Chapter 22: An Unsettling Dinner

  The armed police saw Liu Hao fall to the ground and slowly walked over to him, quickly kicking away the knife in his hand. He squatted down and felt his neck, confirming that he was no longer breathing. He made a confirming gesture to his colleagues, who then went over to Li Na's side, untied her after she had fainted, and sent her to the ambulance waiting outside.

  This was the end of Liu Huan's long-awaited live murder broadcast.

  "Guo, you're so amazing! You're completely different from how you usually are. I'm totally idolizing you!" Yang Rong gazed at Guo Yining with an extremely admiring look in her eyes. Liu Hao's current situation was also a result of his own doing, and it could be considered as giving the deceased some closure.

  "This credit I dare not take." Guo Yining smiled, bowed his head and took out an earpiece from his ear, then looked at Wu Hui standing at the door.

  At this time, Wu Hui's mobile phone rang once, it was the sound of a text message. He lowered his head to take a look and saw that it was Zhang Qiang's text message: "This time I've really helped you out, you should treat me to a big meal." Seeing Zhang Qiang's text message, Wu Hui smiled slightly.

  Wu Hui was just negotiating with Liu Hao while checking the photos of Liu Hao and Wang Ting on his phone. Although it wasn't very obvious, but one of the photos had a background that was absolutely not Lincheng.

  Wang Ting is not a native of Lincheng, but because of Liu Jianjun's relationship, she came to Lincheng. For Wang Ting, Liu Kai is an unforgettable love, so Wu Hui guessed that this place should have some connection with Liu Kai.

  So he asked Zhang Qiang to carefully check the place in the photo, and it turned out that it was Liu Kai's hometown. Although the place wasn't very famous, it was where Wang Ting and Liu Kai had their engagement.

  Liu Huan was also caught in Liu Kai's old house.

  Wu Hui felt that everyone's eyes were focused on him, and when he looked up, Guo Yining and the other two were indeed staring straight at him.

  "What's this..." Wu Hui didn't like being stared at by others.

  "Wu Ge, I really am seeing you smile for the first time, and you look quite good when you do." Yang Rong walked up to Wu Hui's side, bent her waist, clasped her hands behind her back, tilted her head, and stared at Wu Hui left and right, as if she was meeting him for the first time.

  Under Yang Rong's close watch, Wu Hui felt very uneasy and said with a wave of his mobile phone: "I still have something to do, I'll leave first."

  Without waiting for everyone to persuade him, Wu Hui left Liu Jianjun's home and on the way back passed by a supermarket, where he bought some things and decided to thank Zhang Qiang well tonight.

  Wu Hui walked in and saw Zhang Qiang sitting on the sofa, rarely seeing him not sitting at his computer. "Why aren't you playing games today?" Wu Hui took the dishes into the kitchen, put on an apron and prepared to cook.

  "I'm starving to death, hurry up and cook!" Zhang Qiang lazily lay on the sofa, although he wasn't playing with the computer, his phone was still in his hand. Seeing Wu Hui go to the kitchen, Zhang Qiang took a look but didn't say anything about going to help.

  Wu Hui was already used to it, Zhang Qiang would rather starve than cook, quickly washed the vegetables and cooked, soon a table of home-cooked dishes was served.

  Zhang Qiang didn't wait for Wu Hui, and he alone wolfed down the food there. Today, he overused his brain and needed to supplement it, otherwise, it would be too unfair to those sacrificed brain cells.

  "Eat slowly, there's more in the kitchen." Unlike Zhang Qiang, Wu Hui simply picked up his bowl and ate a few mouthfuls before putting down his chopsticks, he had no appetite.

  Zhang Qiang ate his fill, drank to his heart's content, and belched loudly before noticing that Wu Hui had barely touched the rice in her bowl. "What's wrong? The case isn't broken, is it? Why do you still have worries?"

  When Liu Huan was shot, Wu Hui had a question in his mind, did these cases really just get solved by Liu Huan alone? "I don't know, I always feel that the case got cracked too easily, it seems like we overlooked something."

  "Don't think so much, didn't Liu Huan personally admit that those women were killed by him? What's there to doubt?" Because Wu Hui didn't let Zhang Qiang participate in any cases, he didn't know much about this serial murder case either, and couldn't offer any constructive opinions.

  Wu Hui didn't want Zhang Qiang to get involved in these cases, so he decided not to say too much to him. "Maybe I'm just overthinking."

  After dinner, Wu Hui was accustomed to taking a stroll around the neighborhood, watching the various people inside the compound and guessing their different lives.

