Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 169

Chapter 169: The Red Silk · La Soie Rouge

The New Year holiday was over, but Shen Yiyi had not yet returned to Shanghai. Because of the update on the clues, her leave was getting longer and longer.

“This textbook has to be sent for identification.”

The borrowing time for the textbook had already passed, but Shen Yiyi did not want to return it.

Although she had not yet cracked the relationship between the sculpture and the killer, and the meaning of these pigments, she believed that the different materials used in the different batches of the textbook must be related to the case, so she did not want to return it.

“Then I’ll go and talk to the people at the school history museum and keep it for a few more days.” Shen’s father knew his daughter’s temper and was also actively thinking of countermeasures. But to detain the school’s historical materials without any reason, it was also difficult for him to explain to his old colleagues.

Qin Luo had her hands on her hips and was in a rage with Wang Xi on the balcony. “What do you mean, the materials have to be related? Haven’t the identification materials been submitted several times already?”

Wang Xi also had a headache. “Director Qin, they need time to re-examine.”

That was true.

Qin Luo continued with an identification opinion.

As long as they could find clues related to the killer’s shoe prints from back then, or evidence of the killer’s connection with the sculpture, they could have the criminal investigation team reopen the case.

“Didn’t I ask you to… to the procuratorate during the New Year…” At this thought, Qin Luo’s head began to ache again. She rubbed her brow. “Forget it, forget it. You can have President Liu ask the city leaders if they can help us say a word and have them review the investigation application quickly.”

Doing things in a small town was a layered process. A fire was stuck in her abdomen, and she couldn’t go down or up. Qin Luo was so uncomfortable from these procedures that she wished she could throw a few flying punches at the air.

“The other side is not a partner. They are all government agencies.” Qin Luo was afraid that Wang Xi would treat those people like a client and suppressed her anger, reminding her, “You should rush them every day. If you can’t rush them, then call 12345. I don’t believe that with both civil and military means, this matter can’t be done in a week.”

Guo Rui was driving and couldn’t listen anymore. “Oh my, it takes time to go through the process. Don’t make things difficult for them.”

As an assistant, Wang Xi had come to Fengjiang to report after the holiday. Today, she was running errands for Qin Luo to sign documents, and tomorrow she was going to the countryside to find the printing factory’s employees. Qin Luo was afraid that she was not familiar with the foreign environment and had specially arranged for Guo Rui, who was on winter vacation, to be her driver.

In these past few days, Wang Xi had been staying at Guo Rui’s house. The two had been assigned to a special field team and had been busy from morning to night.

“Forget it, forget it. Let’s leave it at that.” Qin Luo hung up the phone impatiently.

“I might as well be exiled to Ningguta.”

“She’s just anxious.” Guo Rui comforted her. “She’ll be fine in a bit.”

Wang Xi held out her left hand. “One President Liu.”
Then she held out her right hand. “One Director Qin.”
“Plus a Teacher Shen.” She put her hands together, her forehead close, and gently closed her eyes. “It’s really Amitabha.”

Qin Luo hung up the phone and walked into the living room from the balcony. Seeing the father and daughter with worried faces, she immediately smiled and comforted them. “Wang Xi said that the procuratorate is reviewing the materials sent by the brigade. As long as the written approval comes down, we can recall the original case evidence after a new case file number is issued.”

Qin Luo was very eloquent, but she could only fool Shen’s dad.

Hearing the words “supplementary investigation,” Shen Qinwen immediately covered his chest. “Meng, the heavens have eyes. It’s about to…”

While Shen’s father was expressing his emotions here, the Shen Yiyi on the other end of the sofa had stood up and had gone back to her bedroom without a word.

Qin Luo couldn’t be bothered with her uncle and followed her back to the room.

“I know what I’m doing.” Shen Yiyi was lying on the bed. “These materials are indeed a breakthrough, but the relevance is too small. It’s highly likely that they won’t pass the review.”

Qin Luo comforted her, “We have an identification report.”

Shen Yiyi looked up and burst out laughing. “I’m the one who writes the identification reports.”

…

Seeing that Shen Yiyi had a plan, Qin Luo simply stopped hiding it. She dejectedly pulled a stool and sat down by the bed. “If only we could find a connection between the sculpture and the case.”

The sculpture had been found by a netizen by chance in an overseas second-hand market. The original author was nowhere to be found, and the blogger himself had also said that the purchase at that time was an impulse buy, and he had not kept any receipts. He only remembered the brand name of the art warehouse.

Qin Luo had also had Wang Xi send an email to the brand, wanting to trace the source of the goods, but she had not yet received a reply.

The identification report only said that the sculpture was a high-level replica of the costume and character image of the stage play The Red Silk, but there was no evidence to point to the creator being the killer.

They were like they were standing in front of a blurry glass. No matter how hard they wiped, they could not see the other’s face.

“Without the help of the criminal investigation team, how can we investigate these people?”

Qin Luo casually picked up the documents on the table. A long list of the editorial board. There were more than a dozen people. Some of them, Shen’s father knew, and he could get a general idea. Some of them were from the province to make up the numbers, and now she didn’t even know where they were.

“Project reviewer, Fengjiang University’s dean of academic affairs, He Rongping.”

Qin Luo’s fingers were tapping on the list. “Why don’t we start with her?”

