Chapter 692: Redemption

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

After the interrogation, Chu Shifang said, "I have a request. I want to say a few words to Chang Juan."

Chen Shi responded, "Sure."

When she left the interrogation room, both Ai Ying and Chang Juan looked at Chu Shifang with surprised eyes. Chu Shifang said to Chang Juan, "I have told the police the whole truth. You don't need to lie anymore. I will not be your shareholder anymore. You should live a good life from now on... Maybe we will meet again in court. I hope I can live till then." She forced a smile.

Chang Juan’s expression looked complicated. After Chu Shifang was taken away, she said, "Police Elder Sister, I also have something I want to say."

Chang Juan sat in the interrogation room again and said, "About a year ago, 39 found me and told me that she was the one who had killed my parents. I was completely dumbfounded because she had always treated me very well, just like a kind elder. This person was actually the one who killed my parents. Of course I couldn’t forgive her. I never will. 39 promised me that I will get my revenge. Now, she has finally fulfilled her promise, but my heart is very heavy... I don’t think she’s that bad, what do you all think?"

"She is a bad person who found her conscience and mended her ways. It’s never too late for that." Chen Shi said.

Chang Juan recounted what had happened that night, which was basically the same as Chu Shifang's version of events. Finally, Chang Juan said, "Please let Chunli go. She didn't do anything. It’s just that she was too timid to deal with the police. "

Since the murderer was Chu Shifang, and Chunli was just an eyewitness, she was released after being detained for a few hours.

The case finally came to fruition. Lin Dongxue breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the Public Security Bureau. It was already early in the morning, and Lin Dongxue said, "How did you find out that Chu Shifang is a man... I mean, was a man?"

"It was the photos. I went to Ma Xiang's house and looked at them again. I found that there was only young Ma Xiang in the photos, but no young Chu Shifang. From this, I speculated that the photos taken away were actually hers, so what did she need to hide? The surveillance video, cancer treatment drug, and things found on the computer all pointed towards the same conclusion. The person who lived there wasn’t Ma Xiang. Thus, I made this bold assumption that Chu Shifang was his former partner."

"I see!" Lin Dongxue smiled and nodded. "I don't know why Chang Juan's parents were killed. Why didn't Zhou Tiannan make use of his own people, but outsourced it to two greenhorn hired killers?"

"More importantly, the time when Chang Juan's parents were killed was almost exactly during the same period as Zhou Xiao's flagrant crimes. I wonder if there’s any connection there?"

"Do you think that there must be a connection?"

"Judging from Zhou Tiannan's habits, he only committed purposeful murders, not simply to 'seek pleasure'. I believe that there must be a certain pattern with the deceased."

Chen Shi sighed. Perhaps there will never be an answer for this matter.

"Don't think about it too much. It's already so late. Should we still go back to the city?"

"Let’s go back, it’s just in time for supper."

"Will there still be any when it’s so late?"

"I'll take you to a place."

Arriving at the car, Chen Shi remembered that it was February 14th. Even if he hadn’t prepared anything, it didn't seem good to pretend not to know about it, so he said, "Sorry, we’ve been so busy these past two days and didn’t prepare anything for today."

"Huh?" Lin Dongxue looked at her phone and smiled, "Haha, I forgot all about it as well. Then just say some pleasant words to me."

Chen Shi thought for a while and said, "I still have a gift for you."

Lin Dongxue suddenly became interested and looked at him with shining eyes. Chen Shi said, "Maybe I was inspired by Chang Juan. I will give you permission for an order right now. As long as you say 'one, two, three, four', I would do whatever it is unconditionally for you."

"Anything?" Lin Dongxue smiled. "Guess what I want you to do the most?"

Of course, Chen Shi knew. "If you want to ask, just ask. I know you’ve been curious for a very long time. Although I haven't made the mental preparations yet, I will probably never be prepared regarding this matter."

Lin Dongxue's heart was beating fast. Chen Shi's past was only a thin layer away from her. The two looked at each other for a long time. Lin Dongxue kissed his lips and said softly, "I reserve this right for the time being. Didn’t you say that it could be anything? Let me think about something that would be more cost-effective, hahaha!"

"Aren't you curious?"

"I may be curious, but I also believe in you. There must be a reason why you don't talk about it. I don't want to make you feel awkward. Let's talk about it when you’re ready, my dear."

"Thank you." Lin Dongxue's thoughtfulness moved Chen Shi very much.

There was still a lot of follow-up work in this case. The police were very busy. Chu Shifang explained a lot about the process through which he and Ma Xiang were hired as hitmen. Through his confession, the police uncovered four or five more hits in succession.

The exception was Chang Juan's parents, whom Chu Shifang knew almost nothing about. The employer was very mysterious. They had met every time in an abandoned house in the suburbs. Chu Shifang never even saw his face.

However, Chu Shifang mentioned a detail. The murder order mentioned that they had to burn a brown notebook and they had obeyed.

"What was in the book?" Lin Qiupu asked.

Chu Shifang shrugged and replied, "It was all molecular formulas, data, and so on. It seemed very professional and I couldn’t comprehend it. If we could understand this, we wouldn't be hitmen."

In order to clarify the truth, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue investigated all the projects handled by Chang Juan's parents. After several days, Chen Shi's head hurt.

Their last project was researching genetically modified upland rice. There was nothing special about it. The final product wasn’t ideal. It remained in the experimental stage and wasn’t put on the market.

While reviewing the entire case this time, Chen Shi suddenly found a suspicious point. He couldn’t wait to talk about it and ran to the detention center to see Chu Shifang again. Due to lung cancer, Chu Shifang looked awful and kept coughing. She was detained in a women's detention center.

Chu Shifang said, "I will be released on bail for medical treatment after a while, but I’m afraid that I won’t live long with this disease."

"I found that your previous killing habits were a little different from this murder. You never seemed to have used a knife."

Hearing this, Chu Shifang suddenly raised her eyebrows. "What nonsense is this? At the time, the situation was critical and I had no time to think about it."

"What was the crisis?"

"Ma Xiang wanted to attack Chang Juan."

"You stopped him last time, so why not this time? Besides, you were the one who took him there this time."

"I’ve already said that this time, I wanted to take revenge on behalf of Chang Juan."

"For revenge, it makes more sense for Chang Juan to kill Ma Xiang personally. I suddenly have a speculation that the person who stabbed Ma Xiang to death that night was Chang Juan. You found that things were already irreversible, so you taught her to be more exaggerated and wilder. You knew that the more suspicious she was, the safer she would be because we already know her identity... Why do I think so? It’s because Chunli’s attitude was so suspicious. She didn’t kill anyone, so why did she run away in front of the police? I suddenly figured it out. She had witnessed Chang Juan killing someone that night. She ran away to protect her friend."

Chu Shifang stood up abruptly, knocking over the chair behind her. She said, "The case is over. What’s the point in arresting one more person?! She was just impulsive. She’s different from us two scum who are rotten to the core!”

"I'm satisfied with your answer." Chen Shi smiled.

Chu Shifang's face became pale when she became aware that she had made a slip of the tongue. Chen Shi said, "Don't worry, I just wanted to know the truth. Since you've shouldered all the blame, why should I continue to pursue it? It’s not like I have any evidence."

Chu Shifang let out a long sigh. "As long as she can live well. As long as she lives well, it’s a kind of redemption for me. It only takes one night to ruin a person's life, but it takes a long, long time to redeem it."