  Sitting in the pavilion of the residential area, an old woman sat opposite him, looking around 80 years old, wearing thick black cotton pants and a deep purple down jacket, with many layers of clothes visible through the collar, she must be very afraid of the cold at her age.

  For some reason, seeing Wu Hui reminded him of Zhong Ayi, and he wondered how she was doing now, whether she was still looking for her cat.

  A woman in her twenties walked up on his left, wearing an A-line mini skirt and a white short down jacket, with a long red scarf wrapped around her neck, carrying a black handbag, wearing a pair of tassel earrings, because of the scarf, she couldn't let her hair fall naturally, her face was painted with delicate makeup, probably going on a date.

  As he watched the woman walk in front of him, Wu Hui thought of Yang Liu. Yang Liu was also a fashionable woman who had high demands for quality of life. If she hadn't been killed by Liu Huan, what would she be doing now? What would her outcome be after several years?

  Will she be abandoned by Liu Jianjun or will she really marry him as she thought?

  What would the other deceased be doing now if they were still alive?

  Willow... Willow... Wu Hui's mind was reciting the name of Yang Liu, suddenly remembering Liu Hao's words, he had said that Yang Liu's affairs were told to him by Wu Ma, then how did Wu Ma know, what role was Wu Ma playing in this case.

  At first, Fang You and Yang Rong were following Liu Huan, Wu Ma had come out to interfere with the follow-up, could she really not know about Liu Huan's affairs?

  There were some things Wu Hui couldn't understand, he always felt that there was something hidden behind the case, and he had to figure it out.

  Just as Wu Hui was about to call Guo Yining, Guo Yining called Wu Hui instead. Had Guo Yining also discovered the inexplicable part?

  "Wu Hui, do you have time now?"

  On the phone, Guo Yining's tone was normal. Wu Hui thought it should be related to the case. "En, what's up?"

  "Liu Kai's case has made new progress." Wu Hui heard the sound of file flipping on the other end of the phone, and thought that Guo Yining had just received the file and was still studying it.

  "Alright, I'll go to Ma Shan now." Wu Hui didn't ask any further questions, hung up the phone, and hailed a taxi at the door to head to the Public Security Bureau.

  Arriving at the Major Crimes Investigation Division, Wu Hui saw that Guo Yining's office light was still on, while everyone else had already gone home after work. Guo Yining heard the sound of the door opening and poked his head out of his office, seeing it was Wu Hui, he beckoned him over.

  Wu Hui walked into Guo Yining's office, and Guo Yining put a document on the table. "Take a look, I just received it today."

  Wu Hui did not speak, picked up the file bag, opened it and took a look. Inside was Liu Kai's will, as well as evidence of Liu Jianjun's murder of Liu Kai and some witness testimony.

  After reading through these materials, Wu Hui did not express any opinions but instead asked Guo Yining, "What's your take on this?"

  "This document arrived at a very suspicious time, it seems like it was intentionally delayed until Liu Hua got into trouble before sending it here." Guo Yining felt that this document was too suspicious, as if someone had deliberately arranged for it to be kept in someone's hands for a long time.

  "It seems that someone wants to put Liu Jianjun in a desperate situation, and the person who sent the file should be someone who has had dealings with Liu Jianjun. The first people to come to mind are Liu Kai's family members, and then there is Liu Jianjun's enemy. If they investigate this aspect, it's likely that they will find some clues." For some reason, at this moment, the first person Wu Hui thought of was actually his mother, Wu Ma.

  Wu Hui seemed a bit distracted, and Guo Yining asked: "Are you someone with doubts in your heart?"

  "Not very sure, I just feel that Wu Ma and Liu Chong from Liu Jianjun's family are a bit strange. Although Liu Hao's case seems to be over, I think there is still something we haven't found out. Without evidence, Wu Hui doesn't want to say anything casually, but he has a strong suspicion about Wu Ma in his heart, which makes him determined to investigate clearly."

  "That's great, actually I've always had some things that didn't make sense in my mind. Now that you mention it, I know why I couldn't understand - it was about Yang Liu's situation. Do you remember? Liu Hao said that Wu Ma told him about Yang Liu's situation. Wu Ma is just a nanny, so why did she know about such confidential things regarding Liu Jianjun? I suspect there must be some kind of relationship between Wu Ma and Liu Chong." Due to his many years as a detective, Guo Yining could always observe contradictions in things, he just couldn't put this feeling into words.

  "These are all our speculations, and there is no evidence yet. By the way, what about Liu Kai's case that I asked you to investigate earlier?"

