Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  “You……” Cheng Zheng’s mom stood frozen on the spot.

  “Me?” Bai Muchuan glanced at her sharply, wearing a half-smile “.…… What about me?”


  Cheng Zheng’s mom took a step back, as though she could not stand his cold and stern glance or seemed to have been taken aback by his imposing aura. She was now the one trying to drag Cheng Zheng out of the office.

  “Son, let’s go……”


  Her footsteps were quick, almost in a flurry, as though she had seen a ghost.

  Cheng Zheng took a glance at Bai Muchuan—he did not say a word and followed his mom out of the building.

  “.……”


  It was all quiet now in the hall.

  Everyone looked at each other, feeling bewildered.

  Even Xiang Wan was dumbstruck—just how ferocious was Young Master Bai? He could even frighten a mighty middle-aged wealthy lady to turn on her heels the moment she saw him……

  “Why are all of you looking at me? Do your work!”


  “.…… Yes, Captain Bai.”


  Everyone recovered from their daze and resumed their work.

  Only Bai Muchuan was still standing leisurely, both hands in his pockets as he glanced coldly at the direction where Cheng Zheng’s mom left before walking to Xiang Wan’s desk.

  Stopping before her desk, he looked at her from his height but did not say a word.

  Xiang Wan shrunk her neck and greeted weakly, “Captain Bai……”


  Bai Muchuan put on a cold face. “Coward!”


  After that, he suddenly clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

  “Meeting room. Case analysis meeting!”


  Xiang Wan: “.……”


  The tables and chairs in the hall made constant squeaking sounds as the officers started to move and make their way to the meeting room.

  Xiang Wan took her notebook and a pen to prepare to take notes later.

  She walked very slowly, deliberately pulling the distance apart with Bai Muchuan. Never did she expect he would stop suddenly and wait for her along the corridor.

  “Teacher Xiang……”


  What a polite form of address.

  Xiang Wan lowered her head and walked to him, feeling a little guilty. “Captain Bai, is there anything the matter?”


  Bai Muchuan looked at her for a long time before heaving a sigh. “The next time when you encounter such matters, don’t hold back.”


  “Hm.” Thinking of the earlier incident that made no heads nor tails, Xiang Wan was indignant the moment she thought of it. She did not want to talk about it anymore. “Will do.”


  “Not everyone deserves to be treated kindly.” Bai Muchuan narrowed his eyes. “When someone tries to hurt you and you don’t retaliate, you might get destroyed. You understand?”


  Xiang Wan lifted her head, looked at him as he gazed at her seriously, and slowly nodded her head.

  Actually, she did not understand why Bai Muchuan used such a serious and gloomy tone to say those words……

  Even though Cheng Zheng’s mom was really a hateful character, but she wouldn’t be able to destroy anyone, right?

  “Let’s go, you silly! Seems like you only know how to be in a daze.” Bai Muchuan grunted a laugh, walked in front of her, and pushed the door of the meeting room.

  Xiang Wan followed quietly behind. She kept thinking about what he said, and due to that, she was a little distracted during the meeting.

  “Earlier on, the Institute of Forensic Science called up that the results are out for collection.”


  “It’s good news, right?”


  “Yes, it’s good news.”


  Bai Muchuan made a few points about the evidence of the strangling marks before he suddenly took a look toward Xiang Wan’s direction.

  “Teacher Xiang, do you understand this?”


  Xiang Wan lifted her head. “What?”


  Everyone looked at her.

  Xiang Wan: “.…… I’m sorry, I was a little distracted earlier.”


  It was normal for the mind to wander off sometimes. Everyone just brushed it off with a friendly smile and thought nothing of it. Bai Muchuan, however, stared at her, looking somewhat displeased for a moment before turning away coldly and continued talking about the case.

  “However, we don’t have a witness.”


  Xiang Wan felt her cheeks burning. She dared not drift off and listened attentively.

  Yesterday night, they interrogated all those people they brought back from Zhou Dequan’s villa. The end result was that all these people said they didn’t know anything. “They don’t dare to betray Zhou Dequan and the reason is simple.” Bai Muchuan looked at everyone. “This is because they believed in Zhou Dequan that he would be able to turn the tides around. Judging from their attitude last night, they didn’t care about the police investigation at all.”


  “What the hell!” Tang Yuanchu couldn’t help swearing. “We can’t even touch the tail of the fish?”


  “Therefore, we need to work hard to make this into an irrefutable case.” Bai Muchuan’s eyes burned with determination. “Never let this big fish have a chance to turn the tables and strive to pull out more big fishes in one fell swoop! Catch them all.”


  “Irrefutable case…… requires irrefutable evidence!”


  “Can we conclude that Mao Guigui’s death is related to Zhou Dequan just by the strangling marks alone?” Xie Hui asked softly.

