Chapter 19 Chapter 18 The Same Side of the World

the second murderer. In 1990, a series of rape, homicide and dismemberment cases occurred. In 1991, the innocent Xu Mingliang was mistaken for the murderer and sentenced to death.The real murderer is nowhere to be found. In 1992, another woman was killed in a similar way and her body was dismembered and thrown away.However, Du Cheng believes that this is not the same person. In other words, a second murderer appeared. Since then, he has also disappeared, and no similar cases have occurred in City C. So, what is the motive of the second murderer? "Imitation." Zhang Zhenliang extinguished the cigarette butt in the ashtray, "There have been such precedents abroad."

He picked up a stack of materials on the desktop, flipped through them, and opened one of the pages: "For example, this guy——In 1989, Ericeto Eddie Saida from the United States, he killed people with a homemade pistol or a dagger, And write a letter to the police and the media before doing it, the letter is full of messy symbols." "He's imitating—" Du Cheng frowned, "'Zodiac Killer'?" "That's right." Zhang Zhenliang curled his lips, "This bastard himself also confessed that the murder was to pay tribute to the 'Zodiac Killer'."

Du Cheng cursed secretly.Indeed, the serial murder case was full of troubles, the media rushed to report it, and there were all kinds of unreliable conjectures in the market.Even after Xu Mingliang "subdued the law", rumors against him are still endless.The hype of the media may indeed stimulate some potential restless elements to have the urge to imitate, and then experience the thrill of crime brought by killing and dismembering corpses. but…… Du Cheng thought for a while and asked, "How many victims are there?" "Three." Du Cheng nodded, the number of victims conformed to the law of imitation.Since Eddie Saida wants to pay tribute to "Zodiac Killer", he should have the intention of serial killing at the beginning of committing the crime.However, why did this imitator in City C commit the crime once and then stop?

"I've thought about this too." Zhang Zhenliang has clearly guessed Du Cheng's thoughts, "Rape, murder, and dismemberment are not easy things for most people. The murderer probably has the urge to imitate , but after committing the crime, he found that his ability to imitate was not enough-you also noticed that he completed the crime in a very panic-so, there will be no next time." Du Cheng didn't make a sound, the complexity of this matter has exceeded his imagination.Originally, it was just an old case, but now it has become two.The next problem is that there seems to be another murderer behind the murderer.

And is the relationship between these two people really just as simple as imitation? He placed the files of the two cases on the table respectively, and kept scanning back and forth.This action was noticed by Zhang Zhenliang, who hesitated for a moment, and stretched out his hand to stack the two files together. "Master," Zhang Zhenliang said slowly, "tell me, why was the latter case not solved?" "There are many reasons." Du Cheng sighed, "You also know that when we engage in cases, especially homicide cases, we start with the motive, and then start to investigate around the victim's social relationship."

He pointed to the file: "The victims of this kind of case are likely to be randomly selected, and there is no motive to kill. Naturally, it is difficult to investigate." "Is there nothing else?" "Huh?" Du Cheng raised his head, just in time to meet Zhang Zhenliang's meaningful gaze, and he immediately realized the intention of the apprentice to put the two files together. "All our analysis of the case is based on a hypothetical premise." Zhang Zhenliang weighed his words, "In the series of murders in 1990, the real murderer was not caught, and the murderer in the 1992 murder case was A parody of the previous murderer."

Du Cheng looked at Zhang Zhenliang: "Go on." "I have to admit, Master, your analysis is very reasonable." Zhang Zhenliang looked back at Du Cheng, "But is there such a possibility—our opponents are actually the same person." "the same person?" "Yes." Zhang Zhenliang suddenly smiled, "This is another reason why the murder case in 1992 was not solved." Du Cheng narrowed his eyes: "What do you mean?" Zhang Zhenliang pointed to the file on the top: "Master, you'd better look at the person in charge of this case."

Lin Guodong looked at the words "Sanhe Translation Company" on the glass door, pushed the door open and entered. It is said to be a company, but in fact there is only a small office.The room is full of unopened printing paper and stacks of documents, making the already narrow room even more cramped.There are four computers on the wall by the window, three men and one woman, a total of four typists are busy working.A fat man in a blue sweater and a gray down vest sat at the table and pressed a calculator. Seeing Lin Guodong coming in, he raised his head and asked, "Who are you?"

