Qiming Chapter 49

Chapter 49

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Jinping District Public Security Bureau.

As soon as Gu Yunfeng walked into the office, he felt an unprecedented pressure. With every step he took, he attracted gazes from all directions. When he finally reached his office, he really didn't want to go in. Instead, he turned and walked to the nearest desk, staring back at those who were looking at him.

"Captain Gu, Captain Gu," Shu Pan tugged at his arm and asked quietly, "Is it true that Professor Xu is living with you?"

Gu Yunfeng: "......"

He looked up at the sky, closed his eyes in despair, took a few seconds to compose himself, and then looked straight ahead. Knocking on the desk, he righteously explained, "It's because you guys broke Professor Xu's door and window last time, his house is uninhabitable."

"You, and you." He randomly pointed at a few local guys. "How about letting him stay at your place? It's closer to Professor Xu's school."

"No, no, no, Captain Gu, my place is too small, there's no room," the young men quickly shook their heads like rattles and waved their hands in refusal.

"Then shut up... Anyone who talks again can pay for Professor Xu's rent."

"Yes, yes, yes." And then the group suddenly dispersed.

He pulled out a chair, clapped his hands, and wiped the dust off with a piece of paper. As he sat down and leaned forward, he suddenly remembered that he had come for a serious matter and shouldn't let them rile him up.

He waved at the dispersed crowd, "Ai, you guys, don't go, come back."

Everyone: "???"

Gu Yunfeng: "Meeting!"

—————

"The bloodstain identification results are out." He paused, looked around, and wrote the suspect's name on the display board, "As everyone knows, based on the DNA comparison results, our current suspect is – Lin Xiangrong."

"Lin Xiangrong, the lawful wife of Jiang Yang, the second son of the Jiang family, married Jiang Yang five years ago and has endured domestic violence from her husband for a long time, with twenty recorded reports. The two have been separated for a long time and have no children."

"It's worth noting that Lin Xiangrong and Jiang Yang's elder brother, Jiang Hai, were students at the same school. We found their former classmates, who confirmed that they were in a relationship before Jiang Hai fell into a coma due to a car accident."

As for why Lin Xiangrong didn't leave the Jiang family after Jiang Hai's coma and instead married Jiang Yang, the reasons were unknown. After all, almost everyone privy to the details died on the August 19th, under the same murder weapon. Why she married Jiang Yang could only be answered by Lin Xiangrong herself. 

Gu Yunfeng continued: "According to the judgement before the bloodstain identification came out, the murderer was highly likely to be male. Due to physiological differences, it's challenging for a woman to commit such a murder alone." The murderer not only killed three innocent people with a single shot each in a skilful manner but also cruelly sawed off Jiang Yang's limbs using a hacksaw. Unlike an electric saw, a hacksaw relies heavily on the user's strength and skill, and most women don't have the strength to sever an adult man's limbs.

"Secondly, Lin Xiangrong was not in the country that day, so she didn't have the opportunity to commit the crime." He signalled to Xu Yuanqiao, "Forensic Doctor Xu, can you confirm that the blood sample belongs to Lin Xiangrong?"

"Yes, the collected sample is from Lin Xiangrong. Moreover, Lin Xiangrong is an only child, with no siblings."

Xu Yuanqiao affirmed, "So, there's no possibility of an identical twin."

Could someone have secretly collected Lin Xiangrong's blood sample and poured it at the crime scene to frame her?

He quickly dismissed this idea, as the examination results noted that the blood had adhered within three hours before the crime. Even with special preservation methods, the blood couldn't have been outside the body for more than twelve hours. But Lin Xiangrong had gone abroad ten days earlier, making it impossible timewise.

"Did Lin Xiangrong's mother confirm that she wasn't pregnant with twins?" a young policewoman asked, "What if it was a twin pregnancy, and one was secretly taken away at birth, reported as stillborn?"

Gu Yunfeng: "......"

He surprisingly found himself unable to refute.

"What ideas do you have? It doesn't matter how strange they are."

"The clinic could have made an error, mistaking twins for a single pregnancy, then took one child away after birth."

... Is there anyone who would slander other people's clinics like this?

Unable to laugh or cry, he held his forehead and shook his head, "Can we stop obsessing over the twin theory?"

"Then... is this possible?" Wen Xin raised her hand timidly, "What if Lin Xiangrong never actually left the country?"

"Never left the country?" He repeated, "We requested immigration records, and Lin Xiangrong did go to Iceland at the end of July, only returning after the crime. Her ticket information and border crossing records match."

"She could have swapped identities and tickets with someone else after getting through customs and stayed in China?"

"Then how did she get back in?"

"By using someone else's ticket..."

"Facial recognition technology is highly accurate now. Unless they look almost identical, she wouldn't get through."

"What if she smuggled herself back in halfway?"

Smuggled back halfway? He rubbed his temples vigorously, that seemed plausible too.

Listening to all the far-fetched discussions gave him a headache. He felt like he was in a maze, unable to find an exit. Lin Xiangrong had both motive and suspicion, physical evidence pointing to her, and a perfect alibi.

He patted Shu Pan and asked, "Have you contacted Lin Xiangrong? Ask her to come and cooperate with the investigation."

The dazed Shu Pan was startled and nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, we've contacted her. She'll be here this afternoon."

—————

[Zhiyin Biotech went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today, with a final valuation of 83.4 billion HKD.] Gu Yunfeng's fingers quickly swept through the news feed, pausing for a few seconds on this headline.

