CH 106

Tranlsated by: Dust Bunny

Edited by: Crooked 

“He died,” Gu Xizhou said flatly.

“How?” Bao Guanlin’s voice trembled violently. Apparently he was startled by this news. Immediately he clarified, “It’s none of my business! I didn’t kill anyone!”

Gu Xizhou sized him up and asked, “Do you know Liao’s first name?”

“This…” Bao Guanlin looked distracted. He didn’t know why Gu Xizhou would ask this question, and he hesitated, apparently thinking it over. After a moment he said, “I’m not sure. Everytime I see him, I directly call him Liao Ge. But I remember there was a name I transferred money to. Ah! I still have the text message! I didn’t delete it! 

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow. “Think carefully. The first time you met him, how did he introduce himself, ba? Also you don’t know him, how can you be sure he was the one who sent you money?”

“He just told me his surname was Liao… Oh right, I remember, at the time because we were afraid he wouldn’t pay his debt, we asked him to give us his ID card. After he gave me a bunch of money, I returned his ID card to him. I have a picture of it on my cell phone!” Bao Guanlin said.

“Did you ask him for it without warning?” Gu Xizhou confirmed.

Bao Guanlin nodded, “Yes, ah!”

Bao Guanlin felt that the police officer’s question was very strange.

Gu Xizhou asked someone to bring Bao Guanlin’s phone into the interrogation room and Bao Guanlin opened it in front of him, scrolling through the phone’s photo album. The man in Bao Guanlin’s phone held the ID in his hand, looking unenthusiastic about being photographed.

The photograph was very clear and the characters “Liao Shuang” were plainly visible. Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow and asked, “How did you meet him?”

“This…” Bao Guanlin hesitated, “We met at a casino.” 

Gu Xizhou said thoughtfully, “Do you have the address?”

Bao Guanlin handed over the address without much thought. After writing it down he asked with a smile, “Officer, are you gonna go catch them, ba? You have to catch them! There are a lot of people there!”

Bao Guanlin and the other side were competing for business and both sides were in a feud. If his competitors were caught, no one there would have an easy time.

Gu Xizhou must have said this and understood Bao Guanlin’s calculations. Yet he still liked this guy who harmed others without benefiting himself. 

“Officer, did these people die suddenly?” Bao Guanlin asked carefully after writing down the address.

Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows at him, “You have a lot of questions. Is he still in debt to you?”

Bao Guanlin said: “It’s paid, all paid. It’s not like that officer. What are you trying to say? Do you still suspect me?”

“I really didn’t kill him. Everything was paid. Why would I kill him? Even if you gave me the courage of a hundred people, I wouldn’t dare do it, ah! Murderers will eat a bullet.” Inside the interrogation room, Bao Guanlin let his shoulders slump, feeling wronged. 

That evening, the police department dispatched officers to arrest all the people inside the other casino. After interrogating everyone, Gu Xizhou went straight to Liao Jun’s home.

One hour later, Gu Xizhou’s car parked outside of his Liao Jun’s parent’s home. The door opened quietly and after a moment Gu Xizhou heard a voice say, “Come in! Come in!”

Liao Jun, who opened the door, was surprised to see Gu Xizhou, asking subconsciously, “Are there any clues?”

Gu Xizhou smiled and blocked the door, “Not for the moment. I just need to ask you a few questions.” 

“You could have just called. There’s no need to inconvenience yourself so much.” Liao Jun said, the expression on his face indecipherable. Although he was a little surprised, he still made way for Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi to enter the house. He grabbed some paper cups and filled them with water before saying, “Ask, ba.”

Gu Xizhou glanced around the room. Only Liao Jun’s parents were there. His wife, He Yunyun, Gu Xizhou noticed, was not present.

Gu Xizhou understood however. After all, He Yunyun and Liao Jun were getting a divorce. These two people no longer had any feelings for eachother. When they met that day, He Yunyun had talked about getting a divorce.

“We’ve investigated your bank account, and found that you’ve transferred some large amounts of money in the past year. Who was this money for?” 

Liao Jun was stunned and he seemed a little nervous, glancing at his parents next to him. “Can we go in to talk?”

Gu Xizhou nodded, “We can.”

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Gu Xizhou heard him say this and carefully recalled the information that they found on his bank account. Liao Jun was the CEO of a STEM company with an annual salary of around 1.5 million. He really did have the ability to repay his Didi’s gambling debt of 350,000 yuan, or rather a mere three months of his salary.

