Chapter 168 (Chapter 168) Parricide
A breakfast shop outside the Honghe Nursing Home.
Wu Zhongguo broke open the meat bun, thought for a moment, squeezed out the meat filling and fed it to the little dog at his feet, and ate the bun skin himself.
He's here investigating the unusual deaths of elderly people in Fengmingu. The old gentleman had no history of heart disease, practiced Tai Chi regularly, and was in good health. He requested to go to the nursing home himself, wanting to make some old friends.
He was admitted to the hospital and his physical examination showed no problems; in fact, he was in better health than some younger people. However, he died of a sudden heart attack in the third month of his hospitalization. His relatives could not accept the hospital's explanation and quickly reported the case to the police.
Lu Ye came in from outside. The light rain that had been falling for two days had finally cleared up, and the muddy ground would take two or three days to dry completely.
He stamped his foot at the entrance of the steamed bun shop and greeted Wu Zhongguo: "This place is pretty out of the way."
Lu Ye saw the shopkeeper making steamed buns, glanced at the meat in the basin, and said to the shopkeeper, "Give me four vegetarian steamed buns."
Wu Zhongguo moved a chair aside for him to sit down and asked in a low voice, "Have the forensic results come out yet?"
Lu Ye took out the forensic report and handed it to Wu Zhongguo, who wiped his hands and took it to read.
Lu Ye explained simply, "Section Chief Qin ruled out other causes of death, including the heart. The autopsy revealed no sufficient organic lesions in the heart to explain the death. Toxicological analysis was positive, detecting extremely high concentrations of [unspecified substance] in the blood. The conclusion is that the elderly man from Fengmingu died from [unspecified substance] poisoning."
Wu Zhongguo knew about [drug name], a drug used to treat arrhythmia. The old man did not have any heart disease, but he was given a large amount of [drug name] to fake a sudden heart attack and die, almost getting away with it.
“If the old man hadn’t been in good health and didn’t have any heart problems, the truth might have been kept hidden.” Lu Ye took a bite of the vegetarian bun and felt that what the shopkeeper had put in it wasn’t vegetables, but grass from the base of the nursing home wall.
"Someone committed murder intentionally." Wu Zhongguo ate a little something and then stopped eating, waiting for Lu Ye to finish so they could go out together.
The puppy, which had been fed the filling of the steamed buns, wagged its tail and saw them off at the door, standing at the shop entrance and looking at Wu Zhongguo repeatedly, hoping he would come again.
The two arrived at the outside of the Honghe Nursing Home. This nursing home was built in the early days after liberation, and its walls were mottled. The courtyard was locked from the outside by a wide iron gate.
Inside, some elderly people leaned on the iron gate railings, gazing longingly at the bustling world outside. Others walked back and forth with bags on their backs, as if on their way home. Still others sat against the wall, gesturing wildly and muttering something unintelligible.
The security guards let Wu Zhongguo through as soon as they saw him. Wu Zhongguo had been spending the last two days here, and they had gotten to know each other.
The nursing home wasn't large; a five-story red brick building and two rows of bungalows surrounded the courtyard. At the end of the bungalows was the kitchen, where, after the elderly had eaten breakfast, the canteen staff were washing dishes and utensils outside using red rubber basins connected to water pipes.
With the cause of death confirmed, Lu Ye and Wu Zhongguo went to Director Guo's office at the nursing home.
Lu Ye asked, "Dean Guo, it's nice to see you again. This time I'd like to ask, who are the caregivers here who have access to the medications?"
Dean Guo had been thoroughly annoyed by the family members of the elderly man from Fengmingu these past two days. When he saw the criminal investigation team arrive again, he said irritably, "Only the medicine warehouse and the caregiver who dispensed the medicine that night can be contacted. You want to find them? I'll call someone over right now."
Wu Guozhong said, "No need to call anyone over. Just tell us where it is, and we'll go there ourselves."
Dean Guo's office was on the third floor, a sunny and auspicious location. He went outside and pointed to the second room on the north side of the bungalow, saying, "That's the medicine warehouse. The duty roster is hanging on the door. I'll check who the caregiver was that day."
Wu Zhongguo said to Lu Ye, "I'll go down and take a look first."
Lu Ye waited for Dean Guo to call and inquire, standing at the door with his back to the light, blocking out the rare ray of light.
Time seems to stand still in the nursing home, where the elderly wait for their children to visit, and also await death in this simple facility.
