Chapter Two: The Ear in the Trash Can

As for why Cui Lidong specifically requested Qin Ruonan to handle this case, any guesses from outsiders, save for Su Dong himself, were completely meaningless. After being briefly entangled by this puzzle, Qin Ruonan stopped pondering over it.

From the previous case notes, they had gained a certain understanding of the fundamental facts of the case.

The deceased in this case was named Song Chengliang, thirty-three years old, single, and employed as a staff member at a municipal food company. He had been discovered dead in his home three days prior, with multiple stab wounds inflicted by scissors and several ruptured internal organs. At the time of his discovery, less than twenty-four hours had elapsed since his death.

According to the forensic autopsy report, Song Chengliang must have been murdered two to three hours after dinner, and high concentrations of alcohol residue were found in his system, suggesting he was intoxicated prior to the murder. Both of his ears had been severed from his body with scissors and discarded in a public garbage bin within the residential compound where the crime occurred.

On the day of the incident, it happened to be the sanitation worker of that residential compound who was emptying the garbage bins. Finding the discarded ears gave the worker a terrible shock, prompting him to call the security guards, who in turn reported the matter to the police. Upon arrival, the police confirmed the items were indeed a pair of human ears and began investigating the residential compound where they were found. Fortunately, it was a relatively new residential community; the first phase had been delivered and occupied for less than a year, while the second phase was still under construction, meaning very few residents had moved in. After a day of knocking on doors and conducting inquiries house by house, they finally locked onto a particular apartment, which was subsequently confirmed to belong to Song Chengliang. The pair of ears belonged to him, and his time of death was determined to be prior to midnight the previous night.

The reason Cui Lidong was targeted as the suspect was because the pair of ears belonging to Song Chengliang, found in the garbage bin, bore a wound that had not yet fully healed. Forensic Pathologist Zhao's conclusion was that the wound appeared to have been cut with scissors, but the timing significantly predated Song Chengliang's death. Dr. Zhao believed that the scissor-inflicted wound looked like an old injury, though he could not immediately determine why it had not healed completely. However, judging by the size, position, and angle of the wound, it strongly resembled one caused during a haircut.

Subsequently, a pair of sharp barber's scissors was found in the compound's garbage collection station. Laboratory tests confirmed that the scissors bore traces of Song Chengliang's blood, though no fingerprints were present.

A crucial point was that these particular barber's scissors were quite unusual: their blades were reversed compared to standard ones, making them specialized scissors intended for left-handed use. This matched the shape of the wounds left by the severing of Song Chengliang's ears.

Coincidentally, the older wound on the ear had also been caused by left-handed scissors, and the scissors responsible for that wound matched the size of the murder weapon that had been recovered, showing an extremely high degree of similarity.

Consequently, the police initially handling the case began investigating the cause of the wound on the ear, eventually focusing their sights on Cui Lidong. This was because Song Chengliang had previously visited the hair salon where Cui Lidong worked to get a haircut. During the haircut, Cui Lidong had been distracted and accidentally cut Song Chengliang. The two had subsequently fallen into a conflict over the ear wound, nearly coming to blows right on the spot.

Later on, Song Chengliang and Cui Lidong had several more altercations, all of which could be corroborated by witnesses.

After identifying someone of Cui Lidong's profile, the police showed his photograph to the security guards of the residential compound where Song Chengliang lived. The guards recognized him, stating that on the night of the murder, they had seen Cui Lidong tailing Song Chengliang, though they did not know where he went afterward.

As the saying goes, one can be made by something and also undone by it. Because the occupancy rate of the residential compound was relatively low and residents were sparse, the victim's residence and identity had been quickly ascertained. However, when the police attempted to retrieve surveillance footage from the community as evidence, they learned that because only the buildings in the first phase had been delivered and many subsequent tasks remained unfinished, not only were there no security cameras installed inside the compound, but none existed in the elevators of each residential block either.

Such a vast residential compound relied solely on the routine patrols of on-duty security guards to maintain public order. Aside from that, there was not a single functional surveillance camera, leaving blind spots everywhere.

Another issue stemming from the low occupancy rate was that many apartments remained unsold or vacant. Among the immediate neighbors—above, below, left, and right—of the deceased Song Chengliang, only one other household on the same floor was occupied; all the others were empty, unfinished rough-cast apartments with nobody inside. The residents of that single occupied apartment stated that no one had been home that night, and they knew nothing whatsoever about the events concerning their neighbor.

Thus, because of his previous conflict with Song Chengliang and the fact that he had tailed him on the day of the murder, Cui Lidong became the prime suspect. Furthermore, as a barber who happened to be left-handed, his suspicions could neither be confirmed nor cleared without further evidence.

Having grasped the progression and nature of the case, An Changpu and Qin Ruonan decided to meet Cui Lidong. Since he had so strongly demanded that Qin Ruonan be put in charge of the case, they needed to see the party involved and hear what his reasons and motives were for making such a request.

