Chapter 127: The More One Tries to Hide, the More One Is Exposed

This story is entirely fictional.

“Your explanation does not hold water. Fan Wei died inside the stone, and we concluded that his killer was either a strong man or someone with some martial-arts training. But Fan Gu was clearly killed by someone who knew no martial arts. According to the scene report, there were signs that she struggled before her death. So I agree that Fan Gu and Fan Wei were killed by different people,” Ma Shengwei said. “Is this all you’ve found out so far? Your efficiency seems to have declined considerably!”

Wu Zhengzhe knew that he had lied in front of the bureau chief. He had merely been testing Ma Shengwei. “Yes, yes. I’ll work harder.”

As for Nian Weier’s bank card, he did not dare tell Ma Shengwei the truth. He knew that Duhao Company was actually Ma Shengwei’s private source of money in Dahe, while that leather-goods shop was nothing more than a front for Duhao Finance.

Wu Zhengzhe knew that Spiral Leg and Ma Shengwei were related—in fact, they were brothers. Of course, for now this was only a supposition; there was not enough evidence. One was surnamed Ma and the other Lu, and few people in Dahe knew that they were related by blood.

Wu Zhengzhe had once tried to locate Ma Shengwei’s personnel file, but, oddly enough, no such file existed in the system. He had also tried to obtain Ma Shengwei’s records from the ministry, but that effort had failed as well. The person in charge of the provincial department’s archives was one of Ma Shengwei’s trusted aides and refused to reveal anything about him. Under the circumstances, discovering Ma Shengwei’s background was exceedingly difficult.

It was hard to imagine how a convicted criminal had managed to rise to his current position. In order to uncover Ma Shengwei’s past, Wu Zhengzhe used his vacation to make a special trip to the Tujia Autonomous Prefecture. The people there knew only that Ma Shengwei existed and had supposedly been admitted to a police academy. After graduating, he had been assigned to a township police station in Lin County. The village where he had been born had been completely wiped out in the flood of 1998.

Based on this information, Wu Zhengzhe concluded that Spiral Leg was Ma Shengwei’s younger brother. This had already been confirmed by Chi Zhaoming. Chi Zhaoming told him that, during his year in the army, the man he had stabbed with an umbrella while drinking had been Ma Shengwei’s younger brother. Since Spiral Leg’s elder brother was the chief of the local police station, Wu Zhengzhe and Wen Kai had suffered no shortage of punishment when they were locked up there that day. Chi Zhaoming had escaped when the police began making arrests, which was why he had avoided punishment.

Later, Wu Zhengzhe learned that the trouble they had caused had cost Qu Wenkai’s family every penny before the matter was finally settled and the situation brought under control.

Fortunately, Ma Shengwei no longer remembered what had happened more than twenty years earlier. Nor did he remember that the Wu Zhengzhe standing before him was the young man his subordinates had arrested at the police station back then. Wu Zhengzhe knew that after Ma Shengwei had seen his personnel file—after the 415 case had occurred and Wu Zhengzhe had picked up that strip of cloth—Ma Shengwei had realized how dangerous he was. That was why he had assigned Xiao Jin to keep a close watch on him.

Wu Zhengzhe had discovered Xiao Jin’s surveillance long ago, but he had pretended not to notice. He was simply more cautious whenever he carried out an assignment. That was how he had managed to keep Ma Shengwei from discovering some of the things he was doing.

Just then, Xiao Jin called Wu Zhengzhe’s mobile phone. Not knowing what Xiao Jin intended to say and afraid that Ma Shengwei might hear, Wu Zhengzhe did not answer. He already knew that both his phone and Xiao Jin’s were being tapped by Ma Shengwei.

When Ma Shengwei saw him ignore Xiao Jin’s call, he asked, “You won’t even answer your deputy’s phone?”

“I don’t feel like talking to him.” Wu Zhengzhe remained calm and composed.

“What if it’s something important?” Ma Shengwei pressed.

“When you put it that way, I suppose I have no choice.” Zhengzhe answered the call.

“Brother, are you free right now? I’d like to talk to you,” Xiao Jin said.

“What about? Come to the bureau chief’s office. I’m here, and the chief is looking for you,” Zhengzhe replied.

Xiao Jin had originally intended to tell Zhengzhe everything the bureau chief had ordered him to do—the dirty work he had been assigned. But when he heard that Zhengzhe was in the chief’s office, he realized that the chief was trying to interfere with the investigation and influence Zhengzhe. He immediately changed his tone.

“It’s not about work. I’m off duty, and I don’t want to discuss work while I’m resting.”

“All right, then. We won’t talk about work. Where shall we go for a drink? You pick the place,” Zhengzhe said.

“Forget it. We’ll talk later.” Xiao Jin hung up.

Zhengzhe felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted. After ending the call, he said, “See? Officer Xiao didn’t have anything important to say. I know him very well—we’ve known each other for more than ten years. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going home.”

The moment Zhengzhe left the office, Ma Shengwei picked up the phone and said, “Zhengzhe has just left my office. He’ll probably try to meet Xiao Jin now. Keep a close eye on Xiao Jin and find out what he and Zhengzhe are up to. Report to me immediately whenever anything happens.”

