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

Chapter 443 Sinful Debt (10,000 words per day, 22 days)
“Fan Tianyou is most likely Chen Gengyun’s illegitimate son,” Zhou Yi said, pointing to a photo of Chen Gengyun in his youth that was pasted on the whiteboard.

"The two years that are blank in Chen Gengyun's resume, namely 1963 and 1964, should be the two years when he went to the countryside as an educated youth."

"At that time, he wasn't called Chen Gengyun yet; he was called Chen Yimin."

"This Changfeng Forest Farm is probably the Changfeng Ridge, Fan Tianyou's hometown. As far as I know, before 1968, the main reason for the educated youth going to the countryside was to reclaim wasteland in farms in remote areas. After 1968, the pattern of settling down in the countryside gradually increased."

"These farms were mostly reclaimed land, built from scratch, under extremely harsh conditions. They were either in the Gobi Desert, grasslands, or deep forests like the ones in the background. Later, some places retained the name of the farm, while others changed it."

Zhou Yi's words surprised everyone. How could this young man know so much?
"So Fan Tianyou may be the illegitimate son of Chen Gengyun when he was sent to the countryside in Changfeng Forest Farm."

Xie Guoqiang turned to Liang Wei and asked, "Captain Liang, have the colleagues sent by the Provincial Department to Fan Tianyou's hometown arrived yet?"

Liang Wei glanced at his watch and said, "We should be almost at the city center by now, but Changfengling is quite far from the city and the transportation is very inconvenient. I heard there isn't even a decent road there, so it will probably take several more hours to get there."

"Okay, once we arrive, in addition to checking Fan Tianyou's situation, also check the information about the name Chen Yimin that Zhou Yi and the others found."

"Okay, I'll make a call after the meeting."

Xie Guoqiang turned his head and looked at everyone in the room, then locked his gaze on Director Wang: "Old Wang."

"Hey, Director Xie."

"Which department typically keeps the archives of educated youth from the 1960s?"

Director Wang replied, "This is quite complicated and will be broken down into many details. For example, the original sending units, such as schools and street offices, as well as the original receiving units, such as Changfeng Forest Farm, will keep different documents. However, here, they should be uniformly kept in the Municipal Archives, such as resettlement lists, household registration return records, etc."

Xie Guoqiang nodded: "Then you should contact the archives and find Chen Gengyun's information as soon as possible. Once it's aligned with the information from Changfengling, we can determine whether the place where Chen Gengyun went to the countryside is the same place where Fan Tianyou was born."

"Ok."

"Wu Yongcheng," Xie Guoqiang called out, turning his head.

“Here, Director Xie, I’m here.” Wu Yongcheng raised his hand from the back window.

"Why are you hiding there?"

Wu Yongcheng stubbed out his cigarette and said apologetically, "I had a craving for a cigarette, so I took a puff. I was afraid it would bother everyone."

"Is there any flaw in Chen Gengyun's alibi for the 28th?"

"Reporting to Director Xie, it's been confirmed, there are no problems. His three friends are all ordinary people with no criminal record, and their testimonies match each other perfectly."

Xie Guoqiang stroked his chin and said, "That's strange. If it's a conspiracy, it doesn't make sense."

"Come on, tell me what you found out. Captain Liang should have explained the direction of the investigation to you, right?"

Everyone nodded.

Qiu Zhiyong stood up and said, "Why don't I go first?"

His main responsibility was to search Fan Tianyou's office and apartment, the Chen family's old house, and the Crown car that belonged to the School of Social Sciences.

After Chen Gengyun admitted to perjury, the search of his office and dormitory was expanded.

Qiu Zhiyong said that they found a large number of photos of Lu Xiaoshuang in Fan Tianyou's apartment, which, judging from the angle, were probably taken secretly.

Not only were the photos found, but also two expensive imported cameras and a large number of negatives.

The fact that only Fan Tianyou's fingerprints were extracted from the camera indicates that he was the one who took the photos.

Some of the photos have French hymns written on the back.

Many French books were found in Fan Tianyou's apartment, including some excerpts. After comparing them with the text on the back of the photos, it was confirmed that they were written by Fan Tianyou himself.

