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

"He got out of the car and started cursing at me, saying I ruined his family and that I had to give him an explanation that day, or he would come to my company immediately. I apologized to him and handed him the money, but he threw it on the ground, shoved me, and said, 'You think you can get rid of me with this little bit of money? What I want is your reputation!'"

The two quickly began to fight. "He was stronger than me, he pinned me to the ground and punched me in the face," Zhang Lei pointed to the corner of his mouth, where there was still a faint bruise. "I panicked, afraid that he would really expose me, so I reached out to push him, and I just happened to grab his neck. He struggled fiercely, his nails digging into my hand, and he scratched my right index finger, which is the wound you see here."

Zhang Lei's voice grew softer and softer, his eyes filled with fear: "My mind went blank at the time. I just thought I couldn't let him get up, or I would be finished. I used all my strength to choke his neck. His face turned redder and redder, and he slowly lost the strength to struggle. His body went limp. I was afraid he wasn't dead, so I choked him for another two minutes until he stopped moving completely before I dared to let go."

After discovering that Qin Yanming was not breathing, Zhang Lei was so frightened that he went limp and lay on the ground for more than half an hour to recover. "I wanted to run away, but looking at his body, I was afraid of being discovered," he said, his fingers twisting together. "I remembered seeing people throwing garbage into the river on the riverbank before, so I thought of throwing the body in there so that it would be less likely to be discovered."

The process of disposing of the body was much more difficult than he had imagined. "Qin Yanming was heavier than me, and I couldn't drag him," Zhang Lei said wearily. "I first drove his taxi to an abandoned sand quarry upstream and hid it in the woods to avoid being seen. Then I went back to drag the body. It was more than 50 meters from the riverbank to the water's edge. I walked a few steps and then rested. His head hit the rocks several times, making a 'thump' sound. I was so scared that my heart almost jumped out of my chest."

He took out a chain he had prepared beforehand from the car—the kind he usually used to tie up building materials. "I was afraid the body would float to the surface, so I tied the chain to his legs and then found a rock to tie to it," Zhang Lei said, his voice trembling with tears. "I carried him to the water's edge and slowly pushed him down. I only breathed a sigh of relief when I watched the body sink. Then I threw the other end of the chain into the pile of rocks at the sand quarry, thinking that no one would find it."

After disposing of the body, Zhang Lei drove away, throwing his blood-stained jacket and gloves into different trash cans along the way. "The patch on the jacket collar was too conspicuous, and I was afraid of being recognized," he added. "I also threw beer cans and cigarette butts into the grass by the river, just to pretend that they were left by people taking a walk. I even adjusted the rearview mirror of Qin Yanming's taxi to mislead you into thinking that other passengers did it."

He thought he had covered his tracks perfectly, but he never expected that traces would still be left. "I transferred the car to Liu Wei in case we got caught, so I could buy myself some more time," Zhang Lei said, his head hanging even lower. "I even canceled my WeChat Pay account and changed my phone number, but you still found me. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have killed someone, and I shouldn't have destroyed two families..."

Wang Shuai meticulously recorded everything, not missing a single detail. "Where did you hide Qin Yanming's taxi?" he pressed. Zhang Lei looked up, his eyes vacant: "In the woods behind the sand quarry. I covered it with branches. It should still be there." He also confessed that he was afraid Qin Yanming's phone would give him a signal, so he turned it off and threw it into the river, "about 100 meters downstream from where the body was dumped, in water about two meters deep."

By the time the interrogation ended, it was already dark outside. As Zhang Lei was led out of the interrogation room, he glanced back at Wang Shuai, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only let out a heavy sigh. Wang Shuai was organizing the interrogation records, which were densely filled with Zhang Lei's confession, from the motive for the murder to the details of disposing of the body; every word was permeated with guilt and remorse.

He immediately dispatched his team to the abandoned sand quarry, where they indeed found Qin Yanming's taxi in the woods. The car was still covered in fresh twigs, and there were traces of dark red blood on the passenger seat, which, upon testing, matched Qin Yanming's DNA. Technicians also found Qin Yanming's cell phone downstream from the body disposal site. Although it was waterlogged, it was repaired, and it still contained his call records with Zhang Lei—the "interview" call Zhang Lei made at 5 PM on June 13th.

When Wang Shuai handed the interrogation records and newly found evidence to Lu Chuan, Lu Chuan was in his office sorting through the case clues. "The truth has finally come out," Lu Chuan said, looking at the records with a heavy tone. "An extramarital affair destroyed two families. It's not worth it at all." He picked up Qin Yanming's portrait. The taxi driver in the photo smiled honestly. No one would have thought that such an honest man would lose his life in the cold Beihe River because of his wife's infidelity.

As night deepened, the lights of the Criminal Investigation Division remained bright. Zhang Lei's confession had been compiled into a complete case file, awaiting review and prosecution by the procuratorate; Qin Yanming's family, though grieving upon learning the truth, had finally received long-awaited justice; Liu Min, suspected of harboring a criminal, was also summoned according to law, and she will face legal sanctions.

Wang Shuai stood by the window, gazing at the distant Beihe River. The water shimmered faintly in the night, seemingly silently recounting the crimes of that night. He knew that although the case was solved, the pain left to the two families would take a long time to heal. As a policeman, all he could do was to comfort the deceased with the truth, punish evil with the law, and ensure that justice would never be absent.

The North River was shrouded in a thin mist at dawn, the water shimmering with a cold, faint light, and the reeds on the riverbank rustled in the wind. Zhang Lei sat in the back seat of the police car, his hands cuffed, his head resting against the window, his gaze blankly fixed on the trees rushing past. When the police car stopped outside the riverbank cordon, his body suddenly stiffened, his Adam's apple bobbed violently, and his already pale face became even more bloodless.

"Get out of the car." Wang Shuai opened the back door, and the morning light shone through the thin mist onto Zhang Lei's face, making the mole on his left cheek stand out against his pale skin. Two police officers supported him on either side, and his steps were unsteady; he was almost being half-carried towards the riverbank—the place where he had murdered Qin Yanming and disposed of her body, the place where his nightmare began.

"Where did you meet Qin Yanming on the evening of June 13th?" Wang Shuai took out a site survey sketch and pointed to an open area in the middle of the riverbank. Zhang Lei's gaze fell on the marked line on the ground, his body began to tremble slightly, and his voice became hoarse: "It was here... I parked my car under that willow tree over there and waited for him to come." He pointed to an old willow tree not far away, the trunk still bearing traces of where he had leaned that night. Technicians immediately went forward to take photos and collect evidence, extracting a small amount of black fiber from the trunk, consistent with the composition of the jacket Zhang Lei had been wearing. (End of Chapter)