"Wang Hu'an was raped?"
In Xiang Wanfeng's office, Gao Xiaofei looked down at a pile of photos. The content of the photos was the process of Wang Hu'an being raped.
"Hu Yi performed an autopsy and found a memory card in the stomach, which contained these contents." Xiang Wanfeng picked up his teacup and took a sip of tea. He looked at Gao Xiaofei for a long time before saying, "Take a good look. Who were the people who raped Wang Hu'an?"
Judging from the background of these photos, they seemed to have been taken in a bare apartment, with dim lighting, likely at night. In the photos, Wang Hu'an's eyes were covered with black tape, and her hands were also bound. As for the people who raped her—
"Zhang Ziteng? Wang Shun? Is this Hu Yi?" Gao Xiaofei said after carefully identifying them. "Including the person taking the photos, there are four! It was the peeping gang!"
"And, look again!" Xiang Wanfeng gestured.
"The last few photos were taken by peeping—what are they doing? Wang Hu'an? Oh my god! How can another... how can another one be a woman?" Gao Xiaofei exclaimed.
"I asked you to look, why are you talking about such details? There are people outside!" Xiang Wanfeng frowned. "These photos can prove Wang Hu'an's previous pregnancy and infer that the peeping gang was because they filmed something they shouldn't have, and then threatened Wang Hu'an, thus organizing the crime."
"This is very important evidence, it's so helpful for solving the case!" Gao Xiaofei said excitedly. "Now, these cases make sense—Wang Hu'an is a lesbian, and the peeping quartet accidentally spied on Wang Hu'an and... her same-sex partner during intimate moments, then used the photos to threaten Wang Hu'an. After controlling her, they raped her. Wang Hu'an later became pregnant, aborted the child, and with the help of her same-sex partner, prepared for revenge!"
"To get revenge, Wang Hu'an first obtained the channel used by the peeping thugs for their walkie-talkies, and then staged a 'murder' with her same-sex partner to identify the people who raped and spied on her, and then eliminate them one by one!" Qiao Yidan walked into the office at some point and continued, "Wang Hu'an and others didn't expect Zhang Ziteng and the others to call the police. For some reason, could Wang Hu'an's same-sex partner have killed them to silence them?"
"New clues have brought new directions. Currently, our investigation direction is still correct. That kid Ping'an also worked hard, using the walkie-talkie to find Hu Yi!" Xiang Wanfeng summarized. "However, the case has become more bizarre and confusing because of this. What is the situation with the Yang Jie couple? What is the purpose of the appearance of Zhan Dou? It seems like a murder case triggered by peeping, but are there other factors behind this tangled situation?"
"Yes, the wind power company is almost notorious—did you see the news at noon today? What's going on? They are forcing us police to associate with the wind power company—Xiaofei, don't take that kind of article seriously!" Qiao Yidan, who didn't know about the lunch situation, said comfortingly.
"Uh!" Gao Xiaofei gave a bitter smile and sent Qiao Yidan out.
In the office, Xiang Wanfeng narrowed his eyes and looked at Gao Xiaofei, whose face was full of misery.
"Laugh if you want, curse if you want!" Gao Xiaofei said in a resigned manner. "I've thought it through too. We have no fate. A twisted melon is not sweet!"
"Nonsense. It's almost noon. You left the police station, and Fei Keqing's call came to me..." Xiang Wanfeng suddenly softened his tone and comforted in a low voice, "You have the afternoon off. Go back and sleep. Ask the girl out tonight to talk. As long as there's no problem between you two, the old man—can elders stop you?"
Hearing that Fei Keqing had called, Gao Xiaofei's expression improved slightly. He glanced at Xiang Wanfeng's old face and said, turning his eyes, "Old Xiang, you can't lie to me, can you?"
"How could I! When it comes to matters of the heart, I, Old Xiang, have a lot of experience!" Xiang Wanfeng said. "You know, Ping'an's father was arrested by me personally back then. But until Pingfan committed suicide, I could never find the crucial evidence to make Pingfan confess. Later, I met Ping'an's mother, what an elegant woman! Even so, didn't I pursue her relentlessly for ten years? Didn't we end up together in the end? Ping'an still accepted it grudgingly, didn't he? This little thing of yours is nothing!"
As Xiang Wanfeng said this, he felt he was going off-topic. He glanced sideways and found Gao Xiaofei looking at him with a somewhat contemptuous gaze. He coughed awkwardly and patted his shoulder, saying, "Go on! Can this little matter trouble you?"
