Chapter 26: Wei Xiaoxia

Chapter 26 Wei Xiaoxia

After leaving the hotel, they did not return directly to headquarters but split into several groups to further investigate at the respective schools and workplaces of the women, successfully obtaining contact information and some basic details.

At three in the afternoon, the group gathered in the Major Case Division office, huddled around the table, carefully reviewing the information.

"Lin Mengjiao, 29 years old, 165 cm tall, currently works as a clerk at a well-known local building materials company, Xing Sheng Building Materials. She isn't particularly skilled at her job but hasn't made any significant errors either. Some say she has backing, which got her the position. We'll verify this later."

"Zheng Yudan, 23 years old, 167 cm tall, previously studied dance at Pingjiang Art College and now works as a dance teacher at a studio, teaching children. At first glance, she seems aloof, but she's actually quite approachable once you get to know her."

"Liang Siqing, 27 years old, 166 cm tall, a nurse at City Third Hospital. According to colleagues and superiors, she is quiet, diligent, and responsible, and is well-liked by patients."

"He Shuwen, 22 years old, 163 cm tall, a senior at Pingjiang Normal University. She excels academically and is well-regarded by both teachers and peers."

"Wei Xiaoxia, 33 years old, 167 cm tall, dropped out of middle school and later opened a tattoo shop near the university district. Her business is thriving, and she has been with Yuan Zhenghao for several years."

"Xia Jingling, 26 years old, 164 cm tall, an art graduate, currently working as an art teacher at the First Municipal Elementary School. She has a gentle personality and gets along well with her colleagues."

Wei Zhengyi put down the documents and looked at everyone: "Yuan Zhenghao seems to have a type when it comes to girlfriends. All these women are attractive and taller than average, except for He Shuwen and Xia Jingling, who are slightly shorter."

Yue Lingchuan said, "Being a bit shorter doesn't rule them out as suspects. They could always wear insoles in their shoes."

Zhou Qiming nodded: "The boss is right."

Shen Qingye said, "These basic details don't reveal much. We'll need to conduct further interrogations."

As they spoke, Xiao Liu from the first-floor duty knocked on the door: "Captain Yue, a woman named Wei Xiaoxia has arrived, claiming she was summoned by the department."

Everyone exchanged glances, and Yue Lingchuan instructed, "Take her to the interrogation room first."

Xiao Liu acknowledged, and Yue Lingchuan stood up, looking at everyone: "Let's go meet this Ms. Wei."

·

The interrogation room wasn't large enough for everyone, so only Yue Lingchuan and Wei Zhengyi entered. Given the suspect was a woman, having a female officer present would be more appropriate, so Shen Qingye was also brought in.

Zhou Qiming and the others waited in the monitoring room behind the interrogation room, awaiting the arrival of other suspects.

Yue Lingchuan pushed the door open, and Shen Qingye looked up to see a woman in a black leather jacket, with a curvaceous figure, lazily sitting on a chair with her legs crossed.

She had short hair, striking features, and slightly upturned fox-like eyes, radiating the distinctive allure of a mature woman.

Hearing the noise, she glanced over casually, the unlit cigarette between her slender fingers twitching unconsciously. Shen Qingye's gaze paused slightly, guessing that this woman must have a significant smoking habit.

"Officer," Wei Xiaoxia slowly stood up, taking a couple of steps forward, and said with a slight smile, "What can I do for you?"

Yue Lingchuan and the others sat down at the table, looking at her naturally and smiling, "We've asked you here to assist with a case we're investigating. Don't worry, just be honest."

"A case?" Wei Xiaoxia sat down as instructed, lazily smiling, "What case could possibly involve me?" She thought for a moment, "It's not related to my customers, is it?"

Yue Lingchuan shook his head, "Ms. Wei, you're overthinking it. It has nothing to do with your customers. However, the person involved is indeed closely related to you."

"Closely related?" Wei Xiaoxia raised her chin, eyebrows lifting, and said casually, "Who else could be closely related to me? It can't be that bastard Yuan Zhenghao, can it?"

Shen Qingye and Yue Lingchuan exchanged glances, and Shen Qingye said, "It is indeed Yuan Zhenghao."

"What?" Wei Xiaoxia was genuinely surprised, sitting up straight and uncrossing her legs, her face showing shock, "Has something happened to him?"

Shen Qingye nodded and then asked her, "Why did Miss Wei assume it was Yuan Zhenghao?"

Wei Xiaoxia slowly relaxed again, leaning back in her chair, and said, "Isn’t today his wedding day? I vaguely remember it. You said it was someone I have a close relationship with, so I immediately thought of him."

She paused, "What happened to that guy?"

Yue Lingchuan, observing her expression from the side, calmly said, "He’s dead now."

"Dead...?" Wei Xiaoxia was stunned, her glamorous face went blank, her gaze shifting to Shen Qingye, and she repeated, "Dead?"

Shen Qingye calmly said, "Today at the wedding venue, we saw him die with our own eyes."

Wei Xiaoxia's face went blank, and after a long while, she asked, "How did he die?"

Shen Qingye said, "He was killed with a knife."