In addition, the photo fragment found in Xiao Bing's house was confirmed to be exactly the same as the photos in Fan Tianyou's house after material comparison and handwriting identification.

This discovery confirms two things.

First, Xiao Bing may have really found Lu Xiaoshuang's photo by accident. Combined with Dong Lu's previous words, Zhou Yi's previous speculations were basically correct.

Everyone could only sigh helplessly at this outcome. If Xiao Bing hadn't suffered repeated setbacks throughout his life, this tragedy could have been avoided.

But from the perspective of everyone except Zhou Yi, if Xiao Bing hadn't run away, she wouldn't have encountered Fan Tianyou, wouldn't have died, wouldn't have left behind irrefutable evidence, and Fan Tianyou wouldn't have been exposed so quickly.

In a way, Xiao Bing was the one who truly solved this case.

Secondly, Fan Tianyou had an extreme obsession and unrequited love for Lu Xiaoshuang, and Chen Yan translated the poems of praise behind those photos, which were basically all words of praise and celebration.

The task force consulted the head of the French department at Hongda University. After reviewing the poems, the head of the department said that these hymns were all from French poetry and literature describing pure young girls or chaste saints.

This perfectly matches Fan Tianyou's behavior during his confrontation with Zhou Yi.

Therefore, Fan Tianyou's motive for committing the crime against Lu Xiaoshuang is quite clear: he believed that Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang had a relationship, so he turned his love into hatred.

From extreme love, it turned into extreme hatred.

However, this alone is not enough to understand the logic behind the crimes committed by the two victims, Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang.

Because in Fan Tianyou's apartment and office, apart from the usual exam papers and assignments, nothing related to Xu Liu was found.

Even the collection of footprints and fingerprints from Fan Tianyou's apartment did not reveal the existence of a second person besides Fan Tianyou.

Therefore, it can be confirmed that Fan Tianyou's crush is only on Lu Xiaoshuang, and does not include Xu Liu.

He found no unusual connection between Xu Liu outside of class.

Then, Qiu Zhiyong discovered some unusual things in Fan Tianyou's office.

In Fan Tianyou's office, nothing unusual or out of the ordinary was found, but a shirt with bloodstains on the sleeve and some blood-stained gauze in the trash can were found.

It must have been something he didn't have time to deal with after meeting Zhou Yi.

But that's not the point. The point is that a bottle of antibiotics was also found in Fan Tianyou's office drawer.

However, after testing the pills in the bottle, it was discovered that the antibiotic bottle actually contained vitamin B pills.

Qiu Zhiyong's conclusion left the people present puzzled and skeptical.

Xie Guoqiang remained silent, so Liang Wei asked, "Were there any other people's fingerprints on the medicine bottle and pills?"

Qiu Zhiyong shook his head: "There is only Fan Tianyou's fingerprint."

"Did they take the wrong medicine? Or did someone deliberately switch it?" Everyone had this question.

Wu Yongcheng said, "When Zhou Yi and I forcibly restrained Fan Tianyou before, the medicine he bought at the small pharmacy fell out of his pants pocket. I remember it was a box of amoxicillin and a tube of ointment for burns."

Xie Guoqiang nodded: "The fact that he went to buy medicine means that he realized the medicine he was taking before was ineffective, which means that the bottle of antibiotics in the office was not bought. Medicines are strictly regulated, and vitamins could not possibly end up in the bottle of antibiotics."

"This means that the bottle of antibiotics in front was given to him by someone else!" Wu Yongcheng concluded.

Everyone in the room gasped.

If it was given to him by someone else, then who else could it be but Chen Gengyun?
Fan Tianyou's arm injury was not something he could treat at a hospital. A small clinic would not only be unable to treat it, but it would also be remembered because of the unusual nature of the case.

That's why they used a boiling kettle to scald the wound and destroy its characteristics.

Putting aside the pain involved, the subsequent recovery is also a problem; at the very least, antibiotics will be needed to prevent infection.

However, Fan Tianyou still developed a serious infection, and the vitamins he had taken before buying the medicine were clearly disguised as antibiotics.

