Xili Software (2)

“Captain Zhao, what are you two doing over here!”

While the two women were separated by the car body discussing the Clinton Gesture, Chen Doudou’s voice suddenly echoed from behind them. Turning their heads to look, Chen Doudou was jogging toward them while holding a sun umbrella, while Brother Zhong was buying cigarettes at a newspaper kiosk not far away.

Zhao Yu was puzzled: “What brought you two here?”

Chen Doudou jogged right up to Liu Huisheng, speaking to Zhao Yu across the roof of the car: “Brother Zhong and I came to take a statement.”

“Didn’t I tell you guys to go investigate Xie Jia?”

“Right, but Xie Jia’s mental state is currently very poor and he refuses to speak. Brother Zhong found out that he and Guo Chongliang used to attend the same university, so we wanted to come and ask him about it.”

“No need, we’ve already finished questioning him.”

“That fast? What was the result?”

Zhao Yu waved to Brother Zhong at the newspaper kiosk, “Get in the car and talk.”

Consequently, the group of four piled into Zhao Yu’s black Changan to analyze the information Liu Huisheng had just deciphered through micro-expressions and body language. The cool air from the air conditioner blew out of the vents, dropping the temperature by a few degrees. Their overly enthusiastic minds also cleared up, focusing back on the homicide case they had been investigating for days.

Liu Huisheng sat in the passenger seat, turning her body toward Zhao Yu in the driver’s seat and Brother Zhong and Chen Doudou in the back.

“Guo Chongliang and Xie Jia know each other. Although he tried his absolute best to conceal it, his body language betrayed him.”

Hearing Liu Huisheng explain behavioral psychology concepts, Chen Doudou’s eyes completely lit up. She hugged the back of the passenger seat, leaning her entire body forward:

“How so?”

Liu Huisheng continued: “The feet are the most honest part of the human anatomy. We are highly adept at masking our upper bodies, but we frequently neglect our two feet. My mentor wrote a thesis that explains in meticulous detail exactly how the feet expose your inner thoughts.”

Chen Doudou couldn’t wait: “And then? What happened with Guo Chongliang’s feet?”

“At the time, he was sitting in a single-seater sofa, while Captain Zhao and I were sitting on the sofa to his front-left. Initially, his feet were planted flat—a perfectly normal sitting posture. But the exact second Captain Zhao mentioned that we uncovered he and Xie Jia had attended the University of Tokyo together, he suddenly crossed his legs. Furthermore, it was his left leg—the side closest to us—that he threw over his right leg. This movement serves to actively widen the distance between us. Even though his upper body remained facing us, his feet had already exposed that he desperately wanted to terminate this topic.”

“Oh… that actually makes a ton of sense… Who knew there was so much hidden knowledge in feet?”

Brother Zhong, always rigorous, reminded them: “Could it simply be a case of him sitting in one position for too long and wanting to adjust himself?”

Liu Huisheng nodded: “That is a possibility. But later, when I told him he was being exceptionally considerate of Xie Jia—to the point that anyone would assume they were close friends—he kept his legs crossed, but his left foot twisted toward the right, his toes pointing in the exact opposite direction from us. At that exact millisecond, I became entirely certain that whenever the topic of Xie Jia arose, he desperately wanted to leave.”

Chen Doudou fully played the part of a loyal follower:

“Yes, Sister Sheng, you’re entirely right. It’s highly probable he knows Xie Jia and simply doesn’t want us to find out.”

In the driver’s seat, Zhao Yu, who had been deep in thought for a good while, finally waited for Liu Huisheng to finish her leg-centric theory before chiming in to ask:

“What exactly did you mean by the ‘Clinton Gesture’ earlier?”

Liu Huisheng had kept her body twisted for so long that her waist began to ache. Adjusting her sitting posture, she continued to explain:

“In the 1990s of the last century, former U.S. President Clinton engaged in an extramarital affair with White House intern Lewinsky.”

Chen Doudou immediately raised her hand: “I know this one! The Lewinsky scandal! Clinton refused to admit it at first and even gave a nationwide televised address. But a few months later, he admitted right in front of the national cameras that he shared an improper relationship with Lewinsky.”

“Mm, it seems you’ve read quite a bit of material.”

“Hehehe, naturally. How could I be your apprentice without a little real capability?”

“If you can point out exactly why that ‘denial’ speech of his is treated as a textbook example in worldwide behavioral psychology research, I’ll teach you criminal profiling.”

“Well, about that, it’s…”

Chen Doudou’s fingers tightened against the seat back. On one hand, her current skill level wasn’t advanced enough to analyze the underlying data within Clinton’s speech. On the other hand, she genuinely did not want to miss out on this prime opportunity to learn from a master. Thus, she could only bite the bullet and say:

“It’s because at the time, when he stated he did not have sexual relations with Lewinsky, his tone and gestures indicated he was lying.”

Brother Zhong could tell she was completely bluffing and asked while suppressing a smile:

“What tone? What gestures?”

Chen Doudou blinked at lightning speed: “Y-You know, like scratching your nose or touching your chin when lying—stuff like that. Brother Zhong, don’t you know about this?”

Liu Huisheng took her awkwardness in stride and gracefully refrained from exposing her, explaining instead:

“At the time, Clinton explicitly stated: ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.’ He purposefully used the words [did not] instead of [didn’t], and furthermore, he deliberately inserted the phrase [that woman] to create a linguistic barrier between [I] and [Miss Lewinsky]. In reality, he was consciously distancing himself from Lewinsky. This sort of forced distancing and over-emphasis is precisely what betrays a person’s inner guilt. Under normal speech patterns, the sentence should have been: ‘I didn’t have sexual relations with Miss Lewinsky.’”

