Insights Chapter 39: Best Friends

Chapter 39: Best Friends

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The on-site investigation proceeded in an orderly manner. As time passed, the sky gradually revealed a hint of dawn. The scene inspection was completed here, except for that mysterious footprint, no other obvious clues were found.

Shen Junci and Qi Yi’an worked together to handle the corpses. Due to the burning, the corpses were stiff, and it took a great deal of effort for the two of them to put the three corpses into body bags. The corpses were loaded onto the hearse, filling the back to the brim.

Lu Ying, accompanied by auxiliary police officers, was questioning nearby neighbors, “How is their family?”

“They are a pretty good family. We’ve been living here for so many years, and we’ve never had any conflicts with them,” a neighbor thought for a moment and said, “But it seems like they used to be afraid of someone.”

“Afraid of someone?” Lu Ying hurriedly followed up, “Can you be more specific?”

“We don’t know much about it either, but before the college entrance examination, Qi Siwei’s father used to escort her to and from school.”

Lu Ying noted down this clue and then asked, “Do many people usually visit their house?”

“It seems like not many people usually come over. Occasionally, some of the girl’s classmates would come by to do homework together.”

After questioning the neighbors, Bai Meng quickly retrieved the mobile phone numbers of the family of three. These three phones had all been burned in the fire, with little possibility of recovery. However, call records were preserved. She glanced at the call records and said, “There were two calls made to Qi Siwei’s phone this morning. I checked, and the owner of one of the numbers is named Qiu Xiaoxue, who is eighteen years old this year.”

Lu Ying commented, “At this age, she seems to be Qi Siwei’s classmate.”

Just as they were discussing, a young girl ran over from the alley. She had her long hair tied up in a ponytail and ran all the way downstairs, looking up at the burnt house, tears shimmering in her eyes. She ran outside the cordon and was stopped by Bai Meng.

“How could this happen… How could this happen…” The girl covered her mouth, trembling as she spoke, then burst into tears. She grabbed Bai Meng and asked, “I rushed over as soon as I heard the news. Has Qi Siwei been rescued? Their… their whole family…”

Bai Meng replied, “They all died in the fire last night.”

Lu Ying asked the girl, “What’s your name? Are you Qi Siwei’s classmate?”

Tears kept flowing from the girl’s eyes. After crying for a while, she wiped her tears and steadied her voice, “My name is Qiu Xiaoxue. I’m Qi Siwei’s classmate. I called her this morning, but there was no answer.”

Bai Meng comforted her for a few moments and then asked, “We are investigating the cause of this fire. Since you’re Qi Siwei’s classmate, do you know any relevant information?”

Qiu Xiaoxue hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “I… I know a little.”

Bai Meng took out a notebook, recorded Qiu Xiaoxue’s age, birthplace, and personal information, and then asked her, “Qi Siwei’s neighbor said that she seemed to be afraid of someone. Do you know anything about this?”

Qiu Xiaoxue replied, “I only know that Qi’s father used to pick her up and drop her off for a period of time, maybe about a month or so, saying that he was afraid she wouldn’t be safe going to and from school. I asked Qi several times what the specific reason was, but she never told me.”

Bai Meng asked for more details about the time when Qi Siwei was escorted and then asked Qiu Xiaoxue, “Does she have a boyfriend?”

Qiu Xiaoxue shook her head, “I’m her good friend, and she tells me everything. She definitely hasn’t had a boyfriend. She said that since it’s easy to break up with friends nowadays, it’s better to find one in college.”

Bai Meng then asked, “Has there been any man bothering her?”

Qiu Xiaoxue shook her head again, “She usually doesn’t dress up and her clothes are very plain. She hardly ever talks to strangers.”

Gu Yanchen asked, “When was the last time you saw Qi Siwei?”

Qiu Xiaoxue lowered her head, “It was yesterday afternoon. We exchanged gifts, and she is going to attend university in another city. We won’t be in the same city anymore, so we’ll have fewer chances to meet.”

Bai Meng asked her, “How did you and Qi Siwei become friends?”

