Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“The house is so big, so it doesn’t matter saving one room!” Xiao Guofeng brought Zhao Yu and the other two police detectives from Moyang to a room on the second floor. “This is Kuo’s room. Ever since he got involved in the incident, Feng Lin was hesitant to renovate the room. So, it looks the same as ten years ago! The cleaner only comes in to clean once a week!”
Then, Xiao Guofeng opened the door, and brought Zhao Yu and the others into the room. Before entering, Zhao Yu looked around and realized that it was the only bedroom on the second floor that was facing the sun, so it should be the best location on the second floor. From what he saw, Feng Kuo was given great treatment at home back then.
After entering the room, a whiff of an antiquated yet unsophisticated smell greeted them. He looked into the room, and saw that the decorations in the room were also very out-of-date. The old-fashioned writing desk look antiquated, the 1.8m wide bedding was thick and solid, and even the cupboard was the kind of old-fashioned furniture that was made of shellac.
“The furniture is homemade!” Xiao Guofeng said. “Although we didn’t use the best wood, the furniture would remain the same for another hundred years!”
“Wow! That’s amazing!” The police detective by the side joked sarcastically. “Mr. Xiao, in the future, when we move to our new house, could we look for you to make some furniture, too?”
Then, the police detective realized that this commentary was inappropriate, he immediately shut his mouth. Zhao Yu noticed that there were many wood carving collections on the cupboard’s partition. There were human figures, animals, and even a Doraemon!
Zhao Yu took wood carving curiously. The blue robotic cat he saw presently was very lively, in particular, and the workmanship was delicate and exquisite. If one didn’t look closely, they couldn’t even tell that it was made of wood.
“Mm….” Xiao Guofeng quickly introduced, “These things were all made by Kuo! When he was thirteen, he came to my place. Not long after, he fell in love with wood carving. And, the child was so talented. Look at his skills, as it was only a skill back then. Still, he carved better than the senior staff I have in my factory.”
“Oh….” Zhao Yu nodded and asked, “Because of his workmanship, he had a chance to switch from Qinshan Prison to Yunzhou?”
“Yeah, but…” Xiao Guofeng made a gesture of counting money, and said helplessly, “But, this is still the most important part! No matter how good his workmanship was, it couldn’t compete against money… Sigh!”
Then, Xiao Guofeng put one of the wood carvings in his hands, and said, “Actually, Kuo was not my own child, but I am very close to this child! Every time I would see him carving solemnly, I was so happy! If we really did bring him towards this direction back then, he might have become a famous wood carving master, known all across the country!
“But, unfortunately, Feng Lin complained that it would be beneath his ranking, if he were to become a woodcarver, so she pushed him to develop the performing arts, even registering him at the School of Film and Production.” Xiao Guofeng sighed, “Sigh! Actually, although Kuo was very good looking, his introvert character didn’t suit well for acting!”
“But, the child was filial. He didn’t want to disappoint Feng Lin’s hopes for him. I, as a stepdad, couldn’t say much, too. I could only go along with their decision. But, in the end? If it wasn’t for the child knowing his woodcarving skill, god knows how much torture he would have been put through in that prison! Sigh…”
“Then… Does Feng Kuo know about his mother?” Zhao Yu put down the wood carving and asked.
“What about his mother?” Xiao Guofeng thought, then gradually understood what Zhao Yu meant. He replied, “You mean the cerebral hemorrhage? Yes, he does! After Feng Lin’s condition stabilized, I told him about it when I visited him at Yunzhou Prison! The child…. was, of course, very sad…”
“Do you think,” Zhao Yu asked again, “Since Feng Kuo is such a filial son, that after he escaped from the prison, well, would he come to visit his mother?”
“This…” Xiao Guofeng didn’t know what to say. He stuttered and replied, “How can I tell? I don’t even understand why the child would breakout from the prison. Another nine years, and he would be able to come home! He would only be forty years old then, and he still would have had a bright future ahead of him! But… Then… It’s all ruined… This child…”
Xiao Guofeng’s eyes were red, as he spoke. It could be said that he carried a certain weight of emotion towards Feng Kuo. After that, Zhao Yu asked some questions about Feng Kuo’s other human relationships. To see if he knew who would possibly be Feng Kuo’s partner in crime.
Xiao Guofeng thought hard, but he couldn’t tell. He said that Feng Kuo was in the prison, and that, even if he was close to the people, it wasn’t to the point where they would help him breakout of prison. He even said that, if he found Feng Kuo’s partner in crime, he would give him a lecture himself! As, in his mind, with that accomplice helping Feng Kuo breakout from prison, it was actually not helping him, but destroying him!
After that, with the aid of Xiao Guofeng, Zhao Yu found some items that Feng Kuo had used in the past. He searched around and finally found a photo of Feng Kuo, Liu Jiao, and Lan Shuping in an album.
In the photos, most of them were their performance photos. They had different appearances in each, with various clothing and in diverse parodies! Although there were only photos, from the details of the photos, Zhao Yu managed to speculate about something from them.
Liu Jiao carried an image of a playful teenage girl, as she was either pulling Feng Kuo’s ears or pulling Lan Shuping’s hair. From this, he could tell that Liu Jiao should be that kind of playful and easy-going girl!
Lan Shuping was an extrovert, too. His posture in the photos were all exaggerated, with big gestures, and his facial expression was rich. But Feng Kuo was different. He hardly used any exaggerated facial expressions. He always looked steady, yet worried.
But, Feng Kuo was really good looking. He inherited various advantages that Feng Lin had, while Lan Shuping was much weaker in regards to his looks and body features. As such, it was no wonder that Liu Jiao had picked Feng Kuo in the end.
The entire afternoon, Zhao Yu was gathering information in Feng Kuo’s house, while the two police detectives from Moyang thought that Zhao Yu was just looking for clues about Feng Kuo’s prison break. So, they naturally didn’t overthink his presence there.
The investigation ended when the sun set, and Zhao Yu bid farewell to the two colleagues, then left Feng Kuo’s house. What was beyond Zhao Yu’s expectation, was that before he left, the two police detectives stood straight and saluted him with a standard salutation! One of them even had tears at the corner of his eyes.
At first, Zhao Yu was confused. Then, he realized, the police detectives knew that the Taoist priest, Yuan Shucai, who had killed Fu Jianxing and the others, was arrested by Zhao Yu, alive!
The two of them were very close to the police detectives that had passed away. Then, when they got to know Zhao Yu, they were grateful that Zhao Yu caught the murderer and took revenge for Fu Jianxing and the rest. Also, it reminded them of their lost friends.
Zhao Yu quickly comforted them, and the two police detectives implied that, if Zhao Yu had anything that he needed the Moyang Key Case Investigation Unit’s help with, they would give their all, without any excuse.
Zhao Yu thanked them and said goodbye.
Phew…
Returning to the car, Zhao Yu sighed heavily.
After a day of such an on-site visit, although there weren’t many returns, Zhao Yu had more profound feelings and insights of how the person felt, and thus, he believed that he was one step closer to solving the case.
But, if he wanted to keep investigating on-site, then it must be done thoroughly. So, with that in mind, although the sky grew dark, Zhao Yu had one more place to visit. It was the crime scene, where the apartment murder case took place ten years ago!