Chapter 20: Investigation

"Su Jie, do you want your eggs well-cooked or soft-boiled?"

In the open kitchen of Jingjiang No.1 Villa, Liu Yingying, dressed in home clothes and wearing an apron, was busy preparing breakfast.

"Well-cooked!"

"Just a moment, it will be ready soon."

"For such things, just let the chef do it, their cooking skills are so good."

Su Jie sat on the sofa, watching the TV report about the mansion fire that had shocked the city over the past few days.

"It's not the same! The breakfast made by others is full of love. Humph, I remember you said you could cook, Su Jie, yet you have never cooked for me."

"Who said that? Didn't I just feed you milk this morning?"

"That was because you forced me... always bullying people."

Beneath Liu Yingying's creamy skin, a blush tint emerged, and her charming, affectionate eyes fiercely glared at Su Jie a few times.

She had been living with Su Jie for two days, had taken leave from work, and although Su Jie hadn't made any promises to her, she was willing to wait.

"Now I'm giving you a chance to strike back, maybe your cooking skills can conquer my stomach, then capture my heart."

"Well... that might be, my cooking skills are just basic, I can only make a simple breakfast, just don't despise my cooking. Those complex lunches and dinners should still be handled by your hired chef."

While saying this, Liu Yingying's face was full of elation.

A few minutes later, Liu Yingying brought the breakfast to Su Jie, glanced at the TV, and said, "It's this news again, that Cold Lily boss is always topping our local TV news."

"After all, a rich boss died from being burned alive, the news is bound to chase hot topics!"

Su Jie smiled, eating the thoughtfully prepared breakfast by Liu Yingying.

Hearing this, Liu Yingying commented, "Nowadays, the news has no limits, it was just an accidental fire, but journalists chase around for interviews, making up conspiracy theories about murder and assassinations, just to generate traffic."

Su Jie couldn't stop laughing at her words, wondering what the reaction would be if the real mastermind behind this incident were sitting right in front of Liu Yingying.

"Mr. Su, there are two police officers outside, they said they want to see you."

As they were jokingly talking, a servant suddenly came over and respectfully said to Su Jie.

"Mm, let them in."

Su Jie's eyes flashed sharply as he waved his hand.

"What do the police want?"

Liu Yingying looked puzzled, not knowing what was going on.

"Who knows."

Su Jie shrugged his shoulders and continued eating his breakfast as if nothing had happened.

Shortly after, two police officers appeared in front of Su Jie.

One had a square face, over forty years old, and looked like an upright senior officer.

The other was a young female officer, probably in her early twenties, likely a recent graduate from the police academy.

"Mr. Su, hello, I am Zhang Yanqing from Linping City Criminal Police Brigade, and this is my partner Zhou Xinxin. We are here about a case and need your help in gathering some information."

While introducing themselves, they showed their police badges.

"Please sit down, feel free to ask anything you like, and I'll cooperate fully if I can be of any help to the police,"

Su Jie warmly invited them to sit and asked a servant to bring some fruit.

"Mr. Su, then I'll get straight to the point,"

Zhang Yanqing seemed easy to talk to as he continued, "The day before yesterday, there was a major fire at villa number 12 in Long Beach Villa District in Linping City that resulted in the deaths of Linping's well-known businessman and the chairman of Cold Lily Company, Cui Yunchun, and his secretary Ma Lanfei."

Su Jie nodded, saying, "I just saw it on TV earlier."

"And as I know, Mr. Su is in the lumber business and had dealings with Cold Lily Company. On November 16, there was a fire in a warehouse you rented at South Bridge Logistics Center, which destroyed a batch of valuable wood," he said quickly, his voice taking on a captivating authority.

Zhang Yanqing's eyes were bright, his speech suddenly accelerated, possessing a compelling majesty.

"That's right, that batch of wood was painstakingly accumulated by my ancestors and handed down to me, and it all burned up in a big fire, costing me a lot of money," Su Jie replied.

