Free Web NovelChapter 670: Chapter 638: They look too alike_1
Half an hour later.
The group arrived at a neighborhood that, although old, was quite well-maintained with large green spaces and newly paved roads. Guided by Guan Jian, they stopped in front of a building, only to see an elderly gentleman stepping out briskly, carrying a small stool.
On seeing Guan Jian, the old man smiled.
"Well, Mr. Guan, what brings you here so early today? Aren’t you busy?"
Guan Jian shook his head, dashed over to take the stool from the elderly man, and affectionately held his hand as warmly as one would with a dear grandson. freewebnσvel.cѳm
"Elder, I came today especially to see you. These gentlemen are leaders from Qindao; they have some issues they’d like to confirm with you, about an archive from nearly twenty years ago. Would you be available?"
Zhu Jianguo’s smile froze, his gaze swept over each of their faces, and then Xu Dayuan took out his police identification and handed it to him with both hands.
"Elder, my name is Xu Dayuan from the Qindao City Public Security Bureau. May we find a quiet place to have a brief talk with you?"
Zhu Jianguo nodded.
The group followed Zhu Jianguo into the courtyard of a ground-floor apartment with a garden. As they entered, an old lady came out. Spotting the crowd of police officers, she paused and glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall.
"What happened, Zhu?"
Zhu Jianguo waved his hand dismissively.
"Some people from work need to talk to me about something. Go to the bedroom and wait for me, don’t come out unless I call you!"
The old lady was about to pour water but Zhu Jianguo stopped her short with a clucking sound.
Everyone settled down and the elder glanced around the room, his gaze resting on Zhou Ning for a good moment before finally turning to Xu Dayuan.
"Well, my whole life has been as a record room manager; I’ve never done anything significant. Are you sure you’ve got the right person? What could I possibly help you verify?"
Xu Dayuan smiled, gestured to Mr. Zhao, and placed a tablet on the table that displayed a photograph.
"I’ll cut to the chase without beating around the bush to make you think I have an ulterior motive. We are investigating a case, a family annihilation that took place nineteen years ago, on January 1, 1995, at the Ganzhou City People’s Hospital Family Quarters."
Zhu Jianguo visibly flinched, but quickly lowered his eyelids and waited for Xu Dayuan to continue. Xu Dayuan didn’t rush and pointed to the tablet, saying:
"The archive room is missing documents, not just this file but many others. There is no related record either. This file box was found among a pile of backup files that were moved here after the bureau’s relocation in 2007. We know this is not the complete content.
We also know that the crime scene involved not just a married couple being killed but also a child. However, this report doesn’t reflect that at all, and no relevant information was found in the archives. Do you remember anything about this case? After all, one of the victims was the deputy captain of the criminal police team."
Zhu Jianguo fell silent and did not speak for a long time. Guan Jian was about to say something but was stopped by Fang Dongsheng.
Zhou Ning stood up, walked over to Zhu Jianguo, squatted down, and took off his black-framed glasses.
"Elder, you’ve been looking at me quite a bit since I entered. I guess you find me very familiar, right? Now take a closer look to see if I resemble the person you’re thinking of. Also, my name is Zhou Ning."
Zhu Jianguo was taken aback, then quickly leaned in to examine Zhou Ning thoroughly from all angles. The longer he looked, the redder his eyes became, and finally his hands started to tremble. After pondering for a moment, he nodded.
"Qindao, yes, his ancestral home is in Qindao. Had you not mentioned your name, I wouldn’t have dared to recognize you. You’re thinner and much taller than he was, but at a glance, you really look like you were cast from the same mold."
Upon hearing this, Fang Dongsheng and Guan Jian were even more bewildered. They looked back and forth between Zhu Jianguo and Zhou Ning. Mr. Zhao gestured to them to keep quiet and whispered:
"Let’s not act surprised; just listen for now, and I’ll explain the reason to you later."
The two nodded and stepped back. Zhou Ning patted Zhu Jianguo’s hand, offering a smile.
"I only found out about this a week ago. They brought me here to work and study because of an injury I sustained; I have no memory of anything before the age of ten. Elder, can you tell me about the past?
The archives we tried to retrieve didn’t contain what we were looking for, especially the files for this case. There’s absolutely no record, and I feel there must be something wrong with that. Do you recall anything?"
Zhu Jianguo stood up and, rummaging through the coffee table, found his reading glasses and pressed down with both hands.
"Please wait a moment; I will check my record books."
With that, Zhu Jianguo hurried toward the study, almost running, and then began searching through everything, eventually finding a large stack of notebooks in a massive camphor wood chest. The notebooks clearly showed their age, and the styles were entirely different.
Clutching the notebook, he returned to the living room where Zhu Jianguo stood up all of their notebooks on the coffee table; it was then that everybody could clearly see that each notebook’s spine was affixed with a cloth strip inscribed with the year and month.