Just as Gu Xizhou was considering this, there came a knock at the door.

Peng! Peng! Peng! 

Gu Xizhou and Liao Jun went out at the same time and Gu Xizhou asked Fang Zhi and the others to open the door. A young girl came in from outside. Her skin was a little dark but her facial features were alright. She saw how many people were in the house and looked surprised. “Grandpa, grandma, dad, you’re all here, ah.”

The deceased daughter had hardly said a few words when she began to cry. Because she was crying, the two grandparents began to cry as well.

Despite all the wailing it didn’t affect their investigation. Gu Xizhou turned to ask Liao Jun, “Well,  since we’ve already come this far, and you have such a good relationship with your Didi, I wanted to ask you: has he really remained single for sixteen years?” 

Hearing Gu Xizhou, Liao Jun hesitated and the young girl and her grandparents turned to look at Gu Xizhou in shock asking him, “What- What are you trying to say? That Xiao Shuang had a girlfriend outside?”

“Liao Jun, I want you to answer my question seriously. Don’t hide anything.” Gu Xizhou said, “We already found his cellphone in his home.”

“Okay, ba… there is, I do know of one person. Last year my Di was with a woman, but because they weren’t suitable for each other they broke up.” Liao Jun conceded, looking defeated.

Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows and said, “Do you have her phone number?” 

Liao Jun shook his head and said, “It should be in my Di’s phone. I only saw her once or twice. Besides, she was my Di’s girlfriend, why would I save her number?”

“Why didn’t you tell me this when I asked you before?”

“It’s not that I didn’t tell you, it’s just that I didn’t think these two matters were related.” Liao Jun said with a poor complexion.

“Are you aware that this could affect the speed of our investigation?” Gu Xizhou asked. 

On the side, Liao Jun’s parents and daughter turned to him with a frown and urged him to speak.

“If it will help with the investigation, say it at once, ah!”

“Daba, what if it’s her?”

Hearing them, Liao Jun fell silent for a long time before speaking with difficulty. “Okay, ba. I’ll tell you, ba…” 

“Her name is Li Na. This woman was after money and wasn’t very fond of Xiao Shuang. She was young, beautiful, and snobby. I don’t know how they got to know each other, I only learned of this girlfriend by accident.

“Originally… I didn’t know about her. Once when I was shopping with Yunyun, Li Na must have saw me and ran over to hug me. At that time she startled me. Then she opened her mouth and called me Liao Ge. At the time I was confused and Yunyun and I argued over it. I didn’t recognize Li Na at all, so I didn’t understand…”

After fighting with Li Na in the street for a long time, She said that her boyfriend was Liao Shuang. Right away I said that I was not Liao Shuang! After I found my Didi I found out about the situation. I took the two of them back to Yunyun and made them give her a long explanation.”

Gu Xizhou called the station to look through the phone’s communication records and found a person by the name of Xiao Na. 

On the way back, they dialed the number and called. The person on the other end of the phone listened and said after a moment of silence, “I really don’t have anything to say about him. It’s been two months since I contacted him. If he died, I don’t know about it. What good is it to talk to me?”

Gu Xizhou glanced at the investigation report silently. Li Na hadn’t recently transferred a large amount of money, but he still wanted to ask her about the situation.

On the other end of the phone, Fang Zhi asked, “Mainly we want to know about your situation. May I ask how you know each other?”

“En. I used WeChat Shake and found someone nearby. After chatting with him several times he sent me an envelope with 520 in it. He said he wanted to meet me and that he liked me a little. At that time I didn’t want to. Who would have thought he would later send me 1314. I thought he looked pretty good, and he made good conversation so I agreed.” 

“And then?” The corner of Fang Zhi’s lips twitched as he held his tongue. Maybe the money was a good thing, right?

On the other end of the phone the person replied, “I was disappointed after meeting. It was his age, you know, ba… He was too old for me. To tell you the truth, I wanted to leave as soon as I saw him. He took me to dinner and then took me home. On the way home he told me honestly that he liked me.”

“At first he was quite the gentleman. He was well spoken and was thoughtful enough to send me home. After we met several times he told me that he had a good impression of me and I was too muddled to figure out how to respond.

“Who would have thought that not long after we were together I would find out that he was a green fucking ambassador!” 

Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows and turned to Fang Zhi, “Continue to question her.”

Fang Zhi asked Li Na gently, “Can you elaborate?”

“Ai, you police won’t tell anyone, right?” Li Na asked with some anxiety.

“Relax, of course not. We have professional integrity.” 

