Silver Snow Line [Criminal Investigation]

The police officers in the villa's living room were doing their work in an orderly manner, with only the rustling sound of fabrics rubbing against each other when they walked. After Xie Qingfei finished speaking, the sound of Xu Siwei swallowing his saliva became particularly obvious.

After a long while, he struggled to argue, "I don't know what you are talking about. You can't find out how An Qi died, but you blame me? I called the police!"

At this time, a message came from Zhao Chongyun on the mobile phone, saying that although there were several surveillance cameras installed outside the villa, half of them were fake to scare people, and the remaining ones did not have complete angles. Most importantly, the surveillance camera at the main entrance was broken.

"Do you think the person who reported the crime doesn't need to be investigated?" Xie Qingfei put down his phone and said with a half-hearted apology, "We couldn't help you last time you were kidnapped, so today we can help you investigate together. Go change your clothes. It's cold outside, remember to wear more clothes."

After saying that, he exchanged glances with Wei Cheng and turned to give instructions to Lu Shaohui.

Xu Siwei still had something to say, but when he saw the other party's attitude of not giving any explanation, his temper flared up and he tried to stand up in a hurry, but a hand held down his shoulder.

"Uncle," he turned around, and the anger between his brows disappeared immediately. He also remembered to respect the leadership of the elders, and said submissively, "I don't want to blame Captain Xie, I just... I was just scared and spoke without restraint. I'm sorry."

He stumbled to the bathroom, and only when he looked in the mirror did he realize that he was covered in blood. He trembled as he poured a handful of cold water on his face. The water rolled down his clothes, leaving behind a string of pink water droplets, which were even more dazzling against the white wall of the pool. Xu Siwei's fingers trembled as he wiped away the stains.

After watching his actions, Wei Cheng asked calmly, "Siwei, does An Qi know that you planned the kidnapping?"
Xu Siwei suddenly raised his head and looked at the person behind him in the mirror.
Wei Cheng smiled at him, as if he didn't care at all: "What's there to be surprised about? I've lived many more years than you, haven't I seen enough of this kind of thing? There are only two of us here, so there's no need for you to play dumb."

Xu Siwei did not answer, because the other party was not only a "comrade in the same circle" at this time, but also had a say with the police. His words and deeds might become evidence in court in the next second.

Wei Cheng didn't take his vigilance seriously. He leaned lazily against the door, smoothed a tuft of hair at his temples in the reflection of the mirror, and didn't even look at him.

"It would be fine if your father got into trouble. He's enjoyed enough in his life anyway, so it's not a loss to live a few years less. But now, he has closed his eyes and ignored the world, but wants you two sons to bear the scandal he left behind. He is really a bastard." He cleaned himself up and looked at the person in the mirror sympathetically. "You and Si Ruo are both innocent. After all, it is not up to you to decide whether it is an illegitimate child. No one wants this to happen."

A drop of water fell on Xu Siwei's brow, and he wiped it away with his fingers.

"You also think that being a bastard is shameful, right?"

Wei Cheng did not comment.

Xu Siwei sneered, "You're not the only one who thinks so. Everyone thinks so. Uncle, outsiders don't know, and the police don't understand either. They all think that someone deliberately spread rumors when my dad was sick, just to make us brothers turn against each other and take the opportunity to divide up our family's money. But in fact, I've been used to hearing these rumors since I was a child. It's just that this is the first time they've been brought out in the open, and I don't know how to deal with it. Si Ruo was born by my mother alone abroad. She took care of him, raised him, and gave him everything she had after she died. But what about me? I'm also her son, but I've never even seen her face a few times. My father doesn't love me, and my mother doesn't love me. I've accomplished nothing until now. I know you all think I'm a joke."

"Why doesn't my mother love me? How am I worse than Si Ruo? I could never figure this out, but now I understand." Xu Si Ruo twisted a towel and adjusted the faucet switch to the center. "I am my father's son, the son of the man my mother wanted to escape from. What about Si Ruo? My mother must love her father very much, so she left me for him without hesitation."

Wei Cheng raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Who told you this?"

"I heard it from my dad himself." Xu Siwei wiped the sink with a towel for the seventh time and recalled, "One year on the anniversary of my mom's death, when I was about seven or eight years old, I overheard my dad talking to her photo in the study. He said that after so many years, he had forgiven her for having someone else in her heart. He no longer cared about the past and would raise his son well. So my dad never treated me badly in terms of material things."

"As for Si Ruo... Si Ruo and I are brothers. Even though our relationship has not been deep over the past twenty years, I really treat him as my own brother, and that will not change in the future. Just think of it as my repayment for my mother's kindness in giving birth to me, but I will not give him anything that he shouldn't take."

