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

Chapter 325 Wang Shufen

Zhou Yi suddenly woke up from a nightmare!

He was soaked in sweat.

He looked around and realized he was still in the hotel in Anyuan. The TV was still on, but the screen was full of static.

The room flickered continuously as the screen filled with snowflakes.

Zhou Yi picked up his watch from the bedside table and looked at it; it was 3:20 a.m.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling exhausted. He got up, drank a glass of water, and then turned off the TV.

Outside the window, it was the darkest time of day.

In the latter half of the night, Zhou Yi slept very restlessly, fearing that if he fell asleep, he would see something frightening again.

When the first rays of light appeared on the horizon, he got up and decided to go out for some exercise, like a run.

After running until he was drenched in sweat, he felt much better and his body was warmed up, so he ate something at a nearby breakfast stall.

After returning to the hotel and packing my things, I headed to the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

As he passed by the hotel reception desk, his gaze swept over the calendar displayed on the counter.

April 27th, Friday.

……

When Zhou Yi arrived at the Anyuan Municipal Bureau, most of the people had already left, including Pan Hongjie.

As per yesterday's plan, just in case, all police officers set off for Shigu Township at daybreak.

With so many people mobilized, there's no reason why Jiang Wei couldn't be caught, unless he simply doesn't show up at all.

Xia Yu was already waiting in the office. When he saw Zhou Yi arrive, he stood up.

"Officer Zhou, should we go see Wang Shufen first, or go to Zheng Guangming's company?"

"Let's go find Wang Shufen first."

Xia Yu nodded, then asked, "Officer Zhou, did you not sleep well last night?"

"Not bad, do I have dark circles under my eyes?"

Xia Yu nodded again. "This is Wang Shufen's information. She's a local, fifty-two years old this year."

Zhou Yi took it and looked at it: "Okay, let's go find out what's going on from her first."

The two then drove to Wang Shufen's registered address, an ordinary old residential building.

Before I even got upstairs, while I was just climbing the stairs, I heard a quarrel coming from upstairs, accompanied by a woman's crying.

Zhou Yi and Xia Yu immediately quickened their pace.

The door to Wang Shufen's house was wide open, and the noise and crying were coming from inside, along with the sound of things being smashed. A man was yelling, but he was speaking in the local dialect, so Zhou Yi couldn't understand what he was saying.

The two went inside and saw that the room was in a mess, and there were three people in total.

A thin man in his thirties was smashing things, pots and pans, cursing as he did so.

A middle-aged man in his fifties sat in a wheelchair, pointing at the man and cursing loudly.

There was also a middle-aged woman in her fifties who sat on the ground and wailed loudly.

The scene was in complete chaos.

The man who was smashing things saw two strangers suddenly walk in, and immediately widened his eyes, pointed at them, and cursed in his dialect.

Xia Yu pointed at him and shouted in Mandarin, "Police officer, watch your mouth!"

Upon hearing the word "police," the gaunt man immediately tried to flee through the door without saying a word.

Zhou Yi sidestepped, stretched out his leg, tripped the other person, and then grabbed him and pinned him to the ground.

The man on the ground started cursing, while the middle-aged woman who had been wailing and the man in the wheelchair who had been cursing at the man suddenly started shouting anxiously: "What are you doing? Don't touch my son!"

The middle-aged woman even got up and rushed towards Zhou Yi.

Although Xia Yu is relatively inexperienced in handling criminal cases, he still has a strong presence when dealing with ordinary people, after all, his identity as a criminal police officer gives him natural confidence.

Pointing at the other person, he shouted, "Wang Shufen, right? What are you doing? Trying to assault a police officer?"

Wang Shufen immediately froze, because the police called out her name. She just stood there anxiously stamping her feet, saying, "Don't arrest my son! Don't arrest my son! He promises he won't do drugs again!"

Zhou Yi laughed. What a good mother! She confessed before we even asked her anything.

Zhou Yi handcuffed the person and then pulled them up.

He found the young man to be extremely thin, almost skin and bones.

So they pulled up the man's sleeve and saw that his elbows were covered in needle marks, bruised and purple.

Well, this person is completely hopeless.

Zhou Yi handed his mobile phone to Xia Yu, asking him to call the nearby police station for backup.

Soon, the police officers from the local police station arrived and, after understanding the situation, took the family of three back home.

The only one who broke the law was the son, but it was Zhou Yi's idea to take the elderly couple back because Zhou Yi wanted to question Wang Shufen, but the messy scene was not suitable.

After arriving at the police station, Zhou Yi borrowed an interrogation room and began questioning Wang Shufen together with Xia Yu.

Wang Shufen was in tears, constantly wiping the corners of her eyes.

"Wang Shufen, were you working as a nanny at Zheng Guangming's house?" Zhou Yi asked. Wang Shufen nodded and said, "Yes, I used to."

Zhou Yi was taken aback and quickly asked, "What do you mean 'before'? You're not doing it anymore?"

"Sigh, it's all because of my Huanhuan. She forced me to steal from the boss's place, so I..."

