The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Fingerprints and Shoe Prints in Cao Lang’s Room

Under Officer Li’s gaze, Yu Lanlan shrank back. ”I... I really have no connection to Cao Lang. I just sometimes need help loading or unloading my truck, so I hire porters from the market.”

”If you hired Cao Lang for work, why did you just say you didn’t know him?” Officer Li asked. ”Yu Lanlan, please answer truthfully about your relationship with Cao Lang.”

”I was so upset just now, I wasn’t thinking straight.” Yu Lanlan covered her face and started wailing, hoping her tears would hide her nervousness.

Despite Yu Lanlan’s protests, Song the Second’s body was taken away.

The six brothers of the Song Family, though they often bickered and fought, all came running now that Song the Second was dead.

When they learned from the police that homicide could not be ruled out, the other five Song brothers immediately realized that their own brother, Song the Second, might have been murdered!

Yu Lanlan was crying her eyes out, as if the louder her sobs, the more her grief would show.

In the courtyard, Eldest Song smoked a cigarette and asked the brothers beside him, ”If our second brother was murdered, who do you think could have done it? Could it be Han Xiaorui?”

The other Song brothers all turned their gazes to Song Sixth.

Seeing this, Song Sixth shook his head. ”Han Xiaorui might be a tough woman, but she’s also smart and knows the law. She’d never do something like murder.”

”Besides, our second brother smashed up Han Xiaoru’s boat, and only his footprints were on it, not hers.”

”Also, sea snakes usually stay in the sea, and they don’t pick and choose who they bite! If Han Xiaorui had been there, it’s impossible that it would have only bitten our brother and not her.”

”Even if our second brother wasn’t very tall, he was still stronger than a woman. Han Xiaorui probably couldn’t have overpowered him.”

The others also felt it was unlikely Han Xiaoru could have harmed Song the Second.

Just then, Song Fourth’s expression soured. Seeing Yu Lanlan crying in the main hall, he lowered his voice and said, ”You guys aren’t at the wholesale market, so you don’t know about a porter named Cao Lang. Every time our sister-in-law has him do work, she gives him extra money!”

”One time, I saw Cao Lang slap our sister-in-law on the butt. I’ve always felt something was off between them.”

Hearing this, Eldest Song slapped Song Fourth hard on the back. ”They say blood is thicker than water! How could you not have said anything about this?”

Song Fourth looked distressed and annoyed. ”There weren’t many people around at the time. Even if I had shouted it out, our second brother wouldn’t have believed me.”

”You all know this. For my stall at the seafood market, I borrowed money from all of you. Second Brother lent me the least, but after he saw I was making money, he extorted another stall from me.”

”I fought with him over it, and we said some pretty nasty things to each other. Without solid proof, if I’d said something, our second brother would have definitely thought I was trying to stir up trouble.”

”And you know what our sister-in-law is like. You say one word to her, and she has ten waiting for you. If I wasn’t catching them in the act, and I dared to say anything, she’d block the front of my stall and curse me out every single day.”

Everyone fell silent.

After a long moment, Eldest Song finally spoke slowly. ”Our parents are gone, so we brothers have to look out for each other. Since they’ve taken our brother’s body, none of us are working today. Let’s go ask around.”

”If we can prove that Yu Lanlan was cheating and involved with someone else, we have to protect our brother’s assets for his three kids. We can’t let Yu Lanlan pocket everything.”

The five brothers deeply agreed and went their separate ways to gather information.

The six Song Family brothers’ parents had died young, but each of them had managed to find a wife and build a decent life, which proved they were all smart and capable.

From the police department to the city’s underbelly, they knew people everywhere, and they really did manage to dig up some information.

It turned out that Cao Lang had vandalized Han Xiaorui’s Peach Garden the previous night.

Now, according to the police’s fingerprint analysis, the prints on the club left on the boat belonged to Song the Second.