Just moments ago, they were suspecting that Fan Tianyou was Chen Gengyun's illegitimate son, since only this relationship could establish the logic of a conspiracy.

Soon after, it was discovered that Chen Gengyun might be trying to take the opportunity to kill Fan Tianyou.

So if Zhou Yi hadn't targeted Fan Tianyou and hadn't devised a plan to lure him back for investigation...

It's highly likely that Fan Tianyou's body couldn't take it that day, so he took leave and went home.

Because the task force is only stationed at Hongda for investigation, it cannot restrict the daily behavior of all teachers and students.

Fan Tianyou, who did not arouse the suspicion of the task force, may have died in his apartment due to severe infection.

If the school discovers the person is dead and then calls the police, there will be no way to verify the truth.

The best outcome would be to convict Chen Gengyun of perjury.

This seemingly respectable old man is truly ruthless. To sacrifice a pawn to save the king, he was even willing to kill his own son.

Xie Guoqiang said in a deep voice, "Continue."

Qiu Zhiyong nodded, and then talked about the investigation into Chen Gengyun's office, dormitory, and the Chen family's old house, as well as the Crown car.

Everything was normal in Chen Gengyun's office, and nothing unusual was found. A lot of fingerprints were collected, mainly Chen Gengyun's, followed by Liu Baoguo's. No fingerprints were found from Fan Tianyou or Xu Liu.

There was nothing unusual about Chen Gengyun's dormitory. Judging from the layout of his dormitory, he seemed to live a simple life, and no large amount of cash or other valuables were found.

It seems that he is an honest and upright dean.

The Chen family's old house is located on an old street at the junction of Nanming District and Qingshan District. It is a detached single-story house made of blue bricks, and it is obviously quite old.

Theoretically speaking, it fits the conditions for a murder and dismemberment crime.

However, after investigation, it was found that this was not the primary crime scene, but some discoveries were made.

Needless to say, the Chen family's old house was a place where murder, dismemberment, and cooking were committed; there wasn't even any sign that someone had cleaned it, and it was covered in dust and cobwebs.

This is completely inconsistent with the requirements of murder and dismemberment, because after committing a crime, repeated rinsing and washing are necessary to clean up bloodstains.

Moreover, the Chen family's old house has been uninhabited for many years, so the water and electricity have been cut off, and the local neighborhood has not been connected to the gas pipeline.

If you want to cook a corpse in this place, you'd have to buy a gas cylinder and a gas stove, which would easily attract attention.

However, the on-site investigation still uncovered some things.

Because the house had been uninhabited for many years and covered with a thick layer of dust, the traces were particularly noticeable.

As soon as Qiu Zhiyong opened the door, he noticed a row of newly left footprints. He immediately measured and recorded the footprints, and after comparison, he found that they were indeed Chen Gengyun's footprints.

In other words, Chen Gengyun recently returned to his old house.

Then, based on the footprints' trajectory, it was discovered that the footprints had mainly stopped in two places: the kitchen and the room.

After a thorough inspection of the two locations, the technical department confirmed that a kitchen knife was missing. It was on a shelf made of wooden strips next to the cupboard, with the middle section empty.

Inside the room, there was a wooden box under the bed that had been dragged out. The box was full of old-fashioned clothes from the 1970s and 80s, and there were signs that it had been rummaged through.

It is reasonable to suspect that the items taken away were the old-fashioned travel bag containing body parts initially found in the Nansha River, and the smaller travel bag containing the Xu Liu head later.

The missing kitchen knife is most likely the one found in the mine.

Judging from the appearance of the "murder weapon," it also fits the environment of the Chen family's old house.

However, since the Chen family's old house has been uninhabited for many years and Chen Gengyun's wife and daughters have passed away, there are no witnesses who can identify these items. Therefore, there is no direct evidence to prove that these three items were taken from the Chen family's old house by Chen Gengyun.

Finally, there was the Toyota Crown. The initial inspection didn't find anything unusual, but the lack of any unusual features was actually the biggest anomaly.

