Chapter 79: Case Closed

In another interrogation room, Pan Xiuying said, “I stole the items, but it was all his idea.”

“What happened next?” the interrogator asked.

Pan Xiuying continued, explaining that although her husband survived, his health deteriorated day by day. Wu Hao insisted that no one should know about it. So, he pretended to be her husband online, selling things and texting his friends, making it seem like he was still doing fine.

Every day, they blended food and fed it to her husband through a tube, keeping him alive with IV drips.

One day, Wu Hao watched a foreign crime movie and got an idea. He said, “This old turtle will die sooner or later. We should prepare in advance so the police won’t catch us off guard.”

Pan Xiuying was terrified at the thought of lying to the police. Wu Hao reassured her, saying, “Don’t worry. The police have a low case-solving rate. They only solve simple cases. If we use those clever tricks from the movie, they’ll never figure it out.”

So, they began executing their deceptive plan.

First, they cleaned up the scene and destroyed all evidence, deleting recent photos of her husband. Then, Wu Hao hired a few people online to impersonate her husband, taking them out to leave witnesses. These hired people were all short and ugly.

The boldest step was to divert the police’s attention. Wu Hao said that after her husband died, the police would first suspect the spouse. So, they needed to have solid alibis for Pan Xiuying, making the police believe it was someone else who killed him.

But that wasn’t enough. One day, while reviewing client data, Wu Hao found a clothing store owner named Ximen Sheng. He showed the information to Pan Xiuying, saying, “This is perfect. The police will think it’s a modern-day ‘Jin Ping Mei’ situation.”

Pan Xiuying initially thought it was a terrible idea, but Wu Hao believed it would work. They would frame Ximen Sheng as the scapegoat, making the police suspect he hired a killer.

Pan Xiuying added Ximen Sheng on WeChat. She was very beautiful, and after posting a few pictures, the lonely middle-aged man soon asked to meet. They had dinner, went to a hotel, and quickly established a relationship.

It must be said, middle-aged men really have no self-respect!

The plan progressed smoothly until Wu Hao couldn’t stand Pan Xiuying being with another man. One day, after she came back from a date, he roughly pushed her onto the bed and said, “He’s slept with you a few times, I’ll do it ten times more!”

Pan Xiuying reassured him that they must stay calm and act well to get through this, promising to run away with him later.

Suddenly, Pan Xiuying felt nauseous and ran to the bathroom to vomit. The next day, she found out she was pregnant with Wu Hao’s child.

She was terrified. Wu Hao told her not to have an abortion, as the police would find out.

Pan Xiuying said that her belly would grow, and everyone would see it. Wu Hao replied that they had to make sure her husband died soon.

Wu Hao had several plans to kill his brother but hadn’t decided. A few nights ago, her husband suddenly had a seizure and died. Pan Xiuying was scared, but Wu Hao told her not to worry and follow the plan.

The next day, Pan Xiuying met with Ximen Sheng, using a new SIM card to extort 50,000 yuan from him, creating an unexplainable expense in Ximen Sheng’s records.

She felt sad doing this because Ximen Sheng treated her well. At home, she faced a dying husband and a scheming, bad-tempered brother-in-law, while she found a moment of peace with Ximen Sheng.

While she was meeting Ximen Sheng, Wu Hao put her husband’s body in his car, drove to the suburbs, and burned it to ashes.

Two days later, Wu Hao reported it to the police. Initially, the police seemed to follow their lead, but then the situation changed. The suspicion and questioning became pervasive.

Finally, Wu Hao reached his limit and did something foolish, ruining everything…

Pan Xiuying covered her face and cried, “I wronged Ximen Sheng and my unborn child. I’m guilty, I’m guilty…”

The interrogation ended. Lin Qiupu compared their statements, saying, “Their stories don’t match perfectly, but it’s enough to convict them.”

“It’s not enough. We still need evidence!” Peng Siqi walked in, holding a few documents.

“Old Peng, how’s the search going?”

“We found a blender at Wu Hao’s place. It had food residues matching the contents in the victim’s stomach, and respiratory secretions, specifically phlegm, which had Wu Hao’s DNA.”

“What is it?”

“Just phlegm. The DNA is Wu Hao’s.”

Everyone was stunned, imagining Wu Hao blending food for his paralyzed brother while cursing and spitting into the mixture. It was hard to believe they were brothers.

Lin Qiupu said, “Leaving his DNA on the evidence. How stupid.”

“Besides that, I sent someone to the hospital and found a batch of feeding tubes matching those used on the victim. The scratch marks on the tubes matched the abrasions in the victim’s esophagus. The suspect left the tube in the victim’s throat, causing those marks.”

This bombshell made everyone shiver again.

Lin Qiupu smiled bitterly, “Your first piece of evidence was already enough.”

“It’s not enough. I want them to be heavily sentenced! Goodbye.” Peng Siqi said, looking at Chen Shi before leaving.

After Peng Siqi left, the atmosphere lightened. Lin Qiupu said, “The case is solved, finally. I must say, the credit goes entirely to Chen Shi. Without him, we’d still be investigating ‘Ximen Qing’.”

“Too kind! Too kind!” Chen Shi cupped his fists, and everyone applauded, with Xu Xiaodong and Lin Dongxue clapping the hardest.

Lin Qiupu patted Chen Shi on the shoulder, “Detective, say a few words.”

Chen Shi whispered, “Are you kidding me?”

Lin Qiupu whispered back, “Yeah, I am!”

Chen Shi looked at the expectant faces and awkwardly smiled, “I’ll just say this: I can’t wait for this case to hit the news so I can brag about it with my buddies!”

Everyone laughed. Lin Qiupu took out something and handed it to Chen Shi. It was an ID card from the Public Security Bureau, reading “Special Criminal Investigation Consultant Chen Shi.”

Chen Shi looked puzzled at Lin Qiupu, “Are you recruiting this rogue team member?”

Lin Qiupu smiled, “No photo yet. Prepare a good one, and we’ll stamp it later… Remember to shave your beard.”