Chapter 14: A couple quarreled and murdered each other (14) Countdown to solving the case...
"If that's the case, then it makes sense," Xie Ling'er said solemnly, "In fact, there is another doubt. We wanted to wait for you to come back to discuss it together, but Master was suddenly called away, and I didn't have time to say-"
"The fingerprint report said that only Shen Xueyao's fingerprints were found on the handle of the knife, and Du Lingfeng's were not found."
"Both of them had taken the knife, so how come there were no Du Lingfeng's fingerprints? Xiaohu and I discussed this on the way back. Xiaohu said that it was possible that Shen Xueyao accidentally wiped off Du Lingfeng's fingerprints when fighting for the knife, but we didn't come to a conclusion in the end."
"If you say so, this doubt can be explained. The murderer wiped the knife handle after committing the crime, wiping off his and Du Lingfeng's fingerprints, and then forced Shen Xueyao to leave fingerprints on it. In this way, the crime can be successfully pinned on Shen Xueyao!"
"Yes," Sang concluded, "There must be a third person involved in this case, but this third person has not appeared in our sight yet."
"We'll call this murderer codenamed A. A first went to the appointment on behalf of Shen Xueyao and killed Du Lingfeng. Then she returned to the grain and oil family building, wiped off the fingerprints on the knife handle, forced Shen Xueyao to hold the knife and leave her fingerprints. Then she threatened Shen Xueyao with something to hang herself. Finally, she used this needle to transfer the remaining flesh and blood in her fingernails to the gaps between Shen Xueyao's fingers, completing a perfect frame-up."
Sang Luo's analysis was very logical. The stubborn Yuan Xiaohu was persuaded by her. He couldn't help but frowned, "If it's true what you said, who is this A? She must be tall and slender, have long hair, and know Shen Xueyao. She must be able to knock on Shen Xueyao's door at night. Finally, this person must have a meticulous personality and anti-reconnaissance awareness. She knows so much, and she is probably an intellectual."
Xie Ling'er lifted her chin and said, "It sounds like A is a female college student. Shen Xueyao just graduated not long ago. Could this A be her former classmate?"
Yuan Xiaohu nodded repeatedly: "By the way, I heard from you that Shen Xueyao's roommates all hate her. Maybe these roommates are also suspects!"
Xie Ling'er suddenly had an idea and proposed her own hypothesis: "Could it be like this - Shen Xueyao and Du Lingfeng were a perfect couple in college. They were both good-looking and had plenty of money to spend, which aroused the jealousy of many people, including Du Lingfeng's suitor. This A had a crush on Du Lingfeng in college, but didn't get a response. Over time, he became mentally abnormal and committed this crime."
Sang Luo questioned: "But you have already asked her college classmates, and all of them said that Shen Xueyao is a loner and has no friends. If A was a strange female classmate, why would Shen Xueyao open the door for her?"
"Moreover, several of Shen Xueyao's roommates are now working in other provinces, far away from Baiyun County, so it would be very difficult for them to commit the crime. If the roommates really hated Shen Xueyao to the point of wanting to kill her, why didn't they do it while they were in school, but had to wait until after graduation?"
"Maybe he got jealous when he saw the two of them getting married," Xie Ling'er asked, "Now besides this clue, do we have any other directions for investigation?"
This question stumped Sang Luo. They had already investigated the couple's network of relationships, and no suspects who met the description of the criminal had appeared. The only one who came close was Du Meizhen, but she had an alibi.
What other avenues of investigation are there? Is there something that has been missed?
Sang Luo was thinking hard in his mind, and suddenly, a blind spot flashed through his mind.
Du Lingfeng went to the appointment drunk. Where did he drink between 7 and 8 o'clock? Who did he meet during this time and what did he say?
There may be important clues hidden in this, but they have been ignored. Fortunately, it is not too late to realize it now.
So they split up into two groups. Xie Ling'er stayed at the unit and continued to call Shen Xueyao's college classmates to see if there was any "rival in love" or something like that.
Sang Luo and Yuan Xiaohu arrived at Du Lingfeng's doorstep and walked the road from his home to Jixiang Street again. Sang Luo inferred that the place where he drank was most likely on this road.
