Chapter 124 - 122: The Person Was Found, But...

Chapter 124: Chapter 122: The Person Was Found, But...

"My parents supported many investment projects in Jiangcheng back in the day. After the incident, the authorities took it very seriously. But..."

Lu Zhishen fell silent for a moment. He had scrubbed his fingers red with the tissue.

But he still didn’t stop.

"It would have been better if they hadn’t," Lu Zhishen said. "I was thirteen. They wouldn’t listen to anything I said, no one believed me, and I couldn’t do a single thing."

"Then Captain Kang..." Su Miaoyi asked.

"He took pity on me, being all alone, and would occasionally come by the house to check on me," Lu Zhishen said.

He didn’t say how Kang Ting viewed his family’s case.

Su Miaoyi didn’t ask.

Lu Zhishen looked up at her. "You saw the scene, didn’t you?"

Su Miaoyi’s lips parted.

"It’s okay, tell me," Lu Zhishen said. "It’s been so many years. I’m not that fragile."

Su Miaoyi thought for a moment before saying, "I saw the scene from your mother’s perspective."

"Mm." Lu Zhishen listened quietly.

Su Miaoyi said, "At the very beginning, your mother was holding a fruit platter when she pushed open the door to your study. As she went in, she saw the killer and your father standing by the study window."

"Your father was being pinned against the window by the killer. Your mother was startled when she entered, and she tried to scream but couldn’t."

"The sound of the door opening must have caught the killer’s attention, because he turned his head. Your father yelled, ’Jin, run!’"

Su Miaoyi paused. "Then the killer grabbed the clothes at his waist and threw him out the window. Your mother saw your father fall and ran toward the window. The killer pulled out a rope..."

Su Miaoyi couldn’t continue.

She had seen the killer take the rope and wrap it around his mother’s neck.

Above the balcony of his family’s study, there was a crossbar for a swing.

The killer hung the rope over it and hoisted her up by her neck.

Before she was fully hoisted up, she struggled and managed to pull off the killer’s face covering.

Then the killer just stood there, head tilted back, watching her struggle.

Until she closed her eyes.

And then Su Miaoyi was pulled out of the vision.

Lu Zhishen said, "The housemaid said my mother was found hanging from the swing’s crossbar on the balcony. The swing itself had been dismantled and tossed aside at some point. And under my mother’s feet, there was a kicked-over stool."

"The police said that based on the angle of the overturned stool and the ligature marks on her neck, everything was consistent with a suicide."

"In the vision I saw, the swing was still there, and there was no stool nearby," Su Miaoyi said. "The killer must have staged it afterward."

’The fingerprints on the sleeping pill bottle were probably placed there at that time, too.’

’And then the killer went to find Lu Zhishen.’

"Did anyone come after you afterward?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Lu Zhishen shook his head. "To them, I posed no threat. There was no point in killing me. In fact, killing me would only have drawn more attention."

Su Miaoyi sat opposite him, watching his hands. She stood up and grabbed his wrist. "Stop rubbing. You’re going to make it bleed."

His normally pale fingers were about to be rubbed bleeding by the tissue.

Lu Zhishen’s movements paused, and he tossed the tissue aside.

Su Miaoyi released his wrist and sat back down.

"I got the sense that the killer was a skilled fighter," she said.

"Really?" Lu Zhishen said. "My dad... he was the very definition of a frail scholar. He only went into business because my maternal grandfather’s family had been merchants for generations. After he married my mom, he started working with my grandfather. My mom used to say that my dad carrying her for a run was the absolute limit of his physical strength. If the killer was skilled, my dad wouldn’t have stood a chance."

Su Miaoyi’s eyes began to well up.

From his few words, she could sense that he once had a very warm and loving home.

His parents had loved each other, and they both loved him dearly.

And they must have been very gentle people.

That’s why beneath Lu Zhishen’s melancholic, detached exterior lay a gentle nature.

"My maternal grandparents had only one child, my mother, who was born to them late in life. When I was ten, the old couple went to sleep one night and never woke up. They passed away together." Lu Zhishen slowly exhaled. "My mother inherited the family business, and my father helped her manage it."

Su Miaoyi’s lips moved, but she didn’t know how to comfort him.

Lu Zhishen kept his head down. After a moment, he looked up toward the door.

Su Miaoyi said, "The sketch is a good likeness. A match shouldn’t take long."

"Mm," Lu Zhishen responded.

After a little while, Zhuang Yanzheng walked over.

Lu Zhishen looked at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, "We found him."

Lu Zhishen showed no reaction. Zhuang Yanzheng’s tone was off, so he waited for the inevitable "but."

"But he’s dead," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi frowned.

Lu Zhishen slowly lowered his gaze.

Su Miaoyi looked at him and saw that he didn’t have much of a reaction.

Zhuang Yanzheng sat down and said, "Captain Kang said he’s seen this man with Jiang Yaozu. He just ran a check in Jiangcheng. The man’s name is Zheng Hui. He’d be forty this year. His parents are abroad, but they’re not in contact. When Zheng Hui died, they didn’t even come back."

"Fengjiang Group," Lu Zhishen said calmly.

Jiang Yaozu is Jiang Junrui’s father.

Su Miaoyi watched him.

His reaction was too placid.

A placidness that came from not having the energy to react at all.

’He’s always had a suspect in mind.’

’He just never had any evidence.’

"How long has he been dead?" Lu Zhishen asked.

"Three years," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"Don’t tell me he died shortly after Captain Kang saw him," Lu Zhishen said.

Zhuang Yanzheng: "Mm-hm."

Su Miaoyi asked, "Cause of death?"

"Car accident," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "The car hit a tree and caught fire. He burned to death inside."

Lu Zhishen didn’t speak.

Su Miaoyi clicked her tongue inwardly.

’Jiang Yaozu is the prime suspect.’

’But the case is already more than a decade old.’

’All they’ve found is the hitman from all those years ago.’

’But that hitman is dead.’

’And there’s no other evidence.’

’The trail has gone cold again.’

Lu Zhishen sat on the sofa, not saying a word.

The redness in his eyes hadn’t faded.

But his emotions had stabilized.

"Captain Kang’s advice is not to do anything to tip them off without concrete evidence," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "He’s worried about your safety."

Lu Zhishen nodded. "I know."

"Is Zheng Hui really dead?" Su Miaoyi couldn’t help but voice her suspicion.

Neither Zhuang Yanzheng nor Lu Zhishen spoke.

They both shared the same suspicion.

"A burned corpse, and Zheng Hui’s parents aren’t even in Jiangcheng, so there’s no way to do a DNA comparison. How could they be sure it was him?" Su Miaoyi said.

"I even suspect his entire identity is fake," she said.

"Finding him is the key," Lu Zhishen said.

"If he faked his death, where would he be?" Zhuang Yanzheng looked at the two of them. He already knew the answer but asked them anyway.

"I don’t know where, but... he definitely still has ties to Jiang Yaozu," Lu Zhishen said.

"Someone that valuable doesn’t get thrown away. They get used again," Su Miaoyi said.

"I’ll go contact Captain Kang," Zhuang Yanzheng said, getting up.

Lu Zhishen also stood up. "I’ll go with you."

...