Shaking uncontrollably, he hadn't solved a case in two years.
This time, forced into it, Ping An found himself back on the front lines.
"I'll have some personal matters to attend to these few days. Fortunately, I made a plan for you beforehand. Just handle the liaison work, and send me the daily press releases on my phone." On the way to the construction site, Ping An was giving instructions about his upcoming work.
"How's it going? Did that Wan Rou give you any more trouble?" Mei Qian, who was driving, asked with a sly grin. "This morning, An Jing called Wan Rou to the hospital and, tsk tsk, gave her a severe scolding. I've never seen her so furious. In the end, she even made a phone call to your mother-in-law in front of everyone, clarifying everything. You, and Lin Dang, no one will target you anymore now." He paused, then added, "That Wan Rou isn't someone to trifle with. You're An Jing's husband, you should remind her to be more careful." Ping An's mind was preoccupied with the case, and he didn't have the time to listen to Mei Qian's chatter.
According to the detailed information provided by the police, Zhang Si first appeared on surveillance footage at 8:50 PM on Friday. It wasn't until two days later that someone discovered the body. The time span was too vast, leaving ample room and time for the perpetrator. This case was going to be difficult to investigate.
"Speaking of which, haven't we already been to the crime scene once? Why do you need to go again?" Mei Qian asked.
"I had something on my mind that day, and I didn't examine it carefully. Today is daytime, and the weather is good. I want to take another look. Perhaps I can find something new." Ping An patted the small bag he was carrying and said to Mei Qian, "By the way, last time you mentioned the case you solved in Fan County, it sounded very interesting. I didn't get to hear enough, tell me about it in more detail!"
On the roof of the construction building, two police officers guarding the crime scene were playing Go, bored. Seeing Ping An and Mei Qian arrive, they quickly tidied up their game.
"It's fine, you guys carry on," Mei Qian said with a friendly wave. He watched as Ping An began to put on gloves, and quickly took out an evidence bag. He had a premonition that no matter how many times the police had scoured the crime scene, Ping An would always find something new.
As expected, before Mei Qian could even get into the zone, Ping An was already squatting in front of a concrete slab, reaching into the gap between two pieces of concrete for something.
"Found something?" Mei Qian asked, overjoyed.
"A medicine bottle," Ping An pulled out a small yellow plastic medicine bottle, shook it, and said, "It's empty!"
"Let me see," Mei Qian covered the plastic bottle with an evidence bag and held it up to examine it closely.
To Ping An, a common medicine bottle didn't seem particularly unique, and at least, no evidence could be found on it. However, Mei Qian seemed engrossed, holding the bottle up for a long time without putting it down. "Hey! It's just ordinary antibiotics. If it doesn't work out, you can take it back for an expert to appraise," Ping An joked.
"Never mind the medicine, this bottle feels very familiar," Mei Qian said, turning the bottle over and over in his hand.
"How is it familiar? There isn't even a scratch on the bottle," Ping An said with dissatisfaction.
"That's right, I remember now! I've seen this bottle before," Mei Qian said excitedly, carefully touching both ends of the bottle through the evidence bag. "The same indentations, they should be similar!"
"What's the same?" Ping An finally noticed something unusual about Mei Qian and walked over to re-examine the bottle.
"Didn't you just ask me about the case I solved in Fan County?" Mei Qian said. "I'm sure I saw this bottle in that nursing home!"
It turned out that when Mei Qian was solving the case in Fan County, he had stayed overnight at a nursing home and happened to see this bottle. Although the bottles for this type of antibiotic were almost identical, he had personally touched that bottle at the time and felt an indentation on both ends where it had been manually squeezed and deformed. Now, the newly discovered bottle here had the same indentation.
"Fan County? Do you know whose it was?" Ping An was now also excited.
"It seems, it seems it belonged to the director of the nursing home, my fellow villager!" Mei Qian said thoughtfully, enunciating the name word by word, "Wang Sanfa!"
The explosion at the newspaper office led to two clues: one was Ma Delu, and the other was Tian En Nursing Home. Mei Qian had traced the explosion case to Tian En Nursing Home earlier and discovered that Wang Sanfa's daughter had killed someone for some reason, and the case was temporarily put aside. After Ma Delu was beaten to death, the police followed the trail to the new crime scene at the construction site and surprisingly found a medicine bottle that appeared to have originated from Tian En Nursing Home.
"It can't be such a coincidence, can it?" Mei Qian looked at Ping An incredulously.
"Let's go, let's go take a look at that nursing home!" Ping An said. "I've been curious about this nursing home for a long time. An explosion, a missing person, a killer with a big mouth! Tsk tsk, I must go!"
