Wu Shuqi personally interrogated the suspect, Gou Zhenghui, in the interrogation room of the branch bureau, with Sun Rumin taking notes on the side.
After questioning the suspect’s name, date of birth, political affiliation, and whether he had been subjected to criminal punishment or administrative action according to procedure, Wu Shuqi asked, “Speak, why did you run when you saw the police?” She stared intently at the suspect, her eyes as sharp as searchlights, as if to see through the suspect’s heart through his face.
“You weren’t wearing uniforms, how would I know you were police! I already said, if I knew you were police, I wouldn’t have run!” Gou Zhenghui argued emotionally, meeting Wu Shuqi’s gaze.
Wu Shuqi couldn’t help but pause, thinking that this guy was trying to exploit a loophole, but this little trick was not worth worrying about. I had to suppress his arrogance, so she said loudly, “Don’t play any fancy tricks! Honestly confess, why did you run when you saw us?”
“I…” Gou Zhenghui hesitated, “To be honest, I recently got a girlfriend, but who knew that the woman had a husband. Her pig-slaughtering husband found out about us, and he was furious, threatening to kill me. I thought you were her husband coming after me.”
Wu Shuqi’s expression was serious, but she couldn’t help but laugh in her heart, and asked, “Where were you between noon and afternoon on July 15th?”
“With Li Xiaomei.”
“Who is Li Xiaomei?”
“The woman I was talking about.”
“Who can prove we were together?”
“No one can prove it, but you can check…check the hotel surveillance.” Gou Zhenghui lowered his head, not knowing whether it was because he felt his behavior of seducing another person’s wife was disgraceful, or because he was afraid of being severely reprimanded by the police.
“We opened a room in a hotel?” Wu Shuqi couldn’t help but frown.
“Yes.”
“Which hotel? Where?”
“Hausen Hotel, on Jiefang Road.”
Wu Shuqi immediately sent Wu Zhi to check Gou Zhenghui’s room registration record.
Wu Shuqi continued to interrogate Gou Zhenghui: “Li Yuehua’s wife, son, and a woman named Lü Yuchan were poisoned to death. The time of death was in the afternoon of July 18th. Do you know about this?”
“I know, it’s been reported in the newspapers and online,” Gou Zhenghui said without hesitation.
Wu Shuqi asked, “Did you threaten to kill Li Yuehua? Did that happen?”
Gou Zhenghui was stunned for a moment, and said, “You hate Li Yuehua, can…”
Wu Shuqi interrupted him, “Just tell me yes or no!”
Gou Zhenghui had no choice but to honestly answer, “Yes.”
Wu Shuqi stared at the suspect: “Half a year ago, you picked up the key to his house in the studio that Li Yuehua rented to do We-Commerce. Why did you take three hours to return the key to him?”
“I… I was delayed by something.” Gou Zhenghui was a little anxious.
Wu Shuqi asked, “What was it? Who can prove it?”
Gou Zhenghui said, “Your friend who was with you was hit by a freight tricycle, and the driver ran away. You took your friend to the hospital. If you don’t believe me, you can call your friend to verify it.”
Wu Shuqi said, “Tianwang surveillance is installed in every corner of Jincheng. The places you pass, the neighborhoods you enter, are all clearly recorded. There are also dashcam recordings of you. You better not lie in front of the police, otherwise you will be ruthlessly exposed! I’ll give you one chance to explain. Why did you appear at the entrance of Prosperity Garden on July 15th?”
Gou Zhenghui opened his eyes wide and said in a low voice, “What? Officer, are you trying to trick me! I was with Li Xiaomei that noon and afternoon. I never came to Prosperity Garden at all!”
“Really? Then why does the person in the video look so much like you?” Wu Shuqi said deliberately.
Gou Zhenghui was still very agitated, “You must be mistaken…”
At this time, Wu Zhi came back and reported his findings: Gou Zhenghui did open a room with a woman named Li Xiaomei at the Hausen Hotel on July 15th. The room registration time was 10:21-17:17.
Although the time and hotel name matched, it did not mean that Gou Zhenghui’s suspicion had been ruled out. Therefore, Wu Shuqi arranged for Wu Zhi and two video investigators to go to the Hausen Hotel to retrieve surveillance footage and conduct a careful investigation of the suspect.
An hour later, Wu Shuqi received a call from Wu Zhi, who informed her that Gou Zhenghui had left the hotel once between checking in and checking out with Li Xiaomei. He walked in a hurry, as if he was in a rush. The time was 16:07, and he returned to the hotel at 16:41.