Lin Guodong remembered that his surname was Jiang, and he was the one who interviewed him last time, so he put on a smile: "Manager Jiang...Mr. Jiang, I'm here to deliver manuscripts." "Oh... what's your surname?" Mr. Jiang stopped his work, "By the way, your surname is Lin, the one who graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of J University, right?" "That's right." Lin Guodong nodded again and again. He moved to the table and took out a stack of printing paper from the plastic bag in his hand. "I've finished the translation. Take a look."

Mr. Jiang held the original text in his left hand and the translated text in his right hand, and carefully compared and reviewed it, showing no expression on his face.Lin Guodong hunched his back slightly, stood by the table with his hands down, with a humble and peaceful expression. A few minutes later, Mr. Jiang put down the manuscript and cleared his throat: "That's right, old graduate, you still have some skills." Lin Guodong straightened his waist, nodded slightly, with a rather contented expression. "Mr. Jiang has won the prize." "Okay, then let's sign the contract." Boss Jiang lowered his head and rummaged in the drawer, "There is no need to work, and there is no five social insurance and one housing fund. I will call you if there is work. As for the remuneration, a thousand words and one One hundred and fifty yuan, the street price—Xiao Chen, Xiao Chen!"

"I'm coming." A girl in a beige sweater walked in, shaking the water droplets on her hands as she walked: "Go to the bathroom—Mr. Jiang, are you looking for me?" Mr. Jiang pointed to Lin Guodong: "Give him a blank contract." "The paper ones are gone." The girl sat at a table by the door, "Print a copy." "Okay, let him settle the reward by the way." After finishing speaking, Mr. Jiang continued to settle the score. Lin Guodong nodded to the girl: "Excuse me, Miss Chen." "It's okay. Just call me Chen Xiao." The girl smiled at him friendlyly, facing the computer monitor, and quickly pressed the mouse.After a few minutes, the printer on the desktop turned on and quickly spit out a few pages.Chen Xiao picked up the contract and handed it to Lin Guodong. "Your name?" "My name is Lin." "Oh, Teacher Lin, please read the contract first." Chen Xiao pointed to a chair beside the table, "I will pay you the payment." Lin Guodong sat down obediently, but his attention was not on the black and white words in front of him. Although it was still winter, the room was not cold.An electric heater placed in the corner of the room was swaying slowly.Every time you turn to the direction of the door, there will be a gust of warm wind blowing slowly.The paper on Chen Xiao's desk fluttered slightly. Lin Guodong crossed his legs, adjusted his sitting posture, and sniffed. The contract was only two pages, and after five minutes, Lin Guodong didn't even read the first page.Gradually, his breathing became more and more rapid, and sweat appeared on his forehead. Chen Xiao, who was filling out the accounting voucher, looked up accidentally and caught a glimpse of Lin Guodong's flushed cheeks. "Is it too hot?" Chen Xiao stopped writing, "Take off your coat." "Huh? It's all right." Lin Guodong seemed taken aback, stretched the hem of his jacket to cover between his legs, "Not hot, not hot." "Then, have you read the contract?" "Oh, I'm done reading it." Lin Guodong hurriedly handed the contract back to Chen Xiao, "No problem." Chen Xiao smiled, but instead of reaching out to take it, she handed Lin Guodong a pen. "Then you can sign it. By the way, write your mobile phone number in the contract so that we can contact you." "Okay, okay." Lin Guodong hurriedly signed his name and wrote down his mobile phone number. Because he used too much force, the tip of the pen scratched the paper. Chen Xiao took the contract and went through it: "Okay, no problem. Here, this is your last remuneration." After finishing speaking, she handed Lin Guodong an envelope. Lin Guodong took it, and immediately felt the envelope soaked in sweat from his palm. Mr. Jiang raised his head: "It's over?" Chen Xiao replied: "Well, the contract is signed." Mr. Jiang let out a groan, rummaged through the desktop, and quickly pulled out four manuscripts bound in transparent folders. "Three proposals and one thesis." Mr. Jiang handed the folder to Lin Guodong, "The translation will be completed within a week, no problem?" "No problem." Lin Guodong carefully put the folder into the handbag, "Then, I will take my leave first." "Okay, call if you need anything." Lin Guodong nodded goodbye, turned around and walked towards the door, and stopped when he passed by Chen Xiao. "Goodbye, Chen Xiao." "Go slowly." The girl raised her head from behind the computer and smiled at Lin Guodong. Lin Guodong came to the corridor, walked straight to the elevator, and pressed the down button.While waiting for the elevator, he couldn't help but look back. Behind the glass door, Chen Xiao was working with his head down, his short hair was slightly blown by