(Quick Transmigration) Even If You Become an Animal, You Still Have to Serve an Iron Rice Bowl - Chapter 29

Chapter 29:

One man and one cat hurried back to the police station. Qin Yan handed the box with the kitten inside to the young female officer at the front desk, then jogged with Shen Qiu toward the interrogation rooms in the back.

“Boss. Qiuqiu.”

Lao San and the others were sitting on the bench outside. When they saw the man and the cat arrive, they all stood up. Da Zhuang scooped Shen Qiu up in one motion.

“Where are they?”

Lao San pointed at two interrogation rooms.

“Both of them are inside. After Zheng Yang spoke earlier, he clammed up completely. Chen Xue’s just sitting there with a sour face, not saying a word.”

Qin Yan glanced around, then went into Chen Xue’s interrogation room.

A cat paw patted Da Zhuang’s shoulder, signaling him to follow.

Hearing the door open, Chen Xue looked up, her gaze gloomy and sharp. After sweeping her eyes over Qin Yan and the others, they landed on Shen Qiu.

She clearly remembered Shen Qiu lunging at her earlier, and hatred flickered in her eyes.

After a moment, she lowered her head again, hiding all emotion.

Qin Yan tapped the table. “Chen Xue, don’t you have anything you want to say?”

Chen Xue gave a cold laugh. “Nothing to say.”

Shen Qiu frowned, thinking she was going to stubbornly resist, but then she suddenly added, “Everything was ordered by Zheng Yang. If the police have questions, you should be asking him.”

Two people and one cat froze at the same time.

Qin Yan’s brows knit together. “You’re saying Zheng Yang instructed you. What evidence do you have?”

Even Shen Qiu thought she was trying to shift the blame, but to his surprise, she nodded.

“I do. Zheng Yang used a second phone to contact me. His family doesn’t know about it. That phone is in the van.”

No wonder.

Shen Qiu’s tail swung back and forth like a pendulum against Da Zhuang’s arm.

No wonder they hadn’t been able to find any contact records between Zheng Yang and Chen Xue, no matter how hard they looked. He had prepared another phone long ago.

“Where’s the van?” Qin Yan asked. “Where did you hide it?”

Chen Xue looked up and bared her teeth in a nasty grin.

“In the public parking lot of the mall next door.”

After speaking, she moved her hands slightly. “The keys are in my pocket. Whether I’m telling the truth or not, you’ll know once you check.”

Qin Yan gave her a long look, then turned and called Yang Yue in.

Sure enough, Yang Yue found the van keys on Chen Xue. Qin Yan sent Lao San to locate the vehicle, and in the meantime, they went to Zheng Yang’s interrogation room.

Compared to Chen Xue’s composure, Zheng Yang looked utterly worn down. Hearing them come in, he didn’t even raise his head, only asked, “Is my Baozi okay?”

Baozi was the name of Zheng Yang’s younger son.

Shen Qiu found it deeply ironic. Why hadn’t he worried about his son back when he was committing the crime?

Rolling his eyes, Shen Qiu jumped onto the table.

“Where is the dead child now?” Qin Yan asked bluntly.

Zheng Yang’s body shook. He wiped his face.

“In the river. Two kids were extremely obvious targets. Chen Xue advised me to get rid of the child.”

Shen Qiu almost laughed in anger.

You knew the target was too big, yet you still dared to kidnap them? Even after the child died, you were still thinking about money?

Qin Yan’s expression darkened.

“The exact location.”

After Zheng Yang gave it to them, Qin Yan immediately had Da Zhuang take people to contact the river port police to recover the body.

“And what else?” Qin Yan pressed. “You don’t have anything more to say? Are you going to confess, or wait until we find the evidence?”

Zheng Yang’s eyelids twitched. He lowered his head to his chest.

“That’s all. I’ve said everything I need to say.”

“Is that so?” Qin Yan said coldly.

“Then what’s going on between you and Chen Xue?”

Shen Qiu couldn’t see Zheng Yang’s face anymore and only heard his muffled reply.

“Officer, that’s a private matter. There’s no need for you to ask, right?”

Bang!

Qin Yan slammed his palm hard on the table, startling Zheng Yang.

“Let me tell you then! Chen Xue has already confessed! The kidnapping and extortion were all carried out under your instructions! If you don’t start explaining the details right now—”

“Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist!”

Zheng Yang jerked his head up, shock written all over his face.

“How is that possible?!”

