My Life with Narration-Chapter 366 - 363: Zhang Heng Missing

Everyone shares a common trait: they have all sorts of advice for others, but when it’s their turn, they’re left completely at a loss.

Don’t be fooled by Shen Yi’s decisive demeanor at work. When it comes to relationships, she’s a complete novice. If it weren’t for her age, she probably wouldn’t even have the courage to flirt with Su Qing.

As for the landlady, despite having been married and having a child in primary school, her only relationship was during college. After graduation, she got married, had a child, divorced, and raised the child alone, all in one go, without much experience in romance.

Put these two together to plan a useful dating strategy, and there’d be something fishy about it.

While they might be bold behind the wheel, purely on experience, neither of them could match Tang Nan on their own.

Being a public figure in the entertainment industry, she’s had a few relationships. Though not a heartbreaker, she does have dating experience. However, there’s a hierarchy of disdain among the three of them.

Wen Nanqing considers the other two trash, unable to handle her speed. Tang Nan sees them as one being pretentious and the other too dull, having married too soon, failing to enjoy the excitement of romance.

As for Shen Yi, it’s all about making money; neither of the other two is serious.

The next day, Su Qing resumed her duties as a secretary, driving Shen Yi and Da Huang to the company.

"Aren’t you coming up today?" Shen Yi asked as she got out of the car with Da Huang.

Su Qing shook her head: "I need to go to the police station today. By the way, the business trip two weeks ago and last week’s injury count, don’t dock my pay!"

Shen Yi: ...

"Just money, money, money. By the way, what’s with your neck... Was it necessary?"

At this moment, there were deep red stripes around Su Qing’s neck, perfectly covering the bite marks.

"Got heat, had some cupping done. If you didn’t drain my energy so much, I wouldn’t need to hurt myself like this."

"I told you, that’s not draining energy, you..."

"Come on, it’s not like you were the one drained. Later!"

With that, Su Qing tossed her the car keys and left directly.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to drive to the police station, but Shen Yi’s car was too flashy. Better to be low-key working at the agency; he didn’t want people reporting him as soon as he started.

At nine-thirty in the morning, in the forensic office.

"Back again, little Su, hey, what happened to your neck? Got heat?" Lin Chengcai asked upon seeing him.

"Ah, Captain Lin, young people, dry weather, getting heat is normal!" Du Qiang said with a slightly sleazy smile from the side.

Hearing this, Su Qing shot him a look: "Qiang, go home and chop some wood, or Boss Li will scold you again!"

"By the way, Captain Lin, where’s Sister Zijun?"

"Young Li’s keeping an eye on the tech department lately!" Lin Chengcai sipped on his herbal goji tea with a smile, clearly in a good mood.

Seeing this, Su Qing also chimed in: "I heard from Brother Qiang that there’s been quite some progress with our case this week?"

Hearing this, Lin Chengcai couldn’t help but laugh heartily: "Thanks to the lead you provided, once we focused on Zhang Heng, we made some discoveries."

Saying so, he tightened the lid on his cup and took out a file from the drawer, handing it to him.

"Did you find key evidence?"

"Not quite, but after applying some pressure and investigating quietly, we found out that during the time of the victim’s death, Zhang Heng had returned from out of town but didn’t alert anyone.

Though there’s no record in the database of him taking a train, high-speed rail, or plane, someone mentioned offhand during visits that Zhang Heng returned once, and the time roughly matches the victim’s death.

Moreover, we sent someone undercover where Zhang Heng worked, and the foreman confirmed that Zhang Heng took a few days off, saying he felt unwell and needed rest," Lin Chengcai said with a smile.

These findings contrast with the facts they knew before.

As Su Qing listened, he also looked over the file Lin Chengcai handed him. It recorded Du Qiang’s frequent visits to meet Zhang Heng’s father, Zhang Guoxin, their conversations, and inconsistencies in their stories, including lies about timelines.

In any case, a suspect might forget details about a case, but they wouldn’t lie. This point alone significantly heightened his suspicions.

Lin Chengcai continued: "I’ve mostly been contacting Zhang Heng myself and can clearly sense his emotional shifts. Most crucially, through careful questioning, Liu Dashan revealed some key information: over a month before the incident, he vaguely heard his daughter argue with Zhang Heng over the phone about the child. Although unclear, he heard her ask if he didn’t acknowledge the child or want to pay support.

After several heart-to-heart conversations with him, he admitted that although he and his wife suspected the child wasn’t Zhang Heng’s, they kept quiet, partly because they were aware of their daughter’s situation. But as her parents, they didn’t dare think too much as it was their daughter’s child. Sometimes, they couldn’t suppress their thoughts, but feared facing the truth."

[Actually, ever since hearing that call, Liu Dashan and his wife were worried. If it weren’t for their daughter’s death, they’d never say a word. But now, since she’s gone, they revealed their honest thoughts to catch the killer quickly.]

The narrator’s suggestion is apt. As parents, they likely knew their daughter better than anyone, but still, since she was their daughter, as long as they could, they figured they’d keep things hidden. As the divorce already left them unable to face the village.

But now the daughter is gone, dismembered, and to catch the killer, the old couple had to spill their heart’s contents without reserve.

"So, Captain Lin, what’s the next step? Arrest him for questioning?" Su Qing asked.

For him, the case had long been solved and wasn’t any fun anymore.

"What are you thinking? There’s no concrete proof or testimony. How can we arrest him? We can only apply pressure and hope for new discoveries. The murder weapon is crucial. Finding it would be irrefutable evidence. Although we can bring him in for questioning, that would alert the suspect," Lin Chengcai explained with a sigh, thinking Su Qing, being new, still needed more experience.

"What’s the plan?" Su Qing asked again.

This time, Du Qiang added: "Captain Lin suggests starting with the child, proving whether or not the child is Zhang Heng’s. We’ve collected the child’s and Zhang Heng’s father’s DNA and can conduct a kinship test to see if they share a paternal line. If not, it increases Zhang Heng’s suspicion and provides an excuse to bring him in for questioning."

Hearing this, Su Qing nodded, realizing it was indeed a strategy. He knew very little about police investigations which used tech and psychological tactics in equal measure, making escape almost impossible.

Just then, Li Zijun rushed in, looking anxious.

"What happened, little Li? Why so rushed?"

"Master, Zhang Heng’s gone missing!" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Upon hearing this, everyone stood up.

[With frequent police calls and visits to his hometown, he must have felt the pressure and threat. Unable to bear the stress, he fled. But don’t worry, he’s heading eventually to Jiang City; it’s just a matter of time.]

Hearing this, Su Qing smiled inside but kept a poker face, knowing that to convict someone, his disappearance alone wasn’t enough.

The more you say, the more mistakes you make.

"What? Missing? How’s that possible?" Lin Chengcai asked.

"The tech department found Zhang Heng’s phone has been off for over twelve hours. We contacted his workplace, and he’s already resigned. What should we do, master?"

"Contact Zhang Guoxin and watch his father closely!"

"Got it!"

...