CH 61

Edited by: Dust Bunny

“What the fuck!” The face of their guide turned deathly pale as he stared at the faintly discernible hand, stumbling as he failed to stand firm and fell backward onto the ground. “Is that a- a human hand?” 

“Yes,” replied Gu Xizhou, taking his cellphone from his pocket.

“Yes, I found something… No, I still can’t be sure whether it’s Xu Wei or not… I only smashed open a small part… There’s only a hand visible…” Gu Xizhou spoke into the phone. “Come over as soon as possible.”

Off to the side, Jiang Jun’s face was as white as a sheet of paper. When he saw Gu Xizhou make a phone call, he started as if waking up from a dream and took out his phone to call the company.

After a short while, police cars entered Shallow Water Garden. The sky was hazy, and twilight fell. 

After a few minutes, the local civil police rushed over to put up the yellow police tape to preserve the scene. After that, a few professionals looked at the blueprints to discuss whether removing the body would affect the building’s structural integrity.

Gu Xizhou took two bottles of spring water and handed one to Fang Zhi and stuffed the other in Jiang Jun’s hand.

“This place isn’t very waterproof. The previous rainy season caused the wall’s outer surface to degrade, so the smell inside could be emitted.”

“Team Leader Gu, we looked over the blueprints. The body isn’t in a load-bearing structure, and it’s unlikely to influence the superstructure,” explained one of the experts.

Gu Xizhou said, “All right. Get the body out as soon as possible.”

Just as he spoke, the construction company’s people also hurried onto the scene. At the same time, a sultry black Maybach drove in. After the plain driver got out, he quickly opened the door for the boss in the back seat.

Si Yu got out of the car, but he didn’t cross the police tape. He beckoned Gu Xizhou over. The two people had a strong tacit connection. After he waited for Gu Xizhou to come over, Si Yu asked, “Is it Xu Wei?”

“We still can’t tell if it’s really him, but I think so,” Gu Xizhou said with a nod. 

“How did you find it?”

Gu Xizhou said casually, “I smelled something very familiar, the familiar stench of corpses.”

The corner of Si Yu’s mouth quirked up and he asked, “Were you born in the year of the dog?”

Gu Xizhou explained, “If you regularly came into contact with rotting bodies, you’d be able to sniff them out, too.” 

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Taking advantage of the time his other coworkers were handling the body, Gu Xizhou drove directly to the police department. Inside the interrogation room, Zhou Yiguang was fiddling with his handcuffs in boredom. He asked, “What? Police officer comrade, do you want to wrongly accuse me of murder again?”

Gu Xizhou raised the corner of his mouth and smiled. “We’re already aware of the identity of the deceased. He’s the family construction company’s former big boss, Xu Wei.”

“Furthermore,” Gu Xizhou dragged out the word. “We already found the other part of the corpse. The murder weapon was hidden with the body, a hatchet.”

In the wake of Gu Xizhou’s words, Zhou Yiguang’s lazy expression finally turned ashen, and his hands clenched so hard the bones cracked. 

“It will only take up to two days to evaluate the results.” Gu Xizhou said indifferently, taking out a photograph. “Do you want to talk now, or later?”

Zhou Yiguang was silent… Finally, he began to speak, opening his mouth.

“I didn’t expect you to find the body…” Zhou Yiguang said. “How did you find it?”

Gu Xizhou said, “You hid the corpse inside of a wall. At that time, it wasn’t very waterproof. Because of the monsoon weather, the wall’s surface degraded, and the air inside escaped. Plus, the cement itself wasn’t airtight. There were many small holes inside. The corpse’s smell passed through.” 

Zhou Yiguang nodded expressionlessly and said, “You know that Xu Wei died. You should’ve also investigated our relationship, ba?”

“Deng Mei explained, but we still want to hear what you have to say.”

“En… sixteen years ago, I worked at a construction site and got to know him. Xu Wei was a small worker considered to be intelligent and capable, so I had a good opinion of him,” Zhou Yiguang recalled. We called each other elder brother and younger brother. Later, my father suffered a paralyzing stroke and was bedridden. At first, I still insisted on going to work at the construction site, but they couldn’t get by without me at home… Finally, I had no choice but to resign and return home.

“After returning home, I opened the family tea shop. That way, I could take care of my father and mother while having a steady source of income. The neighbors inside the courtyard were all very kind. If they hadn’t looked after me, my tea shop couldn’t have stayed open for so long. Every day, there were several tables of people who came to my tea shop to play mahjong. Although the money wasn’t much, it was located at home and very suitable for taking care of my parents. I was very satisfied. 

“Xu Wei indeed had a good brain. After I left, he looked for me once. He asked me to do him a favor and find our previous colleague to let him be the chief labor contractor at the construction site. At that time, you all know it was common for migrant workers to return home to celebrate the new year and not make any money…

“In his first year as the chief labor contractor, he didn’t make any money. At the beginning of the new year, he wanted to recruit people. He had to continue to work to be reimbursed by the company, so he looked for me to help. I lent him five thousand. I thought our relationship was pretty good at that time, so I didn’t let him write an IOU.

“I didn’t urgently try to get him to pay me back, either. I only said that he could repay me when he got rich.

“A few years later, I watched him exchange his brick phone and start driving a mini-car, but he still hadn’t paid me back. I couldn’t help but ask him, but as a result, after asking twice, he got very impatient. After that, he simply didn’t even answer my phone calls…” 

Zhou Yiguang used a dull tone to state, “Afterwards, I specifically went to find him, and he directly became hostile. Then, I saw that he really wouldn’t give up.”

