Qiming Chapter 31

Chapter 31

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The rain continued to pour outside, seeping through the window and trailing down the walls to the floor. Li Wei sat quietly at the table without saying a word. Old Liu grabbed Xu Chengyue's water glass and took a big gulp, not realising the water wasn't meant for him.

"Do you have a good relationship with Tang Zhihai?" Gu Yunfeng asked, browsing through Tang Zhihai's personnel file on the computer. From joining to leaving, it spanned over twenty years. All his records were spotless, looking more like a perfect gentleman with nothing extra.

"Not bad. When we were young, we often played ball together. Later, after his incident, he was transferred to a different position and became depressed for a while, so we didn't keep in touch much."

"I see he's maintained his physique well."

"This... maybe he started exercising on his own later," Old Liu said, leaning back in his chair and tapping his own belly.

"Have you met his girlfriend?" Xu Chengyue asked.

"You mean now? How would I know, we haven't been in contact for over ten years."

"Before."

"Oh, when we were young? He had plenty back then. He was handsome and tall, very popular with the girls, and he changed girlfriends frequently," Old Liu said, his eyes shining with the memories of his youth. "Actually, I was quite handsome back then too, but unlike him, I couldn't charm the girls," he shook his head, feeling a bit regretful.

Gu Yunfeng found it odd. "He wasn't too young at that time, didn't he plan to get married?"

"No, he hadn't had enough fun yet. When the factory incident happened, he wasn't even thirty, marriage wasn't on his mind," Old Liu sighed. He glanced at Gu Yunfeng and suddenly asked, "Young man, you seem to be around that age too, are you married?"

"Pfft, no one wants to marry him," Xu Chengyue couldn't help but chuckle before Gu Yunfeng could respond.

In the next second, Gu Yunfeng vowed never to bring up such topics again. He pulled out an old photo of Cao Yan from the album. The woman in the photo had almond-shaped eyes, fair skin, and a delicate appearance. Her hair was casually tied at the back and draped over her shoulder.

"Was she one of his girlfriends?"

"Let me see. She looks familiar..." Old Liu squinted at the photo for a long time, then pulled out a pair of glasses from his pocket.

"Damn, she's quite pretty," he remarked, scratching his head. "Truth be told, Officer, I really don't know all of Old Tang's girlfriends, he used to change them every few months. He sometimes took us to bars, and during those times, he often hooked up with new girls. I know of at least a dozen one-night stands."

"......"

Li Wei rolled her eyes from the side and muttered softly, "Serves him right."

"Hahaha, so you see, I can't recognise all his girlfriends. No, I should say I don't recognise most of them. We were all young back then, full of vigour, and it only lasted a couple of years," Old Liu said, finishing the rest of the water. He looked at the two officers on the sofa and said, "You guys are around the same age, and both men, you understand."

"......" Listening to him gave Gu Yunfeng a headache. He handed the water glass to Xu Chengyue, who shook his head, so Gu Yunfeng drank a few sips himself.

"Does Tang Zhihai like children?"

"Absolutely. He used to tell us he wanted to get married at thirty and have two kids by thirty-five, preferably a boy and a girl. So, you see, it's a matter of fate. Old Tang received a large compensation, but he was suffering inside. Life is unpredictable, young men."

"Later, he was transferred to the security team, and last year he left the company where he had worked for over twenty years. What position did he hold in the factory? Was he the head of the security team?"

"Yes, that's right. Hey, what did Old Tang do?" After all the questions, Old Liu finally sensed something was off. He leaned forward in his chair, peering at the computer screen with a puzzled expression.

"Nothing, we're just trying to understand the situation."

Gu Yunfeng extended his left hand, stood up, and thanked them, giving a formal statement of gratitude for their cooperation with the police investigation.

Despite the rain, the air conditioning inside made the room feel very dry. Xu Chengyue closed the notebook he had used to take notes, grabbed the only bottle of water on the table, and drank it.

At the doorway, staring at the torrential rain and swirling leaves, he suddenly noticed that only his own black umbrella remained on the stand. He looked around and saw no other umbrellas.

"Where'd my umbrella go?" Gu Yunfeng squatted down, scanning every corner but finding nothing.

"It must have been taken by mistake."

—————

Gu Yunfeng held up the small, wobbly umbrella, thinking it was too cramped for two grown men. The biggest problem was how to keep both of them dry under this tiny black umbrella.

He glanced at the rain and then at the umbrella, realising it was impossible. One of them would have to get wet.

At that moment, the small umbrella with only a 1.3-metre diameter forced him and Xu Chengyue to stand very close. Even though they were so close that they could hear each other's breathing, his own arm was already getting soaked.