She hesitated, the silence on the other end beginning to drag out before she spoke up again, “That day I accidentally met his Gege and his wife. At the time I was shocked. He blamed me for being careless and causing a misunderstanding between his Ge and his wife and told me off.”

“As a result, a month later I found that he was keeping another cell phone behind my back full of chat records of him flirting with other girls. I was angry and broke up with him the same day.”

Gu Xizhou thought for a moment before speaking up, “When you were together, did Liao Shuang ever gamble?”

Li Na thought for a moment before saying, “Him? He doesn’t like cards. One time a friend and I tried to get him to play cards, but he refused. My impression is that he hasn’t played.” 

Gu Xizhou asked again, “Last question. Can you tell him and his Gege apart?”

“To tell you the truth… No. The day I ran into his Ge and his wife, I heard his Ge say that he had a Xiongdi but I didn’t believe him. I immediately took out my phone to call and verify it, and I can swear his Ge didn’t touch his phone. After that he quickly hurried over and I believed his story.”

“Thanks for your cooperation. Please keep your phone on. We may contact you at any time.” Gu Xizhou said lightly to Li Na on the other end of the phone.

“Oh, okay.” 

Fang Zhi hung up the phone and couldn’t help frowning. “The deceased truly is two-faced.”

Gu Xizhou thought it over and remembered Liao Shuang’s very pretty female assistant had a good evaluation of Liao Shuang’s character. She made it clear that Liao Shuang had a good reputation inside the company and that he didn’t sleep around. But in his girlfriend’s mouth he became a green ambassador. The red flag wasn’t planted at home, but fluttered in the breeze outside.

Gu Xizhou said doubtfully, “A person can’t possibly go to two different extremes. Li Na’s Liao Shuang didn’t like gambling, while we learned something completely different from the staff at the casino.”

Hearing what was said, Fang Zhi furrowed his brows subconsciously, “It really is odd.” 

Before when Gu Xizhou had told Xiang Yuan to check the brothers’ fingerprints, he had only asked him to examine the ones on the phone. However, he had overlooked one problem. The phone was the deceased’s, of course the fingerprints matched!

But the phone wasn’t Liao Shuang’s!

Gu Xizhou furrowed his brows. He would have to ask Xiang Yuan to check the brothers’ handwriting and fingerprints again tomorrow.

The next morning. 10:35.57. Gu Xizhou studied the report on the handwriting and fingerprints in his hands intently, and felt that his heart was much brighter. 

Xiang Yuan’s complexion wasn’t very good. “There is definitely a problem with these two brothers!”

They found that the brothers had different company contracts with both their signatures. After investigation of the handwriting and fingerprints, it was certain that the documents had been signed by two different people. It was strange that both companies had the signatures and fingerprints of both brothers.

Clearly both brother’s had exchanged identities conscientiously and had been doing so for a long time. No… it shouldn’t be a long time ago. Gu Xizhou narrowed his eyes, suddenly remembering what Yunyun had said: two years ago their parent’s began to mix them up.

Gu Xizhou ordered immediately, “Have the companies provide the signatures of these two people from two years ago. I don’t believe that the Didi and the Gege can’t be told apart!” 

“Okay!”

Before the lab results came out, Gu Xizhou’s phone rang. He listened for a moment before letting out a “motherfucker” telling the people around him, “Go to Liao Jun’s home! He said there was a suspicious person at the door.”

“Okay!” Fang Zhi frowned and followed up, “What’s going on? He isn’t trying to throw us off, right?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say. We should go take a look anyway, just in case he’s in trouble. It’s hard to say.” Gu Xizhou said while walking. 

“En.”

Gu Xizhou drove straight to Liao Jun’s house. When they got there there were already several police cars there and Liao Jun’s family were talking with the police. ‘Liao Jun’ didn’t seem hurt and the officers were asking him questions.

Because they were scared, the faces of Liao Jun’s family looked rather pale. Gu Xizhou walked over and asked, “What’s the situation?”

Liao Jun’s heart had yet to recover and he trembled in fear as he spoke, “This morning I heard someone knock at the door. I immediately asked who it was, but the person outside the door didn’t answer. After a moment they knocked again and I hurried over to look through the peephole, but it was obstructed by something and it was pitch-black.” 

“I remembered what you said before about how maybe they meant to kill me and got the wrong person. I was scared and called the police at once before quickly calling you.”

Gu Xizhou glanced at him deeply and said solemnly, “So, in other words, you didn’t see who it was?”

