Chapter 50 Red Leaves 11
On the way back, Luo Siwei and Ye Ling chose to take the bus. It was already past the rush hour, and they found two empty seats in the last row.
Luo Siwei gave way to Ye Ling, who took the window seat. The two of them sat side by side. They looked like an ordinary mother and daughter.
It took a while for the bus to get to the city bureau, and the other people on the bus were sitting far away from them and could not hear the conversation in this corner.
The two of them started chatting secretly, and Ye Ling helped Luo Siwei analyze the case.
Ye Ling felt that if Zhai Yifei was really the murderer, two problems would arise from the investigation.
One is the motive for the crime. The sub-landlords who can reach a certain scale are all cunning people who say one thing to one person and another thing to another person. Their house renovations and some uses are tacitly approved by the landlords.
While some sub-landlords are profit-driven and deceitful, the majority are simply seeking wealth, and if one property doesn't work out, they can move on. If there weren't completely irreconcilable conflicts between the landlord and the sub-landlord, there would be no need to kill the landlord, and then kill several people in quick succession.
One is the aftermath of a murder. If the murder occurred in a shared apartment, and the occupants were all individual tenants, there would be numerous witnesses. Unless he could guarantee that all tenants would remain silent, he wouldn't be able to carry on his business so calmly after killing someone.
If the sub-landlord is really the murderer, there must be other unknown reasons.
After the two of them had analyzed the situation to this point, Ye Ling added, "I think there's another possibility. The murder may have occurred in a shared apartment. The conflict broke out between the tenants and the landlord, and the sub-landlord doesn't know the full story. In short, we need to find other clues to investigate this case."
Luo Siwei said, "We will review and summarize the information after we return."
"I think that's how investigating a case works. By checking each item one by one, you'll always find new clues," Ye Ling said. "We often encountered all kinds of difficult situations back then. Sometimes it felt like we were going in the wrong direction, but when we looked back, we suddenly found a bright future."
Luo Siwei remembered what Ye Ling said in an interview: "There are no unsolvable cases, only police officers who are not working hard enough." Then she remembered that Chi Li always liked to say similar words.
There was still some distance to go, so the two started chatting about other things. Ye Ling took the initiative to tell her some of Chi Li's past.
Luo Siwei felt that Ye Ling looked very similar to Chi Li, with similarities in eyebrows, nose bridge, and thin lips. As the captain of the criminal investigation team, she had some strange intuition.
"I'll tell you another secret. Not many people know this." Ye Ling got along well with her and said mysteriously, "I'm Chi Li's mother. She's his biological daughter, not adopted."
Luo Siwei was a little surprised.
"It's been so many years, I think it's okay to tell you." Ye Ling's tone lowered, becoming more serious. "His father was a drug enforcement officer who died in action. I only found out I was pregnant after he passed away. He's a posthumous child."
Ye Ling's eyes drooped. "At that time, the drug dealer, still feeling unsatisfied, offered a multi-million dollar reward for the lives of his relatives. The senior leaders in the Municipal Bureau took me under their protection and temporarily transferred me to a lower police station. Later, the director even gave me a six-month leave and transferred me back after I gave birth. That's why not many people know about this incident."
Luo Siwei listened to what Ye Ling said, but just a few words made her understand more about this woman, this policewoman.
She had more respect for her, not everyone could make this choice.
As if knowing what she was thinking, Ye Ling continued, "I initially struggled for a long time about whether to abort the child. We weren't married, and even if the child was born, it would be without a father, and life would be very difficult for him and me. But then I thought, this is a testimony to my love. I deeply love that man, and I love this child. Perhaps my life will change because of this, so I decided to give birth to him."
Having said that, Ye Ling looked out the car window. The street corner of Donglan was bustling with traffic. The pedestrians in a hurry included men, women, old and young, giving people a sense of the reality of life.
"I'm over 50 years old now. I gave birth to him when I was 27. He was raised in my parents' home until he was eight, when I brought him to live with me. I kept it a secret from most people, saying only that he was an orphan I adopted. I know this has hurt him deeply, but I'm more worried about his safety than the pain."
"At first, I didn't dare mention his father to him, or even get too close to him. But the child was so smart, how could I hide it from him? On his twelfth birthday, he asked me, 'Mom, I am actually your son, right?' I cruelly said, 'No.' He asked me, 'Did my father sacrifice himself?'"
At this point, Ye Ling wiped his eyes, a little embarrassed. "He found out everything I didn't tell him. And he's our child after all, how could he not have noticed? Later, I told him everything, and we hugged each other and cried. From that day on, I never hid anything from him again."
Luo Siwei asked: "Are you safe now?"
