Chapter 147: The Blazing Fire (Part 2) – 5
On the way home, Zhou Zengxiang felt a mixture of emotions.
He had never thought that Tang Yingli was the girl they had been searching for all those years ago. Not only had she escaped the police’s pursuit, but she had also grown up safely under the Tang family’s deliberate protection and strategy, and had even become a neuroscientist, coming to help the Criminal Investigation Division with their cases.
As for this identity, Fang Zijun also said that he had not known beforehand, and had even said that his former classmate, Tang Zhichao, who had recommended Tang Yingli to join the investigation, had not given any explanation at all.
But if you thought about it, that was only natural. To the Tang family, her real identity was a secret that could not be publicized. If it weren’t for Li Yuejiao’s deliberate kidnapping of Shi Jingde, and the fact that it had been leaked through their conversation, they might still not have known about this.
Where did Li Yuejiao find out? How could her intelligence gathering be so good?
Now, with his confession, they had finally grasped Li Yuejiao’s possible next target, but to Zhou Zengxiang, things had not really become easier. Li Yuejiao could still find other targets, and if she really did confront Yan Ruiyang, he was instead worried that the truth of the Gan family massacre would be revealed…
To him, this was definitely an event that could completely end his political career.
Worried, he had just stepped into his house when he found Su Huiquan sitting in the living room, with only half the lights on.
“H-Huiquan.” Zhou Zengxiang was surprised. “You’re still awake?” It was almost 11:30. She, who often talked about her “beauty sleep” and had to be in bed before 10:30, was still awake.
Su Huiquan sat up straight. “I can’t sleep.” She glared at him and placed the paper bag at her feet on the table. “In any case, I have to talk to you about this.”
“What’s this?”
“Open it and see for yourself.”
Zhou Zengxiang was suspicious. He put down his briefcase and picked up the paper bag. It was very light. “The young lady at the clinic gave this to me today. She said it was a package for me.” She watched as he reached in and took out the cheongsam, and she watched his reaction. “I’ve almost never received any special gifts from you, and even on our twentieth wedding anniversary, it was just a meal. I was just thinking, when did you become so thoughtful? It turns out you really are very thoughtful…” her eyes were filled with tears, and the hand on her lap was clenched tightly, “but it’s all for other women.”
As soon as he saw the cheongsam, Zhou Zengxiang dropped it as if it were a hot potato, which in turn caused a corner of the card that was clipped to it to be revealed.
“This… how did you get it?”
“Ha, so you still remember.” She stood up and picked up the card. “Although the card is a copy, I still recognize your handwriting. Do you want to take a look, and then explain to me what your relationship with her is?”
Zhou Zengxiang gritted his teeth, but in the end, he did not take the card. “Tell me, have you forgotten? Or are you trying to pretend you didn’t have an affair with your former subordinate?” Su Huiquan pushed him forcefully. “Let me say it for you. The woman you were involved with is the one who kidnapped me before. Because of your affair back then, both I and Jingxun almost lost our lives and were purged. Not only that, but you also had a daughter with someone else.”
Su Huiquan’s slap was so sudden and loud that Zhou Zengxiang was completely speechless.
“When Jingxun was in the hospital after her car accident… the first time I saw that female detective with the surname Zhou, I felt she was very familiar. The mother and daughter are practically a carbon copy of each other. And her thick eyebrows and big eyes are a little similar to yours. I didn’t think much of it at first, until I saw these… all the clues came together one by one.”
Facing his wife’s choked accusation, it took him a while to find his voice. “Huiquan, listen to me… that was all before I met you. I was definitely not two-timing… definitely not.”
“Then did you ever let her down? Did you know she had a child for you?”
“I…” he was at a loss for words.
“You didn’t know, did you?” even though she was in tears, Su Huiquan still smiled, “otherwise you would have never let that female detective protect Jingxun. She doesn’t know who her biological father is either… otherwise the whole thing would have been exposed long ago.”
He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
“You scum.” She slapped him hard. “Do you still remember when you proposed to me back then… what did you say to me?”
Zhou Zengxiang endured the pain. “The first time I saw you, I already liked you.”
A tear rolled down the corner of her mouth. Su Huiquan wiped it away and nodded. “My dad… my dad always said you would be successful. Because… your eyes are different from other boys. He said… you would definitely take good care of me and not let me suffer any grievances. That’s what he said.”
