Forensic Forensic - Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The interrogation was moved to the interrogation room, and the tears on Yao Jun’s face were replaced by a nervous sweat. Miao Hong and Zhao Pingsheng had originally recorded his confession, so they would continue the interrogation as a team. Luo Jianan called Qi Ming to ask if he wanted to review the surveillance video, but he replied that he was busy and would come up later.

Before becoming Luo Jianan’s apprentice, Miao Hong and Zhao Pingsheng had been partners, and she was familiar with each other’s interrogation tactics. Zhao Pingsheng had a habit of staring at the suspect for a full ten minutes before speaking, which Chen Fei always complained about him taking too long. Zhao Pingsheng explained that this was a way of wearing down his opponent’s patience and giving them time to observe each other. He was a patient person and would never get angry like the young people like Luo Jianan.

Before ten minutes, Yao Jun’s clothes were soaked with cold sweat. He opened his mouth several times to speak, but no sound came out. This was the effect Zhao Pingsheng desired: to make the other person feel guilty and want to tell the whole truth. He and the suspect had once engaged in a silent standoff that lasted seven hours, staring at each other, silent, until he could detect signs of a breakdown in their expressions.

He was certain that the man before him had already lost all hope.

“You entered the hospital’s main entrance at 8:30.” Zhao Pingsheng bent his index finger and slowly tapped the metal tabletop, using the low, rhythmic sound to put pressure on him. “Where did you go then?”

Yao Jun adjusted his sitting position slightly, lowering his head. “In the small garden…someone was playing chess…I went…I went to watch for a while…”

“You’re carrying hot meals for your wife, but instead you have the leisure to watch people play chess?” Zhao Pingsheng shook his head. “Mr. Yao, I’ll give you a few more minutes. Think about it and come up with a plan.”

A sudden click-click-click noise came from the surveillance screen. Luo Jianan, thinking something was wrong, was about to take a picture, but was immediately stopped by Chen Fei. “Over a million dollars, and you’re going to pay for it if it breaks?” Chen Fei glared at him and yelled, “It’s not the machine, it’s the chair legs scraping against the ground.”

Oh, Luo Jianan realized it was Yao Jun shaking, and the chair was trembling along with him.

“I didn’t kill anyone, Officer Zhao, really—”

Yao Jun’s voice was shaking. Suddenly, he raised his hands and slapped his face, slapping him left and right. He slapped, “I’m not human! I’m sorry, Wen Yue! I’m not human! I’m a beast!”

Miao Hong tried to intervene, but Zhao Pingsheng grabbed her wrist the moment she stood up. “Let him vent,” Zhao Pingsheng whispered. He’d guessed it: the thing that would make a man forget about bringing his wife a hot meal was having an affair.

The person watching the surveillance camera next door frowned at the crisp sound of the slap. Qi Ming had just entered the room, catching Yao Jun’s performance. He’d never seen a suspect slap himself in front of law enforcement officers. No, to be more precise, he’d never seen such a scene before. But he understood the meaning of this act—self-punishment in front of others, seemingly a sign of repentance, but actually a way to uphold one’s dignity.

Yao Jun, exhausted from beating the woman, lowered his hands. His face, swollen, he looked at Zhao Pingsheng with an almost pleading gaze: “I… I’m in the hospital… I have a lover… She can… can prove I didn’t kill anyone…”

Zhao Pingsheng gestured for Miao Hong to turn on the recorder—everything before that was nonsense; now the truth began to show.

————————

“What’s your lover’s name? Which department does she work in?” Zhao Pingsheng asked.

Yao Jun sniffed and reluctantly said, “Yu Na, she used to be a nurse in the respiratory ward of the inpatient department, but she was later transferred to the outpatient department. It wasn’t her shift that day, but a study session delayed her, and I happened to run into her in the elevator. We hadn’t seen each other in ages, so… just…”

Zhao Pingsheng saw that he couldn’t quite make sense, so he continued, “How long have you two been together?”