Wei Xiaoxia was silent for a moment, then she smiled, "Right, of course, with his flirtatious ways, I always said he’d get himself killed someday."

She returned to her previous nonchalant demeanor, slowly looking at Shen Qingye, "But officer, he’s dead—why are you coming to me?" She thought for a moment, somewhat surprised, "What, you don’t think I killed him, do you?"

Shen Qingye looked at her indifferent smile, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Why wouldn’t we?" she slowly said, "Yuan Zhenghao died a tragic death, and we suspect it’s highly likely a crime of passion, like a love triangle. Miss Wei herself admitted to having a close relationship with Yuan Zhenghao, so you are a suspect."

Wei Xiaoxia smiled indifferently, her crossed leg slowly swinging, "A crime of passion? A tragic death, how tragic?" She chuckled, "Surely no one cut off his... you know."

"Miss Wei hit the nail on the head," Shen Qingye said indifferently, and Wei Xiaoxia's smile froze.

"No," Wei Xiaoxia blinked, raised her hand to brush her hair, finally realizing something was wrong, "I was just making a guess."

Shen Qingye's smile didn't reach her eyes, "Miss Wei has quite the intuition, making a guess and hitting the truth. Anyone would think you were there."

Wei Xiaoxia sat up straight, her face showing some irritation, "I really don’t know, that guy always had women flocking around him, you said it was a crime of passion, I just mentioned it offhand!"

Yue Lingchuan stared straight at her, "Miss Wei doesn’t seem surprised that Yuan Zhenghao had other people around him."

"Why should I be surprised?" Wei Xiaoxia said, "This wasn’t a secret—we both knew it."

Shen Qingye said, "When you heard about Yuan Zhenghao’s death, Miss Wei, you didn’t seem too upset, and you don’t care about him having other people... then why were you still with him?"

Wei Xiaoxia crossed her arms, leaned back in her chair, looked at her for a while, and then said, "Do you want to hear the truth?"

Shen Qingye raised an eyebrow, "Of course."

Wei Xiaoxia held up a finger, "First, he was rich."

Shen Qingye wasn’t surprised, "And second?"

"Second..." Wei Xiaoxia smirked ambiguously, "He was... skilled in certain areas."

Shen Qingye was stunned, Yue Lingchuan's lips tightened, his gaze darkening, "Watch your language."

"I am speaking properly, officer," Wei Xiaoxia said with a leisurely smile, "That’s just the way it was."

She changed her crossed leg, "I know what you want to ask, it’s about me and him, there’s nothing I can’t say."

"You know, I run a tattoo shop near the university. He visited my shop a few times back in his university days, and we got together."

Shen Qingye asked, "When did you realize he was seeing other people?"

Wei Xiaoxia shrugged: "I’ve known it all along."

Shen Qingye's brows slightly furrowed: "You’ve known it all along?"

Wei Xiaoxia, seeing her expression, seemed to know what she was thinking and chuckled lightly: "Officer, no need to be so shocked."

"It wasn’t some serious relationship. He was into my looks and my body. I liked that he was loaded and knew how to sweet-talk. And we clicked in bed, so naturally, we ended up together.

"The rest? Who cares?"

Shen Qingye didn't comment on her views on relationships, just said: "So, from his university days until now, you've been together more or less?"

"More or less," Wei Xiaoxia thought for a moment: "Sometimes when he got tired of me, he’d stop coming around, and I wouldn’t cling to him. Then, out of the blue, he’d remember me and come back.

"Over the years, it’s been off and on, but we’ve basically never really broken up."

Shen Qingye: "Did the other women he was seeing know about each other?"

Wei Xiaoxia looked innocent: "How should I know? I’ve never met them."

Yue Lingchuan asked: "How did you find out about his marriage?"

Wei Xiaoxia said: "The Xue and Yuan families are pretty big names around here. Their marriage was such a big deal, it was all over the place. How could I not know?" She paused, then added: "Besides, he told me about it."

Shen Qingye looked at her: "You don’t hate him?"

Wei Xiaoxia pouted: "What’s to hate? People should know where they stand. He’s from a good family, a rich kid. He was bound to marry someone of his own status. I never thought I’d marry him, so of course, I just enjoyed the time we had. Anyway, over the years, I’ve gotten plenty from him, can’t be too greedy."

Wei Zhengyi, who was taking notes, couldn’t help but say: "Miss Wei seems pretty laid-back."

Wei Xiaoxia blinked at him: "What can I do? If pushing worked, I’d definitely cling to him."

Wei Xiaoxia, with her naturally alluring and captivating demeanor, made Wei Zhengyi pause, his ears slightly reddening, his gaze somewhat evasive.

Yue Lingchuan glanced at him, then looked back at Wei Xiaoxia, following her words: "Being laid-back is good, but sometimes, being too laid-back, not caring about anything, isn’t always a good thing."

Wei Xiaoxia's full, red lips curled into a smile: "Officer, just spit it out, no need to dance around it. I dropped out of middle school, I’m not exactly well-educated."

