Chapter 287: Stirring Up Trouble

2022-05-20

Even though this small villa didn’t actually belong to Wang Xin, he carried himself as if he owned the place. Setting out the chessboard, he placed an incense burner nearby. Wisps of white smoke curled from the burner and Wang Xin leaned in to take a sniff, shook his head, then poured us each a pot of tea.

From the way Wang Xin acted, it was pretty clear he didn’t respect either of us—deliberately keeping us at arm’s length. Ever since we walked in and he pretended to forget who we were, I saw right through his act. This guy loved to puff up his chest by borrowing someone else’s authority.

Yang Licheng had clued us in before we came upstairs: this villa wasn’t actually Wang Xin’s, though Wang Xin probably didn’t know that yet. Folks like him, the more they lack something, the more desperately they fake having it. Wang Xin could’ve kept a low profile, but instead he rushed to play the part of a nouveau riche. And the saddest thing? He was only fooling himself.

Luckily, it was Yang Licheng who noticed our awkward situation and broke the silence. “Why don’t you two sit down?” he said.

Wang Xin immediately acted as if a lightbulb had gone off. “Ah, right, right, my memory’s terrible—please, have a seat!”

I shook my head and replied softly, “No need. We’re just here to ask you a few questions. Once we’re done, we’ll head out. Looks safe enough here, but with the killer’s track record, you’d be wise to stay alert.”

Wang Xin, playing with the black pieces, made the first move and placed his stone in the center. “Don’t worry,” he said. “From now on, we’re not stepping outside. With so many people keeping watch, there’s no way the killer can get in and take us out.”

Seeing Wang Xin’s confidence, I didn’t feel like shattering his illusion. The way things looked from our investigation, even someone like Wang Yikai, who’d shadowed us for a whole day and night, was killed in an unbelievably strange way the moment the killer wanted him dead.

I’d figured out the motives behind most of the other deaths, but what happened to Wang Yikai still baffled me. How on earth could the killer kill someone remotely, without ever being at the scene?

With everyone silent, Yang Licheng simply focused on playing chess with Wang Xin.

I took another look around the room, finally feeling a little more at ease.

“We’ve already questioned the other twelve pretty thoroughly,” I said, leaning against the wall and watching Wang Xin. “So, let’s just do this as a formality. The night Lü Zhiqiu died seven years ago—where were you, and did you see anyone else there?”

Wang Xin placed another stone on the board. He shook his head and sighed. “I did see Lü Zhiqiu that night. I wanted to talk to her, but she said she had something else lined up—an appointment, I guess—and left. She looked a little down, honestly. She owed quite a bit of money and had gotten herself into some trouble, but she trusted me and always confided in me. Maybe because I treated her well, she liked me back.”

Watching Wang Xin talk, his self-assurance was obvious. I glanced at Yang Licheng, noticing how he kept his head down and gave a wry smile. Clearly, he didn’t like talking about this. Yang Licheng had once liked Lü Zhiqiu and even confessed, only to get rejected. Meanwhile, Wang Xin still seemed under the illusion Lü Zhiqiu had ever returned his feelings.

But what was the trouble Wang Xin mentioned Lü Zhiqiu got into?

I spoke up, “So you’re saying Lü Zhiqiu had gotten herself into some sort of trouble?”

Wang Xin nodded. “You didn’t know?”

“What exactly happened?” I looked at Wang Xin, waiting for more details.

Wang Xin made another move, downed his tea, then said, “It was during her internship at the construction site—she bought a dog. The whole thing turned into quite a fuss, but no one really cared in the end. On the surface Lü Zhiqiu looked fine, but her life was falling apart.”

I glanced at Zhao Mingkun. Seems like this was news to us.

Zhao Mingkun asked, “Can you fill us in? We only ever heard vague rumors. Give us the details.”

Wang Xin said, “There wasn’t much to it, really, but this one thing made things even harder for Lü Zhiqiu. That day, we saw some workers at the site about to kill a dog, and Lü Zhiqiu wouldn’t let them.”

“That’s all we managed to learn about it too,” I said.

Wang Xin put down another stone and laughed, turning to Yang Licheng. “If I make this move, you’re in trouble!”

