Free Web NovelChapter 609: Chapter 579 Where Did the People Go?_1
Mr. Zhao hurriedly opened the electronic map and enlarged it to the maximum. Indeed, there was a narrower path next to this rural road.
"Found it, no wonder Mr. Qu didn’t find anything after checking all the suspect vehicles heading towards the city center. It seems she did not go to the city but left in the opposite direction from the scene. It was our oversight, I’ll have Mr. Qu check now."
Xu Dayuan nodded, giving Xu Qingquan a glance.
"One last question, the morning you went to the provincial city for the performance, did you eat the cake at Li Li’s place before you left?"
Xu Qingquan nodded.
"I took a shower around six, then wanted to head home. I saw the cake on the table and asked Li Li who gave it to her. She smiled and told me to guess. I knew the person who sent the cake must have some relationship with me. I thought it might be Liu Meiling or someone who had come back. Without much thought, I shared a few bites of the cake with Li Li, then I left."
"That’s all the questions. We’ll take these things for now to have someone identify the scent. Later, they will be returned to you as evidence."
Xu Dayuan, carrying the items, handed them to Mr. Zhao behind him. Mr. Zhao packed them in a large evidence bag, took photos, and amidst all this, a faint fragrance could be detected, but how to describe it specifically, these rough men had no idea.
At this moment, Zhou Ning realized, it seems Xu Qingquan misunderstood. If the one who sent the cake was Zhong Xiaoyan, of course, she had a special relationship with Xu Qingquan. Li Li was a very proud person, and just the fact of interacting with Xu Qingquan’s ex-fiancée was enough to thrill her.
Xu Dayuan waved his hand, and the group went straight out without another word to Xu Qingquan.
"Leave two people to protect Xu Qingquan. Contact Yufei and Fang Mu to see how things are progressing and if Zhong Xiaoyan’s whereabouts have been found."
The youngster behind him and Mr. Zhao rapidly made phone calls. After a moment, both had asked their questions and shook their heads at Xu Dayuan.
"Boss, Zhong Xiaoyan isn’t at the shop; she hasn’t been there for the past few days."
"She’s not at home either. The neighbors said they hadn’t seen Zhong Xiaoyan return yesterday. Mr. Dui is asking where we should go next?"
Xu Dayuan fell silent. If she was neither at the store nor at home, and hadn’t even gone home yesterday, obviously the broken engagement made Zhong Xiaoyan cautious. It’s more likely she understood the police’s actions and was monitoring everything at all times; after all, she almost had everyone from Li Li’s circle at her fingertips.
"Have Mr. Qu, along with the tech team, look into the areas around Zhong Xiaoyan’s home and her shop to see where she frequently goes. Also, at these two locations, check for any information about her renting a house. Let’s go take a look at Zhong Xiaoyan’s home. Where is it located?"
Mr. Zhao held up a tablet that showed the location of a street, which Zhou Ning glanced at unconsciously.
It seemed familiar. After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ning realized:
"Is this... behind Mailetian?"
Mr. Zhao didn’t notice Zhou Ning’s expression and just nodded. However, after looking at the map, his eyes widened instantly.
"Wait, when the incident with Zhou Xiaozhou and Li Li occurred, Mr. Qu found out that Kong Wanshan went to the alley behind Mailetian after meeting with Li Li. There’s no surveillance there, so we don’t know what Kong Wanshan did there. I don’t remember the interrogation details, and he didn’t explain this location."
Xu Dayuan nodded, giving Zhou Ning a glance.
"Let’s go check out the scene."
Zhou Ning gestured to Mr. Zhao, who moved closer, and Zhou Ning quickly said:
"At the time of the traffic accident in Jingkou, didn’t we get the contact number of that eyewitness? Find it and have someone bring the witness over. I think his name was Wang Weili. We can’t rely solely on Xu Qingquan’s testimony."
As they descended the stairs, Xu Dayuan’s phone was busy. He called Zhang Ping directly, learning that Kong Wanshan had been located in a meeting. Xu Dayuan told Zhang Ping to bring Kong Wanshan to the area behind Mailetian and sent him Zhong Xiaoyan’s home address.
...
Twenty minutes later, the group arrived at Zhong Xiaoyan’s residential complex.
Zhang Ping and his team had already arrived with Kong Wanshan. Seeing Xu Dayuan and his group’s arrival, the irascible Kong Wanshan shut his mouth too, knowing full well what their presence meant.
There were many people inside the residential complex, but the many police cars and officers barricading the entrance of the villa area kept the curious crowd from approaching, unlike usual where the slightest incident could cause a traffic jam. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Kong Wanshan was pulled in front of Xu Dayuan and the others. Seeing their stern faces, he too lost his composure and occasionally glanced toward Zhong Xiaoyan’s place.
"I don’t want to beat around the bush. There are surveillance cameras in the ICU; we know what you talked about with Xu Qingquan. Explain clearly your relationship with Zhong Xiaoyan. How did you meet? How did you get your wife to approve? How did you become the fiance of your brother-in-law’s brother? And why were you here the day Li Li died?"
Kong Wanshan quickly waved his hands, his panic clearly showing.
