Animal Detective

Chapter 98: Do You Hope They Just Watched?

Shen Xin said nothing. It felt like a hand was squeezing his heart, and he couldn’t breathe.

Eleven children, in a dark truck cab...

Just thinking about that scene made Shen Xin’s hands and feet go ice-cold.

Wang Yongde continued, "Xiaoguo told us that Liu Laibin was a hit-and-run driver. If his case went to court, he could deny knowing there were children in the truck. He could’ve lived."

"Eleven children... What right did he have to live?"

"Xiaoguo said he wanted to kill Liu Laibin, a life for a life. But he still has a mother, just an old woman, and he was afraid she couldn’t bear it. Besides, Liu Laibin was the bad guy. He deserved to die. Why should one of us have to trade our life for his?"

"So he came up with a plan. He looked at the list of people who identified the bodies, and that’s how he found us. He wanted us to help him... help him kill Liu Laibin."

"He said he’d thought of a foolproof plan, one the police would never figure out. He said we were all victims, that we shouldn’t have to trade a life for a life. We all deserved to live on."

Shen Xin came back to his senses and said, "So you all went to Nanjiang and managed to get into Liu Laibin’s company? How many families did Guo Chunping convince back then? Six or seven?"

’Liu Laibin was stabbed seven times. That could mean seven people.’

"Six families."

Having said this much, Wang Yongde had no intention of hiding anything further. "In ’11, we went to Nanjiang one after another, just as Xiaoguo planned. My wife got a job at Liu Laibin’s company."

"Back then, Xiaoguo told me that for the plan to be seamless and undetectable by the police, we had to be patient. So we waited. We waited for two whole years."

Shen Xin let out a quiet sigh and asked, "And Liu Laibin never suspected a thing?"

’Five people infiltrated Liu Laibin’s company in 2011. Liu Laibin was murdered in 2013. For over two years, their mortal enemy was right in front of them. Could a group of ordinary people truly have that much self-control?’

’They were just ordinary people. How could they be such good actors?’

’It was like *Murder on the Orient Express*. The biggest plot hole in that story was that all the killers had the psychological fortitude and acting skills to pull off a perfect performance and deceive the great detective, Hercule Poirot.’

’And this case with Liu Laibin was even more difficult.’

’Living and working with him day in and day out for over two years without showing their hand... how did they manage it? It was unthinkable.’

Wang Yongde scoffed. "We were scared at first, too. My wife would come home from work every day with her hands and feet ice-cold, trembling with fear. But after a while, we just... got used to it."

"Besides, Xiaoguo’s idea at the time was not just to kill Liu Laibin, but also to make him go bankrupt, to make his life a living hell. So Li Weiqin and the others secretly sabotaged things, making his company lose money. During that period, his business got worse and worse. We kept going by watching him worry, watching him suffer."

’Shen Xin suddenly remembered: Liu Laibin’s company had done very well in its first year, but business started going downhill the second year, and then it just got worse and worse.’

’So that meant the problem stemmed from Li Weiqin and the others.’

’A sales manager, an accountant, and a technician... with them working together, it’d be a miracle if the company *didn’t* have problems.’

’The more you thought about it, the more terrifying the situation seemed.’

’Five people in your own company, all meticulously plotting your murder, and you have no idea.’

"So after you managed to make Liu Laibin lose most of his money, you forged a contract, scammed him out of two million in bridge loan funds, and then you decided to make your move, right?" Shen Xin asked.

Wang Yongde nodded. "That’s right. During that time, maybe Xiaoli went a bit too far, so Liu Laibin became suspicious. After we discussed it, we decided to make our move."

"I was the one who came forward and played the part of Sun Kai. As for how it was all set up, Xiaoli and the others handled it. Anyway, Liu Laibin fell for it."

"That day, after the bridge loan was transferred, Liu Laibin was pretty happy. He said he wanted to treat everyone to dinner, right after work. And then, we made our move."

"Anyway, everyone at the company was one of us. We destroyed the surveillance, locked the door, and no one was the wiser."

