Xili Software

At 2:00 PM, Xili Software Design Co., Ltd., General Manager’s office.

Guo Chongliang pushed open the door and entered. He walked generously toward the guest sofa, inviting Zhao Yu and Liu Huisheng to sit.

“Please take a seat, officers. What would you like to drink?”

Zhao Yu’s expression was cold and flat: “Anything is fine.”

He raised his hand to signal his secretary: “Xiao Qing, brew a pot of herbal tea for the two officers.”

“Alright, President Guo.”

Liu Huisheng smiled faintly: “When we go elsewhere to take statements, we are usually given bottled mineral water. President Guo went out of his way to brew tea instead—how incredibly thoughtful.”

Guo Chongliang nodded as if it were a matter of course: “Naturally. A woman’s body is comparatively fragile, so one needs to exercise a bit more consideration. Aside from herbal tea, our company also has health-cultivation tea. The two officers can take a look later, and if you like it, you can take some back with you.”

Zhao Yu sat down on the leather sofa: “A taste is plenty. Taking it with us would constitute bribery.”

Guo Chongliang laughed heartily: “Haha! Officer Zhao is quite humorous. Alright, then I won’t cause any unnecessary trouble for the two of you. For you two to visit today, does it mean there are new developments in my brother’s case?”

All three individuals took their seats. Guo Chongliang sat in a single-seater sofa, while Zhao Yu and Liu Huisheng sat in the two-seater sofa to his left, facing him at an angle. Liu Huisheng sat on the inner side, making it convenient to observe his micro-expressions and body language.

Zhao Yu sat with her legs parted, answering his question:

“We stumbled upon a few new leads, so there are a few details we need to ask you about again.”

“Mm, please go ahead.”

“Prior to his death, your older brother had engaged in sexual relations with multiple men. Were you aware of this point?”

“About this… Officer, as the saying goes, family scandals should not be aired in public. With you asking so bluntly, it makes it very difficult for me to answer you.”

“Mr. Guo, we are currently investigating a criminal case. Any single lead has the potential to help us crack it.”

“True.”

“So, did you know?”

“I had heard rumors. Big brother preferred men. Not long ago, our father and the others caught him red-handed and used the family estate to threaten him, forcing him to get married. That was why he sought out Miss Fang.”

“Did Fang Qing know he was gay?”

“I am not too clear on that point. In truth, we brothers rarely meddled in each other’s private matters.”

“Your father called me today. From the sounds of it, he heavily suspects Fang Qing.”

“He likely feels that Miss Fang discovered big brother’s past, and thus developed a murderous intent?”

“What is your take on it?”

“I think it’s highly improbable. Miss Fang has a very frail and gentle temperament; she doesn’t seem like someone capable of committing murder.”

A few simple sentences successfully laid down the groundwork. Liu Huisheng gently nudged Zhao Yu’s shoe with her foot, signaling her to enter the core subject.

Consequently, Zhao Yu fished a photograph out from her jacket pocket, placed it on the table, and slid it directly in front of Guo Chongliang:

“He was your older brother’s assistant, named Xie Jia. Do you know him?”

Guo Chongliang’s pupils shifted slightly: “I know him, but we aren’t well-acquainted.”

“Not well-acquainted?”

“Correct. Though I’ve heard he is highly competent.”

“The day after his failed suicide attempt, you went to the hospital to visit him.”

“Officer, I explained that to you all back then. It was because my father happened to be staying in that exact same hospital. The matter of his suicide had been leaked to the media, and my father feared any complications arising from it, so he told me to go check on things.”

“Oh, is that so.”

“Yes.”

“But we ran a check—both you and Xie Jia completed your postgraduate studies at the University of Tokyo. Wouldn’t you say that’s a bit too coincidental?”

“Heh.” Guo Chongliang crossed his left leg over his right, interlocking his hands to rest them over his knee. “Officer, the University of Tokyo graduates several thousand students a year. I wouldn’t necessarily know every single one of them.”

Liu Huisheng’s eyes shifted a fraction, but she remained silent. Zhao Yu continued:

“True enough. It seems we overthought things.”

Guo Chongliang paused for a beat before asking: “What made you think to look into him?”

Zhao Yu’s rationale was perfectly solid: “Because we uncovered that prior to his death, Guo Chong’an purchased a massive insurance policy, with the payout reaching as high as eight million. The beneficiary happens to be Xie Jia.”

“You suspect him?”

“Yes. Before the truth is fully unveiled, we will suspect multiple parties. In fact, I am far more curious to know how your family intends to handle this insurance payout?”

The grip of Guo Chongliang’s interlocking hands over his knee loosened by a fraction: “On this point, I believe we should respect the wishes of the deceased. Since big brother intended to give it to him, then this money ought to belong to him.”

Zhao Yu reminded him: “Your father appears intent on suing him. If this money is retrieved, it could easily resolve the real estate company’s current funding issues.”

Guo Chongliang stated placidly: “Then we can only use other methods to make up for it. The fact that big brother wrote Xie Jia’s name down as the beneficiary proves that this money is what he deserved.”

