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墨書 Inktalez
“Who is the Victim?” Xu Yiman clearly did not understand Old Shao's words.
Old Shao pointed to Wei Linghui's name with a pen and said, “If I were the Criminal Consultant, what would be the first thing I do?”
“What?” Xu Yiman asked.
“Look for my client.” Old Shao took out a blank sheet of paper and began to write and draw while speaking. “A Criminal Consultant never acts on their own; they always design a plan for their clients to execute. According to the three principles of a Criminal Consultant, the person they target should be someone they believe to be a bad person.”
“Then the problem arises,” Old Shao snapped his fingers.
Jiang He continued, “Wei Linghui must have done something that made the Criminal Consultant want to take action against her.”
“Exactly.” Old Shao sighed lightly and said, “If Lu Zhengye panicked, he deserves it; then this matter should have nothing to do with him. But Lu Zhengye has mysteriously disappeared. What happened to him? If Lu Zhengye is innocent, then he has been wronged.”
Old Shao wrote down these two possibilities on the paper: “If he was wronged, his most precious ten years of youth, from twenty-two to thirty-two, would have been spent in prison. If that’s the case, one can imagine the hatred in his heart. If he chooses to take revenge, who would he target?”
“Wei Qian!” Xu Yiman stated decisively. “If it was Wei Qian who caused Lu Zhengye to go to prison, then of course he would want to take revenge on her first. The law states that anyone over sixteen who consents is not considered to have been raped. At that time, Wei Qian should have been around sixteen or seventeen.”
Old Shao nodded. “Legally, that is correct. However, from a moral standpoint, regardless of whether Wei Qian consented or not, if this matter were exposed, she would face severe moral condemnation. How much hatred could a girl harbor towards someone to resort to such a self-destructive method? For a girl, this is likely her most important possession.”
“This indeed raises doubts; it seems more likely that Lu Zhengye raped her,” Xu Yiman said.
Old Shao gently set down his pen and spoke, “But no matter who was at fault, Lu Zhengye’s target for revenge should still be Wei Qian. So why is it that in the video sent to us by the Criminal Consultant, the person being held captive is Wei Linghui?”
“The Criminal Consultant, the bomb! How could I forget this point?” Old Shao suddenly slapped his forehead and said, “This bomb must have been made by the Criminal Consultant. After graduating from middle school, Lu Zhengye dropped out; I doubt he even knows what chemical elements are. Therefore, this bomb could not have come from him; it must have been made by the Criminal Consultant themselves. Find that kid and continue investigating along this lead.”
With that, Old Shao drew a line on the blank paper.
At that moment, five names or codes appeared on the white paper—Criminal Consultant, Lu Zhengye, Wei Linghui, Wei Qian, and the boy. Old Shao connected these names with lines. One name clearly linked all these individuals together, and that was Wei Qian.
“Xu Yiman, arrange for the police to investigate the boy who delivered the bomb,” said Shao the Elder.
Jiang He added, “The boy, Shui Xinlan, is probably around one meter twenty-three tall. Based on the latest Chinese children's height standards, he should be between six and nine years old. A boy under ten would find it difficult to travel far alone; I am eighty percent sure he lives nearby.”
“Have the police question him thoroughly,” Old Shao nodded at Jiang He. “Generally speaking, a seven-year-old child doesn't have much mental resilience, and he might not even know what was inside. We should be able to get information from him easily.”
While Xu Yiman arranged for police assistance, Captain Liu brought good news. He had contacted Wei Linghui's family, specifically Wei Linghui's older brother, who is also Wei Qian's father. This was a key figure; perhaps from him, they could fully understand what had happened back then.
Coincidentally, Wei Qian's family now lived in the northwest of Dragon City. Further out from their home lay the suburbs of Dragon City.
Old Shao made a simple allocation of the available personnel. Guan Deng led detectives from the technical department of the Public Security Bureau to continue searching for Lu Zhengye. Captain Liu was responsible for coordinating officers from various precincts to search for possible hiding places in the northwest suburbs, particularly any cellars. Yuan Jun was tasked with investigating the boy who delivered the bomb.
Meanwhile, Old Shao took Jiang He and Xu Yiman to visit Wei Qian's father—Wei Lingyong.
Ten years had passed, and Wei Qian, once an innocent fifteen-year-old girl, had grown into a twenty-five-year-old woman.
In the northwest of Dragon City, rows of bungalows were neatly arranged, with patches of farmland on either side of the asphalt road. The home of Wei Qian was hidden among these many bungalows. Prior to this visit, Captain Liu had already informed Wei Qian's father of their purpose. After three knocks on the door, it opened to reveal an elderly man.