“Two years, ever since she started working in the outpatient department,” Yao Jun sighed. “She lost the competition for the head nurse position with Wen Yue, so she got transferred to the outpatient department out of spite. She was in the middle of a divorce with her husband at the time, which affected her work somewhat. I’m a mediator at the court, and I happened to be involved in her case… Well, she was in my… She cried in the office all afternoon, saying she’d sacrificed her family for work, her marriage had broken down, and now she’d lost the job. She’d gotten nowhere, and if it weren’t for her children, she’d want to die. What can I do? Just try to persuade her. Since she’s Wen Yue’s colleague, I’ll just be more considerate of her, send her WeChat messages, etc. …”

“Are there cracks in your relationship with Feng Wen Yue, too?”

Yao Jun was silent for a moment, then said, “Wen Yue has a bit of a mysophobia. When we first got married, she rarely let me touch her. I thought she was shy at first, but then I realized she thought I was dirty. It wasn’t that she disliked me, she just thought a man’s… well… You understand what I mean?”

Zhao Pingsheng nodded.

“Wen Yue entered nursing school at sixteen and ended up working in internal medicine. She spent every day tending to those dying old men, eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating in a hospital bed. She probably had a trauma… I thought, ‘Hey, it’s no big deal, let’s just take it slow…’ So I tried my best to please her, but who knew she’d end up sleeping in a separate room from me?” Yao Jun looked helpless. He raised his hand and slapped it open. “You might not believe me, but we’ve been married for twenty years, and we can count the number of times we’ve done it on one hand. People think we’re childless because of some medical condition. Over the years, colleagues and classmates alike have been quick to tell me any secret recipes for having children. Damn… oh, I’m so miserable!”

Zhao Pingsheng certainly understood how important s3x is to most men. He subconsciously glanced at the one-way window, because Chen Fei was right behind it. Even though he’s nearly fifty, one slap wouldn’t even be enough to count the number of times they’ve done it in a week, and that’s not even counting the days of overtime and late nights.

It wasn’t until Miao Hong bumped his arm that Zhao Pingsheng snapped out of his rosy reverie. With a light cough, he continued, “You can divorce if your marital life isn’t harmonious, so why did you cheat?”

“I truly love her, and aside from that, Wen Yue is impeccable. I’ve never met a more capable woman. She works so hard, yet still comes home tidy and meticulously clean. She’s even more filial to my parents than I am. When her sister was ill, my mother was also hospitalized, and she ran back and forth to take care of her. Before she left, my mother repeatedly told me not to file for divorce even if we never had children.”

“And yet you still chose to betray her.”

Zhao Pingsheng’s tone was accusatory, adding a further tinge of color to Yao Jun’s reddened face. “With Yu Na… I’ve been obsessed with her… I’ve thought about breaking it off, but I can’t. They say women are like wolves at 30 and tigers at 40, and I’ve finally seen that.” Then he suddenly realized Miao Hong was still there and quickly tried to explain: “I didn’t mean anything else, Officer Miao. I was talking about the others, the others…”

Miao Hong ignored him. A man like that wasn’t worth even a glance.

————————

Yu Na was ashamed to admit her affair with Yao Jun, but faced with police questioning, she felt compelled to confess.

“When I first heard about Head Nurse Feng’s suicide, I thought she’d discovered my relationship with Old Yao.” Yu Na stood in the corner of the corridor, her thin shoulders trembling slightly. “I really didn’t mean to destroy her family. I’d been divorced once and had no illusions about marriage. My relationship with Old Yao was a spur-of-the-moment impulse… Later, Old Yao told me he was just a figurehead for Feng Wenyue, completely devoid of any manly dignity, and that he was… quite good in that area, so I… well…”

As the saying goes, it’s better to persuade people to gamble than to prostitute, and outsiders shouldn’t divulge too much about matters between men and women. Luo Jianan had verified the testimony and was about to leave when she heard Qi Ming say to Yu Na, “Feng Wenyue died around nine o’clock. Ms. Yu, do you know what this means?”

