CM | Chapter 16

Ten years ago, in Jiangcheng.

The explosion at the Du family home lit up the night sky.

It was only when the sky was beginning to pale that the police finally wrapped up the scene.

Before leaving, they found a charred corpse at the fire site. The body had been carbonized into powder, leaving only some bone fragments behind, which meant the temperature at the time had exceeded four digits.

Aside from that, investigators also found several points of ignition and residue from accelerants. What exactly they were would have to wait for further testing.

Xu Haizhen came home exhausted, but he did not go straight to the bedroom. He knew he definitely would not be able to sleep, so he figured he might as well make breakfast for that brat at home and think over the case at the same time.

Xu Shuo was in his second year of high school, and the school had added an early morning study period, starting at 7:30. Xu Shuo had to get up a little after five. Luckily, the kid was smart, and even better at making use of his own intelligence. Other kids had to burn the midnight oil and study hard, but he played around while studying and still came in first in the grade.

Ever since Xu Shuo’s first-year final exam results came out, Xu Haizhen had been thinking about how to “brainwash” Xu Shuo into taking the public security university entrance exam in the future.

Xu Shuo did not seem to have much interest in becoming a cop. Sometimes he got into fights outside and was dragged to the police station, and Xu Haizhen would explode on the spot. His expression was so fierce even the most vicious criminals would flinch at the sight of it, but it did absolutely nothing to scare Xu Shuo.

Xu Shuo was not only smart, he was also good at arguing. Every time, he could come up with a whole airtight set of reasons to “defend” himself, and every single time it was “self-defense.” He had never thrown the first punch, and all the fault lay with the other side.

Everyone said this kid was suited not only to be a cop, but a lawyer too.

Unfortunately, the thing Xu Haizhen hated most was lawyers. They could turn the dead into the living and black into white, and they did not care whether their client had actually broken the law, as long as they were paid.

The living room was unnaturally quiet. Xu Haizhen moved lightly as he cooked in the kitchen.

Who knew, just after he finished frying the eggs, he heard a crash from the living room, as if something had been knocked over.

Xu Haizhen walked out of the kitchen, but did not see even a ghost.

He listened for a moment with his ears pricked, and seemed to hear a faint rustling sound, coming from Xu Shuo’s bedroom.

This kid was up this early?

Xu Haizhen did not suspect anything and went straight to Xu Shuo’s door. He knocked twice, then pushed it open. “Xiao Shuo, wash your face and get ready to eat…”

He only got halfway through the sentence before freezing.

The room was a little chilly. Although the lights were off, the curtains and windows were wide open, and the morning breeze had filled the room. The bedding was neatly made.

On the clean desk lay a men’s sneaker, covered in mud. A clear large footprint was printed on it, and the shoe’s owner was now squatting half on the desk, half his body leaning out the window.

At that posture, he was either getting ready to jump out the window, or had just sneaked back in from outside.

The air instantly froze.

Xu Haizhen and Xu Shuo stared at each other, one second, two seconds, three seconds…

Until Xu Haizhen rolled up his sleeves, strode forward, grabbed the little bastard who was about to flee by window escape, and yanked him down to the floor.

“You little brat, what the hell were you doing all night? You’re only coming back now!”

Xu Shuo bared his teeth and resisted the violence while shouting, “I went to watch the World Cup!”

“Who are you trying to fool? There’s no TV at home? You ran outside to watch the World Cup?”

Because of this, Xu Haizhen interrogated Xu Shuo for more than half an hour before clearing away the suspicion that Xu Shuo might have been up to some sort of illegal or improper nonsense.

But considering Xu Shuo, while still a minor, had run into a bar to cheer for a bunch of rough Chinese men over a bunch of rough foreign men, Xu Haizhen demanded three rules be laid down. From now on, he had to promise to watch only at home. If watching alone did not feel exciting enough, he could call classmates over too, but in exchange, Xu Shuo had to guarantee that his grades would not slip.

After father and son finished eating, Xu Haizhen drove Xu Shuo to school.

Halfway there, they passed the Du family home again. It was already a pile of ruins, and faint smoke was still rising from the scene.

Xu Shuo was startled when he saw it. “Holy shit, how did it burn this badly!”

Xu Haizhen, cigarette in mouth, had the window open. “Keep your mouth clean.”

Xu Shuo ignored that and instead asked, “You didn’t come home all night because of this? Did someone die?”

Xu Haizhen glanced at him and saw that the kid’s eyes were bright and sharp, every cell and every strand of hair practically standing on end with excitement. He had never seen him this fired up, not even when he came first in the grade.

