Replacing the Evil Way

Chapter 11: Not simple pianist

Once the case of Cheng Zesheng being shot was revealed, it really caused an uproar in society.

He had a handsome appearance, unique attainments in music, and a gentle personality. He was popular in the circle and had a good reputation. Upon hearing the news of his death, not only the fans cried heart-rendingly, but friends in the circle also reposted their condolences one by one. The whole network was immersed in grief for a while, and the topic was trending in the hot search.

Not only was the cordon at the scene of the crime not dismantled but another patrol team was sent to guard it. As soon as the report came out, fans flocked to the old mansion to pay their respects, and journalists also frequented it. Fulong Mountain was bustling, and the remote mountains and wild ridges that were usually unattended became crowded with people.

Hu Songkai held the coffee in his hand and complained: “That place is chaotic; the crowd is so big that the police cars can’t even drive up! 80% of them are little girls, crying like pear blossoms in the rain. In comparison, our Xiaoxiao’s tears are lighter than a feather. She can still persist in handling cases; she is a strong woman.”

He Wei was looking at the photos of the scene and raised his head: “Isn’t Fulong Mountain a scenic spot? Extend the cordon outward; the radius should be at least ten meters. Don’t let them get close to destroy the scene.”

“You’re saying this now; it was expanded a long time ago! Even though the road up the mountain has been sealed, it still doesn’t work. They found another way to climb up from the mountain road.” Hu Songkai shook his head, “They are so powerful. They even forced their way up the back mountain. The Forestry Bureau would go crazy sooner or later.”

Xia Liang popped up: “Didn’t Lu Xun have a saying that there is no way in the world, but if there are many people walking, it becomes a way?”

He Wei grabbed him by the neck and asked him how the technical department’s appraisal was going and whether the gun was determined. Xia Liang nodded quickly: “It’s determined; it’s Type-92, and I’ve brought back the autopsy report from Lan-Jie by the way.”

He handed over the two reports in his hand, and He Wei flipped through them. The time of death was determined to be between 3:00 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on April 14th. According to the penetration force of the bullet, the blind tube wound, and the analysis of the shooting residue, the shooting distance was within 10 meters and was vertical. Although the bullet was not found after searching for a long time at the scene, some gunpowder residues were extracted within a certain range of the living room. The arc circle formed by the connection line could roughly determine the approximate location of the shooting.

He Wei closed the report and handed it to Hu Songkai: “Go to reconstruct the scene. I’ll be there in the afternoon.”

“Just me?” Hu Songkai looked around the office and asked, “Where’s Chong Zhen? That guy didn’t show up all day; did he miss work?”

“Running outside, do you want to change with him?” He Wei picked up his coat, “Next time, you two can do a rock-paper-scissor; whoever wins will pick the job.”

Hu Songkai shut up when he heard the word running outside. What he disliked the most was dealing with people. He couldn’t ask for any useful information. There was a reason he was kicked out of the pre-trial team back then.

“Xiao Xia, follow your Bother ErHu to learn.” He Wei patted Xia Liang on the back and said, “You have to study hard, and when you come back, write a report on how to reconstruct the shooting scene.”

Hu Songkai led Xia Liang, and they took two colleagues to the mansion together. He Wei was already sitting in the jeep and sent a message to Chong Zhen, asking where he was now.

Suddenly, a black shadow flashed across the rearview mirror. He Wei raised his head subconsciously and lowered the window to look left and right. The open-air parking lot was empty, and he was the only one who poked his head out of the car and looked around. Another black shadow passed by, and a bird flew past his eyes with fluttering wings and landed on the opposite railing. He smiled and started the engine. If one did too many cases, there would be sequelae, and one would be suspicious of everything.

———

Chong Zhen went to the victim’s residence today. Cheng Zesheng had been living in Canada since he was a child. He returned to China a few years ago and bought a garden villa in the east of Shengzhou City. But he was the only one living in this villa. The servants come three times a week, and his mother occasionally comes to stay for a few days. Cheng Zesheng was alone on the night of the incident, and no one knew why he went to that mansion.