the hot air from the electric heater, like a flower with a fragrant fragrance. "Internship?" On the phone, Teacher Meng's voice was rather hesitant, "Didn't you just be in your third year of junior high school, so it's too early for you to do an internship now?" "That's right, Mr. Meng, I want to take the judicial examination this year, so I want to learn some knowledge about judicial practice." "Then you don't need to go to the high court?" "I think so. The high court will have some major or difficult cases concluded, which are more representative." "If you want to learn practice, is it useful to read the files? It's better to attend a few trials." "That's true." Wei Jiong quickly flipped through the notebook in his hand, which was written by Yue Xiaohui, "However, reading the court trial transcripts in the file, the learning efficiency is higher, there are not many opportunities to attend the trial, and you may not be able to meet typical case." After he read this passage almost word for word, he waited with bated breath for Teacher Meng's response. "Well, it makes sense. You are quite studious, which is rare." Teacher Meng thought for a while, "Well, come to my office tomorrow morning, and I will write you a letter of introduction. I have a classmate who is in the high school. , you just go to him directly." After Wei Jiong hurriedly expressed his thanks, he hung up the phone with a sense of relief. "You're really good." He handed the notebook back to Yue Xiaohui, "The words you made up really convinced Teacher Meng." "Of course." Yue Xiaohui proudly put the notebook into her schoolbag, "Lao Meng likes motivated students the most, everyone in the law school knows that." She prepared meticulously for the call.The content of the dialogue between the two parties was basically within Yue Xiaohui's prediction range, and all the doubts about Teacher Meng were arranged with almost perfect excuses.To be on the safe side, she even wrote down all possible conversations between the two sides in a notebook—Wei Jiong almost finished the call with his lines book. "Does it have to be like this?" Wei Jiong couldn't help becoming nervous when he thought of the next task. "It has to be like this." Yue Xiaohui's tone was very firm, "We can't do anything without knowing all the details of the case." Her appearance was exactly the same as when she faced Lao Ji's opposition. In just a few days, Wei Jiong saw a completely different Yue Xiaohui from his impression.The enthusiastic, cheerful, carefree girl put on a hard armor.The armor was forged from the tenacity, intelligence, and even cunning in her bones. Yue Xiaohui took care of her father alone. Yue Xiaohui was cooking quickly in the kitchen. Yue Xiaohui smoking. Her meticulous thinking and decisive actions far exceeded Wei Jiong's imagination.At the same time, without knowing it, Yue Xiaohui gradually became a very important role among her, Lao Ji and Wei Jiong. So much so that Wei Jiong often thought it was just a hallucination when they snuggled up to each other for a short time on the balcony. What's more subtle is that the two of them seemed to have a tacit understanding, and they never mentioned that sunset. At 9:30 the next morning, Wei Jiong stood in front of the Provincial Higher People's Court, holding the thin paper of introduction, looking at the tall and majestic building in front of him, and couldn't help shaking. "Don't be so cowardly, can you?" Yue Xiaohui's tone was quite relaxed, "Go in openly - I'll wait for you outside." Damn, it's not you! Wei Jiong muttered something in his heart, took a deep breath, and tremblingly walked up the marble steps. Walking in front of the crimson copper gate, Wei Jiong felt the majesty of the country's judiciary.I don't know if it was because of fatigue or nervousness, but after stepping up more than 30 steps, he was out of breath and his legs were terribly weak.Wiping his sweat, Wei Jiong looked left and right, always feeling that the two stone lions in front of the door were staring at him. At the same time, he also attracted the attention of the security guard at the door.Wei Jiong avoided the other party's vigilant gaze and took out his phone. Five minutes later, a tall man hurried over from the end of the hall. After looking around, he saw Wei Jiong standing at the door. "Are you Lao Meng's student?" "Yes." Wei Jiong hurriedly nodded, "Hello, President Liu." "You don't need to be so polite, from Lao Meng, you can just call me uncle." Chief Liu turned to the security guard and said: "Come to see me—do you still need to register?" There was a smile on the security guard's face, and he waved his hands again and again: "No, no, no." Chief Liu took Wei Jiong to the elevator, chatting some gossip while walking, the content was nothing more than "how is Lao Meng" and "does this kid still swim?" and so on.The two took the elevator to the 5th floor. President Liu asked for the letter of introduction, and after helping Wei Jiong complete the borrowing procedures, he took him to the door of the