Chapter 28: Zhao Tianqi’s Concealment

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“Zhao Tianqi, Zhao Tianman’s older brother?” Gu Lings asked, turning toward Ye Sangsang. More than anything, she wanted to know whether the other woman had discovered something suspicious.

Zheng He had never met Zhao Tianqi. He only knew that the man was Zhao Tianman’s older brother; Ye Sangsang and another colleague had taken his statement at the time. He, too, asked doubtfully, “Is there something suspicious about him?”

The two of them had carefully considered the matter earlier. Assuming Brother Qin was not the murderer, what evidence could prove that he was innocent?

They had even tested the timeline bit by bit while waiting for the DNA results. Ye Sangsang simply did not know that the two men had thoroughly reviewed all the case information available at that stage.

In this case, where the truth seemed almost within reach yet remained concealed, they could both sense that something was wrong. But the results left them no room to question it.

In the end, they could only console themselves with the explanation that Qin Jiang had gone there to persuade someone to mend his ways.

Yet they alone knew how forced that explanation was.

Ye Sangsang looked at them. “We can start with Zhao Tianqi as our breakthrough. Come on. Let’s go meet the man whose younger brother died and see whether he has any conscience left.”

The strange remark immediately caught both their attention.

None of the three liked to waste time. They drove straight to find Zhao Tianqi. Zheng He had already made the journey to the recycling plant twice, so he reached the place without asking for directions.

They parked at the entrance and got out.

The weather was somewhat hot. Although the recycling plant was piled high with discarded materials, there was no foul stench. On the contrary, the items stacked higher up were neatly arranged. The scrap steel pipes were sorted by length, while coils of wire had been packed into woven plastic sacks and stacked in a corner.

Ye Sangsang walked in through the entrance. Her gaze fell on the somewhat disordered pile of recyclables and the empty three-wheeled cart beside it.

A small building stood in the western corner of the plant, looking exceptionally quiet.

Zheng He stepped forward and knocked on the door. “Is anyone there?”

He knocked seven or eight times and called out three or four times before someone finally answered.

“Someone’s here! Are you here to sell scrap?” a middle-aged man replied in a deep voice.

As he spoke, the man opened the half-shut door and looked at the people outside.

The moment he saw Ye Sangsang, he knew they had not come to sell scrap but to ask questions.

He looked at the three of them and said impatiently, “Stop coming to me. I don’t know anything. Zhao Tianman is dead, so let him stay dead.”

After saying that, he reached out to close the door.

Zheng He would never allow that. He stepped forward at once and seized the door with one hand, while raising his badge with the other.

“We’re police officers investigating a case, and you’re a person connected to it. Unless you’d rather explain everything at the station.”

Dealing with people like this required only a few words.

Thus, the three of them entered the room.

Once they had sat down, Gu Ling and Zheng He turned their eyes toward Ye Sangsang. They had merely followed her there; neither knew what she intended to ask.

[Hurry up! I want to know too!]

[Zhao Tianqi seemed perfectly normal! I was furious on his behalf last time.]

[His younger brother stole such a large sum from him, and he didn’t even get the money back after the boy died. If it were me, I’d have a heart attack.]

The viewers in the livestream were equally puzzled and curious about what Ye Sangsang had discovered.

Zhao Tianqi brought over several cups of tea and set them in front of the three visitors before sitting down.

Ye Sangsang looked at him, considered how to begin, and said, “Could you tell me about your younger brother? I mean things unrelated to his crimes.”

“Does this have anything to do with the case?” Zhao Tianqi asked.

She smiled and shook her head. “No. I simply want to know.”

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Zhao Tianqi glanced at her, but in the end, he did not refuse.

Perhaps in his heart, this was his only remaining family. No matter what a person had done, death dissolved every grudge, leaving behind only the good memories.

Although Zheng He and Gu Ling did not understand, they quietly listened.

Zhao Tianqi began with simple memories from their childhood: the two of them catching fish and shrimp in the river, going to school together, and chasing fireflies.

His expression gradually relaxed. “When we were children, I was naughtier than my brother. I was always sneaking off to bathe in the river. Back then, we were small and the river seemed enormous. Summer was the most dangerous season, and accidents happened easily. Our parents forbade me from going…”

At that point, his expression became somewhat uneasy.

Ye Sangsang said nothing, continuing to listen quietly.

After a pause, Zhao Tianqi continued, “My brother was like my shadow. Whenever our parents caught me going swimming, they would beat me with bamboo strips. Every time, he would rush over and say it was his fault—that he had begged me to catch fish for him to eat.”

“In the end, our parents would beat us both, and the two of us would still laugh together.”

At this, Zhao Tianqi lowered his head and covered his eyes with one hand.

Only his shoulders trembling from time to time, along with the tears slipping down his face, revealed his emotions.

In a calm voice, Ye Sangsang said, “He loved you very much. I just don’t know whether your relationship changed afterward. Perhaps it did. That would be normal. So many years have passed, and you both grew up. In the adult world, it’s common for affection to grow weaker.”

Zhao Tianqi merely bent forward and fell silent.

Ye Sangsang was in no hurry. She continued, “You haven’t gone out for several days. Your brother is dead—have you lost the heart to work as well? What a pity. After getting out of prison this time, he had intended to atone for his sins. He never imagined he would die before he could do so.”

“What do you know!” Zhao Tianqi suddenly sprang up from the sofa. His eyes were red as he glared furiously at Ye Sangsang. “He never intended to live properly! He took my money, claiming he was going to invest it, but he was only repeating his old habits and planning to go out and squander it!”