"No matter how shameful the illegitimate child is, it is our family affair. But if this person is a bastard who doesn't even have Xu family blood, wouldn't it be even more ridiculous? If this rumor is allowed to spread and the truth is found out by someone with ulterior motives, it will not benefit anyone. I don't care how much inheritance and shares I get, but I am the eldest son of the Xu family. When necessary, it is most important to maintain the reputation of the family." Xu Siwei exhaled deeply, as if he had completely lost his strength. He turned around and faced Wei Cheng. "As for how much An Qi knows about this matter, I can only say that although I am willing to indulge her, she is an outsider after all. All she has to do is say what she should say when the media asks, and no matter how much she feels sorry for me, that's enough."

Wei Cheng looked at him with complicated eyes: "So you have already decided to sacrifice Xu Siruo."
Xu Siwei sneered, "Confidantes and romantic affairs are not uncommon in the circle. Rather than letting others laugh at my dad for being a cuckold for twenty years, it's better to let Si Ruo suffer and prove the rumor that he is my dad's illegitimate child. When my dad is gone, he and I will still be brothers."

He pulled up his sleeves, stretched his arms forward, and suddenly turned back into his pitiful and cowardly look: "Look, he didn't lose a single hair. After all this drama, I'm the one who got hurt in the end."

Wei Cheng looked at his arm quietly. It was indeed as Xie Qingfei said, with seven whip marks on each side in the same direction. Wei Cheng helped him pull down his sleeves, and slowly buttoned up his pajamas with the collar wide open. He said in a very calm tone: "I don't believe a word you say."

The smile on Xu Siwei's face gradually faded. He looked up at Wei Cheng and said calmly, "Uncle, ever since I was kidnapped, people around me have been asking me if I have anything to do with the fight over the inheritance. Some suspect me, some suspect Si Ruo, and all kinds of people come to ask about it. You are the first person to ask about my injuries and asked me to protect myself. I thought you could understand me."
Wei Cheng gently patted his collar, which he had trimmed, and said, "Siwei, if you really did something wrong, I'm afraid I can't give you the understanding you want."

The corners of Xu Siwei's eyes twitched slightly, as if he wanted to make a disappointed expression, but the delicate expression could not be well reflected on his face. He probably thought of this, pursed his lips, made a "pop" sound, and turned his head to go into the cloakroom beside him.

Wei Cheng called two police officers to guard the place and walked out with a blank expression.

Opposite the sofa in the living room is an open kitchen, and near the water table is a seven-layer wine cabinet. Wei Cheng passed by and turned back, and saw that the neatly arranged wine cabinet was missing a bottle on the custom-made wine rack that should have held seven bottles of wine on each layer.

"I searched the house but couldn't find it." Xie Qingfei said behind him, "What did he say to you?"
Wei Cheng withdrew his gaze from the wine cabinet and said, "It is said that there is indeed an illegitimate child, but it is not Xu Maokun's, but the original Madam Xu's."
This was something that he had not considered before. Xie Qingfei asked, "Is it Xu Siruo again?"
Wei Cheng nodded.

"Xu Siruo is an illegitimate child who is willing to fight for the inheritance. Xu Siruo was the third person in this house last night. Xu Siruo can play the cello and knows how to remove the strings in the right way to kill someone." Xie Qingfei counted several clues given by Xu Siwei and said disdainfully, "This is too clumsy. He wants to give the police a proof problem? With this kind of brain, who can he beat in fighting for the family property?"
Wei Cheng tilted his head towards her: "You really don't like Siwei."
"Aren't you still biased towards him?" Xie Qingfei asked curiously, "Why are you so soft-hearted towards him, or is it that your family is also targeting the Xu family, and you feel guilty about it, so you want to compensate him with warmth?"
"My conscience cannot be bought with these little tricks." Wei Cheng showed a strong capitalist smile, "I just simply feel sorry for him."
"Corruption." Xie Qingfei turned around and said, "Let's go."

Xu Siwei was taken into the police car.

When he reached the door, Lu Shaohui stumbled and looked down to see a corner of the carpet lifted up: "What a piece of crap, it's not non-slip at all."
He was about to kick the carpet back. "Wait."

Xie Qingfei suddenly called him, squatted down and picked up a finger-sized piece of red paper from the junction of the edge of the shoe cabinet and the carpet.
Lu Shaohui: “What is this?”
"Crystal paper." Wei Cheng said at the side. Seeing that they both looked at him, he added, "It's something that entertainment venues will scatter to create an atmosphere. You can think of it as throwing money when you are in a good mood. If you can't afford to throw money, you can use crystal paper instead."
Lu Shaohui touched his chin: "Xu Siwei said that he came back from the hospital yesterday and didn't go anywhere else. Could it be that he left it there before?"