This was enough to prove that Song the Second had smashed Han Xiaorui’s boat. There was definitely something fishy going on.

Officer Li was also investigating. He searched Cao Lang’s residence but didn’t find any of Yu Lanlan’s belongings.

However, the officer in charge of collecting fingerprints found Yu Lanlan’s prints on an enamel cup in Cao Lang’s home, as well as on the handle of a thermos.

These fingerprints were enough to prove that Yu Lanlan had been to Cao Lang’s place. Sharing a cup to drink water was enough to prove their relationship was not ordinary.

Additionally, since Cao Lang didn’t clean, his dusty room also revealed several female footprints the same size as Yu Lanlan’s feet. The tread pattern on the soles also matched the shoes Yu Lanlan was wearing.

With sufficient evidence, Officer Li arrested Yu Lanlan at her home.

Yu Lanlan adamantly denied it, her heart racing. ”I’m really not familiar with Cao Lang, you’ve made a mistake.”

”But we found your fingerprints on the enamel cup and the thermos in Cao Lang’s room. And they’re recent, which proves you were in the room of a single man, Cao Lang.”

”If your relationship was simply that of a stall owner and a porter, you wouldn’t have been in his room, and you certainly wouldn’t have shared a cup. Furthermore, we also have a witness who can testify that you went to Cao Lang’s rented home during the day on which the incident occurred.”

Yu Lanlan was dumbfounded. Officer Li handcuffed her and led her away.

The five Song brothers were furious!

So that Yu Lanlan really was having an affair with Cao Lang!

As the eldest brother, Eldest Song had his wife bring Song the Second’s three children to their home, while he went to the police station every day to ask for updates.

Yu Lanlan and Cao Lang were both scared out of their wits.

Now that Song the Second was dead and the police suspected homicide, Cao Lang was terrified.

’All I did was vandalize the Peach Garden, I really don’t have the guts to kill someone!’

As an old hand at this sort of thing, he quickly came up with the story that would get him the lightest sentence.

As for his affair with Yu Lanlan, Cao Lang refused to admit it. After all, they hadn’t been caught in the act.

His explanation for the fingerprints would be that Yu Lanlan had paid him to go after Han Xiaorui.

Yu Lanlan was a sharp woman, and she’d thought of the same thing.

If they hadn’t been caught in the act, she wouldn’t admit to the affair. That way, even with Song the Second dead, she could still get his house and money.

”Officer, I admit that my husband and I had a grudge against Han Xiaorui. All the fishermen in the village sell their catch to us. But Han Xiaorui catches so much fish every day and just refuses to sell to us.”

”We couldn’t stand it, so we hired someone to vandalize Han Xiaorui’s Peach Garden, and my husband smashed her boat. We wanted to teach Han Xiaorui a lesson and make her see reason, so she’d sell her fish to us in the future.”

Hearing this, Police Officer Li’s brow furrowed slightly. ”Do you and your husband do this often?”

”No, Song the Second only damaged Han Xiaorui’s boat. He never touched anyone else’s.” Yu Lanlan, of course, wouldn’t admit it. If she did, she’d have to compensate the other villagers. Since she hadn’t been caught before, she would firmly deny it to avoid paying.

No matter what, they would not admit to murdering Song the Second, and they certainly wouldn’t admit to the affair.

The medical examiner’s report was also in. The established time of poisoning for Song the Second cleared Cao Lang as a suspect.

Yu Lanlan had been at the wholesale market that night and hadn’t gone back, which also cleared her.

There was also no evidence that Han Xiaorui had been involved. The death of Song the Second was ruled not a homicide.

After the case was closed, Han Xiaorui called someone to come fix her boat and calculated the value of the peach trees killed by the high-concentration herbicide. Next, she would be seeking compensation from Yu Lanlan and Cao Lang.

When people came looking for trouble, Han Xiaorui didn’t pull her punches. She wouldn’t hesitate to see Yu Lanlan and Cao Lang put away.