The word "fingerprint" was spoken lightly by the speaker, but to the listener, it was deafening. Guan Xia felt as if she could hear her own heart pounding rapidly.
Instinctively, Guan Xia looked towards Xu Nian. She saw that the expressions of the several people sitting opposite were quite similar—some were overjoyed, others were so excited their faces were almost contorted. This was especially true for the most boisterous Qi Bai and Zhong Xiaoyu, who couldn't help but excitedly high-five. As it happened, Qi Bai raised his injured arm, and the movement caused him to hiss in pain again.
"This is truly good news," Wang Yu also said, unusually pleased. "I remember Captain Xu mentioned earlier that the suspect had already been brought into the Jianyang City Bureau. So, I presume the fingerprints and biological samples were also successfully obtained. If they match, doesn't that mean this case is more than half solved?"
Guan Xia, also unable to conceal her excitement, looked at Captain Chen and asked, "Captain Chen, has this fingerprint been entered into the database?"
Although Captain Chen was somewhat puzzled, he understood something from their expressions and likewise grinned, saying, "It's in the database. A few years back, as soon as the database was established, the provincial department sent down an expert team to oversee us. We spent nearly two years inputting all the relevant evidence from all unresolved cold cases into the database."
Hearing this, Guan Xia felt a stir in her heart and asked further, "Captain Chen, have you reopened this case since then? And after running it through the database, did you ever run it against the national database?"
Captain Chen replied, "We did, and not just once. Each time we held great hope, but it never matched. Counting this time with you all reopening the case, it's been reopened seven times. Thankfully, this time there's real good news."
After speaking, Captain Chen hesitated, then asked curiously, "From what I just heard, you've already identified a suspect. This case is over thirty years old, with no surveillance and no eyewitnesses. How did you confirm it? Is that person from Quiming City? Or was it a transient criminal?"
Involving confidentiality, Guan Xia wasn't sure if she should say and avoided Captain Chen's gaze by looking at Xu Nian.
Xu Nian immediately spoke up, "It wasn't a transient crime. As for who it specifically is, since it's still only suspicion without conclusive evidence, we can't disclose it before the fingerprint match."
Although only a few words, it satisfied Captain Chen's most burning question. He nodded with a smile and said, "Understood, understood. Knowing that is enough for me. So, shall we continue the meeting? Or would you prefer to go back and rest, waiting for the fingerprint results?"
This time, Captain Chen looked at Xu Nian, thinking he was the one in charge. Unexpectedly, Xu Nian looked inquiringly at Guan Xia.
Guan Xia thought for a few seconds and said, "Since everyone is already here, let's finish understanding all the relevant case information before resting."
Once Guan Xia made the decision, naturally no one objected. Xu Nian then looked at Captain Chen and said, "Then we'll trouble you, Captain Chen."
Captain Chen looked somewhat curiously at Xu Nian, then at Guan Xia, as if a bit confused about the dynamic between the two. But his curiosity lasted only a moment before his professional spirit took over, and he distributed the well-organized materials in his hand to everyone.
Captain Chen said, "The evidence we found when this case was current was actually quite substantial. You can look at the photos. We not only discovered a very valuable bloody fingerprint but also found the murder weapon and the raincoat the perpetrator wore during the crime. We found these two crucial pieces of related physical evidence at an unplanned garbage dump about two kilometers from the crime scene."
Looking at the already yellowed, pixelated, and unclear photos in her hand, Guan Xia asked somewhat puzzled, "An unplanned garbage dump?"
Captain Chen explained to Guan Xia, "It's a spot chosen by nearby residents for convenience to throw away trash. Because it wasn't planned, no one cleaned it. After years and years of dumping, it became unbearably smelly. Even when people threw garbage, they would toss it over the wall from a distance without going near to check. Perhaps the perpetrator chose it for disposing of the murder weapon because of this."
Guan Xia nodded upon hearing this. "Judging from this point, the perpetrator was extremely familiar with the environment around the crime scene."
Guan Xia recalled the life history of Wu Yang that Xu Nian and the others had investigated. He was sent to the Quiming City Children's Welfare Home at age six. Because he was intelligent and mature for his age, his days at the orphanage weren't too difficult. In elementary school, he was bullied because of his background, but as he grew older, his outstanding academic performance quickly made him the darling of teachers and school administrators.