Su Jie was not intimidated by Zhang Yanqing's imposing manner; compared to Taoist Qiu whom Su Jie had seen, Zhang Yanqing was far less impressive, having no effect on Su Jie.

Hearing this, he immediately showed a pained expression on his face, seemingly heartbroken over the loss of the wood.

"I want to ask, on the day of the incident, the night of November 17, what was Mr. Su doing at that time?"

Zhang Yanqing continued to inquire, closely observing Su Jie's facial expressions.

Shrugging his shoulders, Su Jie said, "I remember that night very clearly. I was celebrating the transfer of ownership of this villa by throwing a party at home, and many people can vouch for me."

"You held a party just after your warehouse was burnt down?"

Zhou Xinxin, who was taking notes, interjected.

"It was precisely because the warehouse was burnt down that I held a party to ward off the bad luck."

As Su Jie spoke, he paused briefly, looked shocked, and pointed at himself, "Wait, you aren't suspecting me of setting fire to someone else's villa, are you? I'm a law-abiding good citizen, always well-behaved. If you don't believe me, ask around; many people that night can testify for me."

"That's right, Su Jie was with me at that time, I can testify,"

Liu Yingying immediately stood up, somewhat unhappy looking at the two police officers across from her. How could they falsely accuse such a good Brother Su?

"We're just conducting a routine investigation and have not accused you of being the murderer,"

Zhang Yanqing chuckled, asked Su Jie a few more questions, and then stood up to leave the villa with Zhou Xinxin.

...

Outside the villa, Zhou Xinxin looked at Zhang Yanqing and pursed her lips, "Captain Zhang, do you think he really could be a suspect?"

"Objectively, he has no suspicion, but subjectively, I have my doubts. Everything is too coincidental. Cui Yunchun himself is not clean, having cultivated a group of thugs to do his dirty work. It's possible that it was this group who burned Mr. Su's warehouse. Even more coincidental, on the day after the fire at Cui Yunchun's villa, this group disappeared—vanishing without a trace," Zhang Yanqing adjusted his police cap, sighed deeply and continued, "Additionally, on the same day, a senior manager at South Bridge Logistics Center accidentally drowned, and this manager's account had just received a transfer from Cui Yunchun's private account. From all aspects, there are motives and suspicious points to consider."

"If that's the case, can't we bring him in for questioning?"

Zhou Xinxin said with slightly furrowed brows, implying Su Jie had a motive to commit arson and murder.

"How can we arrest someone without evidence?"

Zhang Yanqing heard this and couldn't help laughing and shaking his head, "First, the fire department and coroner at Cui Yunchun's haven't found any traces of murder or intentional arson, and then we checked the surveillance from Jingjiang District on that day; Su Jie and his vehicle were indeed not seen coming or going. Xiao Zhang also asked some of the salespeople at the real estate office, who all confirmed, they were with Su Jie at the party that night, the timelines don't match up."

"Could it be that he had someone else do it?"

"It's possible, but where's the evidence?"

"This…"

Zhou Xinxin fell silent, knowing cases aren't resolved on mere hunches.

"Xiao Zhou, you watched the video from Cui Yunchun's villa on the night of the incident, right?"

"I've watched it several times; there are many cameras around his villa, but they only caught one person entering—a man named Ah Hu, who is known to be close to Cui Yunchun,"

"Excluding all other suspects, then I could only conclude from the factual evidence that it was indeed Cui Yunchun who instructed Ah Hu to burn down Su Jie's warehouse, but perhaps later Ah Hu had a falling out with Cui Yunchun over sharing the spoils, and in the end, they both perished together,"

Zhou Xinxin thought about it and realized Zhang Yanqing's guess about the situation sounded much more plausible than Su Jie committing arson.

"Now with both parties deceased, with no one to testify, maybe I got it wrong, but this case can only end here,"

"I understand, Captain Zhang,"

Zhou Xinxin relaxed her brows, unable to resist looking back at that large villa, faintly seeing someone on the second-floor balcony watching her and Captain Zhang.

Rubbing her eyes and looking again, the balcony was empty, apparently just a trick of her sight.