Chapter 51#

Jiang Qin walked out of the courthouse and hailed a taxi from the street: “To the Municipal Public Security Bureau.”

It was about a half-hour journey from the courthouse to the municipal bureau. On the way, Jiang Qin made a phone call to the company and asked: “Did Zhao Xue from the secretary’s office come to work today?”

“No, President Jiang, she didn’t ask for leave either. The secretary’s office couldn’t reach her on her mobile phone today. Do you have any instructions?”

“Nothing. Tell the personnel department that Jin Yan will be back at the company tomorrow.”

“Really? That’s great!”

No matter how Jin Yan treated others, he was quite generous to his own people. The various benefits at Star Entertainment were higher than other entertainment companies, the year-end bonuses were always generous, and there were no phenomena common in the entertainment industry such as forcing female employees to drink with clients or using female stars for under-the-table deals.

The key was that Jin Yan himself had a strong backbone and didn’t need to use female employees for favors, so the atmosphere in the company was relatively upright. Many newcomers in the industry started at Star Entertainment. Later, some signed with other companies, but most of them eventually came back.

Some pure art exhibitions that couldn’t get investment, dream-like movies destined to not make back their box office, everyone praised them but they definitely wouldn’t sell tickets; those young people couldn’t find investors, so they came to Star Entertainment to try their luck. Star Entertainment was a money laundering place for the huge profits from jade smuggling. Jin Yan was willing to invest in these projects destined to lose money, and more importantly, he never had under-the-table rules with new actresses, so his reputation in the industry was extremely good.

After Jin Yan was arrested, there were rumors in the company that the board of directors would appoint another major shareholder as the acting president, and that person’s reputation in the industry was far inferior to Jin Yan’s. At that time, the company was in a state of panic, several senior executives left, and a large number of middle-level staff were lying low and watching. This situation only improved slightly after Jiang Qin took office.

So everyone was very happy to hear that Jin Yan was coming back.

Jiang Qin hummed in agreement and said lightly: “I won’t be going to the company tomorrow. Have the secretary’s office clean up the desk and give all the backlogged documents to Jin Yan.”

“Yes, President Jiang. Is there anything else to be done?”

“That’s all.”

Jiang Qin hung up the phone and saw several missed calls, all from Jin Yan.

He didn’t call back, but sat blankly for a few minutes, then dialed Li Meng’s number.

Li Meng didn’t know where he was, it was noisy around him, and he asked impatiently: “Mom! How was the trial result? Ouch, little sheep, don’t baa…”

The little sheep baaed pitifully.

“Where are you?”

“Oh mom, I signed up for a chess competition and I’m waiting to enter… How was the trial result? Is Jin Yan coming home? What are we eating tonight?”

“We’ll see.” Jiang Qin replied perfunctorily, then said: “Be careful when you go out. You must be home before six o’clock in the evening, and no matter where you are, you must have Tashi with you. Since you want to play chess, play well. If you don’t become a national player before you’re twenty, you’ll have no hope for the rest of your life. Although no one in the family expects you to become a national player, you must do everything with all your might. Don’t play for a few days and then stop, you know?”

Li Meng asked inexplicably: “Jiang Qin, you’re talking so strangely. Is your period coming?”

Jiang Qin: “…”

“My second-dan qualification certificate has been issued. I can participate in professional chess player competitions in the future. You and Jin Yan just wait to be the parents of a world champion, hahaha! —Ouch, little sheep, put your head back… What! Why can’t I bring pets into the venue! It’s just a weak and harmless little sheep, look!”

Jiang Qin: “…”

Jiang Qin’s stomach full of sadness vanished into thin air. At this moment, he just wanted to grab Li Meng and beat him up.

The taxi stopped at the entrance of the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Jiang Qin gave a whole bill and indicated no need for change.

The driver was very happy and asked enthusiastically: “Here to report a case? Or to find someone for business? It’s not easy to get a taxi here. If you’re quick, I can wait for you to come out?”

“No need, thank you.” Jiang Qin smiled and shook his head, saying: “I won’t be coming out later.”

The driver didn’t react, only hearing him say no need, and drove away with regret.

There was an office inside the gate of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, with two uniformed receptionists chatting inside. Jiang Qin walked over and leaned against the window, silent for a few seconds before asking: “Which department should I go to to surrender?”

The receptionist was stunned for a moment: “Surrender for what?”

“An old case from more than ten years ago.”

Jiang Qin was dressed in a black suit, well-made and quite fitting, wearing rimless glasses, with a handsome and gentle face. He looked more like a lawyer or prosecutor, not even close to the word criminal.

The receptionist asked suspiciously: “Who are you surrendering for? We have regulations that criminals who surrender themselves can be punished leniently, but it’s useless for others to come!”

“…I’m surrendering myself.”

Jiang Qin paused and said: “I killed someone.”

