Chapter 13 Requesting a Private Settlement

Chapter Thirteen: Requesting a Private Settlement

Could it be financial support from Song Chengliang's parents?

Not only did Qin Ruonan have this suspicion, but Tian Yang and Mo Dou also agreed. Even An Changpu, upon returning and listening to the current situation they had gathered, came up with the exact same idea.

However, this conjecture lasted only until the moment Song Chengliang's parents arrived.

Seeing Song Chengliang's parents walk into the office in tears, escorted by their daughter, Qin Ruonan found it hard to believe that this pair of plainly dressed, white-haired elderly couple could be the ones who had successively sponsored their son hundreds of thousands of yuan.

The old lady kept sobbing, clutching a crumpled, damp handkerchief in her hand. The tip of her nose was somewhat red, whether from the cold wind or from crying. Song Chengliang's father maintained a relatively steady emotional state, but having suffered the grief of losing a son, his expression was deeply gloomy as well.

Their daughter, which was Song Chengliang's older sister, stepped forward to greet An Changpu and the others. After settling her parents, she stated that she would handle the series of matters regarding her younger brother's remains, as her parents were truly a bit too old and might not withstand the shock or suffer any additional complications. Such a request was naturally granted. Thus, the elderly couple was left in the office, accompanied by An Changpu and Qin Ruonan, while Song Chengliang's sister followed Mo Dou, who volunteered to help handle the rest of the matters.

"How many children do the two elders have in total?" Song Chengliang's parents looked quite old, at least over seventy, while Song Chengliang was only thirty-three. From this age gap, it was not hard to guess that he must be the youngest in the family, and there should be more than one older sister ahead of him.

Song Chengliang's father raised two fingers. "This one is gone, and there are two more. The eldest is a son, the second is a daughter, and Chengliang is the third—the baby of the family. Our family's conditions were particularly bad back then, so the two of us felt that since we already had both a son and a daughter, we wouldn't have any more children. Who would have thought that right near the end, when I was already forty, my old partner got pregnant again! Medical conditions back then weren't as good as they are now. We thought about it, and deciding against it could easily harm her health, so we might as well just give birth to him. Originally, we didn't expect this youngest one to bring us any fortune; we just thought the two of us would raise him as best as we could. Once he grew up and could support himself, we would feel at ease even if we let go and passed on. Who could have imagined that he would go before the two of us?"

After finishing, Old Master Song sighed, and Mrs. Song let out a loud sniff beside him.

"What kind of work did the two of you do in the past?" An Changpu asked. Although they didn't quite look the part, after all, one cannot judge a book by its cover, and not every wealthy person wears gold teeth for others to see.

"I am a retired worker from a factory, and she didn't have a job; she stayed at home to raise the children and do housework," Old Master Song replied. This elderly couple was clearly representative of the traditional division of labor of that era, where the husband worked outside and the wife managed the household.

"What about the other people in the family?"

"My eldest son took over my job back then and is also in the factory now. Because he performed well, he became a workshop director. My daughter drives a public bus."

Song Chengliang's parents clearly had little experience dealing with the police. On one hand, they were in a poor emotional state due to their son's incident; on the other hand, they felt exceptionally restrained because of the surrounding environment and the people facing them. Old Master Song answered every question An Changpu asked without inquiring about the reasons behind his queries, while Mrs. Song lowered her head and remained silent on the side.

Song Chengliang's other two siblings—one working as a workshop director in a factory and the other driving a bus for a transit company—both had stable incomes, yet their occupations fell into the current category of "neither starving nor overfed." Measured by income level, they might not even match Song Chengliang. Viewed this way, Song Chengliang's unexplained deposits seemed unlikely to have been sponsored by his siblings.

"Was Song Chengliang considered an obedient child to the family in the past?" Qin Ruonan tentatively asked.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Old Master Song sighed and shook his head on the spot without hesitation. "He was not an obedient one! When he was little, his studies were all right. Coupled with the fact that his older brother and sister were much older than him and were already working by then, the burden on the family was light, so when he wanted to go to university, we supported him through it. And the result? In the first few years after graduating from university, he constantly changed jobs. At first, we would ask, but later we couldn't even be bothered to ask, and even if we asked, we couldn't remember. Just as his job finally seemed to settle down a bit, he was well past thirty and refused to get married and take a wife! When his older brother was his age, our grandson was already six or seven years old! The two of us old folks aren't young anymore either; we don't expect our children to become dragons or phoenixes—as long as we can see their lives steady, settled, and with a child of their own during our lifetime, we would be content! Yet Chengliang just had to be disobedient, going around all day saying we shouldn't rush him, that sooner or later he would make a huge fortune and marry a beautiful wife... Ah, there's no use saying all this now! The person is gone!"

"All right, say a little less!" Mrs. Song finally couldn't help speaking up at this point, saying to her old partner in a somewhat reproachful tone, "The child has already met with an accident, and you're still speaking ill of him!"