Ye Ling's voice was low and slightly hoarse. "More than a decade ago, that drug trafficking group was completely apprehended... But as a police officer, as long as all the bad guys aren't locked up, how can we talk about safety?"
Having said that, Ye Ling turned her head and looked at Luo Siwei. The sunlight shone on her face. Ye Ling's expression was kind, warm, and even had a hint of happiness in her smile: "However, after so many years, I have never regretted the decision to give birth to him."
As they were talking about this, the train arrived at the station, people gradually got on, and then it started moving again.
The two chatted for a few more sentences, and Luo Siwei talked about his experience as a police officer over the years.
Ye Ling said: "Chi Li talked to me about you. He said that you are a very special police officer. I think you have a sense of justice and excellent work ability. At the same time, you are free, independent, and have faith. I am glad that Chi Li has a colleague like you."
Luo Siwei was a little flattered to be evaluated like this by Ye Ling: "Thank you."
Later the topic fell on Chi Li again.
Ye Ling sighed and said, "Actually, I don't want him to be a policeman. This profession is sometimes out of your control. Back then, I almost lost him because of something. I no longer have a lover, and I don't want my son to leave me so early. I've made some selfish choices, but I've found that everyone has their own path to take and things they must do."
Luo Siwei didn't quite understand what she said, but she could feel that Ye Ling must have faced a difficult choice at the time. She needed to strike a balance between her roles as a police officer and a mother.
Ye Ling said, "Chi Li... I'm always worried that he has a cold and hard personality, and won't be able to be a good leader or get along well with his colleagues. If he does anything wrong, I, as his mother, apologize to you on his behalf."
Luo Siwei hurriedly said, "Captain Chi is a good leader."
She could never imagine that there was anything wrong with Chi Li that required Ye Ling to speak to her so politely.
As the two chatted here, more and more people got on the bus. Ye Ling suddenly looked forward, then she reached out and pulled Luo Siwei: "Front, near the middle door."
Luo Siwei followed Ye Ling's gaze and saw a man in the front row who looked to be in his thirties reaching out to touch a young female student next to him.
The female student obviously noticed it and hid to the side in fear, but the man was relentless and continued to move forward.
This seems to be a scene that often happens on buses and subways, but they can't just sit back and watch it happen.
Luo Siwei stood up and said, "We are about to get off the bus, let's go together."
Ye Ling nodded at her: "I will help you keep the evidence."
The two men stood up in tacit understanding and walked towards the back door. As Ye Ling walked, he took out his mobile phone and turned on the recording function.
When she reached the door, Luo Siwei pretended to step forward casually, separating the man and the female student. She reached out and grabbed the pull ring beside her, and glanced out the window as if nothing had happened.
The female student saw this scene and looked at Luo Siwei with gratitude.
The man hesitated for a moment, and found that he could no longer approach the female student, so he changed his target and reached out to touch Luo Siwei's butt.
Luo Siwei had long been wary of this move of his. She frowned and turned back to shout, "What are you doing?!"
This sound attracted the attention of half of the people in the car.
The man was a habitual offender, and he said confidently, "I didn't do anything. It's so crowded, isn't it normal to bump into someone?"
Luo Siwei turned around and said, "You didn't touch, you touched. So many people saw it, and there are surveillance cameras on the bus."
The man laughed, not showing any guilt, but rather a smug look on his face. He continued to touch her: "I did touch her, hit me if you dare."
Seeing this, Luo Siwei flexed his wrist and tilted his head, saying, "Your request is so reasonable..."
After hearing this, the man's face changed. He jumped up and waved his arms, trying to hit Luo Siwei in the face.
The passengers nearby were so frightened when they saw this scene that they dodged.
An old lady screamed, "Someone is being beaten!" The timid child covered his eyes, and the boy tried to squeeze over to help.
Luo Siwei was not at all flustered. She turned her body to the side and moved faster than the man. She slapped him in the face like lightning, and then slapped him mercilessly in the face, making him see stars.
The crisp sound of applause rang out in the carriage, causing a burst of cheers.
The man's eyes turned red after being hit. He cursed and hit with his clenched fists.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Luo Siwei used her left arm to deflect the man's fist. Then, she twisted her wrist, clenched her five fingers, and clasped the man's hand tightly. With her other hand, she clenched a fist and punched him in the face.
The hardest part of the fist hit the man's nose. The man let out a cry and felt his nose swell up.
The man wanted to kick her, but Luo Siwei took the lead again. She raised her knee and hit the man's abdomen.
Every time, the man would strike first, but Luo Siwei would dodge and strike back, giving the man a taste of his own medicine. She would use all the tricks the man wanted to use on him.
Luo Siwei's attack was merciless. If such an arrogant man met other weak women, he would probably take advantage of her and bully her.
