Strange Case (IV)
"There is another possibility. The murderer took advantage of Du Juan's unpreparedness and killed her from behind." Gu Fang touched his chin and thought.
Shen Xingyan: "It is indeed possible that the perpetrator was an acquaintance who was afraid of seeing the victim's face and stabbed him in the back."
"But what was the motive? Why did the murderer kill Du Juan?"
Shen Xingyan shook his head, "Maybe we still need to investigate Du Juan's social relationships."
"Du Juan's social relationships are simple. She goes back and forth between the factory and home. During holidays, she stays at home to do laundry and sunbathe, and has a few arguments with neighbors. You can't kill someone just because of an argument, right?"
"Sometimes people can kill for no reason at all. There are extreme people everywhere, and there are many who kill out of jealousy."
"Du Juan is pretty and people are jealous of her? This reason doesn't make sense. If they are jealous, they can't possibly have a good relationship with her."
"You don't understand women at all. Women are jealous of you, but they become good friends with you, and then they are ready to kill you."
Gu Fang raised his eyebrows, "Women are so scary."
An Xin shuddered, "No wonder they say that femme fatales are the most vicious women, the ancients were right."
Shen Xingyan looked at the two men and said, "It's just an individual case. Not all women are like this. Most women are still very cute, like me." She blinked and smiled.
An Xin also laughed, but Gu Fang cried out, "How shameless."
"But I think Fang Xinghua is a little strange. Du Juan is his wife. He didn't even dare to look at his wife being murdered. Yet he acted very distressed when signing. It's a bit contradictory." Shen Xingyan restrained his smile and brought the topic back to the case.
"If a man loves his wife, his first reaction when he sees his wife being killed should be to rush to her side, even if her death was horrific, he would rush forward to confirm whether she was really dead. When Fang Xinghua came home and saw his wife lying on the ground, he knew she was dead without even rushing forward to confirm, and immediately asked the neighbors to call the police."
"Now that you've mentioned that, I remember that our colleagues at the Trace Detective Office didn't find any fingerprints or footprints of Fang Xinghua. He was only on night shift for two days. It's impossible that there was no trace of him at home."
"If it was Fang Xinghua who killed the person and cleaned up the scene after the murder, does that make sense?"
An Xin looked at Shen Xingyan in horror. A husband killed his wife and then called the police. This, this, this... But Gu Fang was seriously thinking about this possibility. An Xin suddenly felt that he would never be able to be a criminal policeman in his life, so he should just be a forensic pathologist. He didn't have the brains for it, nor did he have the ability to think divergently.
Gu Fang: "I will verify the possibility you mentioned. If it is really Fang Xinghua..." Gu Fang's eyes deepened. A husband killed his wife. This kind of case is very difficult to handle.
Gu Fang focused on checking Fang Xinghua's social relationships and his alibi, and learned from the soy sauce factory that Fang Xinghua was indeed scheduled for the night shift on May 3. At around nine o'clock, the security department was on patrol and someone saw him dozing off in the slag discharge workshop. The security department patrols every two hours, and when I went there around eleven o'clock, he was still dozing off.
The security department said that they did not see him go out, but they saw him unloading slag at three or four in the morning.
It is normal to doze off while working the night shift. It’s a long night and who can guarantee that they won’t feel sleepy? But I started to doze off at nine o'clock. Isn't that too early?
Gu Fang planned to visit Fang Xinghua’s neighbors again, and for convenience, he brought Shen Xingyan with him.
The two of them walked around the community and chatted with everyone they met. What they said about Fang Xinghua and Du Juan was almost the same as what they heard during the visit that day.
Just when they were about to return empty-handed, they discovered that someone was following them stealthily. Gu Fang noticed it and deliberately slowed down his pace and walked to a corner where no one was around. He exchanged a glance with Shen Xingyan, and the two of them quickly turned around and surrounded the man from the front and the back.
The man laughed dryly a few times, "Police officers are different. They are very alert."
"Are you following us because you have information to provide?" The man didn't look very pleasing. His facial features were all good looking when taken individually, but looked awkward when put together. He had long hair and wore a pair of floor-length flared pants and a tight black T-shirt.
The man said, "I want to tell you that the one who killed Du Juan was Fang Xinghua."
Gu Fang and Shen Xingyan looked at each other. Gu Fang smiled and said, "Why do you think so?"
The man glanced at Shen Xingyan and said, "Well, Fang Xinghua is not good at that and can't have children."
Gu Fang was secretly surprised. No one mentioned this during the visit. "How did you know?"
"Fang Xinghua and I grew up wearing open-crotch pants, and I know everything about him. When he was a child, he was riding a bicycle and was hit in that place. He didn't take it seriously at the time. After they got married, Du Juan's stomach was still, and Fang Xinghua secretly went to check and found out that she was injured that year."
"Does Du Juan know about this?"
"Du Juan accidentally saw his medical records, and so did Fang Xinghua. They didn't even keep such an important thing hidden." The man was a little disdainful, and curled his lips in a gloating manner.
"What was Du Juan's reaction when she found out?"