  "He's still investigating, and I estimate that there should be results tomorrow. Because of the mistake in this case, he was particularly careful with Liu Kai's case. He didn't even come back today after going to Liu Kai's hometown this afternoon, saying that he had found something and would report back tomorrow." Guo Yining couldn't help but smile when she thought of Fang You's confident expression when he left this afternoon.

  "Let's take a look and see if there are any valuable clues. Based on the clues provided by Fang You, we'll conduct a thorough investigation, and the case will soon be solved. It will also bring closure to the deceased." Wu Hui hoped that the case would be crystal clear in his hands, and he didn't want to leave any regrets for them in this world because of his own reasons.

  "Yes, Liu Hua is usually a well-behaved kid, who would have thought he'd turn out like this... sigh..." Recalling the incident involving Liu Hua, Guo Yining could only shake her head in dismay. The frequency of young people committing crimes has been increasing year by year, and it's heartbreaking to see."

  The next day, Fang You rushed back from Liu Kai's hometown and came to Guo Yining's office without even drinking a sip of water. Wu Hui was also there for the clue in Fang You's hands.

  Fang You saw Wu Hui and hurried over to greet him. He now admired Wu Hui very much, always wanting to find an opportunity to ask Wu Hui to be his master. Even if he couldn't become a disciple, it would be good for Wu Hui to teach him something.

  "Cough... cough..." Seeing Fang You see Wu Hui, he forgot what he was going to say, Guo Yining cleared his throat, trying to get Fang You's attention.

  The person who heard the voice suddenly remembered why they came to the office and hastily handed over the documents in their hand to Guo Yining. "This time I went to Liu Kai's hometown, where colleagues from the police station had summarized the previous investigation materials. I wasn't at ease, so I re-examined them one by one. It can be confirmed that Liu Kai was raised by his mother, and at that time there was also a 14-year-old younger brother. After Liu Kai died, his mother and younger brother also disappeared."

  "It's them!" Guo Yining saw the photos on the household registration, and recognized the two people inside at a glance. Although several years had passed, their basic appearance had not changed.

  Wu Hui heard Guo Yining's voice, looked up and saw that the two people inside were none other than Wu Ma and Liu Chong, Liu Jianjun's driver.

  "It seems we need to call both of them over for a chat." Guo Yining glanced at Fang You, and Fang You immediately understood what she meant.

  When Fang brought people to Liu Jianjun's home, Wu Ma and Liu Chong were already sitting in the living room, as if they had known that the police would find them.

  "You've finally arrived." Wu Ma looked at Fang You and stood up to tidy her clothes.

  Liu Chong also stood up, holding Wu Ma's hand and walking towards the police car. They had been waiting for this moment for too long over the years.

  Guo Yining personally led the team to Liu Jianjun's company and blocked Liu Jianjun, who was about to leave the country, at the company gate. "Director Liu, where are you going?"

  Liu Jianjun saw Guo Yining bring people over, and he knew that some things might not be hidden, "Is there anything else? Liu Hao has already been shot by you, what are you doing here?"

  "This time we're not here because of Liu Huan's matter, but a homicide case 5 years ago. The deceased was named Liu Kai, I think Director Liu should remember?" Guo Yining signaled and the police behind walked forward, took over Liu Jianjun's luggage, and put handcuffs on him.

  Liu Jianjun did not resist the police's actions and followed them into the police car.

  In the interrogation room, no matter what Yang Rong asked, Wu Ma remained silent. "We've already found out that you're Liu Kai's mother. Since you're Liu Kai's mother, this letter exposing Liu Jianjun for killing Liu Kai should be from you. Now that you've sent us evidence, why won't you talk about what happened back then?"

  "That year's matter, haven't you all investigated clearly? I just want to give my son a fair deal!" Thinking of her deceased son, thinking of the pain of sending off her white-haired husband with her black-haired son, for so many years, she has been serving Liu Jianjun, how much hatred is in her heart. The life Liu Jianjun lives now should be his son Liu Kai's."

  "What about Liu Huan then? How would you describe what happened with him?"

  Wu's mother didn't have no feelings for Liu Huan, it's just that compared to her son, these aren't anything. "Liu Huan, he is Liu Jianjun's son, what kind of father he has, what kind of son he will be, he ended up like this, all because of his own doing."

  "You're not telling the truth, Liu Huan attends school on time every day, how could he have had the time to grasp the deceased's daily routine and habits? There must be someone secretly helping him. I think that person is you."

  Wu's mother took a glance at Yang Rong and smiled slightly with her head lowered.