Chapter 6

When Zhang Liangwei walked downstairs to the family building, he looked at the time: 20:10.

He was walking fast and the night wind was chilly. He had sobered up a lot. In the dim light of the corridor, Zhang Liangwei saw that the door was ajar. He pushed it open and shouted, "Liu Huaixin! Explain it to me!"

What greeted him was a dead silence.

……

Chen Pu signaled the police to take Zhang Liangwei back to the criminal police team first and not let him go. At this time, the forensic doctor, investigators, and police officers from the police station gradually withdrew their teams and the body was also taken away. Chen Pu said, "Follow me." He took everyone to the corridor between the toilet and the kitchen. It was quiet here. There were no chairs, and everyone stood. Chen Pu stood by the window. The night was behind him, but he looked colder and more gloomy than the night.

Chen Pu took out a palm-sized black leather notebook and a ballpoint pen and said, "Tell me everything."

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Yangxin, Fang Kai, Yan Yong and others all took off their gloves and took out identical notebooks and pens.

Li Qingyao standing motionless seemed out of place.

Yan Yong, a dark-skinned baby-faced man, was a considerate person. Seeing this, he said, "You didn't bring it? This is what Captain Chen asked you to do. It's our squadron's habit. We will brainstorm together anytime and anywhere. You have to have a notebook wherever you go, so you can think and remember all the time. It doesn't matter. Go back and get one. I'll lend it to you to copy. Remember, you can't be a team without a notebook!"

Li Qingyao: "Oh, so that's how it is. Thank you."

Chen Pu didn't even raise his head: "Quiet! Let's talk business."

Yan Yong shut up immediately. Li Qingyao thought that Chen Pu's way of leading the team was somewhat different from other criminal investigation leaders and captains she had met.

Chen Pu opened his notebook, grasped the upper edge of the book with one hand, and put it against his chest. With the other hand, he held the pen, lowered his head, bit off the pen cap, and put it back on the end of the pen. This posture of lowering one's head and diligently taking notes was actually quite inappropriate for a person like him, but he did it very naturally.

Yan Yong had just been criticized, and now he wanted to show off, so he said, "Let me say it first! I think the deceased committed suicide. The facts are very clear - the text message Liu Huaixin sent to Zhang Liangwei, and the sentence in his suicide note: [I hope my death can atone my sins]. There must be something hidden behind Zhang Xiyu's death last year, and it was related to Liu Huaixin. He felt guilty, and he asked Zhang Liangwei to come to apologize in person with his death. And I would like to make a bold and not very positive guess. Liu Huaixin's age is actually not too different from that of a student. He was only 27 last year, and he looked good." He stopped talking and didn't say anything more.

Zhou Yangxin, who was standing next to Yan Yong, usually smiled and spoke in a slick tone, but when discussing the case, his two sword-like eyebrows knitted together, showing a rare heroic spirit. He immediately retorted: "Your inference doesn't make sense! How could a suicidal person prepare Maotai liquor, wash vegetables and cook? He was only halfway through washing the vegetables, and there must have been an unexpected incident that interrupted him. I agree with part of your opinion: Liu Huaixin was related to Zhang Xiyu's death, and he invited Zhang Liangwei to come to tell the truth, so he prepared wine and food. But Zhang Liangwei looked suspicious. Do you think his reaction was normal when he suddenly saw the body of his student teacher? It was very wrong! Maybe it was because of a disagreement between the two of them that Zhang Liangwei killed Liu Huaixin."

Yan Yong: "But there were no signs of struggle at the scene, nor on the body of the deceased. And how did Zhang Liangwei do it? Could he have made Liu Huaixin willingly cut his wrists, or sit still and let others cut them..." He paused, realizing that there was a loophole in his statement, but Zhou Yangxin's eyes lit up and said, "It's possible! What if Zhang Liangwei drugged Liu Huaixin in some way? Or controlled Liu Huaixin with some means we don't know. Well... we'll have to wait for the specific autopsy results to know."

What they said made sense, and everyone fell silent for a moment, thinking about it.

"Lao Fang." Chen Pu called out the name.

Fang Kai shook his head and said, "Neither is right. The facts of this case are as absolute as you two said. It is not one way or the other. There must be something hidden that we don't know. Let me ask you, it is basically certain that the recorder was bought by Liu Huaixin, right? He charged it and put it in the drawer, but he hasn't started recording yet. What does he want to do? And the machete in the drawer has been sharpened. There is a whetstone in the kitchen. Once the fingerprint and trace identification results come out, we will know whether it was sharpened by Liu Huaixin. I estimate that it is 80% likely, because Liu Huaixin used a fruit knife to cut his wrists. This machete is not needed whether it is suicide or homicide, so why did it appear under the table with the recorder? What exactly does Liu Huaixin want to do by setting up such a dinner party?"