Wu Shuqi knew the specific location of the Hausen Hotel because she had come to this hotel with colleagues to arrest criminal suspects. The straight-line distance from that place to Prosperity Garden was estimated to be at least five kilometers away. Gou Zhenghui had 34 minutes between leaving the hotel and returning to the hotel, so he did not have the conditions to commit the crime in such a short time.
However, the possibility of him hiring someone to commit the crime could not be ruled out. What did he do in the half hour he left the hotel? Did he meet someone important? Was the person he met related to this case? Sometimes, a seemingly insignificant detail may become the key to solving the case.
“What did I go out of the hotel to do?”
“A woman came to find me, and I went to send her away.”
“What kind of woman?”
“Officer, don’t be so gossipy.” Gou Zhenghui suddenly felt that the police’s investigation of him had not ended, so he immediately straightened his attitude, “I’ll tell you the truth, she is my real girlfriend. She suspected that I was having an affair with another woman, so she followed the clues. The reason she knew I was at the Hausen Hotel was because she saw the hotel room photo and the hotel’s location that I posted on WeChat Moments. I was really confused for a moment (shaking his head uncontrollably), how could I post such a thing on Moments? She called me when she got to the hotel and asked me what room I was in. I panicked and lied that I had already left, and that a friend had asked me to come and learn about a business project he was working on.
“Let me interject, you have been cheated out of a lot of money by all kinds of trash projects in the past few years, and you owe six or seven thousand on your credit card. If you hadn’t been cheated into being penniless, you wouldn’t be renting that dilapidated place in Daba Village. Your girlfriend didn’t believe you, and asked you to send her your location so she could verify it. How could you dare? So you lied and said you were at the entrance of McDonald’s, and I came here to find you.
“McDonald’s is about 200 meters away from the Hausen Hotel. After hanging up the phone, I quickly put on my clothes, took the elevator downstairs, and ran all the way from behind the street to the destination. When I got to the entrance of McDonald’s, I saw that she had already arrived. She was very surprised to see me covered in sweat and panting, but she didn’t ask me what was going on. We chatted for a while, and she suddenly received a call, and then told me that her friend had asked her to get a beauty treatment.
“After she left, I returned to the hotel. Unexpectedly, she secretly followed me all the way to the hotel. She said that she came to get a beauty treatment with her friend, but it was actually an excuse. The purpose was to catch evidence of me having an affair with another woman. She called you and said that she had been hit by a car on the way, and that she was a little injured, and asked you to come to the hospital to see her quickly.
“I went downstairs to check out, but she secretly took photos of me and Li Xiaomei hooking up, and then showed the photos to Li Xiaomei’s husband. I knew she did this out of anger and lack of reason, but what could I do? The man was furious when he saw the photos and beat Li Xiaomei into the hospital.”
Wu Shuqi listened to him finish his story with great interest. Obviously, it was human nature for men to love to hear gossip, regardless of age or occupation. She carefully observed him. He was less than thirty years old, with a handsome appearance and especially charming peach blossom eyes. He looked like he was very popular with women. No wonder he was so poor, but he still had married women entangled with him.
However, she felt that Gou Zhenghui was an out-and-out scumbag, and she would not have a good impression of him because of his outstanding appearance. Out of disgust for scumbags, she couldn’t help but criticize him sternly: “You already have a girlfriend, but you still go to seduce other people’s wives. You are being very irresponsible! Irresponsible to yourself and irresponsible to others! You are the typical person who eats from the bowl and looks at the pot! It’s not good to play with fire, is it? I guess you and your girlfriend broke up, right?”
Gou Zhenghui lowered his head and said, “We broke up.”
Wu Shuqi thought to herself, “It’s good that you broke up. I feel sorry for that woman.”
“Officer, can I leave now?” Gou Zhenghui was a little restless.
Wu Shuqi removed the restraints from his hands and said, “You can leave. But before you leave, I want to ask you about some things. I hope you will tell me everything you know. You are Li Yuehua’s fellow villager. What is the relationship between Li Yuehua and his wife? Are there any conflicts between them?”
Gou Zhenghui’s face showed a relaxed look because his suspicion had been ruled out. He rubbed his wrists, and the resentment he felt towards the police for arresting him had also dissipated by seven or eight tenths. He said, “In my opinion, he and his wife have no feelings for each other. Many people, including me, think that he married into Ning Yaohong’s family because he saw that Ning Yaohong’s family was about to be demolished and would be profitable. Because less than half a year after he became an live-in son-in-law, Ning’s family received more than 3 million yuan in demolition compensation because the shantytown was undergoing overall renovation. In addition, they also got two houses. Ning Yaohong and Li Yuehua lived in one, and Ning Yaohong’s parents lived in one. In addition, Li Yuehua is very good at coaxing and caring for the elderly. He must have embezzled a lot of the compensation money. Oh, by the way, Li Yuehua is an orphan. I heard that his parents died one after another when he was young, and he lived with his aunt. Later, his aunt also died.