archives room of the Higher People's Court. Chief Liu entered the door and handed the borrowing procedures to the young male administrator sitting at the door. The latter browsed through them briefly, stamped the procedures and put them away. "come in." Seeing him waving his hand, Wei Jiong hastily followed into the file room.Chief Liu arranged for him to sit behind a table between two rows of file racks, and went to the file rack by himself. After sorting through it, he took down two folders with dark red covers. "These are two recently concluded cases, both of which were sentenced to death. One is a case of intentional homicide, and the other is a case of drug trafficking." Chief Judge Liu opened one of the files and pointed to the table of contents, "Look, the case of the first trial Judgment, appeal, statement of defense, comprehensive report of the first-instance case, review transcripts... You should focus on the trial transcripts of the trial court, which will help you prepare for the judicial examination." Wei Jiong repeatedly agreed. President Liu looked at his watch: "Okay, you watch it first, I still have work to do, come to me if you need anything - by the way, you don't smoke, do you?" "Oh?" Wei Jiong shook his head hastily, "No, I don't smoke." "Smoking is not allowed here." Director Liu smiled, "It's not bad, Lao Meng didn't teach you this." After finishing speaking, he patted Wei Jiong on the shoulder, got up and left. Sitting at the table, Wei Jiong pretended to be flipping through the files, and looked up at the administrator from time to time. Seeing that he was engrossed in playing with his mobile phone, he turned his head to look at the file room. The archives room is rectangular, and there are several rows of long iron file racks along the wall, and the files bound with hard paper folders are neatly arranged on them.Index cards are pasted on each file shelf, which should be used to classify the files. Wei Jiong's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, because the file he was looking for was on these file shelves. According to the provisions of the people's court on the preservation period of litigation files, the litigation files of intentional homicide cases should be kept permanently.Therefore, the file of Xu Mingliang's murder case can definitely be found here.The question is, how to find it? Generally speaking, files can be divided into criminal, civil and economic cases for filing.The first thing to determine is which of these rows of file racks is dedicated to storing criminal case files. Wei Jiong looked at the file in his hand, he still remembered the row of file racks where President Liu took it down.It seems that the row of iron shelves on the right hand side of him is the criminal case files, at least one of them. He was a little relieved, and continued to lower his head and pretend to look through the files.Now I can only wait patiently, otherwise it would be suspicious to get up and search immediately. The file room was very quiet. Apart from the sound of the administrator pressing the phone, he could also hear the slight rattle of papers being flipped through from the other side of the file shelf. It seemed that he was not alone to check the files.Wei Jiong secretly planned the next action, while counting the time.After about twenty minutes, he closed the file in his hand, got up and left his seat. The moment he lifted his foot towards the file shelf, Wei Jiong caught the administrator's movement from the corner of his eyes - he raised his head and looked towards himself. Wei Jiong didn't turn his head, but tried to stay calm. He walked to the file rack step by step, put the file in his hand back to its original position, and at the same time quickly glanced at the index card on the file rack: 2010-2013 (criminal). It seems that this row of file racks is indeed used to file criminal files, and they are arranged in the order of the year when the case was completed.He looked at the back row of the file rack—there should be cases concluded before 2010. Wei Jiong walked back boldly, clearly feeling the administrator's eyes on his back.Walking to the next iron frame, he looked up at the index card: 2005-2009 (criminal). It seems that I guessed it right!Wei Jiong's confidence increased greatly, and he was about to continue searching, when he suddenly heard the administrator shouting from behind: "That comrade, what are you doing?" "Huh?" Wei Jiong was startled, and hurriedly turned around, "I...I want to see something else." "You can read whichever copy President Liu gives you." The administrator stared at Wei Jiong with a rather stern tone, "You can't look it up casually." "Oh, I see." Wei Jiong quickly walked back to his seat, and bowed slightly to the administrator before taking his seat, "I'm sorry." The administrator nodded and continued to fiddle with the phone with his head down. Wei Jiong opened the only file left on the table and pretended to look it up, feeling his heart still beating non-stop. The administrator is right in