Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou were so busy all morning that they went to three different places.
After lunch, the two drove to Qiao Xuening's hometown.
During the four-hour drive, Yu Hanjiang told Xiao Lou to take a nap, but Xiao Lou was wide awake. He spent the drive reorganizing the clues of the entire case and recording all the current doubts in his memo.
It wasn't until 5 p.m. that the car finally arrived at Qiao Xuening's hometown.
In an interview, Qiao Xuening mentioned that her hometown is famous for its snow scenery. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou came here just in time for the snow that fell yesterday. As far as the eye could see, rows of brand-new buildings were covered in snow, and there was a continuous snow-covered mountain range around the town. The snow on the mountain seemed to stretch endlessly, like a beautiful painting slowly unfolding before their eyes.
The snow scenery here is indeed as good as its reputation, and because of the snow, the cold air seems much fresher than in big cities.
The road was covered in ice, so Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou had to be careful when walking. After parking their car, they asked the locals for directions and went to "Whale Internet Cafe" together.
This internet cafe has been in the town for over a decade. It has likely been renovated and expanded in the last two years. The former small internet cafe has been transformed into a high-end internet cafe, occupying two floors. The floor-to-ceiling windows on one wall are spacious and bright, and you can enjoy an unobstructed view of the distant snow-capped mountains through the windows.
The internet cafe's unbeatable seating attracted many tourists from out of town. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou glanced around and found the second floor almost completely full. They then approached the front desk, where a sweet-looking girl asked, "Would you two like coffee or internet access?"
Yu Hanjiang showed her his police ID and asked, "Is your boss, Xu Kai, here?"
The girl paused for a moment, then said, "The boss? He rarely comes here. I haven't seen him for over a month."
Yu Hanjiang: "Do you know where he is lately?"
Girl: I don't know. Our internet cafe is managed by Manager Zhang. He's here today. I'll call him over in a bit.
The internet cafe manager quickly came to the front desk and asked in surprise, "Police? What do you want with my cousin?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Don't worry, we're not here to arrest him, we're just investigating some clues."
The other person visibly relaxed upon hearing this and explained, "He's probably sleeping in at home. He had a drinking party last night and got drunk, so he probably hasn't gotten up yet."
Yu Hanjiang found Xu Kai at the address provided by his cousin.
His residence is very grand, located in the best villa area of the town, with two luxury cars parked in front. According to Yu Hanjiang's investigation, he is still unmarried, but has a constant stream of girlfriends, and his private life is very chaotic.
Hearing the doorbell ringing incessantly, Xu Kai rubbed his sleepy eyes and came downstairs, asking with an unfriendly expression, "Who is it?"
Yu Hanjiang calmly said, "Police officer, please ask Mr. Xu to open the door."
Xu Kai raised an eyebrow, stepped forward to open the door with a puzzled look, and said, "What do the police want to know about me? I've been drinking with people every day for the past few days... Could it be that someone drank themselves to death?"
Yu Hanjiang asked directly, "Do you still remember Qiao Xuening?"
Xu Kai's expression stiffened slightly as he opened the door and let the two of them in.
He poured them both a glass of water, sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and said, " What's wrong with Qiao Xuening? Wasn't my case with her closed a long time ago? The police are coming to our door because she wants to sue me again?"
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Why were her photos suddenly exposed four years ago?"
Xu Kai smiled smirkly: "It's just revenge. She acts like a lady in front of her fans and pretends to be innocent during interviews, so I just wanted to let her fans see her true colors."
Yu Hanjiang asked coldly, "When you exposed the photos, didn't you know that violating someone's privacy was illegal?"
Xu Kai shrugged indifferently: "I didn't think that much at the time. When we were together, she called me 'husband' every day and loved me so much that she couldn't live without me. But when she went to college and saw all those rich and handsome young men around her, she started to look down on me for being uneducated and having a bad background. She wanted to dump me and even used the excuse that 'long-distance relationships are painful.' She's really despicable."
He paused for a moment, then said, "So, I posted her photos online to vent my anger. She dared to dump me, I'll make sure she suffers the same fate."
Yu Hanjiang said, "You lost the case and had to pay a lot of money, right? Have you ever regretted your impulsive actions?"
Xu Kai said nonchalantly, "Regret? It's just money. You can always earn it back."
This guy is a complete scoundrel.
Yu Hanjiang frowned: "Did anyone instruct you to do this?"
Xu Kai laughed and said, "Who would dare to order me around? From childhood to adulthood, I've never listened to even my own father, depending on his mood. I just thought this woman was too hypocritical, so I posted a few of her photos online for everyone to enjoy, nothing more."
Xiao Lou: "..."
Xu Kai adopted an attitude of "I'm a scoundrel, what can you do about it?" It would be very difficult to get him to talk, so Captain Yu would have to interrogate him. Xiao Lou felt a headache just looking at this kind of person.