"I have no sexual relationship with her. I just met her at a dinner party, she was brought by a district leader, who said she’s from an educated family, a ’scholarly household,’ and is developing her career in Gulou District. We were all encouraged to look after her, and of course, it would be great if someone could introduce a suitable partner to her."
After dinner, I even specifically asked that leader about her family’s situation in the provincial capital. And really, it comes from a family of scholars. Thinking about it, I mentioned it to my wife, considering that the lad was causing trouble everywhere, with no sense of propriety. It was about time he had a wife to keep him in check. My wife took the address and went to make contact herself, and then she started to get in touch.
After that, it was all arranged by my wife. I just built the initial bridge. I didn’t even know they were buying a marriage house until much later. If I had known, how could I let them live upstairs from Li Li’s house, wouldn’t that be asking for discomfort?
As for the day of Li Li’s incident, I had already made plans with Zhong Xiaoyan to go see a piece of land, after all she knew some people in high places. There was a plot of land that she helped coordinate, and I handled it very smoothly. I waited for her here for half an hour and then received a call from the police.
Xu Dayuan stared into Kong Wanshan’s eyes and asked unblinkingly,
"So you waited here, without going to Zhong Xiaoyan’s house?"
"No."
Zhou Ning seemed to think of something and quickly asked,
"Didn’t you receive a call from Li Li?"
Kong Wanshan hesitated for a moment, then spread his hands and sighed before saying,
"To tell you the truth, Li Li called me eight hundred times that day. I really can’t remember what time it was. On the day of the incident, I was so confused when you asked me. Now that I think about it, I’m also not sure."
Mr. Zhao took his phone and checked the call logs. Indeed, there was a call made at 1:37 p.m. on September 1, and the number was Li Li’s, with a duration of 2:33. However, with Kong Wanshan’s hesitant expression, it was clear he was unsure. What was he hesitating about?
"Are you not sure if you made this call? Did your phone leave your possession?"
Kong Wanshan shook his head.
"No, that day I arrived at the back of Mailetian earlier than the appointed time. I closed my eyes and dozed off in the car and the phone was in my pocket. I just don’t remember making any calls.
But that day, Li Li kept nagging me about divorce and it really bothered me. Plus, the signal in that spot didn’t seem very good. I wanted to ask the nanny something, tried calling for a while without success, and then I didn’t struggle with it anymore and just slept for a bit."
Mr. Zhao came closer and tugged at Xu Dayuan’s sleeve. The three of them stepped back and Mr. Zhao whispered,
"Mr. Qu mentioned before, there’s some sort of simulator. It’s software that can block a specific phone number and when it makes a call, it uses that blocked number. Of course, when it’s switched, the real phone number that is being simulated is blocked. Zhou Xiaozhou’s cousin encountered a fraud that used such software before."
Zhou Ning and Xu Dayuan exchanged looks, and simultaneously, their gazes turned towards Zhong Xiaoyan’s house.
"It seems that Kong Wanshan knows little. Blocking Kong Wanshan’s number and calling Li Li with it to say things that could provoke her, for most people, might just cause them to get angry.
But during Li Li’s vitamin A poisoning, it was a period when she couldn’t control her emotions, such provocation was pouring gasoline on fire. Li Li would lose her reason instantly. It’s just that there’s no way to prove who sent the cake."
Xu Dayuan sighed.
"Now we have quite a bit of information, but no substantial evidence. Everything is either testimony or conjecture, and how credible is Xu Qingquan’s testimony? Let’s go in and have a look."
Zhou Ning glanced at Xu Dayuan. It was quite obvious that Xu Dayuan outright disregarded Xu Qingquan’s testimony. What that implied was clear to everyone.
In fact, any person with normal values would sympathize with Shi Yun.
And they would hope for her revenge to be successful, but they were not judges, nor did they have the power of pardon. Even if Xu Qingquan was of bad character, they still needed evidence to explain everything, emotions cannot trump the law.
The group went into the villa without speaking. The personnel who opened the lock had already opened the door. The villa was a split-level with a basement on the first and second floors and an attic on the third and fourth floors. Two households shared one building, with separate entrances for the northern and southern units, the structure is similar to a detached building.
Zhong Xiaoyan’s home included the first and second floors with a basement. Zhou Ning and the others entered the room, everyone distributed gloves and shoe covers, and they scattered to inspect the interior of the villa. Zhou Ning and the others, calling Mr. Qu over, headed to the basement first.
Descending a dozen or so steps, they faced another door. Mr. Zhao called someone, and the locksmith arrived. It took them about ten minutes to open the door. By that time, Xu Dayuan and the others had finished checking upstairs and came down.
"What’s going on, there’s another door here?"
"Yeah, we haven’t gone in yet. Didn’t find anything upstairs, did you?"
"Just a normal living space, clean enough to be spotless. Mr. Yang is extracting substances from toothbrushes and combs to see if he can find any DNA to compare, as there was female DNA found on Liu Meiling’s facial wound."
Zhou Ning sighed. Obviously, there was no one upstairs, so where did the person go?
Turning around to face the door to the basement, Mr. Zhao and the locksmith pushed the door open. As the light switch on the wall was flipped, the scene inside made everyone shiver.
