Su Zhisheng knew he had already raised Xing Tianwei’s suspicions.
“I have time to give a statement right now.”
Xing Tianwei gave a slight nod and motioned for Su Zhisheng to follow.
Behind them in the flowerbed, officers were digging. The natural scent of flowers, grass, branches, and soil seemed to vanish the moment the body saw the light of day again.
A stench followed.
“Ugh…” Su Zhisheng couldn’t help but dry heave. He covered his mouth uncomfortably and quickened his pace.
He was a veterinary student who had taken animal dissection courses. During his internship at the pet hospital, he had seen plenty of stray cats and dogs in terrible condition.
But the stench of a human corpse was still a bit much for an undergraduate who hadn’t graduated yet.
Xing Tianwei stopped in front of the police car, pulled out a bottle of water and a box of scented tissues, and handed them over.
Su Zhisheng was taken aback. “Thank you.”
He tore open the tissues, pressed them over his nose, and quickly got into the car.
The fresh, minty scent had an invigorating effect, finally bringing some clarity to Su Zhisheng’s aching head.
The police car soon filled up with people and started moving toward the station.
The wind rushing through the windows swept away the terrible odors. The officers and others in the car finally began to relax a little.
Su Zhisheng secretly glanced at the officer beside him out of the corner of his eye. The man was replying to a message on his phone, probably reviewing case-related information.
His expression was still cold and aloof, making him seem unapproachable.
But unexpectedly, he turned out to be quite considerate. Even though he was a bit suspicious of Su Zhisheng, he still treated him with care.
Su Zhisheng thought this to himself as he quietly looked away, contemplating how to refine the story he’d concocted.
Inside the police station’s statement room, Xing Tianwei’s cool voice rang out. “Have a seat.”
The words echoed slightly in the empty room, striking heavily against Su Zhisheng’s heart.
He was the person who had reported the case—a good Samaritan—yet right now, he felt a twinge of guilt.
He had nothing to do with the murder, but lying in front of the police officers was definitely testing his psychological limits.
“I knew Zhang Weilong had brought Zhou Jiale to a banquet before, so I suspected he might have done something bad.” Su Zhisheng gave a self-deprecating smile. “After all, my stepmother wishes me ill—why would she ever introduce me to a genuinely reliable marriage prospect?”
The young officer beside him couldn’t help but show a sympathetic look.
Though Xing Tianwei’s face remained expressionless, Su Zhisheng felt that the sense of pressure coming from him had lessened somewhat.
“When I passed by the villa fence, I saw a squirrel and a husky squabbling, so I couldn’t resist stopping. I used walnuts to coax the squirrel. To my surprise, after accepting my gift, the squirrel went back to its tree hollow, fetched a bracelet, and brought it to me as a thank-you gift.”
Xing Tianwei raised an eyebrow. “You carry walnuts with you?”
“Yes—I’ve loved animals since I was a child, so I always carry various little snacks for them.” This wasn’t a lie, and Su Zhisheng felt some of the tension in his chest ease.
Xing Tianwei continued his questioning. “There are so many red lilies in that flowerbed. How did you spot a tiny bloodstain on one petal?”
“I saw the little squirrel playing in the lilies and wanted to take a photo as a memento. Then I zoomed in on the camera lens—and that’s when I noticed the blood.”
Su Zhisheng pulled out his phone and showed his photo.
His actions were perfectly logical and consistent, complete with photographic evidence…
Flawless, really.
From Zhang Weilong’s confession, the police learned that the two families’ mothers had only begun discussing the marriage arrangement a few days ago. After receiving approval from both family heads, they had only sent the news to the two young men today.
That was why Zhang Weilong had brought his male escort to Su Zhisheng’s adoption banquet back then—at the time, they’d had no connection whatsoever.
Although Su Zhisheng had been Zhang Weilong’s prospective marriage partner, he hadn’t known Zhang Weilong well before, let alone held any grudge against Zhou Jiale.
In terms of motive, Su Zhisheng had no reason to be involved in Zhou Jiale’s murder. And chronologically, he also lacked the opportunity.
The officers, including Xing Tianwei, had already dismissed their suspicions of Su Zhisheng.
The young officer, who had sympathized with Su Zhisheng from the start, offered some comfort. “Zhang Weilong is definitely going to prison this time. You won’t have to worry about marrying him anymore.”
“Thanks for your concern. Actually, I’ve already left the Su family. I only tricked my stepmother into thinking I was going to check out the marriage prospect because I wanted to earn the reward for providing a lead.”
“I won’t let them push me around.” Su Zhisheng rubbed his water cup. “Um… about that ten-thousand-yuan reward for the lead… when can I expect to receive it? To be honest, I’m a bit short on money.”
His entire net worth was just over five thousand yuan—dirt poor.
Xing Tianwei pulled out his phone. “Give me your contact info. I’ll send you all the application materials you need to claim the reward.”
“Okay.” Su Zhisheng didn’t overthink it and added Xing Tianwei’s account.
The young officer: “?”
Captain, isn’t that my job?
Su Zhisheng stared at the new contact on his phone, already envisioning the happy days when he’d have the reward money in hand and could treat himself to a good meal.