"He was terrified. He begged us not to kill him, said he had a child too, only four years old."

"I know about her. Tingting. We’d seen her. A sweet, well-behaved kid. She always called my wife ’Grandma’ when she saw her. My wife really liked her at first, too. But later, whenever we saw her, we’d think of Nannan. He said he had a child. What about us? We had children too! Did our children deserve to die?"

"Anyway, we did it. Xiaoguo said he didn’t want us to have blood on our hands. He said it didn’t matter for him, since he was alone. So he stabbed him once for each of us. He stabbed him twice himself, saying one of those was for his wife, too."

"And that was it."

Wang Yongde exhaled, his gaze calm.

Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei exchanged a rapid glance, and he asked, "Are you saying that all seven stab wounds that killed Liu Laibin were inflicted by Guo Chunping?"

’Although the autopsy report did speculate that all the wounds were inflicted by a single person...’

’But with their mortal enemy right there in front of them, could they really have restrained themselves and let Guo Chunping act in their stead?’

’Or was this all part of Guo Chunping’s plan?’

’Because listening to the story, Shen Xin got the distinct impression that Guo Chunping hadn’t just planned the murder; he had planned for the aftermath as well.’

’For instance, he had perfectly fabricated the suspect, Sun Kai, and used the coordinated testimony of the five accomplices to draw Qin Chuanwang’s attention toward him.’

’And, afraid the police would find some discrepancy, he didn’t even leave Nanjiang right away. The others also waited a long time before leaving, one after another.’

’And then there was the fact that as soon as they met, Wang Yongde knew Guo Chunping was dead.’

’So it was conceivable that when the others left Nanjiang, Guo Chunping had already figured that if the police ever investigated him and then found the others, the whole case would essentially be solved.’

’That’s why he told the other five that, if caught, they could just tell the truth.’

’But was what the five were saying now the real truth?’

’Whether Sun Min and the other four had actually taken part in the stabbing... with so much time having passed and Guo Chunping now dead, who could know for sure?’

’The five of them could pin everything on Guo Chunping.’

’He orchestrated the murder, and after it was done, he chose to jump from a building, taking the secret with him to the grave.’

Shen Xin shook his head. He decided not to get hung up on that question for now and asked about some other details.

Like who signed the bridge loan contract.

Wang Yongde admitted it outright. He had been the one to sign it, in his role as Sun Kai.

"Guo Chunping said the police would probably start with the contract and do a handwriting analysis, so none of them could sign it. He told me to sign it, saying I’d be fine, since the police would never have a reason to investigate me."

Then there was the money.

All 2.34 million of it.

Wang Yongde said that Fan Hui Zhen handled it. She set up an overseas account so the police couldn’t trace it.

After the money was transferred out, it was eventually transferred back into the country and donated to a charity fund for rescuing abducted children.

The 340,000 in cash was handled the same way.

Wang Yongde said they didn’t do this for the money.

"Alright, that’s the whole story. Since you’ve figured it out, we’ll confess. My wife... she’s already in this state. She probably doesn’t have much longer. When she’s gone, I’ll go join him. Anyway, you can handle this however you see fit."

Looking completely unconcerned, Wang Yongde stood up and walked back into the house.

Shen Xin quickly called Deng Rong and told him to come back and keep an eye on Wang Yongde and his wife for now.

Then, the two of them stepped outside to report back.

They sent the recording of the interrogation directly to Sun Zhao.

After they finished reporting, Shen Xin suddenly asked, "Ding Yuwei, do you think they really just stood by and watched?"

Although he understood their reasons and felt a great deal of sympathy for them, the law was merciless. If you committed a crime, you had to pay the price.

So, if they had only watched, without taking part in the act itself, they would just be accessories to the crime.

But if they had participated, the sentencing would be far, far more severe.

Ding Yuwei had clearly also thought of this. She pursed her lips in thought, and after a long moment, she countered, "Well, do you *hope* they only watched?"

Shen Xin let out a long sigh, not knowing how to answer.

And for some reason, his thoughts drifted to Tingting.