Chapter 62: The Moral Boundary of the Malicious Gift Case

  "That... is to prevent her from committing suicide, her parents can testify." said Fang Deyou.

  "You're lying." I said.

  "Which eye did you see me telling lies with?"

  "It's not from your face, it's the corpse that told me," I said as I undressed the deceased and pointed out several faint marks of ligature, "These marks are caused by adult products, classic style, not easy to leave obvious scars. And these few that haven't fully appeared yet, new style? You had a pretty thrilling time, didn't you? Don't tell us her parents used adult products to bind her?"

  How can I put it, this thing is quite familiar to me.

  I smiled at Fang Deyou.

  But a house full of forensic doctors, what are you all looking at me like that for? Watch your eyes, I'm saying... have you misunderstood something?

  Fang Deyou suddenly panicked: "I can explain, just please don't tell the deceased's parents, Jingxuan doesn't want them to know."

  "You said."

  "It's... it's... s-m, that is, abuse... that kind of thing... abusive love. Jing Xuan likes this, she likes being tied up, and then... just like that..." Fang De You said, "You guys know, right?"

  "Ah, I'm familiar with this, having delved deep into it. Physiological studies show that when the body experiences pain, it releases endorphins, which can lead to feelings of pleasure and addiction. 'The source of pleasure for masochists isn't the pain itself, but rather the gentle caresses that are highlighted in contrast, just like how a bit of sugar added to bitter coffee or cocoa makes it taste especially sweet.' Translating S&M as 'masochism' is incorrect; translating it as 'sexual sadism' would be more accurate." I went on and on, only to realize the whole room was staring at me. Whoa, you guys totally misunderstood!

  "Cough, cough," Old Chen coughed, "No need for explanations."

  "Fang Deyou said: 'Actually, I don't like this kind of thing. It's Jing Xuan who likes it. She always asks me to do it this way. Sometimes I can accept it, sometimes I think about it and feel that it really won't work, and sometimes I even feel like I like it. This is also the reason why my relationship with her has been back and forth repeatedly. If I had made up my mind to leave her earlier, it would have been better... If you arrest me for murder, then go ahead and arrest me. I won't be wronged, but I didn't commit rape or abuse. We were all willing participants.'"

  It seems Fang Deyou has studied relevant laws and is quite familiar with them.

  In our country, it is a self-prosecution case, and as long as both parties agree, there will be no punishment if there are no serious consequences and no one files a complaint.

  But the deceased is now dead and cannot testify, how can it be determined that she proposed it? How do we know if she was coerced or not? Even if she agreed, how do we know she didn't lose herself under psychological pressure before agreeing?

  It's just that this kind of behavior on the edge of morality is prone to trouble. Sometimes it feels like morality and law constrain so-called freedom, but in fact, appropriate morality is protecting us.

  Indeed, we cannot measure marginalized people and things with simple "right" or "wrong", but the risk of falling off the edge is certainly greater. This principle is just like the reason why sex workers are easily abused and killed.

  "Old Chen ordered: 'If what he said is true, it does not constitute a crime. Hurry up and verify the doubts. If there are no doubts, release him.'"

  "The deceased died yesterday and will be cremated tomorrow, isn't it too fast?" I asked.

  "My dad and mom are getting old, they want to have a closure so they can move on from the shadow sooner. Tomorrow is Saturday, I went to the funeral home and asked, Fu An Hall just happens to be available for an arrangement, it's a bit pricey, but it's worth it to send her off one last time... sigh..."

  "You're very close to the deceased's parents, so you call them 'godfather' and 'godmother'?"

  "Yes, I've always had a good relationship with them. They liked me. My parents have passed away and I treated them like my own parents. I didn't have any affinity with Jinghuan, but I acknowledged them as my godparents. In the future, I will take care of them and see them off... Waaah... Jinghuan was killed by me... Waaah... I owe an apology to Godfather and Godmother..."

  "Don't be sad, don't be sad, it's really not easy to do what you've done," he said, his hands were shaking and the tissues were all crumpled up from crying. I handed him a new one. "Please trouble yourself to tell us in detail about the events before and after the deceased's death."

