Grocery Store No.514

At three o’clock in the morning on  11 November 3020, Jiang Chengyan came out of the investigation room. While stretched his waist and his neck, saying, “let him go back after the statement is recorded.”

Yao Min bumped Jiang Chengyan’s shoulder and smiled, “ Captain, you’re really something! Not only making him confess but also making him feel grateful. You’re worthy of being the old fox in our team!”

Jiang Chengyan snapped, “You damn girl, what did you say!? I’m only thirty years old, how come I’m old?”

He didn’t think about this before, but now Jiang Chengyan is a little concerned. Maybe this is how it feels to like someone. He starts caring about his age, how to dress, and even how to speak. So he won’t be saying the wrong thing and making the other person angry.

Thinking of this, Jiang Chengyan walked to the window and looked at the shop across the street.  There were only a few bright lights in the dark. Ling Hua’an must be sitting quietly at the cashier while listening to music. 

“Captain, I thought about it after a long time.”

Yao Min’s voice suddenly came into his ears making Jiang Chengyan startled. He looked at Yao Min who squirted her eyes and made him a little bit guilty, but still speaking with a stern voice, “Girl, what are you thinking about all day in your head? Can you think of something serious?”

Yao Min pouted, “Why am I not serious? Captain, don’t tell me you don’t mean that way to Ling Dage?”

“In that way? In which way? I really don’t know what you are talking about. If you have time to spare, let’s think about how to deal with the man and woman in the interrogation room.” Jiang Chengyan pretended to be confused.

“Captain, you are so blunt in changing the topic.” Yao Min glanced in the direction of the grocery store, and reminded, “Captain, don’t blame me for not reminding you. Although Ling Dage is blind, he has a good appearance and a nice figure and also has a house. There are not a few people who like him. He is usually a little cold, so he persuaded many people to retreat. But it doesn’t mean that no one chased him. If you’re hesitant, Ling Dage will belong to someone else sooner or later. Just wait and regret it.”

Jiang Chengyan unconsciously thought of Yan Yu, that man was not only handsome but also took good care of Ling Hua’an. The most important thing was that he was still young, only in his twenties.

Jiang Chengyan smiled bitterly in his heart and hesitantly said, “ Girl, if someone makes you angry, what should they do to coax you?”

“Captain, did you make Ling Dage angry?”

Jiang Chengyan’s face heated up and he stammered, “I …… um.”

Yao Min said with amusement, “No, Captain, you are quite capable. You can make someone cold like Ling Dage get angry.”

“It’s not like that,” Jiang Chengyan was a little embarrassed, then said, “it’s wasting time to talk with a little girl like you. It’s getting late, let’s go to meet Yao Jiang.”

In the second interrogation room, Yao Jiang sat calmly on a chair with his head hanging low, making his face hidden. But his tightly clenched fists revealed his emotion. With a “squeak”, the door was pushed open, Yao Jiang raised his head subconsciously but dropped down again.

Jiang Chengyan sat down and watched Yao Jiang silently for a while, before asking bluntly, “Yao Jiang, why did you want to kill Jiang Cheng?”

“Because I have a grudge against him.” Yao Jiang answered without raising his head.

“Have a grudge? What kind of grudge can make you kill someone?” Jiang Chengyan asked in a hurry, as if full of interest in Yao Jiang’s next answer.

Yao Jiang suddenly looked up at Jiang Chengyan, “are you looking down at me?”

Jiang Chengyan responded with a smile, “Yao Jiang, since we can catch you at Jiang Cheng’s house, it means that we have grasped the truth, yet you are planning to make up stories with us here. Who is looking down on whom between us?”

Yao Jiang looked stagnant, struggling emotions surfaced under his eyes, and after a moment of silence, he said, “I killed the person.”

Jiang Chengyan was stunned for a moment, then asked, “Who did you kill? When and where?”

Sometimes people will feel struggling before they open their mouths, but once they speak, their hearts will fall to the ground. “I killed Jiang Changpin in his car on 22nd October at 10:30 pm.”

“How did you kill him? What is the murder weapon?”

“I strangled him with the seat belt in the car.”

“What about Jiang Changping’s head, where did you hide it?”

“I burn it and I threw the ashes in the river.”

Jiang Chengyan frowned slightly, “why did you kill him?”

“Because he deserves to die.” Yao Jiang’s emotions became agitated, his eyes were full of hatred, “He is obviously a damn gay, but he still takes away my Qiuran.  Even when he snatches her from me, he doesn’t know how to cherish her. He actually raises a man outside, shouldn’t such a scumbag die?”

“Even if he did something wrong, it’s not a reason for you to kill someone!” Jiang Chengyan looked straight into him.

“Even if he didn’t, he would still be killed by me and he died without the whole body.” Yao Jiang said with a slightly crazy smile on his face. “Do you know why death sentences in ancient times were usually beheaded?”

Jiang Chengyan frowned and looked at Yao Jiang, with no intention of answering.

“Because people who died without a complete body can’t be reincarnated. And they will become a wandering ghost for a lifetime haha… haha.” Yao Jiang laughed a few times before suddenly speaking with a grim face, “only such a way of death can relieve hatred.”

