Under questioning

Although Xu Haiyang was only an accomplice, Li Wenxiu never concealed his plans from the beginning to the end, so the confession obtained from him was more detailed than all the confessions collected before.

Xu Haiyang even mentioned that Li Wenxiu chose to switch An An, not only because the Meng family was well off, but also partly because she felt that if the soldiers had not liberated the country, her family would not have fallen into poverty, and she would not have fallen into her current situation.

She felt that the Meng family was the beneficiary and it was fair to let them help raise her daughter.

Zhao Zhenghua had been a police officer for more than ten years and had seen all kinds of people, but when he saw this part of the confession, he was still dumbfounded: "This Li Wenxiu, her thinking is not right."

Meng Cheng said calmly, "That's why we need to transform it."

"She's been sent down to the countryside for several years, right?" Zhao Zhenghua said to himself, "The reform is not thorough enough."

"If she had been completely reformed, she wouldn't have done such a thing."

"That's right." Zhao Zhenghua nodded suddenly, "Is Li Wenxiu still under trial?"

"Trial."

Zhao Zhenghua glanced at Meng Cheng and said, "When we meet her later, you won't go up and punch her twice, will you? She hasn't finished her confinement yet, so she can't withstand two punches from you."

Meng Cheng glanced at Zhao Zhenghua and asked, "Why do you think I beat Xu Haiyang so hard?"

He had to find an outlet for his anger. Although Li Wenxiu was the main culprit, she was a woman and a postpartum woman. Two punches from her might cause her to have problems. He could only vent his anger on Xu Haiyang, who was more resistant to punches.

"I thought you were trying to get to the next part."

At first, Zhao Zhenghua also thought that Meng Cheng beat someone up because of impulse, but after reading the interrogation records, he found that the beating of Xu Haiyang was closely linked to the subsequent interrogation tactics.

If there hadn't been this beating, no matter how flawless Meng Cheng's words were, Xu Haiyang might not have given in.

But by beating him up first and then telling him in a strong way that he would surely die, Xu Haiyang's psychological defenses were instantly breached. No matter how tough he tried, he was just a paper tiger that would break with just one poke.

Zhao Zhenghua bumped Meng Cheng's shoulder and asked with a smile: "Tell me the truth, did you plan this from the beginning?"

Meng Cheng glanced at him, neither admitting nor denying: "You can think of it this way, when will Li Wenxiu come over?"

"It's almost done," Zhao Zhenghua immediately stopped smiling when he got down to business. "This woman has a strong character and her mouth is probably harder to pry open than her man."

The more difficult the criminal is, the easier it is to make people angry during the interrogation. Zhao Zhenghua reminded again: "If you feel it's difficult later, just come out and calm down. Don't do anything, understand?"

"Um."

…

Li Wenxiu and Xu Haiyang were both good-looking. When they lowered their heads and looked obedient, they looked very kind. It can be said that just by looking at their looks, no one would have thought that they could do such a thing as switching children.

But Meng Cheng never judges people by appearance, and never easily believes what criminals say just because they look kind.

Moreover, as a relative of the victim, he found it difficult to see any kindness on Li Wenxiu's face.

After sitting down, Meng Cheng threw down a stack of confessions: "This is what your husband confessed."

Li Wenxiu sat with her head down, without any movement.

"Don't you want to see it?" Meng Cheng asked, but he had already reached out and took the confession. "Since you don't want to see it, I'll read it to you."

After Meng Cheng finished speaking, he began to read the confession.

The first half of Xu Haiyang's confession was actually very similar to the previous ones, until they discussed how to drug him, when his confession became different from the previous ones.

Li Wenxiu, who had been acting like a mannequin since she sat down, finally made her first move. She frowned slightly, but her expression was still more suspicious and alert.

Meng Cheng didn't pay attention to this and continued reading: "... Wenxiu told me that she chose to swap the woman's daughter in Ward 214 because she lived in a double room and her family must be well off. She also heard that the woman's husband was a soldier and the military environment was good. As long as she didn't make a big mistake, she wouldn't end up in the same situation as us."

"But I know that she chose them for another reason. She always felt that if the soldiers hadn't liberated the country, her family wouldn't have fallen into poverty and wouldn't have been demoted..."

After hearing this, Li Wenxiu finally couldn't sit still anymore and suddenly raised her head and shouted: "You are lying! This is not my husband's confession!"

Meng Cheng ignored her and read out the entire confession slowly and steadily. Li Wenxiu's attitude gradually changed from flat denial to red-eyed silence.

"Do you now believe that this confession is true?"

Li Wenxiu bit her lip and said nothing.

"It doesn't matter if you don't believe it. Your husband has admitted his involvement anyway. No matter how hard you try, he will go to jail," Meng Cheng sneered. "But you might have only been sentenced to life imprisonment, but because of his confession, you might be sentenced to death."

When she heard the word "death penalty", Li Wenxiu's folded hands trembled.

"Do you know why your husband confessed?" Knowing that Li Wenxiu would not speak, Meng Cheng asked herself, "Because I told him that you were afraid of death and put all the blame on him. He panicked when he heard that and didn't care about anything else. He confessed everything he knew."

Li Wenxiu raised her head and looked at Meng Cheng hatefully: "You have no shame!"