At this time, a policeman ran in and said to Chen Pu: "Captain Chen, the surveillance camera at the building door you asked me to check has been found. Zhang Liangwei arrived downstairs at 20:10 and called the police at 20:15."

Chen Pu nodded: "Thank you for your hard work."

Yan Yong raised his eyebrows provocatively at Zhou Yangxin, but Zhou Yangxin frowned even more. Chen Pu looked around and asked, "Who else has an idea?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Chen Pu's eyes swept over Li Qingyao again, and he snapped his notebook shut, saying, "Zhang Liangwei is telling the truth. There is no other entrance or exit to this building. The time he arrived and the time he died did not match, and there was not enough time to complete the crime. In other words, when Zhang Liangwei arrived, the door was indeed open, and Liu Huaixin had already died in the toilet. I think the reasoning you three made is partially correct—

Liu Huaixin was either somehow connected to Zhang Xiyu's death last year, or he knew some secret inside information. The text message was sent at 4:05, when he was still in the office after class, so he sent it personally. He didn't want to die, at least not before he finished what he was going to do. Liu Huaixin prepared a Hongmen Banquet, but before the banquet started, the newly bought recorder didn't start working, and before the truth was revealed, everything was interrupted by an accident, and Liu Huaixin died - there was a third person at the scene, and this person was the real murderer who caused Liu Huaixin to slit his wrists and die. "

Some people nodded, some suddenly realized, and some frowned in thought. But everyone realized that after Chen Pu's series of events, the whole case and the characters' motives fell into place.

A voice rang out: "But Liu Huaixin is determined to die." Everyone looked at Li Qingyao. She crossed her arms over her chest, stood very straight, and her back was also very straight, which made her shoulders and back look even thinner.

Chen Pu stared at her. If her eyes were like calm water, then his eyes were like a black blade condensed by cold frost.

Li Qingyao: "I have compared Liu Huaixin's handwriting. If anyone is under duress and facing the threat of death, their handwriting would not be so smooth and smooth. He wrote one word at a time, evenly and neatly, and every stroke was in place - just like taking notes carefully for class preparation. I still insist that he was willing to die."

Everyone looked at Chen Pu and then at Li Qingyao.

Yan Yong pulled Li Qingyao's sleeve, and Chen Pu said coldly: "Why are you pulling her? Doesn't what she said make sense?"

He returned his gaze to Li Qingyao's face and said, "We'll know the truth if we investigate further."

Li Qingyao: "Well, I think you are right."

Although the words were submissive, the tone was so light that Chen Pu's throat choked slightly. He stopped looking at this seemingly obedient but actually rebellious guy and scanned the men's resolute faces. He felt much better and began to assign reconnaissance tasks:
"Zhou Yangxin, take two people and visit the residents in this building. Focus on finding out who entered and left the building and who stayed in the building before and after the incident. Get all the surveillance footage you can. Lao Fang, focus on questioning Zhang Liangwei. Although he had nothing to do with Liu Huaixin's death, he must have hidden something. Focus on asking about his daughter last year. Yan Yong, you are responsible for keeping an eye on the physical evidence. Report the fingerprint and DNA results immediately, as well as the autopsy results. It's late today, so it's not convenient to conduct the visit. Everyone go home first. Tomorrow morning, we will split up. I will ask the bureau leaders to say hello to No. 29 Middle School and go to the school to investigate Zhang Xiyu's case again. If we want to solve the case, I'm afraid the key will still fall on this old case."

Everyone nodded in agreement and left. Chen Pu put his notebook in his trouser pocket, went to the door and said a few words to the police station officer. Just as he was about to go downstairs, someone gently pulled the back of his coat.

Li Qingyao stood behind him, his face as white as porcelain, and his tone was respectful: "Chen Pu, who should I follow tomorrow?"

Chen Pu turned his body, pulled the back of his clothes out of her hands, and subconsciously leaned back. He glanced at her face with his dark eyes, but without answering, he turned and left!
Li Qingyao blinked. She felt that she understood. She put her hands in her trouser pockets and followed him downstairs quickly.

When he got downstairs, Chen Pu took out his keys and drove his own car today. As soon as he honked the horn, a slender figure floated beside him: "Since it's on your way, why don't you take one with you? I don't have much money, so I'll save some money on taxi fare."

Chen Pu frowned subconsciously, but she started to calculate in her mind. According to her position, her monthly salary was only a few thousand yuan, and the rent alone was more than a thousand yuan a month, and other subsidies were not much. Yesterday's milk tea cost another two hundred yuan.

He opened the car door and said unhappily, "Sit in the back and fasten your seat belt."

(￣ ▽ ￣)