Shen Wei straightened his back and continued, “After I came to Feng City, I started a mobile stall around here, selling fried rice from a tricycle. My customers were all patients’ families. How should I put it? I didn’t want to disappoint my brother. He was the kind of person who could throw himself completely into his ideals, and that was his expectation for me too—whatever you do, you must see it through to the end. I wanted to be a doctor, to save lives and heal the wounded. That dream can’t be realized in this lifetime, so I thought I’d do something related to patients. Selling some food can be considered as making up for my regrets.”

Ling Lie said, “Reinvestigating an old case has many obstacles, like the crime scene being gone and many witnesses being hard to find. So we need you to provide as much help as you can.”

Shen Wei nodded. “What can I do?”

Previously, when Ji Chenjiao asked Shen Wei what he had found out over the years, Shen Wei, for some reason, didn’t answer. This time, Ling Lie cleverly rephrased the question. “From the perspective of a victim’s family member, without considering evidence and rationality, who do you think is most likely to have committed the crime?”

Shen Wei once again showed a flustered expression. “This…”

Ling Lie: “Just put forward your ideas. Leave the job of finding evidence to us.”

Shen Wei fell silent, seemingly struggling. At another table, Xiao Lu finished shelling a basin of green beans, picked it up, and went to the back kitchen. As he stood up, the long stool scraped against the floor, making a creaking sound. Ji Chenjiao’s gaze immediately turned to him, but he didn’t look their way and walked straight into the back kitchen.

“This, I really have no idea.” Shen Wei avoided eye contact with Ji Chenjiao and Ling Lie, his right hand fidgeting with the lighter on the table. “Brother Wei and his team tracked many people, but they were all ruled out.”

Just then, Xiao Lu lifted the curtain and came out again, this time with a basin of red chili peppers. He moved a heavy stone mortar from the wall, threw the red peppers in, and started pounding with a wooden pestle.

“Thump, thump, thump—” The dull, rhythmic sound echoed through the narrow shop.

Shen Wei said awkwardly, “Sorry, we’re out of the chili we use.”

Ling Lie said, “Oh, one more question. I heard from people in the county that you came to the city to make a living with a lady named Chen Xiangli?”

“Ah, Sister Xiangli.” Shen Wei paused. “We see each other often now. She works as a caregiver at the Third Hospital, but we didn’t come together. I came a bit earlier.”

“She was supposed to be your sister-in-law?”

Shen Wei opened his mouth. “She… I still see her as my sister-in-law. She and my brother… what a pity.”

“After so many years, has she never found someone else to settle down with?”

For the first time, Shen Wei’s attitude became firm. “You haven’t experienced that kind of pain. If you had, you’d know that you no longer have the strength to pursue so-called happiness.”

The sound of pounding chili echoed like a funeral bell.

“Achoo—” Ling Lie sneezed from the chili scent floating in the air, his eyes immediately tearing up.

Seeing his eyes, Ji Chenjiao immediately took out a wet wipe. “Allergies?”

Ling Lie took it, covered his eyes, and sneezed again several times.

“We’ll head back for today,” Ji Chenjiao said, holding Ling Lie’s arm. “We’ll be back to ask for more information in the future.”

Shen Wei saw the two of them to the door. His expression was complex, with a rekindled hope, yet as if deliberately avoiding something. His voice trembled with excitement. “Thank you. I’ll be waiting for the day the case is solved!”

Ji Chenjiao held Ling Lie’s elbow. Ling Lie whimpered, covering his eyes. As they reached the roadside, the sound of pounding chili behind them abruptly stopped.

Ji Chenjiao opened the car door for Ling Lie, got into the driver’s seat himself, and as soon as the door closed, he turned Ling Lie’s face towards him, wanting to check if his eyes were okay.

Those red eyes were full of tears, and the tip of his nose was also red. He looked truly pitiful, making one’s heart soften. Ji Chenjiao stared, mesmerized. Ling Lie squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to squeeze the tears onto Ji Chenjiao’s hand.