Qiu Zhiyong discovered that the car's tires were newly replaced, and the car had been thoroughly cleaned inside and out, in addition to the heavy rain from the previous two days. However, neither Chen Gengyun's office nor the college's accounts showed any expenses related to the tire replacement and cleaning.

Here, Qiu Zhiyong added a piece of information: to everyone else, this was just an ordinary little detail, but only Zhou Yi had a different feeling about it.

In Chen Gengyun's office, a lot of receipts were found. No matter what he bought, he would get a receipt, which shows that he had a habit of issuing receipts on a daily basis.

Further investigation confirmed that the reason for the habit of issuing receipts was that Chen Gengyun reimbursed many of his personal expenses through the company's accounts.

This information explains where Fan Tianyou's alibi receipt from his previous life came from.

Qiu Zhiyong said that the vehicle still needs further detailed investigation, and they will not let go of any clues.

Then there was the matter of contacting and visiting Fan Tianyou and Chen Lin's university classmates, which was handled by Qiao Jiali.

Since there were no telephones in the 1980s, information about these college classmates had to be found in household registration records, which was very time-consuming.

So far, we have only been able to contact a few people, and the information we have obtained is relatively limited.

Moreover, the people they contacted were not very familiar with Fan Tianyou and Chen Lin at university.

The only valid information we have so far is about the personalities of Fan Tianyou and Chen Lin.

In the impression of his two classmates, Fan Tianyou was a typical poor student. It is said that when he registered as a freshman, he was dressed very poorly, and it was obvious that he came from a poor and remote area.

He is usually very low-key and has a very low profile.

As for Chen Lin, he was the kind of person with a very bourgeois taste. He could play the piano and loved poetry and literature. His father was the dean of a college, and his mother was a women's cadre before her death. He came from a very good family, so it was natural for him to be arrogant.

As for dating, none of the classmates had heard anything about it; they only knew that Chen Lin's family was quite strict.

Qiao Jiali said that she is currently focusing on finding the contact information of the two college roommates so that she can obtain more accurate information.

Another investigation was conducted into Fan Tianyou's current social relationships, mainly including colleagues and friends.

His colleagues generally have a good impression of him; after all, an associate professor in his early thirties still carries a strong aura in the eyes of others.

He is described as a low-key person with a gentle personality. He is not very sociable, but he is always polite to everyone.

Colleagues confirmed that Fan Tianyou does indeed enjoy photography, and some people have seen him taking pictures around the school with a camera, long before Lu Xiaoshuang started school.

Then there were the two friends who provided him with an alibi during the May Day holiday. These two friends were not his colleagues, nor were they his classmates from university or members of his social circle during his studies abroad.

We met at a photo studio a couple of years ago. Like Fan Tianyou, we were both photography enthusiasts and would occasionally go out to take pictures together.

These days, people who can afford to play with cameras are naturally well-off; ordinary people can't afford it.

In fact, the task force had previously verified the situation with them, but at that time they only focused on the authenticity of the alibi. This time, however, they specifically asked about Fan Tianyou's personality and temperament, especially whether there had been any unusual situations in their past interactions.

One of them mentioned that he had a female friend who was very beautiful and worked as a calendar model.

She had previously asked him to help her find a boyfriend, preferably someone with a stable job like a civil servant, and he introduced Fan Tianyou to her.

He made a special appointment to have dinner with both of them, and then excused himself to leave, leaving them alone.

After that, they lost contact for a while. Then one day, he ran into the female friend and asked how things were going between them. The girl looked disgusted and said, "Did you introduce me to a lunatic?" He was confused and quickly asked what was going on.

The girl said the meal was very pleasant; he was gentle and refined, and spoke with great poise, which pleased him. She added that he didn't mind that he was a bit older.

So after dinner, she took the initiative to ask him to go for a walk. Although she could tell he didn't seem too willing, Fan Tianyou went out of politeness. As they were walking, a cat suddenly darted out from somewhere, startling her. Still shaken, she grabbed Fan Tianyou's arm.

Unexpectedly, Fan Tianyou immediately showed a very resistant reaction. He not only pulled his hand away directly, but also looked at her with a terrifying gaze the moment he turned his head, as if he wanted to eat her alive.

