I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 66: Chapter 64: Song Lichun Lied

"Every profession has its hardships these days, and being a teacher is no different. It’s fine when you meet reasonable parents, but if you run into the unreasonable ones..."

Song Lichun sighed softly. "No matter what you do, you’re wrong. If it gets cold and a child catches a cold, they blame the teacher for not reminding them about the temperature drop. If it’s hot and they catch a cold, they blame the teacher for holding class on such a hot day. When students form cliques and bully others, you intervene and discipline them. The next day, a parent brings their relatives, kicks down the classroom door, and starts hitting you. I’ve experienced all of this firsthand."

Su Miaoyi and Zhuang Yanzheng listened without saying a word.

"If I’m even a little strict, I’m afraid I’ll be trending on social media the next day for abusing students." Song Lichun was surprisingly calm as she said this. "Of course, there are still more parents with good values, and more lovely children."

"What is Teacher Qian’s son’s name?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Zhou Lei," Song Lichun said.

"From what you’ve said, it seems you’ve kept in touch with him over the years," Su Miaoyi noted.

Song Lichun nodded. "What happened back then was covered up. Teacher Qian and I were colleagues, so my conscience couldn’t rest. The child was so young back then, I just wanted to help however I could."

As she spoke, she looked at Zhuang Yanzheng. "He’s a good kid. He’s truly a good, grateful kid. The smartest I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t talk him out of it. It’s his inner demon; no one can."

"You’ve seen him recently," Su Miaoyi stated.

She could tell that Song Lichun knew a lot.

She knew that Zhou Lei had killed people.

"I saw him yesterday. I was just getting off work, and he came to say goodbye." Song Lichun raised a hand to wipe the tears from the corner of her eyes, then composed herself before continuing. "He said he had killed someone and wouldn’t be seeing me anymore. He came to thank me for taking care of him all these years."

Zhuang Yanzheng and Su Miaoyi exchanged a glance.

"Where does he live?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"I don’t know where he lives. He’s always the one who comes to see me," Song Lichun said. "I only know that his father still lives in their old home. He moved out a long time ago."

"His father’s address," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Song Lichun gave them the address. Seeing Zhuang Yanzheng and Su Miaoyi prepare to leave, she added, "Captain Zhuang."

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her.

"Don’t forget what you promised me." For the first time since they had arrived, an urgent expression appeared on Song Lichun’s face. "I’m telling you all this because I don’t want to see Zhou Lei kill again, but you have to keep your word."

"I will," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

「Leaving Song Lichun’s home.」

Zhuang Yanzheng called the station and had them pull the files on Zhou Lei and Qian Fen’s family, and also to look up Zhou Lei’s address.

Then, they headed to the nearby residence of Zhou Lei’s father.

It was only two streets away from Song Lichun’s house.

When the door was knocked open, the smell of alcohol mixed with something rotting wafted out.

The stench was so strong Su Miaoyi felt her eyes water. It took her a couple of seconds to recover before she could clearly see the man who had opened the door.

His face was covered in a beard, and his long hair was matted.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his clothes were filthy and disheveled, even torn in places.

It looked like he had been wearing the same set of clothes through all four seasons.

Looking past him, Su Miaoyi glanced inside the room.

It was no exaggeration to say the room was comparable to a landfill.

At least a landfill gets cleaned out sometimes. Here, the junk was piled so high it was growing vertically.

"Who are you looking for?" the man asked.

"Police." Zhuang Yanzheng took out his badge. "We’re looking for Zhou Ming."

The man glanced up at him. "Zhou Ming’s dead. You can go."

"Then we’re looking for Zhou Lei. Where does he live?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked again.

The man’s expression faltered for a moment. "What do you want with him?"

"He’s killed someone," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

The man suddenly seemed to sober up a little. "Who did he kill?! How could he kill someone! You’re framing him!"

The man scoffed. "Whose money did you take this time? Which higher-up was bribed to have you frame people? Who’s dead now? You’re just going to keep picking on my family, is that it? I killed them! I killed them all! Everyone who’s ever died in this world, I killed them! Arrest me, go on, execute me!"

As he spoke, he lunged forward as if to strike them.

Zhuang Yanzheng pinned him directly against the wall.

The man began cursing loudly, shouting that he was the killer.

Seeing that the man was drunk and raving, and that they wouldn’t get anything out of him, Zhuang Yanzheng shoved him back into the room and shut the door, cutting off everything inside.

Just then, the station sent over Zhou Lei’s file.

Just as Song Lichun had said, he was an exceptionally intelligent person.

A top scorer on the college entrance exam.

A top student in the Chemical Engineering program at Jinghai University.

He had won many awards during his studies.

Before they could finish reading the file, Qi Feng called again.

"Captain Zhuang, a month ago, Song Lichun helped Zhou Lei apply to immigrate under the distinguished talent program. Zhou Lei won an international award in college, so the immigration process was very fast; it was all finalized two weeks ago. Song Lichun bought Zhou Lei a plane ticket for last night’s flight," Qi Feng reported.

Zhuang Yanzheng and Su Miaoyi were already back in the car.

The two of them exchanged a look.

’A month ago?’

When the first case happened in Xiang City, Song Lichun was already making preparations.

She lied.

She wanted to send Zhou Lei away.

"But Zhou Lei didn’t board the plane last night," Qi Feng said.

’Huh?’

"We still haven’t found his current address. The only one we can find is his childhood home," Qi Feng added.

"Okay, got it."

After hanging up, Zhuang Yanzheng and Su Miaoyi were silent for a moment.

"Should we go back up and question Zhou Ming?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked up at the building. "Judging by the state of his home, it really does seem like he hasn’t been in contact with Zhou Lei for a long time. He knows even less than Song Lichun."

"Should we go back and question Song Lichun?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Zhuang Yanzheng started the car.

"Song Lichun must have thought Zhou Lei had already left, which is why she told us everything. She wanted the police to reinvestigate what happened back then," Su Miaoyi said. "But why didn’t Zhou Lei leave?"

"Song Lichun said she didn’t want to see him kill anyone else. Besides Han Longyu and the other two... there were a lot of people involved back then," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Even though the current cases have brought the past to light, he doesn’t trust the police."

Su Miaoyi was quiet for a moment.

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced over at her. "What are you thinking?"

Su Miaoyi turned to look at him. "Captain Zhuang, has anyone ever tried to bribe you?"

Zhuang Yanzheng scoffed. "Bribe me with what? Money? Who’s richer than me?"

"Shen Yanzhou," Su Miaoyi blurted out.

Zhuang Yanzheng: "..."

He corrected himself, "Besides him, who could be richer than me? Bribe me? No one would dare try something like that under my nose."

"That’s the reputation of the Municipal Criminal Investigation Division’s Captain," Su Miaoyi said.

"You mean..." Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t quite understand.

He felt like the all-nighters had fried his brain; he was having trouble keeping up with the speed of Su Miaoyi’s thoughts.

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