Chapter 44: The Arrest (Triple Episode)

It is easy to talk a big game, but when it comes to actual investigation, it gives one a massive headache.

Ye Sangsang was in charge of looking into Zhou Xue. She reviewed his resume, contacted the school, and identified the organization that had been sponsoring him.

This organization was a local charity dedicated to assisting impoverished families and promising young children.

Within the organization, there was a specific program aimed at supporting children with good academic performance, called the Blossom Project.

The Blossom Project had been running for ten years, making it one of the earliest charity organizations in Zhongzhou. Rumor had it that it was backed by the president of the Yuancheng Chamber of Commerce.

She contacted the person in charge of the Blossom Project at the charity organization to obtain the methods and duration of the sponsorship for both individuals, as well as the initial reasons for providing the aid.

Next, she pulled the call logs of the deceased, Ye Hua, to confirm the frequency of their meetings.

Their most recent contact had been three days ago, which was two days before the murder.

Ye Sangsang drove to investigate the establishment mentioned by Zhou Xue, confirming that he had indeed been drinking with Ye Hua until midnight and that both had left with a buzz.

Their relationship was indeed very good, and moreover, Ye Hua's death would not bring any benefits to Zhou Xue.

The conflicting point, however, was that Yu Qingqing and Ye Hua described entirely different reasons for their argument.

As Ye Sangsang was deep in thought, Yang Hao walked in holding Ye Hua's bank statements.

The papers were distributed between the two of them, and Ye Sangsang flipped through them, examining them closely.

The records were straightforward: royalties were deposited directly into the account.

A portion of it was withdrawn as cash. At a time when online payments were not yet widespread and the vast majority of people used cash, the fixed monthly cash withdrawals were presumably for daily living expenses.

Another portion was sent to the charitable organization that had previously sponsored Zhou Xue, paid every single month punctually and without fail.

Ye Hua's royalties were substantial, living up to his status as a suspense writer.

However, judging by the remaining funds, their economic situation was not as good as it appeared on the surface.

One could even say they were not well-off.

At least, not nearly as wealthy as they seemed to the outside world.

Furthermore, two years had passed since the last royalty payment was deposited. Faced with a life where expenses outstripped income, it was entirely reasonable for Yu Qingqing and Ye Hua to have had financial arguments.

Yang Hao looked over the documents with a hint of surprise. "There's hardly any money in the bank card, yet the monthly sponsorship payments never stopped. Is this guy so obsessed with doing good deeds? His royalties are decent, no wonder they could build a villa, but looking at this situation, if I were Yu Qingqing, I'd choose to put a stop to the sponsorship too."

It was not a lack of empathy, but rather that survival must come before charity. He was somewhat more inclined to believe Yu Qingqing's words.

Ye Sangsang, however, furrowed her brow, a look of puzzlement crossing her face. Though it lasted only for a moment, she immediately said, "Yu Qingqing... I always feel something is off about her. All the substantive evidence points to Zhou Ya, while she has managed to wash her hands completely clean. It's just a bit too clean..."

At the present stage, neither of them had lied, but she could not be certain whether they were concealing other things.

As for Zhou Ya, if he was truly mentally ill, he wouldn't need a motive for murder; he would simply resort to violence whenever an episode struck.

Ye Sangsang pondered. It seemed there was still something she did not know.

Her fingertips tapped against the documents as she picked up the files of Zhou Xue and Yu Qingqing. Their backgrounds were, in fact, entirely different.

Zhou Xue hailed from an impoverished township, where he had struggled even to get enough to eat in his early years. Had it not been for someone's sponsorship, he would have finished his nine years of compulsory education and gone off to work as a brick-carrier on construction sites just like his older brother.

In the photograph on his file, Zhou Xue had a quiet, handsome appearance, carrying the youthful aura of a boy. Had his skin been slightly fairer, he would have perfectly matched the era's aesthetic for flower boys. Yet, in the picture, his brow carried a hint of timidity, his lips pressed tightly together as he dared not look at the camera, likely because it was his first time facing a lens.

He wore no glasses, presumably because he was not nearsighted back then.

Later, he tested into a local university in Yuancheng from his hometown high school, graduating just the year before last—thirteen years younger than his older brother.

His university internship took place at a local publishing house, after which he successfully transitioned into a full-time editor, eventually becoming Ye Hua's dedicated editor.

During his school years, he performed well and had even served as the captain of the basketball club.

When the photograph was taken, he was probably only about sixteen years old. Ye Sangsang picked up the document and stared straight at it, her gaze carrying a sharpness that ordinary people found difficult to meet.

She picked up her phone, tapped the camera button, and aimed it at Yang Hao nearby.

*Click.*

The sound of a shutter echoed.

Yang Hao widened his eyes, not understanding why Ye Sangsang had suddenly done this, but he remained silent because she was clearly deep in thought.

After taking the picture, Ye Sangsang examined it carefully, her brow furrowing slightly.

Then, she looked at him. "Stand up."

Yang Hao was an obedient young police officer. Though he had no clue what kind of operation this was, he dutifully stood up.

Ye Sangsang began to give instructions. "Put on a smile and look at me."

Yang Hao nodded and smiled at Ye Sangsang.

Ye Sangsang continued to direct him, and Yang Hao cooperated despite his lingering confusion.

This went on for three full minutes, until a look of helplessness and frustration gradually crept onto Yang Hao's face.

"Alright," Ye Sangsang said, lowering her phone with a frown. Perhaps she was just being too sensitive. Maybe anyone feeling insecure and facing a camera for the first time would act like that.

She stared at the photo. For some reason, she always felt there was something strange about Zhou Xue's picture.

In the end, unable to make sense of it, Ye Sangsang set the file aside and picked up Yu Qingqing's documents.