Liao Jun shook his head, “I didn’t see them, but we have a security camera in the hallway here! It caught it! There was someone outside in a black cap and a face mask!”

Gu Xizhou ‘en’ed and went to go ask the local officers about it. Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi showed their ID’s and the officers introduced themselves without hesitation. Gu Xizhou watched the monitor carefully. According to the recording, there really was a man dressed in black. His distinguishing features and appearance were also close to the murderer. Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi exchanged a look. 

At that moment Gu Xizhou’s phone rang. He said only a few words before handcuffing Liao Jun.

“Officer, what are you doing?” Liao Jun asked, his face hopelessly lost.

“Liao Shuang, we’ve already compared the fingerprints, the deceased is your Gege.” Gu Xizhou explained that Liao Shuang was a serious suspect. Not only had they discovered that Liao Shuang had reported the loss of his debit card this morning, but he had also changed all of his debit card pins and transferred a large amount of money.

“What are you saying, I’m Liao Jun. My Didi is the one who died!” 

Gu Xizhou said, “I suggest that you stop pretending. You and your Gege majored in different things. Do you know anything about computer science? Want me to ask you about something you know? Additionally, twins aren’t exactly the same. STR analysis can be done; it’s just a little troublesome.”

The man in front of them fell silent for a long time. Finally he bowed his head angrily, knowing that he could no longer deny it and admitted, “I am Liao Shuang, but I didn’t kill my Gege! The person that man really wanted to kill was me. You have to believe me!”

Gu Xizhou glanced at him deeply before paying him no mind, taking directly to the police car.

When Liao Shuang was brought to the interrogation room, Gu Xizhou sat across from him and asked, “Why did you two brothers switch identities?” 

With no alternative, Liao Shuang said, “It’s not my Gege’s fault, he was very good to me, and he just liked to play around. He kept many women outside. There were several incidents after my divorce where he used my identity to date other women.”

“He used your identity to cheat on his wife?” Gu Xizhou stated simply and clearly.

“En.” Liao Shuang nodded, and admitted, “After I got my divorce… He immediately began to use my identity to cheat on his wife. In the beginning it wasn’t too bad, but later, sometimes he wouldn’t return home. If he didn’t return home his wife would find out that he was… He asked me to go home in his place.”

Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows: “He Yuyun didn’t notice?” 

Liao Shuang shook his head and said, “I don’t know if my sister-in-law found out… At any rate I replaced him a few times.”

“A few times?”

“Okay, ba, I admit, it wasn’t just a few. It happened frequently.” Liao Shuang raised his hand and admitted in defeat, “By last month, he and I had practically exchanged places completely and I was living in his house everyday.”

“What about the day he died? Did you exchange places like before?” Gu Xizhou asked. 

Liao Shuang lowered his voice, “We met once that day and swapped clothes in a bathroom.”

“If I’m not mistaken, that’s the day He Yunyun arranged to talk with Liao Jun about the divorce. Did he ask you to take his place for that?” Did he also need you to tuck him in at night, ah?

Of course Gu Xizhou didn’t say it so bluntly, but he was beating the drum in his heart.

“I know that,” Liao Shun said helplessly, “The night before he died he suddenly sent me a message asking me to switch with him. I couldn’t resist him, so I ultimately agreed.” 

“Why didn’t you just tell us that you replaced your Gege?” Gu Xizhou asked.

Liao Shuang fell silent for a while before speaking, “He asked me to help him with the divorce, and I went…”

“At the time, I saw the division of property between her and him. My Ge had forty millions worth of assets. I didn’t know my Ge had so much money, even after the divorce he would still have twenty million. But, in the case that my Ge died… the money would all go to my Gege’s wife. After all, there was no formal divorce, only an agreement was signed.

“On top of that, then I received a telephone call which struck me senseless. I wanted to say that it was my Ge who died, but at the time, my head was filled with the details of the divorce agreement… When I thought that no one could tell us apart anyway my mind went astray. But please believe me, I didn’t kill him. He was my Ge; if I went mad I wouldn’t start with him!” 

Crooked: Hello, I have arbitrarily decided to change all of the ‘older brother’ and ‘younger brother’ to ‘Gege’ and ‘Didi’ because this case is driving me bonkers with all the switching and who’s who. And also bc I can just, do that. I am mad with power.

Also TIL there’s apparently a whole other TLer called Dust Bunny, that’s so funny. Anyway my Dust Bunny is not that DB, in case anyone also knew that and was confused.