front of him, and he is not as careless as he appears on the surface. His every move is under his supervision. How can he get the file? Wei Jiong wanted to quit, wishing to escape from this file room immediately.However, when he thought of Yue Xiaohui who was waiting downstairs and Lao Ji who was looking forward to their return with the materials, he hesitated again. When he was in a dilemma, a burst of pleasant music suddenly sounded in the quiet file room.Wei Jiong raised his head subconsciously and saw that the administrator was staring at the screen of the phone, and immediately swipe on the screen and put the phone to his ear. "Hey?" Although he tried his best to keep his voice down, the conversation between the two parties was still clearly discernible in the quiet file room.Judging from the administrator's tone and expression, the other party should be a woman who has a close relationship with him.Not knowing whether it was to maintain order in the file room, or if the two of them had a private conversation, the administrator looked up at Wei Jiong, got up and walked out of the file room. Wei Jiong thought it was funny at first, but he soon realized that the opportunity had come. He immediately got up, and quickly walked towards the file rack behind him with the files in his arms, planning nervously as he walked: Judging from the rules of file display, files about four years can be placed on a shelf, so the Xu Mingliang murder case The dossiers must be lined up at least five file shelves behind - he must hurry up. When rushing between the two rows of file racks, he caught a glimpse of a man sitting at another row of desks flipping through the files from the corner of his eye. He thought that the clatter just now came from him.In a hurry, Wei Jiong only saw the man's gray hair, bloated figure and gray and black down jacket. He didn't intend and didn't have time to pay too much attention to the man, he just hoped that the other party would not expose his behavior later. Walking to the fifth file shelf, Wei Jiong looked up at the index card: 1994-1999 (criminal).He was overjoyed, and rushed to the sixth file shelf, and it really was—1989-1993 (criminal). He jumped in front of the iron frame, first took out a file from the top row, and looked directly at the case name. "An Jiarong Intentional Injury (Death) Case." Wei Jiong hurriedly stuffed the dossier back, and pulled out another one a few books away. "Bai Xiaoyong's kidnapping and murder case." He immediately realized that on this file shelf, the files were arranged in the order of Chinese pinyin.This means that the file of Xu Mingliang's murder case must be in the bottom row. Wei Jiong immediately squatted down and rummaged through the bottom iron frame.When he pulled out the fourth file, he saw "Xu Mingliang Rape and Murder Case" written on the cover. He cheered from the bottom of his heart, and quickly inserted the file in his hand, holding the file, and walked back quickly. When there were still a few meters away from the table, Wei Jiong faintly heard the administrator's voice coming from the corridor: "Okay, see you tonight." He didn't dare to neglect, and almost finished the remaining few steps. Wei Jiong sat on the chair when the administrator's foot stepped into the file room. Even though he lowered his head, Wei Jiong could still feel the administrator glance in his direction.In order not to let him see the abnormality, Wei Jiong held his already very short breath and tried his best to calm down his body. The administrator didn't seem to notice either. After staring at him for a few seconds, he sat down at the table again, picked up a magazine and flipped through it. Wei Jiong felt relieved, exhaled quietly, then pretended to straighten his hair, and carefully wiped the sweat off his forehead. The dossier in front of him was even older and heavier, the paper had already started to turn yellow and brittle, and it was covered with a thick layer of dust.As soon as a few pages were turned, fine dust flew up.Wei Jiong had to slow down, and at the same time pulled the schoolbag over, carefully blocking the front of the file. After checking the catalog, Wei Jiong skipped the previous part and turned directly to the police volume. Alarm records, on-site sketches, interview records, on-site investigation records, photos, autopsy reports... Sections of soul-stirring words, and pictures of bloody... Wei Jiong gradually felt chest tightness, as if a stone was stuck in his throat, unable to spit out or swallow.Finally, when he saw a picture of a woman's mutilated corpse that had been stitched together, he finally couldn't help retching. He immediately covered his mouth while looking carefully at the administrator.The latter probably got used to this for a long time, and just cast a mocking glance, then lowered his head and continued to read the magazine. Wei Jiong reluctantly swallowed his mouthful of acid water, stroked his chest back and forth with his left hand, and after his breathing gradually stabilized, he secretly