The old man's hair was gray, his back slightly hunched, and his face bore the marks of time.
“We are police officers,” said Xu Yiman, identifying herself to the old man. “We are here to find out about Wei Qian and speak with Wei Lingyong.”
“I know; you called earlier,” the old man replied as he ushered them inside. “I am Wei Lingyong, Wei Qian's father. Please come in.”
A few people were slightly shocked. The records showed that Wei Lingyong had given birth to Wei Qian at the age of twenty, making him only forty-five years old now. However, looking at Wei Lingyong's face, he appeared to be over sixty. Even Old Shao, who was in his sixties, seemed sharper and straighter than Wei Lingyong.
Wei Lingyong invited them inside and poured a few glasses of water before asking, "You are here to inquire about that incident from ten years ago, right?"
Old Shao nodded and said to Wei Lingyong, "That's right. You should know that Lu Zhengye has been released from prison."
"I know," Wei Lingyong replied dully. "He has been out for a while now. For the first few months, Wei Linghui was still in touch with me, but then I lost contact."
"Has Wei Linghui not divorced Lu Zhengye?" Old Shao asked, somewhat surprised.
Given such circumstances—her husband having raped her own niece—if she still hadn't pursued a divorce, it could only mean true love or coercion.
Wei Lingyong shook his head slowly. "No, they haven't divorced. I don't know what kind of spell Lu Zhengye cast on Wei Linghui. When my mother passed away, we urged her to divorce him quickly, but she refused. At that time, Wei Linghui was only twenty-three; she shouldn't waste her youth on a rapist. Especially since that beast... I can never forgive him! He better not show up in front of me; otherwise, I'll be the first to take a knife to him!"
From Wei Lingyong's tone, Old Shao sensed his complex feelings toward his sister.
After pondering for a moment, Old Shao asked, "From your tone, it seems you were still in contact with your sister before. Did you cut ties with her only after Lu Zhengye was released?"
Wei Lingyong sighed heavily and downed the glass of water in front of him before saying, "Yes, I can't forgive that bastard Lu Zhengye, but Wei Linghui is my biological sister. I'm thirteen years older than her; she has always been the precious one in our family. My mother was unwell and my father passed away early. Although I am her brother, sometimes I took care of her like a father."
"It's not Wei Linghui's fault; she just had bad luck and couldn't find her own happiness," Wei Lingyong lamented. "She deserved a better life instead of being ruined by that scoundrel Lu Zhengye. When Lu Zhengye was imprisoned, I urged my sister to divorce him many times. She was still young; even if she divorced, she could find someone else—anyone would be better than a criminal."
When it came to Lu Zhengye, Wei Lingyong's hatred bubbled over. "But that bastard Lu Zhengye somehow deceived my sister into not divorcing him. Even if she wanted to divorce and remarry, how could she? She has made up her mind not to divorce him; that's how it ended up."
"On one side is my beloved daughter; on the other is my dear sister," Wei Lingyong said as he clutched his white hair. "As a father and as a brother, what else can I do?"
Old Shao sighed, "Do you know that your daughter once dated Lu Zhengye?"
Wei Lingyong nodded, his hands clasped together as he rubbed them nervously. "I only found out about it after that incident. I had no idea that Sisi had been involved with that scoundrel. If I had known from the start, I would have broken Lu Zhengye's legs and never let Sisi date him! I always thought it was Wei Linghui who pursued Lu Zhengye first, and that's how Sisi got to know him, but it turned out to be the opposite."
"Ten years ago, Lu Zhengye had nothing," Wei Lingyong continued, filling his cup with water again. "Even the house was bought with money borrowed from my mother and me. As long as my sister was happy, I didn't care if he was broke; as long as they could live well together, money could always be earned slowly."
"It was all because of money that my wife and I fought so much," Wei Lingyong said regretfully. "Back then, we weren't a wealthy family either. I spent four or five years' worth of savings on my sister, so it was understandable for my wife to be angry. But who knew this would happen? My wife wanted me to cut ties with Wei Linghui, but I didn't. In the end, she divorced me and took Sisi with her."
"I haven't seen Sisi for quite some time," Wei Lingyong said sadly. "I heard she went to work in another city; I don't even know how she's doing."
With that, Wei Lingyong fell into a long silence.
Jiang He looked around the dilapidated house, a phrase coming to mind—"bare walls." The rundown place had no appliances; there was neither a television nor a refrigerator. Cobwebs filled the corners of the ceiling, suggesting it had never been cleaned.
The quiet yard was littered with fallen leaves, and a rusty bicycle leaned against the wall.
"You," Wei Lingyong spoke again, "on one side is my own daughter, and on the other is my own sister. What am I supposed to do?"
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