He was a day student in both middle school and high school. Normally, day students are strictly managed by both school and family. But because Wu Yang's grades were too good, and he was very low-key, presenting an image of someone who 'hears nothing outside the window, only reads the books of sages,' neither side managed him much, giving him a high degree of freedom. That is to say, over six years, he had every opportunity to become very familiar with any place that interested him.
Thinking of this, Guan Xia snapped back to attention and heard Captain Chen say, "We considered that point back then as well. We subsequently organized a large number of personnel for door-to-door investigations and indeed identified some suspects with murder motives. But in the end, alibis for the day of the crime were found for all of them. The case, investigated back and forth, ultimately became a cold case."
Pang Le suddenly spoke up and asked, "Captain Chen, did you try to start from the victim's daughter back then?"
Captain Chen nodded. "We considered and investigated that too. But the victim's daughter, how to put it, was just a stubborn, strong-willed, very hardworking child solely focused on passing exams to get away from her family. We thoroughly investigated her circle of friends, but nothing was suspicious. After all, she had very few friends, none particularly close, let alone someone who would kill for her. We checked everyone who had even the slightest connection with her back then. The result was that everyone had an alibi for the day of the crime."
Listening to this, Guan Xia sighed inwardly. In fact, based on the direction of Captain Chen's investigation back then, it was already very meticulous and comprehensive. In an ordinary homicide, the perpetrator would surely have been caught. But the perpetrator was truly extraordinary. No matter how they sifted, based on the conditions, Wu Yang remained outside that net. Unless they collected fingerprints and DNA from the entire student body of the victim's daughter's school, they definitely wouldn't have discovered him.
Guan Xia flipped through the materials, trying to find Wu Yang's motive for murder. As she flipped, her movements suddenly stopped when she saw the text on a certain page. That page recorded a series of conflicts between the victim and his daughter from childhood onwards.
The victim's name was Sun Yanghui, and his daughter's name was Sun Xiuxiu. Due to Sun Yanghui's preference for sons over daughters, Sun Xiuxiu never had a single good day from the moment she was born. Right after birth, Sun Yanghui, because she was a girl, almost drowned her. It was only because Sun Xiuxiu's mother, having just given birth, mustered her last bit of strength and snatched her daughter back, for which she suffered a severe beating from Sun Yanghui.
From the moment Sun Xiuxiu could walk, she was ordered by Sun Yanghui to do all sorts of chores. Her mother did feel sorry for her, but since she didn't have a formal job and defying Sun Yanghui would lead to a beating, she only dared to look after her daughter more in secret. On the surface, as long as Sun Xiuxiu wasn't being beaten, her mother wouldn't say much. This kind of life continued until Sun Xiuxiu's younger brother was born. With a son in the family, Sun Yanghui seemed to finally have something to hope for and began to work harder.
The family's financial situation improved, and Sun Xiuxiu was able to attend school. Of course, this wasn't due to a sudden burst of kindness from Sun Yanghui. It was because Sun Xiuxiu's mother was illiterate, and Sun Yanghui had to work outside the home. He was terrified that his son would also grow up not knowing a single character. It was only so that Sun Xiuxiu could teach her younger brother that he "graciously" allowed her to go to school.
Sun Xiuxiu tightly grasped this opportunity. She squeezed out every bit of time, day after day. Although Sun Yanghui was inhuman, she never let her grades slip, consistently ranking at the top of her class.
His daughter's good grades gave Sun Yanghui face, which made him slightly more tolerant of Sun Xiuxiu. However, this good period didn't last long. When Sun Xiuxiu was in her second year of junior high, Sun Yanghui developed a gambling addiction, and the family fell back into poverty. Sun Yanghui originally wanted Sun Xiuxiu to drop out and go to work, but neighbors, teachers, and even the school principal all persuaded him. They said that only if the child had a promising future could she better support him later. Moreover, Sun Xiuxiu's excellent grades earned her school rewards, which was real money brought home every semester—perhaps even more than what Sun Xiuxiu could earn by going out to work. Sun Yanghui, coaxed by people from all sides, finally dropped the idea.
But when Sun Xiuxiu was in high school, Sun Yanghui met some unsavory friend from who-knows-where who took a fancy to Sun Xiuxiu. This friend gave Sun Yanghui an idea, saying that Sun Xiuxiu clearly had a strong temper and held grudges. Once someone with that kind of personality got a chance to fly away, she would never be caught again. He advised Sun Yanghui to pin her down and keep her tethered to his side forever while he still could control her; otherwise, even if his daughter became successful, he wouldn't get any benefit from it.
