Chapter 319 Is He Hiding Something?

“What?!” Mu Yu straightened up instantly.

“Wu Xing found the urns of Qian Fenggen and his wife in Anxi Columbarium according to the address given by Tian Maocai. I’ve just confirmed with him through the phone that both his father-in-law and mother-in-law’s remains had been cremated five years ago when their graves were moved.”

“They were cremated?! Why did they have to move their graves back then?”

“The city was undergoing construction, and the couple’s cemetery was within the scope of the project.”

Mu Yu felt greatly disheartened by that. “Qian Xiaoyu didn’t mind spending all that money and effort to register a permanent residence under his name, yet she was unwilling to disinter her parents for a DNA test… And here I thought she was only doing all of that because he was a fake. Turns out there was no way he could get the DNA results at all! Ah, I guess I was just overthinking.”

“No, you might not be overthinking it at all.”

“Huh? Did you find anything else?” Mu Yu’s disappointment received yet another blow all of a sudden.

“When I said I found something weird earlier, I didn’t mean the fact that Qian Fenggen and his wife were cremated, but the fact that Qian Dacheng had returned and reunited with his sister not too long after she cremated her parents. When I was on the phone with Tian Maocai earlier, he told me that Qian Xiaoyu wasn’t at all remorseful that Qian Dacheng wasn’t able to register for a permanent residence since his identity couldn’t be verified; she even spent her days helping him with that through bribery.”

“What you’re saying is…”

“I also think there’s something fishy about this supposed Qian Dacheng; I’m planning to pay Qian Xiaoyu a surprise visit tonight to interrogate her.”

Mu Yu seemed a little concerned about that. “We have no evidence right now and everything is just based on speculation. What are you going to do if Qian Xiaoyu doesn’t admit to anything no matter what?”

Rong Jian sounded quite helpless as well. “For the past 10 years or so, Anxi County has been undergoing major reconstructions—in fact, the city has expanded many-fold throughout the years. As a result, the old streets and houses all look completely different now and most of the residents have also moved away. Qian Fenggen and his wife were always moving around, not to mention so many years have passed; it’ll be difficult to find their old neighbors who knew them well back then. Anyhow, Wu Xing is investigating that tonight, so let’s hope he finds something useful.”

“Are you hoping to identify Qian Dacheng through his old neighbors?”

“I’d like to try.”

“Qian Dacheng went missing when he was around 14 or 15; there’s been a 20-year gap in between. Even if the dead Qian Dacheng really was Qian Fenggen’s son, his appearance would already have undergone a huge change. This wouldn’t be a logical way to identify the man, right?” Mu Yu tried to analyze the situation objectively.

However, Rong Jian didn’t quite agree with her view. “According to genetics, though, if Qian Dacheng really was Qian Fenggen’s biological son, the two would’ve definitely shared some degree of similarity in appearance. If they didn’t look alike at all, there’s a huge possibility that Qian Dacheng wasn’t Qian Fenggen’s son. If that’s the case, we’d have to look into the case from a different perspective.”

“A different perspective, you say?” Mu Yu didn’t understand.

“That’s right. For instance, what was Qian Dacheng’s real identity? Where was he from? Also, we’ll need to find out the reason Qian Xiaoyu decided to give him a fake identity, as well as their actual relationship with each other.”

His hypothesis made Mu Yu quite excited. She quickly picked up from where he left off and carried on with her own thoughts. “Perhaps Qian Dacheng was from Huacheng, and he knew Sun Meilan, Zhao Yongli, and Li Jianyun. Oh, maybe he knew the killer as well! If that’s true, we’ll be able to find the killer as long as we continue investigating Qian Dacheng’s case!” she said.

“I sure hope so.” Rong Jian let out a light chuckle; he probably felt that Mu Yu was thinking a little too far, but he didn’t want to dampen her hopes too bluntly. “All right, Yu. I’m going to see Qian Xiaoyu right now. We’ll talk later.”

Rong Jian then hung up, but Mu Yu remained sitting cross-legged on the bed with her phone against her ear as she stared ahead blankly.

“What’s up with Qian Dacheng?” Qin Jinhuan asked curiously as he picked up the blanket and wrapped it around her; he was afraid that she’d catch a cold from wearing only a layer of thin pajamas.

