Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Murderous Joy (08)

Guang Jun's words were like a thunderclap to the officers accompanying Hai Shu, but Hai Shu looked at him with a slightly indifferent gaze. After a moment, she turned and scanned the rows of factory buildings. "Let's find a place to talk."

"When the Wan family had their accident, my father couldn't let it go. No one wants to see a car accident, but they really did get into that accident because they were delivering goods to our glass factory," Guang Jun said, sitting in the temporary meeting room Hai Shu had found, his face full of grief and regret.

After the glass factory moved to Zhou Ping Town, many transportation companies did business here, but in the end, the Wan family became the most successful, not because they had good relationships within the factory, nor did they bribe anyone. They simply worked harder than anyone else. While others made one trip, they made two or three. If they promised a delivery time, they would make sure to meet it.

Over time, they became the glass factory's most reliable partners. That year, the factory's business was booming, and more goods needed to be delivered, with urgent shipments being a common occurrence. One transportation company had agreed to pick up the goods on time, but halfway through, they backed out. The glass factory offered more money, but it was no use. At that time, Guang Yongguo happened to be in charge of logistics, and if the goods didn't leave, the situation would be dire. He was desperate and almost willing to go himself when the Wan brothers said they could take over.

Guang Yongguo immediately felt as if he'd found a savior and expressed immense gratitude. The Wan brothers simply said it was no problem, and once the goods were sorted, they would set off.

The tragic accident happened during that delivery. They didn’t need to take that dangerous route; they had already completed their planned task and were scheduled to rest for two days before the next task.

With the Wan family left with only orphans and widows, Wan Ze Yu grew up quickly. The Guang family felt deeply guilty and wanted to help him when he started his business. Guang Jun and Wan Ze Yu were good friends, so they were more than willing to offer full support.

It was Guang Yongguo's idea to have Wan Ze Yu run the Hui Min store, because otherwise, how could someone like Wan Ze Yu, who was a bit of a drifter, have such foresight? Guang Yongguo often attended meetings and research in the city and knew that services like package collection, delivery, and group buying were becoming new business models in developed areas. Wan Ze Yu initially knew nothing about it, and it was the Guang family, using their influence and status, who helped him secure the first storefront.

Wan Ze Yu was very clever. After turning over a new leaf, he quickly got his business on the right track. But he wasn't satisfied with just running one Hui Min store; he wanted to take over all of Zhou Ping Town's parcel business. At that time, many independent merchants saw the success of Hui Min store and began to imitate it. Some had connections, while others were well-connected, and the competition became fierce. Wan Ze Yu was squeezed and almost couldn't breathe.

Wan Ze Yu thought of the Guang family, who had helped him, and found Guang Jun, subtly seeking more help.

In Zhou Ping Town, if you wanted to succeed in business, having connections was almost a must. Wan Ze Yu, no longer a naive drifter, prepared cash and gifts, with a smile on his face, to offer Guang Yongguo a cigarette.

Hai Shu asked, "Bribery?"

Guang Jun sighed deeply, "At first, my father didn’t want to take any money, but he did use his power to help Wan Ze Yu handle a few competitors. Those gifts were all forced into our house by him later."

Hai Shu asked, "And the 80,000 yuan?"

Guang Jun wiped his sweat, saying, "The year before last, Wan Ze Yu tried to bring in a group-buying deal for the glass factory. The factory really needed a long-term group-buying partner, and besides Wan Ze Yu, there were other competitors. The Guang family gave him another green light."

"Yuzi's money, my father didn't take a single cent. I'll go back and check the gifts, and I’ll hand everything over to you." Guang Jun lowered his head, "We were wrong."

Hai Shu looked at the top of Guang Jun's head, a strange and contradictory feeling brewing in her heart. Not long ago, when Guang Jun said he wanted to confess, she had a vague sense that something was off. Now, this feeling was magnified.

Hai Shu asked, "Why did you suddenly decide to tell me all of this?"

Guang Jun opened his mouth several times, as if considering his words. "Yuzi's dead, and died like that. I feel like it was someone who hated him. Since you’ve already found the 80,000 yuan, if I keep hiding it, I’d be worse than a pig or a dog."

Hai Shu said, "So you guess the murderer might be someone who lost business to Wan Ze Yu?"

"Yes, yes."

"Your fear before was also because you indirectly helped Wan Ze Yu, and you're afraid of being blamed?"

Guang Jun's lips trembled, his hands tightly gripping his knees. "Officer Hai! Please, catch the murderer as soon as possible! The Guang family made a mistake, and I'll take responsibility. I will never run away!"

His words were unexpectedly passionate. Half an hour after Guang Jun left, Hai Shu quietly repeated the last sentence to herself.

"Rehearsing lines?" Sui Xing, who had returned to the police station with her computer, overheard Hai Shu muttering and couldn't help teasing, "Not being a criminal police officer, are you planning to become an actor?"

Hai Shu replied, "Do I look like I'm acting?"

Sui Xing teased, "More like you're acting poorly."

Hai Shu laughed, "I think so too."

Sui Xing paused, "..."

Surprised, she set down her computer and asked, "What's going on?"

Hai Shu explained, telling her about the process of Guang Jun coming to confess his feelings. "He admitted that the Guang family took bribes, which makes sense, and this also explains why he was so scared when he saw Wan Ze Yu's body. But his acting feels too strong, like he rehearsed all night. And there's the timing—once he said he was going to explain the 80,000 yuan, I felt something was off."