Right after, Wang Xin leaned over the incense burner again and started coughing hard from the smoke.

After a while, he said, “This incense is really something. Doesn’t really smell like anything, but it’s choking. Anyway, back to what happened seven years ago. The workers at that construction site were a rough crowd. They looked decent on the outside, but behind the scenes they were ruthless.”

I frowned. “Stick to the point. Don’t go off on tangents.”

Wang Xin chuckled again, then continued, “It was just a mutt, strung up and about to be killed. Lü Zhiqiu saw and tried to stop them. The workers started mocking her, saying college students had fried their brains and the dog had to die. Lü Zhiqiu wouldn’t back down, so we got into an argument.”

“Everyone got agitated. One of the workers said it was their dog, so it was their right to do whatever. In the confusion, someone mentioned that if we didn’t want the dog killed, we’d have to buy it off them.”

We nodded in understanding.

Wang Xin went on, “So Lü Zhiqiu asked how much they wanted to sell. The number they gave was daylight robbery. For a mutt like that—fifty or a hundred yuan tops—but guess how much they wanted? They asked for ten thousand yuan!”

“Ten thousand?” I blurted out. “Are you serious?”

Wang Xin sneered, “Exactly. Those workers were pure leeches. Even so, to save that dog, Lü Zhiqiu paid three thousand as a down payment, then managed to scrape together the full ten thousand. She trusted me, so I lent her some money too.”

“Because of this, Lü Zhiqiu was feeling down for days after,” Wang Xin went on. “Kept making mistakes at work, and her boyfriend didn’t care at all. Shame, really—if she hadn’t died, she could’ve been my wife by now.”

I shook my head. Wang Xin might have big dreams, but reality couldn’t be further from them.

“That’s it?” Zhao Mingkun said. “You think lending a bit of money means someone owes you marriage?”

“Shows how little you understand,” Wang Xin replied, placing another stone—this one a clever move that made Yang Licheng frown and focus on the board.

Looking at Yang Licheng’s reaction, Wang Xin grinned and kept talking. “I told you then, even if they got the money, I wasn’t about to let them get away with it. A mutt that barely cost a hundred, and they asked for ten thousand? If they didn’t pay the price for that, it wouldn’t sit right with me.”

“So what did you do?” I asked.

Wang Xin smiled. “Bet you can’t guess. I went online and started posting on forums—especially the ones where folks love talking about cats and dogs.”

“You posted fake stories?” I asked.

“Hey now!” Wang Xin waved his hand. “Who says they were fake? A well-educated man like me—would I lie? I was just standing up for Lü Zhiqiu. Come on, did that dog really cost ten thousand? That was a huge sum seven years ago! I just embellished the details a bit—said those workers poisoned other people’s dogs to sell the meat.”

I frowned, my anger rising.

But Wang Xin was oblivious, carrying on, “I said online the workers stole our dog, pretended it was theirs, and tried to kill it in front of us—insisting we pay ten thousand if we wanted it back.”

“So you were good at manipulating public opinion even back then?” I said, looking at Wang Xin.

Wang Xin replied with a knowing smile. “Most people online love to fuel the fire. I even saw a group form some ‘Protect the Pet Dog’ association to go after those workers. I didn’t even have to do anything—someone else took up the fight for me.”

“What happened then?” I asked.

Wang Xin shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure, but it seems people went to stir up trouble. Soon after, those workers all quit. Guess you could say I avenged Lü Zhiqiu in my own way.”

Knowing Lü Zhiqiu’s character, she never would’ve approved of what Wang Xin did.

“Did she ever find out?” I asked.

Wang Xin shook his head and sniffed the incense again before answering. “Of course not. Imagine how touched she’d have been if she had! I couldn’t tell her directly—I wanted her to discover it on her own. But before that could happen, within half a month, she was dead.”

“So,” Wang Xin looked at me. “Wouldn’t you say I have a rough time with love?”

Looking at Wang Xin, a wave of disgust suddenly washed over me.

“So you really thought you could make her fall for you this way?” I said quietly. “By stirring up drama online?”

When Wang Xin heard my pointed comment, his face darkened.