Ji Chenjiao was speechless. If you don’t squeeze them out now, they’ll dry up, is that it?

“Drive. Go around to the back of the Third Hospital,” Ling Lie said, pulling out a tissue to wipe his eyes. “That guy surnamed Lu is interesting. What does this case have to do with him? He might as well have ‘get the hell out of my face’ written on his forehead.”

The car pulled away from the curb. In the rearview mirror, “Old Shen’s Lunch Box” grew smaller and smaller. Xiao Lu looked in the direction of the car, his expression indistinct.

“His reaction is even stranger than Shen Wei’s. And Shen Wei’s strange reaction is also because of him.” This stretch of road was very congested, and the car moved slowly. Ji Chenjiao said, “When I saw Shen Wei today, he wasn’t quite what I imagined.”

Ling Lie: “Yeah, last time we analyzed that he might be a suspect, and that his pursuit of the killer was just for show. But upon contact, he seems to be genuinely grieving for Tan Fabin.”

Ji Chenjiao: “Right, that grief is absolutely real, and his excitement when he learned we were reinvestigating the case was also very real. So what is he hiding? He seems to know some important clue but is unwilling to say it. That’s not logical.”

Ling Lie: “He wants to say it, but the one surnamed Lu won’t let him.”

Ji Chenjiao gestured with his eyes at the notebook in the car. “Write it down.”

Ling Lie: “Write what?”

“Investigate this guy surnamed Lu.”

“Pfft—”

“?”

Ling Lie laughed cheekily. “Can’t your brain remember it? You still need to write it on paper?”

A vein throbbed on Ji Chenjiao’s forehead. It was his habit to jot down ideas at any time, and Ling Lie could even make fun of him for that. If he wasn’t driving, he would have smacked Ling Lie on the head.

After laughing, Ling Lie still took the notebook and flipped through it randomly. Suddenly, he said, “Huh?”

By the time Ji Chenjiao reacted, it was too late. On the way to Feng City that day, he had been anxious, with the notebook in hand, his mind full of Ling Lie. When he came to his senses, he had already drawn a picture of Ling Lie on the paper.

His drawing skills weren’t great, but he happened to have drawn Ling Lie in a kung fu robe, with a waist drum tied on, and his hair in a bun. Unless one was blind, it was obvious who it was at a glance.

Ji Chenjiao tried to snatch it back, but Ling Lie quickly said, “You’re a police officer. Are you trying to violate traffic laws and endanger public safety?”

Ji Chenjiao had no choice but to withdraw his hand and said menacingly, “Give it back!”

“You were the one who told me to write.” Ling Lie clicked his tongue. “Who is this handsome guy? He even has a bun. So cute!”

Ji Chenjiao was left speechless. He suppressed his anger and pounding heart. Ten minutes later, he finally moved the car to the back gate of the Third Hospital.

The Third Hospital was huge, and the back gate was also impressive, located right next to the inpatient department. Their mission for the day, besides meeting Shen Wei, was also to make contact with Chen Xiangli.

The afternoon was a time when caregivers had some free time. Chen Xiangli took advantage of the old person she was caring for being asleep to eat her packed lunch in the garden pavilion. At this time, many other caregivers were also eating. They greeted her and invited her to join them, but she looked downcast and seemed to be somewhat resistant to lively gatherings. After politely declining, she ate her tomato and scrambled eggs and braised eggplant alone.

Ji Chenjiao was looking for a place to park. Ling Lie had already approached Chen Xiangli. Chen Xiangli looked at him warily. He said, “You’re a caregiver here, right? I have something I’d like to ask about.”

Chen Xiangli hesitated. “Are you looking to hire a caregiver?”

Ling Lie: “Look at what I’m wearing. Where would I get the money to hire a caregiver? I want to be a caregiver.”

Chen Xiangli’s eyes darted around. Male caregivers were in high demand, especially young and energetic ones. Although they didn’t have a formal organization, they referred each other and could get a referral fee.