“Less than a year after Ning Yaohong gave birth to a child, she suddenly suffered from mental illness. I heard that the reason for her illness was that Li Yuehua secretly took the money from her card, and he used the money to buy stocks and lost it all. She suffered a heavy blow, and her condition gradually worsened. Because of this incident, their marital relationship became more estranged. Li Yuehua even filed for divorce unilaterally, but for some reason, the court did not support his divorce request.
“When his son was less than two years old, Li Yuehua abandoned their mother and son and came to Shanghai, and then went to Jincheng to settle down. His wife and son have been taken care of by his parents-in-law. He rarely goes home to visit his wife and children. After he bought a house in Jincheng, he seemed to have only taken his wife and son there once, but because Ning Yaohong’s illness relapsed, he quickly brought his wife and children back. That was a year ago, which shows how hard his heart is. I heard from insiders that Ning Yaohong once suspected that her husband had other women outside. She said that since Li Yuehua didn’t treat her well, then she wouldn’t treat Li Yuehua well either.”
Wu Shuqi thanked Gou Zhenghui for providing such important information, and then let him leave.
Recalling what Gou Zhenghui had just said, Wu Shuqi unconsciously connected the deaths of Ning Yaohong, Li Zihan, and Lü Yuchan with Li Yuehua. She had always felt that Li Yuehua was suspicious, and now she was even more suspicious. She told Sun Rumin her thoughts, wanting to hear his views and analysis.
While sorting out the notes, Sun Rumin said, “That’s right. After listening to Gou Zhenghui’s account, I also feel more and more that the deaths of Ning Yaohong, Lü Yuchan, and others have an inextricable relationship with Li Yuehua.
“Li Yuehua and Lü Yuchan were entangled in an unclear affair. He wanted to divorce Ning Yaohong, who he had no feelings for. This may be because he had an affair outside of marriage. The court did not support his divorce from his wife. The court may have done this out of protection for Ning Yaohong, after all, she suffers from mental illness. If there is no hope of dissolving the marriage relationship, is it possible that Li Yuehua would have the idea of getting rid of Ning Yaohong? In addition, Ning Yaohong suspected that her husband was having an affair and threatened not to treat her husband well, which may have strengthened his idea.
“Therefore, he found a way to get cyanide. After learning that his wife was coming to Jincheng, he added the cyanide to the beverage in advance, preparing to find an opportunity to poison his wife. He just didn’t expect that his son and lover would accidentally lose their lives as well. Of course, suspicion needs evidence to support it.
“As for him saying that he didn’t know that his wife would go to Jincheng this time, we checked the call records between him and his wife. Although we didn’t find their call records except for the two calls that Ning Yaohong made to him after going to Jincheng on July 18th, it doesn’t mean that he was lying, because he could have known that Ning Yaohong was going to Jincheng when he was talking to people in his hometown. I think we need to go to Ning Yaohong’s hometown to understand the situation from Ning Yaohong’s parents.”
“Okay, I’ll go over today,” Wu Shuqi agreed.
Sun Rumin rubbed his neck and said, “Following the line of thought you just mentioned, I guess that out of caution, Li Yuehua may not have put the poisoned beverage in the refrigerator, but put it in a hidden place. Unexpectedly, his son accidentally discovered it, and the child took the beverage to the living room where the three of them shared it.”
Wu Shuqi frowned slightly and said, “How do you explain the white fiber traces left on the refrigerator door and the beverage bottle?”
Sun Rumin immediately realized that he had only focused on reasoning, but had ignored the key trace evidence that had been fixed. He rubbed his forehead and thought for a while, and said, “Maybe after Ning Yaohong, Lü Yuchan, and others mistakenly drank the beverage, Ning Yaohong or Lü Yuchan, for some reason, put on gloves to open the refrigerator and the cola bottle, and then took off the gloves and threw them on the sofa. The gloves were burned to ashes in the subsequent fire.”
Wu Shuqi felt that his reasoning was a bit far-fetched, so she shook her head.
Sun Rumin was unwilling: “Could it have been left by Li Yuehua?”
Wu Shuqi’s eyes lit up: “Please continue to talk about your views.”
Sun Rumin cleared his throat, indicating that the following analysis was very important: “If Li Yuehua really prepared to add cyanide to the beverage, and if the beverage was really placed in the refrigerator, then because cyanide is highly toxic, he would definitely not dare to take it lightly. Therefore, he had no choice but to wear gloves to open the refrigerator door and take the beverage out…”
Wu Shuqi nodded and said, “That makes sense! We all ignored this detail before!”