Chapter 13: Last Stand

Chapter 13: Desperate Resistance

Once she finished her work, Shen Qingye checked with Fang Yun to see if there were any other tasks. Upon learning there were none, she organized the materials and prepared to deliver them to various departments.

On her way back from the second floor, she happened to see Luo Kaiyang taking a breather in the corridor.

"Yang," Shen Qingye greeted him as she approached, having not seen him earlier that day.

Luo Kaiyang turned around, looking utterly exhausted. "Little Shen," he replied.

Shen Qingye was taken aback by the dark circles under his eyes, which were even worse than Wei Zhengyi's in the morning. "Did you... not rest at all last night?" she asked.

"Pretty much so," he replied listlessly.

Shen Qingye thought for a moment. "Is it about Zhou Meihua's case? Wasn't the outcome already clear?"

"It is clear," he said, leaning on the low wall and sighing. "The case is clear, but there’s still a ton of follow-up to deal with."

Shen Qingye asked, "Could it be... that Zhou Meihua's family is still causing trouble?"

She had seen the scene before leaving work last night, but she didn't want to get involved with such people, so she left early.

"It’s way worse than just causing trouble!" Luo Kaiyang suddenly became animated, his face contorted as he vented his frustrations. "You have no idea, in all my life, I've never seen anyone so... so utterly shameless!"

Shen Qingye wasn’t in a hurry to leave, so she stood by his side and listened. "I mean, she’s her mother. No matter what, it’s her own daughter, right? I heard that Zhou Meihua used to send half her salary home every month when she was alive! And what happened? After she died, her mother didn’t even want to look at her, all she cared about was money, money, money. I told her that the murderer would definitely have to pay compensation, so she could rest assured and take the body back to arrange the funeral. But she said the family had no money and couldn’t afford a funeral. Seriously? The kid next to her is so fat and dressed so well? How could the family not even have money for a funeral?"

"And then, do you know what that kid said? He said that even if the family had money, it was all his, and Zhou Meihua was just an outsider, a burden, and didn’t deserve to be buried in the family grave, so there was no need to spend the money! I was so furious, if I hadn’t remembered I was a cop, I’d have decked that kid!"

Shen Qingye frowned, unable to hold back her question. "What about his father?"

Luo Kaiyang said irritably, "His father doesn’t do anything at home—it’s all on his mother! I mean, he didn’t even show up when his daughter died—what kind of father does that?"

Shen Qingye pursed her lips and remained silent.

Luo Kaiyang grew more agitated as he spoke. "I spent two hours trying to reason with her, but she just wouldn’t budge, only asking when she could get the money, being totally unreasonable! Lin Xiaofeng was with me and he was just as furious. In the end, he said that if the family didn’t want to take the body back, he would!"

Shen Qingye's eyes showed a flicker of surprise. "Did Lin Xiaofeng really take her back?"

Luo Kaiyang rolled his eyes. "If only it were that simple!"

"That old hag, not only did she refuse to take the body herself, but she also wouldn’t let Lin Xiaofeng take it!"

Shen Qingye couldn’t help but say, "Is she insane?"

"Exactly!" Luo Kaiyang slapped the railing in frustration. "She kept saying her daughter was still unmarried, a pure young girl, and what would people think if Lin Xiaofeng took her back? Seriously, do they even have any dignity left?!"

"We kept trying to persuade her, reasoning with her, and finally she said that if Lin Xiaofeng really wanted to take the body back, he could, but he had to pay a bride price of five thousand yuan first!"

Shen Qingye closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Luo Kaiyang continued, "Even in death, they’re trying to cash in! I swear, if this were the old days, she’d have sold her daughter for a ghost marriage!"

"Lin Xiaofeng has only been working for a few years, how could he possibly come up with that kind of money on the spot? That old hag wouldn’t budge, saying that if he couldn’t pay, they would just drag it out, since they weren’t in a hurry. In the end, I couldn’t stand the thought of Zhou Meihua being taken back by that family—who knows what they’d do to her? So I discussed it with Lin Xiaofeng, and we managed to scrape up two thousand yuan."

"That old hag still wasn’t satisfied, grumbling and complaining. Finally, I’d had enough, and told her that either she takes the two thousand yuan and lets Lin Xiaofeng take the body, or she gets nothing, and we would just send the body to the crematorium without any hassle. She finally backed down."

"In the end, she grudgingly agreed, muttering curses as she left."

Luo Kaiyang sighed. "We were up until late last night dealing with this, and early this morning Lin Xiaofeng went to withdraw the money. He handed it over to the old hag in front of me, and after they reached an agreement, I accompanied him to take Zhou Meihua to the crematorium. It’s been a hell of a day, and only now can I finally catch my breath."

Shen Qingye was silent for a moment, then could only say, "You've had a tough time."

Luo Kaiyang shook his head with a bitter smile, "It's not the work that's hard, it's the emotional toll."

He continued, "Now I understand why the boss dislikes dealing with victims' families so much."

Whether it's grief or, like this time, dealing with such odd cases, it's never easy.

He perked up and asked Shen Qingye, "By the way, I heard you went out on duty again today? How did it go?"