Jiang Chengyan was silent for a while, his brows eased, and then he asked, “How do you know Jiang Changping’s whereabouts? Did Li Qiuran tell you?”

“No!” Yao Jiang subconsciously denied, “This matter has nothing to do with her. It’s me who has been following Jiang Changping, that’s why I know his whereabouts.”

“Have you been following him? Do you know what Jiang Changping did on the 22nd?”

Yao Jiang was startled, then returned to the normal state, “I don’t remember.”

“Where is the first crime scene?”

“In the park across Heping Community.”

“How did you and Jiang Changpin meet?”

“At the bar. In order to follow him, I used to work at Bolang Bar where he usually goes.”

“For what reason did you approach him, made him let you get into his car in the middle of the night unguarded?”

Yao Jiang moves his eyes rapidly. Obviously, he was thinking hard, “we became friends when I worked in the bar. I said that I was in a bad mood and wanted to chat with him. I made an appointment in the park opposite Heping Community.”

“What did you use to get in touch with him, cell phone, VX, or other SNS?”“VX. But I already deleted all the chat history.”

“It doesn’t matter, the chat history of VX can be restored even if it is deleted. What is your account number?”

“I used permanent deletion and can’t restore it!”

“Just tell me your account name. Whether it can be recovered or not is our problem.”

Yao Jiang became agitated and asked loudly, “Are you finished or not, I have admitted that the murderer is me. Why do you still ask questions?”

“Because we are the police, it is our responsibility to uphold the dignity of the law, find out the truth, and return justice to the dead. Yao Jiang, the truth will never be buried. It’s not like what you said.”

“The fact is that I killed Jiang Changping, dismembered his body, and threw it in the trash can near Xinmin Community. I have nothing else to say.”

Jiang Chengyan took out his mobile phone. Opened the gallery album to find the photo that was sent by Jiang Cheng. Then he walked to Yao Jiang’s side, “this photo is your purpose to kill Jiang Cheng.”

Yao Jiang looked at the photo subconsciously, but quickly lowered his head and said nothing.

“The photo was taken on the evening of the 23rd, Although the distance is not close, the pixels are clear enough to be able to see the characters above. One is you and the other is Li Qiuran.” Jiang Chengyan paused for a while, then continued, “She gave it to you. This thing, I think you should be familiar with it. Although it is not big, it can be clearly seen that it is a car key. I would like to ask since you killed Jiang Changping, why do you need to ask Li Qiuran for the car key ?”

“Because I accidentally lost my car keys. ”

Jiang Chengyan smiled, “This is Jiang Changpin’s key car.”

Yao Jiang was startled, and then said with an ugly face, “You lied to me!”

Jiang Chengyan said in half-truth, “”You don’t have to regret it.  Although I did use some methods just now, I just knew the result in advance. After all, the technical department of our police station is not vegetarian¹. As long as you zoom in on the picture, you can easily know who the key belongs to.”

Yao Jiang looked at Jiang Chengyan in anger and fell silent again.

“Since Li Qiuran is willing to give you the car keys, it means that she at least knows about it, right?” Seeing that Yao Jiang didn’t intend to answer, Jiang Chengyan smiled indifferently and said, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t want the answer, it’s the truth. Although there is no direct evidence, a complete chain of evidence has been formed. So even if there is no confession, we can convict her.”

“I killed the person, it has nothing to do with her. You don’t accuse her!” Yao Jiang shouted with an almost pleading tone.

Jiang Chengyan sighed and said, “Let’s go, there is no need to ask any further.”

Yao Min glanced at Yao Jiang, then got up. The two left the interrogation room ignoring Yao Jiang’s yelling.

Outside the door, Yao Min asked in a low voice, “Captain, what are you thinking?”

“What can I do?” Jiang Chengyan said with a wry smile, “Didn’t you see that he has made up his mind to commit murder for Li Qiuran?”

“Then what to do? We don’t have any direct evidence and Yao Jiang keep saying that he killed him. As long as Li Qiuran doesn’t say anything, we can only let her go.”

Yao Min couldn’t help but become emotional, “Although I don’t agree with Yao Jiang’s actions, I have to admit that Yao Jiang really loves Li Qiuran so badly that he can even confess a murder for her.”

Jiang Chengyan raised his eyebrows, “what? Envious?”

Yao Min nodded honestly and said, “Envy. If a man were willing to die for me, I would definitely be moved to tears.”

“If I have to be petty in the dirt to love someone, I’d rather not.”

***

In the grocery store, Ling Hua’an was listening to a song when the bell on the door suddenly rang, and Wang Lei walked in through the door. He approached Ling Hua’an and smiled, “Laoban, I’m here.”

Ling Hua’an looked in the direction of the police station and asked, “How’s it going, have they reached a conclusion?”

Wang Lei recounted what happened in the police station, “Listen to that fool…cough, listen to Captain Jiang’s tone, he is also at a loss”

Without waiting for Ling Hua’an to speak, Jiang Changping’s cold and faint voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

~~~

1. vegetarian: not to be trifled with / to be reckoned with ↺