She relaxed a bit. “What’s your name? Where have you worked before? I can ask around for you.”

Ling Lie: “Me? I’m from Feng’an County.”

Chen Xiangli’s face stiffened. “Feng, Feng’an County?”

“Are we from the same hometown?”

Chen Xiangli immediately closed the lid of her lunch box. “Go ask someone else. I have something to do, I’m leaving.”

“Ms. Chen.” Ling Lie suddenly changed his tone and took out his credentials. “Let’s not talk about being a caregiver. How about we talk about Tan Fabin?”

Just then, Ji Chenjiao also came over, happening to block Chen Xiangli’s path of retreat. Chen Xiangli’s face turned pale. “You, what do you mean?”

“Your fiancé’s case is being reinvestigated. We just came from Feng’an County and heard that you and Tan Fabin had a deep relationship, and that you haven’t married to this day because of him. So as soon as the case was reopened, I wanted to tell you this news,” Ling Lie said. “Of course, I also want to get more clues from you to facilitate the investigation.”

Chen Xiangli’s shoulders were trembling. Her whole body was tense, like a trapped animal unable to struggle. The sudden appearance of the police seemed to have shattered her now-peaceful life. She couldn’t react in time, not knowing how to react.

This was completely different from the Chen Xiangli described by Brother Zhou and Aunt Wang. If Chen Xiangli was truly as deeply in love with Tan Fabin as they said, upon hearing that the police were reopening the investigation, she shouldn’t have had this reaction.

She was afraid, evasive, but also trying hard to hide these emotions. What kind of person would break out in a cold sweat upon hearing about a reopened investigation?

Ling Lie did not intend to get anything out of Chen Xiangli today. He had already obtained part of the answer.

“I… I’m just too excited.” Chen Xiangli’s acting was clearly mediocre. As she said “excited,” what she showed was still fear and bewilderment. “Please, you must catch the killer. You can, you can ask me anything.”

Just as Ji Chenjiao was about to speak, Ling Lie blocked him. “I’m here today to inform you of this matter. We may ask you to come to the municipal bureau to talk in the future. We won’t disturb your meal. We’ll be leaving now.”

When Chen Xiangli heard “municipal bureau,” her shoulders twitched slightly. Then, hearing “leaving,” she seemed to suddenly relax. “Okay then, thank you for your hard work.”

Back in the car, Ji Chenjiao said, “I thought you were going to test her a bit more.”

“Any more testing and she would have exploded,” Ling Lie said. “Her reaction already speaks volumes—she’s related to the case, or at least knows something. I don’t know for what reason Uncle Wei didn’t spend time on her back then. Did she seem too devoted? Too fragile? Why would a woman deeply in love with Tan Fabin kill her rich and promising fiancé?”

Ling Lie sighed, his expression rarely so solemn. “Perhaps, in investigating Chen Xiangli, he made a mistake.”

“Then what is Shen Wei’s role in the case?” Ji Chenjiao analyzed along the lines Ling Lie had proposed. “Shen Wei and Chen Xiangli are closely connected; they seem to be in the same camp. But their reactions are different. Shen Wei’s surprise was greater than the hesitation he later showed, while Chen Xiangli was completely terrified. Shen Wei wants the police to solve the case; Chen Xiangli is afraid of the police solving the case.”

Ling Lie: “Shen Wei is not related to the case, but he found out something during the subsequent investigation? In seventeen years, people’s feelings change. Does he not want to lose another person he depends on after losing his brother? Is his hesitation to protect Chen Xiangli?”

Ji Chenjiao shook his head. “That doesn’t quite make sense. If he knew Chen Xiangli was related to the case, from a character perspective, even if he didn’t expose her, he shouldn’t continue to interact with her as if nothing happened.”

Ling Lie thought for a moment. “Then the mysteries to be solved now are what Shen Wei is hiding, and what is the background of the one surnamed Lu.”