took out his mobile phone, turned on the camera mode, and turned off the flash and shutter sound under the table. Immediately, he rested his forehead with one hand, hid the other hand holding the phone behind his schoolbag, and pressed the shutter repeatedly on the file in front of him. While taking pictures, he also had to pay attention to the administrator, so it took more than half an hour for Wei Jiong to finish taking pictures of the content needed in this dossier.However, when he turned to the end of the file, Wei Jiong found that it was still the police file, and it was only about the two murder cases. He thought for a while, and closed the file, only to find that there were two words after "Xu Mingliang's Rape and Murder Case" on the cover - "Volume 1". Wei Jiong cursed secretly in his heart, and subconsciously turned his head to look at the row of iron frames behind him.It seems that in order to understand the whole picture of the case, at least one file must be obtained. However, the only thing he can do now is to wait. Therefore, Wei Jiong patiently looked through the file in his hand again, and secretly prayed that the woman would call the administrator again while reading. Perhaps because this case was a sensational one, the part of the dossier produced by the public security organ was very detailed.Looking at it, Wei Jiong was fascinated, as if pictures were slowly unfolding in front of his eyes. late at night.Near-zero temperatures.A white pickup truck driving in the dark.Songjiang Street.Democracy Road.Riverbend Park.Garbage incineration plant.Orthopaedic Hospital.The minivan stopped and went.Every time it stops on the side of the road, one or several black plastic bags will be thrown out of the car.Those plastic bags were full and bulging, exuding the smell of blood.Just like that, a once beautiful and strong woman was scattered in every corner of the city.The same incomplete soul has since wandered in the night, crying silently about its grievances. A mixture of fear and resentment gradually permeated Wei Jiong's chest, his brows slowly furrowed, and his hands clenched into fists. What kind of person is this, who can kidnap those innocent women just to satisfy their evil desires, defile their bodies, deprive them of their lives, and dismember those beautiful bodies without their defenses In pieces? He finally began to understand Lao Ji and why he still broods over the tragedy of that year after more than 20 years. Indeed, as an outsider, he would be irritated by this inhuman crime, let alone Lao Ji who has experienced the pain of losing his wife. This beast must be found, and he must be made to pay for everything he did back then! Even if this punishment is twenty-three years late! Wei Jiong was overwhelmed by the impulse of revenge, and suddenly there was a ringing in his ear.He raised his head subconsciously, just in time to see the administrator get up and leave his seat, still holding an empty teacup in his hand. I don't know how far the Kaishui Room is from the archives, but this is undoubtedly a valuable opportunity.Either way, it's a risk. As soon as the figure of the administrator disappeared at the door, Wei Jiong jumped up, grabbed the file and went straight to the sixth file rack.He ran to the file shelf, knelt down on one knee, put the file in his hand back to its original position, and grabbed the next one... Can't move. There was a strange feeling in his hand, as if there was a counterforce on the other side of the file. At the same time, a "Huh" came from the opposite side of the file rack. Surprised, Wei Jiong didn't have time to think about it, and exerted force on his hand again, but the force on the opposite side disappeared at once—he was holding the dossier in his hand, unable to hold back his strength, and fell backwards to the ground. His upper body hit the file rack behind him, and he felt the iron rack shake.Startled, Wei Jiong turned around hastily, trying to hold onto the filing rack.As soon as he stretched out his hand, he was smashed by the crackling and falling file. Immediately afterwards, a large cloud of dust flew up along with the falling files.In a cloud of dust, Wei Jiong saw the gray-haired man turn out from behind the file shelf in front of him, looking at him in surprise. At that moment, Wei Jiong suddenly realized that he had seen this man before. "What... are you doing?" A startled and angry shout came from the door, and the two people who were looking at each other followed the sound, and saw the administrator holding a steaming teacup, staring dumbfounded at a mess of file racks, and their lying and standing . "Oh, it's okay." The man came to his senses first, pointing to the top of the file rack, "I asked this guy to help me get the file on top, but he didn't stand firm, and it ended up like this." After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand to Wei Jiong with a meaningful smile on his face. "Get up quickly." Yue Xiaohui looked at the ashen-faced Wei Jiong in surprise, and the gray-haired man in the