Animal Detective

Chapter 99: Positive Significance

Hachun City.

This leg of the investigation was handled by Chen Chao and criminal police officer Pan Shunrong.

"I never would have thought this case would turn out like this." Pan Shunrong had been a criminal police officer for over a decade, but this was the first time he had ever encountered a case like it.

A group of people working together, a plot two years in the making.

Just think about the moment of the murder.

Guo Chunping suddenly appeared in his office. He was the property’s security manager, so Liu Laibin must have known him—perhaps even very well.

When Guo Chunping revealed his true colors and prepared to strike, Liu Laibin probably planned to call for help.

To call for help from his own company’s employees.

But what happened? Every single employee who came in was a killer, there for his life.

How utterly hopeless that must have been.

The mere thought of such a scene sent a chill down Pan Shunrong’s spine.

Chen Chao tilted his head back and let out a long sigh.

When had he ever handled a case like this?

It was his first time, too.

"Captain Chen, so how do we handle this? Liu Laibin was also a hit-and-run driver, and a severe one at that. And what about Li Weiqin and the others? Did they really just stand by and watch, without lifting a finger? If they stick to that story, we don’t have any evidence," Pan Shunrong asked again.

Chen Chao’s expression grew more serious.

Four years had passed since the crime, and Guo Chunping was dead. It would be easy to pin everything on him; after all, dead men tell no tales.

Wang Yongde claimed Guo Chunping planned the whole thing, and Chen Chao believed it. After all, Guo Chunping had been the deputy head of the security department for so many years; his professional skills were nearly on par with a police officer’s.

But what really happened? Who could say for sure?

What if Li Weiqin and the others were the ones who orchestrated it?

He warned Pan Shunrong to watch the car, then said, "We’ll take it one step at a time. Let’s bring Li Weiqin in first."

Before long, they arrived at their destination.

A residential complex called Dongfang Hongjun in the Erdaokou Street district of Hachun City.

Their colleagues from Hachun were following behind and got out of their cars as well.

Household registration records showed that Li Weiqin divorced his wife in 2010. After returning from Nanjiang, he had been living with his parents.

The group went upstairs and knocked on the door.

"Coming."

The door opened to reveal a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

Seeing the large crowd of people at his door, especially the police badges they flashed, Li Weiqin froze.

"Son, who is it?" someone called out from an inner room.

"It’s nothing, just the police. They’re here to ask some questions." Li Weiqin quickly regained his composure and called back into the room. Then he said, "My parents are old. Could you let me say something to them first before I go with you?"

Chen Chao gave a slight nod, but Li Weiqin’s calmness weighed heavily on his mind.

He predicted that Li Weiqin’s story would be identical to Wang Yongde’s.

And sure enough, after they brought Li Weiqin back to the station for questioning, he gave the exact same confession.

In September 2010, Guo Chunping had approached him. After careful consideration, he chose to enact justice on heaven’s behalf.

Li Weiqin angrily used the phrase "enacting justice on heaven’s behalf" to explain his actions.

Then, just like Wang Yongde and Sun Min, he had made his way to Nanjiang in 2011. Relying on his past experience in sales, he quickly became one of Liu Laibin’s business managers.

During the murder, just as Wang Yongde had said, he only watched while Guo Chunping did the deed.

Chen Chao was silent for a moment before retorting, "I sympathize with what you’ve been through, and I can understand why you feel Liu Laibin was a bastard who deserved to die. But didn’t you ever consider that this is premeditated murder? Don’t think that just because you didn’t physically attack him at the last moment, you can get away with it."

"Your actions can be classified as complicity. Even if the court ultimately decides your role was minor, that’s still a minimum of three years and up to ten. You’re only 41. You still have your parents. If you go to prison, your life will definitely be affected. Didn’t you consider any of this?"

Li Weiqin looked calmly at Chen Chao for a long moment, then suddenly let out a scornful laugh. In a desolate whisper, he said, "My life was already over the day my son was abducted and then died."

Chen Chao was momentarily speechless and could say no more. He raised a hand, gesturing for them to take Li Weiqin away.

...

It was already the next day by the time Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei rushed back to Nanjiang.

Considering Sun Min’s physical condition, and the fact that she couldn’t be separated from Wang Yongde, they had no choice but to bring the elderly couple back together.

Sun Min was first sent to the hospital for treatment, while Wang Yongde was taken into custody to give a new statement.