---

As soon as they arrived at the municipal bureau’s criminal investigation division, Ji Chenjiao and Ling Lie heard shouting from the interrogation room.

At noon, the criminal investigation division had arrested the fugitive Liu Xuelin at a rest area on the west suburban highway. He had been brought back to the sub-bureau half an hour ago, and now Huang Yi was personally interrogating him.

Judging from the commotion, Huang Yi was furious.

Ling Lie’s curiosity was immediately piqued. He tugged on Ji Chenjiao’s clothes. “Let’s go, let’s go see.”

Just as Ling Lie reached the door of the interrogation room, the door flew open with a bang. If he hadn’t dodged quickly, his face would have been flattened. He jumped back to Ji Chenjiao’s side and muttered, “This municipal bureau is quite fiery, huh!”

Ji Chenjiao thought to himself: You have the nerve to talk about others? Who’s more fiery than you?

Huang Yi came out with a dark face, about to go for a smoke before continuing to wear Liu Xuelin down. Seeing Ling Lie and Ji Chenjiao, his eyes lit up. “You’re just in time. This case is damn strange!”

Ji Chenjiao said, “Didn’t you catch the guy? What did he say?”

“He’s denying it to the death! His reasons sound like he didn’t even think them through! Come, let’s talk somewhere else.” Huang Yi brought Ji Chenjiao and Ling Lie back to the office and brought over a laptop for them to watch the interrogation video. “Liu Xuelin and the deceased Mou Dianpei were competitors. The day before yesterday, Mou Dianpei even went to the funeral home to deliver a body, and was murdered early yesterday morning. It’s confirmed that the body was thrown from Liu Xuelin’s car, and he even abandoned his car and ran for a day. He almost escaped back to his hometown by borrowing someone else’s car! I brought him back, look how scared he is! And even so, he’s still crying injustice to me, saying he dumped the body but didn’t kill the person! If you didn’t kill him, why did you dump him? And after dumping him, you ran?”

Huang Yi picked up his teacup and chugged a large mouthful. “You guys watch first. I’m going for a smoke to calm down.”

In the video, the suspect Liu Xuelin was tall and thin, close to 180 cm, with a sallow and emaciated face. He didn’t look as strong as Mou Dianpei. But strangling a person wasn’t impossible.

He cried one moment and shouted the next, all about one thing—in the early morning of July 22nd, he went to pick up a body according to a client’s order. His car was a Jinbei van with the seats removed. Usually, he could make three trips a night, sometimes one body, and when business was good, he would pick up four bodies in one trip.

Business was good that day. He picked up six bodies. As per the families’ requests, he delivered the bodies to different processing areas. After delivering the last one, he suddenly found there was still one more. He was instantly dumbfounded.

The body bags were uniformly issued by the funeral home, and he had many stored at home. But after each body was placed inside, a number would be pasted on the outside of the bag. He confirmed he hadn’t made any wrong deliveries, so where did this remaining one without a number come from?

It was already three in the morning. He was tired and sleepy, his mind not working properly. He opened the bag and saw a somewhat familiar face—wasn’t it Old Mou? He panicked even more, not understanding why he had run into such a thing. In his panic, he simply dumped the body along with the body bag on the roadside to the right of the cremation area.

“I was thinking, since this is a crematorium, and it’s in a funeral home’s bag, whoever sees it will just take it to be burned. I just had some really bad luck. What does this have to do with me?”

When questioned about why he ran away, Liu Xuelin was in tears. “The more I thought about it later, the more scared I got. I felt I shouldn’t have dumped the body, but I didn’t dare to call the police either. The police would definitely think I killed and dumped the body. So I thought, I thought I’d just lay low for a while…”

The video ended. Huang Yi said, “Don’t you think this guy is infuriating? Even if he’s not the killer, he’s been a great help to the killer! By the way, you said Mou Dianpei was an important suspect in the Feng’an County case. Have you found any clues?”

