Silver Snow Line [Criminal Investigation]

Xie Qingfei was more relieved.
She found out the restaurant where Xu Siruo and Lei Heng were meeting. She wanted to go alone, but Xu Siruo insisted on accompanying her, so she didn't refuse.

After finding the restaurant manager and showing his ID, the staff helped retrieve the surveillance footage from lunch time three days ago. Xu Siruo and Lei Heng entered the store one after the other. In the footage, Lei Heng was wearing a brown leather jacket and holding a half-burned cigarette in his left hand. When the clerk came forward to remind him that smoking was prohibited indoors, he put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray at the front desk. The two were then led to their seats, where the surveillance camera had a clear view of his face.

“Replay this segment again.”

The staff member went back as she said. This time, Xie Qingfei looked at Lei Heng's lower body. His legs were hidden in jeans and both feet were wearing boots. Of course, some people choose to wear prostheses after amputation to facilitate movement, which can make them look like ordinary people. Xu Siruo was so immersed in the joy of reunion that he didn't notice anything wrong with Lei Heng's walking posture, so he asked why he didn't become a policeman.

But this was suspicious enough in Xie Qingfei's opinion. First, she had passed this road when she sent Fang Yutong home that morning. It had already started snowing, and the snow did not accumulate in a short period of time, which did not affect walking. But the night she met Lei Heng, the snow was already very deep, but he gave up the more convenient prosthesis and chose to use crutches with the risk of slipping to travel.
Secondly...

Xu Siruo saw Xie Qingfei investigating Lei Heng and vaguely guessed something was wrong: "Is there a problem?"
Xie Qingfei asked back: "What did you talk about with him when you had dinner?"

Lei Heng's appearance had not changed much compared to before, so Xu Siruo recognized him at a glance.

"Officer Lei, do you still remember me? Eight years ago in Tianning Park, you and Officer Xie helped me rescue a kitten that was trapped in a tree!"
Lei Heng recalled for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Oh, I remember. You've grown so big now, I almost didn't recognize you. Your name is..."
"Siluo."
"Yes, Si Ruo, I remember."
Xu Siruo grinned: "Officer Xie didn't recognize me the last time he saw me, but I remember you."
Lei Heng paused: "You have met her too?"
"I had some problems at home before, and Officer Xie helped me deal with it."

Xu Siruo did not clearly state the details of the incident, so the other party thought it was just an ordinary incident. In addition, he did not know Xu Siruo's true identity, so he did not connect him with the Xu Group, which had been frequently on the hot search list some time ago.

Xu Siruo asked Lei Heng how his work was going recently, and Lei Heng said that he was no longer a policeman. Although Xu Siruo was puzzled, he was not the kind of person who liked to ask questions. Thinking of how Lei Heng used to love his job and was dedicated to his work, he was afraid that there was something unspeakable behind this matter, so he stopped asking.

In the picture, the two of them looked at each other in silence for a while, and then the noodles ordered by Lei Heng were served, and he reached out to the table to get the vinegar.
When Xie Qingfei saw the way he poured the vinegar, he discovered something suspicious again.

She lowered her head to call Lu Shaohui, but then she remembered that Xu Siruo was still waiting for her eagerly, so she smiled at him and said sincerely, "You helped me a lot, thank you very much today."
Xu Siruo scratched his head embarrassedly: "You can come to me if you need anything. I will never refuse you at any time."
After saying this, Xu Siruo realized that she still had things to do. After confirming that she didn't need him to send her off, he left first.

After the call was connected, Xie Qingfei said directly: "Check Lei Heng's family situation, what his parents do, and whether he has any brothers or sisters."
"Oh, Lei Heng, right? This name sounds so familiar." Lu Shaohui was stunned for a moment, "He is not the one, your one..."
Xie Qingfei: "My former partner is now a suspect."
Lu Shaohui was shocked for a moment, and asked hurriedly: "What is going on? Have you found evidence?"
Xie Qingfei explained the general situation and then said, "However, Xu Siruo didn't speak Chinese eight years ago. Lei Heng shouldn't forget this so easily, right? Wasn't he surprised at all when we talked again? Moreover, Xu Siruo never told Lei Heng his name. Even I only knew it in the last case. He said he remembered it, but how could he remember it?"

Lei Heng's career was not long, but it was enough for him to help many people. Being remembered was not uncommon. If he met a boy who greeted him halfway, he would not panic even if he could not remember who he was. He would hardly reveal any flaws if he continued to talk along with the other party. However, Xu Siruo's words revealed that he had been in contact with Xie Qingfei recently, which limited Lei Heng's performance. If he said something wrong, he would be exposed immediately. Therefore, he would try to avoid talking to Xu Siruo about this matter in accordance with the principle of saying less and making fewer mistakes.