“The third floor was built later,” Ye Sangsang said, turning toward him with clear logic. “It was built before your parents died. Weren’t two floors enough for the three of you? Why did you have to build a third floor? Tell me! Who was that third floor for?”

“So what if it was? Look at the kind of person he was. Did he deserve it?” Zhao Tianqi shouted angrily.

Ye Sangsang stared straight at him. Her tone suddenly turned stern, carrying a trace of accusation.

“Was that five thousand yuan really stolen from you by your brother?”

When people are about to lie, they instinctively feel guilty and fear being exposed. Zhao Tianqi’s eyes flickered as he forced out an explanation.

“It was mine.”

Ye Sangsang gave a cold laugh.

Zhao Tianqi did not dare lose his temper with her again. He was guilty.

After a moment, Ye Sangsang lowered her voice. “Perhaps he wronged other people, but he never wronged you. Perhaps he intended to invest the five thousand yuan so that the two of you could live properly together in the future. But you coveted that money. You wanted to marry, yet you never expected him and Qin Jiang to be in the room.”

Her words rang with force.

“He knew the person beneath the mask was you. Otherwise, he would never have taken that bullet for you.”

“I never went upstairs!” Zhao Tianqi protested.

Ye Sangsang looked at his shoes. “Your brother’s shoes were bought together after you got out of prison, weren’t they? The same pair. At the time, you wanted to treat your brother better and borrow money from him, but you never expected him to refuse and reject your suggestion.”

“And you got your hands on your brother’s five thousand yuan. You got exactly what you wanted.”

“Now tell me. Who had slept and lived in your brother’s room, and how did that person persuade you to take the money?”

The harsh interrogation made Zhao Tianqi instinctively retreat two steps.

Fear filled his gaze as he looked at Ye Sangsang.

The woman before him seemed like a monster, one who had seen through every part of his past and every thought in his mind.

At last, he closed his eyes and lowered his head.

“Arrest me. Everything you said is true… I lost my senses for a moment. I listened to that person and did something wrong.”

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Zheng He stood with his mouth slightly open, unable to adjust to how quickly everything had unfolded.

H-Had they solved the case already?

A faint smile appeared on Gu Ling’s face. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked at Ye Sangsang.

She took out her handcuffs and secured them around Zhao Tianqi’s wrists.

[No way! So that’s what happened!]

“So Zhao Tianman had genuinely repented, while Zhao Tianqi became consumed by greed and caused this tragedy.”

“The real culprit manipulated Zhao Tianqi, probably telling him that no one was home. They never expected Zhao Tianman to return, much less bring a police officer with him. But weren’t they acquainted? Why did they still attack each other, leaving one dead and the other injured?”

The questions from the livestream were soon answered by Zhao Tianqi.

That person had told him he was lying in Zhao Tianman’s house. If Zhao Tianman returned and discovered that the money was missing, he would certainly come after him.

So he had instructed Zhao Tianqi to bring a knife, a hood, and white wool gloves. That way, he would have an excuse when Zhao Tianman confronted him, and the gloves would prevent the police from tracing him through fingerprints if Zhao Tianman reported the stolen money.

Zhao Tianqi had been single for more than twenty years. His mind had long been blinded by desire and greed. As soon as the plan seemed somewhat plausible, he went along with it.

When he saw Zhao Tianman and the police officer, he panicked and made a noise.

After discovering that his money had been stolen, Zhao Tianqi flew into a rage and attacked him.

When Qin Jiang came to persuade them to stop, Zhao Tianqi, realizing that he had a knife, decided to hold his brother hostage and escape. He drew the blade.

In his agitation, he nearly injured Zhao Tianman. Realizing that something was wrong, he tried to leave.

In desperation, Qin Jiang drew his gun and confronted him.

“I could have escaped. That man insisted on grabbing me. I thought he wouldn’t shoot… but he did.” Zhao Tianqi looked bewildered and grief-stricken. “My brother stepped in front of me. I was about to rush over and kill Qin Jiang while he was stunned. I only pushed him down, but my brother stopped me.”

“Then you ran,” Ye Sangsang said.

Zhao Tianqi nodded, his head hanging dejectedly. “I didn’t want to be discovered. Since I was already wearing gloves, I tidied things up as best I could and climbed over the wall. When you broke down the door, I happened to fall from the wall. I was lucky—I landed safely and returned to my own room.”

“I’m worse than an animal. Only now do I realize how much nonsense was in my head back then. Why did I let myself be bewitched?”

As he spoke, he slapped himself hard twice.

Ye Sangsang looked at him and delivered one final blow.

“Actually, he wanted the two of you to kill each other. Zhao Tianman never came home from outside. He had been there all along.”

She did not finish the rest, but everyone present understood.

Zheng He thought for a moment. “He planned everything with the intention that one of the brothers had to die.”

“He simply never expected the results to be so effective…” Gu Ling said grimly.

Silence fell over the room.

Zheng He reached out and pulled Zhao Tianqi to his feet.

“Let’s go. You can explain everything properly at the station. Your brother repented and turned over a new leaf. Now it’s your turn to repent and start over.”

Gu Ling followed behind them and gave Ye Sangsang a thumbs-up.

“As long as someone has lived through something, traces will remain. Zhao Tianqi was the one I was responsible for questioning. It was only natural that I found the inconsistencies,” Ye Sangsang said with a smile.

Now, she only hoped that Zhao Tianqi still remembered the appearance of the real culprit who had stirred up hatred between the brothers.

Besides that, she had one more question.

She simply did not know whether the answer to it would be what she had imagined.