Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 258 Case Investigation
"Just eat your noodles, what are you filming for!" the noodle stall owner glared at him and said.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," Zhou Jianguo quickly apologized with a smile.

Zhou Yi burst into laughter. A person's character doesn't change easily, but at least his father's eyes showed determination.

Then Zhou Yi discussed some details with his father, including how to talk to his coworkers and how to get the factory leaders to compromise.

Seeing that it was almost time, Zhou Yi paid for the noodles and went to work.

Today's investigation focuses on a comprehensive investigation into the social relationships between Yao Fenfang and Tang Xue.

Since Yao Fenfang's current statement is relatively complete, and Tang Xue is a student, attempting to change their statements through repeated interrogations without clear leads constitutes an illegal interrogation.

Based on their social relationships, they can be roughly divided into three directions: family, Tang Xue's school, and Yao Fenfang's factory.

Shi Tao had been to the plastics factory yesterday, so he volunteered to go with Gu Changhai, while He Bin led the second team to investigate the two men's family relationships.

The school's affairs were left to Zhou Yi and Qiao Jiali.

According to household registration information and Yao Fenfang's own account, Yao Fenfang's ex-husband was named Tang Jun, and the two divorced in 1989.

Tang Jun was having an extramarital affair, and the scene of him being caught in bed with another woman was quite noisy, so the police were called.

Therefore, the final divorce agreement designated Tang Jun as the party at fault, awarded the 62-square-meter apartment in Donghai Community to Yao Fenfang, and exempted Tang Jun from child support payments for their daughter.

According to Yao Fenfang, Tang Jun completely neglects his daughter, and in the eight years since their divorce, he has visited her no more than twenty times.

Besides Tang Jun, Yao Fenfang also has an older brother named Yao Dazhi, who drives a bus in the city. She also has an elderly mother who lives in a nursing home.

Only her ex-husband, Tang Jun, is currently missing and we'll need to put in some effort to find him.

After assigning tasks, Zhou Yi and Qiao Jiali drove straight to Xiangyang Middle School, found the school leaders and explained their purpose, but only mentioned the pregnancy and did not mention the murder behind it.

The vice principal, who was over fifty years old, looked shocked and kept saying, "How could this be?"

This matter will definitely be exposed later, and the school will definitely be implicated. After all, it's really unreasonable that a girl who was pregnant for ten months went to school every day without any teacher noticing.

Therefore, the vice principal actively cooperated, not only calling over all the main subject teachers of Tang Xue's second-year (2) class, but also asking the homeroom teacher to think carefully about which students had a good relationship with Tang Xue and bring them over for the police to question.

However, the information given by several teachers was not too different. They all said that Tang Xue had a low profile at school and her academic performance was below average. She was not outstanding, but she was not at the bottom either.

That's how it is in school. The students who leave a lasting impression on teachers are either good students or particularly bad students. Those in the middle are usually easily overlooked.

However, the homeroom teacher still provided two useful clues.

The homeroom teacher said that in the second semester of the first year of high school, after a parent-teacher meeting, Tang Xue's mother pulled her aside and asked about the situation, expressing great concern about whether her daughter could get into university.

At the time, her homeroom teacher suggested that if conditions allowed, she could find a one-on-one tutor to help Tang Xue improve her weaker subject, math, and at least stabilize her main subject first.

"Did you get tutoring from your own teacher?" Zhou Yi asked.

The vice principal explained, "In principle, the Education Bureau does not encourage in-service teachers to conduct after-school tutoring. However, some students' grades are not solid enough, and parents are also quite anxious. We will understand the students and parents and occasionally organize tutoring sessions, but the fees are very low and there is no issue of overcharging. Therefore, our school's teachers will not accept one-on-one tutoring, as it would be unfair to the students."

Zhou Yi immediately understood; it turned out that they were worried he would question the tutoring issue.

“Principal Chen, the issue of extra classes at school is unrelated to the case, and we won’t record it. Don’t worry. I’m only concerned about whether Tang Xue hired a tutor later, and who she hired.”

The homeroom teacher shook his head: "I don't know about that. Tang Xue's mother did ask me if she could hire a school teacher as a tutor. I just told her, as Principal Chen suggested, that she could ask around outside."

The math teacher added, "She probably did get a consultation. Her math grades were originally quite poor, but they did improve a lot for a while. I even praised her at the end of that semester. But... she regressed quite a bit when she entered her second year of high school..."

Qiao Jiali asked, "When did your grades start to decline in the second year of high school?"

"Her grades weren't very good in the few exams after the start of the semester, I think it's because she didn't study hard during the summer vacation. After the start of this semester, during one class exam, I noticed she didn't look well, so I asked her if she wanted to go to the infirmary, but she said she was fine, just had a bit of a stomachache," the math teacher said. "Some girls have had menstrual cramps before, but I didn't pay much attention and just told her to lie down for a while if she was uncomfortable. Now that I think about it, I'm afraid... I'm afraid..."