Come to think of it—why was this officer, who was clearly higher-ranking, the one contacting him?
Was it because the application would ultimately need this officer’s approval, so adding him directly would allow Su Zhisheng to get the approval notice as quickly as possible?
Even though Su Zhisheng would have preferred to communicate with the sunny, young officer… the cold, aloof officer was just being considerate toward a member of the public. He couldn’t complain!
Su Zhisheng told himself this, then forced a grateful smile at the man’s stern face.
Xing Tianwei noticed his strange expression but didn’t ask any questions.
During the statement, Xing Tianwei could already tell Su Zhisheng was hiding something. But everyone in the world has secrets. The person filing the report wasn’t the culprit—there was no need to pry.
Inside the Su family’s luxurious villa, only stepmother Hu Xiuchun was home. The villa’s servants had been sent to work in other rooms.
At this hour, the head of the Su family and the eldest son were both at work. The fake young master, having miscalculated the amount of mango juice and landed himself in the hospital, was still recovering.
Alone, Hu Xiuchun wore an expensive custom-made dress and sat on the living room sofa.
The living room had a set of three leather sofas—one large sofa facing the TV, flanked by two smaller ones on either side. Even though no other family members were home, Hu Xiuchun wasn’t sitting on the main large sofa. Instead, she sat on the right-side sofa.
Because from this angle, she could see the two family photos hanging on the wall behind the large sofa.
Yes—two family photos: one large, one small.
Though the largest family photo was well-preserved, it was clearly from fifteen or twenty years ago. In the frame, the head of the Su family appeared with his first wife and two children.
Su Zhisheng had still been in the photo, but he was just a baby in swaddling clothes—his face red, wrinkled, and not yet fully formed.
“How utterly irritating!”
Hu Xiuchun had been in this family for years, yet she’d never grown accustomed to the existence of that large family portrait.
The smaller portrait next to it had been taken this year after Su Zhisheng was brought back, with the whole family reshoot. Before that, that spot had held a photo of the four members of the new family—after she had joined.
Even the portrait was smaller than the first wife’s—as if to subtly say she was inferior.
Of course, Hu Xiuchun wanted to take down the large photo. But since the head of the Su family refused, there was nothing she could do.
“You old fool—playing the devoted husband for over a decade. Who are you performing for?”
A father couldn’t even tell that his own child had been switched at birth.
Now that he’d finally found his biological son, he was still willing to sacrifice his first wife’s youngest child for the sake of the benefits the fake young master provided.
How absolutely… wonderful!
Hu Xiuchun opened her phone and looked at her chat history with Su Zhisheng.
“You greedy, wealth-obsessed wretch!”
“Chasing after a playboy just for money. This guy is a sadist in private—you’ll get what’s coming to you.”
Even so, Hu Xiuchun still felt unsatisfied.
As satisfying as abuse would be, she’d much rather see Su Zhisheng kicked out of the house, destitute and miserable…
She had once hidden like a rat in the gutter, praying she could drive that woman out of the household. Who knew—the woman suddenly died.
She married into the wealthy family happily enough, only to be trampled by that woman’s eldest son, forced to tiptoe around him and flatter him. Even that fake young master, thanks to his childhood friendship with the Wei family heir, stood far above her in status…
That fake even dared to give her orders, telling her to find a way to deal with Su Zhisheng. She’d wanted to deal with him anyway, but being treated like a subordinate still rankled.
Hu Xiuchun suddenly gripped her phone tighter. “I’ll feed Su Zhisheng a little more information later. Let him refuse the marriage arrangement and have a complete falling out with his father.”
If she couldn’t touch the dead first wife’s eldest son or the fake son, couldn’t she at least touch her youngest son?!
If she couldn’t drive the first wife out, couldn’t she drive out her youngest son?!
“Ring ring ring…”
Her phone suddenly rang. The moment she answered, she heard an infuriated voice on the other end.
“The marriage arrangement is off! Our family can’t afford a match like Su Zhisheng!”
Hu Xiuchun’s eyes lit up. “What did he do?”
Her wish was coming true—how wonderful!
“You have the nerve to ask? You home-wrecking vixen, your heart is poison! What kind of person did you introduce to my child?!”
The woman on the other end launched into a tirade of insults before finally explaining what had happened.
“I’m pulling my investment from your beauty salon. Don’t let me see your face again!”
“Wait, no, Mrs. Zhang…” Hu Xiuchun was already upset from being yelled at. She tried to appease the woman, but the other party refused to listen.
If she pulled her investment, the beauty salon would soon be in crisis. What was she going to do?
Listening to the dial tone, Hu Xiuchun felt even more aggrieved.
“I’ve introduced Zhang Weilong to plenty of male companions before, and none of them ended up dead. It’s his own fault for taking things too far and killing someone—how can you blame me?”
Still, now wasn’t the time to panic about that. Hu Xiuchun grabbed her purse and hurried out to deal with her business crisis.
“Hopefully the police don’t uncover too much…”
A few nights later, the police station was still brightly lit.
Xing Tianwei and his team had gathered evidence from multiple sources and obtained a great deal of new information.
The case was gradually becoming clear.
Amid his busy schedule, Xing Tianwei opened his phone and sent a text message to Su Zhisheng.