“I took a general look at his home. The cultural people are just different from our realm. There is nothing but books, all literary works. The three walls of the study are bookcases, which made me dizzy.” Chong Zhen took out a notebook, “I found this in the drawer. He likes to write songs, and these are all simple notation.”

He Wei took it over and flipped through it, and he found that it was indeed some numbered musical notation, with high and low pitches and long and short notes marked on them. There was a leaf used as a bookmark in the book, and the numbered notation on that page only had one line. It seemed that the fresh inspiration had not had time to complete the creation, and the person had passed away.

Pushing open the door of the study room on the second floor, the bookshelves placed against the walls on three sides were very eye-catching. Walking into it was like stepping into a library. He Wei scanned them roughly and found that they were all literary classics and music-related books, each of which was properly preserved, either covered with a frosted book film or wrapped in a beautiful cover, with a sticker on the spine, which was the title of the book handwritten by Cheng Zesheng. The characters were like the person, gentle and graceful.

He Wei took out a few books at random, each of which had traces of interpretation, and even marked sentences that were worth remembering. Chong Zhen leaned over: “Did you see it? This is the standard literary and artistic youth. I have a headache reading all the books in your cabinet. Now I meet an even more exaggerated one.”

“It’s a good thing to have some ink in your belly.” He Wei squatted down, and his eyes fell on the bottom row of the bookshelves. This row contained the classic Chinese studies “Siku Quanshu“, “Zizhi Tongjian“, and other sets was neatly placed together. His eyes flashed, and he took out the brick book with “Guiguzi” written on the spine, turned a few pages, and frowned.

This was not some strategist’s wisdom conspiracy theory, but diagrams of various types of guns! Chong Zhen squatted down and took a look: “Hey, it’s all dry goods. If you don’t have professional needs in China, you can’t buy it, right?”

“Didn’t you see that it’s all in English?” He Wei opened the cover, and the cover had already exposed the real body of this “Guiguzi”. This was a book that introduced the detailed structure of guns. He Wei handed the book to Chong Zhen: “Literary youth, huh?”

Chong Zhen was embarrassed: “Damn, how would I know that he would be so cunning to hide something like this? How did you know there was a problem?”

He Wei didn’t say anything and continued to pick out a few more books. He opened the cover and saw that they were also books related to firearms. Chong Zhen touched a copy of “Siku Quanshu”, immediately closed it, and put it back in its original place. It seemed that he had encountered a real book of classical Chinese culture.

After reading a few books, He Wei also has a good understanding of Cheng Zesheng’s hidden hobbies. He remembered that Du Ruanlan had examined his hands during the autopsy, and the characteristics described at the time were quite consistent with the situation of often holding a gun. The friction marks on the index finger and the tiger’s mouth were probably gun calluses.

“Cheng Zesheng was not as simple as he appeared on the surface. He was interested in guns. He had lived in Canada before, and he must have some collections.” He Wei stood up and groped the edge of the bookshelf, saying, “Chong Zhen, come here. Look around to see if there is a secret door.”

Chong Zhen and He Wei searched separately, trying to remove even the bookshelf, carefully knocking every corner of the wall. It was a pity that there was nothing special about the study room except those books. He Wei rubbed his chin: “Let’s go to another room. I think we’ll definitely find surprises.”

The upper and lower floors of this villa were more than 200 square meters, and all the rooms on the second floor have been searched. Chong Zhen and He Wei met at the stairs and shook their heads. Not to mention real guns, they didn’t even see a toy gun.

“Let’s go downstairs.”

The two of them rummaged through boxes and cabinets downstairs again. He Wei was digging out the seam of the sofa with his hand, and suddenly he found a thin silver necklace with an oval-shaped colored gold pendant underneath. He opened it and found a photo of Cheng Zesheng with a man. The man’s eyebrows and eyes were very similar to Cheng Zesheng’s, and his face was also handsome, so they might be related by blood.

“Did Cheng Zesheng’s mother say that he is an only child?”

