Silent Testimony - Chapter 35

Tao Ling suddenly looked back and saw the familiar figure outside the door, feeling as if she were dreaming.

“What are you standing there for?” Li Hewei, travel-worn, pulled her suitcase into the room and teased, “Aren’t you happy I’m back?” The moment she saw Tao Ling, she instantly felt that her decision in the early hours was not impulsive, but a choice made from the heart, following her true intention.

Tao Ling snapped back to reality, stood up, walked over, and naturally took the shoulder bag Li Hewei removed, yet her voice was unusually heavy. “I’m happy.”

“Are you feeling unwell? Why do your eyes…”

Tao Ling interrupted, “No, it might be that I’m sensitive to new beds; I didn’t sleep well.” Her eyes were red. When she couldn’t get through to Li Hewei’s phone earlier, she had worried about her safety, overthinking things, and had even contacted Qiu Wan.

Li Hewei raised a hand and gently tapped her forehead with her index finger. “Go to bed early tonight.”

“Mm.” Tao Ling lowered her eyes, her mood still low.

Li Hewei, used to her calm expression, didn’t press the matter. She drank bottled water to quench her thirst and gestured to her. “Your phone is ringing.”

Tao Ling picked up the phone. The name on the screen was exactly as expected. She pressed the answer button. “Hello, Sister Qiu.”

“Xiao Tao, she’s already back from Lingnan. The high-speed rail at six-something in the morning… I’m applying to check surveillance footage, if…”

Tao Ling looked up, pursed her lips at Li Hewei, and responded in a low voice, “She’s next to me.”

Li Hewei suddenly realized why the atmosphere felt strange and why the other girl wasn’t as happy as expected. She held out her right hand. “Give it to me.”

“Yes, don’t worry.” Li Hewei clarified the situation with Qiu Wan, hung up the phone, and placed it aside. Her heart felt warmed, and she asked softly, “So, you were afraid something happened to me?”

Li Hewei hadn’t planned a surprise return; she just didn’t want to disturb Tao Ling’s sweet sleep, so she hadn’t left a message before leaving. Later, she fell asleep listening to music, and her phone battery drained completely. She had also left her power bank at the hotel due to the rushed departure. Fortunately, she was in Puchen and always carried spare change, so she wasn’t scrambling to find a place to withdraw cash.

“Yes.”

“I promise I won’t make a similar mistake again.” Li Hewei held up two fingers. “You can supervise me.”

Tao Ling blinked. Her mood shifted from gloomy to cloudy, and finally to sunny. She subconsciously asked her, “Why do you need me to supervise you?”

“Because I made this mistake in front of you.” Li Hewei reached for the suitcase, half-squatted, pulled open the zipper, took out a canvas bag, and handed it to Tao Ling. “Here, souvenirs I brought back. Open them and take a look.” She always spent half a day browsing whenever she arrived at a new place, picking out one or two small gifts that reflected the local uniqueness and cultural character—small gifts, but rich in sentiment.

Tao Ling stammered, “Sister Wei…” In 25 years, she had received only a handful of gifts on her birthdays, let alone on ordinary days.

“They’re not expensive items, and they don’t even have packaging, which is why I put them all in this ordinary canvas bag.” Li Hewei took them out one by one in front of her. “This one is from Yilong Town in Shu Province; they have a lot of panda-themed cultural creations, so I picked a brooch and a keychain. And this, a round fan bookmark from Hangcheng’s West Lake, a metal bookmark of the twelve months. The sandalwood from the small county town in Lingnan is famous, so I bought a ‘Peace and Safety’ plaque engraved with the four characters ‘May all things go well.’ If you like it, you can hang it with the keychain…”

On the surface, Tao Ling was calm, but her heart was already churning violently. She couldn’t help but ask herself: Why is she so kind to me?

“These all belong to you. The other bag is for that character, Yingqiu.” Li Hewei tucked the canvas bag into her arms.

Realizing the treatment was the same, Tao Ling felt slightly relieved. Holding the canvas bag felt like embracing the whole world. She involuntarily smiled, her eyes as gentle as a spring breeze. “Thank you, Sister Wei.”

However, she didn’t know that Cheng Yingqiu’s gifts were items she had called and asked for, nor were they carefully selected by Li Hewei.

“Have you eaten?” Tao Ling guessed that she was travel-worn and probably hadn’t had time to eat.

“No, but I want to eat the daoxiaomian you sent me photos of at noon.” She had just turned on her phone and found eight missed calls and five direct messages from Tao Ling.

“I’ll take you to the noodle shop. It’s about a 10-minute walk.”

Li Hewei lowered her head, busy replying to colleagues’ messages. “Okay, let me charge my phone for a bit.”

“Did you let them know since you came back so suddenly?” Tao Ling was mindful of her work.