Xu Haizhen said, “The homeowner burned to death.”

By now the car had already passed the Du house, and Xu Shuo could only see a bit of it when he turned back. “What caused the fire?”

“Still under investigation.”

“Was the homeowner surnamed Du? Was his name Du Chengwei?”

Xu Haizhen paused. “You know him?”

“I don’t know him, but I’ve seen him in the bar. Middle-aged man, kind of dirty and disheveled, but he had some money, and he was a heavy drinker. Also a bit lecherous.”

Xu Haizhen’s expression sharpened, and he looked at Xu Shuo again. “You’re sure?”

Xu Shuo said, “Sure.”

Because of Xu Shuo’s one word, “sure,” he was called to the bureau that very afternoon after school and had his statement recorded by Liu Chun.

By protocol, Xu Haizhen could not be present, so he watched from the room next to the interrogation room through the surveillance wall.

Xu Shuo was already well-practiced at this process. The moment he entered the interrogation room, he took off his school uniform jacket. Abandoning his usual lazy posture, he sat up straight in the chair and stared fixedly at Liu Chun.

Liu Chun had barely asked, “What’s your name,” before meeting Xu Shuo’s spotlight-bright gaze.

Xu Shuo also very consciously reported, “My name is Xu Shuo, Xu as in two-person Xu, Shuo as in fire and joy Shuo. My dad is Xu Haizhen. I’m sixteen this year, from Jiangcheng, and I’m still in high school. Alright, Uncle Liu, go ahead and ask the next question?”

Liu Chun gave Xu Shuo a warning look and told the recorder to write all of that down.

Then Liu Chun took out several photos and placed them in front of Xu Shuo. “There are a few photos here. Take a look and see if you recognize anyone.”

Xu Shuo lowered his eyes to glance at them, picked up one photo, and said, “I know this man. His name is Du Chengwei.”

“How do you know him?”

“I used to see him all the time in the bar. He was a little different from everyone else, pretty special, so I remembered him.”

“Which bar? You go there often?”

“Not that often, maybe three times a week at most. It’s called Huiwen Bar. Huiwen is the owner’s wife’s name. Her husband died, and she’s pretty, so she often attracts middle-aged men to drink with her and tell dirty jokes to take advantage of her. Du Chengwei was also a regular.”

A curse from Xu Haizhen came through Liu Chun’s Bluetooth earpiece. “That brat…”

Liu Chun cleared his throat and then took out photos of the Du family home after the fire, along with photos from before it burned.

“Do you recognize this place?”

Xu Shuo said, “Du Chengwei’s home.”

“So it seems not only have you seen him in the bar, you also know where he lives.”

Xu Shuo did not answer right away. He blinked, then asked, “Uncle Liu, are you suspecting me?”

Liu Chun paused. “Just routine questioning. So far, you’re the only witness we’ve found who knows he went to the bar for fun.”

Xu Shuo smiled. “Actually, even if you suspected me, I wouldn’t mind. After all, I know too much. Why don’t you just treat me like a suspect and interrogate me? I’d like to try out my debate skills too.”

The air froze for a second.

Liu Chun gave the table a symbolic slap. “Ask you whatever we want and you answer it. Why do you have so many demands? Behave yourself!”

But the moment he finished speaking, he shot Xu Shuo a look.

Xu Shuo let out an “oh.” “I get it, the old man is watching from next door. Fine, go ahead and ask.”

Liu Chun took a breath and pointed at the photo of the Du family home. “Tell me how you knew this was Du Chengwei’s house.”

Xu Shuo said, “I take the bus home from school every day, and it passes this street. Du Chengwei lived at the street corner, and his house was the oldest, most run-down one there. Sometimes I’d even see his daughter come out to buy him liquor…”

Here, Xu Shuo stopped for a moment, then rested one hand on the table and tapped his fingers against the tabletop. A hint of cunning appeared on that still somewhat youthful face of his, only sixteen years old.

“Uncle Liu, what I’m about to say next is definitely exclusive intel. You’d better listen carefully.”

Liu Chun: “…”

Xu Shuo said, “Du Chengwei’s daughter goes to the same school as me. She just started high school, one year below me. As for her looks, pretty ordinary. Her figure is like a bean sprout. She doesn’t have many friends at school, and she’s often alone. A few boys from our class have even cornered her and demanded money. I’ve seen it a few times.”

Liu Chun asked, “Demanded money? Then what happened?”

Xu Shuo raised a brow. “Then, then I left. I did think about stepping in as a good Samaritan, but there was no need.”

Liu Chun asked again, “Why do you say that?”

