"How was your brother's financial situation?" Fang Rui asked.
"At that time, he had just received an apartment and 100,000 in cash. Don't underestimate that amount - it was a huge sum back then."
"Was the apartment in Beiyuan Garden?"
"Yes, it was there."
"What happened to his assets after he disappeared?"
"My sister-in-law claimed that my brother had taken all their money and they wouldn't let us see Mingli. We felt guilty at the time, so we gave my sister-in-law custody of Mingli and the apartment, plus 50,000 yuan for child support," Li Qiang said. "Later, when we heard my sister-in-law had gone insane, I wanted to take Mingli to live with us, but her uncle always prevented us from seeing her. We felt my brother was partly responsible for my sister-in-law's mental breakdown, and since my business was doing well then, I gave her uncle another 150,000 yuan for her medical expenses."
Zhang sighed, thinking how Li Qiang would be devastated if he knew Zhang Mingli wasn't actually his brother's biological daughter, and all that money had gone straight into her uncle's pocket.
Seeing Zhang's complex expression, Li Qiang asked puzzled, "Officer, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Let's go to your house to find that phone."
"Alright. Officers, please tell my mother you're here for a census, and don't mention anything about my brother, okay?"
"No problem."
Li Qiang drove his own car leading the way, while Fang Rui and Zhang followed in their vehicle.
"Boss, Zhang Mingli's uncle is truly despicable. Not only did he embezzle the mother and daughter's property, but he also extorted money from the Li family," Zhang couldn't help but complain. "I thought he was a decent person when I first saw him, but I never expected him to be so vicious. And that house rightfully belonged to Zhang Mingli, yet he sold it back to her and made another fortune. He's truly a genius at making money!"
"I even suspect he might be involved in this murder case," Fang Rui analyzed. "Zhang Mingli's mother had schizophrenia - how could she have handled the body so calmly and thoroughly? Could someone have helped her?"
"Right! Zhang Taotao was even a chemistry teacher. God, this is terrifying when you think about it." Zhang suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He had originally thought Zhang Taotao was just wickedly occupying a widow and orphan's property, but now he wondered if there was more to it.
"Boss, if he buried the body, why would he sell the house to Zhang Mingli? Wasn't he afraid she might remember something? He wouldn't risk his life just for money, would he?" Zhang questioned.
Fang Rui thought for a moment and said, "If he only helped bury the body, the maximum sentence wouldn't exceed ten years, and the statute of limitations should be no more than fifteen years. The limitation period has already passed. So even if we discover his crime and find evidence against him, we still can't convict him."
Zhang fell silent. It's not scary that bad people do bad things; it's scary when bad people are smart.
Li Qiang's home was a small villa. When Fang Rui and Zhang arrived, his elderly mother was sitting by the door sunbathing. The blanket on her legs had fallen to the ground, and Li Qiang picked it up, dusted it off, and placed it back over her legs.
Li Qiang led them to the second floor and opened a door, saying, "This was my brother's room. After he said he was going abroad, I brought all his things from his house back here. Everything's here. See if you can find any clues."
"Mr. Li, you're very good to your brother," Zhang noticed there was no dust in the room, showing it was regularly cleaned.
"He's my own brother," Li Qiang said chokingly. He had kept this room intact, hoping that one day his brother would return and find that he would always have a place in this home, no matter how long he'd been gone.
There weren't many items in the room, just some books and clothes. Zhang checked the clothes, shaking each piece and feeling through the pockets.
"Officer, you don't need to check those clothes, there's nothing in them, I've already looked through them."
Fang Rui casually flipped through the books, which were all teaching materials with no writing in them. As he was looking, a piece of paper fell out.
He picked it up and read the scrawled message: "Li Bao, your wife is having an affair, your daughter isn't yours."
The paper was crumpled, looking like it had been crushed and then tucked into the book.
"Which bastard wrote this? My brother and his wife were so in love, how could she have an affair? Mingli is such a smart and lovely child, anyone can see she's my brother's daughter," Li Qiang said indignantly.
Zhang couldn't help but think to himself: But Zhang Mingli really isn't!
"Were these books brought back from your brother's house?"
"Yes. At the time, my sister-in-law had thrown all my brother's things in the garbage, but I secretly retrieved them."
Li Qiang found a black Nokia phone in the drawer. After charging it for a while, he opened the text messages.
"These are the last two messages my brother sent me before losing contact."
The message read: "Brother, I love Juan so much, I would die for her. Zhang Huanhuan is crazy and won't leave me alone, so I have to go abroad with Juan. Brother, don't worry too much about me and mom, I've taken all the money with me, so I won't be short of cash. I'll contact you once I'm settled."
The last message read: "Brother, Juan and I are in America now, everything's good here, don't worry about me and mom."
After reading the messages, Fang Rui checked other texts Li Bao had sent to Li Qiang. He noticed that in other messages, Li Bao referred to their mother using the word "niang," but in these two messages, he used "ma."
"How did your brother usually address your mother?"
"In our area, we usually say 'niang.' We don't say 'ma.'" Li Qiang suddenly realized something and asked, "Do you suspect these two messages weren't sent by my brother? Was he already dead by then?"
Zhang nodded gravely.
"Do you know who Juan is?"
"No. We asked Bao's friends, but they didn't know anyone with 'Juan' in their name. There wasn't anyone like that at the school where he taught either."
After leaving Li Qiang's house, Zhang said, "Who could have written that note? Why would they tell Li Bao about this? Was it to create conflict between the couple? Could the writer be the lover?"
"It's possible that this note caused their marriage to break down, and Zhang Mingli's mother accidentally pushed her father during an argument," Fang Rui speculated.
Fang Rui had originally wanted to summon Zhang Taotao to the police station for questioning. But even if there was evidence that Zhang Taotao had seized Zhang Mingli's property, that would be a civil dispute, which they couldn't handle. Currently, there was no evidence linking Zhang Taotao to this murder case.
After dinner, Fang Rui and Zhang drove directly to Zhang Taotao's house.
A young man opened the door. He was handsome, with features somewhat similar to Zhang Mingli's.
His temper wasn't good though, and he asked impatiently, "Who are you? Who are you looking for?"
"Is Zhang Mingli here?"
He became even more agitated and turned to shout into the house: "Zhang Mingli, don't you have any sense of being a guest in someone else's home? This is my house, please don't let your questionable friends come visiting, okay?"
Zhang Mingli quickly ran over: "Mingyuan, don't be so rude! Officer Fang, Officer Zhang, is there any new development in the case?"
Seeing they were police officers, Zhang Mingyuan immediately put on a friendly face, "Officers, I apologize for my poor attitude earlier. Please come in, let me make you some tea."
"..."
Fang Rui noticed that Zhang Mingli and Zhang Mingyuan's features were very similar, and standing together, they looked exactly like sister and brother.