Yu Hanjiang stared at him coldly and asked, "Where did the money to open a hot pot restaurant come from?"
Xu Kai said, "I earned it myself."
Yu Hanjiang threw the tax bureau's tax clearance records in front of him: "You opened two hot pot restaurants, and the renovation costs must have been no less than a million, right? But your internet cafe's annual income, in terms of taxation, is only about 150,000. It would take you ten years to save up enough to open a hot pot restaurant. Besides, before you opened the restaurant, you just lost a lawsuit and had to pay Qiao Xuening over a million in compensation."
Xu Kai: "..."
The man's face gradually darkened. Clearly, he hadn't expected the policeman to be so prepared, even knowing so much about his internet cafe's income. He scratched his head haphazardly and said dismissively, "I have other sources of income."
Yu Hanjiang: "So you're evading taxes?"
Xu Kai: "..."
This is a real problem. If I say I didn't evade taxes, my income isn't enough to open two hot pot restaurants. If I say I have other income, I've already paid taxes on 150,000 yuan of my annual income. Evading so much tax is a serious offense and can land me in jail!
Xu Kai's face stiffened, and he was about to speak when Yu Hanjiang said, "Don't say it was a loan from a bank. Bank loans have loan records. We checked with the bank, and you don't have any loans under your name."
Xu Kai: "I'll borrow it from my buddy..."
Yu Hanjiang: "If you borrowed money privately, please provide the IOU, the borrower's name, and repayment information. Otherwise, with so much money of unknown origin, we can still ask our colleagues in the Economic Crime Investigation Department to have you go back and investigate your financial issues."
Xu Kai was speechless, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
Yu Hanjiang crossed his arms and looked at him calmly: " Lin Yiyan gave it to you, right?"
Xu Kai's back stiffened abruptly, and he remained silent with a sullen face.
Yu Hanjiang continued, "Furthermore, she didn't dare leave a clear record on her bank statements, so instead of transferring the money to you, she sold a house, had the buyer give her cash, and then gave the cash directly to you. 3 million, right?"
Seemingly having his secret exposed, Xu Kai's lips twitched, and he said in a trembling voice, "Officer, this... Lin Yiyan approached me and asked me to expose Qiao Xuening's scandalous deeds, saying she would give me a large sum of money to ensure I would live a life of comfort. That's why I was tempted! Even if it's illegal, she's the mastermind! I'm just an accomplice... At worst, I'll give that money back to Qiao Xuening. Anyway, my hot pot restaurant business has been getting better and better these past few years, a few million is nothing. I'll give it all back to her, okay? It's been so long, is she still going to report me to the police and ask you to investigate me?"
After being repeatedly pressed by Yu Hanjiang, this guy finally confessed.
Yu Hanjiang has his own methods for dealing with such scoundrels.
This man has no principles; he'd post his girlfriend's private photos online for money. If he's willing to betray Qiao Xuening for money, he's equally capable of betraying his employer, Lin Yiyan, to protect himself.
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, " Qiao Xuening didn't send us to investigate you."
Xu Kai paused for a moment: "Then... the matter from four years ago, the court has already ruled on it, I've paid compensation and apologized publicly, so why are you coming to me again now?"
Yu Hanjiang: " Lin Yiyan is dead."
Xu Kai was stunned. Realizing the meaning of those words, his face turned pale, his fingers clenched tightly, and he said in a trembling voice, "You...you suspect that Qiao Xuening killed...killed her to get revenge on her?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "That's possible. So you'd better cooperate with us and tell the truth."
The clueless man was probably scared, and nodded frantically: "I'll definitely tell you! Qiao Xuening hasn't contacted me in the past few years. She deleted my contact information a long time ago, and I've also changed my phone in the past few years. I haven't contacted her again. I thought what happened back then was over. Didn't she make a comeback and do quite well?"
Yu Hanjiang asked, " Does Qiao Xuening have a twin sister, or someone who looks like her?"
Xu Kai shook his head: "No, she's an only child. Her family lives not far from mine. I've seen her often alone since she was little."
She played in the square, and I've never heard of her having any sisters.
Yu Hanjiang then asked, "Does she like ice?"
Xu Kai was taken aback by the question and remained silent for a moment before saying, "Ice? She's most afraid of ice. She's naturally cold-sensitive. Even if there's heating at home in winter, she has to plug in an electric blanket beforehand to warm up the bed, otherwise she can't fall asleep at all. It snows a lot here, and while others are playing in the snow outside, she doesn't dare to touch it. She always keeps her hands in her pockets when she walks."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lou couldn't help but wonder— what was the meaning behind the ice cubes in Lin Yiyan's bathtub? Could it be related to her fear of the cold?
Yu Hanjiang then asked Qiao Xuening many more questions, including her habits and hobbies. However, Xu Kai's relationship with her was more than ten years ago, when she had just graduated from high school, a world apart from now.
Xu Kai's understanding of her was very limited, and that was all the clues he could provide.
