SFTD -Chapter 14 The Faceless Female Corpse (Part 6)

Only then did Chen Qiushi stop his constantly shaking leg and look up at the two men.

“I know her.”

“Her mother said you two were very good friends?”

Chen Qiushi nodded.

“Yes. We attended the same school since elementary school. In middle school we were even classmates and desk mates. We were very close.”

“Were all five of you that close?”

Chen Qiushi nodded again.

“What do your parents do for work?”

“My father is the manager of the Urban Construction Department at Huanghai Construction Group. My mother is an accountant in the same company.”

Chen Qiushi shifted his sitting posture.

He leaned forward slightly, pressed his lips together hard, then raised his eyes to look at Zhou Hai and Deputy Captain Bao.

“She’s dead, isn’t she?”

Zhou Hai nodded, never taking his eyes off Chen Qiushi’s.

“Yes. And she died horribly. Her face was completely destroyed. Her parents can only confirm her identity through DNA testing to determine whether she is truly Zhong Yishan. That’s why we need your help, so we can catch the killer as soon as possible.”

Chen Qiushi bit his lip, his eyes turning slightly red.

“Ask whatever you want.”

Zhou Hai stopped Deputy Captain Bao with a hand gesture, interrupting the usual line of questioning.

“As far as you know, did Zhong Yishan have a boyfriend?”

Inside his pocket, Chen Qiushi’s hand clenched into a fist.

“I don’t know.”

“Is it that you don’t know, or that you don’t want to admit she liked someone else?”

Chen Qiushi suddenly raised his eyes and glanced at Zhou Hai before letting out a faint sigh.

“Sigh…She liked Zhang Yang.”

Zhou Hai carefully considered Chen Qiushi’s wording. Although he had answered the question, it wasn’t a direct explanation. Zhou Hai glanced at Deputy Captain Bao.

“You mean she had a crush on Zhang Yang and even talked to you about it?”

Chen Qiushi let out a long breath and pulled his hand from his pocket.

“Yes. She had a crush on Zhang Yang. She heard he liked skinny girls, so three months ago she started dieting to lose weight.”

“Did Zhang Yang have a girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

Zhou Hai handed Chen Qiushi a cup of water. The fact that he had taken his hand out of his pocket showed he no longer wanted to hide things. That was a good sign.

“It was Ma Keke, right?”

Chen Qiushi froze and looked up at Zhou Hai.

“Yes. How did you know? Did you investigate before this?”

Deputy Captain Bao shook his head, and Zhou Hai continued: “Yesterday afternoon Zhang Yang brought Ma Keke to the Forensic Identification Center. They arrived in a limited-edition red Cayenne. I saw the two of them get out of the car holding hands. Besides, for the school to let him leave at a time like this, they must really take care of him.”

Chen Qiushi curled his lip and sneered disdainfully.

“Hah! Zhang Yang’s father just donated a teaching building to No. 1 High School. The teachers practically serve him personally. Their family car even drives right up to the classroom building to pick him up.”

Deputy Captain Bao widened his eyes.

“That impressive? What does his father do?”

“The chairman of Xintiandi Real Estate Group—Zhang Zhenyu.”

Zhou Hai didn’t react much, since he had only recently returned to the country and wasn’t familiar with local figures.

But Deputy Captain Bao froze and sucked in a sharp breath.

From his reaction, Zhou Hai could tell Zhang Zhenyu was definitely a major celebrity in Southeast City.

“Looks like Zhang Yang must be the dream guy for all the girls at your school.”

Chen Qiushi nodded. Zhou Hai continued:

“In your opinion, who might hold a grudge against Zhong Yishan? Someone jealous of her or on bad terms with her?”

“Most of the girls at No. 1 High were probably jealous of her. After all, she sat next to Zhang Yang. Someone once threw a water balloon at her while she was going to the restroom, and someone sprayed ink on her while she was walking. Even though she never complained to me, I knew it was all because of Zhang Yang. Every one of them was dreaming unrealistic princess dreams. She was basically Ma Keke’s shield.”

It seemed Ma Keke was very skilled at using the people around her to protect herself. Zhou Hai followed up immediately.

“Did Wang Yu also like Zhang Yang?”

The sudden shift to Wang Yu caught Chen Qiushi slightly off guard, but he still nodded.

“She was even more of a silent type. She never said it outright. But the way she looked at Zhang Yang was the same as Zhong Yishan.”

Chen Qiushi observed things very carefully. Perhaps kids these days matured early. After all, television was filled with this kind of news and information every day.

Online novels were full of domineering CEOs and campus romances.

There were also many young people chasing after rich boys and girls early in life, hoping to enjoy luxury and comfort.

Zhou Hai could sense that although Chen Qiushi wanted to hide his feelings for Zhong Yishan, everything he had just said was true.

Suddenly, Zhou Hai asked: “Where were you between 5 PM and 10 PM on June 22?”

Chen Qiushi thought for a moment.

“I returned to school at 2 PM. After 5 PM I was studying in the classroom, ate dinner with my classmates, and by 10 PM lights-out had already started and we were resting.”

Zhou Hai nodded.

“Alright. We’ll verify that later.”

Zhou Hai glanced at Deputy Captain Bao, who nodded back.

“Fine, that’s all for now. If we need anything else later, we’ll contact you again.”

Chen Qiushi stood up and shoved both hands back into his pockets. After taking two steps, he turned around.

“Can I go see her?”

Zhou Hai shook his head.

“Wait until the case is over. You can see her during the burial.”

Chen Qiushi didn’t stop again as he turned and left, though his back looked indescribably sorrowful.

Although their conversation with Chen Qiushi hadn’t produced any substantial breakthrough, they had at least gained a better understanding of the complicated relationship among the five students and had also eliminated Chen Qiushi as a suspect.

The two men returned to the large office in the Academic Affairs Department and saw that Captain Wang had already finished speaking with the homeroom teacher.

Before anyone asked, Captain Wang handed Zhou Hai a written statement.

“Forensic Doctor Zhou, take a look.”

In the eyes of her teachers, Zhong Yishan was a lively, cheerful, and well-behaved girl. Her grades ranked within the top ten of the class.

She actively participated in all kinds of activities, and almost no classmates disliked her.

However, the girls in the class treated her differently—not hostile, but definitely not close either.

As a result, Ma Keke was her only close friend.

Zhou Hai put down the statement.

There were barely any useful leads in it. They couldn’t possibly investigate every girl in the class.

Xu Biao and the instructor pushed open the door and walked in, shaking their heads at everyone.

“Wang Yu only returned to school yesterday morning. Her grandmother celebrated her birthday on Sunday, and the entire family was there. Her parents sent the leave request text message to the homeroom teacher on Saturday morning.”

“So the whole family can testify for her.”

Captain Wang waved his hand.

“Mm. We already confirmed it by phone. Bring the other two in.”

Ma Keke was brought into the room where Zhou Hai and Deputy Captain Bao were waiting. The young girl showed neither shyness nor fear. She walked directly to the empty seat across from Zhou Hai and sat down.

Deputy Captain Bao opened the statement notebook.

“Name?”

“Ma Keke.”

“What is your relationship with Zhong Yishan?”

“Classmates.”

“Where were you between 4 PM and 9 PM on June 22? Can anyone verify your whereabouts?”