I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 213: Chapter 211: Three People Bury the Body

The skull reconstruction would take time.

Yan Cheng’s autopsy was also underway.

Su Miaoyi waited for Lu Zhishen while sorting through the clues.

She’d been awake since yesterday, and by the time dusk fell, she couldn’t take it anymore. She ended up dozing off on the sofa.

But she hadn’t been asleep for long when news came from Zhuang Yanzheng. They had identified the skeletal remains.

Su Miaoyi woke up the moment her phone rang. She stared at the message for two seconds, then shot out of the art studio.

Lu Zhishen felt a gust of wind lift the sketch paper in the studio. His expression faltered for a moment. He blinked, recalling the figure that had flashed past in his peripheral vision, then looked back at the nearly-finished portrait in front of him.

As he continued to draw, he grumbled to himself, ’She doesn’t look like she’s weak and anemic at all.’

”Xie Lili, female, thirty-eight years old...” Su Miaoyi read from the file. ”She went to the same university as Kang Hong, in the same year.”

”After we ran a check this afternoon, we compared the DNA from the skeletal remains with the data left by her parents. The results just came in, so we can confirm her identity,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”We’ve already contacted her parents. It will take them an hour to get here. Also, the DNA extracted from the infant’s remains is a match with Kang Hong’s.”

Su Miaoyi was silent for a moment. This was the most damning evidence. ”How is Kang Hong?”

”His condition has stabilized. The doctor recommends letting him rest for now,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”We shouldn’t rush the interrogation.”

Su Miaoyi paused again. ”What about Kang Hong’s parents?”

”We brought them both in.”

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

”They both participated in burying the body,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”At first, the couple claimed they knew nothing. Kang Hong’s mother was completely clueless. But after a few more questions, she let something slip. Then she started throwing a tantrum, rolling on the floor, and even tried to assault an officer. His father, on the other hand, was quiet. He didn’t say a word from start to finish.”

”After we brought them in, Kang Hong’s mother kept shouting and making a scene, while his father remained silent. Neither of them held up under questioning, though. They’re masters of tantrums and silent treatments, but when faced with a proper interrogation, they spilled most of the story after just a few questions.”

”So they both helped bury the body and then cleaned up the scene afterward?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”According to their confession, there was another person,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”They claim they don’t know him—a man wearing a mask, a friend Kang Hong called for help. Burying the body was his idea. He was the one who said where to bury it, and he also cleaned up the scene. Kang Hong was terrified at the time. After contacting his parents and his friend, he didn’t dare do anything else. He just hid in his room.”

Su Miaoyi looked at Zhuang Yanzheng.

’Another man.’

’So many people involved.’

”Right before you got here, I called Lu Zhishen and asked him to meet with Kang Hong’s parents. I’m hoping he can get some clues from his professional perspective.”

”Did Kang Hong’s parents confess anything else? Kang Hong was making a lot of money. Did they know where it came from?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”They didn’t know about that. They didn’t even know Kang Hong was that rich.” Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at the time. ”In the interrogation room, his mother kept cursing him out, saying he earned so much money but never brought a single cent home. She also said that if it weren’t for this matchmaking attempt, she would have never known his watch was so expensive.”

Su Miaoyi said nothing.

’My second grand-aunt is probably still regretting taking her son to my place for that blind date.’

”Kang Hong’s mother said that when he was dating before, the woman’s family was well-off. Not super rich, but very comfortable. She thought they were set for a good life, that her in-laws would help their family out, but the woman’s parents refused. The woman had told her family they’d broken up long ago and didn’t dare let them know they were still together.”

”Back then, Kang Hong’s mother was against the marriage, but the two stayed together and eventually had a child. They had someone check the baby’s gender, and it was a boy. Once Kang Hong’s parents knew they had a grandson, they started treating Xie Lili very well, thinking the Kang family now had an heir.”

”Does their family have a throne to inherit or something?” Su Miaoyi muttered in disgust. ”And what did Xie Lili even see in Kang Hong?”

As she spoke, she was a mix of anxious, disgusted, and worried. She wished she could travel back two years, lock Xie Lili in her house, and keep her far, far away from Kang Hong.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her and continued, ”As the due date approached, Kang Hong’s mother figured that once the child was born, Xie Lili’s parents would have to accept the marriage whether they liked it or not. They’d all be one family, so of course they’d have to support Kang Hong and his family. But then, something happened.”

”How could they be so shameless?” Su Miaoyi, who had been sitting, shot to her feet in anger. ”Using a child to threaten her parents! Is their family that desperate for money? Why are they always after other people’s wealth!”

”Keep it down. Just listen to how awful your voice sounds,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi opened her mouth. She hadn’t even realized how hoarse she was until he pointed it out.

Zhuang Yanzheng rubbed his ear. ”Any worse and I’ll have to charge you for hearing damage.”

Su Miaoyi glared at him, let out a defiant shout in his direction, then turned to get some water.

Zhuang Yanzheng was speechless.

...

While waiting for Xie Lili’s parents to arrive, Su Miaoyi found a couple of throat lozenges at the municipal bureau and went back to the sketch artist’s studio.

She still hadn’t eaten.

She didn’t want to eat at the cafeteria, mainly because her sore throat made it difficult to swallow.

’It’s one of those things. Everything feels fine when you don’t notice it, but now that I know my throat is sore, everything feels wrong. Even swallowing saliva hurts.’

So she decided to find something to eat from her snack buddy’s snack cabinet.

Just as she picked out two bags of snacks, Lu Zhishen returned.

He pushed open the door and saw her standing in front of the snack cabinet. Without a word, he just lifted his chin in greeting.

”Finished drawing?” Su Miaoyi asked, looking at the sketches in his hand.

Lu Zhishen held up both sketches for her to see.

They were sketches of the third person involved in the burial, as described by Kang Hong’s parents.

The person was wearing a mask, so the most prominent features were the exposed eyes.

But...

”These look like two completely different people,” Su Miaoyi said.

”One is from Kang Hong’s father’s description, the other is from his mother’s,” Lu Zhishen said, holding the two portraits. ”They both said my drawings were very accurate.”

”Was it because they were too nervous and scared at the time, so it affected their memory of the person’s face?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”That’s part of it. It could also be because it was dark, and they saw him from different angles,” Lu Zhishen said.

”So? What do we do now?” Su Miaoyi asked.

”I’ll study them for a bit first. I’ll go ask them again later,” Lu Zhishen said.

Su Miaoyi nodded.

Lu Zhishen glanced at the two portraits again, then looked at her. ”Your voice sounds like... a screaming chicken.”

Su Miaoyi was speechless. ”...I only hang out with you because I thought you were the quiet, honest type.”

”Are you sure you’re not talking about Yan Cheng?” Lu Zhishen retorted.

Su Miaoyi wanted to argue, but he had a point.

As she stood there in silence, there were two knocks on the studio door before it was pushed open from the outside.

Lu Zhishen and Su Miaoyi first saw Zhuang Yanzheng, who had opened the door but hadn’t come in.

’Since when is he so polite about entering the studio?’ Lu Zhishen wondered.

But the next second, he saw Qin Chengyuan walk into the studio.

Su Miaoyi also watched him enter.

Then, both of them subconsciously straightened up. ”Chief.”

...