"What else can you react? Just divorce Fang Xinghua. Fang Xinghua can't have children, but the Fang family has always thought it's Du Juan's problem. Xinghua's mother tells everyone that Du Juan is a dead chicken." The man snorted, and it was unclear whether he was speaking up for Du Juan or looking down on the Fang family.
"Is this why Fang Xinghua and Du Juan often quarrel? Didn't Du Juan want to move to a bigger house?"
"Since Xinghua couldn't have children, Du Juan threatened him to either divorce or buy a new house. The old house had poor sound insulation, was dirty and messy. Xinghua's mother often came to visit, saying that the house was originally given to Xinghua's father, and that the couple moved to the countryside for them, but Du Juan couldn't even have a child. Anyway, her words were very unpleasant."
"Didn't Fang Xinghua tell his parents that he couldn't have children?"
"Fang Xinghua is not only a coward but also a foolish filial son. He listens to whatever his parents say. He dares not tell his parents the truth. If his parents knew that the Fang family would be cut off because of him, they would surely cry to death. He is very happy that Du Juan is standing by him."
Shen Xingyan was greatly shocked. The man who was praised by his neighbors for being honest and kind-hearted turned out to be so irresponsible in such a big matter. In his mind, Du Juan was just a shield. "How did Fang Xinghua and Du Juan know each other?"
"It's a matchmaker's introduction. Do you think we should have a free love relationship?" The man sneered, "If it wasn't for her parents' wishes, Du Juan wouldn't have married Fang Xinghua."
"Du Juan didn't like him from the beginning?"
"Fang Xinghua is too honest and has no romance at all. Du Juan is a romantic person, and the husband in her heart is not like Fang Xinghua at all."
"Why do you know so much?" Gu Fang looked at the man again. He was not tall and his saliva was always spitting out when he spoke. He would never believe that Du Juan liked such a person even if he was beaten to death.
The man clenched his fists and gritted his teeth and said, "Du Juan is so beautiful, who wouldn't like her? But she married Fang Xinghua, and Fang Xinghua didn't know how to cherish her and killed her. I want to avenge Du Juan!"
"No, didn't you just say that you and Fang Xinghua were childhood friends?" Gu Fang frowned and looked at him inquiringly.
The man sneered, "I only said that I grew up with him wearing open-crotch pants. When did I ever say that we were childhood friends? I don't want to be friends with my love rival."
Even though he had handled many cases, Gu Fang was a little confused. Shen Xingyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "How did you know Du Juan?"
"I met him through Fang Xinghua."
Gu Fang: ...
Shen Xingyan: ...
Gu Fang cleared his throat, "Then how do you know Fang Xinghua is infertile?"
"I was drinking with him and he got drunk and let the cat out of the bag."
So he grew up with Fang Xinghua. After Fang Xinghua got married, she introduced him to his wife Du Juan. When he saw that Du Juan was beautiful, he became tempted by her. He was jealous of Fang Xinghua and looked down on her. When he learned that Du Juan had been killed, he ran to the police and fanned the flames.
Shen Xingyan was immediately speechless. Not only women are jealous, but men are the same.
Gu Fang felt like he was being played, but he still wanted to struggle, "Fang Xinghua was on night shift on May 3rd, and no one saw him come back."
The man laughed, "I didn't expect you guys to be fooled too."
"He's been back?"
"As long as he avoids people and comes back secretly, no one will know. Anyway, there is no surveillance in the community, and it is dark at night."
"But the security guard said he was dozing off..." Gu Fang suddenly realized that the dozing off was probably just a trick. "Did you see him come back?"
The man nodded. "I saw him sneak back into the house, had a few words with Du Juan, and ran away after a while. I was wondering why he stayed there for such a short time. It turned out that he had killed someone!"
Shen Xingyan: "Have you been monitoring Du Juan?"
The man was indignant. "That's not called surveillance. That's called admiration!... I like her. As long as she divorces Fang Xinghua, I will marry her. I don't mind that she is married for the second time. I will treat her a thousand times, ten thousand times better. But she is dead, and I can't treat her well anymore." The man was depressed, with his shoulders drooped, as if he had lost his energy.
"What you are doing is harassment. If she were still alive, she would not marry someone who harasses her all the time."
"I said it's because I like her!"
Shen Xingyan wanted to say something else, but Gu Fang grabbed her arm and shook his head at her. They have found what they wanted, Du Juan is dead, and the man can no longer harass her, so it is better not to provoke him.
"Thank you for the clues. We..."
The man interrupted Gu Fang, his eyes suddenly sinister, "Why did you arrest Fang Xinghua?"
"When the time comes to catch him, we will catch him."
"Okay, I'll wait." The man looked at them deeply, turned and left.
Shen Xingyan looked at his back and said, "This man is really scary. Do you think Du Juan has noticed that someone is following her every day?"
"Maybe. The person is dead. There is no point in talking about this. But it is convenient for us. Let's go back to the Municipal Bureau now. I will apply for an arrest warrant with Director Zhang."
The arrest warrant was soon issued, and Gu Fang led a team to arrest the person, but found that Fang Xinghua had disappeared and had not been to the factory for several days.
The police contacted the train station and bus station and retrieved surveillance footage along the way. They discovered that Fang Xinghua had run back to his hometown, so Gu Fang immediately took people there.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