He found the two from 1995 and quickly flipped them open, soon passing the notebook to Zhou Ning.
"I don’t have any photos here, but I copied the contents of the case files that were sent over. Back then, there weren’t many photocopies available. For example, I have carbon copies of the archival crime scene reports, although the clarity might be lacking due to age. I’m not sure if you can make them out," he said.
Zhou Ning took them with both hands and scrutinized them carefully.
The hand-drawn scene map in the notebook wasn’t included in the crucially discovered case file, which only contained some photos of a cleaned-up crime scene, not the actual scene.
Two room scene maps indicated the cardboard box on the balcony where Zhou Ning had hidden; blood spatters were on the inside of the box, the balcony walls, and the floor, and the bedroom door was also damaged by gunshots.
Seeing these, Zhou Ning couldn’t help but take a deep breath. The carbon copies of the crime scene and autopsy reports were affixed to the end of the record, and after unfolding them for a closer look, he found these were quite detailed, containing at least twice the content of the previous case file.
The handwriting in these reports was identical to what he had seen earlier. Flipping to the last page, he saw the signatures—indeed, the scene was investigated by Sun Pengfei, with the witness Hao Xin, the overall in charge An Lishuai, and as for the forensic doctor, it was that same Zhang Guocheng, Doctor Zhang.
This indicated it wasn’t their lack of ability but rather that someone had intentionally reduced the contents of the autopsy and crime scene reports at the time. Moreover, the same person had issued the instructions, given that the contents of the two reports were consecutive.
However, a lot of the handwriting inside was extremely faded—probably due to the passage of many years. He wondered whether Old Sun and the others could restore it.
Zhou Ning looked up and smiled at the elder Zhu Jianguo.
"I really can’t thank you enough, old man. Did you copy each case file like this?"
Zhu Jianguo nodded.
"With nothing else to do, I wanted to practice my calligraphy at the time. The traffic police rarely had matters to attend to, but the criminal police would occasionally handle major cases, so I got into this habit. Back then, copies were distributed in fours—one for the archives, one for the procuratorate, one retained by the criminal police. Whatever was left over wasn’t torn out; they just included it in the case file when sent over. I would tear it out and paste it up.
"I maintained this habit for twenty years. When I was about to retire and wanted to hand these over, I told the girl who was taking over my position. She didn’t care at all and just told me to quickly clear out my workstation. As soon as I took out my things, she started spraying alcohol and cleaning.
"By the time I was finished, she had already crammed her makeup and bags into the cabinets, changed the lock, and was doing her makeup at the workstation. When I saw that, I didn’t argue and just left quickly. Clearly, this girl had connections, and she wasn’t someone just anyone could mess with."
"Was her name Cao Wenyu?" he asked.
Zhu Jianguo shook his head.
"I don’t remember her name; I just know she was called Little Cao. I used that nickname for her, and the girl blew up at me. I was scheduled to retire after my birthday at the end of October, but the very next day I got a notice from my superiors, and was retired immediately. So, you see, this girl wasn’t ordinary."
Zhou Ning moved closer, took Zhu Jianguo’s wrist, and the two sat down again.
"Old man, I have another question for you. When you handed over your duties, were there records for the documents transferred? For example, for this case file you copied, did you sign anything when it was given to Cao Wenyu?"
Zhu Jianguo smiled.
"Let me put it this way: I made a list of all the files that needed to be handed over, from the reference number to the case file name, the unit that managed the case, whether it was transferred—I sorted all that out. Just the list was twenty-seven pages long. It was quite a large number of documents.
"But when I gave it to Little Cao, she glanced at it once and asked if we still needed to check these. I said it was necessary; I’m handing them to you, you need to confirm by signing, I complete the handover, and we each keep a copy, with one extra for me. She gave a fleeting look, signed each one, handed me two copies, and told me I could leave.
"I can assure you with the honor of my life’s work that I handed everything over on October 9, 2006. All cases and materials up to that day were kept intact by her. As for what came after, well, that was no longer my concern."
Zhu Jianguo was very emotional as he spoke, and Mr. Zhao quickly brought water for the old man. After drinking a few sips, the elder calmed down, glanced at Fang Dongsheng and Guan Jian standing behind, and held Zhou Ning’s hand with great sentiment.
After all, the more he looked at Zhou Ning, the more he resembled the deceased friend from the past.
"Back then, you were seriously injured. How did you leave the scene? I only found out about this from the case file, and it shocked me at the time," he said.
Zhou Ning shook his head, avoiding no details.
These two men were now in the same boat, after all. Cao Wenyu from the archives and Bai Qishan from the municipal committee must be problematic.
It seemed on the surface that the two had an illicit relationship, with several children, and this appeared to be no secret, accepted silently as the setup.
However, Zhou Ning felt sometimes personal relations with a tint of color seemed to serve as a cover-up; displaying such brazen arrogance, wasn’t it just the best kind of disguise?
After all, the case files that should have disappeared, did so.