So frightened was she that she made up an excuse on the spot and ran away without looking back.

But Fan Tianyou's friend didn't take it seriously, because he knew that the girl was a model with a rather outgoing personality, which might have made Fan Tianyou, a highly educated intellectual, feel that she was frivolous.

This information is like a fish that slipped through the net in Fan Tianyou's perfect persona.

Zhou Yi had personally witnessed his murderous gaze, and one could imagine how intimidating that look was to that girl at the time.

This incident also reveals that Fan Tianyou may have very serious psychological problems in his romantic relationships.

If he can react so strongly to even ordinary physical contact, then it's impossible for him to have an improper relationship with Xu Liu.

Coupled with his unusually obsessive feelings for Lu Xiaoshuang, Zhou Yi immediately offered a suggestion.

"Director Xie, I suspect that Fan Tianyou has an extreme case of mysophobia."

"What kind of mental fastidiousness do you have? Tell me more," Xie Guoqiang said.

“Okay,” Zhou Yi said. “This idea of ​​mental fastidiousness mainly comes from Dong Lu. The meaning of what Dong Lu said on the rooftop yesterday is basically clear: she and Fan Tianyou have no social relationship, and at least Dong Lu definitely doesn’t know his name.”

"In other words, the two may have only had some superficial contact. For example, Fan Tianyou was feeling down and happened to run into Dong Lu, who comforted him. Then Fan Tianyou developed feelings for Dong Lu and began to stalk and secretly admire her."

"Then, for some reason, he inadvertently learned that Dong Lu had been raped. Based on the hymns he wrote, he probably had an extreme spiritual fastidiousness about the woman he liked, believing that she was dirty, unclean, and defiled. So he decided to use fire to purify this 'dirty' woman. He had studied abroad and was easily influenced by Western culture, and Western religions often use fire to purify heretics."

"So from Dong Lu's perspective, she knew nothing and did nothing, and then she was suddenly struck by a devastating disaster."

"Then, in order to protect his only bloodline, Chen Gengyun and Liu Baoguo conspired to change the incident from arson and murder to self-immolation. Under Chen Gengyun's manipulation, Fan Tianyou went abroad to study and lay low."

"Years later, he transformed into a returned PhD and returned to Hongda, rising through the ranks under Chen Gengyun's protection. Until September of last year, Lu Xiaoshuang, who looked very much like Dong Lu, appeared. For Fan Tianyou, who had extreme mental fastidiousness, Lu Xiaoshuang was undoubtedly the most ideal replacement for Dong Lu." Zhou Yi didn't mention the rest, since it involved himself, and everyone knew the situation.

"Therefore, his feelings for women are not at the psychological and physiological level of a normal person, but purely at the psychological level."

Chen Yan raised his hand and interjected, "This is somewhat like a Western theory called Platonic love."

Shi Tao didn't understand: "What the hell is 'Bo'?"

Chen Yan explained: "Platonic love is a purely spiritual admiration and emotional exchange that transcends physical desire. People with this view believe that the core of love lies in the resonance of thoughts, spirit, and soul, rather than the pursuit of physical intimacy. But Fan Tianyou has an additional layer of spiritual fastidiousness on top of that."

Zhou Yi added, "There's also a layer of unrequited love."

Shi Tao waved his hand and said, "Hey, why go to all this fancy stuff? I think it's not that I don't want to, but that I can't."

Scattered laughter came from the crowd.

At this moment, Liang Wei said, "This is completely different from Long Zhiqiang's incompetence. Long Zhiqiang wants to but cannot. Fan Tianyou is capable but doesn't want to. Not only does he not want to, but he also doesn't allow others to think about it."

Zhou Yi and Chen Yan nodded immediately, because the summary was concise and to the point.

"Then where does his obsessive-compulsive disorder stem from? Is it something he was born with?" Xie Guoqiang asked, looking at Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi pointed to the photo behind him and said, "The root of the problem lies here. Chen Gengyun probably only stayed at Changfeng Forest Farm for two years before returning for some reason. You can imagine how much public condemnation a single woman would face if she became pregnant and gave birth in the 1960s."

