Qiming Chapter 14

Chapter 14

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The air suddenly froze, becoming as silent as a cicada in winter. The honking from the other side of the road disappeared.

He held a bun in his hand, took a bite, and pushed open the door to see Gu Tao calmly standing in front of the cabinet. His hand, holding a knife, hung in mid-air before he slowly lowered his head and continued chopping vegetables.

"How did you know?" Gu Yunfeng leaned against the door frame.

"I went to claim my medical insurance a few weeks ago and saw her."

"After all these years, you still recognised her?"

"I could recognise her even if she turned into bones." He let out a cold laugh, tossed the greens into the pan with a sizzle, and stir-fried them. "Hurry up and swallow that bun. After eating, we'll go to the cemetery to visit your mother and sister."

"Alright, alright." He gulped down half of the meat bun, changed into a black shirt, grabbed some fruit with his left hand, and reached for his phone with his right. The screen lit up, revealing several missed calls Xu Chengyue from the previous night after he'd fallen asleep, and the email he sent after seeing he didn't answer

The email mentioned that Xu Chengyue had already reviewed Guan Jianhua's activities over the past month. Attached were photos of the people Guan Jianhua had met frequently.

– Guan Jianhua had followed Yuan Man. Yuan Man was likely aware of being followed, so considering merging the cases might be advisable.

This sentence was highlighted and bolded in the email.

Yuan Man's case had thus become entangled with his own. He stared at the phone screen, expressionless, as if reading ordinary news, but inside, his organs began to churn.

No one knew about these past events, Gu Yunfeng told himself.

He gathered his things and went downstairs with his father. They bought two bouquets of lilies from a street vendor. Before driving off, he hesitated but then wrote a message to Yuan Man, asking if they could meet the next day.

Unexpectedly, he received a reply within two minutes:

– Okay~ Let me know when you arrive, and I'll tell the security guard to let you in (^?^*) Without my pass card, you won't get in.

He couldn't help but smile. Turning his head, he saw Gu Tao's sorrowful expression, quickly reined in his smile, and drove to the cemetery.

Gu Yunfeng returned to work just before noon. Everyone had already ordered lunch and started eating, looking at each other when they saw his gloomy face. In fact, his expression was grim simply because he hadn't slept well and was tired from the early morning trip to the cemetery in the suburbs.

Xu Chengyue, who had no classes that morning, was in the criminal investigation team's office, going through their old files. He sat at a desk by the window, sunlight reflecting off his metal-framed glasses and dazzling Gu Yunfeng.

"Professor Xu, I read your email. I contacted Miss Yuan and will arrange a meeting at her agency." He rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt, grabbed a lunch box, and sat beside Xu Chengyue to eat.

"Captain Gu..." Wen Xin called out softly.

"What is it?"

"I heard you took half a day off and thought you would come in the afternoon, so..."

His chopsticks, holding a chicken drumstick, paused mid-air, waiting awkwardly for the next sentence.

"So, I didn't order your lunch. The one you're eating was for Professor Xu." Wen Xin looked at him seriously, glancing towards Professor Xu.

"Ah..." He turned to look at Xu Chengyue, who was engrossed in his studies, and instinctively shoved the remaining food into his mouth.

"It's fine, just order another one. Get the most expensive one for Professor Xu." Ignoring the mocking gazes, he handed his phone to Wen Xin and told her to order another takeaway.

"Thank you, Professor Xu, for selflessly donating your lunch to me." He shamelessly blocked the strong sunlight with his hand. Xu Chengyue closed his book, speechless, as he looked at the leftovers of what used to be his lunch.

"Alright, alright, everyone, after lunch, we'll have a meeting about Guan Jianhua's case."

After quickly finishing his lunch, Gu Yunfeng walked straight to the display board in the office. He noticed someone had drawn a relationship diagram of the case with a marker. Yuan Man's photo was in the centre, with one line pointing to Guan Jianhua and another to the name Chunqiu. He frowned, erased Chunqiu's name, and replaced it with the main culprit of the human trafficking case, Cao Yan, drawing a double-headed arrow connecting Guan Jianhua and Cao Yan. The three formed a solid triangle.

"Now we can link Guan Jianhua's 6.19 case with Tianyi's extortion case." His rolled-up cuffs had a bit of dust on them, and he looked quite serious in black.

"After being released from prison, Cao Yan was severely out of touch with society, losing both her economic source and survival ability. Between April 15th and April 20th, she contacted the driver Guan Jianhua, who had helped her transport people in the trafficking case." He put up the latest photo of Cao Yan, her hair tied back, face sallow, looking like an ordinary middle-aged woman. He clearly remembered how the news portrayed her before the trial: a "venomous beauty," ruthless and depraved. But when she walked out, eight months pregnant, even with a bare face, she looked delicate and evoked sympathy from many.

"She currently lives in a rented apartment in the Shangnan District, confirmed through indirect investigation to be rented with the help of a friend. The police have not directly contacted Cao Yan at this time. Her purpose for contacting Guan Jianhua is unknown, but it is certainly not honourable and highly likely to involve planning new crimes."

