Chapter 31

Compared to Officer Tao, who'd stayed out all night, and Captain Luo, who'd just smuggled himself out of the hospital, President Fei was dressed about well enough to attend a ceremony.

This person had changed his clothes once again. As before they were a careful midpoint between stern and casual, outwardly restrained and inwardly passionate. His hair was fluffy where it ought to be fluffy and sleek where it ought to be sleek; not a strand was out of place. He was also wearing a pair of metal-framed plain glass spectacles that gave him somewhat the appearance of the scum of the literati. He had even changed his cologne.

To find Wang Xiujuan, Fei Du had nearly stayed up all night; first thing this morning, he'd apparently gone to the hospital to accompany Wang Xiujuan as she gave her statement. Who knew where he'd found the time to smarten himself up?

Though Luo Wenzhou always believed himself to be the most handsome man under the sun, faced with such a clear contrast, he really wanted to beat up the peacock in front of him—especially since the above-mentioned peacock was looking at him with ill-intent through a pair of lenses.

Luo Wenzhou cleared his throat, forcing himself to go from ready-to-curse shamed anger to the pure-hearted bearing of a transcendent being.

With great earnestness, he said, "My people found a secret residence of Zhao Haochang's and discovered some things in the basement that line up closely with your inferences. I sincerely think you're awesome, President Fei. As expected from someone with twenty years of experience specializing in the abnormal."

Next to them, Tao Ran very uncomfortably said, "I don't know about you two, but I'm feeling a little embarrassed."

Thus undermined, Luo Wenzhou stuck his hands in his pockets and asked Fei Du, "What are you doing here again? Is your company about to close down?"

"I came on behalf of He Zhongyi's mom to ask about the progress of the investigation." Fei Du tapped the watch face on his wrist. "Also, in view of your senility, I'd like to remind Captain Luo that it's currently six o'clock in the evening on a Saturday. Neither the day nor the time is within working hours."

Luo Wenzhou: "…"

"Ge," said Fei Du, turning to Tao Ran, "even if you're willing to work overtime, others should still repay your hard work by displaying their gratitude. Isn't that only polite? Bosses who forget the weekends, forget when work ends, are all trash. I think that sort of person's degree of odiousness is inferior only to bosses who forget to pay wages—luckily, he isn't the one who pays yours."

The city gates were aflame, and Tao Ran was a fish in the pond.—Tao the Fish expressionlessly beat out the flames of war on his body. "…Let's talk about what Lang Qiao found now."

Lang Qiao's scalp was tingling. She stood in the stairwell, in an unprecedented move rubbing her face with her unwashed hands.

The basement was laid out like an old-fashioned library, with several enormous cabinets reaching to the ceiling. The cabinets were full of small squares, and in each square stood a clear glass jar. The jars displayed all sorts of things, with label plaques hanging below them, each with a date and event written on them.

A chill, stale, unspeakable smell came towards her. The hairs on the back of Lang Qiao's neck stood up bit by bit.

For a moment, she thought these jars were like the ones used to keep laboratory specimens in.

But the most chilling thing wasn't the cabinets; it was a floor lamp standing among them.

The body of the lamp was made in the form of a tree of very strange appearance—the stand was a "tree" just about to snap. The hollow "trunk" had lights inside it; when they were on, light spilled out of the places where the "trunk" was broken. All the branches extending from it were bare; on all those bare branches were small, slender fluorescent lights, one after another. Seen from far off, they looked like they were wrapped up in blazing fire.

The searchers made an orderly record of the articles in the cabinets and their labels.

Zhao Haochang was very methodical. From left to right, it was in strict chronological order. On the earliest one, the label said "university." Judging from the time recorded, it must have been the day that Zhao Haochang—Zhao Fengnian, just starting university, had for the first time taken the train and left H Province.

Getting into university was worth commemorating, only ordinary people would normally preserve their letters of admission, whereas Zhao Haochang, forging a path of his own, had preserved a ham sausage.

When the police took it down, the packaging on this long-expired ham sausage wasn't even slightly torn.