"What?" Zhou Yi and Xia Yu were surprised again.

The son is a drug addict, and the mother is a thief. Birds of a feather flock together.

"Tell me in detail, what exactly happened?" Zhou Yi said sternly.

After hesitating for a moment, Wang Shufen, under Zhou Yi's questioning, recounted the whole story.

She had known Zheng Guangming for a long time. She had worked with Zheng Guangming's first wife when he was just an ordinary person with no money or power.

Later, Zheng Guangming became wealthy and a big boss. When she heard that the Zheng family wanted to find a nanny, she volunteered to go.

Zheng Guangming knew she was hardworking, and given their past relationship, he hired her.

Working as a nanny for one of the wealthiest bosses in the area is like being a lowly official in front of a prime minister.

Logically speaking, they should be living a pretty good life.

Especially Zheng Guangming's youngest son from his second marriage, who was raised by his mother from the time he was in confinement until now, can almost be considered half a member of the Zheng family.

Unfortunately, she has a husband who is bedridden due to a work injury and a son who is uneducated and addicted to drugs.

Drug addiction is something that even wealthy people can squander, let alone ordinary families. It's like a bottomless black hole, and in the end, it only leads to death.

Her husband's compensation money, all the money she had painstakingly saved over the years, was taken by her son and squandered.

At first, they tried to coax and deceive, but later they resorted to hitting and scolding. What they witnessed today was nothing new.

Their only goal was to get money.

Many drug addicts, when they run out of money, resort to theft and robbery, causing serious social disorder.

After squeezing his parents dry, Wang Shufen's son eventually set his sights on the Zheng family.

He threatened his mother that if she didn't steal money from the Zheng family, he would kidnap the Zheng family's youngest son and demand money from Zheng Guangming.

Terrified, Wang Shufen had no choice but to compromise, and relying on the Zheng family's years of trust, she began to steal.

At first, he only stole small amounts of money, two or three hundred yuan. After all, the Zheng family was large and wealthy, and they wouldn't notice if a few hundred-yuan bills were missing from their wallets.

But the appetite for theft grows gradually.

One day, the woman of the house, Huang Yanli, discovered that her son's gold bracelet was missing.

Wang Shufen was terrified and lied, saying that she might have dropped it while out playing.

But Huang Yanli insisted on calling the police, which eventually scared Wang Shufen so much that she knelt down and kowtowed to admit that she had stolen and sold the goods.

She said that in the end, Zheng Guangming, out of consideration for their years of master-servant relationship, did not call the police, but instead told her to get lost.

She was still somewhat indignant, feeling that she had only stolen from them a few times, and yet they treated her like this. She had served the Zheng family like slaves for so many years, and it was as if she had been fed to dogs.

Zhou Yi felt nauseous upon hearing this, finally understanding why she had given birth to such a worthless son—because she had a worthless mother.

"When did this happen?" Zhou Yi asked.

“March... March 12th, I guess,” Wang Shufen replied.

Damn, it happened just a few days before Zheng Guangming was murdered.

It's unlikely that they'll find a new nanny in such a short time.

Zhou Yi took a deep breath and asked, "Wang Shufen, you've worked for the Zheng family for so many years. Is there anything unusual about the Zheng family's situation? But I must warn you first, don't embellish or distort the facts out of a desire for revenge. We will investigate, and if we find that you are lying, you will be held legally responsible, understand?"

Judging from this person's character, such a warning was necessary; otherwise, her rambling nonsense might mislead their investigation.

Xia Yu patted the table at just the right moment, telling her to think it over before she spoke.

"Zheng Guangming has many mistresses, I'm not just making this up, am I?" Wang Shufen asked.

"How exactly are you referring to 'more'? Tell me."

"I don't know how many mistresses he has, but his wife has argued with him a lot about it and even cursed him to die soon."

"Are Zheng Guangming and Huang Yanli having marital discord?"

"Well, Zheng Guangming doesn't come home every day. Huang Yanli knows he has other women outside. Her requirements are that he can't bring other women home or to the company, and that Zheng Guangming can't have children with other women."

Zhou Yi asked, "If that's the case, why is Huang Yanli still making a fuss? Why is she even cursing him to die?"

"What you're saying is ridiculous. It's not like she thought this way from the very first day she married him. After arguing so much, she realized there was no other way, so she had no choice but to accept it. Think about it, how old is Huang Yanli? What's she getting out of marrying a man more than twenty years older than her?"

Zhou Yi immediately remembered that joke: people like him because he's old and because he doesn't shower.

Wang Shufen clapped her hands and said, "Isn't it just because he's rich? The day the old man dies, all that money will be hers."

That's just wishful thinking on her part. Zheng Guangming has an older son who is involved in the company's management. How could he possibly leave all his assets to Huang Yanli and her son?

Zhou Yi didn't want to waste his breath arguing with her about this. Rich people might be bad, but they're definitely not stupid.

"Is there any woman who could threaten Huang Yanli's position?" Zhou Yi asked.

Wang Shufen answered without hesitation, "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)