Yu Hanjiang cautioned, "If Qiao Xuening really is the murderer of Lin Yiyan, you will also be in danger. Be careful of her revenge. She's filming these days, and the drama will wrap up soon. In the future, try to bring someone with you when you go out. Also, don't stay home alone."
Xu Kai felt a chill run down his spine, shivered, and said, "I...I understand, I'll be careful!"
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou left Xu Kai's house. They then visited Qiao Xuening's school and the neighborhood where she lived as a child.
Neighbors and teachers at school all say that Qiao Xuening doesn't have any twin sisters, and they've never seen a girl who looks like her.
If she grew up here, her parents couldn't possibly have had two daughters and hidden one of them. Besides, the county hospital has her mother's delivery records; she gave birth to a girl naturally. The doctor couldn't possibly have missed a child, could he?
Therefore, the suspicion that Qiao Xuening has a twin sister can be completely ruled out.
Where did the person who looks like her come from?
*
This small town is a four-hour drive from Binzhou City. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou finished investigating the clues at 9 p.m. The two went to Xu Kai's hot pot restaurant for a meal and found that the restaurant was indeed doing well, as it was full even at such a late hour.
The two decided to stay there for the night.
Yu Hanjiang booked a local hotel. After dinner, he and Xiao Lou returned to the hotel together. After showering, they began to discuss their findings for the day. Yu Hanjiang said, "The biggest problem now is still finding that stand-in."
Xiao Lou said, "If they're not twins, how can they look so alike?"
Yu Hanjiang thought about it carefully and said, "Plastic surgery."
Xiao Lou was slightly taken aback, but quickly realized: "That's right. With today's advanced cosmetic surgery technology, it's entirely possible to create a similar face from someone else's in a medical setting."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: " Qiao Xuening is 168cm tall and weighs 50kg, which is quite well-proportioned. It's not difficult to find a girl with the same height and weight as her. As long as the other person's face shape is similar to hers, we can have them undergo plastic surgery based on her facial features and then put on makeup. In this way, the person 'created' by the surgery will become a stand-in who looks exactly like Qiao Xuening."
Xiao Lou felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this: "So, the two years that Qiao Xuening was deeply affected by and depressed weren't actually about depression or nearly committing suicide, and she was hiding at home to adjust her mood, but rather... she was creating a stand-in for herself?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "That's possible. During those two years, she disappeared from the public eye, terminated her contract with her previous manager, and even refused to see her parents. Maybe she already knew at that time that it was Lin Yiyan who instructed her first boyfriend to expose her photos, causing her nude photos to spread all over the internet and be privately collected by countless people. She held a grudge and wanted to kill Lin Yiyan."
Xiao Lou continued, "But she was worried that she would be sentenced if she committed murder. So, after thinking it over, she decided to secretly create a body double to use as an alibi when necessary. This way, she could clear herself of all charges and put the police investigation at a standstill."
Yu Hanjiang said, " The murderer in the Lin Yiyan case was very clever. After freezing Lin Yiyan in the bathtub, she was still using Lin Yiyan's phone to send WeChat messages to her relatives and friends to confuse the time of Lin Yiyan's death. If it weren't for the neighbor's cat suddenly jumping into the roof window and getting blood on its face in a panic, perhaps her next plan would have been to log into Lin Yiyan's Weibo and announce her retirement from the entertainment industry."
Xiao Lou found it increasingly terrifying the more she thought about it.
She killed Lin Yiyan silently, then forged a statement announcing Lin Yiyan's retirement from the entertainment industry, making Lin Yiyan disappear completely. After some time, she returned to dispose of the body, but Lin Yiyan was nowhere to be found.
The ability to make someone disappear from the world completely while clearing oneself of all suspicion demonstrates a chilling level of cunning.
The two were discussing when Yu Hanjiang's phone suddenly rang.
The phone rang with the tense voice of Police Station intern Xiao Wu: " Captain Yu, something terrible has happened! A murder has occurred in the villa area of Ice Town. A man named Xu Kai has been killed! Apparently, his cousin went home to look for him last night, opened the door, and found Xu Kai dead in the bathtub, which is why he called the police! The local police are already at the scene..."
Yu Hanjiang's expression changed drastically, and he immediately put on his coat and headed to the scene with Xiao Lou.
As he strode out, he called Qu Wanyue: " Teacher Qu, where's Qiao Xuening?"
Qu Wanyue said, "I just finished practicing dance with you and went back to the hotel to sleep."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou looked at each other in bewilderment.
Qiao Xuening was still filming on set. During the day, Qu Wanyue was keeping an eye on her, and at night, Shao Qingge arranged for Liu Qiao to stay in her rooftop room for close monitoring.
Keep an eye on her movements; it's impossible that she would travel four hours to this small town to kill Xu Kai.
Xu Kai was suddenly murdered. Who could be the killer?
Is it Qiao Xuening, or her stand-in?
Is the person filming on set really Qiao Xuening?