Lin Dongxue thought for a while before she replied, “Retrieve the surveillance footage as we leave to see if she was seen in any of them.”

Chen Shi noted, “That answer is quite satisfactory, but at the location of the incident, near An Fu Bridge, there aren’t any surveillance cameras, so I don’t think it would be very efficient. Also, it was very dark at the time. The quality of non-police surveillance videos is quite worrying. Thus, even if we were able to retrieve the footage, we might not be able to see anything clearly.”

Lin Dongxue enquired, “Can you recall her appearance at all?”

Not answering the question directly, Chen Shi smiled and asked, “How many days has it been since the incident?”

“Four days.”

“How many people do you reckon a driver such as myself would meet over four days? Have you heard about the pollution of the memory? I’m afraid that even if I tried recalling it, all it would do is mislead us.” Chen Shi snapped his fingers, “Let’s go!”

“Where to?”

“To see Chen Jun.”

Lin Dongxue gave her colleague a call and found out that Chen Jun worked in a foreign-owned company and that he and a few of his colleagues were currently renting a three-bedroom place. When they arrived at Chen Jun’s residence, a fair and neat young man opened the door, revealing his red eyes. He asked, “Who are you looking for?”

Lin Dongxue flashed her badge and asked, “Are you Chen Jun? I want to discuss a few things with you!”

“Please come in!”

A house with several men living in it was naturally quite messy. The man who they assumed was Chen Jun brought the two into his bedroom, which was very clean. Chen Shi asked a few questions in an experienced manner, and Chen Jun answered them all one by one.

He claimed to have been in a relationship with the Gu Mengxing for three years. In the beginning, the two met in a social-networking game. As they lived in the same city, they proposed to meet. After that meeting, they felt like they could really connect with one another, so they began to date.

Gu Mengxing worked at a pharmaceutical company. Not to mention her personality, her appearance was also very flattering, which caused Chen Jun to feel like he gained more face[1] every time he took her out. Of course, he actually genuinely loved her and wished to marry her one day.

“Who would have thought that something like this would have happened? Having a monster of a Wang Yueche driver killing her!” Chen Jun began to sob.

Chen Shi turned a blind eye to his pain and calmly asked, “How were your girlfriend’s interpersonal relationships? Do you have any mutual acquaintances?”

Chen Jun thought about this question and began to list them as Chen Shi took notes in Lin Dongxue’s small book. Lin Dongxue glanced down at his notebook, noticing that his handwriting was neat, compelling, and tidy as if he had practiced calligraphy previously.

After recording the names down, Chen Shi glanced at the list and questioned, “Is that all? Does she have any close friends?”

“Yes, but I don’t know them. Why are you asking this?!”

“Naturally, everything needs to be detailed when police are investigating a case! I’m thirsty, can I bother you to pour me a glass of water?”

“Okay, just give me a second!”

As soon as Chen Jun left, Chen Shi immediately began a shady act of searching around the place. Lin Dongxue whispered, “Hey, what are you doing? This is not in line with the standard protocols!”

“I’m not a police officer,” Chen Shi found a few boxes of medicine from the drawer and threw it on the table. There was the sound of footsteps outside. Lin Dongxue asked, “Why don’t you put everything back where it was?”

Chen Shi ignored her as if he was deaf. Chen Jun came in with a cup of tea, and Chen Shi apologized. “Sorry, I was checking out your drawers a little.”

Chen Jun was visibly unhappy but didn’t object.

“These boxes of medicines, if I remember correctly, are for treating gonorrhea. Are you hiding something from us?”

“Gon... Gonorrhea?” Lin Dongxue looked at this kid who didn’t look like a shady or dishonest person at all.

“This... This...” Chen Jun bit his lip and stuttered for a second.

“I hope that you aren’t hiding anything from us. Don't worry, if you were to say something here, I won’t divulge it to an outside person.”

“I... I contracted gonorrhea!” Chen Jun confessed.

“How did it come about?”

“There was... An annual meeting… The company issued a bonus, so a few colleagues dragged me to that kind of place... When I came back... I felt that it was itchy and painful down below...” Chen Jun rubbed his nose.

“You didn't tell the truth; your expressions and actions indicate that you are lying. I want you to stop hiding things from me this instant!”