The crowd fell silent, for this was unimaginable; in those days, it was far more terrifying than the verbal attacks and condemnations leveled against death row inmates.

"Will Fan Tianyou's mother regret it? Regret that she lost her virginity to Chen Gengyun, regret that she gave birth to Fan Tianyou. Perhaps at first she didn't regret it, after all, you can see from Fan Tianyou's name that his mother hoped God would bless her son. But no one can withstand long-term mental torment, especially since Chen Gengyun has disappeared without a trace. His mother must regret losing her virginity to Chen Gengyun, and she must regret giving birth to Fan Tianyou."

"If she wants to vent these emotions, she only has one target."

Wu Yongcheng said in a deep voice, "Fan Tianyou."

Zhou Yi nodded: "That's right! If a person's biological mother keeps telling him from childhood, 'I really regret giving birth to you,' or 'You've ruined my life,' then that person cannot be mentally healthy. Mental oppression, coupled with a poor material life, can easily lead to psychological distortion."

At this moment, Song Yiming spoke up: "We checked him out last night, and Fan Tianyou does have a lot of old injuries. Judging from the condition of the scars, they should be more than 20 years old. This matches Zhou Yi's speculation. It is estimated that Fan Tianyou not only suffered from mental oppression, but may also have been subjected to severe violence and abuse."

For a moment, everyone was silent.

Just two years ago, a TV series called "The Debt of Sin" suddenly appeared, bringing tears to the eyes of viewers across the country, achieving astonishing ratings, and being rebroadcast by several provincial TV stations.

This TV series tells the story of five children abandoned by educated youth who travel together to a big city to find their biological parents. However, their parents have all started new families and have children. Instead of receiving the comfort of family affection, they suffer all kinds of contempt and discrimination.

Finally, one of the children even went astray and was punished by law.

The cold reality and heart-wrenching experiences earned plenty of tears from the audience.

Zhou Yi remembers that during her sophomore summer vacation, the provincial TV station broadcast the TV series "The Debt of Sin". Her mother watched it and cried, so much so that even Meng Jiangnu would shake her head in disbelief.

Now it seems that Fan Tianyou is likely a living drama of karmic debt, perhaps even more cruel than the stories within the drama itself.

Shi Tao couldn't help but curse, "No wonder that old bastard changed his name; he's afraid of being haunted by his karmic debts."

Shi Tao's words reminded Zhou Yi, so it must not be a coincidence that Fan Tianyou came from the far north to get into Hongda University.

If that's the case, then Chen Gengyun's claim that Fan Tianyou is his daughter Chen Lin's boyfriend might also be questionable.

"Captain Liang, is there any news from customs or immigration?" Xie Guoqiang asked.

"Perfect timing, let me tell you about the progress of my investigation."

Liang Wei's main tasks were twofold: first, to check relevant records with customs and immigration authorities; and second, to interrogate Liu Baoguo.

First, we found all of Fan Tianyou's exit records. Fan Tianyou's first exit from the country was at the end of December 1989.

In other words, the information in the faculty and staff files is false, and there is a temporal overlap between Fan Tianyou and Dong Lu.

The arson occurred in November, and Fan Tianyou left the country by the end of December. Such a rapid move could only be attributed to Chen Gengyun's connections.

Where was Fan Tianyou at that time? He was most likely at Hongda University, either a faculty member or a graduate student. It was definitely arranged by Chen Gengyun.

Only in the vast ocean can one interact with Dong Lu and find out which dormitory she lives in.

Student registration management was originally within Liu Baoguo's purview, so erasing some records would have been easy for him.

Unfortunately, customs did not find any information about Chen Gengyun and Fan Tianyou carrying imported sleeping pills when they entered the country, because ordinary medicines carried by individuals within a reasonable scope are not subject to special registration.

Then came Liu Baoguo's confession. Zhou Yi didn't know what the process was like, but since Liang Wei personally intervened, he must have engaged in a battle of wits with this unruly vice principal.

Liu Baoguo was ultimately defeated because Liang Wei said he had extracted three pieces of information from the interrogation.

First, regarding the phone call on the afternoon of February 14th, he admitted that when he was questioned yesterday morning, he had already thought about who made the call, which is why he was so furious, because he wanted to cover for that person.