gray-black down jacket behind him——Wei Jiong, who looked exhausted, seemed to be escorted out by a man. She collected herself, ignored Wei Jiong who was always winking at her, threw the half-drunk coffee into the trash can beside her, straightened her clothes, and puffed out her chest.Wei Jiong and the man walked in front of her, and before they could speak, Yue Xiaohui said, "It's none of his business, I let him go." The man was taken aback for a moment, but Wei Jiong had a dumbfounding expression on his face.Immediately, the man laughed. "Sneak photographing criminal files, you guys are quite courageous." The man patted Wei Jiong on the shoulder, "But your accomplice is good, it's quite interesting." After finishing speaking, he walked forward on his own, leaving the confused Yue Xiaohui standing there.Wei Jiong followed behind him, and at the same time waved for Yue Xiaohui to follow. The man walked all the way to the parking lot of the High Court, found an old-fashioned Paladin SUV, opened the door, motioned for Wei Jiong and Yue Xiaohui to sit in the back, and then got into the car by himself, started it, and drove away from the High Court. Soon, off-road vehicles into the city's busy traffic.The man has been concentrating on driving, never saying a word.As the car drifted away, Yue Xiaohui also slowly came back to her senses, turned her head to look at Wei Jiong with inquiring eyes, and asked silently, "Who is he?" Wei Jiong looked at the silent man in the driver's seat, and whispered to Yue Xiaohui: "Police, we have seen him in Lao Ji's house." Yue Xiaohui gave a small "ah" and looked in the rearview mirror - only half of the man's face was reflected in it, but it was enough to remind her of that afternoon - indeed, he was checking Lao Ji's house certificate And one of the cops on the lease agreement. "what happened?" Wei Jiong curled his lips in embarrassment, and told Yue Xiaohui exactly what happened half an hour ago. In the file room, he and the old policeman grabbed the file at the same time across the iron frame.The other party let go first, Wei Jiong stumbled and almost knocked over the file shelf behind him.The administrator saw the chaotic scene, but fortunately, the old policeman made up a reason to excuse him.However, the administrator had already doubted Wei Jiong's true intention of coming to review the examination papers, and Wei Jiong didn't dare to stay here any longer, and left in a hurry after a few perfunctory words.Unexpectedly, while waiting for the elevator, he was dragged into the safe passage by the old police who came later. "We've seen it before." The old policeman leaned against the iron gate of the safe passage, took out a cigarette and lit it, "In Ji Qiankun's house, remember?" Wei Jiong felt a little guilty because he was the one who stole the dossier.Seeing that there was no way to hide it, he could only honestly nod and admit it. "Ji Qiankun asked you to come?" "No." Wei Jiong hastily denied, "I'm preparing for the judicial examination, and I'm here to study..." The old policeman smiled, obviously not believing what he said. "Last time you said that Ji Qiankun was in the nursing home, right?" The old policeman took a puff of cigarette, "Take me to find him." "It really has nothing to do with him..." "What you want to get is the second volume of Xu Mingliang's murder case, and the goal is clear." The old policeman interrupted him, his eyes suddenly became very sharp, "Ji Qiankun's wife is one of the victims of Xu Mingliang's murder case—you Dare to say that he didn't order you to come?" After finishing speaking, he threw down the cigarette butt, stamped it out with his foot, pushed open the door of the safe passage, and said in an irrefutable tone, "Let's go." After hearing this, Yue Xiaohui was silent for a while, then suddenly said loudly: "Lao Ji didn't order us, we voluntarily helped him." Wei Jiong was startled, and then realized that she was talking to the old policeman.However, the other party did not respond, but instead asked, "That Maple Leaf Nursing Home next to Fengqian Street Elementary School, right?" Neither Wei Jiong nor Yue Xiaohui answered.The old policeman stopped asking questions and continued to drive without saying a word. Forty minutes later, the off-road vehicle drove to the gate of the nursing home.The old policeman stopped the car, turned off the engine, opened the rear door, and waited patiently for Wei Jiong and Yue Xiaohui, who were dawdling, to get off the car. They entered the nursing home two times in front and one behind. Along the way, Wei Jiong repeatedly weighed whether his behavior of secretly reading the files was an act of illegally obtaining state secrets.Then even if he took the old policeman to the nursing home, he wouldn't hurt Lao Ji too much.Therefore, he stopped resisting, and after entering the small building, he ran straight along the corridor to Lao Ji's room. Ji Qiankun was sitting under the window reading as usual.Seeing them coming in, he hurriedly shook the wheelchair and turned