The two walked slowly, and Sang Luo carefully observed his surroundings. It was already six o'clock in the evening and the sky was getting dark. Some restaurants set out tables and chairs for customers to sit outside. Although the weather was very cold, places like the barbecue stalls were still full of people.
"He has been very angry for the past two days," Sang Luo simulated Du Lingfeng's mood at the time, "He discovered something about his girlfriend, but he can't tell anyone else. Maybe this secret is too shameful to even tell his family."
"He had agreed to meet his girlfriend at 8pm, but he went out at 7pm. He was drunk somewhere. Maybe he didn't want to face the negotiation and needed alcohol to give him courage. Where would he go to drink?"
Yuan Xiaohu put himself in the other person's shoes and thought about it: "If that's the case, then every restaurant on the roadside could be a possibility, and so could any small shop. When people are in a bad mood, they won't be so picky."
Sang Luo brought Du Lingfeng's photo. The two of them took his photo and asked in all the shops along the street. Finally, they got a positive answer in a barbecue restaurant.
"I've seen this guy before, yes, it's him!" said the owner of the barbecue restaurant. "It was probably a few days ago, I don't remember exactly what time he came, but it must have been in the evening, when it was already dark. He was sitting at the stall in front of the door, I ordered food for him and asked him what he wanted, but he didn't order anything and just drank beer."
"Police comrades, tell me, he didn't order any food and he took my seat, is he sick? I saw he was not in a good mood, so I didn't argue with him and let him sit down. He finished the beer he brought with him and bought a few bottles from me, crying while drinking, and soon finished them too. I was afraid he would cause trouble, so I gave him a plate of edamame."
Sang Luo interrupted and asked, "He's not in the right state. What state is he in?"
The boss lowered his voice: "His eyes were red, and he kept his head down. He didn't say a word no matter what I asked. It was just - it looked like he was going to chop someone down any second!"
"Is he alone, without any friends?" Sang Luo asked.
The boss waved his hand and said, "No, he was alone from beginning to end and didn't talk to anyone. I paid special attention to it."
It seems that just as Sang Luo guessed, Du Lingfeng came out to drink alone that night in a depressed and sad state, and did not make an appointment with his friends.
Sang Luo: "When he was drinking, did you hear what he said?"
The boss rubbed his hands together and laughed, with a gossipy expression on his face: "Yes, that night when I was serving the dishes, I deliberately walked past him several times with the plate in my hand, and heard a few words. He said something intermittently-"
The boss pinched his throat and imitated: "Fuck, he has been lying to me all this time... If others knew about this, they would probably laugh to death... I really want to... I really want to cut him into pieces... I will never let these two sons of bitches go!"
Hearing the last sentence, Sang Luo's eyes lit up. Who are these 'two' referring to?
Sang Luo questioned again, but the boss kept repeating the same old questions over and over again. That was all he knew, so Sang Luo had no choice but to thank the boss and leave with Yuan Xiaohu.
On the way home, Yuan Xiaohu was very excited: "Look, the truth of the case has been solved, right?"
"What?" Sang Luo asked in surprise.
Yuan Xiaohu clapped his hands and said, "Do you even need to ask this? Think about it, the boss said that Du Lingfeng resented two people. Du Lingfeng suddenly went to the grain and oil family building that night to give Shen Xueyao a surprise, but when he came back, he wanted to cancel the engagement and his impression of Shen Xueyao became very bad. He must have discovered something that night. Add to that the information about 'two people', Du Lingfeng must have discovered Shen Xueyao's infidelity!"
"Shen Xueyao had someone outside, and she was still meeting with her lover outside after getting engaged, so Du Lingfeng was so angry. He refused to tell others what happened that night because he was very ashamed. As a man, he didn't want others to know that he was cuckolded!"
"Stop!" Sang Luo stopped him immediately. "Without any evidence, how can you speculate that the deceased cheated?"
"I'm just stating my guess. Doesn't what I said make sense?" Yuan Xiaohu was unconvinced. "If it wasn't an affair, then tell me, who are the 'two of them' Du Lingfeng was referring to? He originally hated his girlfriend, so why did another person suddenly appear?"
"I...I can't answer that right now. I need more clues. Let's go back to the bureau first and see if Ling'er has any results."
