Chapter 12
morning.
The sunlight stung Chang Ting's eyelids. He opened his eyes and looked up, and the papers on his body fell to the ground.
Then I remembered that I was sleeping on the sofa in the office. I was reading materials late last night and fell asleep without realizing it.
He didn't pick it up immediately. Instead, he sat down and rubbed his face, the stubble rubbing against his palms.
After regaining consciousness for a moment, he bent down and picked up the documents one by one. They were all related to the Zangmo Base case. When he picked up one, his hand paused. It was the testimony of student Xu Candong.
Five years ago, Chang Ting and his master went to the training base after receiving a call from the police. Zhu Zangmo instructed a boy to find Teacher Feng and explain the situation to the police.
The boy ran away for a while and then came back, saying that Teacher Feng was crazy and was setting fire.
This boy was Xu Candong, the last person to see Teacher Feng and the only eyewitness to Teacher Feng's arson.
Afterwards, when questioned by the police, Xu Candong told them everything he had seen, describing in detail how Teacher Feng poured oil, how he took out a lighter, and how he turned around and ran away in fear.
Chang Ting had come into contact with him many times and remembered him as a tall, sincere, and cooperative man. Chang Ting had a good impression of him.
There's just one thing. This boy smokes. It's a little early for a high school student to smoke, but it's not a big deal.
It was precisely because of Xu Candong's testimony that Feng Xumei was unable to clear herself of the suspicion of murdering Qiu Yue.
Now that Qiu Yue's body has been discovered, the possibility of Feng Xumei committing the crime has been greatly reduced. If she didn't kill anyone, why did she suddenly lose control of her emotions and set the fire?
Is there any problem with Xu Candong’s testimony back then?
Was it really Feng Xumei who set the fire?
But Chang Ting looked at the testimony and could not find any flaws.
If this student really lied, he has such great acting skills at such a young age, and he must be more sophisticated after five years.
In the absence of other evidence, summoning him to question him again will not lead to any progress as long as he insists that everything he said is true.
Chang Ting slowly sorted out the information and thought to himself that he couldn't summon him too early. He should wait a while and do a side investigation to find a breakthrough.
He often worked overtime, and the office was fully stocked with toiletries and a change of clothes. Not long after, he dressed neatly, walked out of the office with a briefcase under his arm, and went to the first floor to clock in with a bright look on his face.
Turning around, Zhou Zhengzheng came towards him, and the master and disciple met in a narrow road in the corridor.
Zhou Zhengzheng stood at attention, turned around, and caught up with his master.
"Master, I want to understand why Feng Xumei was ruled out of suspicion! She doesn't have a driver's license and can't drive, so..."
"Just figure it out." Chang Ting walked like the wind.
"The case file records the vehicles at the base. The principal and several teachers had private cars, and the base also had a small truck for purchasing daily necessities. If they had carefully checked the vehicles at the time, they might have found something."
Chang Ting's face was filled with gloom. "The fire broke out before we could even start the investigation. The vehicles were all being used to transport students, so there was no time to investigate."
"How about I interview the teachers and students and ask if anyone saw the vehicle coming in or out that night?"
"It's been too long. Even if someone witnessed it, the owner of the car wouldn't admit it. There's not much point in checking it now." Chang Ting kept walking.
"Master, where are you going?"
"I have an appointment with Principal Zhu." He called Zhu Zangmo yesterday, but Zhu Zangmo said he had an art salon and couldn't leave, so he made the appointment for today.
"I'm going too!" Zhou Zhengzheng chased him straight into the compound.
"Don't go, you have other tasks."
"What mission?"
"I've sent it to your phone!" Chang Ting had already gotten into the car.
Zhou Zheng was squinting in the exhaust fumes as he opened his phone. On WeChat, there was a short message from Chang Ting:
[External investigation of Xu Candong.]
The meaning of peripheral investigation is to contact the target's interpersonal network in a covert manner to avoid alerting the target.
*
Holding a bun he bought on the way, Chang Ting drove to the gate of the residential complex where the base principal Zhu Zangmo lived, and got off the car at the gate to register.
Looking at this familiar place, he remembered the first time he came here five years ago.
After the fire, teachers and students dispersed and returned to their hometowns scattered across the country, making the investigation much more difficult.
Old Xiao asked Chang Ting to find Principal Zhu and ask him to provide a list of teachers and students and their contact information so that an investigation could be launched.
That was Chang Ting's first time to visit the residential complex where Principal Zhu lived. When he arrived, he discovered that it was an upscale residential complex in the city.
Chang Ting had just arrived at the gate of the residential complex in his police car when he saw a black and white banner hung from a tree. It read: "Unscrupulous painter Zhu Zangmo killed people in the grass. Return my daughter to me." The character "准" (Shan) was even misspelled.
Two middle-aged people, a man and a woman, were shouting and fighting with a woman.
Chang Ting stopped the police car and shouted at them, stretching out his arms to separate the two parties: "What are you doing? No fighting!"