“Both Chief Rong and I feel like something’s not right with him.”

Mu Yu scooted backward and leaned against the bed frame as she shared the latest findings and speculations of the investigation. Of course, she kept her promise with Tian Maocai from earlier and deliberately omitted his affair with Xiaotao.

However, what she revealed was already enough to surprise Qin Jinhuan. He fell into deep thought and only spoke a while later. “If Qian Dacheng really wasn’t the biological son of Qian Xiaoyu’s adoptive parents, who could he be? Was he Qian Xiaoyu’s lover? Didn’t you say that Tian Maocai was never concerned about Qian Xiaoyu in that sense, though? Why did she have to go through such an ordeal to help him with his household registration? If I’m not mistaken, she must be helping Qian Dacheng…”

“Hide his true identity!” Mu Yu and Qin Jinhuan said those exact four words in unison.

She was briefly stunned, but her shock instantly turned to happiness from having come to the same conclusion as the man. She wrapped him in a hug and exclaimed, “That must be it!”

A smile surfaced on his face as he continued, “From the looks of things, there must be some unspeakable secret behind the identity of this fake Qian Dacheng. We’ll be able to uncover the secret if we find his true identity.”

“I have a feeling that his secret definitely has something to do with his death! Moreover, since his death is one of the four serial murder cases, his secret is probably related to the killer as well. As long as we unearth Qian Dacheng’s true identity, we can find the killer too!” Mu Yu was getting more and more enthusiastic as she spoke. “Right now, the only person who knows this secret is Qian Xiaoyu! Everything will be out of the bag if Chief Rong can make her spill! Oh no, I’ve got to give Chief Rong a call right away and tell him about it so he can interrogate Qian Xiaoyu effectively!”

She was already dialing Rong Jian’s number before she even finished speaking, and she quickly proceeded to tell him her thoughts in a smooth and concise manner.

Rong Jian wasn’t at all surprised by her words, and he seemed to have already considered that possibility before. After a brief discussion with her, he hastily hung up with the reason that he was about to question Qian Xiaoyu soon.

“What if Qian Xiaoyu persistently refuses to admit that Qian Dacheng was a fake? Currently, we have no evidence to prove that Qian Dacheng was just a poser.” Just as Mu Yu put down her phone, worry crept up her chest again.

Qin Jinhuan didn’t reply to her directly and inferred instead, “If the fake Qian Dacheng was actually from Huacheng, we can ask the Huacheng Police Department for help using his photo.”

“You’re right!” Mu Yu slapped her thigh in realization. “Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll…”

Qin Jinhuan put a reassuring hand on her and said with a smile, “Isn’t Rong Jian questioning Qian Xiaoyu right now? He’s already not that bright; he won’t be able to get any useful information out of her if you keep interrupting his train of thought like this.”

“You’re the smartest, I’d say!” Mu Yu giggled reproachfully as she tapped the Wechat application on her phone. “Fine, I won’t call him, but I’ll send him a text as a reminder.”

She drafted her message as she spoke.

“Sun Meilan, Zhao Yongli, Li Jianyun, and Qian Dacheng… The four of them were scattered in different departments of Qing Tian Group, so they didn’t have much opportunity to interact. However, that doesn’t mean they never met. Perhaps the four of them actually crossed paths in the past and offended the killer for some reason. There were already three deaths before this, and major news outlets as well as websites reported on each of these cases; the public talks about it often on the streets, so even those who were never up to date with current news probably know about these incidents as well. How could Qian Dacheng not be prepared at all? Even if he was missing a marble or two, Qian Xiaoyu should be sharp enough, right? However, she didn’t seem to take it seriously as well…”

At that moment, Mu Yu immediately interrupted with an explanation. “Perhaps they thought that the killer wouldn’t be able to recognize Qian Dacheng because he’d changed his identity. Maybe that’s why they were so reckless?”

“That’s possible too.” Qin Jinhuan nodded lightly in agreement. “At the end of the day, Qian Xiaoyu is still the key to cracking the case.”

“Yeah, I think Chief Rong is going to find something new tonight. Qian Dacheng is dead, after all, so there’s no need for Qian Xiaoyu to keep on hiding his secret. I think she probably wants the police to capture the killer as soon as possible in order to avenge her lover.”