Dean Guo guessed what they must have found out. He dialed the landline and pressed speakerphone. After a while, a woman's voice came through: "The person on duty that day was Dou Xiaogang. He's been on leave for the past two days."
Lu Ye leaned closer and asked, "Do you know where Dou Xiaogang lives?"
The woman, presumably the supervisor, quickly gave an address and said, "Do you think Dou Xiaogang is a suspect? I think we shouldn't investigate. It's perfectly normal for elderly people to die here. Many aren't born with heart disease, but develop it later in life. Even if someone is eighty years old and in good health—"
Lu Ye handed the phone to Dean Guo, not having time to waste words with her. Dean Guo had already said these things to him many times before.
After getting Dou Xiaogang's address, Lu Ye went down from the third floor.
When Wu Zhongguo returned from the medicine warehouse, he slightly turned his head to indicate to the older woman sitting at the warehouse entrance that she was in charge of the medicine warehouse. She was on duty that day, and someone testified that she had been sitting here the whole time. Besides her, there was also Dou Xiaogang.
Lu Ye said, "Dou Xiaogang hasn't been to work recently, so I went to look for him."
They rushed to Dou Xiaogang's apartment building and bumped into him carrying his elderly mother and a suitcase as they came out of the building.
"Dou Xiaogang," Lu Ye called out, but Dou Xiaogang didn't stop walking and kept going. Instead, his elderly mother, whom he was carrying, pounded his shoulder and scolded, "You good-for-nothing, have you gotten into trouble again? Why are they coming to our door again!"
Five minutes later, Lu Ye and Wu Zhongguo were sitting in Dou Xiaogang's home.
The room is a large open space, with only a bed frame visible at the top.
"You're pretty fast, selling off all the furniture and appliances. Where are you going?" Lu Ye asked, blocking the door with a forced smile.
Dou Xiaogang wiped his stroke-stricken mother's mouth, then turned and knelt down in front of Lu Ye with a thud. Lu Ye seemed to be struck by lightning, quickly stood up, grabbed his shoulder, and said, "Let's talk this out. A man's knees are worth more than gold!"
"Xiaogang! You've really gotten yourself into trouble. I should have given birth to a dog instead of you!" Dou's mother couldn't get up and lay on the bed frame, patting the child repeatedly. "Apologize properly to them! Kneel down hard! If you kowtow, they'll forgive you!"
Wu Zhongguo walked up to her and said gently, "Sister, I'm telling you, please don't get agitated. Your son is suspected of a crime—"
"Don't tell my mom! I confess, I did it. Take me away, don't tell her!" Dou Xiaogang shook off Lu Ye's arm, rushed to Wu Zhongguo, and knelt down again with a thud.
He clung to Wu Zhongguo's trouser leg, and as expected, the police came to his door. Panicked and frightened, he said, "I... I was forced into this. If I confessed, would I have a chance to help my mother leave? I only gave Feng Mingu a few pills. I thought he would hold on for a few days before dying, but who knew he would die that very night! I can't eat or sleep well, I'm really scared."
"You were afraid, yet you still killed someone?" Lu Ye pulled his hand away, lifted him to his feet, and said, "Why did you kill someone?"
"Murder? Well, you've really grown bold, daring to kill someone outside!" Dou's mother cursed, "You'll get shot soon! I, an old woman, have to bury my son, and you, you beast, have already beaten me to it!"
"Stop talking, Mom, please stop talking!" Dou Xiaogang cried out in despair, "I told you to stop talking! I killed an old geezer, his family saw him as a burden, how was I supposed to know it would be found out! They gave me 10,000 yuan, and I used that money to pay your hospital bills."
Lu Ye and Wu Zhongguo exchanged a glance, realizing that the family had commissioned Dou Xiaogang to kill the old man. However, the old man's children seemed very filial; this shouldn't be the case.
Dou's mother was so angry that she was stiff all over and almost couldn't breathe. Lu Ye strode over and helped her up, catching her breath.
After resting for two minutes, Dou's mother sobbed uncontrollably, "If you take care of me like this, I'd rather die sooner. I'm a human being, and other elderly people are human beings too! I raised you with such hardship, but did their children grow up on their own? They're all heartless bastards, they should all be arrested and shot!"
Dou Xiaogang wiped away his tears and said hesitantly, "It was me...it was the first time I killed the wrong person. The person who was supposed to die was someone with a heart condition, and his surname was Feng. If I hadn't made a mistake and had given him a drug, he definitely wouldn't have been found out. Why was it that no one else was found out, but I was the one who was!"
