Case Files 013

Zhou Guo had planned everything and shouldered all the responsibility. 5 people had died but the case raised not even a ripple in the big city. The city dwellers had gotten used to it, gotten numb to people around them dying from great pressure. Life in the city was so fast that those who couldn't catch up would naturally be eliminated. This was my first time encountering a case without a killer. I could only pray that the teens would thrive bearing the hope of these adults.

Seeing me standing there all spaced out, Gu Chen snapped his fingers beside me and said, "What are you thinking about? The case is already over. We knew from the start that these people had committed suicide. Now that Zhou Guo is dead, whether he had persuaded them or not, I don't think it matters anymore." I had a feeling of punching at the cushion, like my energy had been wasted. But at least from Gao Rui and Ma Liliang's wills, they had stated explicitly that they did intend to kill themselves and they didn't want to burden Zhou Guo with it. Therefore, it didn't matter whether Zhou Guo approached them or not, they would have chosen death in the end. Zhou Guo's appearance merely allowed them to make their deaths more meaningful.

The suicide cases were over but there were still many things to be done. I reported Zhang Xue's father to the responsible unit. That incidentally raised quite a big wave at Dong Xing City, this was because Zhang Xue's father, Zhang Dequan was the leader of the financial department of the city organizational unit. It was a place where a lot of powerful people worked. Zhang Dequan's manager, the one who raped Zhang Xue, had received an ‘honorary' retirement and as expected Zhang Dequan eventually took over his seat. During the arrest, Captain Zhao brought us with him. Zhang Duquan was a muscular man with tanned skin. He didn't look at all like a man who spent his days in the office. Zhang Xue was present during evidence collection, she pointed out her father and a few other people at the office. This was going to be a long and arduous process but at least it had begun now.

Based on the workers' testimonies from the city organizational unit, Zhang Dequan joined them when he was about 30. Before that, he was a sailor. He was used to manual labor. Zhang Dequan followed a ship crew when he was only a teen, he married when he was 20 plus and decided to settle after marriage. However, Zhang Dequan didn't have any sellable skillset, he could only offer his brute strength. He knew that would not sustain his family so while he picked up odd jobs, he took the exams for governmental work. This was not a simple thing and he failed multiple years. During this moment, their family welcomed a new member.

Zhang Xue was born on a snowy night, Zhang Dequan felt the burden on his shoulder getting heavier. Zhang Dequan knew that he couldn't rely on the labor-intensive odd jobs forever because he would eventually be eliminated by the younger and stronger generation. Changing his status quo was Zhang Dequan's only way out. Education was the great leveler. While he applied for the exams, Zhang Dequan also graduated from a vocational school. However, when Zhang Xue was 3, Zhang Dequan's wife fell ill. Even though he expended all his savings, his wife eventually left the world. At the time, Zhang Xue was only 2, she couldn't even remember what her mother looked like. Zhang Dequan loved his wife deeply, the woman who stuck with him through thick and thin. 2 years later, with his own hard work, Zhang Dequan finally passed the examination and joined the city organizational unit. By then Zhang Dequan was already 30, but he had never been in the system before. He didn't know much about the rules and thus didn't expect to do much for himself inside the unit.

A government job was extremely secure, it was more than enough to provide a stable life for him and his daughter. However, the incident that night changed everything. The moment Zhang Dequan put down the knife, he also put down his morality. Suddenly Zhang Dequan grew from an unknown character into the most famous employee. With the support from many higher-ups, he reached the height that he enjoyed today.

Zhang Dequan's colleagues only had good things to say about him. There were many people who played tricks and looked down on Zhang Dequan when he first joined the unit but when Zhang Dequan climbed over them on the company ladder, he didn't use the opportunity to take revenge. Whenever a colleague needed help, Zhang Dequan would be the first to offer a helping hand. A female colleague said, "Manager Zhang was my Prince Charming. I once considered confessing my love to him but after I found out he had never married after his wife passed away more than 10 years ago, I knew that no other woman would be able to enter his heart. I never thought he would be such a monster…"

Some of the colleagues shook their heads and sighed; while others piled on his misery. In any case, in Zhang Dequan's current state, his ‘friends' couldn't wait to distance themselves from him. When he was shoved into the cruiser, Zhang Dequan looked at Zhang Xue who stood not far away. His tears fell silently. Perhaps Zhang Dequan loved his wife so much that he couldn't stop himself from seeing his daughter as his wife. However, no matter what kind of person he was, he had no right to build his happiness on other people's pain. Perhaps Zhang Dequan would sell out his accomplice to lighten his sentence but that was not my concern anymore. Just as Zhang Xue was about to leave, I called her name.