"His nanny cleans every day. For a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder, these details are particularly important and there is no room for omissions." Xie Qingfei held the piece of paper above his head and shone it against the sun. He found that he could barely see the shoe prints and asked, "What size shoes does Xu Siwei wear?"
Lu Shaohui immediately opened the shoe cabinet and took a look, then said, "41."
Xie Qingfei: "Xu Siruo is about size 44. Xu Siwei said that no one has ever come to their house except An Qi and his two brothers. Then who is this person wearing size 42 shoes?"
Lu Shaohui's brows frowned and he hurriedly took out the evidence bag.

"Wait a minute."

Xie Qingfei put the piece of paper to his nose and sniffed it, but then he felt that it didn't make sense just by smelling it, so he rubbed the black stain on it with his fingertips.
When she was about to put her hand into her mouth, Wei Cheng grabbed her wrist.
His brows were furrowed and almost knotted: "What are you doing?"

"It should be camphor fruit." Fortunately, the conclusion had been reached. After being interrupted by him, Xie Qingfei gave up the idea of ​​continuing to "taste" and said, "Now is the season when camphor trees bear fruit. These fruits will fall all over the ground and burst when stepped on. So the man stepped on the paper first, and the paper stuck to the sole of his shoe and followed him all the way. When he passed by the camphor tree, he stepped on the fruit again, leaving this mark."
Lu Shaohui said quickly: "So based on this, we can roughly determine which road he came from, and then look for him from the surrounding surveillance?"
"Well, I know where there are large areas of camphor trees nearby." Xie Qingfei checked the time and said, "You go back first. I have classes in the afternoon. I'll tell you after I confirm the location."
"Oh, you're busy. It's better to be busy." Lu Shaohui joked, "Thank you for your hard work, Teacher!"

"Let me take you there." Wei Cheng said.
Xie Qingfei tilted his head to look at him.

"It's hard to get a taxi around here. My car is right outside the door. I'll go with you to confirm the location first, and then I'll take you back to school."
He added in his mind: We can even have a meal together in the meantime.

Xie Qingfei came with a police car, so he really needed a means of transportation. After hesitating for a few seconds, he nodded openly: "Okay, let's go."

Wei Cheng backed his car out of the yard. Xie Qingfei thought of a few locations in his mind, leaned over and entered them directly into the navigation.
Wei Cheng looked at the top of her head and asked inexplicably, "Aren't you worried about Xu Siruo?"
"Hmm?" Xie Qingfei raised his head, "Why are you worried about him?"
"I'm worried that he might be Angie's murderer."
"It's not the best. If it is, just accept the punishment of the law. Why should I worry?" Xie Qingfei thought the question he asked was strange. "Besides, this case doesn't give me the feeling that it's difficult to solve. Your concerns are unnecessary."

Wei Cheng was silent.
He certainly wasn't worried about that.
But when she thought about the way Xie Qingfei and Xu Siruo talked that day, it was hard to estimate how close their friendship was. And she would definitely feel bad if someone around her committed a crime.

And this Xu Siruo... Wei Cheng thought with some jealousy, this kid is so lucky that he even met the 21-year-old Xie Qingfei. He has good vision and still thinks about her today.
But I can only imagine what she looked like in my mind.

Wei Cheng tapped his fingertips lightly on the steering wheel, looked at the trees moving backwards on both sides of the road, and asked, "Xie Qingfei, can you still climb trees now?"
Xie Qingfei asked inexplicably: "What, do you want to learn?"
Wei Cheng: "I want to see you climb a tree."
Xie Qingfei actually understood that he was talking about what happened on the day he and Xu Siruo met. He was speechless: "Then I can also curse people, do you want to hear it too?"
Wei Cheng: "Come on, say a few words."
"..." She turned her face away and whispered, "You are sick."
Wei Cheng actually smiled: "It doesn't seem like it will take long."
"Are you..." Xie Qingfei was about to say something, but when he saw the scene outside the window, he said in time, "Stop, stop, stop, it's right here."

Wei Cheng responded and found a place to park the car. The two men got out of the car and looked at the tall camphor trees planted neatly on the side of the road.

Xie Qingfei kicked the black camphor fruit at his feet, observed the area, and said, "No matter what means of transportation that person took to go to Xu Siwei's house, he had to pass through this area. There happened to be a subway station nearby. He didn't have to walk too far to take the subway after coming out of the bar or some entertainment venue. If he passed by here after getting off the subway, the juice on the fruit would stick to the soles of his shoes and also stick to the paper more firmly. Judging from the degree of wear and tear on the paper, the distance he traveled was about the same as when he walked to Xu Siwei's house."