The next news item was about the popular idol group AIR, who attended a charity gala to raise money for children with leukaemia last night. He didn't read it closely, glancing at the headline before closing the news and putting away his phone. He looked at the woman who had just sat down across from him.

Lin Xiangrong wore light makeup, sitting gracefully with her hands clasped. There were fine lines at the corners of her eyes, her long hair draped over her shoulders, the ends tucked behind her ears. She wore a dark blue dress with a light shawl draped over her shoulders.

The Jiang family had always claimed that Lin Xiangrong left Ronghua Biotech and its affiliated companies years ago, not holding any position and mainly handling household affairs. However, every time he saw her, her attire leaned more towards that of a professional woman.

"We meet again, Officer Gu." She smiled slightly and made a gesture of invitation, "Although I don't understand why you called me here... I'll tell you everything I know."

"Thank you very much."

"You're welcome. Although I view Jiang Yang as an enemy, I still hope the case is solved soon."

He nodded, verbally expressing his gratitude, saying how rare it was to encounter such a cooperative witness or family member, saving the police a lot of time and effort.

"When exactly did you travel abroad?"

"From July 28th to the 20th. I flew out at three-fifty in the afternoon on July 28th and arrived in Nanpu City at eight in the morning on August 20th. Then I went straight to Jinping Hospital and happened to meet you and Professor Xu."

"Is there anyone who can confirm you were in Iceland the whole time?"

"No," she shook her head, "I went alone, but I took a lot of photos. Do the timestamps on the photos count?" She pulled out her phone and showed the photos in her album, "These are from various tourist spots, with timestamps that might be of some reference value."

He took Lin Xiangrong's phone and saw that she had indeed taken many photos two days before the incident. One photo was of an early morning on the glacial plateau, with Lin Xiangrong sitting on a basalt rock, facing the black sand beach and watching the sunrise.

"Other than the day you returned, have you visited any hospitals recently?" He saved the photos and sent them before returning the phone to her.

"Hospitals?" She thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, I visited Ruihe Hospital to discuss transferring Jiang Hai."

"Transferring?" Gu Yunfeng raised his head in surprise. "Why that hospital? It's a private hospital, not as good as public tertiary hospitals."

She chuckled, "Why Ruihe? Isn't this a special case like Professor Xu?"

He deliberately scrutinised Lin Xiangrong's hands and upper body, finding no visible injuries. The bloodstains in Jiang Yang's car were on the seats, ruling out any injuries below the waist.

Bloodstain analysis indicated the blood wasn't from a woman's menstrual cycle, and Jiang Yang had gone to a bar to ask for bandages, suggesting the murderer had minor injuries.

"Why didn't you transfer him earlier?"

"They all opposed it. Ruihe Hospital's shareholders are competitors with the Jiang family."

"Zhiyin Biotech?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Narrow-minded, isn't it?"

"It's understandable." Gu Yunfeng clasped his hands and leaned on the table. "I'm curious, why would a tech company like Zhiyin invest in a private hospital?"

"Does it have to do with the biotech company that just went public?" He suddenly asked. "It used to be a major division of Zhiyin, right? Spinning off and going public is interesting."

"Maybe it is related." She smiled, "We seem to be getting off-topic, aren't you going to ask more about the case?"

He paused for a moment before saying, "Since you weren't at the scene, I can only ask about the Jiang family."

"Ms. Lin, I'm curious... how did you and Jiang Hai meet?" Before coming, he had looked into Lin Xiangrong's background. She came from a small city in a central province, with parents who were regular workers. After graduating from a prestigious university, she went to Princeton on a scholarship. She started school early, so even though Jiang Hai was three or four years older, he was only one grade above her.

"You're quite the gossip, Officer Gu."

"Listening to dog blood love stories makes me force myself out of being single."

"Pfft–" She couldn't help but laugh. "There's no dramatic dog blood story. We were both students under the same professor at Princeton, with similar research interests, so we naturally got to know each other."

"Who confessed first?"

"There was no confession, we just naturally got together." She showed a rare girlish happiness. "One day, during a medical lecture on blood diseases, we talked about our future goals. We wanted to cure some incurable diseases, even just one or two would be a great contribution to humanity."

"Back then, we were so idealistic. I thought there were few diseases I could cure because I hadn't emerged yet." She smiled self-deprecatingly, gazing at the distant skyscrapers and the sky. The next moment, her eyes turned sharp.

"In the end, my contribution to blood diseases was just registering my information in the China Marrow Donor Program."

"Later, we shifted our research focus to neurosurgery. When he returned to China, I came back too, and I realised how far we'd strayed from our ideals." Her gaze drifted as if she had been transported back to the other side of the ocean years ago.

"Your ideals are too lofty for me." Gu Yunfeng smiled. "My contribution is probably just donating blood every six months."

"That's good too." Lin Xiangrong smiled warmly, tying up her hair and securing it with a clip. She had more or less guessed why the police had called her. Given the numerous questions about her itinerary, there was likely substantial evidence casting suspicion on her.

What kind of evidence could it be?

She leaned back in her chair, feigning a relaxed demeanour while looking directly into Gu Yunfeng's suspicious eyes across from her.

"So... given your relationship with Jiang Hai, why did you later marry Jiang Yang? Don't you find it strange?"

"To repay a favour," she quickly replied, narrowing her eyes with a slight smile. Her hands on her lap trembled involuntarily.

—————

The author has something to say:

Still gearing up.

‿︵‿︵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 29, 2024 by Angel

Edited: September 26, 2024 by Angel