Chapter 112: Hibernating in the Dim Sunlight – 6
A certain construction site in Taoyuan City—
Early in the morning, the foreman drove the workers to the construction site, ready for a full day of work. As soon as the van door opened, the foreign migrant workers got out one after another.
“Nguyen Thi Xuan, hurry up and get them ready. We have to rush today.” The foreman shouted in a harsh voice and then drove the car to an empty space to park.
Nguyen Thi Xuan, who understood Chinese, answered, and a partner who did not understand Chinese asked him, “What did he say?”
“He told us to get ready quickly.” Nguyen Thi Xuan’s eyes were empty as he looked at the towering scaffolding. “Let’s go.”
The scaffolding outside the building had already been set up. This group of Vietnamese, along with other foreign migrant workers from Indonesia, Thailand, and other places, had been working day and night. Many of them had been sleeping less than six hours a day, and they were often working on the edge of safety regulations.
Dissatisfaction was spreading among the foreign workers, and their physical strength was gradually reaching its limit. Even yesterday, two Indonesian workers had already run away.
He knew that there were a lot of illegal workers on this construction site. Compared to them, who had come to Taiwan legally, the situation of the illegal workers was even more difficult—and they were often in the absolute majority. Although there were frequent raids, the foreman always knew how to hide the illegal workers, which made it impossible for the law enforcement agencies to catch them all.
This kind of work would not last long.
After the general foreman had finished explaining the scheduled work progress, they dispersed. They took their tool belts and prepared to go to work, but before that, Nguyen Thi Xuan’s phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed a photo of his wife and two-year-old daughter.
“Hello?” he listened, and after a few seconds, he made a gesture for his other partners to wait, “okay… I understand.” Taking a deep breath, he hung up the phone.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for Nguyen Thi Xuan to give the order. “The boss said it’s about time,” Nguyen Thi Xuan said in a low voice, looking around at the other partners, “everyone knows what to do, right?”
They all nodded. “We know.”
“Hey, Nguyen Thi Xuan, what are you guys standing there for?” the foreman’s voice came from upstairs.
He gave a noncommittal answer. “Everyone, be careful.”
The foreman stared at him until he had brought his men up. “You guys are strange today, you’re so slow.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m going up. The crane will be lifting the materials up in a bit. You guys get ready to receive them.”
“Okay.”
He glared at the group of Vietnamese workers and then left them to climb up to the tenth floor.
The wind was a little strong today, and standing on the scaffolding to observe the outer wall, if you were a little timid, you probably wouldn’t be able to do it. He was checking the progress and at the same time looking down. The crane had already lifted the steel bars to the designated spot, but it was stuck there, and it seemed no one was there to receive them.
He frowned, and was about to use his phone to check when the scaffolding suddenly began to shake. “What’s going on?” he cried out, barely managing to grab a nearby support to steady himself.
The several tons of steel bars on the hook had already tilted, followed by a collapse-like slide. He looked up at the crane arm, and the severely corroded steel bars were breaking.
Boom, like an earthquake, it was the most terrifying sound he had ever heard.
The scaffolding could not withstand the impact of the steel bars and collapsed with a roar.
**
For several days in a row, Zhou Jinglin had been conducting a massive investigation of “Givenchy.”
She had first thoroughly checked the surveillance footage in the shop, but had not found any footage of Wu Jianxiong entering. But this did not mean he was not at the scene at that time. After all, the shop was a maze, and the surveillance cameras could only capture a small corner.
As for the two seriously injured gang members, one was still in a coma, and the other had woken up, but could not help the police to clarify the case, because his testimony was roughly the same as that of Pan Yuhuan—the leader they had brought back.
And Pan Yuhuan, besides insisting that Wu Jianxiong was the one who had started the fight, that his cousin had been shot, and that his men had been injured, was unwilling to reveal any more details, including the transaction.
“It must not be anything good, either a gun or drugs,” Xiangrong said.