This wasn't the only bizarre thing; there were also a number of other things that no one could make heads or tails of. From his internship period, he'd collected such items as cotton socks, a wrist brace, a storage disk, and other such odds and ends. To an outsider the collected items and the events recorded on the labels seemed to have almost no relationship between them, giving a very perplexing impression.

"Qiao'r." A comparatively nimble colleague had set up a stepladder and climbed up the earliest cabinet. As he took down and recorded the glass jars and their labels one by one, he asked, "Are you sure this junk is useful?—Small gongfu tea teacup, one, 'internship' written on it… And what the hell is this?"

His words paused. He picked up the jar and looked closely at it for a while. "The label says 'freed myself,' the memento is…a rag?"

Lang Qiao looked up at it. Her pupils shrank. "Give it to me!"

Wearing gloves, she carefully took the clear jar. Her heart gave a thump. In the chill and damp basement, she shuddered. It was a filthy, greasy sleeve. The old dirt reflected the light of the floor lamp; underneath was a faintly visible floral pattern.

In the photograph faxed over by the small town's civil policemen who had handled the arson case, the idiot had only had one sleeve!

"Xiao Lang," the person doing the right-most cabinet called, "come over here and look at this!"

On Saturday evening, Zhao Haochang had already passed a trying day and night at the City Bureau.

However pleasing to the eye a person was, after a sleepless night, the stubble and sebum on his face would be sufficiently disfiguring.

Zhao Haochang was in a somewhat sorry state, but he still expressionlessly maintained his posture. When he saw Luo Wenzhou come in, a file tucked under his arm, he even rather haughtily raised his chin.

"Hello, Attorney Zhao. I'll start by saying a few simple things. First, it hasn't yet been twenty-four hours, so we can still chat a little. Second, no one is preventing you from requesting a lawyer, no one has attempted to pressure you into a confession, and no one has mistreated you, is that correct.—Of course, if you must say that my bureau's dining hall has injured your appetite, there's nothing I can do. We truly don't have the budget to order take-out.—On this subject, I suppose Attorney Zhao has no other objections?"

Before sitting down, Luo Wenzhou had already snatched away Zhao Haochang's opening remarks.

The corner of Zhao Haochang's eye twitched, as if he was infuriated by this attitude. He resisted displaying it and, in a deliberately slow voice, said, "You look rather familiar, but I'm afraid I've forgotten your name. How should I address you?"

Luo Wenzhou paused. Not only did he not get angry, he laughed. Then he lazily adjusted his posture and answered as if it didn't matter to him. "Who, me? Seeing that you're so clever, how about you take a guess."

Zhao Haochang had been sitting too long. He was rather stiff, which impaired his originally skillful sneer. He pulled at the corners of his lips, not very naturally. "That shouldn't be necessary. I don't think we're destined to see much of each other."

Luo Wenzhou spun the pen in his hand. "You snuck into the East Flower Market District's Gemini Building in the middle of the night and damaged the security railing on the rooftop of Tower A, nearly resulting in…"

Zhao Haochang impatiently interrupted him. "I've already said, I didn't have any idea that there'd be someone there that night, or that they'd want to jump off the building in just that place. You say I destroyed public infrastructure, endangered public safety—OK, I admit it, I'm sorry, I can write a self-examination, a fine is no problem, either. Officer, not everyone can be paid out of the taxpayers's dollars. Those of us that have jobs are very stressed, sometimes in order to 'chill out,' you know, we may very well be a little irresponsible. I've learned my lesson, all right? Thank you, don't keep sending different people here to repeat the same words to me."

Having listened to this lengthy speech, Luo Wenzhou, smiling, said, "In all my years of work I've rarely come across a criminal suspect as cocky as Attorney Zhao."

Zhao Haochang said coldly, "Officer I-don't-know-who-you-are, could I ask you to pay attention to your diction? Why do you insist that I'm a 'criminal suspect?'"

Luo Wenzhou pulled back his smile and crossed his arms over his chest. "There are still a few other things I would like to consult you about, Attorney Zhao."

Zhao Haochang paused, gaze resting on his body language for a moment, then very magnanimously nodded and made a "go on" gesture at him.

"First, the lady who nearly fell off the building yesterday looked at your photograph and identified you. She says your original name is 'Zhao Fengnian' and you just happen to come from her hometown. Is that right?"