Ling Lie said, “If what this Liu Xuelin said is true, these two cases might really have to be considered together.”

Huang Yi’s eyes widened.

“An ordinary killer, for some reason, kills Mou Dianpei and doesn’t want the police to catch him. Dismemberment and hiding the body are common methods,” Ling Lie said. “But framing another person often carries a greater risk, especially framing a living person. A living person can talk and defend himself. And the process of moving Mou Dianpei’s body itself is very dangerous. The fact that he was willing to take such a big risk might mean he had to. Because if he didn’t find someone to frame, even if the police couldn’t immediately lock onto him, they could quickly analyze the reason for Mou Dianpei’s death.”

Huang Yi thought for a moment and slapped his right hand on his left palm. “I get it! Mou Dianpei was a key person of interest in the Feng’an County case. This can be found with a simple system check. He had the opportunity and motive, but there was insufficient evidence back then, and he refused to confess, so the police couldn’t do anything to him. But in the eyes of the victim’s relatives and friends, he was always a suspect! If he wasn’t framed, we would most easily suspect that Tan, Tan…”

Ling Lie said, “Suspect Tan Fabin’s relatives. Especially the brother who persisted in chasing the killer.”

Huang Yi slapped his thigh, his eyes filled with admiration. “You guys from the Special Operations Team are really something else. It’s like a sudden enlightenment!”

“Don’t be hasty. this is just one possibility,” Ling Lie continued. “The fact that Liu Xuelin was chosen can also be a clue. Was it necessary for it to be him? Or could it have been any ‘Golden Impermanence’? I suspect Liu Xuelin was also targeted.”

Huang Yi said, “That’s easy to explain. We found out through our inquiries that Liu Xuelin had a dispute with Mou Dianpei near the Third Hospital just a few days ago. They almost got into a fight. Many people in their line of work saw it. If the killer was also present, he would have thought that Liu Xuelin was a very suitable person to frame.”

While Ling Lie and Huang Yi were discussing, Ji Chenjiao was looking at the road surveillance. Assuming Liu Xuelin wasn’t lying, then someone had put Mou Dianpei in his car while he was transporting the bodies. To do this without being noticed, it could only have been done during the time Liu Xuelin stopped to move the bodies.

Ji Chenjiao said, “Captain Huang, I’ll interrogate Liu Xuelin in a bit.”

Huang Yi immediately said, “Okay, okay, I’ll go in and take notes.”

The interrogation continued. Liu Xuelin shouted his innocence. “Even if I had a conflict with Mou Dianpei, I never thought of killing him! Killing him and dumping him at the funeral home, am I crazy? Isn’t that just handing him over to you to be arrested?”

Ji Chenjiao said, “In the early morning of July 22nd, how many trips did you make in total?”

“Just two! I had other clients later, but how could I dare to take them?”

“On the first trip, how many bodies did you transport, where did you stop, at what time, and for how long?”

Liu Xuelin was stunned. Huang Yi said, “Speak up. If you don’t tell us, how can we prove your innocence?”

Liu Xuelin caught his breath and began to state the times and locations. Ji Chenjiao noted them down one by one and confirmed with him that the car was empty when he left the funeral home.

“I swear!” Liu Xuelin raised his right hand. “If I had found something in the car on that trip, I would never have made a second trip!”

Ji Chenjiao then had him state the times and locations of the second trip:

1:50 AM to 2:05 AM, Guangqing Second Alley.
2:30 AM to 2:47 AM, Bianjun Middle Road, Sixth Village.
2:53 AM to 3:09 AM, Cao’erjiakou.

After leaving Cao’erjiakou, Liu Xuelin never opened the car door again and drove straight to the funeral home. After delivering the third body, at just after three, he discovered the extra one.

If someone had put Mou Dianpei’s body in the car, it could only have been done at these three time points.

Ji Chenjiao handed the record to Huang Yi and asked, “At the entrance of the Third Hospital that day, what was the reason for your scuffle with Mou Dianpei?”