Sang Luo wrapped her coat tightly and hurried to the bureau. The night was getting deeper and deeper, and she had less and less time.
The two returned to the office of Team 3. Xie Ling'er had already finished her call. She said to them with a look of regret, "We didn't find any suspicious people. Although there were girls in the school who liked Du Lingfeng, they just pursued him normally. When the pursuit failed, they gave up. They didn't behave in a particularly extreme way."
"However," she changed the subject, "there is an unexpected discovery. I wonder if it has anything to do with this case—"
"This time I specifically asked about her skin color. Most of the students said that Shen Xueyao's skin color has always been very white and has not changed much. However, the monitor of their class said that Shen Xueyao's skin color is a bit strange."
"When the university just started, we organized a physical examination for freshmen. At that time, the class monitor was responsible for collecting the physical examination forms of each student. Because Shen Xueyao was beautiful, the class monitor was very impressed by her. At that time, he saw Shen Xueyao with rough and dark yellow skin. As a result, when they were in class together the next day, the class monitor saw Shen Xueyao again. This time, her skin was as white as snow, which attracted a group of boys to pursue her. Later, she was even called Snow White."
"This incident has always been very surprising to the squad leader, so he still remembers it after such a long time. He told me on the phone that it was definitely not because of the cosmetics. As for why, he couldn't explain it clearly. In short, Shen Xueyao seemed to have changed her skin overnight."
This is not medical beauty, Sang Luo thought to himself. Not to mention whether the medical beauty technology of this era can do it, even if it can, Shen Xueyao, a rural girl, cannot afford such a large sum of money to do medical beauty.
After ruling out all the impossibilities, there is only one possibility left -
"There are two Shen Xueyao!"
Sang Luo and Yuan Xiaohu shouted at the same time.
Shen Xueyao did not become two different people overnight, but she was originally two people. She also has a twin sister. The Shen Xueyao that the public usually sees is actually the alternating appearance of this pair of sisters. The "替" in the dictionary may mean this.
They turned out to be twins. Sang Luo couldn't help but slap her head. How come she only thought of this common trick now!
"They are twins," Sang Luo explained to Xie Ling'er, "Maybe only one of them was admitted to university, but both wanted to go to school, so they appeared alternately, so Shen Xueyao's skin is sometimes white and sometimes yellow."
Yuan Xiaohu said excitedly: "This explains who the two people Du Lingfeng was talking about that night were. He didn't hate 'them', but 'them'!"
Sang Luo nodded: "He wanted to give his girlfriend a surprise, so he went to his girlfriend's residence without saying hello. As a result, when he opened the door, he saw two identical faces. He then realized that he had been dating two people, so he felt deceived and insisted on breaking off the engagement."
"But... the household registration says that Shen Xueyao is an only child..." Xie Ling'er asked, but she quickly answered her question, "But in rural areas, it is very common to give away children. Maybe they can't afford to raise two children, so they give one to the neighbor next door. There are too many such cases."
"Shen Xueyao is not an only child. Her parents gave birth to twins." Sang Luo said affirmatively.
In this way, the real murderer of the case was revealed. The murderer A was Shen Xueyao's twin sister. They looked exactly the same. A killed Du Lingfeng and then framed Shen Xueyao. As long as A was found, the case could be closed.
Sang Luo hugged Xie Ling'er excitedly: "Thank you, Ling'er, the clues you provided are so useful!"
Ling Er smiled gently: "We are all in the same team, why thank you so much."
"What we need to do now is to find this A!" Yuan Xiaohu was full of fighting spirit.
"A is most likely a villager from the same village as Shen Xueyao," Sang Luo analyzed. "A may be registered under someone else's name, and may have taken someone else's surname, but she is still in Gaoliang Village."
"Why?" Yuan Xiaohu asked.
Sang Luo: "A and Shen Xueyao were able to alternate in school and love, which shows that they had a close relationship and probably grew up together. Shen Xueyao grew up in Gaoliang Village, so A probably also grew up in Gaoliang Village."
Yuan Xiaohu nodded: "In other words, as long as we find a girl who was born in the same year as Shen Xueyao among the registered population of Gaoliang Village, we will have solved the case!"
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