“I’ve never heard him praise a man like that…” Zhou Zengxiang was silent, and she turned to grab the cheongsam, “I believed it. But looking back now… would you also use the same trick to seduce other women?”
“No…”
“During the time my dad was an aide, he also gave you a lot of support, right? Now it seems… the light in your eyes is not for my love… but for the desire for power.”
“That’s not it, Huiquan. You listen to me…”
“Get away from me.” She threw the cheongsam in his face and at the same time stopped his attempt to hug her. “Just the thought of you abandoning a pregnant woman to get close to our family… and she was even your subordinate, it makes me sick.”
“Huiquan, it’s not what you think…”
“Get out.” She picked up her bag and turned to leave.
The main door slammed shut in his face.
Zhou Zengxiang watched as the furious Su Huiquan left. He held his head in frustration and regret, and unexpectedly, he heard a rustling sound from the stairs.
Looking back, Zhou Jingting entered the living room with an innocent expression. “I-I was woken up by Mom’s shouting… I thought I’d come and see, uh, what’s going on?”
He immediately stuffed the cheongsam back into the paper bag and ordered helplessly, “Don’t ask. Go back to sleep.”
“Oh, oh…”
He threw down the paper bag, his eyes refocusing on the card. He opened it and looked at it for a few moments, and before he had finished, he tore it to shreds.
‘I think she must hate you, after all, you once gave her a longing called “family”’…
Tang Yingli’s judgment was correct. Li Yuejiao had kept the things he had given her for so many years, and she must have wanted his family to also taste the feeling of falling apart.
Thanks to this move… now even Su Huiquan would hate him.
**
“Time for bed, neuroscientist?”
Tang Yingli looked up and found Zhou Jinglin facing her, drying her hair. Jinglin’s eyes were curved, and her pupils reflected a warm, yellow light.
“Ah, it’s so late?”
“Yes, it’s past eleven.” Jinglin rested her chin on her hand and looked at her. The two of them looked at each other without speaking.
To hide her embarrassment, Yingli instinctively reached for her wine glass, only to find that it was already empty. “Antisocial Personality…”
“I’ve fed her. She was super clingy to me these past two nights when you were in the hospital for your check-up.”
“Oh, that little thing… will she not be able to tell who her owner is after a while?” she shrugged and stood up to clear the wine glasses.
“Tang Yingli.”
While Yingli was washing and wiping, Jinglin went around the long table that separated the kitchen and the living room. “That… is there something you haven’t told me?”
The white cloth that was wiping the water droplets paused for a moment, and then she heard Jinglin say, “I wanted to avoid any awkwardness, and I felt that… the director only talked to you, and you pulled me over, which might have made your conversation a little awkward. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know.”
Her gaze was a little distant, and Jinglin pursed her lips. “I’ve been watching you from the team room until just now, and I found that you’ve been looking for information. What’s wrong? Did the director say something that added other clues or suspicious points to the case? Although I don’t understand what my mom is planning, if you just mention it a little… maybe, maybe I can also help you think.”
Jinglin’s smiling face was right in front of her. Yingli sighed, put down her wine glass, and said, “Thanks to Zhou Zengxiang’s statement, at least one thing has been clarified.”
“What is it?”
“Your aunt was not the one who killed that couple. Your aunt also mentioned this when she was on the phone with me.” Perhaps because she was worried that Jinglin would be confused, she emphasized again, “your aunt was indeed involved in the case. But the one who killed Gan Shuohong and Xu Shengya was not her.”
Jinglin covered her mouth, not only because she was a little relieved to learn the truth, but also because she was surprised by Yingli’s distant tone when she was talking. To avoid getting too emotional, she had deliberately distanced herself from her biological parents in her address.
“Th-Then… what kind of role did she play?”
“It is said that she was originally supposed to carry it out alone, and Zhou Zengxiang had contacted her beforehand. Because he was afraid that she would be too soft-hearted to do it, he added another person. That man was the real killer of the Gan couple.”
“Soft-hearted… could it be related to the other person Tan Ziying mentioned? Or… was it because she was pregnant with me, and her emotions were very volatile, so she wasn’t as decisive as before in things like killing… people?”
“I think it was because of the pregnancy,” Yingli said with reservation, “it can be said that she realized she was about to become a mother, and when she was faced with a mission target who was in the same role as her, her attitude wavered.”
“And there was you, although you were already six at that time…” Jinglin shook her head blankly, “to go after a six-year-old child, if it were my mom, she would definitely have hesitated.”