Mei Qian called the police officer guarding the scene and solemnly handed over the medicine bottle to the municipal bureau, repeatedly emphasizing that it should be handled with priority, and to check if the fingerprints on the bottle matched those of someone named Wang Sanfa. In previous cases, the police had Wang Sanfa's fingerprint data.
After finishing their arrangements, Mei Qian and Ping An rushed to Fan County without delay.
Inside Tian En Nursing Home, everything was as peaceful as ever. The old director, Wang Sanfa, had been withdrawn since the death of his daughter. He confined himself to his office every day and rarely went out. When he did go out occasionally, he would be gone for two or three days. Kind-hearted staff members suggested that Wang Sanfa take a leave to rest, but he angrily cursed them out.
"Do you think this step we're taking will actually work?" In Wang Sanfa's office, a young man lit three sticks of incense at Ajiao's memorial tablet, then sat on the sofa and said to the silent Wang Sanfa, "Reaching this point was not my intention."
"We are powerless people, and those with the ability to help us are unwilling to do so. We have no choice but to drag them down to hell with us!" Wang Sanfa seemed to have aged more than a decade overnight. Coughing, he said, "I've told you everything that needs to be said. I heard that 'that person' has already personally intervened – how shameless! They rush out when their own disciple is involved, but they don't care about other people's children! They didn't even force out the bomb!" httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"The abilities and skills of 'that person' will surely uncover the truth soon, but why must you involve yourself?" The young man said, wiping away tears.
"I haven't wanted to live for a long time. I left behind a crucial piece of evidence. If the police officer who arrested Ajiao last time is in charge of this current case, he'll find his way to me before long," Wang Sanfa said. "There are some capable people among the police force!"
"Since it has come to this, there's nothing else we can do," the young man sighed deeply, stood up, bowed to Wang Sanfa, and then walked to the window. With a slight leap, he jumped out.
"Calculating the time, what's coming will eventually come," Wang Sanfa said, watching the young man disappear out the window. He slowly got up, went out, and told a staff member of the nursing home, "If any police officers come looking for me, tell them to come to the rooftop!"
When Mei Qian drove Ping An to the nursing home, they saw Wang Sanfa standing on the rooftop as soon as they entered the gate.
"Officer Mei, it really is you," Wang Sanfa said from above, waving his hand.
"Yes, it seems you knew I was coming," Mei Qian, without showing any emotion, gave Ping An a look, subtly indicating for him to notify the police.
"The medicine bottle I left at the scene, you found it, didn't you?" Wang Sanfa continued to ask unhurriedly.
"I don't have that kind of skill!" Mei Qian pointed to Ping An beside him. "This is our city's renowned reporter-detective, Teacher Ping An. He helped me discover it."
"You!" Wang Sanfa suddenly leaned out, staring intently at Ping An, and then shouted loudly, "You are Ping An!"
Ping An looked at Wang Sanfa on the rooftop with some bewilderment, feeling a strong sense of resentment in his tone. "I am Ping An, Director Wang. Would you care to come down for a chat?" Ping An maintained his politeness.
"Hahahaha, what a pity, that bomb didn't blow you to death!" Wang Sanfa roared as if he had gone mad. "Why didn't you die? Why!"
They had never met before! And on their first encounter, he was wishing for his death. Even Ping An, who had seen it all, had never witnessed such a scene.
"Director Wang, is there some misunderstanding between us?" Ping An saw Mei Qian subtly reaching behind his back to draw his gun and quickly signaled for calm. He wanted to see what the other party's intentions were.
"Yes!" Wang Sanfa, standing on the upper floor, began to gesticulate wildly. While moving his legs back and forth, he didn't forget to threaten, "Come up, come up! I have another bomb. If you come up, I'll tell you everything!"
Alright, no need to trick him, no need to investigate further. With that one sentence, Wang Sanfa had essentially confessed.
"You can't go up. Wang Sanfa is very unstable right now. I don't know why, but he seems to be targeting you specifically. Wait a moment, the county bureau officers will be here soon," Mei Qian said nervously, lowering his voice to Ping An.
"Ma Delu, did you kill him? Zhang Si, did you kill him too? You're quite capable, in the same space, at the same time, tens of kilometers apart from north to south of the city. Tell me, how did you do it?" Ping An seemed to ignore Mei Qian's words and took a few steps closer to the building.
"Come up, come up and I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything. Don't you want to know why someone used a bomb at the newspaper office? Why your little apprentice was set up? Don't you want to know?" Wang Sanfa looked at Ping An, his eyes filled with not only venom but also a hint of greed.
"Okay!" Ping An finally made his decision. "Wait for me, I'm coming up!"