Chen Jun’s face flushed red. “What does this have to do with the murder case? It is my own business with regards to getting sick. It is obvious that Mengxing was killed by the driver that night. Why are you not investigating him, but me instead?”

“It doesn't matter. That is up to our discretion, not yours! You don’t want to tell us the truth? I’ll help you say it, then. You love your girlfriend very much, so you’re subconsciously trying to defend her. However, the gonorrhea was transmitted to you by her, right?”

Chen Jun scratched his head uneasily. Chen Shi continued, “You have a couple mug and a photo of you together on your desk. Every time you mention her name, your eyes look different. This proves that you have deep feelings for her. As such, you don't want her reputation to be tarnished. However, you know that her private life was very unruly and that she even spread the disease to you.”

“Enough!” Chen Jun threw away the cup, “I don't want you to talk about her like this!”

Lin Dongxue was frightened, but Chen Shi calmly lit a cigarette and smiled, “Angry? It seems that I’ve hit the nail on the head!”

Chen Jun opened the door, “You’re not welcome here anymore! Get out!”

“Don’t drag me into this!” Lin Dongxue whispered with annoyance. Chen Shi had just made the critical suspect pissed off on the spot. She, who was incredibly thin-skinned, couldn’t handle it and felt her face flush red.

Chen Shi shook his head, “A 25-year-old unmarried woman who has had close contact with many men, proving that her interpersonal relationships were far more complicated than you thought. Her death is likely to have had a great connection with your medical condition. If there was a direct relationship between the two and we were to leave now, you would see other officers next time who would tell you, ‘Sorry, we can't close this case yet. Please claim your girlfriend's body!’ If you want there to be such an ending, say the words, and we’ll go. It’s not a big deal for us, as it just determines whether we get a bonus or not. What loss does it have for us? But for you, Gu Mengxing will forever resent you in the afterlife, and the murderer will also go unpunished. Perhaps in the near future, there will be a second and a third Gu Mengxing. All of this would happen because you refused to cooperate with the police all due to your meaningless face! Please, wake up already!”

While Chen Shi was in the middle of saying these things, Lin Dongxue mouthed to him, ‘Don't say it!’, But he turned a blind eye to her efforts.

Chen Jun was overwhelmed by this slap in the face. He clenched his fist and was shaking. Suddenly, Chen Jun slammed the door shut once more and sat down on the chair closest to him. He grabbed and tugged at his hair painfully and said, “I said, no... I’ll talk… She... She did give me a green hat[2] to wear once. Okay, more than once...”

“How did you find out?” Chen Shi asked.

“On one occasion, my colleague told me that they saw her and an old man entering a hotel. I didn't believe it at first, but I also got a bit suspicious. I thought about it all day and all night, and I couldn't sleep because of it. When I thought about the once pure her being pressed down on a bed by another man, I couldn't sit still, so I installed a locator behind her phone case, and then I really caught her in the act. The funny thing was that this time it was with another person.

“I naturally got into an argument with her when she came back. I proposed that we break up. However, in the face of her tears, I still had a soft heart. After the incident, she continued and did not change. She continued to sleep with random men. I don’t know how many times we quarreled over this situation. Eventually, she didn’t even cry anymore but instead tried to give me flawed logic and reasoning to justify her actions. She repeatedly stressed that even if her body was not honest, her heart would always belong to me. These words were spoken from her mouth. However, I could not believe her, but I loved her too much to leave, and then later...”

Chen Jun smiled and shook his head, “She actually caught this kind of disgusting sickness and passed it on to me!”

1. Essentially means pride and dignity in a few Asian countries.

2. A green hat is used to symbolize a man whose girlfriend or wife is unfaithful. There are a few stories that this expression is said to have derived from. One story describes a hard-working husband, whose wife got bored during the endless hours he worked. As such, she started affairs, and gave her husband a green hat. When her husband left with the hat that her lover made, the men whom she had affair(s) with, would be able to tell that the husband has left for the day. There are slight variations to this first story, like how the green hat belonged to one of her lovers, and he had accidentally worn it one day while rushing to work, much to everyone’s ridicule. Another story dates to the Ming Dynasty where Emperor Zhu enacted a law that required men who worked in prostitution to wear green scarves/hats. Yet another described relatives of prostitutes being forced to wear green during the Yuan Dynasty.