Chapter 57#
Everything proceeded extremely smoothly. The very next day, Yao Shuwen went with Jin Yan to the police station to give her statement. Captain Wang’s mouth practically fell open at the time—what kind of thunderous, dog-blood melodrama is this? Even Zhi Yin magazine couldn’t come up with a plot like this. With a bit of editing, it could probably be sold to Sohu News for money!
Yao Shuwen carried herself with exceptional poise. Elegant in bearing and clear-spoken, she showed no fear at all when facing a room full of criminal investigators. Calmly, she said:
“I didn’t reveal the truth back then because when Zhao Chengqiang had his accident in H City, I was far away in another place, and no one came to ask me about the situation. After Zhao Chengqiang went missing, I came here to handle the aftermath and discovered that he had been keeping a mistress in H City and even had a daughter with her, while she still carried herself as the respectable Mrs. Zhao. I was unfamiliar with H City and completely unable to compete with her. In a fit of anger, I soon returned to my hometown, and not long after that I went abroad.”
Captain Wang had just opened his mouth to speak when Yao Shuwen interrupted him:
“I deeply regret that I didn’t take the initiative to come clean with the police back then. I hope it’s not too late now.”
Captain Wang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “No, no, that’s not the issue. Concealing key details of a major case can carry legal responsibility…”
“You may pursue my responsibility through normal diplomatic channels,” Yao Shuwen said sincerely. “But before that, please allow me to make a phone call to the U.S. Embassy in China.”
Captain Wang: “……”
Jin Yan thought to himself: Well done!
Zhao Chengqiang might have been a scumbag, but Yao Shuwen was a rare and formidable woman. In terms of sharp eloquence, she could probably go toe to toe with Jiang Qin.
Back then, her loss to the mistress had only been because she was burdened with a child and lacked the strength to fight back; helpless, she had retreated to a corner. After Zhao Chengqiang’s death, she immediately went to the United States and built a successful career, which spoke volumes about her abilities.
Captain Wang asked awkwardly, “Then, Ms. Yao, on what basis are you so certain that on the night of the incident, Zhao Chengqiang intended to kill the suspect Jiang Qin?”
Yao Shuwen replied, “I’m very certain. Before Zhao Chengqiang kidnapped the child, he returned to our hometown once. I overheard him on the phone saying, ‘This time I must get rid of that guy surnamed Jiang.’ I was terrified and asked him who that ‘Jiang’ was, but he refused to say. After that, I deliberately eavesdropped on his calls and heard him complain several times: ‘As long as that Jiang is around, Jin Yan won’t take the bait no matter what…’”
The officer taking notes wrote furiously, the pen scratching loudly across the paper.
“The night before he went to H City, he said excitedly to the driver, ‘This time I finally have a way to kill that person! Anyone who doesn’t listen to me deserves to die!’ I couldn’t help confronting him, but he said indifferently that he had relatives in the provincial government—forget killing one person, even killing ten or eight could be covered up…”
Captain Wang frowned. “What was that driver’s name?”
“Zhang Le.”
Captain Wang immediately recalled that Zhang Le was the driver who had betrayed Jin Yan and helped Zhao Chengqiang steal Li Xiao Meng. Not long after Zhao Chengqiang’s death, Zhang Le had been killed by stray bullets in a gang shootout. Whether that was coincidence or deliberate was unknown.
That lead was dead as well.
“If Zhao Chengqiang wanted to arrange a murder, he would certainly have returned to H City to coordinate with his mistress. But I’ve been abroad for many years and truly don’t know how to contact that woman. If you can find her, perhaps she could also corroborate my testimony.”
Captain Wang said flatly, “We investigated. She’s also deceased.”
Yao Shuwen said, “What a pity…”—though there was not the slightest hint of regret on her face.
Captain Wang looked at Jin Yan sitting to the side with his legs crossed, then at Yao Shuwen, impeccably made up and graceful, and suddenly found the whole thing a bit absurd. He had been investigating this case for half a month; only he knew how massive the workload had been. Yet now, all witness testimony and physical evidence supported a conclusion completely opposite to his own. Moreover, even if all this testimony were true, whether it would actually have any effect once submitted to the court was still uncertain.
His professional ethics demanded that he uncover the truth, clear the innocent, and bring the guilty to justice. But there were always some cases in this world whose outcomes were not determined by truth, but by political struggle and power games.
So even if he harbored doubts now—what was the point?
“All right, let’s stop here for today,” Captain Wang said briskly, snapping his notebook shut. “Ms. Yao, please sign here… Are you planning to testify in court next Wednesday? You’re obligated to, but you may refuse. If you agree, please fill out a court appearance application now.”
Yao Shuwen smiled. “No problem. I’ll tell everything in court. I hope the law won’t wrong a good person.”
Captain Wang felt a toothache just hearing that.
After leaving the Municipal Public Security Bureau, Jin Yan’s phone—set to silent—showed several missed calls: one from Li Meng, one from Guan Feng, and several from the company, all subordinates asking for instructions.
Without hesitation, Jin Yan called Li Xiao Meng back first. But the one who answered was Zaxi. This fierce, cold, and emotionally twisted Cambodian mixed-blood teenager sounded like a sniper rifle firing single shots whenever he spoke to Jin Yan:
“Li Meng is feeding the lamb. Talk later.”
Jin Yan snapped, “Why do I have to wait to talk to my own son?!”
Zaxi responded with indifference.
“…What was that missed call about just now?”