Sui Xing sat down and drank half a bottle of water, frowning as she recalled the scenes from last night at the Guang family home. "We found the 80,000 yuan, Lu Xu pretended to be crazy, Guang Jun hid upstairs and didn’t dare come down, and then Guang Yongguo stepped in. Lu Xu immediately said Wan Ze Yu was her godson, and the money was a gift from him. She practically blocked one of our leads. If we’re going to keep investigating, we’ll need more evidence. So..."

Hai Shu continued, "Exactly. It’s too close. After just one night, we don’t have any new clues. Guang Jun was all hesitant yesterday, and today suddenly he’s confessing the origin and use of the 80,000 yuan? It’s like he's smacking his own face."

Sui Xing frowned even more, "Is he trying to please the police?"

Hai Shu said, "I think there's a possibility he's trying to cover up his real relationship with Wan Ze Yu."

"Real... relationship?"

"And he’s in such a hurry, willing to personally expose Lu Xu's lies. Once he confesses that the Guang family accepted money from Wan Ze Yu and greenlit his business, our investigation will undoubtedly shift in this direction, while the truth that he doesn’t want us to know will be hidden on another path."

Sui Xing hissed, "So what could that truth be?"

Hai Shu regretfully said, "I don’t know, but right now we really do have to follow Guang Jun's lead."

Guang family.

Lu Xu screamed and lunged at Guang Jun, slapping him across the face, her long nails leaving a bloody scratch. Guang Jun’s face was knocked to the side, and when Lu Xu saw the blood, she cried even harder, clutching him, angry and anxious. "What are you trying to do? Your father and I already handled it! Those cops can't do anything to us! Why did you go and say something?"

Compared to Lu Xu’s fury, Guang Yongguo remained calm. He sat silently on the sofa, coldly watching the mother-son drama unfold, his pupils like a foggy, mysterious swamp.

"Mom, the police will eventually find out about the things we did for Yu Zi." Guang Jun’s half-face was already swollen. "I’ve heard, the people who came this time aren’t ordinary cops, they’re from the Gray Surge Criminal Investigation Team, and the woman in charge was just transferred from Bin Cong City. A new official burns everything with fire, and we’re caught in the crossfire."

Lu Xu didn’t understand these things. "So what! Your father worked so hard to get to this position, and there are still several projects in the city, and now you want to ruin him!"

Guang Jun nervously glanced at Guang Yongguo. "I’ll tell the police it was me who took the money and made the arrangements. I’ll bear all the consequences."

Lu Xu cried even harder. "How can you bear it! You’re only 31, you’re not even married yet!"

"Enough." Guang Yongguo stood up, his gaze cold, not like looking at his close relatives, but more like observing two unrelated people. He walked over, shot a cold glance at Guang Jun, and forced a humorless smile. "Xiao Jun didn’t do anything wrong. Blocking the police investigation at this point would only make things worse."

Lu Xu said, "But!"

"You’re just a woman, what do you know?" Guang Yongguo scolded. "The police will be back soon. When they do, just tell the truth!"

Sui Xing was taking statements from the Guang family members. Compared to the last time at the Guang family home, their attitudes were much more docile. They admitted to taking money and gifts, but they all insisted they hadn’t taken a single cent. Their help to Wan Ze Yu wasn’t for financial gain; it was to make up for what he lacked in his family.

At the same time, a police car stopped at the third village of the glass factory. Hai Shu and Cheng Wei got out of the car.

The houses the factory built for the workers in the early days were called the "villages." The first and second villages were demolished due to their age, and the most dilapidated buildings now were in the third village. The missing Yuan Zhong lived here.

The old house corridor smelled damp and moldy, with old furniture piled up that wasn’t in use but couldn’t be thrown away. Cheng Wei wasn’t looking at the path and stumbled a few times.

Yuan Zhong’s house was tightly locked. As Hai Shu was unlocking it, a woman living next door asked, "Who are you? Why are you opening someone else’s door?"

Hai Shu showed her ID, and the woman was startled. The Wan Ze Yu case had been making a lot of noise, and she didn’t expect them to come to her door today. "Is this related to Yuan Zhong?"

The lock was already open, and a rotten smell wafted out. Cheng Wei immediately put on gloves and shoe covers and went inside to investigate. The woman leaned her head inside to peer, and Hai Shu, seeing that she was chatty, decided to engage in conversation. "Sister, how long have you been neighbors with Yuan Zhong?"

The woman, in her fifties, immediately smiled when a young woman called her "Sister," grinning widely. "Our family’s been working at the glass factory for years. We lived on the same floor when Yuan Zhong was just a kid. Ah, the factory doesn't like him, but I don’t think he’s bad. If you ask him to work, he’ll do it, he just doesn’t like talking."

"The factory doesn’t like him?" Hai Shu asked. "Is he not getting along with the workers?"

The woman started talking more freely, "They say he’s not sociable, gloomy, and looks hard to get along with. They also say he skips work sometimes. Poor kid, he lost his dad when he was young, and before he grew up, his mom passed away too. An orphan, how lively could he be?"

"Captain Hai!" Cheng Wei called. "Come take a look, I found something!"