“What else could it be? That guy is unreasonable. He insisted I stole his client!” Liu Xuelin was both dejected and angry. “In our line of work, it’s all about individual ability. What fixed clients? Does someone’s family die all the time? He just hadn’t had business for a long time and was picking a fight with me because he didn’t like the look of me! Now there are those ‘Golden Impermanences’ who have companies. My business is already hard enough!”

Liu Xuelin wiped his face. “I was also confused. If I hadn’t fought with him that day, none of this would have happened! You guys are just saying I’m the killer because you saw me arguing with him!”

Huang Yi was about to flare up again. “Who said you’re the killer? The body was in your car, you dumped it and abandoned your car and fled. Is there a problem with me arresting you?”

Being yelled at, Liu Xuelin shrank his neck and fell silent.

Ji Chenjiao asked, “What do you mean by ‘Golden Impermanences’ who have companies?”

“That means they are legitimate funeral businesses.” Liu Xuelin got angry just talking about this. “We’re individual soldiers, they’re a corporate army. The moment they came, they started a price war with us, and they’re always promoting how they’re the only ones who can be trusted. My income has dropped a lot in the past few months!”

Ji Chenjiao continued to question, “Besides the conflict that day, have you had any dealings with Mou Dianpei before?”

“In this line of work, you see each other all the time. We’re not close, but I know of him. He has a bad reputation, always likes to do sneaky and dishonest things.”

“For example?”

“I heard he wanted to partner with the owner of the lunch box stall, to have a fixed advertisement at the owner’s place. You know ‘Old Shen’s Lunch Box’? It’s cheap, affordable, and many patients and their families eat there. Doing that would definitely not be okay; it’s not fair. Fortunately, the owner didn’t seem to agree.”

Ji Chenjiao: “Is Mou Dianpei very familiar with the lunch box owner?”

Liu Xuelin: “Maybe? I heard they’re from the same hometown. Anyway, he often goes there to eat.”

Ji Chenjiao jotted down a few notes in his notebook. “By the way, when you transport bodies at night, are you always alone?”

“I used to have a master who taught me, but my master quit long ago. It’s just me.”

“Not scared?”

“Hah, what’s there to be scared of after doing it for so long.”

“Do other ‘Golden Impermanences’ know your daily route?”

Liu Xuelin lowered his head and thought for a while. “It’s like this, funerals usually last for three days, right? When someone dies, we all go to make contact at that time. If we agree, we write down the time and go to pick them up in the early morning of the third day.”

Ji Chenjiao: “So it’s not difficult for others to find out your route.”

Liu Xuelin scratched his head. “Anyway, if I’m determined to find out someone else’s route, I can find out.”

Ji Chenjiao’s pen twirled up and down a few times. “Have you offended anyone?”

Liu Xuelin looked troubled. “This…”

Huang Yi banged the table. “This is related to whether you were framed. What are you still hiding?”

Liu Xuelin hurriedly said, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! It’s my fault. Last year, I wanted to befriend a caregiver. I pursued her for a long time, but she ignored me. I, I don’t know what I was thinking at the time, I was just pestering her and got her angry. Her caregiver colleagues chased me with brooms, and there was a young man…”

Liu Xuelin’s voice got smaller and smaller. It was clear he had embellished the process. It wasn’t that he got her angry; it was pure harassment.

Ji Chenjiao asked, “Which caregiver was it?”

Liu Xuelin rubbed his hands. “Chen with the ‘ear’ radical, Xiangli. Don’t get me wrong, she’s really good-looking among the caregivers.”

Ji Chenjiao said, “And the young man? What did he do to you?”

Liu Xuelin looked ashamed. “He beat me up, what else could he do? Warned me not to be a toad lusting after a swan’s flesh. Hey, I didn’t know at the time. I thought he was just being a hero. It was only later that I found out Xiangli seems to know Old Shen, and that young man works at Old Shen’s shop.”