Animal Detective

The car had just pulled out of the police station when Ding Yuwei said urgently, "Shen Xin, do you think there’s something suspicious about Guo Meijing’s death?"

"Think about it. When Guo Jinhua found out his wife was dead, in his moment of grief and fury, he didn’t cry out his wife’s name. He cried out his daughter’s name."

"It’s like..."

She furrowed her brow, trying to find the right words to describe her thoughts.

"Maybe in that instant, his wife’s death made him realize something—like that there was something wrong with his daughter’s death."

"That’s why, in his anguish, he cried out his daughter’s name."

"That’s basically what I mean. Shen Xin, do you get it?"

Ding Yuwei felt her explanation was still clumsy and grew anxious, unsure how else to put it.

"I know what you mean." Shen Xin turned onto the road to the sub-bureau, then added, "But there’s a problem. If Guo Jinhua did realize something, why didn’t he say anything during the investigation?"

Ding Yuwei nodded thoughtfully.

After a moment, Ding Yuwei said, "So it was just pure grief, then? His daughter died from her illness, and now his wife is dead too. He was just lamenting how unfair fate is?"

Shen Xin nodded. That was more likely.

Just as Zhang Jian had said, Guo Jinhua himself was in the ICU at the time.

He’d also had a cerebral hemorrhage that caused nerve damage. He was already disoriented, so shouting anything would have been normal under the circumstances.

"And here I thought it was a clue." Ding Yuwei sighed, feeling a little dejected.

She had been genuinely excited, thinking she was onto something.

Because the original task force hadn’t known about the detail Zhang Jian had noticed, and even he hadn’t paid it much mind at the time.

Shen Xin said, "How about this: when we get a chance, go to the hospital, find Guo Meijing’s medical records, and consult a doctor to see if there’s really anything amiss."

Shen Xin didn’t jump to any conclusions about whether it was a lead or not.

A cold case was a tangled mess of loose ends. You just had to grab onto something and check it out.

Besides, Shen Xin believed the original task force must have looked into Guo Meijing’s situation.

They had, after all, investigated Guo Jinhua’s ex-wife, Du Minhui.

Looking at the case file, Shen Xin figured the task force had likely considered one possibility.

That after Guo Meijing passed away from her illness, Du Minhui might have believed that the stepmother, Fu Lanting, hadn’t taken good care of her daughter and decided to get revenge by poisoning her.

And she poisoned both of them, believing Guo Jinhua was also at fault.

Under those circumstances, it was impossible for the task force not to have investigated Guo Meijing’s death. Since they ultimately cleared Du Minhui as a suspect, it meant there was probably nothing wrong with how Guo Meijing had died.

According to the interview records, Fu Lanting had treated Guo Meijing very well, like her own daughter.

She and Guo Jinhua had remarried in 2010, when Guo Meijing was only four years old.

At that young age, it was relatively easy to foster a bond.

And kindness was returned with kindness; Guo Meijing came to see Fu Lanting as her real mother.

In contrast, she didn’t have much affection for Du Minhui.

Sure enough, when Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei arrived at the sub-bureau and spoke with Sun Zhao, it was just as Shen Xin had thought: the original task force had indeed investigated Guo Meijing’s death.

Sun Zhao took a sip of his tea and said, "I remember the girl had a rare diffuse midline glioma. It was discovered in October of ’13, when she was in the second grade."

"It started with symptoms like headaches and nausea, I believe. Then one day in gym class, she suddenly fell and couldn’t get back up."

"The school sent her to the hospital, and a full-body examination revealed a lesion in her brain. That’s how they eventually diagnosed the glioma."

"That type of glioma is apparently very difficult to treat, with a survival period of less than a year. They went to Songpu, they went to Anjing, they searched for hospitals all over the country, but nothing worked. Surgery wasn’t an option."

"All they could do was chemotherapy, and in a situation like that, as you can imagine, chemo only delays the inevitable."

"So in the end, the child passed away in August of ’14. Her survival was just under a year."

Speaking of the child, Sun Zhao couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

"Towards the end of her life, she was staying right here in our Renmin Hospital. The doctors and nurses all said she was an exceptionally well-behaved child."

"Very sensible, too. The chemo made her terribly sick, but she’d hold back her tears and even comfort her parents and the other children in the same ward."

"It was a real shame, truly."

"As for Guo Jinhua and Fu Lanting, they took excellent care of her, but the disease was what it was. There was nothing to be done."

"I remember her birthday was July 11th. The girl had a wish—she wanted to go to Qiong Province to see Tianya Haijiao."

"The couple took her, but when she came back, her condition worsened. Not long after, she passed away."

Just as they were talking, Chen Chao returned.

He was thrilled to see Shen Xin.

He said he’d heard all about it—how Shen Xin had just transferred to the Municipal Bureau and had already cracked a murder case.

"Keep up the good work. You’ve got a bright future, kid. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be the one needing you to pull some strings for me." Chen Chao sat down, a smile in his eyes.

The man he had personally scouted was now achieving so much; it made him beam with pride.

After a bit of small talk, Chen Chao expertly found Sun Zhao’s prized tea leaves and started brewing a cup for himself. "You’re here about the Fu Lanting poisoning case, right?" he asked.

Ding Yuwei had come by to ask about it before, so he already knew.

"To be honest, I still think about this case from time to time over the years."

"Lao Sun," Chen Chao said, looking at Sun Zhao. "The more I think about it, the more I believe that idea we had back then was possible."

At his words, Shen Xin shot a quick glance at Ding Yuwei.

Judging by her expression, she didn’t know about this.

’They must not have told her,’ he thought.

’So it was a good thing I came to ask myself.’

