Fang Rui didn't want to engage in this meaningless argument with him. As they were about to leave, when they opened the door, Zhang Mingli was standing there alone, tears streaming down her face.
"Miss Zhang, you..." Zhang felt that their previous conversation had been cruel to Zhang Mingli.
Zhang Mingli hastily packed some luggage and left her uncle's house.
Zhang handed her a tissue and consoled her: "Miss Zhang, if you want to sue your uncle, we can help provide evidence."
"Thank you, but I don't want to sue him. He's my only relative now. If he wants those assets, he can have them. Consider it the price of cutting ties with him - I'll never associate with him again," Zhang Mingli wiped her tears, "Don't worry about me, I'm strong. I'll go find a hotel to stay at."
Fang Rui couldn't help but remind her: "Miss Zhang, do you really think there's any familial bond between you and your uncle?"
"That's right, your uncle seized your property and abandoned you with your aunt, he might even have..." Zhang swallowed the rest of his words.
Zhang Mingli fell silent. Over the years, her uncle would always call to check on her, acting like a caring uncle, showing concern, but in reality, he only made empty promises without any actual support.
Her aunt always said her uncle was hypocritical, and back then Zhang Mingli would defend him. Now thinking about it, if her uncle really wanted to take care of her, he wouldn't have left her with her aunt.
"Actually, since I was little, I've had a recurring dream where there's a loving couple who are very kind to me, and in the dream, I'm very happy," Zhang Mingli started crying again, "I think they were my parents, but they weren't good to me at all. My mother went mad, she would always curse at me, saying I wasn't her child, that I was illegitimate; my father ran away with another woman, he abandoned me. But I don't know why I still keep having this dream."
That's why when Zhang Mingli saw that house, she bought it without hesitation. That house made her feel like she was returning to a warm, happy home, even though none of her relatives were there.
"Thank you for listening to all this. I feel better now." Zhang Mingli took a deep breath, looked at Fang Rui and Zhang, and suddenly said firmly, "Officer Fang, Officer Zhang, I want to recover my memories from before I was six years old."
"Perhaps you could try hypnosis to recover those memories," Fang Rui suggested.
Watching Zhang Mingli get into a taxi with her suitcase, Fang Rui and Zhang followed the taxi in their car, only leaving after they saw her enter the hotel.
Zhang sighed: "I hope the truth isn't what we suspect, otherwise it would be too cruel for Miss Zhang!"
Mu Mian compared Zhang Mingyuan's DNA with the deceased's, and the results showed they were father and son; she then compared Zhang Mingli's DNA with Zhang Taotao's, and the results showed they were father and daughter.
When Chen Xue saw the report, she was stunned: "What's going on? Zhang Mingli's uncle is actually her biological father? Her mother's affair partner couldn't be... no, no, her cousin is her father's biological son. Were Zhang Mingli and Zhang Mingyuan switched at birth?"
Chen Xue realized this case was becoming increasingly complex.
"A baby boy and a baby girl wouldn't likely be switched by accident. Unless it was intentional," Mu Mian said.
Combining the clues that Fang Rui and his team had already uncovered, Chen Xue formed a terrifying theory.
During the morning meeting, Mu Mian reported this discovery.
Everyone fell silent.
Zhang analyzed: "Have you noticed, Zhang Taotao is a high school teacher, and twenty years ago was when the one-child policy was strictest. Someone in his position as a teacher couldn't have had a second child. So it's very possible that Zhang Taotao and his wife switched the children, so he could have a son. Even though this son wasn't his biological child, being his sister's child meant they still shared blood ties. My God, how evil can someone be?"
Chen Xue angrily said: "So even though they knew Zhang Mingli was their biological daughter, and they had the opportunity to raise her, they still sent her to her aunt to be raised. They're beasts! Not even raising their own daughter."
"I suspect it's because Zhang Mingli's aunt was a businesswoman, wealthy, divorced with no children, and never remarried. Think about it, if Zhang Mingli was raised by her, after her aunt's death, wouldn't the property go to Zhang Mingli?" Zhang said excitedly, "We found out earlier that Zhang Mingli's aunt passed away recently, also from cancer, and left all her property to Zhang Mingli."
Chen Xue analyzed: "So Zhang Taotao coaxed Zhang Mingli back, probably to seize the property her aunt left her. My God, Zhang Taotao is terrifying, truly trying to squeeze everything from his own family!"
Mu Mian watched Zhang and Chen Xue analyzing back and forth, feeling somewhat happy, thinking Officer Zhang and Chen Xue probably wouldn't break up now, as they were finally talking to each other again.
The others remained silent. They had seen many brutal cases and many vicious criminals, but they still felt afraid of someone like Zhang Taotao.
Zhang angrily said: "Is there really no way to arrest this beast in human clothing, Zhang Taotao? My God, he's so calculating! It's terrifying!"
Chen Xue agreed: "We must find a way to let the law punish him! Such an evil person, preying on women like a parasite. Look how many people he's hurt. Just because he didn't have a son, he switched someone else's, destroying their family while living comfortably himself."
Everyone vented their anger.
After everyone calmed down, Mu Mian said: "We found tung oil in the victim's body. Tung oil has specific sales locations. If we could find the sales records from back then, we could prove he was involved in this murder."
Fang Rui said: "Miss Zhang agreed to undergo hypnosis to recover her memories, maybe she'll remember something."
Fang Rui felt the case from back then couldn't be that simple. Li Qiang said his brother and sister-in-law had a good relationship, so even if they had conflicts, it shouldn't have escalated to violence.
"There's also that bagua mirror," Zhang said.
"What about the mirror?"
"Different fortune tellers have different bagua mirrors, with different engravings and such. If we could find the fortune teller from back then, maybe they'd remember who commissioned this mirror."
Wang gave Zhang a thumbs up: "I didn't know you understood metaphysics."
"Well, it's just that my mom is really into all this stuff, and I..." Zhang's voice trailed off as he saw Chen Xue's face fall.
