Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

He suddenly slapped his thigh, kicking up dust from his knee. “That’s right! His right ring finger was crushed while moving steel bars, which matches the photo in the file. But he’s 178 cm tall, 3 cm taller than the deceased. It can’t be the same person. He was big and usually wore size 43 shoes. I remember very clearly that once he bought a new pair of shoes and bragged to me that only shoes of this size are comfortable to wear.”

Zhang Hui pulled up Zhao Zhiqiang's medical examination report. The A4-sized report clearly listed all the data. The height column clearly stated "178cm," which, while within the margin of error of the forensic estimate of "175±3cm," showed a significant difference. The X-ray revealed that Zhao's right femur was smooth and flat, without any trace of internal metal fixation. In contrast, the deceased's right femur showed a clear image of a steel plate, elongated in shape, with screw marks along the edges. "This is the key difference," Zhang Hui said, holding up both reports to the light. The light shone through the paper, making the skeletal outlines even clearer. "Zhao Zhiqiang's orthopedic records never showed a femoral fracture. From 2018 to 2022, every skeletal examination showed normal results, which can be completely ruled out." He had the technicians overlay the two X-rays for comparison. On the computer screen, the outlines of the two femurs showed significant deviations in several places, especially the curvature in the middle section, where the difference was striking.

When the rice samples from Hongwei Building Materials' canteen were sent to the lab, Zhang Hui was organizing Zhao Zhiqiang's bank statements. The moment the test results came back, the technician called, his voice tinged with disappointment. "Although both are indica rice, the rice in the deceased's stomach contents contained 0.3% aflatoxin," the technician pointed to the peak on the spectrum. "The canteen rice tested negative. The difference in contamination due to different storage environments indicates that the deceased didn't eat his last meal at the company canteen. Furthermore, the average length of the rice grains in the deceased's stomach was 6.2 millimeters, while the average length of the canteen rice grains was 5.8 millimeters, showing a slight difference in variety." This contradicted previous assumptions, and the clues about Zhao Zhiqiang, like a kite with a broken string, began to falter.

Zhang Hui decided to check on the canteen. The cooks were cleaning, and the stainless steel workbenches gleamed like new. "Our rice comes from the grain station in the south of the city. We get 500 jin (250 catties) at a time, and it's used up in three days. The turnover is very fast, so there's no way it could have aflatoxin," the cook said, pointing to a grain bin in the corner. "Look, it's all sealed up, moisture-proof and insect-proof, so it definitely won't spoil." He lifted the lid of the grain bin, and a fresh aroma of rice wafted out. The grains were plump and white, without the slightest sign of mold.

More crucial evidence came from bank statements. Zhang Hui laid out Zhao Zhiqiang's 2022 bank statements across the entire table, the densely packed transaction records resembling a complex web. A remittance of 50,000 yuan in July stood out. Although the recipient was a shell company owned by Li Weiguo's cousin, the remarks clearly stated "steel payment." Tracing this transaction further back, he discovered that Zhao Zhiqiang had withdrawn cash from different ATMs three times in June, each time around 10,000 yuan. Combined with the existing balance in his card, this totaled 50,000 yuan. “This is the money he made from a business partnership with a friend,” Zhao Zhiqiang’s wife said, her voice choked with sobs on the phone. “He wanted to start a small business, and he and a friend planned to resell steel, saying they could make some money to pay for their child’s tuition. He went south on July 16th and is now driving a truck in a coastal city, working long hours every day. Last month, he even sent a box of lychees back; the child loves them, and they were still quite fresh when they arrived.” She showed the recipient a photo of the express delivery slip; the recipient was “Zhao Weiguo,” and the address matched Zhao Zhiqiang’s registered address. “He and Li Weiguo only share the same surname; they don’t know each other at all. That money was for goods, but the other party didn’t deliver the goods and even blocked him. He was furious for a long time, and now he’s in court.”

Zhang Hui contacted the friend Zhao Zhiqiang's wife had mentioned. The friend worked at a hardware store and spoke of the deal with great helplessness. "We were both optimistic about the business and thought we could make a profit, but we never expected to run into a scammer." He showed her their chat history, which detailed their discussions about purchasing goods, negotiating prices, and making payments. "Zhiqiang is a very reliable person. When he didn't have enough money, he even borrowed 2 yuan from his father-in-law, saying he would pay it back when he made money. After the incident, he felt guilty and insisted on bearing the loss himself; I couldn't stop him."

A freight company in a coastal city confirmed Zhao Zhiqiang's whereabouts. Zhang Hui obtained the company's employment records from the local police. On the registration form dated July 18, 2022, Zhao Zhiqiang's signature matched the signature in Hongwei Building Materials' files—the handwriting was strong and the strokes were smooth. His social security payment certificate from 2023 showed that he had paid social security on time every month without interruption. Even the delivery receipt from 8 PM on July 18th bore his signature, with the recipient's stamp clearly visible, and the address was an industrial park in a coastal city. "He delivered a batch of hardware accessories that day, from the east side of the city to the west side, making two round trips, and didn't get back to the company dormitory until almost 10 PM," recalled the freight company's dispatcher. "I remember very clearly that when he came back, he was covered in sweat and complained to me about the traffic jam that almost delayed the unloading time."

Zhang Hui then went to Zhao Zhiqiang's dormitory in a coastal city, a small room of about ten square meters, which was clean and tidy. A family photo was pasted on the wall; Zhao Zhiqiang stood in the middle, smiling broadly, a scar on his right ring finger faintly visible in the photo. On the bedside table was a delivery logbook, which detailed the daily delivery routes and times. The entry for July 18th read: "Loaded at 8:00 AM, departed at 9:00 AM, arrived at Factory A at 11:00 AM; loaded at 2:00 PM, departed at 3:00 PM, arrived at Factory B at 5:00 PM, returned at 8:00 PM." This perfectly matched the freight company's records.

“The scar on his right ring finger is indeed there, but there is a record of him in the fingerprint database,” Zhang Hui compared the blurry fingerprint on the steering wheel with the fingerprint on the computer, zooming in on the details. “There are 5 discrepancies among the 16 feature points, especially the center of the whorl pattern, which is clearly not from the same person. Zhao Zhiqiang’s fingerprint has a more compact whorl pattern in the center, while the whorl pattern in the center of the fingerprint on the steering wheel is looser, with a 0.2 mm larger gap.” He had the technicians create a 3D model of the fingerprint, and the differences became even more obvious when observed from different angles.

The mystery was finally solved by Hongwei Building Materials' steel reinforcement ledger. Zhang Hui spent an entire day searching through the warehouse's archives before finally finding the record from July 2022. On the yellowed pages, information such as the steel reinforcement's type, quantity, and supplier was written in black ink. For the batch of steel reinforcement from July 10th, the supplier was listed as "Li Weiguo's cousin's shell company." (End of Chapter)