This was too much, it would be better to go out and get wet by himself.

Getting soaked in the rain was preferable to being cramped under a small umbrella.

So, he shifted the umbrella towards Xu Chengyue, offering him the handle. "Professor Xu, you use the umbrella. My car is just ahead, I'll go and drive it over."

Xu Chengyue frowned and stared at him for a long time, making Gu Yunfeng feel uneasy, almost causing him to drop the umbrella and run away.

But the next second, a hand covered his. Xu Chengyue gripped the hand holding the umbrella and said with a serious expression, "You're getting wet because you're holding the umbrella at the wrong angle."

Gu Yunfeng: "???"

Xu Chengyue's palm was warm, covering his rain-chilled fingers. "Currently, the rain is falling at a sixty-three-degree angle from south to north due to the wind. We are also walking directly south, so the correct way to hold the umbrella is to match that angle."

He adjusted the umbrella in Gu Yunfeng's hand, tilting it forward. "Captain Gu, although you're holding it sideways, the angle is off. You need to make the umbrella perpendicular to the angle of the raindrops hitting the ground. Yes, like this, just at this angle."

He held Gu Yunfeng's hand for nearly a minute before finally letting go, completely composed and unembarrassed.

Meanwhile, Gu Yunfeng stood there, dumbfounded.

Damn, why did he hold my hand for so long?

Was he implying something?

Why was it implied for so long?

What was he implying?

After several minutes of inner turmoil, Gu Yunfeng finally convinced himself that perhaps Professor Xu just wanted someone to hold the umbrella for him.

With a stiff arm, he held the umbrella for another ten minutes. His arm stayed dry, but his shoes and trouser legs were half-soaked.

—————

The Jinping Bureau was filled with the smell of instant noodles and coffee. The heavy rain made the already gloomy corridors more humid. In one corner of the roof, water was leaking into a plastic basin, producing a constant dripping sound.

Outside, the wind howled. A group of them gathered in the meeting room, bombarded by a series of phone calls.

Shu Pan organised the latest developments in the case and provided a brief report, including information about Tang Zhihai.

"Tang Zhihai contacted Cao Yan using the company's landline, while Cao Yan used a public phone. We can't access the content of their conversations," Shu Pan continued. "We're currently retrieving surveillance footage near the public phone."

"With the help of cyber police, we obtained Tang Zhihai's social media accounts two hours ago, including but not limited to his online shopping account, QQ account, and WeChat. On June 22nd, he purchased two kilograms of cotton wool. The courier confirmed that the package was delivered to his home and signed for by him. The address is Yulong Community on Jiangpu Avenue, located at the junction of the Shangnan and Jinping districts, within ten kilometres of where the bodies in both cases were found, and only three kilometres from the initial crime scene."

"The first crime was a spur-of-the-moment act, inadequately planned, and instinctively committed in a familiar area," Gu Yunfeng marked the locations on the map. The office display board, which held a complex relationship chart, now finally had a complete network. He placed Tang Zhihai's photo in the lower left corner, with Yuan Man still in the centre, adding several new lines to connect them.

"Tang Zhihai left Pu Steel Group in May last year and joined Tianyi at the end of June as the head of security. According to his colleagues, Tang Zhihai was a loyal fan of Yuan Man, but it's unclear if there was any other connection between them."

After discovering Yuan Man was his daughter, he began planning to work at Tianyi. Once he secured the position, he resigned from Pu Steel Group, leaving the company where he had worked for over twenty years.

"You've been to Tianyi, right? Where's Tang Zhihai?" Gu Yunfeng suddenly grew alert.

"HR said he took a leave of absence yesterday and didn't come to work today."

A leave of absence? How convenient.

Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. He raised his eyelids slightly and nonchalantly pulled out a pen, pressing it onto the table. "Give me his home address, we're going there now."

The storm was coming, and dusk was falling.

Lights in the surrounding homes flickered on one by one as the rain fell, creating waves in the river that continuously battered the bridge piers.

To get from the criminal investigation team to Jiangpu Avenue, they had to cross the Yangtze River Bridge. In Guan Jianhua's case, the killer had driven Cao Yan's car across this bridge to dump the body in the residential area on Huanan Road.

Tang Zhihai lived in Yulong Community, less than a kilometre from the riverbank. After crossing the bridge, they arrived at their destination shortly. The area in front of the community gate was a low-lying spot with a lot of accumulated water. Parking the car in a shared lot outside the community, they had no choice but to wade through the water to reach the destination.