  There was zero tolerance for murder. Only if they were able to find evidence that he was the one who killed Mao Guigui would they be able to press charges against him. Otherwise, no matter what he did to Xie Wanwan, or what he did to his wife, Ma Suying, it would be difficult to directly convict him of a serious offense without sufficient evidence……

  The case was complicated, the more evidence the police have, the more favorable for them.

  But what they had at present was a single piece of murder evidence.

  There was a moment of brief silence. “Zhou Dequan’s wife still refuses to talk?” someone asked.

  “Yes.” He Wencai nodded his head. “I just came back with Old Wang from the hospital. She refused to cooperate with the police, no matter how we ask her…… She refused to say anything……”


  “Yesterday night when we arrested Zhou Dequan, didn’t she cooperate with us? Why does she keep mum after she got strangled?”


  The operation yesterday was a success as they had the help of Ma Suying in advance and could plan in such a foolproof manner.

  “Back then, she thought our purpose was only to save Xie Wanwan. At the same time, she wanted to catch her husband red-handed for being unfaithful. She had not thought things would become so serious……”


  “No!” Bai Muchuan furrowed his eyebrows. “Ma Suying must have a lot of evidence about Zhou Dequan’s crimes. Otherwise…… why is Zhou Dequan henpecked?”


  Everyone had seen what happened inside the glass room.

  When Zhou Dequan saw that the woman before him was his wife, Ma Suying, his expression immediately changed.

  To the extent that he even kneeled down before Ma Suying to ask for forgiveness……

  “If not for Ma Suying refusing to let him off, he would not have wanted to kill her once and for all.”


  To kill her once and for all—it was an act to silence her.

  Back then, Zhou Dequan flew into a rage by sitting on her and strangling her with all his might. From his body language, he had shown no mercy toward his wife at all.

  “Indeed, this makes sense.” He Wencai continued the topic, “There’s one thing though. Before we came back to the office, the doctor told us that Ma Suying’s condition is not optimistic and that she has no will to live……”


  Tang Yuanchu got worried the moment he heard this. “Didn’t the doctor say her injuries are not serious?”


  “The doctor said her windpipe is hurt. If she’s willing to cooperate with the treatments, she can recover in no time. The main thing is she’s unwilling to cooperate and even cried the whole night. Her emotional wounds have aggravated her condition……”


  “What did her family say?”


  “Family……” He Wencai furrowed his brows and looked at Bai Muchuan. “Ma Suying’s father and sister only arrived in the hospital this morning. They said……”


  The police had already informed Ma Suying’s family members about her condition since last night.

  What kind of family members would only appear on the second day at the hospital?

  Everyone looked at He Wencai.

  He was in charge of following up with the hospital as well as Ma Suying and her family members. He would be the one who knew best about the situation.

  He Wencai puffed a sigh. “Ma Suying has a son and a daughter. They are already adults. Her son studied abroad for many years but never came back. Her daughter went abroad last year as well…… Ma Suying has been living alone by herself and has not been in good terms with her father.”


  “Why are they not in good terms?”


  Most of the time, the one who asked questions was Tang Yuanchu. He was the most curious in the team.

  “Ma Suying is Jia An’s eldest sister. She is the eldest daughter of the Jia Family. Ma Suying’s mother passed away due to illness when she was young. Her father later remarried where she gave birth to another daughter and then Jia An…… Ma Suying’s original name was Jia Suying. Due to conflicts with her stepmother, it resulted in her having a poor relationship with her father. When she grew up, she went to change her surname to her mother’s surname—Ma.”


  “That means…… she’s quite a stubborn person?”


  “Yes. Ma Suying has always been very independent. Actually, the financial situation of the Jia Family is quite well-off, but Ma Suying stopped getting money from her father when she became an adult. This woman is a capable one. When she was in university, she made her first sum of money by herself and could totally feed herself……”


  Ma Suying actually had such an experience.

  Xiang Wan: “What happened after that?”


  He Wencai continued to tell everyone what he had found out. “Later on, Ma Suying married Zhou Dequan, a mason worker. Her whole family objected to it…… Of course, at that time, Zhou Dequan was not fat but was actually quite a good-looking fellow. The Jia Family felt that Zhou Dequan did not have a stable job and looked down on him due to his job. If Ma Suying married him, not only would she make the whole family look bad, they couldn’t even get any betrothal gifts but even had to prepare the dowry for her to marry into the Zhou Family……”


  “.……” Well, both sides had their points.

  “But Ma Suying insisted on going ahead with the wedding. For the sake of Zhou Dequan, she fell out with her father. Only Jia An supported his eldest sister, Ma Suying, on her marriage. Jia An even suffered a slap from his father because of that. When Ma Suying married Zhou Dequan, they could hold a simple wedding dinner of two tables, but nobody from the Jia Family nor her other relatives came, except Jia An……”
……