A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

Chapter 29 Lover? Key Evidence!

Ding Hu has a lover?

When Wu Liang reported this information to Zhao Anmin, the captain was not too surprised.

"We've checked this." Zhao Anmin was flipping through the recently submitted case files. "Her name is Zheng Meiling. She runs a nail salon. Sun Jin and his men questioned her, but they didn't find much information."

"The facts of Ding Hu's case are clear, and Ni Dayong himself has confessed. There is no need to waste police resources on a mistress."

He then glanced at Wu Liang.

"Why are you watching this line?"

"Ni Dayong said that Ding Hu had been extorting money from him."

"I know."

"But apart from Ni Dayong's own testimony, there's nothing else now." Wu Liang leaned back in his chair, his tone unusually serious. "A single piece of evidence is not enough. In court, the prosecution only needs to say that 'the defendant fabricated the victim's misconduct to mitigate his punishment,' and the motive for extortion will be disproven."

That's true. Ding Hu is dead. Dead men tell no tales. Unless there are bank transfer records or phone recordings, those so-called extortion attempts will only be one side of the story in court.

Zhao Anmin looked back at the files.

"Are you planning to ask him yourself?"

"Let's try our luck."

Zhao Anmin snorted. He had seen this lawyer's luck before.

"what ever."

……

The nail salon is sandwiched between an alley and an adult products store.

Wu Liang casually unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt and then took out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.

Pushing open the glass door, a strong smell of nail polish mixed with cheap fragrance hit me.

The shop is small, with two nail salon tables, a small sofa, and a half-eaten bowl of spicy hot pot on the coffee table.

A woman was painting her nails with her back to the door, and she didn't turn her head when she heard the door open.

"We don't do business in the afternoon."

Wu Liang didn't reply, but sat down comfortably on the small sofa and crossed his legs.

The woman then turned her head.

She looked to be around thirty years old. Her features were quite delicate upon closer inspection, but she wore heavy makeup. She was wearing a black, tight-fitting dress, with one of the straps slipping down halfway down her shoulder.

His gaze swept over Wu Liang.

Sunglasses, open collar, and a slightly frivolous smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Who referred you?"

She put down the oil bottle, turned around, and her expression shifted to a scrutinizing look, as if appraising one of her own kind. "Old Dog? Or Third Brother?"

Wu Liang narrowed his eyes slightly behind his sunglasses, remained silent, picked up the nail art template from the coffee table, and flipped through a couple of pages.

Zheng Meiling stood up, walked up to Wu Liang, bent down and took a closer look.

"He's quite handsome." She straightened up, crossed her arms, and leaned against the table. "But I don't give you a discount just because you're good-looking."

Upon hearing this, Wu Liang roughly formed a mental image of the relationship between this woman and Ding Hu.

It seems she wasn't the mistress I imagined, but rather a "business" relationship.

Wu Liang lowered his sunglasses slightly, "Your shop is quite out of the way; it took me a while to find it."

Zheng Meiling snorted and lowered her head to file her nails: "The cops are keeping a close watch, but don't worry about safety. There's a secret door in the backyard. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll do you a job."

Wu Liang shrugged, didn't answer, and his gaze fell on the rows of instant noodle boxes in the corner.

"Are you the only one in this shop?"

"One person isn't enough?" Zheng Meiling sat back behind the nail salon, crossed her legs, and dangled her toes on her slippers. "People don't come here to get their nails done."

Wu Liang smiled, took out a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and then patted his pocket as if looking for a light.

Zheng Meiling pulled a lighter from a drawer and tossed it over. Wu Liang caught it, lit a cigarette, and placed the lighter on the coffee table.

"Looks like business's been slow lately; they're even eating instant noodles now."

"Who says it isn't?"

Zheng Meiling brushed her bangs aside in front of the mirror, her tone slightly angry.

"The cops came to check on me a couple of days ago, so my regular customers are a bit hesitant to come. But things will be fine in a few days, once this storm passes."

"What are you investigating?" Wu Liang flicked his cigarette ash.

Zheng Meiling glanced at him sideways: "Why are you pretending to be confused? Everyone in the city knows about Ding Hu's affair."

Wu Liang then said "Oh," and nodded: "The one whose mother was run over and then stabbed?"

"His mother died." Zheng Meiling rolled her eyes. "He died too. The cops came to ask me, as if I wanted to be associated with a dead person."

Wu Liang placed the cigarette on the side of the coffee table. The restlessness in Zheng Meiling's tone, her eagerness to distance herself, was much more genuine than her earlier flirting.

"You seem to know him quite well?"

Zheng Meiling glanced at him in the mirror, her eyes filled with a hint of wariness.

Why are you asking this?

Wu Liang shrugged, picked up the opened pack of cheap cigarettes on the coffee table, looked at the brand, and put it back.

"You don't even have a decent cigarette in your shop. I bet that bastard didn't let you live a good life when he was alive."

That last sentence hit the bullseye. Zheng Meiling slammed the nail polish bottle on the table and turned around abruptly.

