CH 37.1

“Kidney failure…” Gu Xizhou repeated those words. “Do you know Wang Liqi’s family?”

“I know a little about them.” The boss was questioned by Gu Xizhou, and he hurriedly said everything that he knew. “He came here a few years ago to find a job. Even though he wasn’t very old, he definitely couldn’t compete with other young workers, especially car repairs is a job that relies a lot on physical strength. When he found me, I rejected him, but he looked like he was about to cry…”

“I asked him if he had met with any sort of difficulties in his life. He just said… that his wife died of complications when she gave birth to their son, and it was not easy for him to raise his son all these years. When he saw his son get married and have kids, he thought the comfortable future had finally arrived. But who knew they would encounter an unpredictable situation…when his son fell sick, that family fell apart as well.”

“His son had kidney failure… and his daughter-in-law insisted on divorcing him and splitting the house, insisting on walking on their own separate paths. He wanted to earn money to help pay for his son’s doctor fees, and after I heard his story and looked him over, I agreed to let him work here.”

Gu Xizhou made an understanding noise. “So his son’s death in the end, was it due to a lack of money? Or was there no suitable kidney donor?”

The boss of the car repair shop started to reminisce. “He originally had no money and was going to sell his house, then he suddenly obtained money from an unknown source, and didn’t need to sell the house. After his son underwent the kidney operation… his body rejected the donor’s kidney, and it was impossible to save him.”

“You’re saying that someone gave him a sum of money?” Gu Xizhou asked curiously. 

The boss nodded, and started to explain what had happened when Wang Liqi had just arrived at the shop. In his memory, Wang Liqi was a kind father. Gu Xizhou asked the traffic police at the side to check the surveillance, and the CCTV tapes confirmed that it was Wang Liqi who drove Lu Jian’s fake taxi on the eighth of the month.

But Gu Xizhou and the rest simply couldn’t understand why such a person would drive and intentionally stage an accident. His life was so pitiful, and he was an impeccable father. Furthermore, further investigation proved that he had no connection to the victim’s family. 

After obtaining this evidence, Fang Zhi received a call and informed Gu Xizhou in the repair shop: “We’ve already notified the nearby police bureau and the traffic police. They’ll arrive in five minutes.”

Gu Xizhou nodded, a clear look in his eyes, and waited for five minutes. When everyone had arrived, they immediately rushed over to the suspect’s home in Ningqing.

The cars stopped in unison at the gates of Hongyue Community Block.

“Boom boom!”

“Is there someone home? The toilet in your house is leaking.” A plain clothes female police officer stood in front of the door and knocked. 

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“Is this Wang Liqi’s home?”

Hearing Fang Zhi’s inquiry, the plump woman nodded reluctantly. “Yes, Wang Liqi was my former father-in-law.”

“He’s not home?” Gu Xizhou and the rest had already searched through the house once, but they hadn’t seen any sign of a male figure. There was only a little girl about five years old in the house. When the girl saw them rush in, she had immediately grabbed the corner of her mother’s pants, hiding behind the woman’s frame. 

“No… He doesn’t live here, after his son died, we split. He, he, what did he do?” The plump woman asked in a small voice. “It doesn’t concern my daughter or I! Whatever he did, has nothing to do with me!”

Gu Xizhou glanced at her and said: “Why do you think he did something wrong?”

Wang Liqi’s former daughter-in-law heard this and saw the look in Gu Xizhou’s eyes. She immediately replied: “No, it’s just a feeling.”

“Explain,” Gu Xizhou said coldly.

“A few years ago, my ex-husband…well…my ex-husband had kidney failure. At that time, this house was quite valuable,  so they planned on selling it to earn money for his medical fees, but I refused to agree…Then, my former father-in-law somehow produced a few hundred thousand dollars out of nowhere to fund my ex-husband’s kidney operation. He lived for another six months, then his body rejected the kidney, and he died.”

“Then, I asked how he obtained the money, but he refused to say.”