  "She's called Jingxuan, Zhou Jingxuan, you always call her the deceased... uh..." Fang Deyou sniffled and said, "We had another fight two days ago - still about getting back together - to be honest, I have a girlfriend now and don't want to get entangled with her again. Two nights ago, my godfather asked me to go persuade her, so I went. I kept persuading until midnight, when I saw she was fine, I left. The next day, yesterday noon, I received a call from my godmother, Jingxuan was gone... If only I hadn't left..."

  "Don't cry first, don't cry first, bother to say in detail, what time did you go? What time did you arrive?"

  "I went straight after work, it took about three quarters of an hour on the road, and I arrived around 7 o'clock."

  "What's next? Who opened the door? What did the deceased say? What was the situation at home at that time? Did the parents of the deceased tell you anything?" Seeing Fang Deyu's vigilant gaze, I comforted him, "Don't mind, we ask everyone like this, just hoping for more details so we can understand the whole situation."

  Fang Deyou helplessly said: "When I went, my foster father and mother had both gone out, the door was slightly ajar, Jing Xuan was in her own room, on the bed... tied herself up like that..."

  "Then you two had a relationship?" Dr. Gu asked, apparently this question was more concerning for men, and I couldn't help but notice that the several young and robust male forensic doctors on the scene all had an unmistakable green light in their eyes.

  "No! Really didn't!" Fang Deyou loudly argued, then sighed and said, "I think you don't believe me either, oh... right, my girlfriend went there later too, so now you'll believe me? Anyway, I advised her, my girlfriend also advised her, we left at 12 o'clock, heard the bell of her house strike twelve times, exactly 12 o'clock, if only I didn't leave then, it was me who got her killed..."

  "Do you have any other questions?" I asked the other forensic doctors present, and since no one had any further questions, I told Fang Deyou that he could leave first.

  "Can I take the body away now?" Fang Deyou urged.

  I shook my head: "Not for the time being, let's verify your statement. It's four o'clock now, and I hope to give you a reply by eight o'clock. I suggest you cancel tomorrow's memorial service."

  "How can that be?! Fang Deyou had been suppressing his emotions, but now he was really furious. "I've already informed everyone, the leaders are all coming, how can you cancel it? You've all seen everything, I've told you everything! I haven't hidden anything!! I heard the police were snatching corpses, and now I see that the police really do snatch corpses! I'm going to report this to your superiors!"

  I stretched out my index finger and pointed at Old Chen behind him: "He is my leader, tell him."

  Chen Lao's face was particularly dark today, and he asked me in a low voice: "Apart from the ligature marks on the deceased's body, do you have any other discoveries?"

  "There's nothing for the time being, I just feel that something is off, it feels especially wrong, and there doesn't seem to be a single place that's right." As I looked at the deceased, that strange feeling grew even stronger - I had really seen the deceased before, but not in a normal environment like a clothing store. However, I couldn't recall where I had seen them before. I muttered to myself, "There must be something wrong somewhere..."

  Fang Deyou sneered: "Huh, sorry about that, it turns out you're all just going by feeling, well I've got a feeling too. I feel like you just want to crack the case and get credit for it, I feel like you've gone crazy! You must have been kicked in the head by a donkey before and now you've got post-traumatic stress disorder!"

  Post-traumatic stress disorder? You dare say I have post-traumatic stress disorder! This guy really accidentally stepped on my tail!

  I took out the recorder and said coldly to him: "I'm being polite, but with this recording, I can now find the deceased's parents, your adoptive father and mother, tell them the truth, and advise them to sign the autopsy consent form. You have no relationship with the deceased at all! But after the two elderly people lose their daughter, do you want them to hear these unbearable things?"

  "How can you record?! This is a threat!"

  "My leader is right behind you, speak slowly and I'll go verify what you're saying."

  In the midst of a room full of stunned forensic experts, I went out to start investigating.

  There were even two male forensic doctors with ring marks on their ring fingers who secretly caught up and handed me their business cards. What are these men thinking?!