Zhang Xue and I stood there with the sirens crying all around us. Zhang Xue had tears in her eyes. She told me that her father treated her like a princess before she was 12. Unfortunately people would change, due to their new position, or new environment. In any case, Zhang Dequan was still her father and he had given her plenty of good memories too. She must be in unimaginable pain.

"After this is over, you plan to move to a place no one knows you?" I looked into Zhang Xue's eyes and asked slowly. Zhang Xue was shocked. She was a clever girl. She should know that I had already guessed the whole truth. She took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes so that her tears wouldn't fall. "Yes, thank you. After the case with my father wraps up, I do plan to move to a place where no one knows me. Thank you for everything. I have nothing to give you, so I shall give you this book." Zhang Xue took out To Live from her bag and placed it in my hands. The book was very well-read, and the pages were yellowed. I flipped through it and saw a note made by Zhang Xue. "Is life always this hard or is it when you are a kid?"

Zhang Xue then turned and walked away. The crew hopped into the cruisers and left. Soon only a few of us were left at the department door. Captain Zhao walked over and said, "All of those people died from suicide but had accidentally drawn out a pig. Do you really have no idea where that 20,000,000 RMB is?"

I shook my head. "No, what about Sister Mary? Can she find anything?" Captain Zhao sighed, "If we really want to launch an investigation, it'll involve the Interpol. The fees involved will be more than 20,000,000 RMB. O well, I guess the secret will die with the dead. By the way, where is Xiao Liu? Why don't I see him?" I slapped my forehead. I had Xiao Liu investigate Zhou Guo's parents for me. But he never returned yesterday night, he probably found something. One hour after we returned to the station, Xiao Liu finally arrived. "Fuck, you're here drinking tea while I'm outside slaving away?" Xiao Liu groaned.

I lifted my head and said, "Detective Liu, so what did you find?"

Xiao Liu pouted and said, "I did find something. When Zhou Guo's mother fell ill with paralysis, his father abandoned his family and ran. No one has seen him ever since."

Guan Zhenglin rolled her eyes. "Then why did you take so long with your investigation?"

"I wasn't done yet." Xiao Liu snatched my cup and gulped down the water. "I continued my investigation because I noticed something weird about Zhou Guo's mother's death."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Yesterday night, I got an interesting clue from Zhou Guo's neighbours. Zhou Guo's mother also died from suicide. About 2 years ago, her illness worsened. It would take a lot of money to cure it. Therefore, she had expressed the intention to commit suicide many times to her neighbours and every time they would call her son to persuade her off it." Shaking his head, Xiao Liu continued, "But in the end, she still died. Did you know how?" When no one answered, Xiao Liu breathed out in disbelief. "She was scalded to death."

"Scalded to death?" I hadn't no idea what that was.

"Yes." Xiao Liu took out a file. "I didn't get it at first either, but I heard from the neighbour aunties that Zhou Guo's mother died from eating soybeans. She cooked soybeans until they were boiling and then wrapped them in a layer of cold white rice before swallowing them whole. Inside the stomach, the acid would dissolve the rice and the burning beans would burn holes through the stomach lining." Hearing that, goosebumps rose all over my skin. Xiao Liu proceeded, "His mother swallowed a lot of them in one go. The rice was cold but the soybeans were boiling hot. Inside her stomach, they didn't take long to basically cook her to death from within. She did this around 4 to 5 pm so Zhou Guo was still at school. Understandably this was a very painful way to go so his mother was biting on a piece of cloth when she was discovered. She didn't want anyone to hear her scream, but the pain was probably beyond what she expected. In the end, she hissed through her gritted teeth and was thus found by her neighbours. She was immediately rushed to the hospital but died on the way there…" Xiao Liu scratched his head. "When she was found, she was the only one inside the room, so her death was deemed a suicide. Furthermore, it seems highly unlikely that someone would use this method to murder someone…"

"Wait, there's a problem!" I shot up from my seat.