Finally coaxing Gao Xiaofei into a good mood and sending him away, Xiang Wanfeng stood by the window, watching Gao Xiaofei walk out of the courtyard with his head held high, smiled knowingly, and took out his phone to call Fei Keqing.
"Hello! Keqing, Xiaofei is not in good spirits. He just called me, saying he can't live without you and so on. Oh dear, I have no choice, so I had to call you..." Xiang Wanfeng narrowed his eyes and weaved a plausible lie.
Ping'an, who had been wandering the streets all afternoon, walked home dejectedly after sobering up.
"Master! You're finally back. You didn't answer my calls!" At home, Su Tang was eating dinner. Seeing her master return, she quickly went up to him.
"Go, is there any more? Give me a bowl!" Seeing the soup dumplings in his disciple's bowl, Ping'an's stomach rumbled.
"Godmother and her family argued, it was really fierce!" Su Tang said. "I just don't understand, isn't what godfather encountered a bad thing? Police officers, isn't that what they do?"
"You don't understand!" Ping'an watched Su Tang go to the kitchen to make dumplings and sighed. "It was fine at the beginning, but then they drank too much, and some hidden words naturally came out. In fact, before they saw that message, they were almost about to break up—your godfather's family implicitly disliked your godmother for being too old and fearing she wouldn't be able to have children, wanting your godmother to resign; your godmother's family disliked your godfather for buying the marital home in the suburbs where there were no schools; your godfather's family felt your godmother was always out and about showing her face... In short, it wasn't very good. Your godmother's family hoped your godmother would have two children in the future, and one of them could bear the family's surname..."
"Oh my! I thought they were joking, were they serious?" Su Tang brought a bowl of dumplings to her master and said with a sigh, "These problems are actually easy to solve, as long as both sides take a step back!"
"What are you talking about, you don't understand adult minds. They aren't bargaining, they are nitpicking—implicitly saying our family's children are more outstanding, and your family is climbing up!" Ping'an smiled bitterly. At the lunch banquet, he received countless pleading looks from Gao Xiaofei and Fei Keqing, but he couldn't help with this kind of favor, so he could only get drunk quickly.
"So, the last article was just the last straw that broke the camel's back?" Su Tang said with a smile, watching her master eat heartily.
"What did Godmother do after she got home?" Ping'an asked.
"Godmother took me to the car, and then we went back to her own home. Uh, but her parents chased after us again—Master, those two elders, their words were really unpleasant, making Godmother seem like she was in the wrong no matter what!" Su Tang thought for a moment and said, "But even though their words were unpleasant, they didn't make them break up! They just talked about what would happen in the future, how to proceed in the future!"
"Well, if my guess is right, these four elders should have sobered up today and are probably regretting it now!" Ping'an said. "Never mind them, your master was hurt today, quickly comfort me in some way!"
"Ah! Master, how were you hurt?" Su Tang looked at her master with wide eyes.
"I was looked down upon by that scoundrel Zhan Dou!" Ping'an said with a deliberately wronged sob.
"Master, no way!" Su Tang looked at her master with contempt. "Do you know what I admire most about you?"
"Don't know? Handsome! Good-looking! Smart!" Ping'an bragged about himself in various ways.
"Invincible at scolding people! Thickest skin!" Su Tang said with a chuckle.
"Alas! Unfortunate lineage, three days without beating, you're rebelling!" Ping'an quickly slurped down the dumplings in his bowl and, before Su Tang could react, went to tickle her feet.
In the living room, the sounds of this master and disciple playfully chasing each other could be heard.
However, such a pleasant evening was interrupted by a WeChat message.
"What are you doing, go wash the dishes quickly!" Ping'an, who had been playing with his disciple for a while, gradually recovered his mood. He looked at Su Tang, who had just fallen off the sofa laughing, but was now looking at her phone seriously.
"Master, Jiaozi seems to be in trouble!" Su Tang, somewhat flustered, handed her phone to Ping'an.
"Tang! Someone wants to harm me! That ghost! That ghost is here again! Save me! Please!" Jiaozi sent a message like this on WeChat.
"You call Yang Jiao immediately, not her mobile. Do you know her landline number?" Ping'an thought for a moment and said to Su Tang.
"She doesn't have a landline at home?" Su Tang said.
"Then call her father! I know his mobile number! I'll send it to you!" Ping'an instructed.