Qiu Xiaoxue explained in detail, “We were classmates in the same class and lived close to each other. Once during a group assignment, which required pairs, our class had an odd number of students. Qi Siwei noticed that I was alone and asked the teacher if they could add another person to their group. The teacher agreed, and we became friends from that moment.”

“What kind of person is Qi Siwei?”

Qiu Xiaoxue said, “She…  was lively and outgoing, with a good personality. Although she repeated a year, she gets along well with her classmates and has been kind to me.”

Later, Gu Yanchen asked her some questions about Qi Siwei’s family, including who frequently visited their home and their daily routines.

Qiu Xiaoxue answered what she knew, and her expression couldn’t hide the sadness. “Her uncle and aunt are very nice. They used to make dumplings for me when I visited their house.”

Gu Yanchen asked, “Where did you hear about the fire?”

“I live not far from here. Last night, I heard the sound of fire trucks at home. I couldn’t sleep well all night. When I woke up early and went downstairs, the cleaning aunt downstairs told me that this area was on fire. I was very scared, afraid it was Qi Siwei’s home… so I hurried over.” She said, covering her face. “Why did this happen…”

After the inquiry, Bai Meng had her sign and left contact information in case they needed to contact her again.

Gu Yanchen looked at Qiao Siwei’s photo, lively and outgoing, with simple social relationships. How could such a girl still in school attract such tragedy?

—

After seeing off Qiu Xiaoxue, Gu Yanchen had Bai Meng retrieve surveillance footage of the previous night from nearby areas. Meanwhile, physical evidence brought in included footprints left on the window sill. The size of the footprints was for size 42 shoes, with patterns different from those of Qi’s father.

At this point, Bai Meng’s surveillance footage revealed some clues. She called Gu Yanchen over to the computer, “Yesterday before three in the morning, a nearby surveillance camera captured the image of a man.”

Gu Yanchen and Lu Ying gathered around the computer screen. It showed a man of medium height wearing a hat and mask, walking swiftly with his head down, flashing past the camera.

Shortly after, another camera captured footage showing Qi’s house gradually catching fire. Appearing near the crime scene at three in the morning, behaving suspiciously, and hastily fleeing, this person was highly suspicious.

Lu Ying became excited, “This should be the arsonist!”

Gu Yanchen had Bai Meng make a copy of the man’s image for further investigation.

Meanwhile, after the tragic incident at Qiao’s house, one of Qi Siwei’s aunts came to the City Bureau, providing crucial clues.

The aunt listened to their summary and immediately spoke out, “My brother was hiding from his nephew-in-law!”

“My brother complained to me several times! His nephew-in-law, Qi Siwei’s uncle, loves gambling in the countryside. He gambled away his own house and then started borrowing money from relatives. He lent him money twice, totaling over a hundred thousand. But instead of repaying, he wanted to borrow more from him…”

Bai Meng listened while recording. It seemed like every family had a few troublesome relatives nowadays. It felt like dealing with hungry ghosts asking for debts, once money went out, there was no return.

“…That nephew-in-law came to her house to cause trouble twice. When his family couldn’t take it anymore, they reported it to the police. Later, his nephew-in-law said, since his sister was living a good life but wouldn’t help him, it was like not giving him a way to survive, so he couldn’t live, and they couldn’t live well either.”

“Before my niece took the college entrance exam this year, her uncle even came to Penang and blocked her way home from school. He threatened that if they didn’t give him money, he would sell Qi Siwei to get it. Poor girl was so scared she didn’t go to school for two days, and then my brother had to escort her.”

Bai Meng empathized with the situation. A girl suddenly being kidnapped by her own uncle on her way home from school must have been terrified.

“At that time, my niece was very afraid of her uncle. She was afraid that her uncle would come back to cause trouble for their family… So when there was a fire at their house, I thought of this. Could it be that my brother’s nephew-in-law did something?”

At this point, the woman covered her face, “Poor brother of mine, and my good niece, they’re all gone…”

Bai Meng sent the surveillance video from last night to the aunt for identification. After a while, the woman frowned, “I’ve only seen him once at my brother’s wedding years ago. It’s been years, and the video is too dark to tell.”