“Even so, without video or other eyewitnesses, we can’t prove they broke the law.” Not to mention that Pan Yuhuan was acting like a victim. Jinglin slammed the table and grabbed her boxing gloves. “I’m going for a run.”
“Oh.”
Compared to Jinglin’s lack of progress, the special task force had made some progress.
Xu Shanni had informed Lu Tingfeng of the human resources agency that Wu Jianxiong ran, and Cai Yuwei had begun to thoroughly investigate the company, and had found that they mainly handled the introduction of foreign migrant workers from Indonesia and Vietnam, whether it was for caregivers, nannies, manual laborers, or factory workers.
But this was “on the surface.” They also had an underground agency that was responsible for recruiting “illegal workers”—foreign migrant workers who had run away from their original employers. Xu Shanni mentioned that he not only made a profit from the illegal workers by providing them to specific employers, but also used them for illegal smuggling and transportation.
The transaction between Pan Yuhuan and Wu Jianxiong was very likely related to the sale of various smuggled goods.
As for Chen Huomu, he had taken Qian Hanliang back into custody for questioning. After spending the new year in the detention center and having his head shaved, he was a different person from before he had been imprisoned.
But he was just as silent.
Returning to the interrogation room at the station, Qian Hanliang looked very relaxed. He was probably guessing who would be interrogating him today.
But unfortunately, the person who was questioning him today, he would never have guessed.
“Senior.”
Tang Yingli’s gaze shifted from Qian Hanliang. “Huizhu, you’re here.”
“Oh, your dress is so pretty.” Lian Huizhu, who had come in, smiled at her and looked at the interrogation room. “Is he today’s ‘patient’?”
“Yes, have you seen the file?”
“Of course. I was imagining your tone and expression when you were questioning him, and I even watched it two or three times.”
Yingli smiled, a little helplessly. “Then you must be very clear about his motive for the murder.”
“Yes. Don’t worry, I won’t deliberately step on his toes.”
“That’s good…” while they were talking, Fang Zijun also entered the monitoring room. “Chief Fang.”
“I’ll have to trouble you two today.”
“No, the key is not me, it’s all up to Huizhu.”
“I’ll do my best. Then, I’m going in.” Lian Huizhu smiled, and after a deep look at Yingli, she entered the interrogation room.
Fang Zijun approached. “I thought you would be on the front line this time, Teacher.”
“I broke through his defenses with all my might last time. He must still be very wary of me. It’s better to leave it to Huizhu.”
“He didn’t mention Wu Jianxiong’s existence last time.”
“I guess he just didn’t know who Wu Jianxiong was. As long as we show him a photo, he’ll definitely be able to recognize him…” Yingli pushed up her glasses, “after all, that’s the source of his psychological trauma.”
“Psychological trauma?”
“Try to think back on the whole story of Li Yuejiao’s ‘murder,’ Chief.” She raised her index finger and said, “First, two days before the incident, she deliberately told Officer Zhou that she was going back to Xinwu, Taoyuan. Then, on that day, before Officer Zhou arrived, she was suddenly killed by Qian Hanliang. After Qian Hanliang had acted, he fled, and when Officer Zhou arrived at the scene, it was Wu Jianxiong who was there instead.”
Fang Zijun nodded. “I’m clear about all of this.”
“And then there’s the problem.” Yingli crossed her arms and lowered her eyes. “He drugged Officer Zhou and put her in a closet, and then he escaped with Li Yuejiao… there are two main suspicious points. One, why did he just drug Officer Zhou, instead of kidnapping or killing her? Two, why did he go to the trouble of taking the body from the scene?”
The suspicious points that had been baffling before were revealed one by one after the subsequent cases. “The first answer… is it because the mastermind, Li Yuejiao, didn’t want her daughter to die? And the second is naturally because she didn’t die.”
“Yes, that explanation also works. In any case, Wu Jianxiong’s appearance allowed this drama of a fake death and escape to be truly staged.”