"Her father isn't answering!" Su Tang said. "Can I call Jiaozi?"
"No!" Ping'an rubbed his chin. "Wait, I'll call Liao Yuan!"
The laughter and joy of just now immediately turned into a tense atmosphere.
Su Tang, who thought Jiaozi might be having a nightmare or acting strangely again, became flustered when she saw how serious her master was.
The call connected, and Liao Yuan on the other end spoke at a normal pace, without anything unusual.
"Teacher Ping'an, oh dear, that nonsense article by Zhan Dou has put us in a very passive position! We are currently discussing countermeasures at the company..." Liao Yuan said helplessly.
"It's like this!" Ping'an glanced at Su Tang and said, "Jiaozi just sent Su Tang a message, and it wasn't good. She said—she said someone wants to harm her! Su Tang is a bit worried, she called Jiaozi, but Jiaozi didn't answer, so she asked me to inquire."
"Oh, at this critical juncture, she's still causing trouble!" Liao Yuan suddenly raised his voice. "For her, I hired two bodyguards and a nanny to watch her around the clock. Outside, her father and I are monitoring her remotely. She's fine, don't worry about her!"
"Hehe, I was just asking. Su Tang is a loyal child, why don't we go and see her?" Ping'an tentatively asked.
"Alright, you go. I'll call the nanny!" Liao Yuan said, sounding somewhat impatient. "I'm busy here, so I won't go home to accompany you. You go!"
The phone call ended, but Su Tang kept staring at her master, seemingly blaming him for saying what he shouldn't have.
"Without any evidence, to proceed correctly, we must maintain the correct progression of things—simply put, we cannot lie, otherwise it will affect the development of things." Ping'an said with a slight smile. "She's just a young girl, and your master doesn't believe there's any hurdle she can't overcome. Let's go and see her!"
By the time Ping'an and his disciple arrived at the wind power residential area, it was already dusk. Without bothering to greet Gao Da, who was flirting with Sister Wu at the security room, Ping'an and his group hurried to Jiaozi's home.
Jiaozi was not well. At least, when Su Tang saw Jiaozi, she found her drowsy with a fever.
"She's had a fever all day. I called a doctor, and she's been on an IV drip all day. The nurse just left." The nanny said nervously, unable to clearly explain why Jiaozi had a fever.
"Jiaozi, Jiaozi!" Su Tang sat by the bed and called softly.
Hearing Su Tang's voice, Jiaozi weakly opened her eyes, looked for a moment, and then fell asleep again.
"Are you sure she doesn't need to be sent to the hospital?" Ping'an asked.
"The doctor said it's nothing serious and she doesn't need to go to the hospital." The nanny replied.
"What if she has a fever tonight? Won't her parents care?" Ping'an frowned and asked.
"A night shift doctor will come later!" The nanny said. "Mr. Yang and Manager Liao have already been informed. They said it's fine, and the doctor they hired is the best in the city. The doctor also said it's fine."
"Besides the fever, is there anything else wrong with her?" Su Tang asked.
"No!" The nanny thought for a moment. "This morning, this morning after she got a fever, it seemed like she cut her own hand!"
Hearing the nanny say this, Su Tang quickly checked Jiaozi's hands and indeed found a shallow cut on the back of her left hand. The cut was not long and was almost invisible if not looked at closely.
"This is a scratch, why do you still say it's possible?" Ping'an felt increasingly strange.
"This child clearly cut herself, but! But!" The nanny hesitated for a moment. "But she insisted that someone secretly cut her while she was sleeping!"
"Someone?" Ping'an looked at the nanny in confusion.
"But we've been here the whole time. Although not in her bedroom, no one could have entered the house!" The nanny said. "It was fine last night. When she woke up this morning, she shouted that someone wanted to kill her and showed us her wound."
"Didn't you investigate? Did you tell her family?" Ping'an asked angrily.
"Didn't you hear that this child was stimulated a few days ago?" The nanny pointed to her head. "Something's wrong with her head, right?"
"Alright, you can go. We'll stay with Jiaozi!" Ping'an said helplessly, letting the nanny leave.
"Manager Liao's intention is for you to just take a look. There are many things going on at home lately, so I won't keep you." The nanny did not leave, but instead asked Ping'an and the others to leave.
It was understandable. Ping'an and the others were guests, and the hosts had many affairs, so they were asked to leave.
"Su Tang, let's go!" Ping'an thought for a moment and patted Su Tang's head.