Lu Shaohui made a strange guess: "Could it be that the Lei Heng that Xu Siruo saw is not the one we know?"
"That's why I asked you to check if he has any brothers or sisters—" Xie Qingfei said, "I saw him subconsciously holding the label side of the vinegar in his palm when he poured it. Is this a habit only for people who study chemistry?"
Lu Shaohui: "Okay, I'll check it out right away. When will you be back?"

As soon as Xie Qingfei reached Fang Yutong's house, he said, "Forty minutes later. Ask Li Mu to come to the bureau as well. I have something important to ask him."

Fang Yutong's house was dark, with no lights on. Xie Qingfei knocked on the door for a long time before he heard the sound of a cane tapping on the ground behind the door. The girl asked timidly, "Excuse me, what can I do for you?"
"it's me."
She recognized Xie Qingfei's voice and opened the door immediately.
Xie Qingfei turned on the lights in the house. Fang Yutong walked in front of him unconsciously: "Officer Xie, wait a moment, I'll boil some water."
"No need, I just passed by here and thought of coming to see you." Xie Qingfei looked around the room and found that it did not show any signs of disorder.
"The temperature has dropped recently. Did you wear more clothes?" She saw Fang Yutong was wearing a new down jacket.
"I put it on." Fang Yutong still took a cup of hot water and slowly groped back to her front. "I found a lot of thick clothes in the closet. They were probably left by my brother... Zheng Yuxuan."

Fang Yutong had lost a lot of weight recently, and her face was pale. She looked like a malnourished wild rice stem after the leaves were removed when she was wrapped in a large down jacket. The brands and prices of these clothes were not affordable for Zheng Yuxuan, a wage earner with a monthly salary of more than 2,000 yuan. If he wanted to buy them, he would not buy a size that was so different from Fang Yutong's.

"Thank you, Officer," she said bewilderedly, "I have been thinking a lot these past few days, and there is a question I can't figure out. I hope you can help me."
Xie Qingfei retracted his thoughts: "Go ahead."
"When the incident just happened, I was lying on the hospital bed and couldn't see anything. I really hoped that Zheng Yuxuan would die. When the police came to investigate, I heard what his parents said. They said that the child was still young and just wanted to play with me. It was an accident. Although his child was naughty, he definitely didn't have bad intentions." Fang Yutong smiled sarcastically, "But I am also a child. Do I deserve it?"

"Later, my teacher and principal advised me, and my parents took the money and forbade me to cause trouble. There was only one policeman who was very kind. He did not believe their one-sided story and gave me a lot of encouragement during that time. He said, just like you, that I did nothing wrong in this matter. So even though he finally apologized to me for not being able to give me a fair result, I still chose to live."

As he was talking, Xie Qingfei had already found out from the internal network that the policeman in charge of the case that year was Lei Heng, and the reason why Zheng Yuxuan's family was able to suppress the matter so easily was because of the intervention of Lei Heng's superior, Li Guangming.

"These years... it's really ridiculous. I never dreamed that the person who has always taken care of me would be my enemy. I can't figure out why he did this. To laugh at me, to humiliate me... I tried to convince myself with these reasons, but every time I thought of him, all I remembered was how good he was to me. There were so many of them that I almost forgot how painful it was to have sulfuric acid splashed on my face," Fang Yutong laughed at herself, "I really despise myself."

Xie Qingfei was not good at consoling people. She looked at the confused girl in front of her who was eager for guidance from others. She couldn't help but wonder if Lei Heng had felt the same confusion when he came to visit her after Zheng Yuxuan's death?
"I thought my nightmare would end when he died, but when that day finally came, I couldn't be happy at all. I would rather... never know the truth. As long as I am with my brother, hatred doesn't matter anymore."

Fang Yutong had a wooden expression. She wasn't crying or sobbing. Only quiet tears flowed from the mottled wounds on her eyes.
She thought deeply about it for many days, tormented between the pleasure of revenge and the pain of losing her beloved, and the scale in her heart finally tipped towards one side.

"I have something that can prove the identity of the murderer, and I want to give it to you."
Fang Yutong took out the bowl she had hidden last time and said, "There are his fingerprints on it."

On the way back, Xie Qingfei encountered the evening rush hour and arrived at the bureau more than five minutes later than expected. Before he reached the door, he heard a group of people talking. When he looked closely, he saw Li Mu impatiently yelling that he wanted to leave.

