop was the Central Hospital. Mr. Zhao volunteered to come along. Doctor Chen was still wearing his slippers and short-sleeved white coat as he stood in front of the emergency department, glancing behind Mr. Zhao.
"Didn’t Yufei come with you?"
Mr. Zhao blinked.
"Don’t be so chummy with me. We’re here to take the deceased’s family for a CT scan. Help us arrange it, please. This is urgent; we still have to head to Xinghua. We need to get a diagnosis. The man claims he has a rib fracture. You can tell how long ago he fractured it, right?"
Chen Cheng nodded, noticing Liu Yufei’s figure approaching. He was just about to speak when he saw the towering police officer supporting the elderly man behind her, and Chen Cheng’s face showed a hint of panic. Mr. Zhao twisted his wrist sharply.
"Stay calm. Just say hi warmly; as long as you’re polite and friendly, it’s alright. With so many people here, Liu Yufei can’t do much to you; what are you afraid of!"
Chen Cheng felt a bit guilty, but seeing Mr. Zhao glare at him, he quickly nodded, smiling faintly at Liu Yufei.
"Yufei, if there’s anything you need, why didn’t you call me? What tests do you need to do? I’ll take you."
Liu Yufei hesitated for a moment, and seeing Chen Cheng still looking at her, with Mr. Zhao and the others remaining silent, she nodded slightly and spoke:
"I called Director He, but he didn’t answer. I thought you were all busy, so I had Zhao Xinli contact you. There was a lot going on. We also need your help taking this victim’s family member to get a CT scan. The external examination has already been done at the city bureau; there are multiple bruises and soft tissue injuries, and he complained of a rib fracture."
Chen Cheng smiled faintly, grabbed Liu Yufei’s wrist, squeezed something into her hand, and let go before she could resist.
"Got it. Don’t bother running back and forth. Influenza is going around pretty bad right now. I’ll go with Zhao Xinli to take the picture, and then we’ll provide a diagnosis. Just having someone go through the registration process is enough, since we don’t know his identity information."
Liu Yufei waved her hand, and Fang Mu followed over. Without further ado, Chen Cheng led several people quickly inside. Sun Gaotie, while craning his neck to watch their figures disappear, received a slap on the back from his driver, Mr. Wang.
"Stop looking. Liu Da is watching over here."
Sun Gaotie turned his head and indeed, Liu Yufei was staring at the Iveco. Sun Gaotie shrunk his neck as Mr. Wang handed him a bottle of mineral water. Only then did Liu Yufei turn away, causing Sun Gaotie to break out in sweat and pat his chest.
"Thanks, Mr. Wang, I owe you one for having my back."
Driver Mr. Wang waved his hand, without any unnecessary words.
Zhou Ning didn’t take his eyes off Liu Yufei, who then opened her palm. Zhou Ning, with his keen vision, saw what she was holding—it was a very cheap glycerin hand cream, yet its moisturizing effect was much better than regular hand lotion.
Liu Yufei’s lips curled slightly as she pocketed the glycerin hand cream. Seeing this, Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief.
Clearly, Liu Yufei had some feelings for Chen Cheng—otherwise, she wouldn’t have rejected him so straightforwardly.
They didn’t have to wait long before Fang Mu helped He Hongjiang out. He spoke a few words with Liu Yufei, and soon after, Chen Cheng came running out with the X-rays in hand, leaving Mr. Zhao trailing behind with a helpless expression, walking leisurely.
Zhou Ning got out of the car as Chen Cheng smiled and nodded to him, then continued:
"The CT images are out, and I’ve written the diagnosis. I’ll give these to you. He has fractures in the left 4th to 7th ribs. It’s not too severe, but you can see callus formation at the fracture sites.
Estimating the time of the fracture, it’s around ten days old. I’ve also made a diagnosis for the other soft tissue injuries on the body. You can check it out. Call me if you need anything, and I’ll send you the digital images of the scan."
"It looks like He Hongjiang hasn’t spoken, so we’ll have to see if there’s any record of his detention."
Liu Yufei glanced at Zhou Ning, appreciating everything he said. But the more she agreed, the angrier she felt. It was one thing to lack the capability to handle a case and request help from higher authorities, but to cover it up and issue an autopsy report carelessly, failing to investigate diligently—when even an uneducated farmer could see the issues, how could they not?
Or does it actually mean, as He Hongjiang suggested, they’re deliberately shielding someone?
So does this imply they have already investigated and identified the suspect, and this person is someone they dare not touch?