“I contacted Teacher Qiu, who manages the team, via WeChat at 2 AM. Turns out she was suffering from insomnia and just told me to be careful, without saying much else,” Li Hewei added. “Don’t worry, I arranged everything.”

She suddenly looked up, surprised. “The case is solved already?”

“Huh?” Tao Ling was confused.

Li Hewei placed her phone between them. “Look, the Serious Crime Unit is cheering. They said the DNA extracted from the cigarette butt Xiaoting found at the bottom of the pit matched someone who was previously jailed for three months for theft.”

“Surprisingly easy.”

“The footprints traced around the pit were confirmed to be size 45, which also matches the suspect.” Li Hewei massaged her sore shoulder with the back of her hand. “Solving a case in less than 24 hours, now this is the normal pace.” She unplugged the charger, her smile deepening. “Let’s go eat noodles.”

Tao Ling called out softly, “Sister Wei.”

“What?”

“To say thank you again.”

Li Hewei stared at Tao Ling without moving. “Fine, you’ve accepted my gift, and I’ve accepted your thanks. But remember, say ‘thank you’ less often from now on.” Returning to Puchen and seeing the person she had missed so much, she felt suddenly enlightened. Life is short; one should try their best to satisfy themselves and not needlessly trouble themselves.

If she felt comfortable being around her, she should just let nature take its course, without dwelling on whether it was just a temporary crush or if she would eventually travel back to her original world. After all, even relationships can end. She should enjoy the present moment and handle things calmly.

“Mhm, I know.” Under the unconcealed gaze, a strange feeling flashed through Tao Ling’s heart. She quickly looked away, and an emotion she had never felt before quietly emerged. Why can’t I look her directly in the eye? She waited for Li Hewei to turn to grab her bag and started searching via her browser.

Introverted personality, low self-esteem, social anxiety, psychological pressure…

But it wasn’t like this before. There must be a reason. Tao Ling frowned deeply, her mind entangled in thought.

“What are you thinking about?” Li Hewei’s words pulled her back to reality.

“Nothing, nothing.”

“Let’s go.”

The seed of doubt was sown in her heart. Tao Ling lifted her feet and closely followed her.

In the interrogation room of the Wanyang Town police station, the criminal suspect sat opposite Qiu Wan, terrified.

“Zhang Dalun.”

Zhang Dalun trembled. “Yes.”

“Do you know Chen Han?”

“Yes, a friend I worked with.”

Qiu Wan briefly explained the situation. “He has been murdered, and his body was thrown into the dirt pit in Meng Mountain, Tunheba. You know about this, right?”

Zhang Dalun sighed. “Officer, I didn’t want to kill him either.”

He confessed directly. Xiao Liao excitedly asked, “So, you admit to the fact that you killed him?”

“Tell us the details. Xiao Liao, take notes.” Qiu Wan was composed. “Such as the motive for the murder, the weapon, and the process of disposing of the body.”

“I killed him for money.”

“How much money?”

“100,000 yuan, the reward for murder.”

Xiao Liao lightly tapped the table. “Good Heavens, it involves another case.”

“No, we weren’t successful. She was only injured and hospitalized.”

Qiu Wan was clear-headed. “Who is the ‘she’ you are referring to? And who paid you to kill them?”

“If I confess, can I get a reduced sentence?”

“I cannot promise that, but the judge will consider the circumstances.”

Zhang Dalun revealed everything. “You know about the black taxi business, right? Business from Shujiang to Wanyang Town is particularly good. If you’re diligent, you can make several hundred a day, and I heard the net profit is around 300 yuan. The boss of the largest black taxi company is named Qian Gang, and he paid us to kill Jiao Yang.”

“And who is Jiao Yang?”

“A very famous figure in Wanyang Town. He used to make millions from coal mining, and now he runs an e-commerce business, helping dozens of people get rich. So, I didn’t want to kill her, but Chen Han said Jiao Yang’s wealth was none of his business. As long as we delivered the body to Qian Gang, we could get 300,000 yuan.”

“Then you stabbed Jiao Yang, who ended up in the hospital, and you received 100,000 yuan?” Qiu Wan straightened up, casually rolling up her shirt sleeves to her elbows. “So why did you kill Chen Han?”

“100,000 yuan—Chen Han only wanted to split 20,000 with me, saying his wife was sick and needed the money urgently.” Zhang Dalun was flushed. “But he’s a damn liar. His wife had already recovered. When I exposed him face-to-face, he told me to take the 20,000 and get lost, so I grabbed a stick and hit him.”

“Later, during your struggle, you found a fruit knife and killed him?”

Zhang Dalun briefly uttered one word. “Yes.”

Qiu Wan was about to ask another question when Xiao Liao placed the latest message he had received in front of her: [Autumn Team, Qian Gang has been missing for five days.]