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墨書 Inktalez
We arrived at the university where Zhang Zhiyuan had been accepted. At first glance, the school did not seem impressive; the teaching and dormitory buildings appeared somewhat worn down. This was especially striking since just two hours earlier, we had been on the campus of Lanzhong University, creating a stark contrast.
After contacting the school administration, we quickly found Zhang Zhiyuan. Following a brief comparison and investigation, we discovered that Zhang Zhiyuan had no opportunity to commit the crime; he was not the killer. Throughout that week, there was ample evidence and numerous witnesses to confirm that Zhang Zhiyuan had never left the campus.
Currently, Zhang Zhiyuan had not yet found a girlfriend. Although four years had passed, he still vividly remembered his relationship with Zhao Kaifang. When we informed him of Zhao Kaifang's death, he appeared saddened, but more so in a state of regret.
Before we could ask anything, Zhang Zhiyuan began recounting everything he knew about Zhao Kaifang. In his eyes, she was an intelligent and beautiful woman. At the beginning of high school, Zhao Kaifang was quiet and approachable; she was humble and kind to others.
However, it wasn't long before she seemed to transform into a different person. She became particularly cold and distant, like a block of ice that no one could approach. It was during this time that Zhang Zhiyuan and Zhao Kaifang's relationship gradually cooled off until they naturally broke up.
As he spoke, Zhang Zhiyuan occasionally gazed into the distance and sighed. He said, "This shouldn't just be my personal feeling; many people in our class felt the same way. Because of this, Zhao Kaifang's friends dwindled until it seemed like only one chubby girl remained by her side. What was her name again? I suddenly forgot."
From Zhang Zhiyuan's description, it seemed that Zhao Kaifang's only close friend in high school was Zhao Ke'er. However, Zhao Ke'er was not a chubby girl; on the contrary, she was quite delicate and graceful. Yet people say that girls change significantly as they grow up. I still asked, "Um, is this person Zhao Ke'er?"
Zhang Zhiyuan's eyes lit up at my words as he replied, "That's right! It's Zhao Ke'er. Eventually, she was the only one who remained friends with Zhao Kaifang. Later on, Zhao Kaifang got together with a rich kid from our class. After that, I don't know what happened. However, I heard she managed to get into Lanzhong University; she's truly a smart woman."
During our investigation at Lanzhong University, everyone around spoke uniformly about Zhao Kaifang—she was perceived as aloof. But in Zhang Zhiyuan's eyes, she hadn't always been that way; there had been a process of change. I asked him, "So do you know what caused Zhao Kaifang to change? You were her boyfriend; you should know."
Zhang Zhiyuan shook his head and said, "I don't know at all what happened. It came as a shock; one day she suddenly came to find me crying. My parents were home at the time. When I opened the door, she cried loudly. My parents came out and asked what was going on; I just closed the door and said she had the wrong place."
I frowned while Dezi scoffed.
Zhang Zhiyuan chuckled lightly before continuing, "Actually, I think I'm quite cowardly for handling it that way. But at that moment, I panicked; I had never seen someone cry so heartbreakingly before. I've seen many people cry, but Zhao Kaifang's tears were more sorrowful than those at a funeral—it felt like the sky was falling down. I was just a high school student back then..."
From Zhang Zhiyuan's expression, it was clear he regretted how he handled that situation. After speaking about it, he seemed relieved as if he had lifted a heavy burden off his shoulders. He said, "This matter has weighed on my heart for a long time; now that I've spoken about it, I suppose it's like putting an end to my high school life."
After bidding farewell to Zhang Zhiyuan, Dezi remarked, "This guy is really too cowardly. But does what he said have anything to do with Zhao Kaifang's death? Moreover, according to abortion records, Zhao Kaifang had an abortion when she was fifteen—that would have been during her third year of middle school—but from what Zhang Zhiyuan mentioned, she only changed months after starting high school. Is there something more to this?"
I gently rubbed my temples and said to everyone, "From Zhang Zhiyuan's perspective, he has ample alibi; he definitely couldn't have committed the murder. Based on this analysis, there are only two possibilities."
"The first possibility is that Zhang Zhiyuan misjudged the situation." As we walked towards the car, I continued, "The second possibility is that Zhang Zhiyuan's feelings were accurate. Back in high school, Zhao Kaifang must have gone through something that shaped her into the person she became later. Our visit to Kaiyang is to thoroughly investigate everything."
Zhang Zhiyuan's suspicion had been cleared, and now we were looking for the second person: the wealthy heir, Zhuang Peng. When we found Zhuang Peng's office, a disheveled woman walked out. The way she awkwardly walked made us guess what she had been doing inside.
Juan Juan looked at the woman and whispered, "Doing such things in the office during broad daylight is really inappropriate."