“Ah, that’s a very reasonable deduction.”
“Then what about the killer? Did the director say the identity of that killer…” seeing Yingli shake her head, Jinglin’s eyes widened like small saucers, “he didn’t say?”
“No, he gave a bunch of grandiose reasons, and even said he was afraid of that man… who was his subordinate at that time.”
“Oh, so you’re now desperately looking for the identity of that killer with just a few clues?”
Yingli looked up with a wry smile. “Oh… you know me too well, don’t you?”
“You’re not the only one who knows that what… mental reasoning, okay?” Jinglin couldn’t help but laugh.
Mental reasoning, to guess what another person is thinking through the clues you have observed. “You actually used that term. Should I praise you for being a good student?”
“You can praise me.” She put her hands on her hips, and the two of them laughed at the same time.
“In any case, that’s about it. And after understanding that your aunt’s target is the people who were involved in the case back then, we can also use this to deduce her possible next move.”
“What do you think, who will it be?”
“I have a feeling that the grudge between her and Zhou Zengxiang is not over yet.” She crossed her arms. “Don’t forget, Zhou Jingxun was actually Shi Changyun’s target, and her target was the list. To deliberately only injure him is not entirely a sign of mercy…”
“Yes, my mom could have actually killed the director after she got the list.”
“But she didn’t. Because she wanted to continue to torture him in her own way.” Yingli said coldly, “the man who had completely destroyed her longing for a home… to let him die just like that would be too easy.”
“A longing for a home?”
Realizing she had almost let it slip, Yingli quickly found another excuse. “I mean… because of Zhou Zengxiang’s decision, your aunt was put in a difficult position. After all, running ‘Givenchy’ was also Zhou Zengxiang’s idea… in that kind of environment, it’s very difficult to have a normal family, isn’t it?”
“Yes… no one understands that better than I do.” Jinglin laughed at herself. “Then, did the director say who my mom was dating at that time?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Oh, is that so? After all, it was just a superior-subordinate relationship.” Jinglin couldn’t hide her disappointment. “It seems I can only ask her in person.”
“Officer Zhou…”
“Hm?” she hung the towel around her neck. Yingli knew she was about to blow-dry her hair.
“No, it’s nothing… you go and blow-dry your hair first.”
“Hey?” she turned again, “Tang Yingli, you’re really strange today.”
“Ah, because the answer is right in front of me, but he just won’t say it, which makes me anxious too.” She pushed up her glasses. “Alright, you go and blow-dry your hair. I’m going to get ready for bed in a bit.”
Jinglin finally went back to the bathroom, and Yingli let out a sigh of relief and closed her laptop.
**
After Jinglin had fallen asleep, Yingli quickly returned to her investigation.
But with Zhou Zengxiang’s careful precautions, the clues were very scarce. The registration signature of the ceramic ox she had found before was just an English abbreviation of a name, and he had clearly changed his identity after he had retired… it should be said that all the National Security Bureau special agents had to go through this procedure. And Li Yuejiao had gone to such lengths to get the list for this reason.
According to Zhou Zengxiang, that killer was the one who had done the best after he had retired, a philanthropist, an amateur golfer, an entrepreneur, a model citizen representative… she had spent a lot of time trying on so many different identities, but she still couldn’t come to a definite conclusion.
What kind of entrepreneur is he? What does he do? As a big boss, playing golf is a very common leisure activity. If it’s a big company, then it’s also very common to set up a foundation for tax purposes and to do charity…
“Are there any more definite clues?” she rested her chin on her hand, constantly thinking back on her conversation with Zhou Zengxiang.
‘The Huajiang Bridge murder case, I suspect it was very likely him…’
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to Yingli’s mind.
There were a total of ten people on the list. When they had thoroughly investigated the Peng Haoze case, they had already cleared the last three. Two had a complete alibi, and she remembered that they were both abroad, one had become a travel writer, and the other had been living abroad for a long time and had never returned to Taiwan after he had retired.
And the last one was currently serving a sentence for a crime he had committed.
Xiao Shunfan. Yingli remembered his name, and after a brief search, this person’s information clearly appeared on the screen.
He had been in and out of prison multiple times for multiple theft offenses, and had just been imprisoned again two years ago, at the Tucheng Detention Center.
The red wine touched her lips, and Yingli stared at the photo of him in prison.
I hope he knows the real identity of that cold-blooded killer.