When the people in the carriage saw this scene, some even applauded.
Ye Ling was recording the video on the side.
The car gradually slowed down when it arrived at the station. Taking advantage of the shaking of the car body, the man broke free from Luo Siwei's shackles and hurriedly ran under the car.
Seeing this, Ye Ling leaned sideways slightly, but in fact he stretched out his foot to trip the man. The man cried out "ouch", fell, and rolled out of the car door.
The two generations of policewomen work together in perfect harmony.
Luo Siwei gave Ye Ling a thumbs up.
Seeing that the man had fallen flat on his face and couldn't get up for a while, there was a burst of laughter in the carriage. Someone took out a business card and handed it to Luo Siwei: "If you need the police to take your statement, contact me later."
The driver in the car also said: "Yes, everyone can testify."
After the car stopped, Luo Siwei and Ye Ling got out calmly. The man wanted to run away, but Luo Siwei reached out and grabbed the man's collar: "As a man, you must always be brave and responsible. The Municipal Bureau is next to us. Come with us."
After handling the matter, the two escorted the man to the Criminal Investigation Building. They first took him to the interrogation room to record his statement.
Sitting opposite the man, Luo Siwei felt that he looked familiar. She remembered that the man got on the bus at the same stop as them.
Luo Siwei asked: "Have we met before?"
The man covered his nose and replied, "Are you looking for Mr. Zhai to look at the house?"
Luo Siwei recognized him now. They had seen this man in the basement when they first viewed the house. They just passed by each other at that time.
Sitting in the interrogation room, the man's arrogance had long since vanished. He asked, "Are you police investigating Boss Zhai? I've been with him for years and have been renting a house from him. I...I'll cooperate with the investigation and tell you everything."
It's like searching for something without any effort. Luo Siwei asked, "Did you encounter any strange things when you rented a house there?"
"Strange things..." The man frowned, "They have tenants who smoke that, and women who go out to find men and sell alcohol to cheat people out of money..."
Without waiting for Luo Siwei to ask in detail, the man confessed all the illegal and criminal activities.
Luo Siwei had long known that shared rental housing was a hive of mixed baggage and a den of crime. She didn't interrupt him, waiting for him to finish signing before continuing, "What about the old man? Is there anything strange?"
"The old man... Oh, right. There used to be an old man living in the room next to mine. He was very old, probably only a few days old. He was kicked out by his son. One day, I heard the old man crying in his room. Then a woman came and talked to him in the room. A few days later, the old man disappeared. I asked Boss Zhai where the old man had gone, and he told me he no longer lived there. Why do you care so much?" At this point, the man opened his mouth in surprise, "Could he... kill the old man?"
Luo Siwei finally collected some relevant clues about the missing old man...
It seemed that the sub-landlord surnamed Zhai might have something to do with the case. She asked again, "The house isn't soundproof. Did you hear what they said?"
"I seemed to have heard a little..." The man frowned and thought for a long time, "They mentioned a word - red leaves. But it's been several years since that happened, and I'm not sure if I heard it correctly. Maybe I remembered it wrongly."
Luo Siwei then asked him about the landlord's murder, but the man did not provide any useful clues.
Luo Siwei wrote down the man's confession and lowered his head to think.
Red leaves?
What does this mean?
What does it have to do with the current case?
After dealing with the matter here, the man was transferred to the detention center. Luo Siwei, Ye Ling and other police officers involved in the operation summarized the information and visited the four sub-landlords separately.
Two of the four people have proof of their alibi, and the other one seems to be in poor health and gets out of breath after walking a few steps. From this point of view, Zhai Yifei is the most suspicious.
As lunch break approached, Ye Ling and several other veteran police officers got up and left.
Luo Siwei sent the people away and sat back in her seat. She was thinking about how to adjust the direction of the investigation and continue to push the case forward when forensic doctor Chu Shisui walked to the door and knocked on the glass door of their office.
Seeing this, Luo Siwei stood up. Chu Shisui walked in and handed her a stack of test reports.
Medical Examiner Chu was slightly out of breath, having clearly run all the way here. "The fifth victim has been identified. It was confirmed through DNA provided by a relative."
Upon hearing this exciting good news, the other team members hurried over.
"What's going on?"
"Let me see too..."
Luo Siwei spread out the information flatly, making sure every team member could see it.
Ni Xiang poured a glass of water into a disposable cup for Forensic Doctor Chu, who drank it in one gulp. He sighed, "We didn't find the identity of this deceased woman before because, in the police system, she was a 'living person.'"
Luo Siwei lowered his head and took a closer look. The deceased was named Qiao Xiangjun. Her parents had passed away and she only had two sisters in her family.