Chong Zhen nodded, glanced at the photo, and was surprised: “He has a brother? His social relationship doesn’t have this at all.”

“Try to find a way to find out about their family’s situation in Canada and whether they have abandoned the other child. The two are very close, so they should have a good relationship.” He Wei took out a zip lock bag from his pocket, put the necklace in it, and Chong Zhen used his imagination: “Doesn’t this happen often in TV dramas? Brothers who have been separated for many years recognize each other. They both thought that there was no barrier between them. Who knew that the one who was abandoned had always been resentful? Hey! This is reasonable, and the case has been solved. Ah!”

He Wei went to dig out another sofa, didn’t bother to blame him, and complained ruthlessly: “Xiao Xia spends all day in Conan, and you are brainwashed by TV dramas all day; you two are dead.”

Half an hour later, after searching every corner downstairs, Chong Zhen slumped on the sofa: “This kid may be just talking on paper. Laozi is tired enough to have a dry mouth.”

He Wei opened the back door of the villa: “There is also a garage over there.”

“Here, the key is on the table; go and open it.”

He Wei picked up the key and went to the garage alone. After the shutter door was opened, a car was parked inside. He Wei touched the front of the car, and there was already a thin layer of dust; apparently, it had been parked here for a while.

Car supplies were stacked in the corner of the garage, and there was a huge poster on the wall. The owner of the poster was the handsome and gentle Cheng Zesheng. He Wei stood in front of the poster, staring at Cheng Zesheng’s smiling face, always feeling a sense of disobedience.

This kind of poster was usually placed outside in lightbox advertisements, shopping malls, and TV towers, but Cheng Zesheng hung it in his home. Was it necessary to be so narcissistic? And it was still a garage, so one could only see it when one drove and parked. Wouldn’t it be better to hang it in the living room?

He walked over and knocked on the wall, groping here and there. “Tap”, the sound was hollow and dull. He Wei cheered up and knocked along the four corners to determine what was hidden behind; it might be a door.

He Wei stood on the stool and took off the poster. Sure enough, there was a slit visible to the naked eye on the wall, but it couldn’t be pushed open. There was no keyhole in the wall, and the switch had to be found. Chong Zhen was called over again and couldn’t help being surprised when he saw this secret door: “There really is?!”

“Look for the switch. Let’s find a way to turn it on, you on the left and I on the right.”

The two continued to search separately. Chong Zhen removed the pile of car repair supplies and shouted angrily: “Found it!”

There was a smooth touchpad next to the socket near the corner, and Chongzhen touched it: “Fingerprint lock.”

He Wei called Zheng Youqing and asked her to make a set of Cheng Zesheng’s fingerprint film, all ten fingers. In less than an hour, Zheng Youqing, in a white dress, carried her necessary evidence box and poked her head at the garage door: “Unit Captain He, I’m here.”

Chong Zhen pinched out his cigarette: “It’s over. A-Wei and I were bored and bet on which foot you would step in first, and the bet is tonight’s dinner.”

Zheng Youqing looked down to see that both of her feet were outside and smiled: “Brother Chong, which foot are you betting on?”

“Right foot.”

Zheng Youqing smiled, raised her left foot, and stepped into the garage.

“…You can’t hide your favoritism, ah. All right, I accepted the loss.” Chong Zhen cupped his hands. He Wei coughed lightly and signaled Zheng Youqing to bring the fingerprint film.

When they tried the third one, the fingerprint film of the right index finger, there was a crisp “click” sound in the garage, and He Wei put his hand against the hidden door and pushed a crack open with a little force.

The structure behind the secret door was simple, with only one concrete staircase leading to the basement. He Wei took out a flashlight and walked in front, and Chong Zhen followed behind, leaving Zheng Youqing on top. If there was any danger, she would not be implicated.

After walking down a section of long stairs, there was another door, but this door was much simpler. He Wei pressed the handrail and gently pushed it open, accompanied by creaking sounds, as if slowly unfolding an unknown picture scroll.

Chong Zhen was stunned at the door, already dumbfounded.

“…Is it illegal to build an armory in the basement?”