After hearing this, the policewoman that had followed frowned and said: “You wanted to divorce after finding out your husband was sick? You’re too cruel…”

“What’s wrong with divorcing?” The plump woman heard the female police officer’s words, and suddenly became aggressive. “I already brought up the idea of divorcing before he even realised he was sick, it’s the two of them, that father and son pair that are unforgiving!”

The woman immediately began to pour out all her grievances about them: “When I had just given birth to my daughter, the father-son pair acted as if I was nothing to them, like I was beneath them. What, did they think that their family had some sort of throne that required inheritance?”

“After I had given birth, once they saw it was a girl, they immediately turned their backs on me! My parents were the ones who brought me home to take care of me for a full three months after I gave birth, and he never called, or came over to see the child!”

“My heart had turned so cold at that time, but I thought that the child was still small, so I would try one more time. But the two of them treated my daughter the same way they treated me, and there was no difference between my daughter having a father or not. When she was two, I had already clearly intended to divorce him, and my family supported me. I raised the issue of divorcing before he even realised he was sick!”

“Wait, we understand the reason now…” Gu Xizhou said faintly. “We can understand your decision, and can even agree with you.”

Gu Xizhou changed the topic, and asked Wang Liqi’s former daughter-in-law for the address for his parents and sister’s home. Gu Xizhou immediately contacted the police over there to arrest Wang Liqi. 

After arranging that, Gu Xizhou and his team casually found a small noodle restaurant, and ate something. 

“Originally, when I heard that car repair shop owner say that the woman wanted to divorce, I thought she was quite cruel, but after hearing what the woman said, I can’t help but think of that old proverb–one man’s friend is another man’s enemy.”

“Exactly, if it were me, I would also definitely divorce him,” the new police officer said. 

“Who wouldn’t?” Fang Zhi said helplessly.

Gu Xizhou didn’t chime in. He quickly ate the noodles in his bowl, and returned to his car, reclining back and taking a quick nap.

…

The next afternoon, Wang Liqi was arrested.

Wang Liqi looked older than his photos. He was 55, but he looked like he was 60. His face was extremely tan, and the traces of the years were carved very deeply into his face. His eyes were dull, his expression was numb, and he looked like he experienced the worst of the world, looking incredibly pitiful.

Gu Xizhou took the information they had collated so far in hand and entered the interrogation room alone. 

If someone looked at the information carefully, they would be able to see questions scribbled all over the papers in pencil, with careful explanation on the order that they had to be asked in. 

Gu Xizhou took the interrogation questions that Gu Ji Ji had written out for him, and started to interrogate Wang Liqi. 

“Wang Liqi, 55 years old, male.” Gu Xizhou flipped through the information and asked emotionlessly. “Where were you at 5 to 6 am on the eighth of this month?”

“At home.”

“Do you recognise this car?” Gu Xizhou pushed the picture to Wang Liqi. 

Wang Liqi looked at it for a while, and shook his head. “No, I don’t recognise it.”

“It doesn’t matter if you refuse to admit it. The people at the car repair shop have already confirmed that this car is Lu Jian’s, and that his car has the cigarette butts that you left inside. It was stressful to plan to intentionally knock into someone, so you smoked to relieve your nervous mood. The chain of evidence is incredibly complete. You cannot run away from your crime.”

“Oh. Then what’s the point of interrogating me?” Wang Liqi said blankly, and then continued: “I’ll admit it, I drove the car, and escaped after the accident.”

“Why did you drive Lu Jian’s car?”

Wang Liqi looked down at his hands and said after a while: “I haven’t driven in a long time, so I wanted to try it. His car happened to be repaired by me, so I took it out for a spin, and I didn’t expect to hit someone. I didn’t mean it, and I was extremely nervous, so I drove away.”

“… They… how are they?” Wang Liqi asked, his hands clasped together tightly. 

Gu Xizhou said: “I’m the one asking questions right now, not you.”

soya: my country recently re-opened all the shops and allowed us to have gatherings etc, so i’ve been super busy the past few weeks… in apology, i’ll upload x2! if you like these translations, please consider dropping me a kofi (or a few :3) to boost my energy!