The other teams also returned one after another.

As expected, all of their statements were basically identical.

The investigation had reached a point where only some wrap-up work remained.

Shen Xin was enveloped in a strange sort of mood.

It was like the moral dilemma Poirot faced at the end of *Murder on the Orient Express*. Emotionally, Shen Xin felt that if he hadn’t followed the lead from the parrot, the case might never have been solved.

Guo Chunping and the others’ plot would have remained buried forever.

But now? Guo Chunping had jumped to his death.

Li Weiqin and the other four families had become accomplices, and each would have to pay the price.

Then there was Liu Laibin. Emotionally, Shen Xin felt Liu Laibin deserved to die; it was no great loss.

But then he thought of Tingting and felt that while Liu Laibin was certainly at fault, he didn’t deserve such an end.

Shen Xin took a day off, wanting to clear his head.

But he couldn’t stay at home. As if guided by some unseen force, he thought of Broo and headed to the zoo.

"She laid them. Three eggs, all at once. It wasn’t easy for her." In the still-closed parrot exhibit, Li Xiaobing said with a grin, looking up at a tree hollow.

Broo was very responsible, constantly watching over Huahua.

But when Shen Xin called out, it still heard him, flapping its wings and landing on his shoulder.

"Tingting! Tingting!"

It squawked excitedly, as if it wanted to show its babies to Tingting.

Shen Xin’s heart sank. The case was in its final stages of investigation, and they hadn’t officially notified Shi Yanhua yet.

Right now, the five suspects had another story.

Apparently, Guo Chunping had once said that if their plot was ever exposed, he would jump to his death. His house and assets could then be sold to compensate Shi Yanhua, in an attempt to win her written forgiveness for the other five.

This wasn’t something the five had fabricated; there was a recording of Guo Chunping to prove it.

Fan Hui Zhen was the one who produced it.

Clearly, before making his move, Guo Chunping had considered as many consequences as possible, trying to help the other five reduce their sentences.

Just as he was feeding Broo, someone suddenly tapped him on the back.

Shen Xin flinched in surprise.

He turned his head and saw, to his surprise, that it was Ding Yuwei.

"What are you doing here?"

’Aren’t you supposed to be at work?’

Ding Yuwei also picked up a nut and offered it to Broo. "Same as you, I took the day off," she said. "I was actually hoping to talk to you, but you didn’t answer your phone. Then I took a guess and figured you might be here."

Shen Xin pulled out his phone. There were no missed calls.

"What did you want to talk about?" Shen Xin forced a smile.

Ding Yuwei stepped forward and leaned against the railing. "Are you blaming yourself? Do you feel like you shouldn’t have solved this case?"

Actually, it was Captain Chen who felt Shen Xin’s mood was off and sent Ding Yuwei to check on him.

In Captain Chen’s words: you two are partners. If your partner has a problem, you’re responsible.

Shen Xin didn’t say anything.

Ding Yuwei said, "To be honest, I’ve had similar thoughts. I feel really bad for Wang Yongde and the others. But at the end of the day, we’re police officers. Our duty is to uncover the truth."

"Try to think about it from another angle. Take Officer Qin, for example. That was a cold case for years, one he never solved before he retired. Now that it’s cleared up, isn’t that a huge weight off his mind?"

"And what about the children who died in that ’accident’? As their family members, they must want to know what really happened back then. For them, isn’t that a form of comfort in itself?"

"So I think there are still a lot of positive things that came out of us solving this case."

After she finished, she broke into a smile at Shen Xin and asked if he was feeling any better.

"No. Next time, don’t ever try to cheer someone up. You’re terrible at it." Shen Xin snorted, but then couldn’t help but laugh.

Ding Yuwei playfully punched him on the shoulder in annoyance.

"By the way, when I was leaving the station just now, I overheard Captain Sun and Captain Chen talking. They’re thinking about having us continue to work on cold cases. Have you thought about which case to tackle next?" she asked.

A case suddenly sprang into Shen Xin’s mind.

In 2011, truck driver Xiao Hong was found dead on National Highway 319, the road from Nanjiang to Ji Port.

Six years had passed since then.

Shen Xin thought of Guo Chunping. In order to investigate Liu Laibin, he had tirelessly scoured that very road, investigating for a whole year.

So, for Xiao Hong’s case, why couldn’t he persevere in the same way?