Perhaps Sun Yanghui had always harbored this hidden worry. He made the decision with almost no hesitation: he would prevent his daughter from taking the college entrance exam. That unsavory friend gave him another idea. The college entrance exam results were tied to the political achievements of the school leaders. Unless there was force majeure, even if he locked Sun Xiuxiu at home on the day of the exam, teachers would come with the police to rescue her. What constituted force majeure? It meant that even if Sun Xiuxiu sat in the exam hall, she would be unable to achieve a high score.
Sun Yanghui was tempted. After thinking it over, he decided to break his daughter's right hand just before the exam. That way, even if she switched to using her left hand at the last minute, since it wasn't her dominant hand and time was tight, it would be very difficult for her to complete the exam within the allotted time.
Of course, all these plans of Sun Yanghui never came to fruition, because about a week before the college entrance exam, he died near an abandoned construction site not far from home.
Guan Xia read this section of the file several times over, then recalled the cases involving Zhang Weiyan, Wang Huiqin, Lu Manqing, and Yao Qingyan she had investigated before. A thought gradually took shape in her mind.
As Guan Xia was reading intently, Pang Le, sitting beside her, suddenly leaned over to glance at the file and said, "You've reached this page too? Then it seems what I thought of, you've probably thought of as well. The motive for the suspect killing Sun Yanghui is this Sun Xiuxiu."
Hearing this, Captain Chen immediately looked over and asked doubtfully, "How so? Is the suspect a friend of Sun Xiuxiu? That's unlikely. We investigated that thoroughly back then. Could it be someone who never spoke to Sun Xiuxiu but had a secret crush on her?"
Captain Chen frowned and said, "But that doesn't seem right either. We considered that direction back then too. We did find a few people who had crushes on Sun Xiuxiu, but they all had alibis. Did we miss someone? Someone from another school?"
As Captain Chen's thoughts wandered further, Guan Xia remained silent, but she speculated internally. The reason Wu Yang killed Sun Yanghui might have been out of a desire to save someone, or perhaps he couldn't bear to see Sun Xiuxiu's promising life being destroyed. But it definitely wasn't because he had developed feelings for Sun Xiuxiu. After all, it was hard for Guan Xia to imagine someone like him falling in love with anyone. And furthermore, if someone like him truly fell in love, he would absolutely not fail to win that person over.
So, after thinking it over, Guan Xia felt the biggest possibility was that he had heard about the situation from somewhere. Just like how the murder of Zhang Hongda's family five years ago was to avenge Zhang Weiyan, or how the murder of Lu Manqing's uncle when he was a teenager was to avenge his sister, the killing of Sun Yanghui was also, indirectly, to avenge Sun Xiuxiu.
Of course, revenge was only one aspect. Another aspect was salvation. After all, if Sun Yanghui's plan had truly succeeded, Sun Xiuxiu's life would have been completely ruined. With her excellent grades, she should have had a wonderful life. But if her right hand had been broken just before the college entrance exam, she would have been trapped in the place she grew up, trapped by Sun Yanghui's side, transformed from a shining individual into a dim soul constantly struggling in pain.
Thinking this, Guan Xia suddenly felt an indescribable complexity in her mood. If her speculation was true, then in the beginning, even though Wu Yang killed, he couldn't be considered a purely bad person. But now, over thirty years later, he had truly become a villain. Is this the antagonist in the world of crime fiction? Someone you desperately wish dead, yet also feel a bit wistful and sorry for.
Guan Xia only sighed inwardly before quickly pulling herself together and asking Captain Chen, "By the way, Captain Chen, when this case was reopened later, did you contact Sun Xiuxiu again? How is she doing now?"
Captain Chen looked at Guan Xia with some surprise before replying, "Yes, I did contact her. She's living very well. In earlier years, she worked for others, but later she started her own business. I heard she even lives in a villa and has bodyguards now. When we talked about it later, we lamented that although Sun Yanghui's death was regrettable, it was also fortunate that Sun Xiuxiu was able to take the college entrance exam and leave. She's a good kid and deserves to live such a good life."
Guan Xia's heavy mood of late finally lightened a little. This was indeed good news.