Shen Qingye was surprised, "You didn't know?"

Luo Kaiyang shrugged, "The boss, Brother Jiang, and Brother Qiming are all in the interrogation room, and Brother Zhengyi is guarding the forensic department on the fourth floor. No one filled me in."

Shen Qingye recounted the day's events to him, and Luo Kaiyang's eyes widened, "So Cai Limin is involved too? I thought he looked so honest, just an accessory to the crime at most."

"Wait, you found the body already? That's some quick work!"

He looked Shen Qingye up and down in amazement, "Xiao Shen, I've noticed you've been involved in both cases, and both have progressed rapidly. Have you thought about joining our Major Case Division? You seem quite interested in this field!"

Shen Qingye smiled, "Not right now, I'm good where I am."

Luo Kaiyang was just caught up in the moment and wasn't too disappointed by the rejection. He just said "Oh," then looked towards the interrogation room, murmuring, "I wonder how the boss and the team are getting on with the interrogation..."

Shen Qingye also looked over, her gaze distant.

·

Inside the interrogation room.

Cai Limin's lips trembled, and he forced a smile, "Officer, what... what did you say? I didn't quite understand."

"Didn't understand?" Yue Lingchuan's smile grew warmer, "Let me repeat that."

"Listen carefully, the sound of the rain outside, does it sound like the day Lv Xiuqin died?"

The noise outside was a mix of footsteps and hushed conversations. Cai Limin thought there was no sound of rain, but in a daze, he seemed to hear the pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the ground, mixed with the damp, earthy smell, making his face gradually pale.

He shook his head with effort, "I... I don't get what you're saying."

"No problem, let me be blunt." Yue Lingchuan leaned forward on the table, sitting up straight, "Cai Limin, we found a body buried in your backyard. DNA tests confirm it's Lv Xiuqin's body. What do you have to say about that?"

Cai Limin's pupils contracted, and he stammered, "What... what are you saying? Xiu... Xiuqin is dead?" He shook his head in panic, "I don't know, I don't know, I saw her leave, and I never saw her again after that. I thought she ran away, I had no idea she was..."

Zhou Qiming nodded, "So, you're claiming you don't know who killed Lv Xiuqin, and after the deed, they brought her back to your house and buried her in your yard, is that what you mean?"

Cai Limin's face twitched, "Officer, I really don't know, I... I... she was my wife, the mother of my child, we lived together—why would I kill her?"

Yue Lingchuan shook his head, "You and Cai Chengyong are cut from the same cloth." He looked at Cai Limin and added, "But your son is far sharper and more careful than you."

"Of course, it could also be due to the times. Back then, information was hard to come by, and people didn't know how the police worked. Nowadays, with TV, news, radio, and all these media sources, people know a bit more."

Cai Limin's breathing became a bit labored.

Yue Lingchuan leaned over the desk, picked up a transparent plastic bag, and waved it in front of him, "Recognize this?"

Cai Limin looked over, his eyes blinking rapidly.

"Ring any bells? This is a piece of clothing we found where Lv Xiuqin was buried." Yue Lingchuan smiled, "Isn't it something? A piece of clothing, buried for nearly twenty years, still intact."

"You know what's even more amazing? Our technical staff extracted a male DNA from this piece of clothing." He stared intently at Cai Limin's face, not missing a single flicker of emotion, yet still exuding confidence and ease: "Do you know what DNA is? It's like a fingerprint, unique to you, no one else has the same."

He picked up a file folder beside him and held it up: "We matched the extracted DNA with yours, here are the test results, would you like to see them?"

Cai Limin's sagging skin quivered uncontrollably, his teeth chattered as he kept resisting: "I don't know, officer, I really don't know anything..."

Yue Lingchuan chuckled, tossing the file folder aside, and said: "It's okay if you don't want to talk, after all, the evidence is solid. As for your statement, it's good to have, but it doesn't affect the sentencing."

He looked at him and smiled: "In your case, even if it's not the death penalty, you're likely to spend the rest of your life behind bars. If you don't want to talk, just keep it to yourself, we're not too concerned."

The interrogation room fell into silence, Yue Lingchuan leaned back in his chair, flipping through files nonchalantly, his face calm and natural, as if he didn't care at all.

Cai Limin stared blankly into space, his body tense, not uttering a word for a long time.

After what seemed like an eternity, his straight back slowly slumped, as if all his energy had been sapped, and he suddenly looked much older.

He slowly lifted his eyelids, staring at Yue Lingchuan for a long time before hoarsely saying: "Don't you cops always want the truth?"

Yue Lingchuan looked at him and smiled: "You're wrong, only the family cares about the truth, we just need to catch the murderer."

He crossed his legs, speaking in a casual tone: "I've been a police officer for several years, what kind of cases haven't I seen? What kind of grudges and emotions haven't I heard? In your case, the motive for murder is nothing more than those, for love? For revenge? Not exactly rare."

Upon hearing this, Cai Limin slowly closed his eyes, remained silent for a long time, and finally revealed the truth:

"She had someone in her heart..."

Yue Lingchuan and Zhou Qiming exchanged a glance, a glimmer of satisfaction in their eyes.