“Then why did you say Wu Jianxiong was his psychological trauma?” he asked, pointing at Qian Hanliang.
“Didn’t Qian Hanliang say before that he had received a call, and that someone had told him Li Yuejiao’s address?”
“Yes, and it was after he had called Givenchy to ask.”
“We would have reasonably suspected that some hostess had leaked Li Yuejiao’s whereabouts, but from the development of the case, I think there were only two people who could have made that call.”
“Wu Jianxiong and Li Yuejiao?”
“Correct. Only they could have done it.”
“Just to use Qian Hanliang?” Fang Zijun frowned. “To have an enemy come and kill yourself? That’s too big of a gamble.”
“It sounds absurd at first, but it’s very likely the truth of the case.” Yingli rested her chin on her hand in thought and continued, “Let’s go back to the previous suspicious point for a moment. I think that by keeping Officer Zhou at the scene, there was a very crucial role. It wasn’t just a mother’s mercy for her daughter… but to make her the most crucial eyewitness in the whole case.”
Fang Zijun was so shocked by this deduction that he couldn’t speak.
“By using her daughter to witness her being ‘killed,’ but the body being moved… don’t forget, Officer Zhou is a detective. By having a detective describe the development of the murder case, a very convincing and unbreakable trap was set.”
If it weren’t for the thorough investigation of the blood samples and the scene afterward, they might never have known that Li Yuejiao had faked her death.
“Then, why Wu Jianxiong…”
“During the interrogation before, didn’t Qian Hanliang insist, and even stubbornly emphasize, that he had killed Li Yuejiao?”
“That’s right.”
Yingli shook her head decisively. “He didn’t complete the assassination. Perhaps at that moment, Li Yuejiao had been cornered, but she was stopped by Wu Jianxiong. Because his action had failed, and he couldn’t bear it, he had desperately emphasized that he had killed Li Yuejiao.
“Although it’s just my guess… but given the timing of Wu Jianxiong’s appearance, I’m not surprised at all that they would have arranged it this way. And the person who told Qian Hanliang the address, I think besides Li Yuejiao herself, there is no better answer.”
“But… what if Qian Hanliang hadn’t been in a hurry to get revenge?”
“Then it would have been Wu Jianxiong who had ‘acted’ himself.” Yingli smiled. “He also had enough ‘motive.’”
So that’s why Jinglin was so sure that he had killed Li Yuejiao.
Fang Zijun couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine. “I didn’t expect… she even planned her own daughter into it.”
“It may be hard to believe, but this is the most likely development I could think of after repeatedly considering the whole case.”
“No wonder the teacher, even though she’s so close to Jinglin, still decided to hide the truth.”
Yingli was silent, remembering the conversation she had had with Jinglin after she had taken her back to her place on the day of the incident—‘I will tell you. But now is not the time…’
At that time, she had never thought that Li Yuejiao would stage such a fake death, let alone that after months of being together, Li Yuejiao would be able to ruthlessly use her daughter in turn.
And then things had snowballed out of control. First, heparin was found in the blood sample, and after checking the medical records, she had learned that she was in the final stages of liver cancer, and then she had learned from Miller that she had already started to plan her actions and had become the head of “Mountain Wind”…
As things had developed, she couldn’t say it no matter what.
“Don’t make me sound so gentle…” she said in a low voice, “to put it bluntly, I just wanted to avoid the trouble of explaining as much as possible.”
“Don’t be shy, Teacher. Anyone can see that you’re very different with Jinglin.”
While the two of them were talking, Lian Huizhu’s psychological consultation with Qian Hanliang had also reached a key stage.
She gently placed three front-facing photos of men on the table.
“Look carefully, and then tell me if you have seen or know any of them.”
Qian Hanliang swallowed hard, his gaze locked on the photo on the far right. “Yes, I’ve seen him.”
“Did you only meet on the day of the incident?”
After a few seconds of silence, he nodded lightly this time.
Her hands gently covered the three photos. “Okay, I understand.”