"Master, you guys go out first, I'll come down after I talk to Jiaozi!" Su Tang suddenly whispered to Ping'an.
Ping'an glanced at his disciple, then at the sleeping Jiaozi, and nodded imperceptibly.
"Big sister, how much can a housekeeper like you earn a month?" Ping'an stood up, pulled the nanny, and deliberately drew her attention.
"Su Tang! Someone wants to harm me!"
"Su Tang! The person who wants to harm me seems to be my mother!"
"Su Tang! Save me, I really feel like I'm going crazy!"
Jiaozi, who was half-awake and half-asleep, seemed to feel Su Tang beside her and whispered, speaking what might or might not be a dream.
Outside Jiaozi's house, after the nanny politely closed the door, Su Tang, dissatisfied, kicked her master.
"You saw it too, didn't you!" Su Tang's eyes welled up with tears.
"Ancestor, can we talk in the elevator?" Ping'an said, sucking in his breath in pain.
The elevator didn't go to the last floor but stopped at Gao Xiaofei's house.
Jiaozi's house did have problems. This master and disciple were preparing to find a place nearby to discuss, such as Gao Xiaofei's house.
"Who is it!" Not long after pressing the doorbell, Gao Xiaofei's voice came from inside.
"Bang!" The door opened. Gao Xiaofei, looking disp hoonéd, glanced at Ping'an and his disciple standing outside, ready to greet him. He then closed the door again without saying a word.
"Get lost! I don't want to see you!" Gao Xiaofei, who had eaten a "big trouble" with Ping'an, had Ping'an among the people he least wanted to see in recent days.
"Master, maybe we shouldn't bother godfather for now!" Su Tang said, looking at the embarrassed Ping'an.
After being "shut out," the master and disciple had nowhere to go and returned to the RV.
Inside the RV, Hei Dou was on the phone. Seeing Ping'an get in, he thought the matter was over and was ready to drive.
"Going home?" Hei Dou asked.
"Not tonight. Let's go to a nearby supermarket to buy some things. I plan to stake out here tonight." Ping'an looked through the car window at the residential area. The residents were leisurely strolling, and the scene was one of peace and tranquility.
After repeated requests, Su Tang was finally allowed to stay and "stake out." However, Ping'an's requirement was that after midnight, she must go to Gao Xiaofei's house to sleep.
In a small supermarket outside the residential area, Ping'an bought some drinking water and late-night snacks and returned to the RV.
"I just spoke with Old Gao Da. He'll be here to accompany us tonight. His son heard that we were staking out tonight and thought something big was going to happen..." Hei Dou said abruptly, implying that something big was indeed going to happen in the stakeout tonight.
"What Jiaozi encountered wasn't a ghost, it was a person!" Su Tang had been wanting to say this since they left Jiaozi's house, but Ping'an had never given her a chance to speak.
After leaving the residential area, Su Tang watched her master deep in thought and no longer felt anxious. When Ping'an suddenly brought this up, she couldn't help but become nervous and looked at Ping'an suspiciously.
"Yes, it's what you think. The wound on Jiaozi's hand wasn't a scratch, it was a stab wound. And judging from the angle, it wasn't self-inflicted, but by someone else." Ping'an lit a cigarette and said slowly.
"It's over! I thought I misread it, but if that's the case, Master, isn't Jiaozi really in danger?" Su Tang stood up anxiously.
"That's why we have to guard the residential area tonight!" Ping'an took a deep puff of his cigarette. "The wound is very shallow, almost an accidental stab! There are several people in the house, including a nanny and bodyguards. If it wasn't for these people, who could have stabbed Jiaozi under their noses?"
In fact, Ping'an was thinking about more than just this. He was considering the connection between Jiaozi's problem and the murder case in the residential area. If the two events were unrelated, they would be two separate incidents. But if the two events were connected, that connection might be the key to solving the case.
The car drove into the residential area. At the parking space outside Unit 3 of Building B, Old Gao Da was talking to Gao Xiaofei. Seeing the car arrive, they both got in.
"Old Gao Da said you son of a bitch are staking out here tonight. Don't look at me, I'm not interested in knowing. I don't want to see you tonight, and I don't want to solve cases with you. I'm just telling you what I know, and then you can die wherever you want!" Gao Xiaofei said, like a robot, with vacant eyes and in a monotone voice.