Shaking my head, I entered the office to find Zhuang Peng lounging lazily in his chair. He didn't bother to stand up when he saw us; instead, he squinted at us with a nonchalant expression. The office was tidy, but his desk was a complete mess, littered with scraps of paper.
This indicated that someone was responsible for cleaning the office, while Zhuang Peng himself had created the chaos on his desk. Looking at Zhuang Peng, I couldn't reconcile him with the gentle and wealthy gentleman Zhao Ke'er had described. He looked more like a spoiled rich kid. Zhuang Peng tilted his chin at us and said, "The front desk just called me and said you guys are from the police. What's up? I haven't done anything wrong."
Since Zhuang Peng was being rude, I pulled out a chair and sat down directly across from him. "We need to investigate whether you've done anything wrong first. Where were you a week ago?"
"A week ago?" Zhuang Peng replied. "I was attending a meeting with my dad. Why?"
I exchanged a glance with Mary, signaling her to verify Zhuang Peng's statement. She nodded and took her computer out of her backpack. I continued speaking to Zhuang Peng, "You should remember Zhao Kaifang; she's dead now. We're here to learn about her situation in high school and hope you can cooperate."
"Zhao Kaifang?" Zhuang Peng propped his feet on the desk and swayed them without looking at me. "Zhao Kaifang? Who's that? Sorry, there are just too many people in the company; I can't remember everyone. Can you remind me so I can see if it jogs my memory?"
Dezi let out a cold snort, clearly unable to tolerate Zhuang Peng's behavior and wanting to drag him off his chair. I placed a hand on Dezi's shoulder to signal him not to get angry with someone like this. Besides, we were here to investigate Zhao Kaifang; it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
After a pause, I spoke slowly and clearly to Zhuang Peng: "Zhao Kaifang was a student at Kaiyang No. 1 High School and was in your class. Four years ago, when you were both freshmen, you dated Zhao Kaifang for several months. Do you remember her now?"
Zhuang Peng pondered for a moment before finally showing an expression of realization and said, "Oh, you're talking about back when we were freshmen! Yes, at that time, I did have a girlfriend named Zhao Kaifang. What happened? Did she die? Honestly, I don't remember much about her—just that she always cried while we were together."
Seemingly reminiscing about those "good old days," Zhuang Peng appeared somewhat animated as he elaborated: "How should I put it? During our time together, it seemed like she got pregnant a few times, but I always gave her money to have it terminated. To be honest with you guys, she was the first girl I met who didn't like men wearing protection! Thinking back to high school life—it was truly wonderful."
"What's wrong?" Zhuang Peng finally snapped back to reality when he noticed our silence. "By the way, did she die? How did it happen? After the second year of high school, I hardly went to school anymore, and I haven't seen her much since then. Ah, what a pity. There was a time when I really missed her, haha."
From Zhuang Peng's words, we could detect not a hint of sadness regarding Zhao Kaifang's death, nor any trace of melancholy. It seemed that in Zhuang Peng's mind, Zhao Kaifang's life and death had nothing to do with him at all. At that moment, Mary found Zhuang Peng's alibi; the time of the meeting a week ago coincided with Zhao Kaifang's time of death. Zhuang Peng couldn't be in both Kaiyang and Blue Capital at the same time.
With this conclusion reached and Zhuang Peng's suspicion eliminated, there was no need for us to stay here any longer. From Zhuang Peng, we learned that Zhao Kaifang's several abortions were related to him. Zhuang Peng was one of the fathers of those unborn children, and the timeline matched up.
I remembered Zhao Ke'er telling me that Zhuang Peng was definitely not the kind of person who would do such things. But now it seemed that Zhao Ke'er had misjudged him. From our observations, Zhuang Peng was indeed not a good person.
"Officer?" Zhuang Peng continued from behind us, "Why are you leaving so soon? Won't you sit down for a cup of tea?"
At that moment, Dezi slammed his hand on Zhuang Peng's desk with a loud bang that made the teacups on the table jump. Zhuang Peng wanted to say something but quickly straightened up in his chair upon seeing Dezi's glare, not daring to speak again. Once we exited the company, Dezi remarked, "That Zhuang Peng is really not a good person."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Mary looked at her computer and said, "But he's not the killer either. Next, let's try to find that campus heartthrob from back then, Xiao Jingguang. However, Xiao Jingguang is unpredictable; he might not even be in Kaiyang."
"Yeah, but let's check his house in Kaiyang first," I suggested.
An unsolved mystery: a 21st-century airborne troop mysteriously appears in North America, rescuing an Indian red-haired beauty, enjoying the company of a blue-eyed busty blonde, dominating Wall Street, amassing wealth across America, and initiating a Han ethnic colonial global model.
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