There was a wooden table against the wall, and they were piled underneath it.
At the bottom was a small boy, no more than 5 years old judging by his size. He was lying face down; from You Mingxu’s angle, they could see his bottom and legs.
An 8 or 9-year-old girl was overlapping the boy. She was still wearing her school uniform, now completely soaked in blood. You Mingxu could see her profile, drained of all color.
On top was a woman, appearing to be in her forties, lying across the two children with her knees half-bent. One arm was trapped under her body, the other hanging naturally, not embracing the children. The woman had several deep wounds on her body.
“They were placed here by the killer after death,” You Mingxu said.
Xu Mengshan nodded, and Fan Jia added, “Otherwise, the mother would have been hugging her children, and the bodies’ positions aren’t natural.” Xu Mengshan noted, “There are no signs of struggle on the kitchen floor either.”
The three fell silent for a moment. The officer from before continued, “According to neighbors’ identification and ID documents found at the scene, we can confirm the mother is Xie Huifang, 41, an accountant at a nearby small trading company. The daughter is Zeng Zinan, 9, a student at the nearby elementary school. The son is Zeng Zixuan, 4 and a half, attending a local kindergarten.
According to several neighbors, Xie Huifang walked home for lunch every day to save money and rest. The children usually stayed at school. However, today at noon, a neighbor saw Xie Huifang bringing her son home, saying he had a cold and needed care.”
“Over there,” Xu Mengshan said. Everyone looked where he pointed, seeing two opened boxes of children’s cold medicine on the TV cabinet.
“When did the daughter come home?” Fan Jia asked.
“Also at noon.” Xu Mengshan answered. With his keen observation skills and knowledge of forensics, he crouched by the bodies, studying them intently before saying, “They’ve been dead for approximately 6-8 hours.”
“Why did the daughter come home?” Fan Jia asked.
“Probably for this.” You Mingxu picked up a paper from the kitchen counter—a notice about a summer camp at the elementary school, with payment requirements, dated today.
“Ah…” the patrol officer sighed, “What a tragedy.”
“Is anything missing from the scene?” You Mingxu asked.
The patrol officer nodded, “There’s an empty jewelry box on the master bedroom’s dresser, left open. Also, a woman’s wallet was dropped on the floor—Xie Huifang’s IDs are still there, but the money and cards are gone. We haven’t found the victim’s phone either.”
“Could it have been a robbery?” Fan Jia blurted out impulsively, “They killed three people just for that?”
You Mingxu snapped, “Don’t jump to conclusions!”
Fan Jia fell silent immediately.
The three followed the patrol officer toward the master bedroom. Passing through the living room, You Mingxu looked up—the curtains were open, and with the buildings close together, she could see into apartments across the way. Several households were peering over, trying to look in. You Mingxu could even make out their expressions.
Xu Mengshan packed the empty jewelry box and woman’s wallet into evidence bags.
The three of them were the first criminal investigators on the scene; Old Ding was still en route with the forensics team. They spread out to examine the scene. You Mingxu entered the second bedroom and paused.
The room’s style matched the rest of the home—simple, cheap, unremarkable. However, there was a used desk with ninth-grade textbooks and workbooks. Pens and notebooks were scattered messily. A model airplane sat nearby. A soccer ball hung on the wall.
You Mingxu called the patrol officer: “Does a middle school boy live in this apartment?”
The officer quickly inquired, and sure enough, a neighbor confirmed that Xie Huifang’s nephew, Li Biran, 15, attended a nearby middle school. He usually lived in the school dormitory but sometimes came over on weekends. Today was Monday, so he wasn’t around.
“Notify him immediately,” You Mingxu said.
So far, You Mingxu has only glimpsed the surface of this case. Like looking at the sea through clouds, everything was still shrouded in dusk. But she had an intuition that this case wasn’t as simple as a home invasion robbery turned murder.
She crouched beside the old, dated double bed in the second bedroom, lost in thought. She was so absorbed that when someone softly called “Xu” beside her, it made her jump.
