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

On the evening of July 10, after closing the hardware store, Zhao Jianjun went to the adjacent card room to play cards and did not leave until 2 a.m., as evidenced by the card room owner and other card players. On July 11, he stayed in the store all day. Surveillance footage showed that he did not leave the urban village. The distance between him and the furniture factory is 20 kilometers, and he did not have any means of transportation, making it impossible for him to travel back and forth to the factory to commit the crime that afternoon and evening.

"Did you mention borrowing money from Zhang Baode to anyone else?" Zhang Hui pressed. Zhao Jianjun shook his head: "Only the two of us know. I haven't told anyone else. After all, being refused a loan isn't something to be proud of." Technicians extracted Zhao Jianjun's fingerprints and DNA, comparing them with the palm prints and biological traces found at the scene, and the results showed a complete mismatch. "It seems Zhao Jianjun really has nothing to do with the case," Zhang Hui crossed out Zhao Jianjun's name in his notebook. "The lead has gone cold again; we need to start looking in a new direction."

Meanwhile, Wang Shuai's investigation into the silver-gray Wuling Hongguang also yielded results. According to the vehicle registration information, there were a total of 12 silver-gray Wuling Hongguang PLUS vehicles with license plate numbers ending in "28" in the city. One of them had a 15-centimeter scratch on its right front door, and the owner of the vehicle was Zhou Zhiqiang, who ran a fruit wholesale business.

When Wang Shuai found Zhou Zhiqiang, he was unloading goods at the fruit market, and the scratches on his vehicle were particularly noticeable in the sunlight. "These scratches were left when I bumped into the truck while hauling fruit last month," Zhou Zhiqiang pointed to the scratches. "On July 11th, I was unloading goods at the market from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m. The market's surveillance cameras could capture me. I didn't go to the furniture factory at all."

Wang Shuai retrieved the surveillance footage from the fruit market. On July 11th, Zhou Zhiqiang's car was indeed parked inside the market, and he himself did not leave the surveillance area. Technicians conducted a detailed examination of the vehicle and found no sawdust, paint chips, or biological traces, which were completely unrelated to the evidence collected at the scene. "Zhou Zhiqiang's suspicion has also been ruled out," Wang Shuai reported to Lu Chuan over the walkie-talkie. "Now that suspicious vehicles and suspicious persons have been ruled out, we can only investigate from a different angle, such as Zhang Baode's family relationships."

With this in mind, Wang Shuai arrived at Zhang Baode's home. It was a rented room of less than 20 square meters, simply furnished. On the living room table were Zhang Baode's unwashed dishes and chopsticks. In the bedroom wardrobe, Zhang Baode's clothes and his wife Li Lijuan's clothes were placed separately, with obvious gaps between them.

Li Lijuan sat on the sofa, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes, her eyes darting away. "How is Zhang Baode usually... to you?" Wang Shuai tried to keep his tone gentle. Li Lijuan's body suddenly stiffened, and she remained silent for a few seconds before speaking: "He's pretty good, but sometimes he has a bit of a temper."

Wang Shuai noticed a light brown scar on Li Lijuan's left wrist. Although it was covered by her sleeve, the mark was still clearly visible. "How did you get this scar on your wrist?" he asked softly. Li Lijuan suddenly burst into tears, unable to hold back her emotions any longer, and cried, "He hit me... He often hits me. Whenever he's in a bad mood, he takes it out on me."

It turned out that Zhang Baode had been abusing Li Lijuan for a long time. "We've been married for 10 years, and he's been beating me for 10 years," Li Lijuan said, wiping away her tears. "At first, it was just pushing and shoving, but it got worse and worse. He would punch me, kick me, and sometimes even throw things at me." She rolled up her sleeves, revealing arms covered with bruises and scars, both old and new. "This scar on my wrist is from last month when he got drunk and hit me with a beer bottle. I had to get five stitches."

Li Lijuan also revealed that on the evening of July 10, Zhang Baode committed domestic violence against her again. "When he came back, he was drunk and said that he had argued with someone and couldn't borrow money, so he took his anger out on me," she said in a fearful voice. "He pushed me to the ground, stomped on my stomach, and said, 'If you dare to talk back to me again, I'll kill you.' I was in a lot of pain at the time, and I hated him so much. I thought it would be better if he were dead."

These words shocked Wang Shuai. Li Lijuan had a clear motive—she had suffered domestic violence for a long time and harbored resentment. The domestic violence on July 10th had further escalated the conflict. "Where were you on July 11th? Did you go to the furniture factory?" Wang Shuai pressed. Li Lijuan's eyes flickered: "I... I was at home that day. I didn't go to the factory. Zhang Baode left in the morning and didn't come back. I thought he went drinking again."

To verify Li Lijuan's statement, Wang Shuai retrieved surveillance footage from the area around the rented house. On the morning of July 11th, Li Lijuan did indeed buy groceries at a supermarket near her home, but she was not seen on the footage between 2 PM and 5 PM, a crucial period in Zhang Baode's murder. "Where did you go between 2 PM and 5 PM?" Wang Shuai pressed again. Li Lijuan's voice trembled slightly: "I...I went for a walk in the park, alone, and didn't tell anyone."

Wang Shuai also discovered that Li Lijuan had withdrawn 5000 yuan in cash from the bank on the evening of July 11th, and Zhang Baode's salary card had a record of a 5000 yuan expenditure dated July 10th. "What's the deal with this money?" Wang Shuai showed her the bank statement, and Li Lijuan's face instantly turned pale: "He forced me to withdraw it, saying he was going to give money to someone else, but I don't know who it was for."

More importantly, Li Lijuan's younger brother, Li Lei, owns a silver-gray Wuling Hongguang. Although it's not the PLUS model, the color and general style are similar to the vehicle in the surveillance footage. "Did your brother come to see you on July 11th?" Wang Shuai asked. Li Lijuan nodded: "He came in the afternoon, said he wanted to borrow some money, and left after sitting for a while."

Wang Shuai immediately found Li Lei. Although there were no scratches on the front right door of his car, there were some wood chips stuck to the body. "These wood chips were from when I was helping a friend move furniture," Li Lei explained. "On the afternoon of July 11, I did go to my sister and borrowed 2000 yuan. Then I went to help at a friend's house and didn't get home until 10 p.m. Friends can testify to that."

Technicians examined Li Lei's car and found no paint chips or biological traces inside. The wood chips were also different from the pine wood from the furniture factory, ruling out his connection to the case. However, Li Lijuan's suspicion could not be completely ruled out—she had a motive, her whereabouts were unknown during key periods, and there were suspicious points regarding her financial dealings with Zhang Baode.

“Although there is no direct evidence to prove that Li Lijuan committed the crime, she is highly suspicious,” Wang Shuai reported to Lu Chuan over the walkie-talkie. “We need to further investigate her specific whereabouts on the afternoon of July 11, find witnesses, and at the same time verify the truth of her financial dealings with Zhang Baode to see if they are related to the case.”

After ruling out Zhao Jianjun as a suspect, Zhang Hui arrived at Zhang Baode's rented apartment and met up with Wang Shuai. The two then went through the clues in the investigation. (End of Chapter)