The receptionist stared at him dumbfounded for a few seconds, then suddenly picked up the phone and started dialing. In a few minutes, a policeman hurried down from upstairs and asked: “Where is the one who surrendered?”

The receptionist pointed with his hand.

“Oh my god, I can’t tell. These days…” The policeman looked Jiang Qin up and down with an incredulous expression: “Come up and make a statement first. You’re lucky today, everyone is squatting in the bureau with nothing to do, otherwise you might have to queue for two hours and still not see anyone.”

Jiang Qin let him look him over and said nothing.

That day, the entire criminal investigation team of the Municipal Public Security Bureau was in an uproar.

Star Entertainment was a well-known major taxpayer in H City, and was famous throughout the mainland entertainment industry. No one expected the acting president of this company to come in person to surrender for a murder case from more than ten years ago that no one paid attention to anymore.

At first, the policeman taking the statement thought Jiang Qin was joking and warned him: “Don’t think you’re great just because you’re rich. False surrender will be dealt with as disturbing official business. Do you want to squat in the detention center for fifteen days?”

Jiang Qin sat quietly in the chair, not speaking at first. After a long while, he suddenly asked: “Can I have a cigarette?”

Generally, before criminals start to confess, they will ask for a glass of water or a cigarette. This is a subconscious action due to excessive psychological pressure. The policemen looked at each other in disbelief, thinking, is this person for real? Did he really kill someone?

“You… you can smoke. If you have any problems, say them quickly.”

Jiang Qin lit a Yunyan cigarette, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled a faint white smoke after a long while.

“The person I killed was named Zhao Chengqiang, one of the earliest shareholders of our company. At that time, another major shareholder was named Jin Yan, my legal spouse. Zhao Chengqiang had always had business dealings with us, and his company shares were two percent less than ours, but his power and status in the circle were extraordinary. The Zhao family also had a relative who held a high position in the province at that time.”

A young policeman couldn’t help but ask: “…You had a financial dispute? So you killed him?”

The team leader immediately glared at him.

But Jiang Qin didn’t mind.

“Zhao Chengqiang’s investment ratio at that time was very small. We gave him a large amount of shares, actually because of his strong backstage in the province. At first, things went smoothly, our company developed rapidly, and the funds and scale grew quickly; however, not long after, we found that artists in the company were getting addicted to drugs one after another.”

Everyone in the room looked at each other. The young policeman from before shouted: “Every word you say now will become evidence to judge this case. Any false concealment will be held responsible! Think carefully before you speak!”

“I’m telling the truth.” Jiang Qin said lightly, “Zhao Chengqiang’s drug trafficking was an open secret in the circle back then. Everyone knew.”

For a time, everyone’s faces were different, and it was clear they were all very surprised.

“He controlled several artists with drugs, both extorting money from them and forcing them to become his downstream drug traffickers. The company had just gotten on the right track, but was soon thrown into disarray by Zhao Chengqiang, and many projects could not be continued. At that time, we were all very anxious. We talked to Zhao Chengqiang several times about this and also thought about sending those addicted artists to rehab centers, but…”

Jiang Qin paused and sighed: “No one was willing to go. Many artists were afraid that their reputation would be damaged and would rather continue to take drugs.”

The team leader frowned and asked: “You just said the victim had a relative in a high position in the province. What was that relative’s name? What was his position?”

“The third-in-command ten years ago, surnamed Zhao.” Jiang Qin said: “You know who he is.”

Several criminal policemen looked at each other, and the team leader hesitated: “He was later subjected to ‘shuanggui’ by the Commission for Discipline Inspection…”

“But at that time, his power was overwhelming, and no one dared to provoke Zhao Chengqiang. We negotiated several times, but his behavior not only did not restrain, but became more and more intense. In the end, he even wanted to annex Star Entertainment and threatened Jin Yan to voluntarily give him all the shares.”

The cigarette in Jiang Qin’s hand was only lit and smoked once, and then never moved again. It had already burned to the end.

He gently stubbed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

“Star Entertainment was built by us from scratch, step by step. How could we just give it away? Jin Yan flatly refused at that time, and then our relationship with Zhao Chengqiang took a sharp turn for the worse, and soon deteriorated to an irreparable point.”

“At that time, our son Li Meng was only two years old. Because the company’s affairs were numerous and we had no time to take care of him, he was temporarily sent to a nursery. The company had a driver named Zhang Le who would pick up the child from home every afternoon. I don’t know how Zhao Chengqiang found out about this. He bribed the driver, stole the child, and called me to say that if we didn’t sign the contract to transfer the company’s shares within the limited time, we would never see the child again.”

“I didn’t dare to call the police at that time. Zhao Chengqiang’s power in the circle was very large… and it was too late to call the police. The child was only two years old. Zhao Chengqiang could kill him with a flick of his finger!”

