191 The Ever-changing Autumn (1/2)
Huang He was equivalent to Tang Yuanchu's teacher. When he was a new detective, Huang He was the one who showed him the ropes. He had been following Huang He to understand more about being a detective and learnt a great deal of knowledge that books would be unable to teach him and from there, he had become a real detective.
At that time, Huang He was the Tang Yuanchu's example and goal.
Huang He had clear thinking, was upright, courageous and fearless—That was Tang Yuanchu's impression of Huang He.
But this pale, dull-looking eyed fellow who looked as though drained of his spirits that he looked depressed. He was no longer the teacher whom he admired.
Hearing Tang Yuanchu's voice which almost broke down, Xiang Wan felt somewhat down as well.
In contrast, Bai Muchuan and Huang He appeared to be very cool.
Huang He looked up and smiled at Tang Yuanchu. ”I'm not dead, why are you behaving in such a mournful manner?”
Tang Yuanchu was even more grieved when he heard that. ”Brother Huang, why have you become like this? Did some b*st*rd in there mess around with you? Tell me, I'll look them up…”
If he had not received some ”special treatment”, why would he become like this? That was what Tang Yuanchu thought.
But Huang He only let out a bitter laugh and shook his head. ”There isn't.”
”Really?”
”Why should I lie to you?” Huang He looked up at him. ”Do you think your Brother Huang is someone who could be easily messed around with?”
If no one messed around with him, that could only mean he was the one who did that to himself.
”Are you in some kind of trouble?” Tang Yuanchu asked.
”… It's nothing. It's my own problem.” Huang He did not seem to want to talk about it.
Tang Yuanchu tried to search for a valid reason but still couldn't not figure it out why in such a short period of time, he had lost so much weight and become like this?
”You're no longer dashing!”
”You sound as though there was a time when I'm dashing!”
Huang He laughed and brushed the topic aside. ”You should be happy for me. I'm getting out again.”
Just that word ”again” brought about endless bitterness.
Huang He did not work for Zhou Dequan for long. As Zhou Dequan was still wary of him, Huang He was only responsible for those legal businesses and affairs. The results of the investigation showed that he was not involved in any of the illegal activities. Therefore, it had been ascertained that he could not have been directly or indirectly involved in any shady or illegal activities.
”The release papers came just now, I'll be released in a while. I'm acquitted.”
He gave a faint smile and suddenly gazed at the silent Bai Muchuan.
”Captain Bai, thank you.” Huang He looked serious as he said that.
After a brief pause, he let out a bitter chuckle. ”If it's not for you, I might be the same as the rest of them where I need to stay in here for at least three to five years…”
Xiang Wan was surprised.
Bai Muchuan had never showed much concern over Huang He's matters. But deep down inside, he was quietly trying his best to help Huang He out and did not give up on him?
This man had refused to say anything, but he was absolutely loyal to his friends and attached great importance to justice…
”That's because you're innocent,” said an indifferent Bai Muchuan. ”We will not accuse a good man. Neither will we let a bad person off.”
That sounded quite official as well as a courtesy way of replying.
”Yes, I know.” Huang He laughed, but he looked brooding between his brows as well. ”Well, I still want to thank you—for your help. I'll give you a treat when I get out of here.”
”It's alright, you don't need to.” Bai Muchuan furrowed his brows slightly. ”What are you going to do going ahead?”
Huang He did not say a word. After a while, he suddenly heaved a sigh.
”I'll take one step at a time. Just get out of here first.”
As he said so, he looked at Xiang Wan. ”I didn't expect that the second time I get out of here, you two will come and receive me again…”
History was as though repeating itself.
It was just that this time, the people who came to fetch him had changed. Fang Yuanyuan was not there.
There wouldn't be anyone who would yell and cry out his name and rush to embrace him, as well as scold him and kick a fuss over him.
Xiang Wan gave a pleasant smile. ”We should.”
Huang He smiled too. He did not ask about Fang Yuanyuan, and Xiang Wan did not talk about her, either.
Both of them had tacitly avoided the topic.