Gu Yanchen said, “We will investigate thoroughly.”

After seeing off the aunt, Bai Meng retrieved information about Qi Siwei’s uncle. His name was Wei Yingtian, and indeed, his assets were heavily in debt. He sold his house last year and borrowed a lot. All relatives avoided him. Furthermore, this uncle had a volatile temper. One New Year’s, he almost used a kitchen knife because another relative refused his request.

They also found police records of Qi’s family.

About two months ago, this uncle, due to too much debt, had disappeared to avoid creditors. His bank cards were inactive, and the last trace of him was in the neighboring city. Since Wei Yingtian had a criminal record, the arrest process went swiftly.

Gu Yanchen issued a warrant for Wei Yingtian in the police system, hoping officers from various precincts would help find his whereabouts. Then Gu Yanchen instructed his subordinates to retrieve the phones and various online accounts of the family. The first information they extracted was from Qi Siwei’s social media.

Using Qi’s registered phone, Gu Yanchen logged into her account, and messages began to pop up. The content seemed normal, joining some class groups, with Qi Siwei not being particularly active, nothing unusual in her records.

In recent WeChat contacts, Gu Yanchen noticed that the account with the most interaction in recent calls was one with a cartoon avatar. He opened it and compared the verified phone number, which belonged to Qiu Xiaoxue. As he scrolled through the chat history, Gu Yanchen’s expression became increasingly serious.

It was a somewhat eerie conversation, not like chats between close friends, but more like Qiu Xiaoxue pouring her heart out.

“I passed by that September Forest Bakery today and saw they had your favorite taro-flavored cake, so I bought one for you.”

“Look at this cat, I saw it at the school gate, so adorable.”

“Today’s math homework is too difficult, who can solve it? Are you free this weekend? I can come over to your place to do homework.”

“I bought bubble tea for you and left it on your desk corner.”

Details about what they ate, where they went, how much time they spent on homework — nothing was spared. Sometimes, she would even act coquettish or plead, “What are you doing? Don’t ignore me.”

But Qi Siwei’s replies seemed somewhat perfunctory, “Okay, got it.” “Oh.” “I just took a shower, didn’t see my phone.” “Got it.” “Thanks.”

If they were the best of friends, intimate confidantes, this level of interaction seemed somewhat distant. But if their relationship was indifferent, it didn’t seem right either, as they chatted like this every day. Moreover, they seemed to be classmates in the same repeating class, possibly having more contact at school.

Cloud-based chat records had limited storage, only able to recover up to six months ago. Gu Yanchen scrolled to the end, and the last conversation in the records was from yesterday afternoon.

Qiu Xiaoxue said, “We’re going to university, and this might be the last time we meet. I bought you a gift.”

Qi Siwei replied, “Okay, come over later.”

Gu Yanchen repeatedly examined this chat record. The last conversation time matched what Qiu Xiaoxue had said about meeting Qi Siwei and exchanging gifts.

In the records, he sensed Qiu Xiaoxue’s dependency on Qi Siwei. He recalled Qiu Xiaoxue’s various descriptions of Qi Siwei. Perhaps Qiu Xiaoxue regarded Qi Siwei, her best friend, as a spiritual support. Everything seemed to make sense, but Gu Yanchen couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

It was as if he had missed some crucial detail.

Just as he reached this point, Bai Meng came over, saying, “Lu, all of Qi Siwei’s previous teachers and classmates have been contacted. I’ve arranged to meet with the class monitor to discuss the situation in detail.”

Gu Yanchen stood up and told Lu Ying, “Lu Ying, keep searching for Qi Siwei’s uncle. Also, get a few people from Team One to go to Qi Siwei’s parents’ workplace to inquire about the situation. I’ll take Bai Meng to collect information from her classmates.”

As he reached the office door, he paused and turned back, saying, “Also, check on Qiu Xiaoxue’s information again.”

Lu Ying asked, “Is there a problem with her?”

Gu Yanchen replied, “Nothing concrete, I just have a feeling that the relationship between them isn’t as simple as Qiu Xiaoxue described.”