After leaving the building, Zhengzhe saw Xiao Jin waving to him from inside a car in the parking lot.

Wu Zhengzhe glanced around. Seeing no one suspicious, he quickly got into Xiao Jin’s car.

Xiao Jin started the engine. After several loud roars, the car pulled out of the police station parking lot and raced through the streets of Dahe like a runaway horse.

Xiao Jin was concentrating only on driving at full speed and did not realize that they had picked up a tail.

“You’re being followed,” Zhengzhe said. “We can’t go anywhere else. Take me straight to your home.”

Xiao Jin looked in the rearview mirror. Sure enough, a familiar license plate was following them. He accelerated, and the car behind them accelerated too.

Unable to shake the vehicle, Xiao Jin simply stopped in the middle of the road.

When the pursuing car realized that Officer Xiao had spotted it, the driver slowed as he passed them. Xiao Jin called out, “Pighead, are you coming home with me?”

“What a coincidence! I was wondering who it was,” Pighead replied. “I’m heading to Binjiang to visit a friend. I’ll be on my way.”

Pighead’s car sped off.

After leaving Xiao Jin’s home, Zhengzhe went straight to Hexi Vocational Institute.

Using the photograph as a reference, Zhengzhe found the school’s student-records office. An employee told him, “This student’s name is Zhang Chi. He’s from the Class of 2007 and was one of Professor Wang Yifa’s students.”

Zhengzhe went to Professor Wang Yifa’s office. The moment Wang Yifa heard that the visitor was a police officer, his heart began pounding nervously.

Wu Zhengzhe noticed Wang Yifa’s agitation. “Professor Wang, don’t be nervous. I’m here to find your student, Zhang Chi.”

“Oh? May I ask what you want with Zhang Chi?” Seeing another student from the class nearby, he said, “Go and bring Zhang Chi here. I need to speak with him.”

“Yes, Professor. I’ll get him right away,” the student replied.

When Zhang Chi arrived at the office and saw a police officer waiting, he wondered anxiously, Could it be that the police have already traced Fan Wei and Fan Gu’s deaths back to me?

“Sit down. I have something important to ask you. Last Monday, you used a bank card. That card belonged to Nian Weier. Why was it in your possession?”

Zhang Chi’s heart lurched. How could they have found out so quickly that I was the one who used the card?

“I didn’t use any bank card. You must be mistaken,” Zhang Chi denied.

“We reviewed the school’s surveillance footage. Last Monday, several unidentified men came here. According to our investigation, they were debt collectors working for Dahe Duhao Company. They used a mobile POS terminal, which operates through a mobile communications network. The transaction location was right here at your school. Are you still going to deny it?” Zhengzhe asked.

Wang Yifa listened to the officer’s questioning from the side. Sensing that the situation was turning bad, he immediately reminded Zhang Chi, “Wasn’t that when you bought the Louis Vuitton handbag?”

The moment Zhang Chi heard this, he knew that further denial would be useless.

“Yes, I used the card. I paid for a handbag. Is that against the law?”

“It isn’t necessarily against the law. But you’re a student, and your family isn’t particularly well-off. You bought such an expensive bag. Do you really think I’ll believe your explanation?” Zhengzhe asked.

“Whether you believe me or not is irrelevant. I bought a bag, that’s all.” Zhang Chi continued to argue.

After learning that the attempt to follow Zhengzhe had failed, Ma Shengwei realized that Xiao Jin had taken Zhengzhe to his own home.

Without the slightest sign of panic, Ma Shengwei switched on the surveillance system. Every word exchanged between Xiao Jin and Zhengzhe was being monitored.

Meanwhile, in Wang Yifa’s office at Hexi Vocational Institute, Wu Zhengzhe continued questioning Zhang Chi and Wang Yifa.

“You said you bought a bag. Where is it now?” Zhengzhe asked.

“I gave it to someone. That’s none of your business,” Zhang Chi replied.

“I now have reason to suspect that you’ve committed a crime. Do you understand? You used Nian Weier’s card. Using someone else’s bank card without authorization and making fraudulent withdrawals constitutes a crime. Do you understand?” Wu Zhengzhe pressed him relentlessly.

“The card wasn’t stolen. Someone gave it to me. That isn’t illegal, is it?” Zhang Chi argued.

“You said someone gave it to you. Was it Nian Weier, or someone else?”

“It was Fan Wei’s aunt. On the night Fan Wei got into trouble, he sensed that something might happen to him. He asked me to take care of his aunt in the future. I happened to owe someone money for a handbag, so Fan Wei asked his aunt to give me the card. Actually, I don’t know this Nian Weier either. He’s the younger brother of Fan Wei’s aunt’s husband—that is, the younger brother of Nian Weiyi, the head coach of the Dahe football team. Do you understand now?” Zhang Chi replied.

“We’ve established whose card it was. But you still haven’t explained why you used it. You weren’t buying a handbag at all. You were involved in illegal betting and lost money,” Zhengzhe rebuked angrily.

At the sound of Wu Zhengzhe’s furious reprimand, Wang Yifa began trembling beside them. Wu Zhengzhe noticed every bit of it.

To be continued.