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墨書 Inktalez
I found a hotel to spend the night, and early the next morning, Zhao Mingkun cleaned up the traces we left behind and took me to Kangning Insurance Company.
Kangning Insurance Company wasn't particularly large, but it had assets in the hundreds of millions. From what I understood, insurance companies keep transaction records for every claim, especially for a sum as large as one million. Even after seven years, it should be possible to find it in the company's records.
After half an hour of searching, one of the company representatives finally located the insurance claim document. Coincidentally, this claim from seven years ago belonged to Lu Zhiqiu, and the company representative had also been involved in it.
The representative explained that when a claim needs to be processed, the insurance company sends out a claims adjuster to investigate. If the adjuster confirms that the conditions of the insurance are valid and there is no fraud involved, they will proceed with compensation according to the terms of the policy.
The representative said, "Seven years ago, Kangning Insurance Company was nowhere near as large as it is now. The policies we usually handled were only worth tens of thousands. No one expected there would actually be a one-million compensation. At that time, no one thought there would be any danger during student internships. Dongxing University had a very large insurance share with a broad coverage scope; if an accident or even homicide occurred, it would fall under the policy."
I frowned and asked, "Homicide is covered too? I've never heard of that."
The representative nodded. "In fact, as long as it happened on a construction site, everything except suicide is covered. Even if someone suddenly dies from a heart attack on site, it's included in my policy's coverage. Previously, all expenses were paid by the school; they had a significant amount insured and the policy duration was short—just for those one or two months of internship. That's why the final payout was so substantial."
I nodded in understanding.
The representative continued, "The claims investigator at that time was another founder of our company, Liu Ruijie. To be honest, I find this matter quite suspicious. A few months after that female student died, Liu Ruijie left the company. I know he was in deep debt at that time."
"Deep debt?" My interest piqued.
The representative nodded again. "Kangning Insurance Company was founded by Liu Ruijie and another executive who invested their money together. Seven years ago, both were in their thirties and poured all their funds into the company. As the company slowly started to grow, Liu Ruijie developed a gambling addiction."
"At that time, Liu Ruijie lost all his shares in the company." The representative shook his head. "Not to mention his house and car; he lost everything completely. The other executive saw him as a founding member and reluctantly gave him a job as a claims adjuster just so he could get by. But for Liu Ruijie, going from being a company executive to becoming an adjuster was quite a fall."
"So, just months after processing Lu Zhiqiu's claim from seven years ago, Liu Ruijie left the company."
The person in charge looked around and said to me, "These are just my own speculations, and I don't have any evidence. If you want to listen, treat it as a story. If not, it doesn't really matter."
"Go on," I said.
Clearing his throat, the person continued, "At that time, Liu Ruijie's wife had already divorced him. He was alone and deeply in debt, looking quite troubled. But when we went to investigate, he was all smiles, as if he no longer worried about those debts. On the way, he even told me that once this deal was secured, he would say goodbye to his past life."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Mingkun asked him.
He licked his lips and replied, "I feel like there’s something fishy about him and this deal. Otherwise, it shouldn't have been him handling it. I have this feeling that he might have known all along that this girl was going to die."
At this point, he added quickly, "Of course, that's just how I felt at the time. Later on, it seemed like he paid off all his debts. But that's just my impression; after all, he didn't make it clear back then. And of course, he wouldn't make it clear to you either, would he?"
As he spoke, the person handed us Liu Ruijie's phone number and address. He said, "This phone number and address are from seven years ago; I don't know if they’re still valid. Back then, he sold his house and car and rented a place to live alone. By the way, don’t go spreading what I’ve told you; I'm not one to gossip."
After receiving the address and phone number, we left the insurance company.
Zhao Mingkun looked at the address and said to me, "This place is a little over two hours away; it's not too far. However, the chances of him still living there are slim. Do you think it's possible that Liu Ruijie was in dire need of a large sum of money to pay off his debts?"
"But," Zhao Mingkun continued as he mounted his motorcycle, "everyone knew about his gambling addiction back then. The money lent to him was basically gone for good; no one would lend him anything. So he must have thought about manipulating a huge insurance policy and colluding with the beneficiary Hu Pei to lure Lu Zhiqiu to the construction site where they both killed her?"
I stroked my chin thoughtfully and said slowly, "If two people committed the crime together, they would both need to take action to ensure neither could back out later. Dismembering the body might have been a way to prevent regret from either side. Since both were involved in the act, even if they regretted it later on, they wouldn’t betray each other; they would share both glory and downfall."