"Thank you, Captain!" Lv Shaohui saw her with his sharp eyes and said quickly, "Director Li called again and said that Li Mu has nothing to do with the case and asked us to release him."
"We haven't arrested anyone yet, so why bother talking about whether to release him or not? What's wrong with asking him to cooperate in investigating some situations?" Xie Qingfei walked over quickly and glanced at Li Mu, "Go back."
Li Mu frowned in dissatisfaction after receiving such an order: "I have already given you the list, what else do you want? My uncle told your leader..."
Xie Qingfei interrupted him impatiently: "Since you like to use your official position to bully others, didn't your uncle tell you that according to his rank, he should call me leader?" Li Mu was speechless.

Xi Ming took the opportunity to say, "Please go ahead, Mr. Li. Our leaders clearly distinguish between public and private affairs and will not wrongly accuse good people."
Li Muche had never been treated like this before. No matter how dissatisfied he was, he could no longer stand up and followed Xi Ming angrily.

Xie Qingfei handed the bagged bowl to Lu Shaohui: "Fang Yutong said that the murderer had been to her house, and there might be fingerprints on the bowl."
Lu Shaohui was shocked and asked, "Ah? Is she okay?"
"It's okay." Xie Qingfei remembered something and took out a crumpled sticky note from his pocket and gave it to him. "There should be fingerprints on the plastic surface. Check to see if it's the same one as the one on the bowl."

Lu Shaohui accepted it carefully, and after hesitating, he asked, "Captain Xie, do you really think that Lei Heng did all these things?"

Xie Qingfei was silent for a few seconds and did not answer directly: "Before we identified the suspect, we always thought that the connection between the victims of these cases was the incident last year when Zheng Yuxuan bravely helped others. But Kang Wenxia was the victim in that incident. Even if the murderer happened to see what happened and recognized several people involved, could he have predicted that Kang Wenxia would maliciously disturb the public in the future? But the person in charge of the case where Fang Yutong was splashed with sulfuric acid by Zheng Yuxuan at school was Lei Heng. Later, the case where Qin Haiyang assaulted his classmates was also handled by him."

If law enforcers cannot see with their own eyes that the criminals they have caught are punished, they will also doubt whether what they have been upholding is meaningful. Lu Shaohui could actually empathize with Lei Heng on this point, and all he had to say was remain silent.

In the interrogation room, Li Mu was no longer as cooperative as last time.

"I've said everything I can. Why are you staring at me? Did I kill someone or set a fire?"
After he finished speaking, he tried to be honest for a while when he saw Xie Qingfei coming in, but he still couldn't help but speak: "Officer Xie, please be reasonable. I'm just a novelist. I've been targeted by a pervert and no one is responsible for my safety!"
Xie Qingfei threw Lei Heng's photo in front of him: "Do you know this person?"
Li Mu took a look and frowned: "No impression."
"No impression? Three years ago, a man found you and said that the novel you wrote was shit. Would you have no impression of him?"
After she mentioned this, Li Mu remembered something: "Oh, it's him! I thought he was a hater, so I let him make a fuss and I didn't do anything to him!"
"His name is Lei Heng."
"Oh, so?" Li Mu looked puzzled.
Xie Qingfei had been holding back his anger all night, and seeing him like this was almost unbearable. He barely controlled his emotions and spoke again: "He and you were classmates in middle school, and you don't even remember this?"
Li Mu also became annoyed: "I went to junior high school 20 years ago. There were so many people in the class, how can I remember them all? Even if he is my classmate, so what? Can he criticize my work at will and humiliate me in person?"

Xie Qingfei pulled out a chair and sat down, as if he was determined to fight him to the end: "Since you refuse to cooperate with the investigation, then stay here tonight. If you can't remember it, think about it slowly. I will accompany you to think about it."

After that, he added, "By the way, your uncle is still worried about you, right? Does he know that you handed over the list to us? Do you want me to call and thank him? If it weren't for his careful cultivation, there would be no good child like you who would sacrifice his relatives for the sake of justice."
Li Mu panicked and said, "I really don't remember him! You guys..."
Xie Qingfei interrupted him: "I'll only give you one chance, think it over before you speak. I don't want to hear words like 'I don't remember' again."
Li Mu was so anxious that he almost cried, and his eyes were full of pleading when he looked at her.

"You have been spoiled by your parents and relatives since you were a child. There are always many guests coming to your home during festivals. These people who are about the same age as your elders will not only not use their seniority to put pressure on you, but will also smile and flatter you. When you grow up and become more sensible, you begin to understand that the preferential treatment you receive has a name, called "privilege". The more benefits you get, the more you will feel that you are born different. However, after you come into contact with more and more ordinary people such as schoolmates, you find that they don't understand the differences between you at all, and are very dissatisfied with being treated as a group. If you want to regain your superior status, the only way is to re-establish an order where you have the right to speak."