“That girl neither screamed nor shouted, and she wasn’t being molested either. The moment those few guys in our class stood in front of her, she took the money out herself. From the look of it, she wasn’t afraid at all, and she was very practiced at handing over the cash. I don’t know what was really going on between them, but from how it looked, it was just one party willing and the other willing to take it.”

Liu Chun said, “Then you never had any contact with this girl from the Du family?”

“No. I’m not interested in little bean sprouts. I like mature women.”

“…”

In the earpiece, Xu Haizhen’s sound of inhaling and exhaling followed.

Liu Chun continued, “As far as you know, how many times a week would Du Chengwei go to the bar, and how long would he stay?”

Xu Shuo said, “I don’t know how many times he went, but every time I went, I could see him there. When the bar was broadcasting the World Cup, he was there. When they were doing beer festival promotions, he was there too. When they were offering new drinks for tasting, he was there again. He was basically a booze leak, could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, and because he never ran up a tab and got along well with the owner’s wife, he even had a fixed seat, the one farthest out at the bar counter, closest to the owner’s wife. Every time they met, they talked for ages. Once, when another customer harassed the owner’s wife, Du Chengwei even beat him up.”

“Then did you hear what they were talking about?”

Xu Shuo said, “I never eavesdrop on people. No impression. But Officer Liu, the owner’s wife can’t be the arsonist, if you think the fire at the Du house was intentional.”

Liu Chun paused, and even Xu Haizhen, on the other side of the glass wall, couldn’t help frowning as he looked at Xu Shuo.

Xu Shuo said, “The incident happened last night. The bar was broadcasting the World Cup, the most important match too. A lot of people had bets riding on it, and the owner’s wife was busy the whole time. She simply had no time to commit the crime. Of course it can’t be me either. Even though I was caught red-handed by your Team Xu this morning when I sneaked home, I never went to Du Chengwei’s house. More than a hundred people in the bar can testify for me.”

This kid was pretty self-aware, all right.

Liu Chun pointed out the doubtful point. “You also said everyone was watching the World Cup. Even if there were over a hundred people there, they couldn’t all be paying attention to others. Maybe someone left in the middle and came back.”

Xu Shuo grinned. “By your logic, that really would be a perfect alibi. But I remember very clearly, the owner’s wife was serving drinks to the customers about once every half hour. Half an hour isn’t enough to make a round trip between the bar and the crime scene, let alone set a house on fire. If you don’t believe me, you can check.”

“What about you, then? You stayed there the whole night? Any witnesses?”

Xu Shuo said, “I went to the bathroom a few times in between. The rest of the time I was with two classmates. We never left, but if you want to take statements from them, it’d be better not to go straight to their homes. They sneaked out too.”

Liu Chun: “…”

After that, Liu Chun asked a few more simple questions. Xu Shuo did not know much about the Du family, only that he had seen the Du father and daughter several times at school, on the way home, and in the bar.

It was only when the statement was nearly finished and Liu Chun was preparing to let Xu Shuo sign and leave that Xu Shuo suddenly leaned forward, put both hands on the edge of the table, and clasped them together, his eyes bright and alert.

“Officer Liu, don’t you think Du Chengwei and his daughter are strange?”

Liu Chun did not respond.

Xu Shuo’s entire face turned serious in an instant.

“First, it seems like Du Chengwei doesn’t need to work during the day. He goes to the bar at night all the time and drinks until the whole night is over. At his age, with that level of stamina, and that complexion of his, I’d bet his liver and kidneys are definitely not in good shape. But he can still be that lively at night, which means he spends the whole day sleeping to recover.

“Second, the Du family only has one adult. Du Chengwei’s daughter is at school all day, so she can’t be out working, and Du Chengwei never runs up a tab for his drinks. The boys at school ask her for money whenever they can, and she gives it. She seems to have a lot of cash on hand. So where is all this money for the Du family coming from? If they have that much spare cash, why don’t they fix up the house properly? Look at how run-down that place is.

“So I think, as long as you investigate the Du family’s source of income, there’ll definitely be a breakthrough. Someone like Du Chengwei, that money has to be dirty. The people he had financial dealings with were probably from the underworld, and if you follow that line, maybe you can even crack some earth-shaking major case…”

But before Xu Shuo could finish, Liu Chun cut him off. “Enough. We’ll look into the rest. Your statement is done, just sign and you can go.”

As he said this, Liu Chun worked hard to control his expression. He could neither roll his eyes nor say a few words to him, so he could only silently sympathize with Xu Haizhen in his heart. With such a clever little bear of a son, no wonder Team Xu’s wrinkles grew so fast.