"He gave me a good life?"

The voice suddenly rose in pitch, then quickly fell back down, as if afraid of being heard by the neighbors, and became filled with gritted teeth.

"I'd be grateful if he didn't take money from me. He's always saying he needs it urgently. An emergency, an emergency, an emergency for the hell."

This time, it was Wu Liang's turn to be surprised.

He originally thought that Ding Hu borrowed money to support Zheng Meiling or to spend money at her place, but he didn't expect that she was also a victim.

"Borrowed and not returned?"

"Return it?" Zheng Meiling sneered. "It's like throwing a meat bun to a dog. What are you saying, 'If it weren't for me protecting you outside, your shop would have been smashed up long ago'?"

She imitated Ding Hu's speech very well, her tone full of contempt.

"Protecting you?" Wu Liang picked out this phrase.

Zheng Meiling realized she had said too much, but Wu Liang didn't seem like a decent person, so she decided to just go all out.

"He said he was well-connected and could talk to anyone. When I first opened my shop, there were always people coming to cause trouble. After Ding Hu came, they stopped."

"He's quite capable, isn't he?"

"What a load of rubbish!" Zheng Meiling exclaimed angrily. "Later I found out that the person who came was his childhood friend. The two of them played good cop and bad cop, just waiting for me to owe them a favor, damn it!"

Wu Liang couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

This Ding Hu, the more you dig, the more you find!

However, since Zheng Meiling was able to say "I only found out later," it means she wasn't trapped for too long.

"Then why are you still keeping him?"

Zheng Meiling glanced at him.

"What are you saying? What else can we do but keep him around? At least when he was around, no one dared to cause trouble. You can tell that this isn't a respectable shop."

She said this without any shame or attempt to hide it.

"Now that he's gone," Wu Liang tried to get more information out of him, "he won't have anyone to protect his business these next few days, right?"

But Zheng Meiling didn't say anything more.

"What exactly are you here for?" She suddenly stood up and walked to the small sofa, looking down at Wu Liang. "All you do is ask questions, nothing you do. Were you sent by the cops?"

Wu Liang took off his sunglasses.

"Would you believe me if I said I'm a lawyer?"

The faint hint of familiarity on Zheng Meiling's face vanished instantly.

"lawyer?"

Wu Liang spread his lawyer's license out on the coffee table.

Zheng Meiling stared down at him, then looked up at his face.

After taking off her sunglasses, most of her thuggish air dissipated, revealing a pair of remarkably calm eyes. She felt she had been tricked.

"You fucking—" Zheng Meiling took a deep breath, swallowing back the curse that was about to come out, "Lawyer, what kind of guest are you pretending to be here with me!"

"I wasn't pretending," Wu Liang said innocently. "You asked me who introduced me, and I just didn't answer."

"you!"

Zheng Meiling was so angry that her chest heaved as she walked straight toward the door, intending to kick Wu Liang out, when she suddenly remembered something.

Which side are you on?

"The person who killed Ding Hu."

Hearing this, Zheng Meiling stopped walking towards the door.

"You're not on Ding Hu's side?" She turned around. "Then can you help me get back the money Ding Hu owes me?"

Wu Liang raised an eyebrow; that was quite a quick turn of events.

"It depends on the situation."

"What do you think?"

"Ding Hu is dead, and his estate has not yet been fully liquidated. If you can prove that he had a debt relationship with you, you can file a claim against him in the estate."

Zheng Meiling's eyes lit up for a moment, but she quickly became suspicious again.

"How can you prove it? The person is dead, how can you bring his soul back for questioning?"

Wu Liang stood up, walked to the cashier, and casually flipped through the dusty ledger. It was filled with dates and numbers, but none of them were related to Ding Hu.

"It's not enough for you to just say it; you need evidence."

"What kind of evidence?"

"IOUs, chat logs, recordings. Anything is fine."

Zheng Meiling stood still, carefully examining the roguish lawyer in front of her, as if considering whether his words were credible.

Wu Liang noticed her hesitation, chuckled inwardly, and then strode towards the door.

"Looks like you don't have any evidence left. What a pity, death absolves all debts..."

"Wait a moment!"

Wu Liang stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Zheng Meiling.

"I... have something. I don't know if it will work."

Zheng Meiling jogged to the cashier, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out an old smartphone.

"Every time Ding Hu came to borrow money from me, I secretly recorded it. He thought I was stupid and wanted to renege on the debt. But before I could use it, that bastard died."

She held up the phone and showed it to Wu Liang.

"Can this be considered evidence?"

Wu Liang stood at the door, silently praising the work.

This trip was definitely worthwhile.

"That depends on what's recorded inside."

Zheng Meiling looked down and opened the recording folder. The screen was filled with a dense row of files, and she scrolled to the bottom.

"That's all. Do you think this is enough?"

Wu Liang walked back, his gaze falling on the screen, then suddenly his eyes froze, fixing on the date of the latest recording.

8 Month 19 Day!

The day before Ding Hu was killed!