Yu Na was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears. While she and Yao Jun were busy having an affair, the rope around Feng Wenyue’s neck was slowly tightening.

On the way back to the police station from the hospital, Luo Jianan noticed Qi Ming was unusually silent. In fact, they hadn’t said much since returning home the previous night; they’d just washed up and gone to bed. When he came back from his morning run, he noticed Qi Ming had only made his breakfast, and he was a little upset.

Hmph, the lady in the cafeteria was so kind, even giving him an extra fried dough stick.

“Are you still angry?” Luo Jianan finally couldn’t help but ask Qi Ming. He was a straightforward person, and this awkward interaction made him uncomfortable.

Qi Ming, baffled, retorted, “Why should I be angry?”

“About what happened last night.” Luo Jianan curled his lips, not offering an apology. “You have a prejudice against Doctor Xiao Xia, but he doesn’t really bother you. More friends, more opportunities.”

Qi Ming glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “It’s my freedom to make friends with whomever I want.”

“It’s because you’ve been so lonely and cold in the medical examiner’s office every day. You’ve been around corpses for so long that you don’t know how to interact with the living.”

“I have my own principles.”

“Oh, your principle is to have two people living in the room but only make one breakfast,” Luo Jianan snorted in dissatisfaction. Qi Ming finally realized that Luo Jianan was fussing about breakfast. He tilted his head to look out the window, suppressing a smile as he asked, “You’ve never had roommates?”

“How can I live on campus in college without roommates?”

“I mean, the kind you get when you’re away from the group.”

Luo Jianan immediately denied it.

“Okay, then let me tell you, Luo Jianan. My rule for living with roommates is that you eat your own food. You can use whatever’s in the refrigerator, but you have to let them know if you didn’t buy it yourself.” Qi Ming paused, then added, “If you can’t cook and need my help, fine. Buy the ingredients and put them in the refrigerator, let me know in advance, and you’ll be responsible for cleaning the first floor.”

Luo Jianan actually felt a little uncomfortable when he heard Qi Ming’s quantitative AA standard. He had previously been thinking about bringing Qi Ming breakfast, and Old Han also had some. Isn’t that how people get along? But then he thought, Qi Ming went abroad at the age of eight, and his upbringing was deeply influenced by capitalist practices. It’s understandable that he doesn’t understand the ways of life in China.

After pondering it for a long time, Luo Jianan offered his opinion: “Okay, I’ll buy the ingredients and you cook. But first, I’ve never done any housework since I was a child. My mother cleans the house regularly, or I hire a part-time worker. I’ll pay for someone to clean the first floor. Is that okay?”

“No,” Qi Ming flatly refused, giving his reason. “I won’t let strangers into my room. I was attacked by a serial killer in my house.”

Luo Jianan didn’t know what to say. Given Qi Ming’s experience, it was truly a relief to trust him and let him stay at their house. Never mind, he thought. It’s only half a month, so I’ll just clean. It won’t be exhausting.

Besides, how many overtime shifts can I possibly do? At worst, I can just buy a robot vacuum cleaner after work.

“That’s settled then,” Luo Jianan nodded. “I’ll try your egg sandwich for breakfast tomorrow. I’ll buy it at the supermarket after work—”

Qi Ming interrupted him: “Aren’t we going to your house for lunch tomorrow? Breakfast’s off.”

“…”

If Qi Ming hadn’t reminded him, Luo Jianan would have almost forgotten he had a tough battle tomorrow.

Author’s Note: Tomorrow, Brother Nan goes home for a blind date… Wow, the next chapter is over 6,000 words long.

I’ve decided to add a side story about the captain and vice-captain after this volume is finished. Raise your hand if you want to read it… Mature men’s love stories, that’s just my thing.