***

The old lady was in a wheelchair. She was almost seventy but was full of energy. It was just that her feet were unable to stand due to illness, and she could only move around in a wheelchair.

“Have a seat.”

He Rongping had heard the whole story from the old leader and had not made any excuses. Instead, she had taken the initiative to call the Shen family to meet.

Shen’s father led his daughter and Qin Luo to sit down. “Old He, we’re here today to hope that you—”

“I’ve heard.”

He Rongping nodded and pushed her wheelchair to the front of a cabinet. She opened a drawer and took out a bag of folders.

“I heard from Old Jiang that you came to find me because of this textbook.”

“It’s not because of the textbook.” Shen Yiyi forced a smile. “It’s because of the pigment used in the printing of the textbook.”

“That was one of the few textbooks that the school had approved back then. As the project reviewer, I was particularly happy and was very cautious in every aspect.” He Rongping pointed to the file bag. “These are all the project materials that were kept back then. I wrote them all by hand. I originally kept them as a souvenir. If you need them, you can take them.”

“Thank you so much, Old He.” Shen Qinwen put his hands together, not knowing how to express his gratitude. He stood up directly and bowed. “You’ve really helped us a lot.”

He Rongping waved for him to sit down. “The incident back then shocked the school. Everyone knows that you…”

While her father was reminiscing with the old leader, Shen Yiyi had already opened the file bag.

The first page was an application for a budget. The whole page was handwritten with the material fees for foreign experts, and the amount was far beyond the design cost of an ordinary textbook.

Shen Yiyi had to interrupt the two elders’ conversation. “Teacher He, may I ask if this textbook is a foreign textbook?”

He Rongping nodded, her tone a mix of embarrassment and shame. “To get the quota, we had to increase the budget. In fact, we didn’t put much effort into the curriculum research. The indicators were more important than the practicality… Looking back now, it was all a waste.”

“But I didn’t see—” on the list of writers.

He Rongping smiled. “There’s no foreign professor’s name, is there?”

“At that time, the project application and approval procedures all relied on Chinese archives. All the seals and contracts could only be registered with Chinese names. If a foreign name was used directly, the approval process would be returned for correction, and it would be difficult to pass the review of the various levels of the education commission.” At this, He Rongping pointed to the textbook. “At that time, it was stipulated that foreign experts who came to China were often dispatched through projects. As long as there was a visiting scholar in the official documents of the university, it was enough to identify their identity, and their nationality and degree information would not be disclosed, to avoid unnecessary political sensitivity in the circulation of the textbook.”

Shen Yiyi frowned. No wonder she had flipped through the book until it was worn out and had not found a single foreigner’s name.

“Then this textbook…”

He Rongping seemed to know what she was going to ask and said directly, “Zhao Kang, the editor-in-chief in name, was a foreign scholar who had come to the school to visit at that time. He was a professor who studied color psychology.”

Damn it…
Zhao Kang.
It was still the Zhao of Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li.

Qin Luo also closed her eyes, speechless. Who would have thought that such an ordinary name would be a foreigner…

Shen Yiyi frowned tightly and continued to search without a word. Finally, she found a special record in the meeting minutes:

“Professor Zhao Kang emphasized that the color card needs to be calibrated by his team, and its vitality must be restored without any deviation. He also requested that the presentation time of the printed sample be extended to be proofread under the twilight.”

Hearing where Shen Yiyi was reading, Old He also recalled the past. She tremblingly took some of the records and put on her reading glasses to look. “I remember. At that time, this Professor Zhao was particularly strict. We all thought that he was just being a foreigner. A normal review only paid attention to the text and the layout. There had never been such a harsh lighting test, and besides, it was a normal textbook, not a student textbook…”

The headache of the past made Old Lady He worried. “It was Zhao Kang who insisted on applying for coated paper printing, and he also wanted to buy some kind of stabilizer, saying that it would make the durability and visual impact of the printed color more significant. At that time, we had never done it before, and we thought that since he had requested it, we would just follow his instructions.”

But as the dean of academic affairs, she was very hesitant to approve this purchase, and was very afraid of exceeding the budget.

“He also wrote a formal letter of application to the provincial textbook review center. It’s clipped in the back.”

Shen Yiyi quickly flipped to the file paper. Sure enough, she found a printed application at the last few pages. She even saw the formal letter of reply from the provincial textbook review center.

Shen Yiyi was only focused on the English content of his application. It was Qin Luo who first saw the signature.

“There’s a signature.”
It was also a Chinese pinyin signature: Z.?kang

“There’s also a ‘k’ here.”

Qin Luo didn’t know if she was really going crazy. She would actually connect the “dk” inscription on the sculpture with the “zk” signature. “Can you tell the force of the handwriting, or the hardness…” She also didn’t know how to identify it, but in any case, even the weakest connection had to be verified.

“Teacher He, do you have a group photo with Zhao Kang from back then, or… video materials?”

He Rongping thought for a moment. “I do, but they’re all kept in the school history museum.”

“Let’s go to the school history museum!” Shen Yiyi held the folder tightly, stood up, and bowed deeply to the old lady.

“Could I trouble you to accompany us to the school history museum and help us identify this scholar’s materials?”

Qin Luo also quickly stood up and bowed.

“Please.”