"Let me give you the latest information. I've sent it to your phone. The victim, Wang Hu'an, was sexually assaulted before her death. The perpetrators were those peeping bastards." Gao Xiaofei habitually touched his pocket at this point, found he didn't have a cigarette, then looked at Hei Dou, who shook his head, then looked at Gao Da, who also shook his head, and finally stared intently at his goddaughter. Su Tang couldn't bear her godfather's threat and took a cigarette from her master's pocket, offered it solicitously, and lit it.
"Also, you can only watch. I've called Liu Kedu for you—before 12 o'clock, send my goddaughter up to sleep! Whatever you want to do, do it!" Gao Xiaofei exhaled a ring of smoke and got out of the car, about to leave.
"Um, Captain Gao!" Ping'an suddenly called out.
"Speak!" Gao Xiaofei asked without turning his head.
"Can I go to your place to take a shower first?" Ping'an said somewhat embarrassed.
"Get lost!" Gao Xiaofei left without looking back.
Without time to comfort Gao Xiaofei's wounded heart, although tonight's mission was temporary, Ping'an wanted to try and see if he could discover anything.
At 10 PM, Liu Kedu quietly arrived at the residential area with three police officers.
Ping'an asked Liu Kedu to come up himself and also called Gao Da and Gao Da's son. They gathered in the RV for a brief meeting.
"The general situation is roughly as I told you earlier. Yang Jiao's experience is likely connected to the murder case in the residential area!" Ping'an looked around at the people present and said seriously. "Tonight's action is actually not an action, I'm just gambling. I'm gambling that someone will come to find Jiaozi tonight. Besides, I also need tonight's action to infer some information, so I apologize for troubling everyone!"
"Teacher Ping'an, just tell us what to do." Liu Kedu said.
"Director Liu, tonight's action has not been approved. If there's anything inappropriate on your end..." Ping'an said.
"It's fine, just treat it as a drill tonight! I brought the best people, no problem!" Liu Kedu patted the gun on his hip. "Besides, Captain Gao has already backed us up for tonight's action, don't worry!"
"Okay, if that's the case, I'll explain the situation in more detail to everyone!" Ping'an said. "Tonight, we first need to observe two things. One is the last peeping person hidden in the residential area. I've always suspected that there's still one person from the peeping gang who hasn't surfaced. He should be very young. He appeared when Hu Yi jumped to his death, but we haven't found him since. I guess he's still in the residential area, perhaps he's holding binoculars and watching us right now!"
Ping'an's words made everyone present gasp.
"Second, it's Jiaozi's problem. From the information provided by Su Tang and Jiaozi earlier, I deduced that whoever entered Jiaozi's room was naturally not a ghost, but a remote-controlled flying device. Of course, it's also possible that someone with technical means came directly to the rooftop and secretly entered Jiaozi's room." Ping'an said. "Honestly, besides the perpetrator being a pervert, I really can't figure out why they would go to such lengths to trouble Jiaozi, unless there's an unavoidable reason! And tonight, I discovered that Jiaozi's hand has signs of being deliberately injured by someone. This girl Jiaozi has a high fever now and doesn't have any valuable information, so I'm gambling that tonight, I want to see if anyone else will come."
After a simple analysis, Ping'an began to assign tasks. Based on functions and responsibilities, he first asked Gao Da's son to be prepared tonight, strengthen the night patrol, and mainly arrange for security guards to guard every entrance of the residential area to ensure no suspects entered or exited. Secondly, he and Liu Kedu, with another police officer, would guard the top floor of Unit 4 of Building B, from where they could directly see Jiaozi's terrace, which was also the closest position to Jiaozi's bedroom. Third, Hei Dou and Gao Da would guard in the car, watching the entrance of Unit 3. The remaining two police officers would guard the underground parking lot. Finally, Gao Da's son would guard the security room monitoring room of the residential area, watching the entire residential area's surveillance throughout the night.
"Master, what about me!" Su Tang asked excitedly.
"Go to your godfather's house!" Ping'an took out a long tube from the car and handed it to Su Tang. "This is a professional telescope I borrowed from the city bureau. Tonight, you go to your godfather's house. You have a mission. Remember, you were the one who found the first peeper, so at your godfather's house, keep aiming at Building C and search. If you find anything, notify me immediately!"
"I'll definitely complete the mission!" Su Tang took the telescope excitedly and ran towards Gao Xiaofei's house.
"I naturally have a pair too. Tonight, I'll search from the rooftop!" Ping'an looked around at the people and waved his hand, saying with a commanding air, "Action!"