Wu Shuqi, Sun Rumin, and Wu Zhi left the residential compound where the incident occurred in a unit vehicle.
Sitting in the back seat, Sun Rumin said to Wu Shuqi, who was in the passenger seat, “Captain Wu, I think that Li Yuehua may be hiding something from us.”
Wu Shuqi said with interest, “Oh? Tell me your thoughts.”
Sun Rumin cleared his throat and analyzed, “His wife and Lü Yuchan didn’t know each other. Why would he invite a woman surnamed Lü to his house? Wouldn’t he be afraid his wife would be jealous?
“Furthermore, after a schizophrenic patient’s condition is controlled, their behavior is almost indistinguishable from a normal person’s. His saying that he was afraid she wouldn’t take care of herself, so he asked Lü Yuchan to visit her, is really far-fetched. She was able to bring her child from their hometown thousands of miles away; would she really be afraid that, having already arrived home, she wouldn’t be able to take care of herself?
“Also, when you asked him about his interactions with Lü Yuchan, he glossed over it vaguely, as if he didn’t want to say more. Moreover, his eyes were darting around. That in itself speaks volumes. It’s possible they had an improper relationship. Lü Yuchan might not have known in advance that Ning Yaohong was bringing their son to find her husband; she went to Li Yuehua’s house to see him.”
Wu Shuqi nodded and said, “That makes sense! Let’s go find Xiong Zhiyang and get his perspective.”
Xiong Zhiyang was the husband of the deceased, Lü Yuchan.
Half an hour later.
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In the vast night illuminated by the bright moon and lights, a police car screeched to a halt on the roadside in front of the Brocade Garden District. Wu Shuqi, Sun Rumin, and Wu Zhi got out of the car and entered the district.
In front of an apartment door in a unit building, Sun Rumin knocked on a dark red door. Immediately, a delicate-looking boy of twelve or thirteen appeared before them.
“Don’t be afraid, we are police officers.” Seeing the boy staring blankly at them, Sun Rumin quickly explained, trying to dispel his doubts, “Is your father home?”
The boy shook his head, without speaking. In fact, the moment he opened the door, the boy had already recognized them as police officers from their uniforms.
Sun Rumin asked again, “Where’s your dad?”
“At…at the company.” The boy tried to close the door, seemingly resistant to the police.
Wu Shuqi wondered if the boy stuttered, or if his inarticulate speech was due to nervousness. At the same time, she casually reached out and held the door, asking, “When will your dad be home?”
The boy shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.
Wu Shuqi said to her two colleagues, “Then let’s go inside and sit down while we wait.”
In fact, they had called Lü Yuchan’s husband on their way over (they obtained her home address and her husband’s contact information through the mobile police communications system, using Lü Yuchan’s name and phone number), but his phone had been switched off the entire time, making it impossible to contact him.
The three of them went inside and sat down on the sofa in the living room. It was a three-bedroom apartment, decorated in a simple and elegant traditional Chinese style, giving people a sense of stability, generosity, nature, beauty, and comfort, with a hint of Zen, reflecting the owner’s refined aesthetic taste.
On one wall, two bright red certificates of merit were posted. The recipient of the awards was named Xiong Tong. Xiong Tong was the little boy.
The little boy didn’t ask the police why they had come to his house, nor did he offer them tea or water. After they sat down, he quickly slipped into the master bedroom, as if afraid to be around the police.
Wu Shuqi found the boy’s behavior a bit strange, but on second thought, it might just be the outward manifestation of the shock he felt inside at seeing the police. After all, in people’s minds, the police coming to their door was never a good thing. As a child, he probably had never encountered such a situation and was understandably feeling apprehensive and deliberately avoiding the police.
Thinking this, Wu Shuqi lightly shook her head. She hoped that when the child learned of his mother’s unfortunate death, he wouldn’t suffer any ill effects from the intense emotional shock.
She refocused her thoughts and casually surveyed the room. Suddenly, her gaze fell on a photo in the multi-functional storage cabinet near the entrance. The photo was framed in an approximately 12-inch crystal glass frame. She got up and carefully examined it, seeing a woman in her thirties in the photo, wearing a milky white long dress and chestnut-colored curled hair, looking very beautiful and charming. She thought that the woman must be Lü Yuchan; it was normal for Li Yuehua to be attracted to her. Also, Li Yuehua was handsome, so it was also normal for her to be attracted to him.
About forty minutes later, a middle-aged man appeared before Wu Shuqi, Sun Rumin, and Wu Zhi. It was Lü Yuchan’s husband, Xiong Zhiyang.
Xiong Zhiyang was about 1.65 meters tall, with high cheekbones, a low nose bridge, and a crew cut. He was in his forties, with an ordinary appearance.
Unsurprisingly, Xiong Zhiyang was surprised to see the police.
Wu Shuqi stood up from the sofa, explained her and her colleagues’ purpose, and then asked Wu Zhi to take out the digital camera and show Xiong Zhiyang the photos of the remains taken at the accident site for identification.
Seeing the corpse burned beyond recognition, Xiong Zhiyang couldn’t help but widen his eyes, then close them. He opened them again after a while, and then carefully looked at the corpse for a while, pointing to a corpse with one half of its face burned and saying, “That’s right, that’s my wife, Lü Yuchan! How could this have happened? Who are the other two victims?” He seemed relatively calm, as if the victims weren’t his relatives, but strangers who had nothing to do with him.
