Free Web NovelChapter 584: Chapter 554 Investigation in Progress_1
Zhou Ning coughed, and the two immediately quieted down, standing behind him while Mr. He walked over briskly.
"How’s the situation?"
He Shancun, looking completely exhausted, made a gesture for silence and led Zhou Ning and the others into the emergency department doctor’s office. Once the door was shut, he didn’t speak at first but instead grabbed a bottle of mineral water and gulped it down. Zhou Ning examined Mr. He from head to toe and noticed that he was wearing crocs on bare feet and was dressed in a scrub suit under his white coat. Moreover, the scrub suit was wrinkled and dirty, indicating he had just come out of the surgery room, obviously worn out.
"The front passenger and the two cops sitting behind him are relatively okay. One has fractues of the humerus, nasal bone, and supraorbital ridge; the other has fractures of the ulna, radius, and humerus. They’re both conscious, but Director Xu has already asked them several times.
Those two were asleep on the road, and they were confused during the accident, not knowing what happened. Ma Liang’s injuries are quite serious, but the outcome of the surgery is decent. He’s still under anesthesia, with a rather severe concussion, and vomited several times during the surgery, which was quite dangerous.
The worst off is the driver; the craniotomy surgery is still in progress. Although the bleeding isn’t much, the location is very tricky, pressing on the language center. We have to observe him after he comes off the operating table, but even in the best-case scenario, his ability to speak will be affected in the future."
Zhou Ning understood; the driver’s recovery didn’t look optimistic. It was like drawing a lottery with an uncertain outcome post-surgery. Some were lucky and recovered to their previous condition, but with such a location, the most probable outcome was losing the ability to speak.
This result made Zhou Ning feel deeply moved. After all, this year, the Criminal Police Brigade had been beset by one incident after another. First, it was Liu Yufei and her team, then himself, and now suddenly four at once—the frequency was worryingly high.
"We’ll do our best and see the final outcome. How’s Xu Qingquan? Wasn’t he the first to undergo surgery?"
"Yeah, I took a look. He was the first to come off the operating table, secured with three steel plates. His leg is saved. Everything seemed fine during the surgery, but it’s uncertain how he’ll recover. He’s awake now, agitated from the concussion, and spoke a few words to his sister. Director Xu asked him a few things, but couldn’t find out much."
That result didn’t surprise Zhou Ning. Nausea and vomiting from a concussion are on the milder side, and affecting emotions and memory is also common. At least Xu Qingshu can cooperate somewhat.
"By the way, did Director Xu leave?"
He Shancun nodded.
"He had a rather intense conversation with Xu Qingshu, raising his voice considerably. But it seems that Xu Qingshu cooperated with him in the conversation, gave him something, and then Director Xu just left, maybe ten minutes ago."
Zhou Ning quickly dialed Xu Dayuan’s number, while He Shancun pointed to the adjacent ICU. Through the glass window, Ma Liang could be seen inside. Zhou Ning understood that He Shancun was telling him everyone was inside that room; Mr. He waved his hand and went off to get busy.
The call went through on this end.
"You’re pretty quick, what’s the meaning of this? Have you finished investigating the scene, or are you still at the hospital?"
"Just arrived at the hospital. Heard about the situation from He Shancun. Since we can’t get anything out of the passengers, let’s go check out Xu Qingquan’s house."
"We’re almost there too. Actually, I was just about to call you. Alright, hurry up, we’ll wait for you downstais."
After hanging up, Zhou Ning called Mr. Zhao to leave. Mr. Zhao gestured towards one side and said:
"Peng Shinian went in, talked to He Shancun for a bit, and wants to take Xu Qingquan’s shoes and clothes."
Zhou Ning realized what he had forgotten. It’s good to take them; if he finds anything, it’s a plus. Even without findings, it won’t delay anything; it’s like catching hares while mowing the grass.
Soon, Peng Shinian came out with a big bag that looked like hospital packaging, with clothes ripped into strips and stained with blood, and deformed leather shoes.
"Let’s set off now that we have this, and take another look at Xu Qingquan and Li Li’s house. Director Xu went there."
Peng Shinian appeared pleased and nodded his head. The three of them quickly got into the car, and before long, they arrived at Rongchang Garden Building No. 2. Several police cars were parked in the parking area, with elderly ladies carrying children or pushing carts around, all looking over curiously.
Zhou Ning and his companions got out of the car, and Xu Dayuan also stepped out quickly, handing a key to Zhou Ning.
"I got the key to Xu Qingquan’s house from Xu Qingshu. You go in and have a look, but make sure to keep your body cameras on."
"Leader, I want to take another look at Li Li’s house in a bit."
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"Go ahead, Zhang Ping is up there."
Zhou Ning nodded, tossed the keys to Mr. Zhao, and asked in a low voice:
"How many of Xu Qingquan’s relatives have visited the hospital?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"I heard that the second sister, it seems like after inheriting the old house, she sold it and then moved abroad to live. Qindao has just that one sister, and as for the fiancée, Xu Qingshu called her and told her not to come over, I guess she’s worried about the police being there. Xu Qingquan wouldn’t want her to know about all this mess, otherwise, the marriage could hit a snag."
Zhou Ning realized something, he actually just wanted to know why the fiancée didn’t show up, it seems Xu Qingshu had considered everything quite thoroughly.