Very soon, they met Cui Lidong in the interrogation room.

Qin Ruonan was no stranger to Cui Lidong. Although An Changpu had only seen his photograph beforehand, the moment he laid eyes on Cui Lidong in person, Lu Xiangdong's description of the physical traits of a born criminal involuntarily echoed in his mind. Cui Lidong truly matched several of the points Lu Xiangdong had mentioned, right down to his face alone.

Cui Lidong was not tall, falling only into the medium-height range. He possessed a wide-jawed, square face with high brow ridges that gave him a sullen expression. When he saw Qin Ruonan walk in, his mouth split into a smile, revealing a row of crooked teeth.

It was evident that he was genuinely thrilled by Qin Ruonan's appearance.

"Sister Qin! You really came! That's wonderful! You'll help me, right? I've been wronged!" Cui Lidong tried to stand up from the chair in a rush of excitement, but he was blocked by the small table in front of him, swaying and falling back into his seat. His eyes gleamed as he stared at Qin Ruonan with intense anticipation.

Qin Ruonan did not know how to respond to his words. Saying she believed him and would help him was obviously out of the question, while giving a too objective and calm reply made her worry that she might douse hopeful Cui Lidong with cold water. Sensing her dilemma, An Changpu simply stepped in and said to Cui Lidong, "The higher-ups have assigned your case to us. Our duty is to investigate the truth of the matter. If you are truly innocent, then the day the case is solved is when we can truly be said to have helped you."

The word "us" not only declared his identity and role to Cui Lidong, but also conveniently relieved Qin Ruonan of her awkwardness, essentially telling the suspect that Qin Ruonan's mission was not to help Cui Lidong out of personal bias, but rather to investigate the case impartially and restore the facts.

Qin Ruonan breathed a silent sigh of relief and cast a grateful glance at An Changpu.

"Sister Qin, I haven't seen you in two months. Your hair has grown longer." Hearing An Changpu's words, Cui Lidong made no reaction; his gaze remained fixed entirely on Qin Ruonan.

Qin Ruonan instinctively cleared her throat. She was not close with Cui Lidong to begin with, and hearing him speak in such an apparently intimate manner was already strange enough—let alone in their current situation, which made it all the more awkward.

"Let's talk about the matter concerning Song Chengliang!" An Changpu tapped his knuckles on the tabletop, attempting to divert Cui Lidong's attention back to his side.

It wasn't that he felt uncomfortable at being given the cold shoulder; in truth, he was running interference for Qin Ruonan. Among the three people currently in the interrogation room, the only one feeling uncomfortable was likely Qin Ruonan. It was clear she was truly a stranger to Cui Lidong, yet Cui Lidong's eager attitude made An Changpu detect a different sort of undertone.

"I didn't kill that man surnamed Song! From the very beginning, I never thought about killing him! We had a conflict, but it wasn't a big deal, and in that matter, I was practically the victim! You can investigate me however you want! I dare swear to heaven, I absolutely did not kill him!" The moment An Changpu uttered the three words "Song Chengliang," Cui Lidong finally stopped staring fixedly at Qin Ruonan. The name of the deceased stirred him into a brief moment of agitation, and his breathing quickened, producing a wheezing sound.

"Cui Lidong, calm down," Qin Ruonan said, startled by his intense reaction. "Why do you say you were the victim in your conflict with Song Chengliang?"

Her plea for him to calm down worked. After taking several deep breaths, Cui Lidong managed to steady his state somewhat, his face flushed with blood from his recent excitement. "He used to come to our shop for haircuts quite often, and he never specified any particular person to cut his hair. Whoever was free would usually take him. That day, I was just unlucky and caught a stroke of bad luck—it happened to be my turn when he was free, and he ran into me, and then..."

He hesitated, pausing for just a single second. "And then I accidentally let my mind wander, and the tip of the scissors grazed his ear, drawing a little blood. He wasn't happy about it; he started cursing and wouldn't stop. My apologies didn't work, waiving the haircut fee and offering extra compensation for his medical expenses didn't satisfy him either. He demanded a thousand yuan in compensation right off the bat, claiming he didn't know if my scissors were clean and he wanted to avoid getting tetanus! I didn't agree. It was my fault for cutting a customer, but trying to extort me was completely out of the question! After that, he came to the shop to give me trouble time and time again. As for that wound, I suspect he messed with it himself; otherwise, it's impossible it wouldn't have healed after so long and kept bleeding! I was clearly the one being extorted, the one who suffered harm. How did I suddenly end up the bad guy overnight? Sister Qin, you believe me, right?"

As he uttered these last words, Cui Lidong's eyes gleamed with expectant light as he stared at Qin Ruonan, as if awaiting her response.

"So you're saying that because Song Chengliang repeatedly tried to extort you, you grew furious, tailed him, and murdered him?" An Changpu suddenly asked in a raised voice before Qin Ruonan could make a reaction.