“Since the victim didn’t choose the wealthy Li Dasheng’s son—and rejected so many other suitors—was it because she already had someone she liked?” Luo Fei asked with a frown.
The village chief shook his head. “I’m not sure about that. She usually came home alone. I never heard of her being with anyone.”
“Is there anyone in the village about her age who was close to her? Any boys or girls she got along with?” Yang Mei continued.
By the time Luo Fei and the others finished questioning the village chief, half an hour had passed.
Afterward, the three of them went to the victim’s home.
However, the door was locked, so they couldn’t enter. Instead, they spoke to several neighbors nearby to gather more information.
The accounts were largely consistent with what the village chief had said. One detail kept coming up repeatedly—the rejection of Li Dasheng’s fifty-thousand-yuan bride price proposal. Some villagers even thought the victim’s father, Su Lao Han, was foolish for refusing such a “good match.”
At 3 p.m., the three of them left Woliu Village by car.
“Uncle Zhang, there’s water and bread in the trunk. Do you want something to eat?” Yang Mei asked while driving.
Zhang Haiyang shook his head. “No thanks. I can’t stand bread. I’ll wait until we get back to the county. You two can eat if you want.”
“Luo Fei, what about you?” Yang Mei asked next.
“I’m fine too,” Luo Fei replied, shaking his head. He wasn’t very hungry despite skipping lunch, and he also didn’t particularly like bread.
Seeing that neither of them wanted anything, Yang Mei started the car and prepared to head back to the county seat.
“Yang Mei, let me drive instead. You’ve been driving the whole time—you must be tired,” Luo Fei offered.
It was more of a polite gesture than anything else. He didn’t have any hidden intent—he simply felt it was improper for a woman to drive while two men just sat there.
He had wanted to say it earlier, but they had only just met, and Yang Mei’s cold demeanor made it hard to bring it up. Now that they had spent most of the day together, they were more familiar with each other. In reality, she wasn’t cold at all—just reserved and difficult to approach at first glance.
“It’s fine. It’s not far anyway,” Yang Mei declined.
Since she insisted, Luo Fei didn’t push further. He had only asked out of courtesy.
Once they were back in the car, Luo Fei suddenly asked, “Master, Yang Mei—did you notice something when we were listening to the villagers earlier?”
“You brat, stop keeping us in suspense. Just say it,” Zhang Haiyang said with a smile.
Luo Fei grinned and continued.
“If I remember correctly, at the victim’s home we saw that Su Xiao used a brand-new Apple phone released last year—at least seven to eight thousand yuan. And there were also two gold accessories worth over ten thousand in total.”
“At first, I didn’t think much of it. A working woman with no financial burden buying those things wouldn’t be strange. But as we just heard, she earned a little over three thousand a month and had to give half of it—about fifteen hundred—to her parents.”
“Her living expenses in the county—rent, food, utilities, clothes, shoes—would easily be at least another thousand a month. That leaves her saving only a few hundred at best.”
“So over two years, she might have saved maybe a little over ten thousand yuan total. Then where did she get the money for a high-end phone and gold jewelry?”
Zhang Haiyang raised a possibility. “Could she have bought the phone in installments? These days, plenty of girls will do anything just to get an iPhone. Didn’t we even hear about students at a high school exchanging favors for phones?”
“I don’t think so,” Luo Fei replied. “If she had really bought it herself, why would she buy expensive gold jewelry first, then a phone on installment?”
“Also, even if the phone was bought on installments over a year, that’s still seven to eight hundred a month. She simply wouldn’t have enough leftover money to cover it.”
Yang Mei nodded in agreement. “He’s right. I didn’t think of this earlier, but now that Luo Fei mentions it, the phone and jewelry do seem suspicious. Based on Su Xiao’s personality—obedient and sensible—it doesn’t make sense for her to spend like that.”
“So what you’re saying is… someone else bought them for her?” Zhang Haiyang frowned. “Was she being kept by someone?”
Luo Fei nodded.
“She must have been in a relationship. The other party was likely financially well-off. And it’s clear this relationship had to be hidden—otherwise she wouldn’t have concealed it so thoroughly.”
“If that’s the case, then they hid it extremely well. There wasn’t a single trace left in the apartment,” Zhang Haiyang said.
At 5 p.m., the three returned to the county.
Zhang Haiyang asked Yang Mei to drop him and Luo Fei off at the police station. Their task was complete, and reporting could be handled by Yang Mei alone at the criminal investigation team office.
Luo Fei originally wanted to follow her to the Criminal Investigation Team to get more exposure in front of Captain Zhao Donglai, but since his master had already spoken, he didn’t insist.
After dropping them off, Yang Mei left.
As soon as Luo Fei and Zhang Haiyang entered the office, they saw colleagues already packing up or changing clothes, ready to leave work.
“Hey, Haiyang, you and your apprentice are back. How was it? Any gains?” Officer Liu Haiquan asked jokingly.
Zhang Haiyang smiled proudly. “Of course we did. Big gains too. Just wait—you’ll all be jealous.”
“Really?” Zhang Da, a colleague close to Zhang Haiyang, walked over. “Luo Fei, I don’t trust your master. Tell me—did you actually find anything?”
“Alright, alright, we still need to report to the chief,” Zhang Haiyang interrupted. “We’ll talk later. Luo Fei, come with me to see Chief Zhou.”
He then led Luo Fei toward Zhou Weimin’s office.
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