My Life with Narration-Chapter 246 - 245: Interrogation

"Sister Li, can’t you do something about him? He stripped me of my clothes in broad daylight and had the audacity to justify it, leaving me too embarrassed to even show my face in the office. In the end, it was Brother Han who had to bring me some regular clothes!" Du Qiang complained to Li Zijun, wearing oversized shorts, slippers, and a baggy T-shirt.

Despite being a cop, he looked more like an unemployed youth out for a stroll. In contrast, Su Qing stood beside him in full police uniform, perfectly embodying the demeanor of an officer.

"Qiangzi, you’re not being honest. Didn’t I leave you a prickly pear tea seed? I didn’t even touch your socks. What more do you want?" Su Qing replied casually, enjoying an ice cream.

This case wasn’t difficult, at least the three of them present could see that Fang Wen and his group had issues. Clearly, they were plotting to rip off Huang Zhiming, but the challenge lay in the evidence.

Since there was no surveillance at the crime scene, no one could ascertain Huang Zhiming’s condition when he visited Fang Wen’s home. The only physical evidence was a bedsheet with Huang Zhiming’s bodily fluids, but the lab results were inconclusive. As for witnesses, of the six present, either they had left early and didn’t know anything, or they were involved and naturally wouldn’t tell the truth.

One could say that whether it was witness testimony or physical evidence, Huang Zhiming couldn’t explain it away. If it followed the regular process, he’d likely be the scapegoat.

However, through Li Zijun and Du Qiang’s investigation, they uncovered many doubts and inconsistencies in the statements of Fang Wen and others, but none of it could be used as evidence.

For instance, Jiang Jiayan refuted Li Zijun’s words, which clearly indicated she had checked the consequences if their plan got exposed. This meant the three of them weren’t acting on impulse but had premeditated plans.

Moreover, in such cases, you don’t even have the right to gather evidence. Jiang Jiayan’s slip of the tongue couldn’t be used as evidence. Nowadays, even ordinary people understand the law, so the only method is to make them confess.

This might be difficult for others, but he had an idea.

"Get lost! If you dare spread this around, you’re dead! Also, call me Brother Qiang! Such disrespect, Sister Li, you should rein him in. Today he calls me Qiangzi, tomorrow he’ll be calling you Little Li!" Du Qiang spat.

Unexpectedly, this man, trained as he was, had learned to use authority against others. One could only imagine how important the prickly pear tea seed from SpongeBob was to him.

Hearing this, Li Zijun shot a glance at Su Qing and then said calmly, "Don’t worry, he wouldn’t dare. My dad is looking for him recently!"

These words sent a chill through Su Qing’s heart; it seemed that her ’big brother’ held quite a grudge against him!

But on second thought, it made sense. After transferring his daughter to him, he must have lost face. It would have been better to say she was betrothed to him, at least maintaining some dignity. But now, he couldn’t easily show up in front of Uncle Li, for fear of dying!

The only time he went back was when his mom, Zhou Hui, had an incident, saving him from being beaten by Old Su. Otherwise, he might not have returned.

Du Qiang couldn’t help but nod and laugh at these words, but soon his smile froze.

"I never expected you, a grown man, to be so melodramatic. I heard even the prickly pear tea seed was from SpongeBob? Impressive, quite childlike!" Li Zijun chuckled, as if discovering this side of her colleague for the first time.

That one sentence utterly broke Du Qiang’s defenses, and then he charged forward with a grappling move.

Su Qing: "Sneak attack!"

Smack, a grappling move, smack, a left front kick, smack, a five-chain whip.

"Enough, stop fighting!"

Du Qiang: "Young man, take it easy!"

Saying this, he pushed Su Qing towards Li Zijun. Seeing this, the policewoman gently caught him, murmuring, "Receive~ Transform~ Send, off you go!"

Then Su Qing found himself sitting back on the chair, with nothing changed except for two big footprints on his rear.

He’d been beaten, but barely realized it.

"Sister Jun, I think I got hit."

"Not ’think,’ you did!"

Su Qing: "Damn, I’m going to fight you!"

With that, he was about to get up to spar with Qiangzi, but Li Zijun pressed him down, saying, "Enough, are you just going up to get beaten? Think about what you’re going to do next; you’ve kept them apart for half an hour. How do you plan to proceed?"

Fang Wen and the others hadn’t left but were separated. Since there was no evidence, they had to create it, getting them to confess was the key.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course, separate questioning!" Su Qing replied indifferently.

Du Qiang rolled his eyes at him: "As if we don’t know about separate questioning. We’ve tried such childish tricks long ago, okay? Did you learn that from movies and dare to flaunt it here?"

The police station had its interrogation tactics, and separate questioning was basic, preventing suspects from colluding, and even employing psychological strategies to coax and deceive them into revealing the truth.

"True, when we two were conducting visits, we always did it separately, but Fang Wen seems to have synchronized their stories. Normally, you wouldn’t get much from questioning. What are you planning on doing?" Li Zijun reminded.

Regarding Fang Wen, they were only suspicious, lacking actual evidence. They couldn’t just detain the group at the station without reason, so synchronizing their stories was unavoidable.

Besides, without thinking, one would know that if they had really done it, they would have matched their stories before calling the police, not giving you any loopholes to catch.