“That might not be the case. We can’t confirm either speculation we have of their relationship; be it they were pretend-siblings or lovers, we still don’t have evidence to prove any of that. We can’t do anything about it if she doesn’t admit the truth. Besides, if she does, all of An City will take her as a shameless woman as soon as the word gets out. She’d be too embarrassed to stay in An City, and her daughter who’s still a minor would also suffer from the humiliation—this is especially so. Thus, she wouldn’t admit to the truth until the last second. She’s a clever woman, after all.”

When she heard those words, Mu Yu felt as though she had been splashed by a bucket of ice-cold water. She was discouraged all of a sudden and slumped against the bed dejectedly.

Qin Jinhuan couldn’t help but feel amused by her reaction and quickly leaned in to give her some words of comfort. “Have you forgotten what we talked about earlier? We can still seek help from the Huacheng Police using Qian Dacheng’s photo, remember?”

“That’s right!” With that, Mu Yu was instantly full of energy again. She stared at the sent message on her phone with pleasant anticipation. “Let’s hope the Huacheng Police Department can give us some good news.”

Then, another doubt filled her mind. “If the fake Qian Dacheng was from Huacheng and Qian Xiaoyu’s from An City, how do you think they got to know each other?”

Qin Jinhuan smiled. “With the advancement of technology these days, even people from opposite poles can be friends.”

After giving it some thought, he felt that it wasn’t right either. “The fake Qian Dacheng wasn’t necessarily from Huacheng; perhaps he’s simply been to Huacheng six years ago, or maybe he was from An City and just couldn’t reveal his original identity because of something he did in the past. Whatever it is, though, I’m sure Rong Jian is capable of finding out the truth. All right, it’s getting late. Let’s sleep, darling.”

Even though she allowed him to help her down into a lying position, Mu Yu argued that she wasn’t able to sleep.

Indeed, she had a hard time falling asleep that night—not only was she struggling to stop thinking about the case, she was worried about Qing Tian Group as well as Qin Xiaozhi’s health.

The concerns hidden in her eyes were easily picked up by Qin Jinhuan; he cupped her face and gave her a gentle peck on her forehead as he reassured her softly, “Instead of drowning yourself in worries and feeling tired tomorrow, why not get a good night’s rest? That way, you can face another day with a sharp mind. All right, don’t think about it too much and go to sleep.”

As he spoke, he turned off the lights and forcefully gathered her into his arms.

She didn’t resist and simply snuggled up to him, complying with his words. She knew what he said made sense—she had to get some rest in order to effectively carry on with the investigation tomorrow.

However, things were often easier said than done. Even though she wanted to fall asleep right then and there, she couldn’t. Even so, she didn’t want him to know that, so she could only pretend to sleep with her eyes shut tight; in reality, her mind was in complete chaos.

Little did she know that he wasn’t any better; he simply didn’t want her to notice the troubles in his heart, so he stayed still as he held her close. In actual fact, it took him an awfully long time to fall asleep as well.

The couple woke up early the next morning since both of them were light sleepers. They greeted each other as usual, pretending all was fine. Then, they got up to prepare themselves and changed before going downstairs together.

After breakfast, Qin Jinhuan sent Mu Yu to work before heading to his office. He met with Chao Chenyu and a few other higher-ups to discuss the Xinyue Estates property owners’ meeting which would be held in a while. Soon, a look at the clock told him that it was almost time to go. He had Bian Zijun drive him to Gloria Hotel, the venue where the meeting would commence—it was the property owners’ request that he personally hosted the meeting and attended to their queries.

To his surprise, as soon as the car drove out of Qing Tian Building, Qin Jinhuan picked up a call from Lei Zhi; the latter informed him that Qin Xiaozhi had passed out all of a sudden. He said that the old man’s condition wasn’t looking good, and they were on the way to Fraternity Hospital as they spoke. Anxiety filled Qin Jinhuan’s chest as soon as he heard that. He glanced at his wristwatch and realized that he was pressed for time. After hesitating for a second or two, he told Bian Zijun to turn back and head to Fraternity Hospital instead, temporarily putting aside his responsibilities of hosting the meeting.