“Then why did you kill him?” Fang Zhi asked doubtfully.

“Last winter, my mother fell ill and needed to stay in an intensive care unit. A thousand a day, how could I have that much money? I suddenly remembered that Xu Wei owed me five thousand yuan. I made some inquiries; he was now fully developed and flourishing, with 100 million in assets. I personally saw him enter a 4S store and give his mistress a car worth a few hundred thousand without blinking…”

Zhou Yiguang continued, “I blocked his car and asked him to pay me back. I thought that fifty thousand wasn’t a big number to him. Five thousand yuan fifteen years ago is worth fifty thousand yuan now, and he shouldn’t lack it… but when Xu Wei saw me, he directly raised his foot and kicked me, yelling at me to go away and saying he didn’t know me. At that time, he seemed awfully angry. Afterwards, I realized he was thinking about not losing face. 

“At that time, I urgently needed to pay for medical expenses, and I kneeled in front of him, begging him… He drew out five thousand on the spot and threw it in my face, and he spat on me, calling me a beggar.

“Five thousand was only enough for my mother to stay for five days. In fact, it was really only enough to pay for part of the debt and nothing more. Wanting to stay longer was… The money simply wasn’t there. At that time, my mother’s doctor helped me cover five thousand yuan of the medical costs. To be honest, I’m very grateful to that female doctor!”

“Not long after… my mother died.”

Zhou Yiguang took a deep breath before he continued. “After my mother’s death, my father always felt that everything was his fault. If not for him holding me back, I wouldn’t be in this state– already this old and still without a wife. That day, my father and I spoke. He wanted to die. 

“Afterwards, he really did die. He went on a hunger strike and left. When I held him, I felt that he was so light, so light.”

Zhou Yiguang’s voice suddenly trembled, and then Gu Xizhou heard a burst of repressed weeping.

These misfortunes he’d experienced had already worn him down. He accepted all this and worked hard without complaint, but when his father starved himself to unburden him, all of his sorrow suddenly burst out and became fierce wounds, just like a dagger piercing straight into his heart.

Zhou Yiguang cried for a long time. Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi didn’t comfort him but instead sat to the side in silence, waiting for him to calm down. 

Seeing his mood stabilize a little, Gu Xizhou asked, “Then why did you kill Xu Wei?”

“After my parents left one after the other, I thought it was impossible for me to run the tea shop like this for a lifetime. I went out to accept a job offer and go to work,” choked Zhou Yiguang. “I previously supervised construction sites, so I thought I’d work for a related job.

“With great difficulty, I found a construction site in the suburbs that wanted me. I had barely worked there for two days before I was fired. At that time, I still thought it was my poor supervision that caused it. Later, I found out it was Xu Wei. All the rage that had previously piled up in my heart completely exploded. My mind was completely filled with the desire to kill him! Afterwards, I followed through and murdered him.”

Gu Xizhou noticed that when Zhou Yiguang brought up Xu Wei, his face instantly turned sinister. Gu Xizhou asked, “Why didn’t you put his head inside the wall with his body?” 

Zhou Yiguang said, “When I killed him, I swung the hatchet to chop off his head and separated it from his body. After I put his body in the wall, I immediately threw his head into a cement bucket to take away… Actually, I also don’t know what I was thinking back then. Maybe I subconsciously determined I wouldn’t be found out, or perhaps I hoped someone would discover it, ba…”

After handing over the prisoner, Gu Xizhou left and heard a few colleagues talking softly.

“Damn, a debt has to be repaid; it’s heaven’s law and earth’s principle! How could someone be so shameless?”

“Nowadays, those who owe money are uncles, while those who loan money are grandsons.” 

“He’s too pitiful. His father…”

Grieving cries echoed from the interrogation room, the sound was like the cuckoo who, after its tears are exhausted, continues by weeping blood. The police officers outside were unwilling to go in. At this time, the atmosphere inside the interrogation room was stifling enough to make it hard to breathe.

Compared with the others’ sorrowful moods, Gu Xizhou was unperturbed. He went directly to the morgue and knocked on the door, asking Xiang Yuan, “When can I get the evaluation report?”

“Another two hours. Just a moment ago, I saw your subordinates all look miserable without exception. Is the case hard to bear?” 

Gu Xizhou shook his head, spreading out his hands. “It’s not hard to bear. I only care about the results.”

Xiang Yuan looked at Gu Xizhou strangely. Gu Xizhou noticed his line of sight and said, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“When you examined cases before, even if you pretended not to feel uneasy, I still knew your heart was uncomfortable.” Xiang Yuan added, “I always feel like you’ve changed.”

“Where have I changed?” 

Xiang Yuan said, “Before, when you were investigating a case and didn’t find the murderer, you smoked. When you found the murderer, you also smoked because you felt bad for the criminals. But now, you don’t smoke, and when you speak, your eyes don’t dodge around. It shows that what you say is true:

“You really don’t care.”

Gu Xizhou touched his nose.

Xiang Yuan patted his shoulder, suddenly mocking him. “Actually, it’s fine like this. Before, I often thought——if you die, you’ll either die handling a case or because of lung cancer. Now, at least you probably won’t die of lung cancer.” 

Gu Xizhou: Brother, you really have good vision: Gu Ji Ji did die handling a case. Being a criminal police officer is an extremely dangerous profession!

Crooked: I am a Zhou Yiguang apologist: screw that Xu Wei guy