These words put Lu Ye and Wu Zhongguo on alert. Lu Ye grabbed his shoulder and said, "Who else! Who else did this?"
Amidst his mother's grumbling, Dou Xiaogang said sadly, "And my mentor, I saw her feeding an old man 'pills,' and the man died a few days later. The family was still grateful to her and even gave her a red envelope!"
Wu Zhongguo asked, "What's your mentor's name? Where is he now? Is he still in a nursing home?"
Dou Xiaogang said, "I don't know who reported her to Dean Guo for secretly feeding the old man medicine. Year after year, she left. I don't know where she went... I only did this because I wanted to treat my mother's illness."
"Don't tell me it's for my sake. I don't need you to do something like this. If I had known, I would have jumped off the building long ago!" Dou's mother was so angry that she rolled her eyes at her son, wishing she could die in place of the old man who had died unjustly.
Wu Zhongguo jotted down information in his notebook and then asked, "You know what it's called, right?"
Dou Xiaogang said, "Her name is Yu Wanqing. She looks to be in her forties or fifties. She looks honest and simple, but she's actually incredibly wicked."
"Yu Wanqing?" Lu Ye stepped forward, wrote "Yu Wanqing" in his notebook, handed it to Dou Xiaogang, and said, "Take a look and see if these are the three characters?"
"Yes, that's right, it's 'Yu Wanqing'."
"Something's wrong?" Wu Zhongguo keenly sensed something was amiss.
Lu Ye pulled him aside and said, "You've been away from the team these past two days. Sister Pearl has a case on her hands, also about the abnormal death of an elderly person. One of the suspects is Yu Wanqing."
"Then what are you waiting for? Call Sister Pearl right away." Wu Zhongguo took out handcuffs and cuffed Dou Xiaogang, saying, "Now you have a chance to redeem yourself. If you talk nonsense, you'll only make things worse."
Dou's mother said weakly, "Take him away, don't let him come back, I don't want to see him."
“Mom—” Dou Xiaogang, pulling on his handcuffs, knelt on the ground and crawled to his mother, tears streaming down his face, and said, “If I’m not here, who will take care of you?”
Dou's mother smiled sarcastically: "I don't need anyone to serve me, just feed me my medicine."
"Mom—!!" Dou Xiaogang cried out in remorse and despair, "You are my mother... I have to take care of you in your old age and see you off when you die."
"Don't go." Dou's mother closed her eyes and stopped looking at him, tears streaming down her face. "Go quickly, I don't have a son like you."
***
After leaving the temporary interrogation room, Shen Zhenzhu received a call from Wu Zhongguo. After hanging up, she told Xiaobai and Zhao Qiqi about it.
Upon hearing Yu Wanqing's name, Zhao Qiqi exclaimed in surprise, "So, she's a professional killer?"
Xiao Bai packed her things to go to Honghe Nursing Home, saying, "I always felt she wasn't that simple, and now I know where the contradiction lies. I remember the deceased's son, Qiao Kaiyue, said that he found Yu Wanqing through an introduction, right? At that time, Yu Wanqing was working for another employer."
Shen Zhenzhu said, "I'll have someone check her previous employer's contact information and see if there are any deceased elderly people in the employer's family. Now let's head to the nursing home first."
Zhou Shengnan happened to walk over; she still needed to ask Yu Wanqing about some details. Seeing Shen Zhenzhu hurriedly about to leave, she said with a forced smile, "Captain Shen, going to the cafeteria again?"
Chen Zhenzhu said without changing her expression, "Yes, are you going?"
Zhou Shengnan said, "I'm not going. I'm afraid I'll get into trouble."
"That's a real shame." Shen Zhenzhu smiled; such verbal sparring had no effect on her.
After Shen Zhenzhu and the others left, Zhou Shengnan watched their retreating figures, pondering, "What other clues are there that we haven't uncovered?"
The chubby policeman next to her flipped through the record book, looked up and said, "I knew she wouldn't cooperate with us honestly."
Zhou Shengnan said, "If they honestly cooperate with us, that's called 'asking for leniency.' They have the ability and the manpower, so why do they have to cooperate?"
Caught off guard by Deputy Captain Zhou's retort, the chubby policeman pursed his lips and said, "Director Cai already knows about this and has demanded that we beat the Liancheng Major Crimes Unit. If..."