Hearing this, Su Qing smiled and patted Du Qiang on the shoulder, saying, "Learn well, watch closely, and see how I handle the questioning!"

Having said that, he headed straight towards one of the interrogation rooms.

The two saw this and hurriedly followed. As Li Zijun looked at the door getting closer, he couldn’t help but ask, "Are you going to question her first? Why?"

"Naturally, because she’s the only one who is an outsider here. Fang Wen and Huang Zhiming are involved parties, and Li Zhuo and Fang Wen are a couple. So this one left is naturally the breakthrough point!"

With that, Su Qing pushed open the door. Inside, Jiang Jiayan was sitting alone on a chair, with a bottle of mineral water on the table.

"You’re a bit late, it’s your turn, Jiang Jiayan, right? Why would an outsider like you get involved in this kind of matter, just for twenty thousand yuan?" Su Qing sat down casually, speaking directly.

He left the group hanging for half an hour to make them think he was questioning someone else, giving them room to imagine.

And although Li Zijun and Du Qiang knew this tactic, they didn’t know some inside information, so they couldn’t bluff them.

"What... what are you talking about, what 20,000 yuan?" Jiang Jiayan’s pupils contracted at the words, her heart pounding, but she still insisted that she knew nothing.

The twenty thousand yuan was the benefit Fang Wen and Li Zhuo gave her. Although Huang Zhiming’s family wasn’t extremely wealthy, they were well-off, with both parents working; a hundred thousand yuan was absolutely not an issue. That’s the base price they agreed on. Once it came to negotiation, they’d ask for more, let the other side bargain, but at least it had to be a hundred thousand.

If they could ask for more, her benefits would naturally increase too, and they had unified their statements more than once. She didn’t think there would be any mistakes.

But the twenty thousand yuan amount was discussed privately among them, and she didn’t know how Su Qing found out. Instantly, she felt betrayed.

Li Zijun and Du Qiang noticed the change in Jiang Jiayan’s eyes immediately. This observation skill is basic for criminal detectives; if they couldn’t even do this, there would be no point in being a detective.

What puzzled them was how Su Qing did it, and how the 20,000 number came about.

"What do you think? Why do such a harmful and selfish thing for 20,000 yuan? Do you think I just went to chat? Fang Wen accidentally let something slip. Your plan to blackmail Huang Zhiming has already been exposed."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jiayan remained silent and did not respond; she could even hear her own heartbeat.

"Let me lay it out: Fang Wen has a credit card and owes money, Li Zhuo has gambling debts, so they came up with this plan. They brought you in because you know Huang Zhiming well, and they promised to give you 20,000 at the time.

As for your methods, tsk, tsk, tsk, Huang Zhiming said that before the incident, the three of you spent a night together, and you were responsible for collecting Huang Zhiming’s bodily fluids, which you stored in the fridge.

On the day of the incident, you deliberately invited two outsiders to confuse the situation and clear yourselves of suspicion. In front of the two outsiders, Li Zhuo took Huang Zhiming away, but he simply brought him to Fang Wen. Do I need to go on?"

This account matched exactly with what Fang Wen and the others did, even seeming as if he had seen it himself, completely intimidating Jiang Jiayan.

There’s no way an outsider could know this much detail; someone must have confessed and let slip.

And although this was the truth, to Li Zijun and the others, it just seemed like speculative connections based on information they had gathered.

For instance, Fang Wen’s credit card issue and Li Zhuo’s gambling debts were things they had actually investigated, but they were missing the critical piece, the twenty thousand yuan, so they couldn’t hit the mark.

Su Qing naturally gathered this information through discussions, using these side notes to derive the details, which couldn’t be wrong.

Hearing this, beads of sweat rolled down Jiang Jiayan’s forehead, but she still clenched her hands tightly and refused to speak.

The psychological pressure from this young policeman in front of her was immense. Especially considering that she had said something wrong under his guidance before they separated, it’s possible this led to Fang Wen slipping up.

Then Su Qing continued, "This matter can’t be hidden anymore. I asked Fang Wen, and she said it was her boyfriend’s idea, meaning Li Zhuo is the main culprit. She’s just an accessory, and you’re only an accomplice, committing perjury, at most a five- to ten-day sentence.

I’m telling you this out of pity. Your responsibility is not significant, but you took such a big risk and ended up with nothing, as Huang Ziming is already preparing to sue you for blackmail. You know how serious that charge is. Turn yourself in now, and maybe you can avoid detention. But if you want to claim accessory status, I won’t stop you!"

After finishing, Su Qing glanced at Du Qiang on the side, then gave him a look, took the water from his hand, and gulped down a few sips.

It was his first time bluffing a suspect as a policeman, and he was quite nervous, far from being as calm as he appeared on the surface.

Thump thump thump

At this moment, a knock on the door interrupted them, and Zhu Lili walked over with a smile, "Brother Su, Fang Wen has confessed!"

Upon hearing this, Su Qing smiled slightly, "Alright, if you don’t want to speak, fine. Someone else has, don’t say I didn’t warn you. By the time Huang Zhiming sues, you’ll be an accessory!"

Saying this, the three of them got up and were about to leave when Jiang Jiayan finally couldn’t hold back:

"It was Li Zhuo, he threatened me with nude photos, I didn’t want to do this!"

At that moment, all three of them felt a surge of happiness inside.

Success.

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