around, asking, "How is it..." Halfway through this sentence, Ji Qiankun saw the old policeman behind them and was stunned. Wei Jiong and Yue Xiaohui looked at each other, not knowing how to explain.While hesitating, Ji Qiankun spoke first. "I know you." Ji Qiankun's expression quickly became calm, "Your name is Du Cheng, and you are a policeman." Du Cheng nodded slightly, his eyes fell on the wheelchair under Ji Qiankun. "What happened to your leg?" "Car accident." Ji Qiankun's answer was very concise, "Both legs are useless." Du Cheng snorted, and began to look around Ji Qiankun's room.Finally, his eyes stayed on the bookshelf by the bed for a long time. "How long have you lived here?" "Eighteen years." Ji Qiankun suddenly smiled, "You are getting old." Du Cheng stared at him for a few seconds, then smiled: "You too." The tense atmosphere in the room suddenly eased.Ji Qiankun asked Wei Jiong to boil water to make tea, and also took out a cigarette and handed it to Du Cheng.So, the two old people sat opposite each other, chatting about irrelevant gossip while smoking, and after exchanging pleasantries, they quietly listened to the whining electric kettle. The water is boiled and the tea is brewed.The four people are holding teacups, sitting or standing, with different thoughts on each other.Wei Jiong was thinking about the dossier pictures saved in his mobile phone.Yue Xiaohui was full of curiosity about the relationship between Ji Qiankun and Du Cheng, and kept looking at them. After drinking a cup of tea, Ji Qiankun spoke first: "Officer Du, how did you get together?" Du Cheng smiled and pointed at Wei Jiong: "Ask him." Wei Jiong's face turned red, and he had to recount what happened in the archives.After Ji Qiankun listened, his expression became a little dignified. After pondering for a while, he said seriously to Du Cheng: "Officer Du, I let these two children go. They have nothing to do with secretly reading the files." Du Cheng waved his hand, as if he didn't care about this matter: "I don't care about this matter. But..." He leaned his upper body towards Ji Qiankun, squinted his eyes and stared at his face: "Why do you want to read the dossier from twenty-three years ago?" "Then do you still need to ask?" Ji Qiankun looked back at Du Cheng without flinching, "You arrested the wrong person back then. The murderer who killed my wife is still at large." There was no expression on Du Cheng's face, he kept staring at Ji Qiankun: "So?" "I want to catch him." Ji Qiankun's eyes sparkled, "It's that simple." Du Cheng sat up straight, lit a cigarette, and shifted his gaze from Ji Qiankun's face to his lap: "Can't you put it down?" "Never put it down." Ji Qiankun smiled, "Aren't you the same, otherwise, why would you go to the same file with Wei Jiong?" Du Cheng was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed too. "Yeah." He stared at his knees, shook his head while smiling, "I can't let it go." "Speaking of which, I still want to thank you." Ji Qiankun's tone was quite sincere, "I heard that you offended many colleagues in order to reverse the case, and you were sent to a remote county in the end." "Hey, that's a normal job transfer." Du Cheng waved his hand, "It's not worth mentioning." "It's different." Ji Qiankun said with emotion, "I was killed by a relative. As for you, you still refused to stop after more than 20 years of investigation, just out of duty..." "Old Ji, I'm not that great." Du Cheng interrupted him with a calm expression, "I have cancer." For a moment, the room was extremely quiet. "I have been a policeman for more than thirty years, and this is the only case that has not been closed." Du Cheng lowered his eyelids and said softly, "I probably don't have much time, so..." He shrugged and smiled: "I don't want to go with regrets." Ji Qiankun stared at him blankly, and after a while, asked in a low voice: "I...what can I help you with?" "Should I ask you this?" Du Cheng asked back with a smile. He turned to look at Wei Jiong and Yue Xiaohui, "What did you find?" "No progress." Ji Qiankun's face darkened, "otherwise these two children would not have taken such a big risk to secretly read the file." "They are good enough." Du Cheng pointed to Wei Jiong's pocket, "He should have taken a lot of pictures." Wei Jiong's expression was awkward, and he nodded at Ji Qiankun. Ji Qiankun's eyes lit up all of a sudden, and he could tell that if it wasn't for Du Cheng's presence, he would have asked Wei Jiong to take out his phone immediately. "However, he only read Volume 1." Du Cheng thought for a while, and seemed to be weighing it up in his heart. Finally, he took out his satchel from behind. "Look at this." Du Cheng took out several thick files from his satchel and handed them to Ji Qiankun, "This is all." Ji Qiankun only flipped through a few pages, and his hands trembled, as if he couldn't believe this surprise. "This……" "It's nothing." Du Cheng looked at Ji Qiankun, then turned his attention to Wei Jiong and Yue Xiaohui, "We are on the same side in this matter."