This was completely beyond the expectations of the three investigating police officers.
Xiong Zhiyang’s expression did not escape Wu Shuqi’s notice. She said seriously, “They are Li Yuehua’s wife and son…”
“What? Li Yuehua’s wife and son?” Xiong Zhiyang interrupted her, due to great surprise.
“Yes,” said Wu Shuqi.
“They were burned to death in the fire? That…that’s unbelievable!” Xiong Zhiyang still had an incredulous expression.
“They weren’t burned to death in the fire; the gas explosion was an accident.” Wu Shuqi continued, “As for the cause of death, a forensic autopsy will be required before a conclusion can be reached.”
Xiong Zhiyang took out a cigarette from his pants pocket, put one in his mouth, and then suddenly remembered something, taking out another one and offering it to Wu Zhi. Wu Zhi waved his hand, saying he didn’t smoke. He then offered it to Sun Rumin, who also waved his hand, saying he didn’t smoke. He didn’t insist, putting the cigarette back in the box.
“Mr. Xiong, did you know about your wife’s relationship with Li Yuehua?” Wu Shuqi cut to the chase.
Xiong Zhiyang said softly, “I knew.”
“What kind of relationship do you think they had?” Wu Shuqi stared intently at him, her gaze gentle but firm.
Xiong Zhiyang took two deep puffs of his cigarette, as if using the time to think about how to answer the question, and then said, “Well, they were doing We-Commerce. They were in a superior-subordinate relationship. Li Yuehua was my wife’s superior. I think they must have met often because of work.”
Wu Shuqi wasn’t satisfied with his answer, feeling that he seemed to be downplaying the situation. She asked again, “Did you ever feel that their relationship exceeded the bounds of a normal relationship between a man and a woman?”
Xiong Zhiyang’s face darkened, and he asked, “Officer, what do you mean?”
“These are normal questions in a police investigation. It’s a necessary procedure. Just answer truthfully,” Wu Shuqi said calmly.
Xiong Zhiyang lowered his head, his eyeballs involuntarily darting to the upper right twice, then he looked up and said seriously, “I’m in the interior design business. I’m busy with work every day and rarely ask about her social relationships because I think everyone has their own social circle. Asking about her social circle would be disrespectful to her. So, I can’t answer the question you’re asking.”
Wu Shuqi smiled noncommittally and said, “Forgive me for asking, but you don’t seem very saddened by the death of your wife. Why is that?” After saying this, she subjectively believed that Xiong Zhiyang and Lü Yuchan’s relationship had broken down, and the reason for the breakdown was likely that he already knew that his wife and Li Yuehua were involved in an improper relationship, so he had no sympathy for his wife’s death. Perhaps he had long hoped for his wife to die, and her death suited him perfectly.
Xiong Zhiyang paused, and said somewhat angrily, “Officer, do you want to see me burst into tears? I’ve been strong since I was a child. I always think optimistically about everything. The dead cannot be brought back to life. Since my wife is gone, I’m focusing on how to handle the aftermath for her, rather than wallowing in grief that won’t help anything.”
This time it was Wu Shuqi’s turn to be stunned. She smiled awkwardly, “Good to be strong.” Then she took out the “Corpse Autopsy Notice” from her leather briefcase, handed it to Xiong Zhiyang to sign, and told him the time of the autopsy, hoping he would be present.
Xiong Zhiyang hesitated for a moment, then picked up the pen and scribbled a few strokes. A flamboyant signature leaped onto the paper.
After leaving Xiong Zhiyang’s house, Wu Shuqi said to Sun Rumin, “Let’s talk about your impressions of Xiong Zhiyang.”
Sun Rumin said, “I think this person has a stable personality, meticulous thinking, and is very shrewd. When you asked him if he felt that the relationship between his wife and Li Yuehua was unusual, he seemed to be avoiding the question. Also, he doesn’t seem to have any sympathy for his wife’s death. As the saying goes, ‘A hundred days of kindness for a day of marriage.’ According to human nature, as her husband, he should feel very grief-stricken that his wife suffered such a tragic death, but he appears very indifferent and calm. This is definitely not an act, which can only mean that his relationship with his wife has completely broken down. The reason for the breakdown may be that he knew about his wife’s extramarital affair with Li Yuehua. Maybe he’s long hoped for his wife to die, and her death suits him perfectly.”
Wu Zhi said, “I think so too.”
Wu Shuqi said, “It seems everyone’s thinking is in agreement.”
Before she could finish speaking, a call came in. It was from Zhang Ke, a colleague from the network monitoring team of a sister department. She took out her phone and swiped her finger across the screen to answer it. Her face darkened, and she said, “The internet is not a lawless land. We must seriously investigate and punish those who spread rumors and promptly publish the results of the punishment to correct the public’s perception, serve as a warning to others, and eliminate negative social impact!”
This call was related to the gas explosion accident today. It turned out that after the fire, some residents had taken a 45-second video of thick smoke billowing from the windows and uploaded it to the internet, which then continued to spread. Many self-media creators forwarded the video. What was worse was that some individual self-media creators, in order to attract attention and gain fans, used sensational and misleading techniques, creating titles and content that deviated from the facts, causing negative public opinion and misleading the general public.
Fortunately, after the police contacted the platform, the platform had deleted the harmful content.