The man calmed down a lot when he saw the police uniform. The woman next to him, with a perm on her hair, grabbed Chang Ting's arm and pointed at the woman opposite, crying and speaking with an accent from another place:
"Comrade police officer, please judge for yourself. My daughter's training class at her home was lost. Do you think they should be held responsible?"
The middle-aged man scolded her: "It's an art training base, not a training class. You are so ignorant!"
The woman with the chicken-coop hair spat: "Bah, you useless thing, you only know how to act arrogantly in front of me!"
The middle-aged man raised his hand to hit, but Chang Ting stepped forward to stop him.
"What are you doing? Stop making noise!" Chang Ting raised his voice.
After stopping the two men, he looked at the woman across from him. She was in her forties, thin, and wearing a dark green cheongsam with a dark pattern. Her hair was tied up in a bun, and she looked quite elegant. However, her hair had been messed up in the scuffle, and her face looked grim.
Chang Ting asked her: "Are you Principal Zhu's..."
The woman's voice trembled with anger: "I am his wife, my name is Fu Weiru."
It turned out to be Zhu Zangmo's wife. After a brief inquiry, Chang Ting learned that the middle-aged man and woman who came to visit were Qiu Yue's father, Qiu Changfu, and mother, Sun Luohua.
Chang Ting was somewhat surprised. Qiu Yue had been missing for several days, and the police had already notified her family. Population data showed that Qiu Yue's parents were divorced, with her father having custody. Both lived in a city in the neighboring province, Qiu Yue's hometown.
She had a brother named Qiu Song, four years her senior, but information indicates that Qiu Song passed away many years ago. Her only immediate family members are her parents.
However, when his parents rushed to Qi'an City, they did not go to the police station to find out the situation immediately, but instead came to Zhu Zangmo's house to make trouble.
Chang Ting asked them why they didn't go to the police station after they arrived. Qiu Changfu snorted, "The Public Security Bureau won't pay! My daughter disappeared at the training base, they have to pay!"
Chang Ting couldn't believe his ears: "Your daughter is missing, her life or death is unknown, and you're not in a hurry to find her, but come here to ask for compensation first?"
Sun Luohua lowered her head, as if feeling a little ashamed, and muttered, "I told him to go to the Public Security Bureau first, but he insisted on coming here..."
Qiu Changfu glared at her. "What's the point of going to the Public Security Bureau? Qiu Yue is sick and must have died somewhere. What's the point of finding her? The most important thing is to get compensation from the principal!"
He raised his hand and pointed at Fu Weiru across from him: "Your family can afford to open a training base, so you must have plenty of money!"
Sun Luohua pulled his arm and said, "How about we go to the Public Security Bureau first..."
Qiu Changfu pushed her away and said, "Don't make decisions for me. What does Qiu Yue have to do with you? I'll have custody of Qiu Yue when we divorce!"
Sun Luohua wiped her tears and said, "If I have a daughter, it will be difficult for me to get married again. What can I do? I want Qiu Song, but you won't give it to me."
"My son belongs to my Qiu family. He's supposed to carry on the family line and provide for my old age. How could I give him to you?" His face twisted. "It's a shame this kid is so useless. He brought disaster upon himself at such a young age! I was hoping my daughter would earn me a small fortune, but now, she's gone too..."
Fu Weiru said softly, "The tuition fee has been refunded to you..."
"You're just going to get rid of us by refunding our tuition? What a joke!"
When Chang Ting heard this, his blood pressure surged to the point of causing a headache on his forehead, and he suddenly felt a little confused.
Because of Zhu Zangmo's reputation, the tuition for Zangmo training is not cheap, with a high school senior training session costing 60,000 yuan. Would a father who would sell his daughter pay this much?
I couldn't help but ask, "Who pays for Qiu Yue's tuition?"
Qiu Changfu pounded his chest, "Of course it's the old..." He wanted to say "I", but finally restrained himself in front of the police uniform, "Of course it was me, her father, who else could it be?"
Then she yelled at Fu Weiru, "What are you doing here, woman? Get your man out!"
Fu Weiru angrily stroked her messy hair: "Old Zhu is not at home!"
"Who are you kidding? He's definitely hiding! If I ask him to come out and pay for my daughter's life, he'll have to pay at least one million!"
Sun Luohua echoed, "That's right! Although I don't have custody of my daughter, I still have the obligation to provide for her, and I have to get a share of the compensation!"
Before coming, Chang Ting spoke with Zhu Zangmo on the phone and knew that he was at home. He probably asked his wife to come out and mediate in order to avoid conflict.
There was a noisy sound in my ears and black and white banners fluttered in the wind.
That was the first time that the fledgling Chang Ting faced the ugliness of human nature.
He could see that these parents had probably never truly loved their daughter and had long since abandoned her, regardless of life or death.
At that moment, his chest felt tight, and he had only one thought: no one in this world really cares about Qiu Yue.
At that time, he secretly made up his mind to find Qiu Yue back, no matter whether she was dead or alive.
Unexpectedly, the investigation was extremely difficult and yielded no results. Five years later, when we finally got news of the girl, she was already a skeleton beneath a bush of flowers.
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