Building 87, Unit 301.

The three of them stood at Tang Zhihai's door, wearing shoe covers, and knocked lightly.

As expected, there was no response. From downstairs, they had already seen the tightly closed doors and windows, with the interior completely dark, indicating that no one was home.

"Is anyone there?" Gu Yunfeng knocked harder, but still no answer.

Fortunately, this was an old building with a flimsy iron door, so breaking in was not difficult. Gu Yunfeng found a piece of wire and instructed Shu Pan to bring some tin foil. After fiddling with the lock for a bit, the door quietly opened.

The house was empty. The electric kettle in the living room still had hot water, indicating Tang Zhihai hadn't left long ago.

The bedroom closet was messy, with a few clothes obviously just taken, leaving clear marks on the hangers. Half of the shoe cabinet was empty. Xu Chengyue opened the bathroom door, pointing at the empty towel and toothbrush stand. "Looks like he packed up and ran."

"What if he just went on a trip?" Shu Pan, squatting and rummaging through the drawers with gloves on, couldn't find any important identification documents.

"How could a planned trip leave the room so messy? Tang Zhihai seems quite neat and wouldn't throw his socks in with his underwear." Gu Yunfeng delicately picked up some clothing with his fingertips and put it in an evidence bag. "Take this back for DNA testing to see if he has a biological relationship with Yuan Man."

The rain pounded on the windows as if it might break in at any moment. It had been raining for days, making one wonder who had angered the heavens. The three of them entered different rooms, rummaging through everything.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder plunged the entire house into darkness.

"Fuck! The wiring in this old house is terrible, tripping the circuit with just a thunderclap?" Shu Pan, startled by the sudden darkness, jumped and hit his elbow on a table corner, resulting in a loud noise followed by continuous groaning.

Gu Yunfeng glanced in Shu Pan's direction but ignored him. He turned on his flashlight, scanning the entire house as he walked around. Entering the bedroom, he suddenly noticed a box on the bookshelf glowing with a faint red light.

"Look at that." The box was placed in a very concealed spot, hidden by the overlapping books. If it weren't for the layer of fluorescent paint, it would have been hard to spot day or night.

In the dim light, Xu Chengyue stepped forward, frowning as he held the red tin box.

"It seems to have significant meaning to the owner," Xu Chengyue said, pointing at the box. "It has a retro design with red fluorescent paint, popular in the 1990s."

What could be inside?

He pressed the button and gently opened the box.

On the top was a paternity test report. The title, in black and white, was striking. The client was Tang Zhihai, and the test subject was identified as Y. The testing unit was Ronghua Biotechnology Company, with the processing date of last September.

At that time, Tang Zhihai was already employed at Tianyi. It wouldn't have been difficult to obtain Yuan Man's biological material, a single hair strand would be enough.

The report's various terms, numbers, and symbols were beyond their understanding, but the conclusion was clear: Tang Zhihai had a probability greater than 99.99% of being the biological father of Y. Based on the DNA genetic marker results, Tang Zhihai was supported as Y's biological father.

Gu Yunfeng placed the report in the evidence bag. Underneath it were dozens of photo albums, each filled with pictures of Yuan Man, from when she was fifteen until now: professional magazine shoots, street shots by passers-by, selfies on Weibo, and everyday life photos.

In the photos, Yuan Man's eyes were clear, her smile pure. Some captured her crying, her eyes lowered, and others showed her gentle sleeping face. Each photo's back had detailed information about the photographer, time and place, documenting numerous moments after she turned fifteen.

They went through the albums until they found a blank one, with a hand-drawn child on the cover.

During Yuan Man's first fifteen years, although her parents were alive, she lived in an orphanage.

After struggling to leave the orphanage, her parents found her one after another, only to quietly disappear again.

Xu Chengyue closed the last empty album, watching Gu Yunfeng return the tin box to its original place. "Where would Tang Zhihai go now?"

Airport? Train station? Or had he already escaped to an unfamiliar city or even a foreign country?

"Who knows." Gu Yunfeng said slowly, "But tomorrow... he'll definitely be here."

In the dim light, he pulled out a concert ticket Yuan Man had given him a few days ago. The venue was Siping Stadium, scheduled for eight o'clock on July 3rd, the next evening.

"He will definitely come."

The night's heavy rain suddenly ceased, the streetlights flickering on and off. Excess rainwater dripped from the eaves into the soil. No one noticed a plane flying overhead, ascending further from the ground, heading toward the bright moon.

‿︵‿︵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: July 8, 2024 by Angel

Edited: August 19, 2024 by Angel