This person is Chen Gengyun.

He vaguely remembered that Chen Gengyun had something to discuss with him that afternoon, but halfway through their conversation, he was called away by the principal. Chen Gengyun stayed in the office and waited for him. When he returned, the two continued their conversation.

Secondly, regarding the dinner party on the evening of April 30th, it wasn't that he invited Chen Gengyun, but rather that Chen Gengyun invited him, even asking him if he knew any friends in the public security system, which is why he invited Ni Jianrong.

Third, Chen Gengyun received a phone call a little after 3 p.m. on April 30th. The caller was Liu Baoguo.

Liu Baoguo admitted that he was stuck in traffic and would definitely be late for the school's management meeting, so he called Chen Gengyun in case the principal asked and he could explain for him.

Chen Gengyun seemed a little confused at the time, as if he hadn't thought of it for a moment. He then immediately agreed and hung up the phone.

When he arrived at the school and entered the meeting room, he was surprised to find that Chen Gengyun was not there.

About seven or eight minutes later, Chen Gengyun came in, covered in sweat, and explained that he was unwell and had arrived late. The principal even asked him a few words of concern.

The last piece of information Liu Baoguo provided was quite subtle.

Zhou Yi clearly remembered that when Chen Gengyun and Liu Baoguo were being questioned yesterday morning, neither of them mentioned the phone call or that Chen Gengyun had arrived later than Liu Baoguo.

When the call logs were pulled up today, Liu Baoguo immediately and readily admitted it.

That's not the point. The point is that Liu Baoguo took the initiative to explain Chen Gengyun's lateness.

He could have chosen not to say it, since there's no necessary connection between a phone call and being late, but he chose to say it anyway.

Moreover, he knew that speaking out would be very detrimental to Chen Gengyun.

This shows that Liu Baoguo, like Chen Gengyun, was also using the tactic of sacrificing a pawn to save the king.

Chen Gengyun abandoned Fan Tianyou, while Liu Baoguo abandoned Chen Gengyun.

Of course, Zhou Yi didn't believe Liu Baoguo was related to the dismemberment case, since the case occurred while he was away from Hongcheng. But he suspected there were some economic and official misconduct issues between Liu and Chen Gengyun, and he guessed Liu wanted to quickly establish Chen Gengyun's criminal record to avoid further investigation.

As for whether Chen Gengyun will voluntarily confess to other issues, that's a gamble for him. After all, no one wants to add to their crimes, but there's also the possibility of reporting and exposing wrongdoing to atone for their crimes.

This really proves the saying: what goes around comes around.

Another point is that Liu Baoguo vehemently denies that he abused his power in handling the Dong Lu incident.

However, before the customs entry and exit records came out, Liang Wei had already contacted the Provincial Education Examination Authority. This was because the postgraduate admission process required simultaneous submission to the admissions office for record-keeping. If Liu Baoguo could destroy the materials at the school, what could he do with the materials at the Provincial Admissions Office?

Liang Wei said that once the admissions office's materials arrive, Liu Baoguo will be unable to defend himself, and then they will work with the comrades from the Discipline Inspection Commission to take him down completely.

Xie Guoqiang nodded: "Captain Liang is indeed very thoughtful."

"Is there anyone else who hasn't spoken?" Xie Guoqiang looked around and called out, "Jiang Biao, it's time for you to get some work done."

Jiang Biao scratched his head and stood up: "Director Xie... we did make a discovery, but the details are not detailed enough, so it probably doesn't have enough legal effect."

"Tell me."

Jiang Biao was undoubtedly the most frustrated one in the grand case. Apart from searching for body parts in the early stages, he worked hard in the middle and later stages but made no progress.

The information about Xiao Bing's body was obtained from a police report and had little to do with him.

Jiang Biao said that they took the photo to an oil vendor for identification, but the feedback was vague. The vendor couldn't determine whether it was Liu Baoguo or Chen Gengyun, saying that it looked like Chen Gengyun, but the person wasn't wearing glasses at the time and also looked a bit like Liu Baoguo.

