Chapter 759 - Stranger

Chapter 759: Stranger

That night, a bonfire was lit on Yongjin Island. The remaining policemen roasted all of the fish that Zhao Yu had bought from the little girl on fire racks, then shared a fish dinner.

“Leader Zhao, you clearly didn’t grow up on the beach!” Captain Dou handed Zhao Yu a bottle of soda and said, “You bought yellow croakers and mackerels. These kinds of fish are not normally used for roasting! The smell of sea fish is heavy, and their meat is tender. If they are not well-roasted, they are easy to burn and will smell very bad.”

“Yes, ha ha…” Bureau Chief Wang Chenggang said with a laugh, “If leader Zhao likes fish, when the case is solved, I will invite leader Zhao to an authentic fish dinner!”

“Um… Actually… I’m just…” Zhao Yu realized that his reason for purchasing fish couldn’t be easily explained, as he didn’t want to let the others know the whole story.

“By the way, leader Zhao,” Captain Dou thought of something, then asked in a hurry, “I saw you show the little girl your cell phone. Does that little girl know anything about the case?”

“No, I was just passing by and asking her.” Zhao Yu took a sip of some soda, then asked, “Why, Captain Dou, do you know that little girl?”

“No…” Captain Dou hesitated slightly. “She just looked a little familiar. Quliang is a small place, so it is normal to meet familiar people. If you think it’s necessary, I can check it out for you!”

“Um… Forget it!” Zhao Yu shook his head.

Suddenly, he remembered something, so he asked Captain Dou, “Captain Dou, why did the fishermen fight during the day? Everyone was so angry that the police couldn’t stop them!”

Bureau Chief Wang Chenggang heard this and immediately explained, “This kind of thing is very common here in Quliang!”

“Yeah, Ma Laoliu’s fishing boat broke Wang Shutou’s fishing net!” Captain Dou added. “These two families have been feuding with one another for ages!”

“Over the fishing net?” Zhao Yu didn’t expect such a reason to cause such a riff.

“Haha,” Wang Chenggang nodded his head, then explained, “This is important in Quliang, as Quliang has three main things that it is concerned with: fishing nets, oars, and knives that kill fish! If these three things are broken or lost, it’s an ominous thing indeed, so this will inevitably lead to a big fight. Besides this, even if you flirt with a man’s wife, he won’t necessarily want to fight with you!”

Wang Chenggang’s last words suddenly made everyone laugh.

Oh… No wonder that little girl cared about the scissors so much!

However, even as Zhao Yu was thinking this, he still couldn’t figure out why the system would arrange such a side adventure for him that day…

Was it just to let me score some points?

“Oh, Captain Dou has told me all about the fight,” Wang Chenggang said, while smiling again. “I didn’t expect that leader Zhao had such strength! It’s amazing that you knocked down so many people alone! Thank you for helping us with such a vicious fight.”

Director Wang’s compliment was obviously overly flattering. In fact, Zhao Yu didn’t really help, but actually caused trouble for the police. He had beaten many people, and cleaning up that mess was a difficult task for Wang Chenggang.

“You are welcome.” Zhao Yu laughed shamelessly. “I saw that the policemen were in danger, so I had to help them! It’s not a big deal, hahaha…”

When the others heard Zhao Yu’s smirk, they couldn’t help but feel awkward. The fish dinner did not last long, and after they finished eating, Zhao Yu and Zeng Ke returned to the command vessel’s office.

Earlier that day, Wu Xiumin had called and told Zhao Yu that she had searched for an entire day, but still could not find any more information on the couple.

This was because the files in the Maritime Bureau were missing. Their only clue was the file that had been kept by the police station. However, because the information on the file was too brief and was incomplete, it was not possible to find any important clues from it.

It turned out that the keeper of the lighthouse was from a remote fishing village in Quliang. However, due to the reconstruction of the harbor, the fishing village had been relocated to several different places at different times. Thus, in order to find the immediate family members of the couple would require a lot of effort.

However, the sailor Cai Xiangbin’s family members had been easily tracked down by Wu Xiumin. This was because after Cai Jinda’s death, his family members had waited for his corpse at the Caohai Police Station.

Thus, Wu Xiumin easily found Cai Jinda’s mother. The old mother, who had just lost her son, fainted several times and was almost sent to the hospital. During this vulnerable time, Wu Xiumin smartly persuaded the old lady to tell her some stories from the past.

The old lady told her that, Cai Xiangbin, who was her fourth child, had always been an honest man. As such, no one believed that he could murder anyone!

Therefore, after the incident, Cai Xiangbin’s family had made every effort to prove his innocence. They had also talked to Liu Caiyun, the wife of the lighthouse keeper, but she had insisted that what she had said was true!

Later, in order to save Cai Xiangbin’s life, his family spent a lot of money to hire a famous lawyer, which finally enabled them to get the death penalty postponed.

However, after he had stayed in prison for less than 8 years, Cai Xiangbin eventually died of an illness. After his death, his family gave up on the thought of righting his wrong and never mentioned it again.

When he heard Wu Xiumin’s report, Zhao Yu couldn’t help but sigh. Cai Xiangbin went to jail because of the lighthouse incident, and now Cai Jinda had lost his life at the lighthouse! He had to wonder…

Is this some kind of arrangement in their fates? Or… Is there really an unknown connection between their deaths?

As it was very late, Zhao Yu told Wu Xiumin that she could return to the hotel and that there was no need for her to come in tomorrow. Zhao Yu also told Wu Xiumin about the little fish girl and asked her to check that for him. Although the side adventure was not always related to the case, he didn’t want to give up any possibility.

Even though it was late, Zhao Yu was ready to add these new findings to his white board. However, unexpectedly, the actress Li Qian showed up.

Even though Li Qian and the cook Zhang Yong were not suspects any longer, they were still not allowed to go home yet. Li Qian first greeted Zeng Ke, then went to Zhao Yu. He quickly shared a look with Zeng Ke, then took Li Qian out to the balcony.

Li Qian lit a cigarette, then asked Zhao Yu, “Police officer, how long do you plan on keeping me and Zhang Yong here?”

“For ordinary cases, it’s 24 hours, but as this is not an ordinary case, it’s going to be at least six days!” Zhao Yu just made up this excuse. “And, we are not ‘keeping you,’ but simply asking you to help us investigate.”

“Hum!” Li Qian sounded unwilling. “If you can’t settle the case, does that mean that we can never go home?”

“No. Don’t worry! The case will definitely end soon!” he assured her.

“Then, can you tell me how it is going now? What about Guo Yihang? Have you found him yet?” Li Qian asked anxiously. Then, she suddenly lowered her voice and asked, “Is Guo Yihang dead?”

“Why would you think that?” Zhao Yu asked.

“Intuition, maybe?” Li Qian blew a smoke ring, then said, “Police officer, I actually want to tell you something…”

“Oh?” Zhao Yu felt a little surprised as he asked, “What is it?”

“At the beginning, I thought that Xie Tao was talking nonsense!” Li Qian said abruptly. “But now that I think about it, maybe what he said was true.”

“Oh, what did he say?” Zhao Yu was curious.

Li Qian looked around, then whispered in Zhao Yu’s ear, “On the night of the murder, Xie Tao pulled me aside and told me that he might have seen a stranger on the island! And… It was a woman!”