“If we lose, it’s not your responsibility. You have me above you, and I have Captain Qiu above me. Don’t worry about it.”
"I'm just thinking about Bao Lü's reputation." The fat policeman pushed open the interrogation room door and saw Yu Wanqing staring blankly at the wall with her head tilted to the side. He coughed.
......
It takes forty minutes to get from Jinshan Funeral Home to Honghe Nursing Home. On the way, Chen Zhenzhu called Wu Zhongguo again to get more details about the situation.
At midday, a sense of drowsiness pervades the streets and alleys. After a hearty meal, small business owners sit in front of their shops, yawning and enjoying the breeze.
On the roadside, an old man who had been unable to sell his chess game due to the rain was asleep leaning against a tree trunk, and there were very few people playing chess.
The plane trees and green belts along the street are sprouting tender buds, and the dew on the buds attracts birds to taste them.
The Honghe Nursing Home is located west of the city's outskirts, and the number of people on the road decreases as you go. Most of what comes into view are factories and large warehouses.
The relaxed atmosphere on the street had vanished without a trace, with only large trucks and cement trucks roaring back and forth.
"This place is hard to find. If you don't have a car, it's really not easy to come here." Xiaobai looked out the window, and the red brick building of Honghe Nursing Home slowly came into view.
Shen Zhenzhu said, "It is precisely because of its remote location and low cost of elderly care that many families send their elderly relatives here."
"Too."
The police car pulled up at the gate, where Wu Zhongguo was already waiting inside.
Zhao Qiqi laughed heartlessly, "Xiao Chuan can't treat Uncle Wu like that in the future."
“That child is kind-hearted, he won’t do that.” Shen Zhenzhu often supports Xiao Chuan’s competitions and maintains a friendly relationship with him. She understands Xiao Chuan’s personality quite well: “Many times, it depends on the parents’ words and deeds. Uncle Wu respects and loves his parents, and so does Xiao Chuan.”
Xiao Bai said, "Do you see the old man standing inside? He looks so pitiful. He's not dressed well either. He probably wasn't well taken care of at home, and he was just thrown in like this."
Zhao Qiqi thought of her grandmother at home and said softly, "If even family members don't have the patience to take care of someone, how can we expect outsiders to do it well? No wonder something like that happened."
Wu Zhongguo walked in front of the car to lead them to the open space in front of the red brick building, where they parked their car.
"I noticed you glanced at me twice. Were you whispering about me?" Wu Zhongguo asked, carrying a crossbody bag filled with water and materials.
The crossbody bag was an old domestic sports brand bag that Xiao Chuan had used. Wu Zhongguo was always on the go and didn't need anything better, so he would carry Xiao Chuan's old bag with him when he went out to handle cases.
Zhao Qiqi got out of the car and whispered to him, "We told Xiao Chuan that he would never send you here."
"Nonsense, is that even a question?" Wu Zhongguo greeted Shen Zhenzhu: "Sister Zhenzhu, Brother Aye is looking up information up there, I'll take you there."
Previously, Wu Zhongguo called Lu Ye "Da Ye," but after Lu Ye became the vice captain, it was no longer appropriate to call him that. So, as Shen Zhenzhu changed her address, she started calling him "Brother A Ye."
Just like with Shen Zhenzhu, Lu Ye could still call him Uncle Wu.
"Old Shen, over here." Lu Ye came out from the fourth floor, looking down in the corridor with a handful of materials in his hand.
"You're here." Chen Zhenzhu walked upstairs to the archives room of Honghe Nursing Home. Every elderly person living here has a file that records when they were admitted, their physical and mental health status, and their medication.
“Look here, I found that in the seven months that Yu Wanqing worked at the nursing home, the mortality rate of the elderly under her care was higher than that of other caregivers. On average, there was one death every two months, and one to two deaths a month under her care. They were basically the same as the elderly in Fengmingu, who died of arrhythmia and sudden heart attack. I counted, and since her third month of work, a total of 7 elderly people have experienced this situation. However, the contact information of their families has been deliberately altered.”
“Yu Wanqing inadvertently revealed in her statement that she had worked at a nursing home, but was later fired,” Shen Zhenzhu said. “I suspect that the director of the nursing home knew what she had done and that’s why she was fired. It would be best to talk to the director.”
Xiao Bai said, "Seven elderly people died 'naturally' under her care, and none of their families complained to her?"
Shen Zhenzhu said, "Maybe the family asked her to do it. Xiaobai, have someone check Yu Wanqing's personal account and see if the deceased elderly person's family had any financial dealings with her."