Throughout the ages, the simplest and most brutal way to demonstrate power is oppression. When a person can humiliate another, his inner sense of superiority will be satisfied. Otherwise, how can the powerful prove that they are more noble than ordinary people?

Li Mu seemed to remember something and his expression gradually turned grim.

"You may not remember Lei Heng's name, but you can always remember some of the things you have done." Xie Qingfei pointed his finger at Lei Heng's photo and said slowly, "I have also taken the time to finish reading your novel these days. The protagonist is really a righteous and great good man. His favorite thing to do since he was a child is to help the weak. His playmates obey him and listen to him. Together with him, they saved many 'bullied' children. You said that you did not refer to the prototype when you were creating the novel, but you admitted that you have the same idea as the protagonist. Are you also a righteous savior? Who has received your 'help'?"

Li Mu stared blankly at the man's face under her finger, and suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.

"Now you have grown up, read so many books, and received a good education. The more knowledge a person has, the more reasonable he is in theory. You will write about punishing evil and promoting good in your books, and criticize the evil deeds of evil people through the mouth of the protagonist, because justice is the mainstream view. You have to pretend to be a normal person in order to be accepted by the public. You have said and written so much that your memory is almost tampered with. You have done X, but you have become Versailles in the eyes of the public, making a lot of money, and your good reputation cannot be written on a piece of paper. How can you remember a mere blade of grass that you once crushed."

Li Mu's memory was not awakened immediately, but he remembered the accusation made by the "anti-fan" about his work three years ago, saying that he had turned black into white, and turned the victim into the perpetrator, and made the original villain into the savior. What he said at that time was similar to what Xie Qingfei said now, but Li Mu never felt that he had done anything wrong. Because the other party was just a stranger, and he jumped out inexplicably to point out his faults, which would not make him reflect at all except to make him angry.

Now, he finally remembered.

He really had no impression of the name Lei Heng, and this was not a lie. But when he was still an ignorant teenager, he seemed to have said or done something to a classmate who came from a mediocre family, was introverted, and didn't like to communicate with others. Maybe he didn't really do anything substantial to hurt people, but his "subordinates" would read his expressions, and he didn't know what Lei Heng had experienced.
But these memories were too distant and too vague. Could it be that someone would really hold a grudge against him for twenty years and now take revenge on him in such a cruel way? Li Mu was puzzled.

Finally, under Xie Qingfei's high-intensity interrogation, Li Mu provided the police with a location from his forced memory.

A group of criminal police rushed to the junior high school where Li Mu studied. There was a dilapidated warehouse on the back mountain. Because students were not allowed to go there, the old building had not been demolished. It was their "secret base" back then.

The door was sealed with a lock. Xie Qingfei picked up the keyhole and checked it. She found that it was the same method that she asked Lei Heng for advice on last time because she couldn't unlock it. Following the method he taught her, she used the tool to twist the lock core and successfully opened the door with a "click".

Several flashlights shone in, and Deng Jinru's eyes were stung so much that she hid behind the wall as if in response to stress.
"Police, we are here to rescue you!"
The criminal police who rushed in to investigate the situation tried to calm her down, and then saw that the broken part of her right arm was wrapped in layers of bloodstained clothes, hanging in front of her body strangely. Due to blood loss and hypothermia, Deng Jinru was already dying, and it took her a long time to hear what they were saying.
She raised her head and saw a figure walking towards the light, looking both strange and familiar.
The person approached her, and his face gradually became clearer. The small mole on the tip of his nose seemed like her unique mark.
Deng Jinru moved her lips and wanted to call her name, but her hoarse throat could no longer support her to make a sound, so she could only fall asleep on her shoulder.

Xie Qingfei put the man on the stretcher, and at this time Lu Shaohui called.
"Lei Heng does have a younger brother, and he is a twin brother. His parents divorced when the two brothers were five years old. He lived with his father, and his younger brother was taken away by his mother and changed his last name to Kang Zhuo. Why is his last name Kang? You would never guess, because Lei Heng's mother is Kang Wenxia's stepmother who destroyed the death scene."
Xie Qingfei's hands, which had almost sweated from squeezing along the way, relaxed tremblingly.
However, Lu Shaohui changed the subject and said, "The fingerprint comparison results are out. The fingerprints on the bowl and the sticky note you gave me belong to the same person, Lei Heng."

(End of this chapter)