Yu Qingqing's life path had been much smoother than Zhou Xue's. Both of her parents were teachers, and she was a junior college graduate. However, a junior college degree in this era was not like it would be decades later; graduating from one now was considered a very respectable educational background.

Yet, after graduation, she did not take up a job, instead choosing to immediately attach herself to Ye Hua, who was nine years her senior.

It was said to be love at first sight, and she had thrown herself into his arms without a backward glance.

One possessed beauty, the other talent—they could be considered a well-matched pair.

Up to the present, the two had been married for five years without children, likely practicing the trendy DINK lifestyle.

The files showed that they rarely argued. In the eyes of outsiders, they led a prosperous life and got along harmoniously.

Combined with the absence of Yu Qingqing's traces at the crime scene and her flawless defense, Ye Sangsang pinched the bridge of her nose after finishing the file. If one of them had truly done it, it would genuinely take some real effort to catch them.

"Sister Lan, I can't figure anything out either. Where is the breakthrough?" Yang Hao rubbed his temples.

He had reviewed Ye Hua's general background. Over the years, the man seemed entirely normal—occasionally going on business trips or travels to seek inspiration, or gathering with friends, while spending the rest of his time in the villa.

Judging by his social interactions and financial records, he was a thoroughly normal, ordinary person.

Ye Sangsang stood up. "What if we assume that all of them are murderers? What if the three of them joined forces, ultimately pushing the mentally ill Zhou Ya forward to become the scapegoat, and then clearing that scapegoat of charges to execute a perfect murder?"

[A new perspective unlocked.]

[Yeah! Maybe none of these people are innocent when it comes to Ye Hua's death?]

[I'm curious why they would strike. On the surface, there doesn't seem to be any major conflict between them.]

The audience in the live broadcast room was stunned and quickly erupted into discussion.

Yang Hao also voiced his confusion. "All three of them are murderers?"

"Yes. If all three are murderers, they could maximize their benefits," Ye Sangsang stated flatly.

With Ye Hua dead, Yu Qingqing inherited his substantial current real estate assets.

Primarily, by doing this, all of them could walk away scot-free.

It could be called flawless.

Yet one point made no sense: why would Zhou Xue get involved? This theory lacked a fulcrum.

Hearing this, Yang Hao paused. "Suppose—and I'm just supposing—that Zhou Xue could control Zhou Ya, and Yu Qingqing wanted to kill her husband, so the two hit it off."

"The real question is, what on earth could possibly make Zhou Xue choose to take such a risk?" A look of doubt lingered on Ye Sangsang's face.

Could it be property? But the two of them only had two houses, plus a little over twenty thousand yuan in the bank card—was that really worth taking such a risk?

After a moment of reflection, Ye Sangsang chose to temporarily set it aside.

Since that path led nowhere, the hypothesis she had formulated required actual evidence for support.

Right now, there remained one enormous mystery: why did Zhou Ya—or rather, why did Zhou Xue—want to kill that woman?

Ye Sangsang checked her watch. Today was the third day.

The day before yesterday, they had called the local police station in the deceased's hometown to notify her family. Given the distance between the two cities, her family should be arriving by this afternoon to identify the body.

Just as the saying goes, speak of the devil and he shall appear; a colleague walked in to announce that the deceased's family had arrived.

The victim's body had been utterly disfigured. She walked out and reminded them to brace themselves psychologically.

The arriving party included the victim's parents, as well as the husband who used to beat her.

The victim's parents walked at the front, their faces etched with grief, while the husband trailing behind wore an indifferent expression, seemingly unconcerned with the woman's life or death.

According to the construction site manager, the woman had been unable to endure the beatings and had fled from her hometown.

The deceased was around twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Fortunately, the two of them had no children together.

Ye Sangsang and Yang Hao led them to the morgue. First, the family members had to identify the body, followed by DNA comparisons to conclusively confirm the identity.

Stepping into the room, the middle-aged couple supported each other as they stepped forward.

Wearing a mask and gloves, Ye Sangsang pulled back the white cloth covering the deceased's face, and then her body.

Because she had been relatively well-sealed within the cement layer, she had not entirely decomposed, and some facial features were still faintly discernible, though covered in blood and flesh, making it utterly horrifying to look at.

The two people stepping forward to observe forced themselves to endure the stench and the gruesome, terrifying state of decay, checking her height, hands, legs, and the clothing on her body.

People of this era were mostly thrifty, especially ordinary families who lacked the money to buy an abundance of clothes.

Therefore, sometimes clothing served as a crucial point for identifying a corpse.

Because the body was too horrifying, the couple—along with the man who occasionally poked his head in to look from the back—couldn't help rushing out to vomit repeatedly.

This was a physiological reaction, entirely unrelated to emotion.

After observing carefully, Ye Sangsang covered the body with the white cloth, led the three of them outside, and finally looked at them to ask, "Well, is this your daughter?"

Truth be told, up until now, Ye Sangsang remained skeptical whether this person was truly the woman who had gone missing from the construction site. It was merely a coincidence that she happened to know Zhou Ya, a coincidence that they were of a similar age, and Zhou Ya simply claimed it was her.

Fundamentally analyzed, anything said by a person like Zhou Ya could not be trusted.

Thus, she had arranged for the body identification; once confirmed, DNA profiling would still be necessary to definitively determine whether the deceased was indeed the missing woman from the construction site.

The middle-aged woman, who had been crying nonstop moments before, was the first to speak. After careful consideration, she shook her head. "No. I know my daughter well; this corpse doesn't look like her."

The middle-aged man beside her shook his head uncertainly. She looked somewhat like her, yet also not quite. Finally, he muttered under his breath, "She... she never used to wear dresses."