Chapter 679: The True Identity of “Yi Zhi”

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue quickly caught up with Chun Li, who was trying to escape. Frightened and flustered, she stammered, “I suddenly have something to do, I need to visit a classmate.”

Chen Shi said, “I think you should come back with us.”

After a few weak attempts to resist, Chun Li was eventually taken to the station but sat in the interrogation room without saying a word, maintaining her silence.

“Is this young girl really the killer of Ma Xiang?” Lin Dongxue wondered, reexamining their previous reasoning with some doubt.

Chen Shi was lost in thought when Lin Dongxue received a text from Xu Xiaodong. She told Chen Shi, “There was no suspicious person found in the surveillance video at Ma Xiang’s place, but 22 had been there before Ma Xiang’s incident… Also, the hospital receipt found at Ma Xiang’s home shows that the handwriting on it is for a lung cancer medication.”

“Ma Xiang had lung cancer?”

“It wasn’t mentioned in Captain Peng’s autopsy report, maybe it was overlooked.”

“With his habits, if the deceased had any disease, he would definitely mention it. It’s impossible to miss something as obvious as lung cancer.”

“Maybe it was early-stage, or the medication wasn’t for him at all.”

Chen Shi pondered and then said, “I need to go somewhere.”

“Shall I go with you?”

“No, I’ll be back soon. You stay here and wait for 22 and the others!”

With that, Chen Shi drove off, and Lin Dongxue knew he was going to verify a suspicion.

As dusk fell, Ai Ying, 11, and 22 arrived. 22 apologized, “Sorry to keep you waiting, I had some work to deal with.”

Ai Ying understandingly said, “22 Jie is a busy person, we understand.”

22 said, “None of you have eaten yet, right? This meal is on me.”

The group cheered, but Lin Dongxue pulled 22 aside and asked, “I have something to ask you. When we were investigating Ma Xiang’s house, we found you had been there. Why did you visit him?”

“I regularly go to see him,” 22 answered calmly. “Although we are divorced, we are still friends. Ma Xiang has some investments that include my shares, and he regularly pays me interest.”

“We checked the community surveillance, you visit him quite often.”

“Officer Lin, is this suspicious? It was about Chang Juan before. I went to tell him to stop messing around, but who knew it would turn out like this…” 22 sighed.

Ai Ying and 11 had already booked a table at the restaurant and came out to urge them in. Lin Dongxue didn’t want to eat with them and made an excuse to leave. As she left, she saw 22 coughing violently, holding onto the table edge, unable to straighten up, covering her mouth with a handkerchief. Lin Dongxue seemed to see a red spot on the handkerchief.

Ai Ying asked what was wrong, and 22 smiled, “It’s nothing, I just choked on some tea, a small piece of tea leaf got stuck in my throat.”

After dinner, they went to the police station. Lin Dongxue was waiting there and said, “I’ll bring Chang Juan to the interrogation room now, let’s get started!”

“Where’s Officer Chen who was with you?” 22 asked.

“He has something to do, he’ll come later, we don’t need to wait for him.”

Chang Juan was brought into the interrogation room. Although she had been detained for a few days, she looked well.

Lin Dongxue turned on the recorder. Apart from 22, Chang Juan didn’t know the identities of the other shareholders. They introduced themselves one by one, then 22 said, “Now our shareholders’ meeting will vote collectively. You must tell everything that happened on the night of February 11, without hiding any details.”

Chang Juan said calmly, “That night, according to the shareholders’ meeting decision, I went to that abandoned resort where my parents were killed. 39 said he would lure the killer there. I met Ma Xiang. He told me the killer couldn’t come; he just wanted to see me, and then he started touching me. To protect myself, I had a small knife. When Ma Xiang lunged at me, I stabbed him. He clutched his wound and fell to the ground. For some reason, when I stabbed him, I felt a strange pleasure, so I kept stabbing, like popping pimples on my face, until the police arrived. I woke up to find Ma Xiang had been stabbed beyond recognition by me.”

Chang Juan’s monotonous tone made the atmosphere in the interrogation room inexplicably eerie. Ai Ying couldn’t take it anymore and said, “That bastard 39, I knew he had bad intentions towards you!”

“Chang Juan, are you telling the truth? This is murder!” 11 was distressed.

Little 4 said, “Knowing it would lead to this, why did you vote to support 39?”

Lin Dongxue raised her voice to interrupt everyone’s arguments and said, “Chang Juan, you’re lying!”

“I am not lying.” Chang Juan’s eyes and tone remained unusually calm.

“You are protecting someone. Do you want me to say her name? It’s Chun Li!”

Upon hearing this name, Chang Juan’s pupils clearly contracted. Lin Dongxue continued, “We have found out that Chun Li was also at the scene that night, very close to the crime scene. Why did you not mention her existence at all?”

22 said, “Chang Juan, tell the truth!”

Chang Juan frowned, “I killed him, that’s the truth. Chun Li might have been there, but I don’t know.”

“If you didn’t tell her about this, she wouldn’t have gone there.” Lin Dongxue exposed her lie.

“I don’t know if Chun Li was there!” Chang Juan said firmly, one word at a time.

“Was lying to the police also 39’s order?” A voice came, and Chen Shi walked in.

Everyone’s eyes focused on him. Lin Dongxue noticed that Chen Shi’s expression had subtly changed, as if he had made a significant discovery, which made her look forward to the next development.

“39’s order?” Ai Ying was puzzled, “39 is already dead, he has no voting rights.”

Chen Shi pointed at the shareholders and asked Chang Juan, “Do you know who they are? How many shares does each person have, and what are their names?”

Chang Juan didn’t speak, so 22 answered for her, “She only knows me and Ai Ying.”

“There is a major misunderstanding in this whole matter.” Chen Shi said calmly, his eyes scanning every face with different expressions. “We all thought 39 was Ma Xiang. Before and after Ma Xiang appeared, there was no decisive evidence to prove he was 39. It was your words that made us think so…” Chen Shi looked at 22, “After meeting that night, you said 39 was Ma Xiang, your ex-husband, so we always believed that.”

22’s expression became a bit ugly, and she said, “If 39 isn’t Ma Xiang, who else could he be? You’re talking nonsense. That time Ma Xiang went to find Chang Juan, I stopped him, 13 knows about it too, ask him!”

“No, that time Ma Xiang did go to find Chang Juan, but he had another purpose. Because Ma Xiang is ‘Yi Zhi,’ the murderer of her parents, you appeared in time to protect Chang Juan because you are 39! On the night of February 11, the murderer called to the scene by 39 was Ma Xiang!”

Everyone was stunned, their eyes all turned to Shu Shifang. She pressed her lips tightly, and a subtle change appeared in her expression.