Qiao Xiangjun's sister Qiao Xiangying went to the municipal police station to report her sister missing ten years ago. In order to find the "missing" Qiao Xiangjun, the police extracted Qiao Xiangying's DNA.
Half a month later, the police learned from Qiao Xiangjun's relatives that Qiao Xiangjun had been found. She was living in a nursing home and had changed her mobile phone number.
The police sent people to investigate and found out the whole story.
Qiao Xiangjun and his sister Qiao Xiangying had a conflict over their parents' inheritance a few years ago, so he did not inform his sister when he moved into a nursing home.
That year, after verifying Qiao Xiangjun's personal information and confirming that it was correct, the police dropped the case.
This time, the true identity of the deceased was discovered because Chu Shisui and his team compared the DNA database of relatives of missing persons, and even those whose cases had been closed were not ruled out.
They found that the DNA of the deceased was related to Qiao Xiangying, who called the police that year, and thus confirmed the identity of the deceased.
In other words, up to now, Qiao Xiangjun is still "alive" in the police system.
But in fact, Qiao Xiangjun had died in the well six years ago. She became a real "living dead".
Luo Siwei said, "Since Bao Hongyuan's investigation didn't progress quickly, let's investigate this Qiao Xiangjun first."
Huo Cunsheng asked, "Didn't she live in a nursing home before? Then why not ask the people there?"
Tang Xi said in embarrassment, "But that nursing home closed down eight years ago...Qiao Xiangjun died six years ago, so the nursing home can't be blamed."
Luo Siwei made a decision after hearing this and said, "Ni Xiang, you and I will go on patrol this afternoon. Let's go find Qiao Xiangying to ask about the situation."
After a quick lunch, Luo Siwei seized the opportunity and took Ni Xiang to Qiao Xiangying's house.
Luo Siwei walked to the iron gate and knocked. Soon, a young woman came and opened the door.
Luo Siwei showed his police ID: "Is there an old man named Qiao Xiangying living here?"
The woman was very nice and nodded in confirmation; "It's my mother-in-law." Then she let Luo Siwei and Ni Xiang in.
After so many years, Qiao Xiangying, though my younger sister, is now over eighty years old. Her teeth have long been replaced with dentures, her face is full of wrinkles, and her hearing is weak. It's obvious that the old man has weak legs, and he still can't move around well even with a cane.
Luo Siwei said they came here to ask about Qiao Xiangjun's situation, and the old lady became indignant: "I've always felt that there was something wrong with my sister! Did she join some pyramid scheme or some strange place later?"
Luo Siwei asked, "What was the conflict between you and your sister?"
"It was because of my parents' house. She produced some kind of will, claiming it was fair, and insisted that my parents left the big house to her. My parents can't even read, so how can we trust that? It's totally unfair. Then she disappeared. I thought something had happened to her, but it turns out she's living in a nursing home."
Luo Siwei asked: "So which house is it now?"
"It's already been sold. The house she built herself wasn't big and was in a remote location, so it wasn't worth much. I'm just so angry!" The old lady spoke quickly, her mouth moving so fast that her dentures were about to fly out of her mouth. "She later used the money from the sale of the house to live in that nursing home."
"But it seems that the nursing home where she lives has gone bankrupt." Ni Xiang whispered.
Luo Siwei continued to ask: "After you found your sister, did you still keep in touch with her?"
The old lady put her hands on her hips and said, "No! Don't blame me for being unjust if she's unkind. If you have the guts, just die and don't have any contact with her."
Seeing her say this, Luo Siwei hesitated for a moment, but still stated one of the purposes of this trip, which was to notify the family.
"Recently, the police found your sister in a well west of Donglan City..."
She originally thought that the sisters had a bad relationship and that the old lady, at her age, would be indifferent to life and death. However, she unexpectedly burst into tears, "My poor sister... why did you leave like this?"
The old man cried for a long time, with real emotion, and he didn't look like someone with a weak relationship with the family.
It turned out that she was a poor person with a hard mouth but a soft heart. Luo Siwei comforted her for a long time. After a while, the old woman's emotions stabilized and they were able to continue asking questions.
Luo Siwei asked, "Tell me, what's the matter with your sister selling her house and moving into a nursing home?"
The old lady said, "It's all because of that nursing home! The people over there instigated it. It costs a huge sum of money to move in. Now, the nursing home has closed down and the money is gone. She's really been sold out and is still helping people count the money!"
Luo Siwei compared the form and asked, "Did your sister live in Yingkou Xizun Elderly Care Home?"
Qiao Xiangying sobbed and said, "That name is too difficult to pronounce. Around here, everyone calls it the Red Leaf Nursing Home."
Hearing this, Luo Siwei raised his head in surprise and appeared again.
Red leaves!
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