It seems we'll have to confirm the tutoring issue with Yao Fenfang and Tang Xue later.

The second valuable clue provided by the homeroom teacher concerned the relationship between male and female students.

Although it's not clear, there was a boy named Huang Chen in the class who was quite close to Tang Xue. Some classmates even reported to her that during PE class, Tang Xue and Huang Chen were seen hugging each other behind the bushes.

She spoke with the two of them, telling them that they were young and should focus on their studies, and not think about things that were inappropriate for their age. She said that if she found out again, she would have to ask their parents to intervene.

Qiao Jiali asked, "Around when did this happen?"

The homeroom teacher thought for a moment and said, "It's the second semester of the first year of high school, around March or April last year."

Qiao Jiali and Zhou Yi exchanged glances. If it was March or April of last year, it meant that Tang Xue was not yet pregnant at that time.

Counting backwards from the delivery date, Tang Xue's pregnancy should have occurred in May. Therefore, this man named Huang Chen is likely the father of the child.

Moreover, Huang Chen's name starts with the letter H, which matches the letter on Tang Xue's bracelet.

"Teacher, you just said there was a boy in the class before. What do you mean by 'before'?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Oh, because Huang Chen transferred schools when he was in his second year of high school."

"Transfer schools? Why?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

"I'm not too sure about that; it was his father who handled the transfer," the homeroom teacher said.

The vice principal then spoke up: "Officers, let me explain. I recall this matter. Huang Chen's father works in some government agency, so he used his connections in the Education Bureau to arrange the transfer."

Did they say what the specific reason was for transferring schools?

The vice principal frowned and said, "It seems they just said it was due to health reasons."

Zhou Yi thought to himself, "This is indeed a society based on personal connections. If you have connections, this kind of thing is just a matter of lifting a finger."

"Do you know which school they transferred to?"

"There's a record of the student registration change here. It's in the records room. Shall I take you two there to check?"

Zhou Yi decided to go with the vice principal to check the transfer records herself, and asked Qiao Jiali to find out what was going on from Tang Xue's classmates.

On the way, the vice principal tentatively asked, "Officer, what happened to this girl named Tang Xue?"

“Principal Chen, we cannot disclose this information at the moment. The bureau should issue a relevant notice to the education bureau after the case is closed,” Zhou Yi said.

The case involves a minor student who became pregnant and gave birth. Regardless of whether Tang Xue is the murderer, an internal announcement must be made.

The vice principal wiped the sweat from his temples and said, "We educators need to reflect on this."

Soon, the vice principal had someone find Huang Chen's transfer application form, which was submitted in mid-July 1996.

In other words, Huang Chen transferred schools during the summer vacation.

At the start of my second year of high school, I was already at another school.

The reason given was indeed physical discomfort and the need to change the learning environment.

The school he transferred to was a middle school in Yongding County.

Transferring schools from the city center to the suburbs is indeed quite uncommon.

Zhou Yi called the command center, found the phone number of the academic affairs office of the middle school in Yongding County, and then called it.

After I identified myself, I asked, and sure enough, there was a boy named Huang Chen who had transferred there at the beginning of the second year of high school.

Moreover, this school is a strictly managed, fully boarding secondary school.

This is highly unusual. Logically speaking, Huang Chen's father works in a government agency and was able to use his connections to get her transferred to a school through the education bureau, so her family should be relatively well-off. Yet, she was transferred to a remote, fully boarding school in the suburbs.

What is the purpose?
Zhou Yi decided to drive to Yongding County immediately to find Huang Chen and ask him in person.

Just then, Qiao Jiali had finished asking all her questions.

According to a girl who was close to Tang Xue, Tang Xue secretly wrote a love letter to Huang Chen when she was in her first year of high school, and Huang Chen later gave her a small gift.

"A small gift? Is it a bracelet?" Zhou Yi asked.

"That girl said Tang Xue was being secretive and didn't tell them what it was. Later, the two of them got together. It's said that almost everyone in the class knew about it, but no one said anything. Then someone reported them, the one the homeroom teacher mentioned about the PE class incident. Then there were rumors that Huang Chen beat up the student who reported them after school and warned him to mind his own business."

"Heh, so he's a school bully." Zhou Yi said as he stepped on the gas.

"From what I've looked into it, he's not quite a school bully, but Huang Chen is usually quite generous, so he's on good terms with a few male classmates."

"What happened before Huang Chen transferred schools?"

Anyone who has been to school knows that during junior and senior high school, teachers can't possibly know everything.

After all, they are not as easy to control as elementary school students. Teenagers in puberty have more active minds and more complex thoughts.

There are some things that only these students know in private.

(End of this chapter)