“Well,” Bai Jin rubbed his nose. “That Sixth Miss really is something.” Beside him, E Yuan’s expression was decidedly unpleasant.
“So then what — you planned to run?” Bai Jin turned his attention back to the quietly bookish-looking man before him.
Zhou Zhengwen let out a long sigh. “I did want to leave. But Yan Xiuling watched me like a hawk. She even followed me to the toilet. I had planned to stay in Shun Cheng for a few more days, but then a telephone call came from home — my father had fallen down a hillside while working and was unconscious. I asked Yan Xiuling whether we could bring my father to a proper hospital in Shun Cheng for treatment. She refused outright. We bought tickets to return, and on the train we quarreled again over money. She flew into a rage and attacked me. She screamed that she would kill my whole family. When she went like that, she was terrifying. I was frightened out of my mind. I kept thinking — am I going to be shackled to this woman for the rest of my life? It would be better if it just ended. So when she stormed out of the compartment in a fury, I used the scarf to seize her from behind and pull it tight around her neck. I pulled harder and harder. She struggled with everything she had, struggling and struggling, until even her nails broke…”
Zhou Zhengwen’s eyes, as he spoke, took on a crazed light. “Then she stopped moving altogether. I reached to her face — no breath. She was gone.”
He deflated. “I was relieved and terrified at the same time. I was afraid her family would come after me. So I tied the scarf around her neck and fastened the other end to the curtain rod and pushed her body out through the window. She had a psychiatric condition and made a habit of threatening to take her own life — her family could not pin anything on me. I put her valuables in my trunk, but I couldn’t find the ticket. She had hidden the large deposit slip somewhere to make sure I couldn’t get at it. I didn’t dare linger. I left the compartment quickly, found an empty seat elsewhere, but the fear didn’t leave me. I kept imagining the smell of blood on me. So I found an old man and traded clothes and luggage with him. I planned to get off at Miaodong the moment the train arrived and wait for things to blow over before returning to Taishan. I never expected you would find me before the train even reached the station.”
“Inspectors.” Zhou Zhengwen suddenly pressed his head to the floor in a deep bow, knocking it against the ground several times. “I know what I’ve done. I know I will face execution. I ask only one thing: let me go home and see my father one last time. Just one look, and I will come with you quietly and confess everything.”
“The law permits no exceptions,” Shi Ting said. “You are an offender in a capital case. There is no possibility of allowing you to return home.” He paused briefly. “However, I will send someone to check on your father’s condition and see to it on your behalf.”
Zhou Zhengwen knew his request had been entirely unreasonable. The concession Shi Ting had offered was already a mercy beyond what the law required. He bowed his head to the floor again. “Thank you.”
Shi Ting took Zhou Zhengwen with him to the compartment he had come from, while Bai Jin and E Yuan remained behind to guard the body and the evidence.
“Liangping, I have a question.” Bai Jin tucked a pen between his teeth and lay back on the bunk with his arms folded beneath his head. “How did that Miss Yan figure out that Yan Xiuling had a psychiatric condition?”
E Yuan was in a poor mood, and his tone came out accordingly sharp: “How would I know!”
“Now that’s not right. You are after all the Military Police Division’s own forensic examiner. Something a young woman could identify at a glance — and you don’t know? Dear, dear.” Bai Jin clicked his tongue with theatrical disappointment. “You’d better hope Stone Daring and the others don’t find out, or they’ll never let you hear the end of it.”
The barb landed. E Yuan’s expression darkened considerably.
—