Vague and general testimonies have very weak legal force unless they can form a chain of evidence with other evidence.

There has been progress on the flyer issue; they found a relatively small printing shop that still uses the old-fashioned mechanical letterpress printing.

After looking at the flyer, the print shop owner confirmed that it was made by his shop. He didn't remember the exact date, only that it was in mid-April.

The person who requested this printing was an elderly man who came that evening and wanted it on the spot. The owner said no, there were other customers who had already placed orders.

The other party said they needed it urgently and could pay double, so the boss agreed.

Upon hearing what he wanted printed, he was reminded that it seemed inappropriate. He explained that he wasn't actually soliciting prostitution, but rather that the woman's promiscuity had ruined his son, so he wanted to take revenge.

Of course, the boss was just saying that casually. After all, as long as he could make more money, he would work overtime on the spot to print four or five hundred copies.

Jiang Biao showed him photos of Chen Gengyun and Liu Baoguo and asked him to identify them. After looking at them for a long time, the boss pointed to Chen Gengyun and said, "It looks like this person."

Jiang Biao got anxious and said, "Don't pretend. Pretending doesn't count."

The owner said the person was wearing a hat and a mask, and since it was evening when they arrived, the lighting inside was poor, so he couldn't be sure.

He only said it seemed to be Chen Gengyun because he thought the glasses looked similar.

That's why Jiang Biao was so discouraged, because although he had found the clue, it wasn't very useful in practice.

"What about the first crime scene? Didn't you say yesterday that there were eleven suspicious locations and that you were reinvestigating them?" Xie Guoqiang asked.

Jiang Biao nodded, quickly took out a large map of Hongcheng, ran to the front and pasted it on the whiteboard in the conference room, then pointed to the places circled in black pen on the map and began to explain them one by one.

Zhou Yi had been standing at the front because, after the meeting started, Wu Yongcheng asked him to go up and talk about the interrogation and investigation of Chen Gengyun.

After that, Director Xie didn't tell him to come down, so he just kept standing.

Now that Jiang Biao has come up, he's preparing to go down.

He was about to turn around, his gaze casually sweeping across the black circles on the map, when suddenly his eyes fixed on them.

“Brother Biao… Brother Biao, this place…” Zhou Yi asked, pointing to the location.

Jiang Biao was interrupted by him and immediately looked in the direction he was pointing.

"Oh, this is a villa area, located in Kaiping District, relatively close to the city center. When I reviewed this place, I found that I hadn't searched it before because no one lived here. I don't know why this villa area has never been sold since it was built; the houses are all empty."

"A villa district?" Xie Guoqiang got up and walked to the map to look at it. "Jianghai Haoting, I've never heard of it."

Then he turned to Zhou Yi and asked, "What's wrong with this place?"

Zhou Yi was at a loss for words. He glanced around the room and finally fixed his gaze on Xu Nian.

Xu Nian noticed that he was looking at her and was a little confused, not understanding why he was looking at her at this time.

Only Zhou Yi knew about this.

In her previous life, Xu Nian's father, Director Xu, was brought down a few years later. Many problems were uncovered, one of which Xu Nian told Zhou Yi in tears.

Xu Nian said at the time: The Discipline Inspection Commission found that her father had embezzled a lot of money and property, which was hidden in a villa. She and her mother had never heard of this villa and had no idea that it existed.

The villa complex where that villa is located is called Jianghai Haoting.

"Director Xie, is it possible... that this place is the primary crime scene? For example, that Chen Gengyun actually owns a villa here?"

Shi Tao immediately said, "Impossible. I checked the real estate under Chen Gengyun's name. It's just that old house of the Chen family. There are no villas."

Zhou Yi said in a deep voice, "What if the house is not registered in Chen Gengyun's name, but he still has the right to use it?"

This question startled Xie Guoqiang, who seemed to realize something. He asked Jiang Biao which company was the developer of Jianghai Haoting.

Jiang Biao flipped through his notebook and said, "The developer of Jianghai Mansion is called... Hongcheng Jianghai Real Estate Co., Ltd., and the legal representative is... Jiang..."

"Jiang Zhengdao."

(End of this chapter)