When Zhao Haochang heard the name "Zhao Fengnian" his breathing became noticeably strenuous, and his pale face stiffened so it looked like a piece of stone. His gaze, dripping venom, fixed on Luo Wenzhou.

Luo Wenzhou was entirely unmoved. He swept a bored look over the file and said, "Following her testimony, we inquired into Attorney Zhao's background slightly. We found that you were born in a rather remote little village under the administration of the T City Prefecture in H Province. You previously used the name 'Zhao Fengnian.' Your parents were both disabled, engaged in agriculture at home, and you had three younger siblings. That's a miserable history."

Zhao Haochang's expression cooled with every word he spoke.

And just at that moment, Luo Wenzhou looked up at him and feelingly said, "It looks like Attorney Zhao had it rough. I suppose you only had one or two people test into university each year there? Much less anything more, like becoming so respectable.—Also, I find that Attorney Zhao's speech doesn't have any trace of an accent. Was your speech so Western-flavored at home?"

Zhao Haochang's hands, laying on the table, began to tremble uncontrollably. He seemed to be planning to stand up and beat Luo Wenzhou to the floor.

"Oh, I forgot," said Luo Wenzhou, pouring more oil onto the fire, "I hear you haven't been back to your hometown for many years. That's not right, Attorney Zhao. Your fellow villagers worked so hard to support you. How can you forget where you came from?"

Zhao Haochang pounded on the table, breaking off Luo Wenzhou's words. He was nearly standing, already out of his chair, leaning forward a little like a beast of prey ready to pounce—several breaths later, using some enormous quantity of willpower, Zhao Haochang suppressed his violent rage and sat back down.

"Is that so? What a coincidence. I didn't know." Each word Zhao Haochang spoke seemed to carry the scraping of enamel. "I left home many years ago and don't remember those people very well. Also, officer, I completed university entirely on student loans and scholarships. I saved for travel expenses myself. I didn't trouble anyone to 'support' me. As for whether I do or don't go back to my hometown, you seem to be going beyond the scope of your concerns, right?"

Luo Wenzhou said, "Upholding community order and good customs is also one of our jobs."

The corners of Zhao Haochang's mouth stuck up. "So you've established a neighborhood committee. No wonder so many major cases go unsolved."

"I accept your criticism." Having succeeded in angering the other party, Luo Wenzhou shrugged indifferently and changed the subject. "Speaking of major cases, there's another matter I want to ask Attorney Zhao's guidance on."

He pulled a photograph out of the file and put it in front of Zhao Haochang. "This girl is called Chen Yuan. Some time ago she died of a drug overdose. She went to your school."

In his rage, Zhao Haochang seemed not to have expected this twist. "That's very regrettable," he said dully.

"The circumstances of her death were unusual. Two weeks prior to her death, she contacted a university classmate called Cui Ying and passed on to her some important evidence identifying the Flower Market District Sub-Bureau's Director-General as having participated in illegal activity." Luo Wenzhou looked him in the eye. "We just went to pay a call on this young lady. She submitted the evidence to us. She also mentioned you."

Zhao Haochang's eyes flickered and the fist laying on his knee tightened, as if he was quickly recalling his own oversights.

Luo Wenzhou said, "Cui Ying says that she shared Chen Yuan's story with you, and you prevented her from reporting it. Did this take place?"

"It did." Zhao Haochang quickly settled on a method for responding and sat up slightly straighter. "I really did watch that video, it truly was horrifying, but where should I have reported it? To their superiors? Officer, even sitting here across from you right now, I still don't know whether you're vermin with a human exterior. What if you're in it with them? Wouldn't reporting be walking right into a trap? We common folk of limited abilities can only play it safe. Is there anything wrong in that?"

"There isn't. What did you do after you found out about this?" asked Luo Wenzhou.

"I went to make an inspection," said Zhao Haochang, "but I didn't dare to go too deep, because one time when I was pretending to drive past, some people I suspected of being drug traffickers kept their eyes on me for a long time. I realized then that this was a very dangerous business and warned Cui Ying that she absolutely couldn't say anything about it. We could only act like it had never happened."