This is a street park, and opposite the trees is the square. Because it is a weekday, apart from some parents with their children, there is only a group of young people doing live broadcasts singing with speakers. From time to time, a voice came from the microphone: "Thank you for coming to the live broadcast room to listen to my singing. If you like it, please click a little heart."

Wei Cheng put his hands in his pockets and said, "I wonder what time these people will broadcast live, and whether they come every day."
"Well, if they were there last night, they might have photographed the person we are looking for." Xie Qingfei was about to go over and ask, but then he realized there was a "strong man" beside him, so he took his step back and said in a very leadership-like manner, "I'll give you a chance to communicate with the people, but you can't say we are the police investigating a case."
Wei Cheng was very happy to follow his leader's orders and nodded, saying it was no problem.

Xie Qingfei stood under the shade of the tree and saw that he did not disturb the young boys who were singing, but walked straight to the girl sitting on the steps next to him.
She realized that Wei Cheng was dressed very casually today, wearing jeans and sneakers, a light blue shirt buttoned up neatly, and a hooded sweatshirt on the outside. With broad shoulders, a narrow waist and long legs, he did not look out of place among the young people.
He bent down and asked the girl a few questions, and after obtaining her consent, he sat down on the steps next to him with a smile under her astonished and shy gaze.

Xie Qingfei looked around and walked back to the side of the G-Class, watching the two people talking with interest. Wei Cheng actually wouldn't take the initiative to chat with others, but he was used to being chatted with. With more experience, he learned some tricks and knew how to use his advantages. There was no need to say anything more, it was time to take out the phone and scan.

After a while, he stood up and said goodbye to the girl. I don't know what he said to her that made her cover her face.

Xie Qingfei got in the car, and Wei Cheng opened the driver's door and came in, throwing his phone into her arms: "They came here yesterday evening and didn't go back until eight o'clock. Here are the network disk records of all the live broadcasts in the past few days."
Xie Qingfei forwarded it to Lu Shaohui, but when he exited, he realized that he didn't add anyone else's contact information at all, but took a photo of the network disk link and password.

She cleared her throat and asked casually, "What did you tell them? Did you reveal anything that shouldn't be revealed?"
"Of course not." Wei Cheng looked a little unnatural, but still spoke in a serious tone, "When communicating with strangers, giving them affirmation and praise can often easily eliminate the barriers between each other and make it easier to gain their trust. At this time, as long as you are absolutely honest, your request will generally not be rejected."
After hearing his very reasonable analysis, Xie Qingfei said, "Oh," "The Beauty Trap."
"..." Wei Cheng tried to save face, "Haha, I'm jealous."
Xie Qingfei: "Haha, you got it right."
"Haha, so what," he said shamelessly, "it's not your turn to covet my beauty anymore."
Xie Qingfei was choked by him and couldn't speak. He snorted, "It has nothing to do with me. Go to school."

The handsome driver then started the car obediently.

The location of Shengzhou Police Academy is not too far away and it only takes 20 minutes to get there.
When Xie Qingfei was about to pull over and get out of the car, Wei Cheng also unbuckled his seat belt: "Can I go in and take a look?"
Xie Qingfei didn't want to pay attention to him: "What's so good about it? Didn't you go to college?"
"Since I'm here, I want to take a look." Wei Cheng gave a reason that no Chinese person could refuse.
"Okay, then go fill out the form." Xie Qingfei didn't know why he agreed, and walked in front. "Anyway, there's nothing to see. After you're done, wait for me in the office, and then we'll go back to the bureau together."

The other colleagues were not there, Xie Qingfei pointed to his desk and turned into the next room.

Wei Cheng sat in her seat and looked around, thinking that she had been here all these days. It was indeed more relaxed than when she was in the police station, and he didn't know how she could stay here with her personality. The documents on her desk were placed in a disorderly manner, and there was a little bear ornament in police uniform next to the computer. Wei Cheng pushed the pile of things overflowing from the desk back in to ensure that they would not be knocked over by the corners of clothes when someone passed by, and left the rest in a mess.
Then, bored, he leaned back in his chair and turned around in circles.

A few minutes later, Xie Qingfei pushed the door open and came out, standing by the window to put her hair up. Wei Cheng leaned on the chair with his toes and looked up at her. The midday sun was shining in from outside, a golden beam, and the warm light instantly spread from her face to every strand of her hair as she walked over.

Wei Cheng's breathing paused slightly.
How could he forget that the teachers in the police academy are different from those in other schools.

They have to wear uniforms when they go to class.

(End of this chapter)