By this point, Guo Chongliang’s stance was entirely explicit. Having fulfilled her objective, Zhao Yu picked up the herbal tea the secretary had just brought in and leaned back against the sofa, handing the battlefield over to Liu Huisheng. Having observed the entire dialogue, Liu Huisheng finally spoke up:

“For you to be so deeply considerate of Xie Jia—anyone in the dark would assume you two were close friends.”

“Heh.”

Guo Chongliang let out a soft chuckle of accord. He maintained his crossed-legged posture without shifting, though the tip of his extended foot twisted a fraction in the direction opposite to Liu Huisheng.

“If only we were close friends. Then I could have counseled him, so he wouldn’t have stubbornly resorted to thinking about suicide.”

Liu Huisheng followed his lead smoothly: “How many times have you two met?”

“Just once.”

“Only once?”

“Correct. Officers, I give you my guarantee.” As Guo Chongliang spoke, he loosely raised his right hand, his fingers idly gesturing outward. “Between me and my brother’s assistant, Xie Jia, it is merely a nodding acquaintance. We simply know each other’s names, nothing more.”

Liu Huisheng’s eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze dropping onto the hand he was pointing outward. Pulling her gaze back, her mind was entirely filled with certainty.

“Very well, Mr. Guo. I believe we have concluded our questions. If there are new developments in the case, we will notify the family.”

Guo Chongliang rose to see them off: “Alright, Officer Liu. If there is anything you need my assistance with, feel free to notify me at any time. Walk this way, I’ll escort you out.”

Stealing out of the Xili building, the blazing sun was baking the ground until it emitted the suffocating, stagnant heat of melting lacquer.

Liu Huisheng was highly sensitive to the heat. With a quick shake of her shoulders, she shed her jacket, exposing a sleeveless tank top. Pulling a hair pin from her bag, she swept her hair up behind her head in a matter of seconds. Her slender neck resembled an elegant swan admiring its own reflection on the surface of a mirror-like lake.

Liu Huisheng possessed an exceptionally gorgeous pair of butterfly bones. Back during their university days, she frequently wore halter-neck, backless tank tops in the summer, her luminous butterfly bones reflecting a delicate, honeyed hue beneath the sunlight—it was stunningly beautiful. Now, perhaps due to getting older, she favored comfort over aesthetics; even when wearing a tank top, it was a style that kept her back thoroughly wrapped up and concealed.

She tucked a stray strand of long hair from the side behind her ear, her eyes staring at the parking sign across the street, while her peripheral vision caught a certain someone’s gaze dead in its tracks:

“Keep staring and I’ll have to start charging a fee.”

Sure enough, Zhao Yu snapped her gaze away as if she had been scalded. Her hand rose and fell unnaturally, finally grasping for a topic within the empty air:

“Guo Chongliang—what do you think of him?”

Liu Huisheng didn’t pursue her teasing. Instead of answering, she countered: “What do you think?”

“I think,” Zhao Yu pondered over the sequence of taking the statement just now, “he is a bit too much of a good person.”

“How so?”

“I’ve handled more than a single homicide case. A victim’s relatives will suspect absolutely everyone—just like the deceased’s father, who harbors immense hostility toward Fang Qing and Xie Jia. Yet, Guo Chongliang displays an incredible amount of tolerance.”

Liu Huisheng nodded, supplementing: “Because he knows for a fact that those two are not the killers.”

A genuine victim’s perspective was never that tolerant.

It was remarkably similar to a game of Werewolf; someone who drew a Good Person card would habitually and equally suspect every single player at the table. A werewolf, however, would mostly employ the tactic of handing out ‘Good Person cards’ to curry favor, thereby diminishing their own perceived hostility to evade the risk of suspicion.

From Zhao Yu’s years of criminal investigation experience, Guo Chongliang was intensely suspicious. Yet, aside from this point of ‘tolerance,’ she had no other train of thought.

“There is another strange point,” Zhao Yu stated.

“Where?” Liu Huisheng inquired.

“If he truly is the killer, he ought to search for a scapegoat. Xie Jia is the insurance beneficiary and shared a volatile romantic entanglement with the deceased—making him an excellent candidate. Yet, just now when I told him we suspected Xie Jia, he actually spoke up in his defense. When they’ve explicitly met only once and aren’t well-acquainted, he could have easily pushed the blame entirely onto Xie Jia.”

Liu Huisheng raised her eyebrows, looking at her with a teasing smirk: “Who says the two of them aren’t well-acquainted?”

“What do you mean?”

“It means that they are not only incredibly well-acquainted, but furthermore, Guo Chongliang harbors exceptionally deep feelings for Xie Jia.”

Zhao Yu clearly found this piece of information difficult to accept at a moment’s notice. She hesitated for a couple of seconds before asking: “Are you serious?”

Liu Huisheng pulled open the passenger door, resting her elbow against the top edge of the frame. Her smooth arm bent into a leisurely, angular line, her dangling fingers slender and elongated.

“Are you familiar with the ‘Clinton Gesture’?” She threw out a technical term.

Sure enough, Zhao Yu halted her movement to open her door. Standing outside the driver’s side, her deep eyes were completely filled with an intense craving for knowledge.

“I don’t know it. What does it mean?”