Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Come on, bros. Drink, drink…” Right after Li Beini spoke, Mao Wei suddenly raised his glass and told everyone, “We solved the case beautifully, so now we have to give a toast! This is a celebration dinner! Bureau Chief Luan will pay the bill for us!”
“Yeah, yeah…” The police detectives verbally and physically showed their support, raising their glasses. But everyone was still thinking about Feng Ling and Feng Kuo in their minds, so it seemed a little awkward.
“Sigh!” Putting down the glass, Mao Wei told Li Beini in all sincerity, “Beini! You do know that if you want to investigate the Apartment Murder Case, the one from about ten years back, that it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be either! First of all, the investigation rights of the case belonged to the Moyang Branch, and we did not have the authority. Secondly, don’t forget that the penalties had been meted out in accordance of the crime, so it wasn’t just any cold case!”
Mao Wei refilled his beer and said, “So, you need to flip the pancake to cook it on both sides! Think about it, if the other police stations were to come over to ours in order to investigate on a case that had already been closed and sentenced, how would we react?”
“Busybody!” Xiao Bai raised his eyebrows and replied.
“Worse than that!” Mao Wei shook his head and said, “Wouldn’t you feel like they were taking their work from them?”
Mao Wei put it in simple terms, getting to the point directly. “If it was before, we could still go through the proper channels and ask the higher ups to solve it by sending in an application. This is because it was related to the imprisonment of an innocent person, after all! The higher ups might have approved the application and had the Moyang Branch to reinvestigate the case!” Mao Wei continued, “But, don’t forget about what just happened to the Moyang Branch.”
“If Fu Jianxing wasn’t dead, according to his personality, he might probably have helped Feng Kuo to reverse the previous case judgement! But unfortunately, the Moyang Sherlock Holmes is no longer there! Their police station has just encountered a catastrophe. So, at this time, how could the higher ups approve the application?”
“Tsk tsk…” Zhang Jingfeng poured and said, “After Mao says these things, it does make sense! If we were to send in an application, everyone would think that we were boastful of ourselves and that we even hit a person when they are down. They would think that we were ridiculing the Moyang Branch! That… That would mean that we had offended the entire Qinshan police league!”
“That’s right!” Mao Wei sighed. “We here at the Rongyang Branch just solved the kidnapping case, provideing clues to the provincial police so they could successfully arrest the escaped prisoner! We are in the limelight now, and every other police station is green with envy!”
He continued, “If we were to send in such an application, wouldn’t we be inviting trouble? Not only would we be offending the higher ups and our colleagues, everyone would think that we were extremely arrogant! These jealous people might talk behind our backs!”
“No!” Just as Mao Wei was done talking, Li Beini suddenly spoke, “Team Lead Miao, Zhang, how dare you say that you are the seniors in the Key Case Investigation Unit?! We are police detectives, aren’t we suppose to look for the truth?”
“Did you forget? If Feng Kuo was really innocent, he had already been behind bars for ten years,” Li Beini spoke emotionally. “After this chaos, he might not be able to get out for the rest of his life! Now that we know that, why don’t we investigate?”
“Maybe… Feng Kuo wasn’t wrongly accused?” Zhang Jingfeng replied.
“Teacher Feng took such a huge risk. If Feng Kuo wasn’t wrongly accused, would it be possible?” Feng Kuo offered.
“Why not?” Zhang Jingfeng said. “Although Feng Ling is Feng Kuo’s mother, she couldn’t be a hundred percent sure that Feng Kuo was innocent. What if Feng Kuo cheated Feng Ling? In actual fact, what if he was really the murderer?”
“I don’t think so…” Liang Huan suddenly refuted Zhang Jingfeng’s reply. “Feng Kuo is not a kid! If he want to break out from prison, he must have known Feng Ling’s plan before, and must have known that she was going to use Lan Shuping’s daughter to force Lan Shuping to turn himself in!”
“If he was really the murderer, he should tell Feng Ling the truth, right? Don’t forget, he only needed another nine years until he could leave the prison. Why go through the torture?”
“Hence, the fact that Feng Kuo agreed with his mother’s plans signifies that not only was he wrongly accused, but that he also believed that Lan Shuping was the real murderer!”
“Liang, but the truth is that Lan Shuping wasn’t, right?” Zhang Jingfeng was arguing with Liang Huan. “If he was, he would’ve been penalized!”
“Would it…” Xiao Bai said, “Beside these two, would it be a third suspect?”
“The possibility is very small!” Liu Xueshan said, “Murder needs motive! The property at the scene wasn’t pillaged, and the deceased didn’t show any signs of violation. It meant that this wasn’t a robbery nor a rape murder case! It only showed that she was killed in revenge!”
“True,” Da Fei analyzed. “The deceased was stabbed in her chest multiple times. This means that the murderer was fast and brutal, and obviously acted with emotions! Possibly some emotional entanglement!? From the surface, it seemed that only Feng Kuo and Lan Shuping would be the suspects!”
“The truth needs to be excavated!” Liang Huan said, “Maybe, behind the case, there is something unknown! Such as… the deceased once offended someone else?”
“Yeah!” Xiao Bai said, “There might be some other suspects! Think about it, a murderer that had escaped for so many years, but was still watching in secret. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps!”
“And,” Li Beini said, “Teacher Feng Ling was terminally ill. The reason why she took such a huge risk was to see Feng Kuo’s injustice washed away! Aren’t we, as police detectives, responsible for, and obligated to, helping her?”
“Childish!” Zhang Jingfeng said. “Don’t forget that Feng Ling used a little girl as a token. Such a crime can’t be forgiven easily!”
“No, during the trial, Teacher Feng said…” Li Beini explained, “She said she definitely wouldn’t hurt Niuniu!”
“Hey, everyone! Can all of you listen to me?” Mao Wei suddenly spoke out loudly. “I haven’t finished what I wanted to say earlier! There is one more thing that all of you don’t know about!”
Hearing Mao Wei, the police detectives stopped their debate and quieted down.
“Actually, there is another reason why I do not agree to reversing a verdict for Feng Kuo, which is also the most important one!” Mao Wei spoke dully, “If we were to reinvestigate the case, it would definitely offend the police detectives that were in charge of the case back then! Do you know who it was?”
“Mm… Who?” Everyone was confused.
“Hehe… I, myself, found it hard to believe!” Mao Wei said. “The police detective captain from Moyang Branch that was in charged of Feng Kuo’s case was the current first commander in chief in Qinshan police league, Bureau Chief Hong Jianrong!”
“Wow! Really?” Everyone was shocked, and couldn’t help but swallow their saliva down their dry throats.
“Now… Do you know what I’m worried about?” Mao Wei looked at everyone, heavy hearted. “In this world, there are always a few people that you can’t afford to offend! If we really reversed the verdict and solved the case ourselves, it would certify that our higher up had made a mistake, and we would affect his future by revealing that mistake! If we can’t solve it, or maybe, if the murderer was really Feng Kuo, we would become the target, hated greatly by man and God!”
Then, it was suddenly pitch quiet. However, the silence only remained for a few seconds, before Zhao Yu suddenly stood up from his seat, turned around, and left.
“Hey? Bro…” Li Beini asked, “Where are you going?”
“Oh, nowhere really. Well, I’m going to talk to Hong!” Zhao Yu spoke lightly, then walked towards the door.
When he got to the door, he suddenly stopped and turned around. He saw that all the police detectives believed in what he said, and that they were looking at each other in disbelief, which caused him to laugh hysterically.
“Wahaha… I’m joking! Can’t I go to the toilet?”