Jiang Qin reached for the cigarette case again, but his hand stopped halfway. He picked up the cup and took a sip of water.

“At that time, I… was really going crazy. I lied to him and said that the contract had been signed, and I would go and deliver the contract to him, one hand for the contract and one hand for the child.”

“Were you already prepared to kill him at that time?” the team leader asked.

“No, I just wanted to see a chance to get the child back, and I deliberately left loopholes in the contract… But Zhao Chengqiang was very confident. At that time, the comparison of our strength with his was too great. He probably thought I wouldn’t dare to play tricks, so he directly asked me to go to Star Entertainment to find him.”

“Did you have a dispute when you were exchanging the hostage?”

Jiang Qin nodded: “Yes, I only found out after I went there that he didn’t want to return the child at all. He wanted to keep the hostage and squeeze us to do more things for him… even traffic drugs for him.”

Several criminal policemen discussed in a low voice for a while, and the one taking the statement looked up and asked: “—How did you kill him?”

Jiang Qin was silent.

This was actually very normal. When asked about key questions such as the process of killing, many criminal suspects subconsciously refuse to answer.

This was not a good memory after all. In many cases of impulsive murder, the criminals wished the killing process was just a nightmare and were unwilling to recall it at all. Sometimes even if they reluctantly recounted it, there were many missing and contradictory details. That was the human avoidance instinct affecting memory.

“We… fought.” Jiang Qin said in a low voice, “I don’t remember the details clearly, I only remember I casually picked up something and smashed it… Later I found out it was a jade paperweight.”

The police were writing down the statement, and the office was silent.

“His face was covered in blood, and he soon stopped breathing… I was very panicked at that time, but I didn’t dare to surrender. Because the Zhao family’s power was very large, no matter what he did, the situation was always unfavorable to me.”

Jiang Qin closed his eyes, his face very pale.

The team leader asked in a low voice: “How was the body disposed of?”

“…Sunk in the river.”

“Then no one from the Zhao family came to ask you? The victim’s power was huge, the impact of his disappearance must have been great, right?”

“No,” Jiang Qin shook his head and said: “I think his kidnapping of the child must have been very secret. He wouldn’t have told others that he asked me to go to Star Entertainment, and there was no third party at the scene when it happened. After he disappeared, the Zhao family reported the case, but no one suspected me.”

The team leader gave the young criminal policeman a look: “Go to the archives and see if the file of Zhao Chengqiang’s disappearance case from back then is still there.”

The criminal policeman went out as he was told. The team leader looked Jiang Qin up and down, frowned for a long while and asked: “So you completed the entire process from killing to disposing of the body all by yourself?”

“…Yes.”

“Jin Yan, who had a direct conflict of interest with the victim—”

“He doesn’t know,” Jiang Qin said, “I did everything by myself.”

Several experienced criminal policemen showed unconcealed suspicion, but Jiang Qin was expressionless, his face pale.

“Alright then,” after a long silence, the team leader finally stood up and said officially: “Being able to surrender shows that you still have a heart for good, and the law will punish you leniently. But before that, I hope you will cooperate with the investigation. We need to collect more evidence to prove the authenticity of the surrender. There is one point I must let you know in advance: the law will not let go of any evil, but it will not wrong any innocent person either. Do you understand?”

Jiang Qin’s eyelashes trembled.

This was just a momentary detail, but several criminal policemen in the office saw it.

He was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly said softly: “I have evidence.”

“What did you say?”

“…I have evidence. The murder weapon from back then… that jade paperweight is now in my safe at home.”

—Who would keep criminal evidence after so many years? And put the murder weapon in a safe?

Jade is not iron, it can’t be destroyed. Can’t you just smash it?

The criminal policemen in the municipal bureau were very different from the people sent down from above like Fang Yuan. These people were case-handling experts. Many clues and suspicious points could be heard just by listening. At the crime scene, their eyes were comparable to X-rays, and no clue could escape their keen nerves.

As soon as Jiang Qin said this, several criminal policemen became suspicious at the same time. The team leader immediately asked: “Why didn’t you destroy the evidence?”

“…I didn’t think about it.” Jiang Qin said lightly, “I subconsciously felt that it would be exposed one day, so it would be useful to keep it.”

The team leader and several criminal policemen exchanged glances for a few seconds, finally looked back at Jiang Qin, and frowned: “Do you mind if I ask? It’s been more than ten years, and you’ve achieved success and fame now. Why do you still come…”

At that moment, Jiang Qin’s face was very complicated, as if there was a deep helplessness, and a little bit of unspeakable sadness.

“I… don’t know,” after a long silence, he finally said: “I just hope you can file the case as soon as possible and settle this matter as soon as possible…”

“I hope all this can end soon, no matter what future I will face… I have my own reasons.”