”We'll get going then.”
”See you outside.”
”Kudos to freedom.”
”…”
Xiang Wan's heart felt heavy upon seeing Huang He like this. She did not feel good but at the same time, she felt relieved for him.
Fortunately, Fang Yuanyuan did not see him at this state. Otherwise, she couldn't imagine how upset Yuanyuan would be—even though Yuanyuan had been calm and behaved as usual without having her to worry. However, Xiang Wan understood Yuanyuan.
If Fang Yuanyuan had created a scene, kicked up a fuss, and cried her heart out, it would mean that she was not in extreme emotional pain.
When she was suffering from extreme emotional pain, she would be quiet and silent like what she was doing now—she was actually in despair.
…
Zhou Dequan's body had been sent to the funeral parlor.
When Bai Muchuan got to know of this, he almost burst out in anger.
This was because a medical examiner had conducted autopsy and concluded the cause of death to be suicide. This case was basically clear and the sending of the corpse to the funeral parlor had been executed according to protocol.
Bai Muchuan immediately called up the funeral parlor to stop with the cremation. Then he sent Cheng Zheng and his forensics team to retrieve the corpse from the funeral parlor.
In actual fact, such an action could easily offend the other team which had settled the case last night.
But whether it was Bai Muchuan or Cheng Zheng, they were not those who would bother with offending others—they were only concerned if they should do something or not…
Cheng Zheng went there speedily. The funeral parlor had not cremated the body and the reason was that Zhou Dequan's family were not there to sign the papers.
Currently, Zhou Dequan's son and daughter had just received news of his death and were on their way back from abroad. His wife, Ma Suying, was still in the hospital receiving treatment, and therefore unable to come over.
As the funeral parlor did not have the approval of the family members, they did not dare to cremate the body.
After Cheng Zheng conducted the autopsy, his conclusion was no different from the previous one as well—Zhou Dequan did commit suicide.
He had used his teeth to tear his prison clothes in pieces and tie them to form a long rope where he hung himself to death by the metal window.
In actual fact, it was difficult to want to commit suicide in a place like the detention center—it could be said that wanting to die was worse than wanting to live.
In order to prevent the prisoners from committing suicide to escape from their criminal responsibility, the detention center had extremely strict supervision on this matter. There was no metal or sharp objects, and the prison cells had surveillance cameras installed. Their movements could not escape the eyes of the prison wardens.
But when Zhou Dequan hanged himself last night, the prison guard on duty was actually taking a nap and coincidentally let him succeed in hanging himself.
Of course, this prison guard would definitely receive the rightful punishment for negligence in his work.
But when a person died, things would not be the same anymore.
…
When they got back to the office, Cheng Zheng dragged Bai Muchuan to the Forensics Lab to give a detailed description of Zhou Dequan's death.
Besides his assistant, Mei Xin, who did the autopsy with him, no one else participated.
When it was noon, the two of them came down from the lab to the canteen, walking and talking while doing so.
Xiang Wan was sitting in a corner near the windows. She looked at them from afar and suddenly, there was a feeling… as though she had fallen out of love.
After lunch, before they could take a breather, Bai Muchuan immediately called for a meeting. At the meeting, it was confirmed that the murderer behind Mao Guigui's death was, indeed, Zhao Dequan.
The murderer had committed suicide.
However, the motive of killing Mao Guigui as well as the whereabouts of her body were not stated in Zhou Dequan's suicide note, leaving some doubts in the case.
Bai Muchuan gave a detailed account of the situation to the team.
After that, he eyeballed everyone. ”Now, everyone is free to discuss and talk about their own views.”
The majority of them raised their questions revolving around those points that Bai Muchuan had mentioned.
They talked about the relationship between Jia An and Zhou Dequan. Zhou Dequan had made use of Jia An to abduct Mao Guigui and then he killed her. Zhou Dequan let Jia An be the scapegoat for him. Nonetheless, as Mao Guigui happened to be Ye Lun's fan, Jia An's case was also linked with the previous cases relating to Xie Wanwan, Kong Qingping, and the like.