"Why?" He repeated the others' questions and answered, "Guan Jianhua has multiple criminal records and is heavily stigmatised. After her release, the times had changed, and Cao Yan was disowned by all her relatives, she faced a completely negative social environment. Her initiating contact with him is tantamount to labelling herself similarly." He marked "Intent to re-offend" between Cao Yan and Guan Jianhua on the relationship diagram. Just then, he noticed Xu Chengyue holding some expensive-looking Japanese food, realising that Wen Xin had indeed ordered the most expensive meal for him.

"June 19th, Guan Jianhua was murdered." He marked the timeline with a crooked star on June 19th to highlight this key point.

"April 15th, Cao Yan was released from prison and made her first contact with Guan Jianhua before the 20th. According to Chen Yu's description, the first extortion call was received on May 24th, demanding half a million as hush money, threatening to leak Yuan Man's secret to the media otherwise. After negotiating, Tianyi agreed to transfer three hundred thousand on June 1st into a specified account. From June 2nd or earlier, Guan Jianhua started intermittently following Yuan Man. On June 10th, Chen Yu received another extortion call, this time demanding an additional seven hundred thousand, bringing the total to one million. On June 17th, the seven hundred thousand was transferred to the same account."

He drew a timeline, marking a point between the thirty thousand transfer and the second extortion call. "On June 9th, the day before the second extortion, Yuan Man received a direct threat letter through the gap in her dressing room door, bypassing her agent and company, targeting her personally. On June 21st, Chen Yu reported the case."

He struggled to understand the motive behind sending the threat letter. If it was the extortionist’s doing, what was the point? It seemed entirely superfluous.

"The calls to Chen Yu were made via a fake base station, showing the number 10086, with a machine-generated voice. The account that received the one million belonged to someone who died two years ago. The family confirmed he had indeed lost his wallet three years ago but forgot to cancel the bank card. The funds in the account were transferred within two hours to a virtual account with an IP address located in Mexico, and the further flow of funds is untraceable."

"However, Guan Jianhua's behaviour of following Yuan Man allows us to make a hypothesis."

"That Guan Jianhua was the one extorting Yuan Man?" someone asked.

"Mhmm, but it's only a hypothesis. The bank account and the extortion calls have left no leads, so we cannot be sure that his purpose in following Yuan Man was to extort her."

"Shu Pan," Gu Yunfeng called out, "I have a list of individuals involved in the major human trafficking case of June 24th, 2005. Starting today, take some people to check their bank accounts to see if any have unexplained large deposits after June 1st."

"Hey, Captain Gu, what's the difference between this extortion and celebrities dealing with negative news through PR?" Shu Pan asked.

Gu Yunfeng shot him a look, "There's a difference. One involves willingly giving money, the other is being forced to pay."

"Right." Shu Pan nodded, thinking how if these extortionists set up a company to release so-called black material bit by bit, they wouldn't need to commit crimes. They just didn't understand market economics.

"Through communication with Chen Yu, she mentioned that she chose to report the case on June 21st because she received another scam call the previous night. This time, instead of directly demanding more hush money, the caller mentioned several places Yuan Man had recently visited, suggesting Chen Yu prepare to pay to avoid disaster."

Greedy, vicious, reckless, yet experienced. They left few traces for the police to follow. Guan Jianhua, who had been involved in telecom fraud, had the capability to do this without using his personal phone.

"So, Guan Jianhua, Cao Yan, and other unidentified individuals used threats and extortion to demand a total of one million from Tianyi."

If it was confirmed that Guan Jianhua was one of the extortionists, then the fact that Chen Yu received another extortion call after his death indicated a group operation. The most likely group member next in line would be Cao Yan. After her release, lacking survival skills but yearning for freedom and her past life, she developed the idea to extort money upon discovering her daughter had become a pop star. This hypothesis was reasonable and could be validated, but until effective evidence was found, it remained a one-sided conjecture.

"We'll pause on Yuan Man's case for now. Next, let's discuss the June 19th murder of Guan Jianhua." He used the projector to display crime scene photos and the coroner's report.

"Professor Xu, what do you think?"

Xu Chengyue had just finished his few pieces of salmon, sipping water from his thermos. Realising he was being called on, he absent-mindedly said, "Reincarnation... is important."

He thought Yuan Man was quite unlucky, having a mother like that, marked with original sin before birth, and then being stalked and extorted by her own mother as an adult. Kidnapping might even be the next step.

A mother kidnapping her pop star daughter and extorting her agency would indeed make big news.

"I asked what you think about Guan Jianhua's murder case."

"My thoughts... The murderer's method is clear, but the motive is crucial." Xu Chengyue quickly brainstormed, not caring if he was right or wrong: "The motive for killing Guan Jianhua could be one of three things. First: internal conflict. In a group scam, someone wasn't satisfied with their share and killed him. Second: a fervent fan. Someone discovered he was extorting Yuan Man and did it for her. Such a person must be a true fan. Third: revenge from a victim of the trafficking case, since Guan Jianhua was one of the offenders."

After finishing, he glanced at Gu Yunfeng. "Regardless of the reason, Cao Yan is very dangerous. If she's not the murderer and wasn't involved in the internal conflict, she could be the next victim. She should be our focus for protection now."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 30, 2024 by Angel

Edited: July 2, 2024 by Angel