"Alright, I’ll be direct then," Yue Lingchuan nodded, straightforwardly saying: "What were you up to around 11 this morning?"

"11?" Wei Xiaoxia thought for a moment: "I was out shopping."

Yue Lingchuan raised an eyebrow: "Shopping?"

Wei Xiaoxia said: "Yeah, it’s Saturday today, I had some free time, so I went out shopping, bought quite a few clothes. Just got back to the shop when I heard from the staff that the police were looking for me."

Shen Qingye looked at her: "Shopping for clothes? Where did you go?"

Wei Xiaoxia answered without hesitation: "That trendy Qiao Fashion store. Oh right, I still have the receipts from that store, do you want to see them?"

Shen Qingye curiously asked: "Qiao Fashion? I remember... isn’t that store near the border of Shangyang District and Zhongyuan District? To buy clothes, you went that far? There are plenty of clothing stores around the university town, right?"

Wei Xiaoxia said: "There are, but seeing the same things every day gets boring. A client at my shop said this store was worth checking out, so I took the chance to check it out when I had some free time."

Free time...

Shen Qingye slowly pondered over these words: "You went alone?"

Wei Xiaoxia said: "Yeah, I prefer to go alone, it’s more comfortable."

After speaking, she paused again and looked at Shen Qingye with a smile, "After all this, you still think I killed him, huh?"

Yue Lingchuan said, "Right now, we don't have enough evidence to clear you."

Wei Xiaoxia snorted with a laugh, "If that's how you see it, I don't know what to say." She thought for a moment, "Why not ask the shop owner's wife if she remembers me? I mean, I've spent a fortune there."

Yue Lingchuan smiled, "No need to worry, Miss Wei. We won't let any criminal escape, nor will we wrong the innocent. If you're innocent, you have nothing to worry about."

"Well, if you say so, I guess I can relax," she stretched lazily, "I still trust the Pingjiang police."

Her movements were a bit dramatic, making her light gray sweater shift under her leather jacket. The wide collar slipped slightly to one side, exposing a glimpse of red and black on her pale shoulder.

Shen Qingye's gaze lingered for a moment, but before she could take a closer look, Wei Xiaoxia had already resumed her previous sitting posture.

She said, "Anything else? Can I go?"

Shen Qingye and Yue Lingchuan exchanged glances, and he said, "Of course, but in the near future, we'd prefer if you didn't leave the city without notice."

Wei Xiaoxia paused in her movement to stand up, she looked back with a half-smile, "Are you putting me under house arrest?"

Yue Lingchuan also smiled, "You're free to move around Pingjiang, of course. But since it's a serious case, we need your cooperation."

Wei Xiaoxia looked at him for a while, then somewhat listlessly hooked her glamorous lips, "Fine, it's my duty as a citizen to cooperate."

She picked up her bag, "Well, the dead guy did make me happy for a while, so I'll put up with it." She lowered her eyes to look at Yue Lingchuan and the others, her eyebrows slightly raised, "I hope you crack the case soon."

"We appreciate your kind words, Miss Wei." Yue Lingchuan casually twirled his pen, "If you think of anything else, let us know."

Wei Xiaoxia waved her hand and turned to leave, "Don't worry."

Seeing this, Shen Qingye also stood up and whispered to Yue Lingchuan, "I'll go take a look."

Yue Lingchuan paused, glanced at her, and then nodded.

"Miss Wei." Outside the interrogation room, Shen Qingye called out, and Wei Xiaoxia turned back in surprise, "Officer, is there something else?"

Shen Qingye smiled softly and shook her head, "No, I'm just grabbing some water, I'll walk you out."

"No need, I can find my way," Wei Xiaoxia smiled politely.

Shen Qingye's smile paused, then she said helplessly, "Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you."

Wei Xiaoxia's expression remained unchanged, but her gaze carried a subtle scrutiny, "Go ahead."

She thought the other party was going to ask about the case, but after hesitating for a while, the girl actually said, "You own a tattoo shop, don't you?"

Wei Xiaoxia was stunned, then slowly nodded, "Yes."

Shen Qingye smiled brightly, "Then I want to ask... does getting a tattoo hurt?"

Wei Xiaoxia stopped and looked her up and down, then laughed, "Officer, are you thinking of getting a tattoo?"

Shen Qingye scratched her head, looking somewhat shy, "I thought about it in high school, but because I had to apply to the police academy, I couldn't have any tattoos, so I had to give up."

She tilted her head, curious, "I heard from others that tattoos seem quite painful, Miss Wei, since you do this, you should know better, right?"

Wei Xiaoxia said, "It hurts, how could it not? Tattooing is using a needle to poke color into your skin layer by layer, do you think it hurts?"

Shen Qingye grimaced, "That sounds terrifying."

Wei Xiaoxia said indifferently, "For beauty's sake, you just have to tough it out."

Shen Qingye asked as she walked, "Wei, your shop seems to be near the university town, right? Do many college students come for tattoos?"

Wei Xiaoxia replied lazily, "It's alright, getting by okay."

Which suggested her business was doing well.

Shen Qingye kept a straight face as she continued, "What about you, Wei? Do you have any tattoos?"