“Li Meng finished his match.”
“Oh! How’d it go—did he win?”
“No idea. I can’t understand it,” Zaxi said coldly. “But the Korean guy left crying.”
“……” Jin Yan’s mouth twitched. After a moment he said, “Zaxi, listen—although I also don’t understand Go, if the other guy left crying, that generally means we won… And why is Li Xiao Meng always feeding sheep! Tell him he’s not allowed to drink milk from the same bowl as that stupid sheep! It’s filthy, you know?!”
Zaxi couldn’t be bothered to answer and hung up immediately.
“Li Meng really likes playing Go?” Yao Shuwen suddenly asked. “Today was the Three Kingdoms Championship, wasn’t it? I remember all the participants are famous Go masters.”
“No idea. Too lazy to care. The kid doesn’t take winning or losing too seriously anyway. As long as he gets to play, he’s happy.”
Yao Shuwen was silent for a long time. Jin Yan glanced at her and noticed a faint hint of joy on her face.
He immediately said, “How about I send someone to bring Li Meng back now? The three of you could have dinner together tonight…”
“No need. Let him be,” Yao Shuwen sighed. “Back then, I agreed to help only because you swore you’d help me go abroad afterward. Strictly speaking, we were even. Over all these years, I never really thought about the existence of a child and almost forgot about it entirely. You’ve treated him so well—I really shouldn’t disturb his normal family life.”
Jin Yan waved his hand. “Sister Yao, why say that? I can tell you quite like the little brat…”
“A woman’s instincts, perhaps?” Yao Shuwen smiled too, her eyes full of affection. “True love is letting him be free—letting him grow according to his nature in the most suitable environment. As long as I know he exists and can quietly watch him from time to time, I’m already very happy.”
Jin Yan nodded. “I always thought you were a good mother—and a truly outstanding woman. Look at how capable your eldest son and daughter in the States are. Clearly, good genes.”
Yao Shuwen teased, “If they weren’t good, would you have picked me?”
Jin Yan laughed as well.
He didn’t give Guan Feng’s missed call a second thought at all—after being mocked too many times by that Mech Star Grand Lord, he’d developed an avoidance reflex. After finishing the call to Li Meng, he tossed his phone onto the car seat and promptly forgot about it.
A lonely ding-dong sounded as a text message arrived. Guan Feng’s message appeared on the screen:
“Internal election results confirmed. The province’s number one remains in office. Red-headed document will be issued in three days.”
Jin Yan focused on driving, not even glancing sideways.
Not long after, another message popped up:
“Mr. Jin, President Guan says if you don’t reply to his message within one minute, he’ll stuff you into a sack and throw you into the ring river tonight. This is Hellen.”
Jin Yan hummed a tune, utterly ignoring it.
What he didn’t know was that in just this short half day, the city’s political landscape had undergone earth-shaking changes. A landmark bridge in a neighboring province suddenly collapsed, instantly bringing down countless high-ranking officials—including the provincial candidate in this election. Half a year of bloody infighting finally came to an end. The Jin family’s jade smuggling case was completely overturned, and the outcome of Zhao Chengqiang’s murder case was, needless to say, already decided.
Struggles began in the shadows—and ended in the shadows as well. All the flashing blades and flying flesh were halted instantly by a single order.
What Jin Yan didn’t yet know was… this time, he was really in trouble.
Hellen ordered the driver, “Mr. Jin is too tall to fit into a sack? What a joke—just cut him in half and be done with it! It’s just killing a man, stop dawdling. We still have to come back in ten minutes to pick up President Guan for afternoon tea!”
For the first time since Jiang Qin’s imprisonment, Jin Yan finally slept soundly.
On the morning of the Wednesday court session, he opened his eyes in bed to sunlight streaming into the bedroom. The glass photo frame on the bedside table gleamed brightly. In the photo, he and Jiang Qin stood hand in hand by the sea, both twenty-five or twenty-six years old, intimate and unrestrained, palms pressed together.
Jin Yan kissed Jiang Qin in the photo, got up to brush his teeth and wash his face, and put on his suit and tie. In the mirror, he looked refreshed and radiant.
After two days of emergency remedial measures, President Jin’s complexion had recovered to some extent—just enough to avoid the tragic fate of being dumped by his wife for being old and faded. Before leaving, Li Meng, who was competing in a neighboring city, video-called him and said candidly:
“Comrade Jin Yan, the probability of Jiang Qin filing for divorce immediately after leaving the courtroom has dropped to eighty percent… truly something to celebrate. Are you really sure you can bring Jiang Qin home?”
Jin Yan snapped, “Eighty my ass! It’s clearly forty!”
Li Meng immediately went “tsk, tsk, tsk~” and gave him a skeptical look.
“Just wait. I’ll bring your mom back in one piece this afternoon! Oh, and since you’re not coming back to H City tonight, I can have a nice happy time alone at home with your mom…”
Jin Yan strutted out the door arrogantly, leading a group of lawyers in a grand march toward the courthouse. Yao Shuwen’s application to testify had already been swiftly approved, and she was now waiting at the courthouse entrance under Captain Wang’s escort.
At 8:30 a.m., Jin Yan, Yao Shuwen, Captain Wang, and the others met at the courthouse.
At the same time, a blue-and-white detention transport vehicle stopped at the entrance, and Jiang Qin—dressed in civilian clothes—stepped down from it.
At exactly 9:00 a.m., the murder case of Zhao Chengqiang from fourteen years ago officially went to trial.