Meng Cheng was not affected at all and continued to ask, "You tried your best to protect Xu Haiyang because you hoped that he would take good care of your two children after you went to jail, right? Are you afraid that your children will become orphans and suffer after you go to jail?"

Li Wenxiu's eyes flashed with some hesitation, but in the end she just shook her head and said, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"You are very smart. You planned everything before the action, but you forgot one thing," Meng Cheng paused until Li Wenxiu raised her head out of curiosity, then he looked into her eyes and said, "Your husband is a coward. I put Xu Haiyang's confession in front of you, but you still didn't want to believe me and wanted to protect him. When he heard me say that you pushed everything on him, he panicked and confessed everything."

Meng Cheng leaned back in his chair, looked at Li Wenxiu coldly and asked, "Is it really the right choice to hand over a pair of children to a man like this?"

Li Wenxiu was finally touched and asked with red eyes: "Do I have any other choice?"

"Of course there are. If you and Xu Haiyang both go to jail, your children will be sent to an orphanage. Although life in an orphanage is hard, it is not worse than living on a farm. And the orphanage is full of orphans. Others will not know that they have a mother who is on death row, nor will they know that they have a father who is in jail. If they are lucky, they may be adopted by a childless couple, have a brand new identity, have no class background problems, and grow up happily."

Meng Cheng's voice was not rhythmic, but very inspiring, and Li Wenxiu was fascinated by the scene she described.

Having been married to Xu Haiyang for several years, she knew better than anyone how cowardly this man was, and she had always had doubts about handing the child to him. But before, she had no choice but to do her best to keep Xu Haiyang.

But now, Meng Cheng has given her a new direction.

At this time, Meng Cheng spoke again: "Are you counting on the conscience of a selfish and cowardly man, or should you send the child to an orphanage and start a new life? You should think about it carefully."

After saying this, Meng Cheng pushed Xu Haiyang's confession, which he later transcribed, in front of Li Wenxiu again, then stood up and left.

…

Half an hour later, Zhao Zhenghua walked out of the interrogation room with a more detailed confession.

As soon as he walked out of the door, he saw the man smoking outside the interrogation room. Without thinking, he gave him a thumbs up and said, "Great! Li Wenxiu confessed."

Meng Cheng put out the cigarette in his hand, hummed lightly, reached out to take the confession, read it for a while and said, "These are not enough. We can continue to dig up information about Li Wenxiu."

"What are you digging?"

Meng Cheng looked at him, and seeing that he really didn't see it, he said, "Give me Xu Haiyang's confession."

Zhao Zhenghua quickly asked someone to get Xu Haiyang's confession. Meng Cheng turned directly to the page that he had just read to Li Wenxiu in the interrogation room, pointed to a paragraph and asked, "Did you see it?"

Zhao Zhenghua stared at the words for a long time and asked, "Are there any problems with these confessions?"

“…”

Meng Zheng was helpless and pointed out: "This Li Wenxiu has extremely problematic thoughts. Think about how many spies our county has caught in recent years."

Zhao Zhenghua widened his eyes: "No way?"

Meng Cheng didn't say anything more, just handed the confession back to him: "You should find someone to check it first." After getting a reply, he whispered, "Can I see Li Wenxiu again?"

"You going to help me continue to interrogate her?"

"It's no use trying her. She won't tell you."

Although he had sounded very serious during the interrogation, as if Li Wenxiu was doomed to die, the substitution did not work, and she was not simply a human trafficker, so it was not easy to sentence her to death. But if she was really turned against the government, she would only have death to wait for her if she was found out.

The reason why Li Wenxiu was able to easily overturn her previous confession and accuse Xu Haiyang of being involved in the crime was, firstly, because she wanted to live, and secondly, because their relationship was not that strong. At least in her heart, Xu Haiyang was not as important as her two children.

But what they were investigating now concerned her own life, and without sufficient evidence, it would not be easy to pry her open her mouth.

Zhao Zhenghua understood what Meng Cheng meant. Thinking of the tough battle ahead, he couldn't help but sigh: "Well, if that's the case, why do you still want to see her?"

"There's something I forgot to say."

"Is it something important?"

“Very important.”

"Okay, I'll give you three minutes."

"No." Meng Cheng said, walked around him into the interrogation room, looked at the figure covered by the orange light and said, "There is one thing, I just lied."

Li Wenxiu, who was sitting under the light bulb, looked up and looked at Meng Cheng in confusion, as if she didn't understand why he came back.

"There are many children in the orphanage but few resources. Your children may not live better there than on the farm." Meng Cheng looked at Li Wenxiu and said condescendingly, "Also, couples who go to the orphanage to adopt children will not only consider the children's own conditions, but also the kind of people their parents are. For children like yours, whose parents are both serious criminals, no one would be willing to adopt them."

Hearing this, Li Wenxiu's eyes were red with anger: "You lied to me!"

"Yes, I lied to you." Meng Cheng nodded frankly, "I forgot to introduce myself during the interrogation. My name is Meng Cheng, and I'm the father you targeted and wanted to switch children with."

After saying that, Meng Cheng opened the door of the interrogation room and turned to walk out. Li Wenxiu, who was left behind, was stunned for half a second before screaming out with regret: "Ahhhh——"