Zhao Yu listened intently to her explanation, connecting it to a certain detail, and suddenly had an epiphany:

“Just now,”

Liu Huisheng turned around to face her, nodding in validation as she continued the thought:

“Exactly. Just now when Captain Zhao pressed him on his connection to Xie Jia, his precise phrasing was: ‘Between me and my brother’s assistant, Xie Jia, it is merely a nodding acquaintance, we simply know each other’s names, nothing more.’ He explicitly used the words [brother’s assistant], [Xie Jia], [merely], [just], and [nothing more] to heavily distance himself from the individual.”

Chen Doudou was left utterly dumbfounded, taking a solid five seconds to fully process the implication behind those words:

“S-So, what you’re saying is, Guo Chongliang is actually incredibly well-acquainted with Xie Jia?”

“Precisely.”

Liu Huisheng then laid out her second piece of evidence:

“Furthermore, he employed the exact same physical gesture Clinton used.”

“What gesture?”

Liu Huisheng pulled up the video of Clinton’s infamous speech from her phone’s photo gallery. On the screen, a man dressed in a sharp suit was delivering his statement with vehement conviction—his gaze unwavering, his diction crisp, and his posture brimming with confidence. The absolute millisecond he hit the line “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” his right hand, resting on the podium, lifted up. His eyes stared toward the front-left, while his right hand pointed toward the right.

She hit pause.

“Right here.”

Liu Huisheng kept the video paused, zooming in on the upper half of the figure’s body.

“When he delivers this line, his eyes are fixed straight ahead, yet his hand is pointing off to the right. The direction of his gaze and the direction of his finger are entirely misaligned. This is a highly uncoordinated action, proving that what is spilling from his mouth is the stark opposite of what is actually running through his mind.”

Hearing this, Zhao Yu’s memory was thoroughly triggered, and she stated directly:

“Just now, Guo Chongliang performed a remarkably similar movement. It was the exact moment he claimed that he and Xie Jia were merely nodding acquaintances.”

Liu Huisheng nodded in pure appreciation. Under normal circumstances, unless someone specializes in behavioral psychology analysis, it is exceptionally rare to retain a flawless memory of a fleeting, split-second action. Clearly, Zhao Yu’s recall capability far exceeded the norm.

“Exactly. Guo Chongliang’s behavior practically carbon-copied the Clinton Gesture. Therefore, I am fully certain that a highly intimate relationship exists between him and Xie Jia. Coupled with his entirely abnormal baseline of tolerance, he is highly probable to be the killer in this investigation.”

Zhao Yu agreed with this deduction: “The fact that he went to visit Xie Jia after hearing about his failed suicide attempt also completely aligns now. It’s highly possible that while Xie Jia was acting as Guo Chong’an’s lover, he was secretly seeing Guo Chongliang on the side.”

Liu Huisheng reminded her: “But here is the most critical puzzle piece.”

“What is it?”

“He fits my profile flawlessly.”

Male, aged 25–40, height between 170 and 185 cm. Medium build, highly meticulous mind, stable income. On the surface, he likely presents himself as a perfect ‘Mr. Nice Guy.’

Chen Doudou’s blood was boiling with excitement from listening: “Then what are we still waiting for? Let’s go arrest him!”

Brother Zhong stopped her: “Doudou, don’t rush. Making an arrest requires hard evidence. If we move without physical proof, not only will we fail to close the case, but we’ll also leave ourselves wide open to a counter-complaint from Guo Chongliang.”

“Evidence… right, we need physical proof…” Liu Huisheng sighed, a sharp ache building behind her temples.

Once the deductive reasoning broke through the bottleneck, the rest of the logic flowed naturally.

However, gathering hard evidence was never as smooth as spinning a logical thread.

“Furthermore, the underlying motive for murder has yet to be unraveled. Even if Guo Chongliang shares a connection with Xie Jia, that alone doesn’t seem like a sufficient catalyst for homicide. Given Xie Jia’s fragile mental state, he doesn’t look like the type of person capable of two-timing two brothers.”

Liu Huisheng leaned her head back against the car seat, staring up powerlessly through the window at the large characters mounted on the main entrance of the office building: Xili Software Design Co., Ltd.

“Xili… why did Guo Chongliang choose this exact name for his company?”

Chen Doudou muttered in frustration: “No idea. Maybe it’s a homophone for ‘sharp’ (xīlì), because he wanted to project the image that he’s incredibly formidable?”

Liu Huisheng didn’t think so: “But the characters chosen for Xili (Xǐlì – Joyful Strength) are a bit peculiar.”

Zhao Yu asked: “When was this company established?”

Chen Doudou, acting as the Major Crimes Unit’s human database, rapidly scoured her memory archive: “Um… five years ago. I remember now—Guo Chongliang was still a postgraduate student when he started the business. He picked up a few outsourced projects in Japan, and after returning to the country, the business grew larger and larger.”

Five years ago—Postgraduate student—The University of Tokyo—The exact same institution as Xie Jia.

A sudden spark of realization flashed across Liu Huisheng’s mind, instantly conjuring up the vivid imagery of Guo Chongliang peeling an apple for Xie Jia back at the hospital. At the same time, the words Guo Chongliang had uttered during their statement-taking echoed clearly in her ears:

“I’ve heard he is highly competent.”

“This money is what he deserved.”

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

Gazing up at the main entrance once more, the two characters for “Xili” felt like an icicle piercing straight through her trachea. Her mouth hung slightly open and her vocal cords strained, yet she could only release a hollow wheeze of air rushing past her throat.

“Perhaps… the dynamic between him and Xie Jia runs significantly deeper than a mere underground romance.”