Diary of a Criminal Investigator

"But in reality we never got married, so I can’t take this property."

"It’s just that lately there have been some things going on in my family, so I haven’t communicated with their children at all."

"Officer Chen, I feel very sad about what happened to those three, but... life is unpredictable..."

"Life is unpredictable" — those four characters are well chosen.

The problem is, with one line about life being unpredictable, you just sweep three deaths under the rug, which feels a bit off.

While talking with Liang Juan, Chen Jiang noticed that she spoke very gracefully.

Her voice might not be particularly pleasant, but the cadence was very elegant, measured and unhurried, making people naturally relax when talking to her.

After leaving Liang Juan’s villa, Chen Jiang thought back for a moment...

It seemed he hadn’t gotten any useful information at all.

Liang Juan didn’t hide her relationships with the three deceased men in the slightest; she told Chen Jiang clearly when she started seeing each of them and when it ended.

In her own words, everyone has the right to pursue happiness.

At her age, what she pursues is the pleasure of her own mood.

But no one is perfect.

Even the same person will present differently at different stages of life.

Liang Juan gave Chen Jiang a very simple example.

You can like a caterpillar, but that caterpillar will eventually grow up and turn into a butterfly.

Even if the butterfly is much prettier than the caterpillar, you just like the caterpillar; you don’t like the butterfly.

Everyone’s taste is different, and everyone’s needs are different.

Her relationships with Wang Gang, Li Hao, and Zhao Jun were all aboveboard; if they got along, they stayed together, if they didn’t, they parted ways.

As for why she chose three retired old men...

Liang Juan pointed at her villa and asked Chen Jiang in return: "Then what kind of man do you think someone in my situation should be looking for?"

Chen Jiang felt he had nothing to say.

Three days later, in the Criminal Investigation Team’s conference room.

The relevant officers reported the investigation findings.

"I’ll start with Wang Gang’s situation."

These past few days, Wang Zhaokai had conducted a large number of inquiries and visits.

"Wang Gang retired eight years ago; before retiring he was general manager of North Sea Power Plant."

"Wang Gang and his wife, who died young from illness, had two children, one son and one daughter; the daughter is in Haizhou City, the son is in Binzhou, and we met them the day before yesterday."

"Given that all three deceased men had relationships with Liang Juan, we focused on asking Wang Gang’s family about her and their situation."

"We can confirm that Liang Juan and Wang Gang were in a romantic relationship."

"The dead man’s daughter is very clear on this, and she’s met Liang Juan many times."

"According to what Wang Gang’s daughter told us, she feels that while Liang Juan looks average, her financial situation is very good, she’s easygoing, and she really knows how to communicate and connect with her father."

"I went to Wang Gang’s workplace to do some checks; both before and after he retired, some leaders and employees at his unit set him up with women."

"But he never met anyone suitable."

"Until Liang Juan appeared."

"In his daughter’s words, Liang Juan’s appearance seemed like a ray of light in Wang Gang’s life."

"After they started seeing each other, Wang Gang became a lot more cheerful."

"But at the same time we discovered something else."

Wang Zhaokai operated the projector; on the screen appeared bank transfer records.

"After Wang Gang killed himself, his daughter went to the bank to handle the relevant asset inquiries."

"But she discovered that he had less than 100,000 yuan in savings left."

"Yet according to his daughter, Wang Gang had at least 3 million yuan in savings."

"Later we checked Wang Gang’s bank transfer records and found that in the more than half a year he was seeing Liang Juan, he transferred over 2.2 million yuan in cash to her."

After Wang Zhaokai finished speaking, everyone was dumbstruck.

Bear in mind that when Wang Gang committed suicide, he wrote a will leaving his house to Liang Juan.

It was precisely that will that brought Liang Juan into the police’s sights.

He killed himself, and instead of leaving his property to his children, he left it to a woman he’d already broken up with.

Now they’d discovered that during their relationship, Wang Gang had transferred more than 2.2 million yuan in cash to her.

What the hell is this?

Is this woman that formidable?

"Keep watching."

Wang Zhaokai took a deep breath.

The investigation results these days around the three deceased had shocked him deeply.

He continued operating the projector, and more screenshots of transfer records appeared.

"After discovering the relationship between Wang Gang and Liang Juan, we checked the financial situations of the other two deceased as well."

"From the beginning up to this June, within a year and a half, Liang Juan received transfers totaling 5.83 million yuan from Wang Gang, Zhao Jun, and Li Hao combined!"

"How much?"

One team member nearly jumped out of his seat.

Wang Zhaokai gave a wry smile: "Relax, you didn’t mishear, it’s 5.83 million."

"In a year and a half, the three of them each transferred roughly 2 million yuan to Liang Juan."

"That’s basically all the cash these three men had."

"Old Wang... you’re saying that a twilight romance lasting half a year made three retired old men hand over their lifetime savings?"

"Come on, that’s bullshit."

"Is this for real?"

Everyone actually knew that what Wang Zhaokai had found had to be real; the transfer records were right there.

But even faced with such evidence, they still couldn’t bring themselves to believe it.

Everyone had seen Liang Juan’s photo and gone through her file.

If she were a stunning beauty in her early twenties — young, gorgeous, overflowing with youth — that might be easier to swallow.

But she wasn’t.

Liang Juan is fifty-five now, looks average, has a poor figure, lacks education, and previously never had a proper job.

How did she pull this off?

Wang Zhaokai also wanted to know how she did it.

So, including Lu Chuan, everyone turned to look at Chen Jiang.

He was the one in charge of investigating Liang Juan.

Except...

Chen Jiang also looked completely baffled.

He didn’t know how she did it either.

"What are you all staring at me for?"

Chen Jiang himself was full of questions.

"On the day of the incident I went to find Liang Juan and had a talk with her."

"She didn’t hide anything about her relationships with the three deceased."

"Including how they met, how things developed, and how they broke up in the end — she explained all of it very clearly."

"And as the three days of investigation have shown..."

"The situation... is far more legendary than you imagined."

Chen Jiang turned on the projector.

"This is the result of the financial investigation into Liang Juan; you’ll never guess how much she’s worth."

"Isn’t it just over five million?"

Chen Jiang snorted: "That’s only what Wang Gang and the other two transferred to her."

The projection switched, and a shocking number appeared before everyone’s eyes!