Lin Qiupu brought the DNA identification results, evidence, photos and statement from the people who reported the case to the other branch. The police officer over the phone waited for him at the door. He introduced himself with the surname Liu. Lin Qiupu asked, "Officer Liu, has Hao Jie ever had a fracture before?"

"I don't know about that. You don’t know about the situation at that time. The parents were so anxious that they were like ants on the top of a hot pot. How could it have been possible for them to talk about their child’s experiences with me?"

"Then we can only rely on DNA identification. Do you have their phone numbers?"

Officer Liu frowned. "Yes, yes I do, but I can't guarantee whether Hao Jie's mother will scold you or not. I called a few times to ask about the situation and I was scolded endlessly.”

"I’ll give it a go!"

Lin Qiupu called Hao Jie's mother and said politely, "Hello, I'm the captain of the city’s public security bureau, Lin-“

"Why are you contacting me again! Isn't it enough for you guys to have killed my son half a year ago? You only know how to investigate and collect evidence. Hurry and find my son back for me! You’re spending the taxpayer’s money! How can you still have the face to do this?!”

Officer Liu smiled bitterly and said, "I told you so."

Lin Qiupu took a breath and said, "Ma'am, listen to me. We found the skeletal remains of a boy today. It’s suspected that- "

"What? What did you say?! Say that again! Is my son dead?! You guys killed him! I want to sue your public security bureau until it closes!"

"Could you please calm down? Would you be available for me to meet?"

There was a crying sound and then the other party said, "The Third People's Hospital in the city. I’m in the No. 1 inpatient department."

After hanging up the phone, Officer Liu said, "I won't go. I have no face to see her again. These are the materials on this case."

"Why is she in the hospital? Was she hospitalized because of this?"

"I heard that Hao Jie's father was tested positive for cancer. Haii, what a poor family."

When thinking of meeting her alone, Lin Qiupu was a bit anxious. After thinking about it, he called Xu Xiaodong to go with him.

The two met at the hospital. Xu Xiaodong looked very excited coming out to handle the case alone with the captain. When he met with Lin Qiupu, he asked, "Captain, what special case are you working on to be handling it personally like this? Have you contacted Brother Chen? Have you eaten?"

"Why do you have so many pointless words coming out of your mouth? Follow me."

They met Hao Jie's mother, Ms. Qin in the inpatient department. Ms. Qin's eyes were red and she seemed to have just finished crying. She was well-dressed, so their family could be assumed to be fairly well-off.

Ms. Qin said coldly, "For the past six months, I’ve been looking forward to the police’s phone call every day, but I was afraid of facing the reality. It seems that the time has finally come..." She took a deep breath. "I have been mentally prepared. Just speak directly!"

Lin Qiupu said, "You’ve misunderstood. We just found a set of skeletal remains. The identity of the remains is unclear and DNA identification is needed."

"From me?"

"Yes, I want to ask you whether Hao Jie had a fracture when he was a kid?"

"Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"The deceased's right leg showed signs of healing after a fracture."

Ms. Qin's eyes widened, and she suddenly covered her face and cried, "It's him! It's my Ah Jie! He climbed a ladder to play when he was younger and hurt his leg!"

"But this alone is not enough. We need your DNA."

Ms. Qin suddenly stomped on the ground hysterically. "The person isn’t here anymore. What use is there to this? You police can't do anything except report sad news. We shouldn't have believed in you back then!"

"I promise you that the killer will be brought to justice."

"Humph, promise? Talking about promises again. Those words sound even better than people singing! Now that our family has become like this, it’s not an overstatement to say that the family is ruined. Sorry. Forgive me but I can’t bear this truth. I still have something to do. I’ll be taking my leave!”

"Aiya, ma'am..."

Lin Qiupu couldn’t stop Ms. Qin from leaving and he looked helplessly at Xu Xiaodong. Xu Xiaodong said, "Isn't the father still hospitalized here?"

"I'm going to take a sample. You should go find a doctor to do a DNA test here.”

Hao Jie's father was in the ward next to them. He was full of tubes and was lying on the bed as if he was half-dead. He was asleep. Lin Qiupu explained to the nurse and the nurse took a cotton swab and took some connective tissue from Hao Jie's father’s epithelium[1] as samples. At the same time, she didn't forget to advise Lin Qiupu, "The patient's saliva contains germs, so you need to be extremely careful."

"Thank you!"

The nurse smiled slightly at Lin Qiupu and Lin Qiupu compared her with Lin Dongxue silently in his heart, thinking that she wasn’t even a third as beautiful as Dongxue. Then, he nodded and left.

It took an hour for the DNA test result to come out. The two groups of DNA had a 99% match and it could be confirmed that they were related. The deceased was Hao Jie.

Lin Qiupu felt like burdens were relieved, but he also felt pressure at the same time. The bureau has investigated the couple's interpersonal relationship for two months and hadn’t found any clues. It may not be fruitful even if he were to investigate again.

While he furrowed his brows and pondered over it, Xu Xiaodong asked, "Captain, can you please treat me to mala soup?"

Lin Qiupu said to him sternly, "It’s not good to eat this kind of greasy and spicy food at night. Doesn’t your diet need some changing?"

"Dongxue invited me to a mala soup place two days ago. I think it's quite delicious. That’s why I want to recommend it to you."

"Well... It's okay to try things like that occasionally. Let's go!"

"Are you treating?"

"What a pointless question!"

Back at home, Lin Qiupu looked at the thick stack of statement files and found that the clues were quite messy. It may not be possible to investigate everything by himself in two months. He still sorted out the contents of the statements and prepared for a discussion at the meeting tomorrow.

At the case meeting the next morning, Lin Qiupu said, "...There have been a lot of clues that the branch office has already found. Hao Jie's father used to be a business manager for a company, but later he ran a small company by himself. We can focus on investigating the few people that have bad-blood with him due to the business. Wang Chao, the boss of the father’s former company. The father took a list of customer names and details when he left the company to cooperate with them at a lower price. Wang Chao once threatened to kill his whole family. Before and after the kidnapping case, he claimed to be traveling outside of the country for business purposes. Besides the return ticket, they couldn’t produce clear evidence of their alibi. The next one is Li Hai. This person and Hao Jie’s father didn’t have any bad blood between them, but he made a profit from the kidnapping case. Although the kidnapper didn’t get the money, the 5 million was a deposit paid by the clients to Hao Jie’s father. Due to the kidnapping case, Hao Jie’s father didn’t complete the order and refunded the deposit. Li Hai, a competitor, snatched the business. The last one is Zhang Lijuan. It’s alleged that Hao Jie's father once sponsored her as a mistress, but the branch hasn’t been able to contact..."

The police officers below didn’t seem very interested. Lin Qiupu asked, "Do any of you have any questions?"

A police officer asked, "Why would they kidnap the child to snatch away business? Isn’t that a bit much? Businessmen don’t do stupid things like that. I forgot who said it previously, but I think it makes sense. People don’t kill others easily."

Another police officer piped up, "Brother Chen said that!"

Others whispered below, "Why didn't you find Brother Chen?"

1. The mucous membrane lining the inside of the mouth