Xu Shuo curled his lip, picked up the pen, and signed his name. Then he leaned back in the chair, crossed his arms, and said, “I dare say, what you asked me here is definitely more than what you’d get from the Du family’s neighbors. Considering Du Chengwei’s routine and personality, he definitely wasn’t close with the people around him. And those neighbors are all ordinary folks. By their instinct to avoid trouble and seek profit, even if they saw something, they’d act like they didn’t. You definitely won’t get anything out of them.”

Liu Chun: “…”

Xu Shuo was right. After preliminary questioning, the people on Xu Haizhen’s team had basically reached the same conclusion.

The information Du Chengwei’s neighbors could provide was very limited, and the answers were all the same. Either they said they weren’t familiar with Du Chengwei, or they said they hadn’t paid attention. There were even people who didn’t know Du Chengwei’s name at all.

Not long after Xu Shuo left the police station, Xu Haizhen had already set the next direction of the investigation with his subordinates. Besides Du Chengwei’s source of income, they would also look into his daughter’s social circle in daily life.

Then Xu Haizhen once again picked up the photos taken at the Du family scene. Besides the Du house, the photos also showed the surrounding area.

One of them showed a small hill covered with trees. Those trees had been carved into with pocketknives, leaving behind some crookedly scrawled names. They had asked nearby residents, and heard that students often went in and out of that little grove, even hugging and kissing inside it.

In fact, in the early hours after the incident, Xu Haizhen had already walked around the area within a hundred meters. He had also climbed that hill and gone all the way to the fence. From there, he could just see the Du house.

Standing in that spot, he suddenly felt something was wrong under his feet. He shone his phone light down and discovered that the dirt beneath him was wet. There was a patch of water stain, and the water had seeped into the soil, drying halfway. It had been there for at least two or three hours.

That meant that two or three hours earlier, someone had spilled a puddle of water there.

At that time, the Du house was burning. The flames were so bright that if someone had been standing here, he definitely would have seen the fire scene. So was he deliberately coming over to watch the excitement, or had he come specifically to admire his own “masterpiece”?

Then Xu Haizhen found a bottle of mineral water in a tree pit, with the cap lying off to the side.

He quickly contacted Liu Chun through his communicator and had him bring a tech investigator over to collect evidence, taking the empty bottle, the cap, and samples of the damp soil back with them.

After the tech investigator finished collecting evidence, Liu Chun was still somewhat puzzled and asked Xu Haizhen, “Team Xu, even if we can pull DNA from this bottle, that still doesn’t prove this person had anything to do with the Du family. Maybe he just happened to pass by, ran up here to watch, accidentally spilled his water, and tossed the bottle away casually.”

Xu Haizhen said, “Look at the water stain on this ground and the direction it flowed. If the bottle had just been dropped by accident, it couldn’t have spilled this much, and certainly not in such an evenly bordered patch. That means the water flow was poured vertically from top to bottom onto the ground. And the bottle was thrown into the tree pit after it was already empty. There’s only one explanation. At that time, this person was squatting here washing his hands. After washing them, he threw the bottle into the tree pit.”

Liu Chun said, “If he accidentally got his hands dirty and washed them with leftover drinking water, that’s normal too.”

Xu Haizhen was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked the tech investigator who was packing up the toolbox, “If I assume this person was injured, washed a wound with water, and then the water flowed into the soil, is it possible that you could detect blood in this soil?”

Liu Chun froze.

The tech investigator said, “If that water came into contact with blood from a wound, we might be able to detect it. The detailed results should be out in a few days.”

Liu Chun asked then, “Team Xu, I still don’t get it. Even if this person had a wound, that still doesn’t prove it has anything to do with the explosion at the Du house.”

Xu Haizhen said, “What you said is all correct. Maybe this person just passed by. Maybe he simply cut his hand and washed it with water. But why here, and why at this pitch-dark hillside? Even if he had nothing to do with the Du family explosion, the place he was standing at around nine o’clock that night was enough to make the fire scene perfectly clear, and maybe he even saw the culprit?”

But from another angle, so what if DNA could be extracted from saliva? If this person had no criminal record, there would be nothing to compare it against. And just for a mere possibility, should everyone search for this unknown person like looking for a needle in the ocean?

Xu Haizhen understood very clearly that his suspicion was, for now, only a matter of probability. It could be right, or it could be wrong.

At the same time, however, a terrifying intuition also rose in Xu Haizhen’s heart. Du Chengwei’s death might drag an entire chain of events into the light, and it would likely become a shocking major case that would rock society…

Author’s note:

As the main story progresses, what happened ten years ago will also be revealed little by little, so everyone, don’t rush~