"Exactly," Zhao Mingkun replied. "As two grasshoppers on the same rope, neither can betray the other. Otherwise, they would both face the fate of being caught."
I snapped my fingers and said, "It's not impossible; the motive for murder could be money."
However, I raised a few more doubts: "This does make sense, but I still have some questions. Why is Lu Zhiqiu's beneficiary on the policy listed as Hu Pei? If someone were to fill out this policy, wouldn't the first thought typically be of a boyfriend?"
Zhao Mingkun paused for a moment before replying, "Not necessarily. Lu Zhiqiu's family didn't treat her well. It’s clear that they favored sons over daughters. Besides, when filling out the form, everyone probably did it in a lighthearted manner. Who would have thought something would actually happen?"
After a brief pause, Zhao Mingkun continued, "The form was likely filled out by students together, maybe to prove that their love was stronger than gold. They might have filled in each other's names as beneficiaries because they were so deeply in love. It's not impossible."
I shrugged. "And then Hu Pei killed her?"
As Zhao Mingkun rode his motorcycle toward Liu Ruijie's address, he responded to my remark, "That would mean there was premeditated murder when Lu Zhiqiu wrote down Hu Pei's name. At that moment, Lu Zhiqiu sealed her own fate. But it suggests that Hu Pei colluded with Liu Ruijie, not the other way around."
"Who colluded with whom isn't the point; the key is that both had motives for murder," I said to Zhao Mingkun. "Each had their own agenda and found common ground?"
Zhao Mingkun replied, "Splitting a million means each would get five hundred thousand. When do you think you could earn that much?"
I was at a loss for words and could only respond helplessly, "Do you think I can make money with my current status? I'll never earn five hundred thousand in my lifetime."
Zhao Mingkun chuckled. "I have it."
"You have five hundred thousand?" I asked.
Zhao Mingkun nodded. "Jealous?"
I snorted coldly and said, "What’s there to envy? Living like a homeless person with five hundred thousand, what’s so enviable about that?"
Zhao Mingkun chuckled.
I continued, "However, if you were involved in the murder with Hu Pei and Liu Ruijie, then you definitely wouldn’t be spreading it around. But when we were at Hu Pei's old house, we heard Jiang Xiaochun's ramblings. From her words, we could tell that Jiang Xiaochun was also aware of this matter. Even as a couple, Hu Pei wouldn’t let this information slip."
Upon hearing my words, Zhao Mingkun seemed to sense something was off and spoke up, "That makes sense. From what I saw of Jiang Xiaochun, she seemed genuinely terrified. She kept talking about how she returned and how ghosts were coming. If she wasn’t afraid of Lu Zhiqiu, she shouldn’t have reacted so strongly."
I nodded. "So this is the problem. Lu Zhiqiu and Hu Pei dated for four or five years. After Lu Zhiqiu's death, Hu Pei quickly married and had children with Jiang Xiaochun. Clearly, Jiang Xiaochun must have been thinking about Hu Pei for a long time. In Lu Zhiqiu's case, could it be that Jiang Xiaochun had a hand in it?"
Zhao Mingkun shook his head and said, "If Jiang Xiaochun was involved, then the situation becomes even more complicated. Even if Hu Pei agreed to it, I don’t think Liu Ruijie would. The more people who know about this, the greater the chance of exposure and getting caught. So they probably wouldn’t collaborate on this."
I deeply resonated with Zhao Mingkun's thoughts. Moreover, from Hu Pei sending his wife and child back to the old house, it was clear that he believed this matter shouldn’t involve his wife and daughter; thus, he must have thought his wife didn’t know about Lu Zhiqiu.
But looking at Jiang Xiaochun’s situation, she indeed knew about Lu Zhiqiu's death.
Things were getting interesting. The husband knew about it; the wife knew about it; yet the husband thought the wife was unaware while the wife pretended not to know. One thing I was certain of was that Hu Xiaoxue definitely didn’t know about this; the child was innocent, yet the murderer hadn’t spared her either.
Throughout the journey, I pondered this issue. Who exactly was responsible for Lu Zhiqiu's death? Was it Hu Pei, Liu Ruijie, or even possibly Jiang Xiaochun? They all had motives to want Lu Zhiqiu dead and might have conspired together at some point. And now, those seeking revenge for Lu Zhiqiu had returned.
Everyone harbored their own secrets.
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