“Then it’s very likely that she killed Qiao Jinqiu as well…” Xiaobai said, “I’ll contact her right away.”
Lu Ye said, "The dean here is surnamed Guo. He was here when Yu Wanqing was working. Let's go find him and ask him about the situation."
Wu Zhongguo was still flipping through the files, saying without looking up, "You two go ahead, we'll keep looking. What if she wasn't the only one who did it in this nursing home? We can't let other elderly people die in vain."
Zhao Qiqi also said angrily, "I'll investigate too."
Shen Zhenzhu said, "Okay, then I'll go ask Brother Aye."
Lu Ye led Chen Zhenzhu down to the third floor with practiced ease and found Dean Guo's office.
Dean Guo was still eating dumplings at his desk when he saw Lu Ye not only arrive but also bring someone with him. He sighed wearily, "Sit down. What's the problem this time? Didn't you already arrest Dou Xiaogang?"
Shen Zhenzhu said, "I'd like to ask you about Yu Wanqing, who used to work here."
Dean Guo paused, putting down his chopsticks and closing his lunchbox, saying, "Yu Wanqing, what happened to her? I remember she came from the countryside, right? What do you want to know?"
Shen Zhenzhu noticed the obvious tension in his expression and already knew the answer: "Dean Guo, I want to know why you dismissed Yu Wanqing last year."
Dean Guo lowered his eyes, put down his crossed legs, and said calmly, "She's always slacking off. She's been caught several times not wiping the elderly's bodies or changing their diapers. Some of the bedridden elderly have even developed bedsores. How am I supposed to explain this to their families? I definitely have to fire her."
Lu Ye said coldly, "You still won't tell the truth? You'll be happy when the murder at the Honghe Nursing Home is exposed in the media?"
Dean Guo said angrily, "What murder? I've already said that Dou Xiaogang has been arrested, and I know nothing else."
“If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t have fired Yu Wanqing.” Chen Zhenzhu said, “Dou Xiaogang imitated Yu Wanqing’s crime and accidentally killed Feng Mingu, who didn’t have heart disease. If we hadn’t found out about this, how long would you have kept it a secret? Do you know that you’re protecting Yu Wanqing?”
When Dean Guo heard that Dou Xiaogang had imitated Yu Wanqing's crime and killed the wrong person, he said angrily, "That kid Dou Xiaogang doesn't use his brain when he does things. If his mother hadn't begged me to take him in and give him a job, I wouldn't have raised a tiger to cause trouble."
“Now you have to cooperate whether you want to or not,” Shen Zhenzhu said. “It involves the murder of seven elderly people. I had already reported to my superiors before I came here.”
Dean Guo got up nervously, walked to the door and closed it, and earnestly advised, "The family didn't even ask to report it to the police, and the person has already been cremated. Is there any need for you to investigate?"
“Of course it’s necessary.” Shen Zhenzhu said to him in a serious tone, “It’s one thing for children to be unfilial and throw their elderly parents into nursing homes as a burden, but to not even give them the chance to die here, and even try to kill them. Do you think all elderly people want to die like this?”
Dean Guo continued to argue, "Some of them are already mentally unstable, and living is just suffering for them. Some children are just worried about their parents, and they suffer every day they live. There's a saying, 'The sooner they die, the sooner they'll be reborn.'"
"Are you even speaking human language?" Lu Ye clenched his fist at these words.
Although she knew he wouldn't act impulsively, Shen Zhenzhu still pressed Lu Ye down and said to Director Guo, "As the director of the nursing home, if this behavior is exposed, it will exacerbate the public's distrust of nursing homes and disrupt the normal order of elderly care. Even crows know to feed their parents, and lambs know to kneel to suckle. To regard one's own parents as a burden and want to get rid of them is extreme selfishness, a loss of humanity and conscience."
Shen Zhenzhu walked to the desk, leaned on the table to face Dean Guo, and said seriously, "The public security organs have always maintained a high-pressure attitude towards crimes that harm vulnerable groups, including the elderly, women, and children, and have zero tolerance for such cases of patricide. A person who can kill even his parents has lost the most basic humanity. My bureau leaders have given instructions to investigate thoroughly and not stop until the case is solved. Do you think you can cover it up?"
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Author's Note: Aye: Another day of admiring Sister Pearl's silver tongue.
***
See you tomorrow, there are 100 red envelopes! [Let me see]
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