Luo Wenzhou lowered his voice slightly. "Cui Ying said that you once told her, if you'd killed someone, you'd leave the body in one of the drug trafficking locations in the West District, and they wouldn't dare to investigate.—Did this take place?"

The corner of Zhao Haochang's eye began to twitch nervily. It was a long time before he took a deep breath. "I've been good to Cui Ying. She's a member of my school, in the same tradition as me. I've always tried to protect her. I don't know why she'd say that. It's clearly only a joke. I may have said it, and I may not have said it.—Although if a joke can be used as information against me, used to fabricate a charge against me… I really don't know whether this is modern civilized society, or whether I'm in the Great Qing Dynasty's literary inquisition…"

Luo Wenzhou suddenly interrupted him. "Where were you on the night of May 20th?"

Without even thinking about it, Zhao Haochang responded, "First I went with some friends to the Chengguang Mansion, then a friend took me back to the office to work overtime. I only left close to midnight."

"Where is your office?"

"Wenchang…"

"We got the security camera record from the Number 34 bus." Again Luo Wenzhou didn't let him finish. He pressed on, "He Zhongyi, the victim in the '520' case, got off the bus at Wenchang Intersection between nine and ten that night and then was murdered. In order to confuse the issue, the murderer dumped his body in the West Flower Market District—right at one of the drug trafficking locations. Do you have anything to say about that?"

Watching the interrogation room's surveillance feed, Tao Ran quietly said, "He was infuriated from the start and later he didn't expect that Cui Ying would 'sell him out.' Just now he was a little out of control. When Captain Luo mentioned the Number 34 bus footage, he clearly panicked."

Fei Du pushed up his glasses. "Ge, does you letting me in here accord with regulations?"

"It's fine," said Tao Ran, "Director Lu specially authorized it. He's busy dealing with Wang Hongliang right now, or else he'd be here in person to get a look at you."

Fei Du thought about it. He didn't have any interest in granting an interview to a middle-aged man with a face full of wrinkles. Disapproving, he turned to look at Zhao Haochang.

Zhao Haochang's expression altered at first. He stiffened in place. But after a moment he seemed to realize something and put on a rather cunning smile.

"He's easier to infuriate than an ordinary person, and he also feels offended more easily, especially when others poke at his weak spots." Fei Du shook his head. "But to be able to bear it and still maintain his fundamental reason—he really is a genius. If it weren't for this business, I'd be willing to pay a high price to engage him as a regular legal adviser."

"He got off at Wenchang Intersection." Zhao Haochang slowly repeated these words. "And then what? What happened between him getting off the bus and him being murdered? You have no idea, do you?"

Luo Wenzhou slowly restrained his "pretending to be bored" expression and began to look unhappy.

"You have nothing." Zhao Haochang leaned back lightly in his chair. "A joke, a security camera record with no beginning or end, and you want to trick me into betraying something with that?"

Luo Wenzhou didn't answer. An unbearable silence suffused the small interrogation room. He seemed to be all out of tricks.

Zhao Haochang couldn't restrain his laughter, then seemed to "remember" who this policeman at his wits' end was.

"Captain Luo, your solving of cases is too sloppy," he said, reaching out the diamond-inlaid brand-name watch on his wrist, tapping it towards Luo Wenzhou. "It hasn't been twenty-four hours yet. I see you have nothing else, so can I leave early? If not, you can also give me a bed. I'd like to lie down."

Luo Wenzhou inexplicably disliked his movement of tapping the watch. He gazed at him silently.

His expression amused Zhao Haochang to the greatest degree. He had succeeded in suppressing his fury, but he didn't succeed in suppressing his complacency. "Let me give you a word of advice, Captain Luo. Not everyone is going to fall for your outmoded interrogation techniques. Don't think so highly of yourself."

Saying so, he stood of his own accord and ostentatiously adjusted his lapels.

"Zhao Fengnian," Luo Wenzhou said quietly, "don't think so highly of yourself. In the west suburbs' North 20th Town, the basement of 12 Fengqing Winery is waiting for you to return."

Zhao Haochang's smile froze on his face.

Luo Wenzhou's index finger tapped twice on the table. "Can you explain why the victim He Zhongyi's old phone would be in your house?"