Shen Xin asked, "Captain Chen, what idea are you referring to?"

Just as Chen Chao was about to speak, Sun Zhao raised a hand to stop him. "Chen Chao, since this case has been reopened, you should hold back your opinions. You don’t want to mislead Shen Xin and his partner."

Then he turned to Shen Xin. "Shen Xin, I want you to investigate this case according to your own ideas first. Once you’ve looked into it and formed your own thoughts, we can discuss it. Do you understand what I mean?"

Shen Xin nodded.

’The case went unsolved three years ago, which means the original task force’s direction was flawed.’

’Now that I’m in charge of the investigation, if I just follow the same old path, I’ll probably get the same result.’

’It’s better to treat it as a new case and establish a direction with a fresh perspective.’

’Listening to Chen Chao’s ideas right now would only cloud my judgment.’

Chen Chao nodded as well. "Lao Sun is right. You investigate first. We’ll talk again once you have some thoughts."

"It’s been almost three years. If we can finally get a resolution, it would be a great thing."

"I remember last year, Fu Lanting’s mother came to the station to ask about the case. The old lady didn’t blame us, but the more understanding she is, the more we owe it to the family to give them some answers."

Shen Xin nodded, making a mental note, and then returned to the previous topic.

He began questioning the two of them again, using the investigation records as a reference.

Zhang Hancheng was the deputy team leader; he managed the overall picture and set the investigative direction, but the specific legwork was primarily handled by Sun Zhao’s side.

The two of them were clear on all the details.

Going over it all again was like retracing their investigation, understanding their thought processes along the way.

And those were things that sometimes didn’t show up in the official records.

Since they were all on the same team, Sun Zhao and Chen Chao naturally held nothing back.

When the report came in from the Yunlin Police Station, Chen Chao was the one who responded with his team.

After arriving at the hospital, he stayed on site to question people while another group went to the noodle shop and Guo Jinhua’s home.

Guo Jinhua had never bought a house; he lived with his parents in the old family home.

Technicians from the sub-bureau conducted a detailed forensic examination of both locations but found no traces of rat poison.

Subsequently, after obtaining the family’s consent, they performed an autopsy on Fu Lanting.

It confirmed the presence of bromadiolone.

The first interview with Guo Jinhua took place the morning after Fu Lanting’s death, on the 12th.

Guo Jinhua was despondent at the time. He couldn’t think of who would have poisoned them, nor was he sure exactly when it had happened.

Fu Lanting had sought medical treatment on three separate occasions.

When questioned about the days surrounding those three time points, Guo Jinhua was likewise unable to provide any useful information.

"They were just a very ordinary couple."

Chen Chao summed it up. "Guo Jinhua’s father used to be the workshop supervisor in the molding department of a rubber factory. Guo Jinhua wasn’t a great student. After middle school, instead of repeating a grade, he went straight to a technical school."

"His father had planned for him to get a stable, lifelong job at the rubber factory, but by the time he graduated from technical school in ’94 at the age of 18, the factory’s business had started to go downhill."

"He got into the factory, but less than two years later, it was restructured, and he was laid off along with his father."

"His dad had been a supervisor for several years and was still fairly well-off, so he spent the money to get his son a taxi to drive."

"Before the year 2000, the taxi business was pretty good. But he was only in his early twenties, and you know, a bit lazy. Not very hardworking."

"He was always going to bars and discos with his friends, chasing trends."

"Around ’99, he met Du Minhui at a video arcade. She had come from another province to work and was a clerk there."

"She was very pretty. Some thugs were harassing her, and Guo Jinhua stood up for her. That’s how they met."

"According to his friends, Guo Jinhua was serious about her—it was true love. But his father, Guo Kaitai, didn’t like Du Minhui much. He thought she was a bit of a social climber."

"Guo Jinhua argued with his parents about it many times, but in the end, the two got married anyway."

"They married in March 2003, I believe. Three years later, in July ’06, Guo Meijing was born."

"By then, there were more taxis on the road, so Guo Jinhua’s business wasn’t doing well. Du Minhui started to resent his lack of ambition, and they often fought over trivial things like buying a house and issues with her mother-in-law."

"At the time, Du Minhui was working as a waitress in a nightclub. She supposedly met a rich boss, and their relationship fell apart. After endless arguments, Du Minhui filed for divorce."

"To get custody of their child, Guo Jinhua sold his taxi medallion, basically paying Du Minhui a sum of money to get her to voluntarily give up her custody rights."

"But in reality, after having a child, Guo Jinhua was already 30. It wasn’t that he lacked ambition; he simply had limited ability and couldn’t earn much money."

"He was very good to his daughter. Later, when he was going to remarry Fu Lanting, her parents weren’t too keen on it at first. They thought Guo Jinhua was too old and came with a child."

"But Fu Lanting felt that Guo Jinhua was responsible and family-oriented. She didn’t mind that he had a child, so they got married."

"Guo Kaitai and his wife were also very pleased with Fu Lanting. By then, Guo Jinhua had sold his taxi and taken over the family’s noodle shop. After remarrying, the couple worked hard to run it."

"Their family life was stable, their social circle was simple, and Fu Lanting had a good temper—she never got into fights with anyone. They were just running a small business. They hadn’t made any enemies."

"Like I said, just an ordinary couple who ended up getting poisoned for no apparent reason."

Beside him, Sun Zhao gave a light cough, a reminder that Chen Chao was again stating an opinion and potentially creating a bias.

In truth, after carefully reading the case file, Shen Xin had the same thought as Chen Chao.

The couple really was just ordinary, with a simple social life. It was hard to imagine what kind of enemy they could have made who would resort to poisoning them.