"So... Kong Wanshan didn’t show up either?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"Anyway, this couple is quite unusual, one is always out playing around, while the other turns a blind eye. They both keep up appearances with each other. We just notified Xu Qingshu, didn’t tell Kong Wanshan, but Mr. Bai and his team are keeping an eye on Kong Wanshan. The guy is still taking the kids around and is busy going to the company, acting as if nothing happened."
Zhou Ning sighed deeply, Xu Dayuan passed a cigarette to Zhou Ning, and they both lit up. In the midst of the swirling smoke, Xu Dayuan said:
"You are actually more impatient than I am. Over at the dance school, all the teachers have been questioned, and so far, we haven’t found out who sent Li Li the cake. She opened a package, which was that plush toy.
Then she quickly drove off, we’ve also looked at the surveillance footage and there are no signs of deletion. When she left, she was indeed carrying a bag and holding that plush toy, but as for the cake, we haven’t discovered who gave it to her. It’s pretty strange.
As you said, it’s weird for someone who won’t even put seasoning in instant noodles to dare eat cake, and the cake had no brand, it was homemade. There were no other fingerprints on the box, it was sent by someone she trusted a great deal, the person who sent the cake is the murderer, but we have no clue at all."
Zhou Ning nodded, he was well aware that the conundrum lay right here.
"Li Li’s social relations, have they been screened?"
Xu Dayuan stamped out his cigarette butt and continued: ƒrēewebnovel.com
"The screening went well, even though her SIM card was burned, all call records are intact. This morning, I had someone talk to each of these teachers individually and learned quite a bit. She wasn’t secretive about her private life to these teachers. The uncle who came to sign for her, along with his spouse, treated Li Li alright during her childhood, but over the years they’ve only been sucking her dry.
In fact, she wasn’t someone short of money. Even though her parents died early, they left her with quite a bit of assets. It’s said that during her junior year of college, her parents died in a car accident, and the other party compensated generously. Plus there’s that old house by the sea that got demolished, after which she opened this dance school.
But such a location, even if it was seven or eight years ago when it was bought, wouldn’t be cheap. After all, it’s a street-facing shop with an area of over 1,200 square meters. I did the math assuming 8,000 per square meter, that comes to 9.6 million, and it was a cash purchase. I’ve seen a copy of the property title myself.
Junior year, that’s eight years ago, 2005. Her parents both worked at banks. According to the previous year’s financial sector salary, the annual income was 24,874, multiplied by twenty years, the compensation for one person was 497,400 yuan, maybe an extra 8,000 for funeral expenses at most.
So both parents together compensated just over 1 million yuan. As for the old house by the sea, when it comes to demolition compensation, it would be a rare case. When they showed the old photos Li Li took, I saw there were a total of six rooms. Here in Qindao, a room is about 30 square meters.
Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt, 8,000 per square meter — the same price as for her shop — that would be the ceiling. After all, I know that several families there didn’t get much compensation. That would make it 120 × 8,000 = 960,000. Let’s round it to 1 million, which all together would be just 2 million yuan."
Zhou Ning raised an eyebrow. He had always thought that the house was rented by Li Li, knowing well that location and remembering that since 2004, the property prices had shot up dramatically. Anyone who had bought there had made a killing. But 9.6 million eight years ago was an astronomical number, especially since there was no loan involved.
"Since the investigation has reached this point, it seems the teachers have their own opinions. Do they know if Li Li had any improper relationships with someone?"
Xu Dayuan grinned, his expression a mix that was hard to describe, something like jealousy but laced with disdain and revulsion.
"They say, although Li Li didn’t need to, at that time she was dating the son of some state-owned enterprise director. This guy tipped off the developers at the time, so she basically got the house at cost price. No one knows exactly how much, but we’ve done some rough calculations."
Zhou Ning coughed. He understood, if it were only dating the director’s son, there wouldn’t be such benefits, nor would someone receive such a good deal without this amounting to taking bribes. Thinking about the relationship between Li Li and Kong Wanshan, he instantly grasped the situation.
"It can’t be that both father and son..."
"Yeah, it was just a guess at first. I had someone verify it though, and there really was such an affair. Of course, this former director has been under investigation for years, and his son went abroad, transferring some of the assets. He divorced his first wife a long time ago, managing to preserve some of the assets. Li Li must have had relations with him, and the son was probably just a cover."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Looks like she reaped the benefits. After that man was taken down, she then found Kong Wanshan. But does the former director’s family have an alibi?"
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"The person is in Pennsylvania and hasn’t returned, we’ve already checked the immigration information. Oh, and about social relations, besides frequent contact with these teachers, the deceased Li Li also had two close friends, said to be classmates she grew up with since elementary and junior high.
These two people were quite close to Li Li, and from what we’ve gathered, one of them is on vacation in Yunan Province, left on August 18th, not on a tour, but on a road trip, however, the hotel is booked.
But where exactly the person is right now, we still don’t know, and we can’t get through to their phone. The other person has settled in Huining; we’ve reached them. The three have had loan transactions with Li Li, but for now, none seem to have had the opportunity to commit the crime."
After talking so much, only a couple of things were useful. One, Li Li was best at dealing with men, amassing quite a bit of property for herself. Friends were few, and none had the opportunity to commit the crime. Zhou Ning threw away the cigarette butt and said:
"I’ve got the picture of the situation, Chief, I’ll go upstairs and take a look."