She turned to face that handsome face. Yin Feng blinked his large, watery eyes, crouching beside her.
You Mingxu sprang up: “Why are you here?” She looked incredulously past him at the living room, the officers, and the police tape at the door.
Yin Feng stood up immediately, like a child caught by their parent, looking somewhat deflated and blushing, his long neck bowed. Then he held up the ID card hanging on his chest, saying quietly, “I have high clearance.”
You Mingxu looked at his provincial police department special clearance card—which could grant access to almost any police facility in the province—and felt her temple throb.
“You still shouldn’t have followed me,” You Mingxu said patiently, “You’ll interfere with my investigation. Go home now!”
And so, Writer Yin assumed that pose again, head down, silent, looking like a stubborn wife who wouldn’t budge even if struck by lightning. You Mingxu swallowed a couple of times, feeling slightly less blocked up. She was already feeling awful today, and now he was making things more difficult. She growled, “I’m saying this one last time—go home. Or you can’t stay at my place anymore.”
“Xu,” he said softly, “I just didn’t want you to face all this alone.”
You Mingxu was taken aback, surprised by how clear-headed his words were. He had already lowered his head and turned around, shuffling slowly toward the door in tiny steps. His demeanor made You Mingxu want to laugh and cry at the same time, and she felt a tiny bit guilty. She hesitated, “You…”
Before she could finish, footsteps approached from the entrance, along with Ding Xiongwei’s voice. You Mingxu’s heart sank—Captain Ding hated having irrelevant people interfering with investigations and would get furious about it. Especially on such a serious case.
She grabbed Yin Feng and pulled him back into the room. After a moment of surprise, he was about to break into a smile: “Xu…” but You Mingxu was already stern-faced, saying in a low voice, “Stay here, don’t let Captain Ding see you. Don’t come out unless I call you, understand?”
Yin Feng didn’t speak, but his eyes fixed on her intently, seeming to understand. By now, Captain Ding and the others had entered the living room. You Mingxu pushed Yin Feng away and walked out.
Fan Jia and Xu Mengshan had been examining other parts of the house, so they hadn’t noticed Yin Feng enter—after all, not just anyone could cross the guarded police line at a crime scene. When Xu Mengshan came out of the kitchen, he glanced at You Mingxu and immediately noticed the figure in the room behind her, giving her a questioning look. You Mingxu kept her composure, shaking her head to indicate he shouldn’t ask. However, Xu Mengshan had already recognized Yin Feng, and looking back at You Mingxu, his expression became somewhat strange. You Mingxu felt another twinge in her chest but pretended not to notice.
The forensics team immediately began their work, while everyone reported their findings to Ding Xiongwei. The forensics team quickly had preliminary results, confirming Xu Mengshan’s time of death estimate—the victims were killed between 1 and 2 PM, with a common watermelon knife as the murder weapon. Besides the three victims’ footprints, there was a size 39 footprint at the scene. However, shoe covers had been worn, and the bloody handprints on the wall belonged to the killer, who wore gloves. The killer likely touched the woman’s wallet and jewelry box, as they had traces of blood on them.
Additionally, Fan Jia reported: “Xie Huifang’s husband is named Zeng Qiang, working in Northeast China. We’ve contacted him; he can arrive tomorrow morning at the earliest. Xie Huifang’s sister and brother-in-law have been notified and will also arrive tomorrow. We’ve sent someone to the middle school to pick up Xie Huifang’s nephew.”
After hearing all the reports, Ding Xiongwei thought briefly before determining the investigation directions: “Xia Dong, you focus on checking surveillance footage around the community; Luo Ping, take Group A and investigate the missing items angle, focusing on known thieves in the area and anyone released from prison in the last six months.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Yes, sir!”
Ding Xiongwei turned to You Mingxu, his gaze deep: “You Mingxu, you lead Group B in conducting a thorough investigation into the victim and her life connections, see if you find anything.”
“Yes, sir!”