Looking back at Attorney Bai's bright spirit, Lin Dongxue said in disgust, “It's absolutely shameless. Brother, take a look at the Internet. Intermittent psychosis, dual personality, and hot pot additives containing aphrodisiac ingredients were some of the reasons he made up to acquit his clients? It's shameless to make up such reasons.”

“Well, don't always be so emotional when investigating the cases. There are quite a few people scolding him online, right? It's 10:00 now. I'll meet with Li Min. Will you come?”

“I'll stay with Chen Shi.”

Seeing his sister say this sentence so naturally, Lin Qiupu’s heart stopped for a moment. After all, his sister would eventually grow up one day and be taken away by another man. He said, “Be careful when you go back in his car at night...”

“He's not a bad guy. Besides, can't I protect myself?” Lin Dongxue waved her hand before heading upstairs.

Lin Qiupu was struggling with this all the way over to Li Min's house. He stood in front of the door to sort out his mood and appearance before he knocked on the door three times. Li Min was a thin, middle-aged man. He asked, “Police?”

“How did you know?” Lin Qiupu asked since he didn’t wear a police uniform.

“Zheng Guohao was killed, right? He still owes me a million yuan. I have an IOU here. Will his property be paid to me after the auction?”

“How do you know...” Lin Qiupu seemed to understand and queried, “Attorney Bai told you?”

“Yeah, he just called me and said that you suspected that I did it. He also said that if I was sued, his law firm could take up the case, but he would take a recommendation fee for it.”

“What nonsense!” Lin Qiupu's nostrils flared in anger. “Who allowed him to disclose the progress of the investigation? I’ll make him bear legal responsibility!”

“Officer, are you really suspecting that I did it? I was working in the supermarket at 1:00 in the afternoon!” Attorney Bai seemed to have told him everything.

“We are still investigating this. We aren’t suspecting anyone at the moment. I just wanted to know about the situation from you...” Lin Qiupu saw a girl in the room poking her head out from the bedroom door. “Is anyone at home?”

“My daughter.”

“Then, let's talk somewhere else.”

Li Min put on a brown coat and followed Lin Qiupu out. The two sat down at a nearby luosifen stall[1]. Li Min handed a cigarette over to him, but Lin Qiupu reached out to decline. Lin Qiupu began to ask, “What kind of occupation do you have? Also, how did you meet Zheng Guohao?“

“Ugh, don't mention it. How did I come to know that animal?! I’m a supermarket supervisor. It’s that big supermarket in front of us. I recently planned to get the retailing rights of Zheng Guohao's beef jerky and sell it in the supermarket and earn a little extra money, so I asked Zheng Guohao... No, this bastard Zheng. That day, I brought my daughter Tingting and some colleagues along with their families to dinner with him to talk about obtaining the retailing rights. It was a very pleasant meal. After we had finished eating, he seemed like he was a bit too drunk, so I let him lie down at my house for a while since my house was relatively close. That bastard Zheng said he wanted to have something sour to drink to cure his hangover, so I went out to buy him some soda…”

Lin Qiupu interrupted him, “Are you a single father?”

“Yes, Tingting grew up with me.”

“Then, why did you leave your daughter alone with him in the house and buy the drinks by yourself? Shouldn't the normal situation be the other way around?”

“I... I was afraid she was going to meet a bad person when she went out.”

Lin Qiupu saw through his lie and said sternly, “You better tell the truth.”

Li Min's lips twitched and the cigarette in his mouth fell to the ground. He covered his face and cried, “I'm not a competent dad! Actually, the bastard Zheng was particularly interested in Tingting at the dinner that day. He also asked her to go to his house to play when she was free. Nine of his ten sentences were directed towards Tingting. I know that Tingting was born quite beautiful and I wanted to win the favor of this bastard Zheng, so I let Tingting accompany the bastard at home. How would I have known… How would I have known… When I went home, I heard Tingting crying and her clothes were torn apart by that animal. A fire sparked in me immediately. I didn’t care who he was. I picked up a kitchen knife and was about to chop his dick off before killing him, but the bastard Zheng knelt down and pleaded for mercy. He offered to solve the issue privately and was willing to compensate a million to us.”

“Was he the one who proposed that sum, or was it you?”

Under the suffocating gaze of Lin Qiupu, Li Min finally admitted, “It was me!”

Sure enough, a father who was willing to stay private in such matters must be weak and greedy for money.

Li Min said, “I was thinking that Tingting was already ruined by this animal. What would come about a court case? When this kind of thing spreads, it’s not the face of that bastard Zheng that would be lost, it would be mine and my daughter’s. In the future, how would Tingting be able to marry someone? Who would still want her? It’s meaningless to lose energy, face, and money to try and seek justice. It’s better to ask the bastard to bleed a little. With this million, I can send Tingting to a good university. In the future, I can still buy a house for her, which is also good for her... When the bastard Zheng wrote the IOU and inked his fingerprint on it, I thought this would all be over. At night, I comforted Tingting the whole night and watched her cry. I didn't feel good about it, The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. One million was too little. It wasn’t easy for me to raise my daughter and she was ruined by this animal that was raised by a dog. It would take at least five million to dispel my hate!”

“Of course, the IOU was already set in stone, so there was nothing I could do but accept it! Later, I kept urging him and the bastard Zheng said that he had a million in hand, but it needed to be used as circulating capital. If he was to take it out, he would lose more than 10 million and he’d be sued... A mountain was covered by clouds, mist, and fog[2]. He just kept stalling me. I warned him that if he didn’t give me the money, he would see us in court. Tingting is a minor, and raping a young girl would be sentenced harshly. The death penalty was possible too! The bastard Zheng kept paying me money. He gave me about 20,000 or 30,000... “ Looking at Lin Qiupu's eyes, Li Min didn't dare to lie again and retracted, “He gave me 100,000 yuan!”

“When did you receive it?”

“Once in a while.” Li Min's eyes flickered a little.

“Okay, I'll check this information when I get back. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Don’t worry. What I said is the truth.”

Li Min emphasized this because Lin Qiupu seemed a little suspicious of him.

After saying goodbye, Lin Qiupu returned to the bureau. There was a scent of grilled skewers in the corridor. It turned out that Chen Shi invited everyone to eat. Chen Shi held up a bunch of grilled eggplants and said, “Captain Lin, why don’t you have one? I paid for this with my own money.”

Lin Qiupu misunderstood what he meant and said, “Don't expect the team to reimburse even this kind of stuff.”

“I didn't mean that. I mean... Forget it, you won't understand my recent distress.” Chen Shi lowered his head and bit into the grilled eggplant.

Lin Qiupu asked about the current clues on hand. Peng Sijue was still doing an autopsy, and a third set of footprints was found at the crime scene. From the size, it seemed like it belonged to a woman. They couldn’t be sure whether the murderer had left them after they put on sole covers to divert the attention away from their real size.

The surveillance footage from the community was brought back and it was still being screened slowly. The community security who had seen the deceased at noon claimed that the deceased was the only person in the car.

Chen Shi found some unsightly photos in a hollowed-out book at the deceased's house, which seemed to be the bodies of young girls. The information department browsed the records from the deceased's computer and also confirmed that the deceased may have been a pedophile.

In addition, the deceased's credit card statement showed that he withdrew 100,000 yuan in cash yesterday at noon...

1. They’re boiled rice noodles served in soup made from a stock that consists of pork bones and river snails. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Luosifen_w_pork_knuckles_%2820150430131030%29.JPG

2. It’s an expression that’s used to describe people that make up stories and excuses.