"Fine, fine, fine, I won't say anymore, I won't say anymore!" Old Master Song quickly cut off the topic and stopped continuing.

"As for Song Chengliang's residence, I'd like to ask you not to handle it for the time being, because we may still need to go there to conduct some evidence-gathering work," Qin Ruonan said to Mr. and Mrs. Song.

The elderly couple looked at her in unison, with bewildered expressions. Old Master Song looked at Mrs. Song, and then said to Qin Ruonan, "Girl, you shouldn't be talking to us about this. My son's apartment was borrowed from a friend for him to live in; we don't have a say in it. You'll have to go find the owner!"

"Borrowed from a friend?" Qin Ruonan was momentarily stunned.

"Yeah, how could my son have the money to buy such a nice apartment? We know about that place you mentioned; Chengliang took the two of us there in the past. It's his friend's apartment. He said the owner went to the United States to make a fortune and doesn't come back once a year, so he lent the apartment to him to live in, which incidentally meant helping take care of the place for the owner!"

Song Chengliang's parents were completely unaware of their son's real estate issue and even claimed that the apartment was borrowed from a friend. Why would Song Chengliang conceal the fact that he had bought a house from his parents?

Logically speaking, everyone wants their parents and family to know their glorious side and hopes to be a successful child in the eyes of their parents. Yet Song Chengliang's actions went completely contrary to this. Why would he do such a thing?

"Did Song Chengliang have any other job besides the food company?" An Changpu evidently had the same question.

"You mean what kind of jobs he used to do before? There were quite a few! This child was a bit impatient, always thinking about soaring to success overnight in the past, so he constantly changed jobs..."

"No, I mean around the same time as the food company, did he do any part-time work?" Seeing that Old Master Song had misunderstood his meaning, An Changpu quickly explained.

Only then did Old Master Song understand and immediately shake his head. "That certainly wasn't the case. At least we never heard him mention it."

The question marks in Qin Ruonan and An Changpu's minds grew larger and larger, yet they had no way to press the elderly couple with too many questions. Through the conversation, they discovered that the two old folks knew very little about their youngest son's affairs. The two elders themselves stated that because Song Chengliang lived far away from them, apart from occasionally coming over to the family home to visit on rest days, the rest of the time everyone was busy with their own lives, and interactions were not frequent.

After a while, Song Chengliang's sister finished handling the relevant matters and returned to the office with Mo Dou. Following a routine round of questioning directed at her as well, An Changpu and the others discovered that Song Chengliang's sister shared the same view as her parents regarding her younger brother's income and living situation. She regarded Song Chengliang as someone whose financial status had at most just shaken off poverty and whose job had only recently stabilized, having no idea at all that Song Chengliang owned an apartment of over one hundred square meters and possessed hundreds of thousands of yuan in his bank account.

Furthermore, just as An Changpu and Qin Ruonan intended to end the conversation and send them off, Song Chengliang's parents and sister all wore troubled expressions, hesitating and stammering as if they had something to say. Upon being asked if there was anything else, Song Chengliang's sister finally mustered the courage to ask, "We wanted to ask... that person who harmed my younger brother... have they been caught?"

"Is there some issue regarding this?" Qin Ruonan had no way to answer this question. No matter what, Cui Lidong was merely a suspect who could not be ruled out; there was still insufficient evidence to prove that Song Chengliang was indeed murdered by him.

"This is what we were thinking... if that person didn't do it intentionally... the dead cannot be brought back to life, so, if..." Song Chengliang's sister stammered. It seemed what she wanted to say was rather unspeakable, and Old Master Song and Mrs. Song beside her also seemed to become even more restless. "If he is willing to offer some mental compensation, we can settle it privately and not pursue it too harshly. Wouldn't that also make his sentence a little lighter..."

"My son met with an accident, and I'm very sad too, but the dead are dead, and the living still have to go on with their lives... My eldest grandson is about to start high school this year, and my son-in-law got sick last year, so he can only earn a low salary right now, which is why..." Old Master Song added from the side.

"We are very sorry, but there is no way for us to help mediate this," An Changpu confessed truthfully, unable to help. "If your family truly wishes to demand compensation, you can attach a civil compensation request when this case is prosecuted. However, cases like intentional homicide do not permit private settlements. Even if you, as the family of the victim, completely forgive the offender and state that you do not wish to pursue it, we still need to follow procedures to gather evidence and hand it over to the procuratorate for public prosecution."

Old Master Song and Mrs. Song hurriedly nodded in response. Song Chengliang's sister looked slightly disappointed, and the three of them supported each other as they left the Major Crimes Unit office.

"This is truly strange. It looks like Song Chengliang was the only one in his family with a decent financial condition, yet his parents and siblings knew nothing about his job and income. He clearly had his own apartment, yet he lied and said he borrowed it! Could it be that his wealth and real estate are somehow shameful?" After seeing the three members of the Song family off, An Changpu asked Qin Ruonan with some puzzlement, "What do you think?"

Qin Ruonan offered a wry smile. "Don't ask me, I'm completely baffled myself!"