“My colleague is already taking the keys to the van and looking for the phone you used to contact each other,” Qin Yan said. “Whether it’s true or not, you’d better think about it carefully.”

“You should also consider this: if we uncover the evidence ourselves versus you voluntarily confessing, the sentence will be very different.”

Zheng Yang looked utterly incredulous.

“I didn’t! I didn’t order her to do anything! How could Chen Xue say something like that?!”

“Then explain this,” Qin Yan snapped. “Why kidnap the child? If you didn’t instruct her, was it her idea?”

Zheng Yang’s eyes darted. He nodded hard, “Yes! It was Chen Xue! She’s the one who told me to kidnap the child!”

He licked his dry lips, as if sinking into memory.

“A week ago, Yang Xia accidentally let it slip at dinner that her older brother had won five million in the lottery. I happened to be thinking about changing cars and was short on cash, so I wanted her to borrow some money from her brother.”

At this point, his face twisted with resentment.

“But she absolutely refused! She said her brother had just won the lottery and that borrowing money right away would look bad.”

Zheng Yang spat, “They’re siblings! What’s wrong with borrowing a little money? I wasn’t asking for all of it—just twenty thousand to get me through a tight spot!”

“But Yang Xia wouldn’t help me talk to him. She even said I didn’t earn much but spent a lot.”

It was obvious their conversation back then had gone badly. Even now, Zheng Yang’s eyes burned with anger as he recalled it.

“Later, I complained to Chen Xue offhandedly. She sent me a news article…that was the proof she used to make me kidnap the child! If it hadn’t been for that news, I definitely wouldn’t have done something like this!”

He swore to Qin Yan, “Everything was Chen Xue leading me on! I never planned to really hurt the child—it was an accident! And after the child died, it was Chen Xue who urged me to get rid of the body! She’s the one who cut off the finger!”

Watching Zheng Yang desperately shove responsibility away with such an ugly expression, Shen Qiu truly wanted to slap him.

Qin Yan cut straight to the point. “Whether or not Chen Xue led you on, the child was kidnapped by you.”

Zheng Yang’s face stiffened. He quickly lowered his head again.

“This is all Yang Xia’s fault! If she’d taken out that paternity test earlier! If she’d agreed to help me borrow money from her brother…”

His voice grew softer and softer until the last few words were completely inaudible, but even without hearing them, Shen Qiu could guess.

Blaming the heavens, blaming the earth—anyone but himself.

Shen Qiu had seen plenty of people like this. When something goes wrong, it’s always someone else’s fault. They never reflect on themselves.

Both he and Qin Yan couldn’t be bothered listening to any more of Zheng Yang’s nonsense. Just then, Da Zhuang returned from looking for the vehicle.

One man and one cat turned to leave.

They hadn’t expected to see Yang Xia waiting outside.

“Ms. Yang…”

“Boss,” someone said, “Ms. Yang said she has some clues that might help us.”

Qin Yan and Shen Qiu both paused. Yang Xia looked like she’d rushed straight from the hospital. Even with makeup on, the exhaustion on her face couldn’t be hidden.

Thinking of the child still in the river, Shen Qiu felt his heart tighten.

If Yang Xia knew her eldest son was already dead, how devastated would she be?

Qin Yan clearly thought of the same thing. His voice came out heavy.

“Ms. Yang, please go ahead.”

“I wasn’t completely unaware of Chen Xue and Zheng Yang,” Yang Xia said. “They were always very careful, though. I couldn’t find any solid evidence, so I never confirmed it.”

“I thought it over carefully at the hospital just now. Their relationship probably started the year after I gave birth.”

“During the premarital checkup, the doctor said Zheng Yang’s sperm activity was low and that my chances of getting pregnant were very small. But after we got married, I gave birth to two children within a year. Zheng Yang always had doubts.”

“And before I got pregnant, I’d been promoted several times at work and had frequent contact with the male boss of a partner company. That made him suspect something was wrong with me.”

From Yang Xia’s account, Shen Qiu finally understood why Zheng Yang had been able to be so cruel to the children.

Because of Yang Xia’s frequent contact with men before marriage, combined with his own test results, Zheng Yang never investigated and simply concluded that Yang Xia had cheated and that the children weren’t his.

Yang Xia continued supporting the family even after giving birth, and her salary was higher than Zheng Yang’s. Even though he believed she’d cheated, he didn’t dare say it outright. He bottled it up until it fermented into hatred.

Because he hated Yang Xia for “cheating,” the very year the children were born, he quickly started an affair with their newly moved-in neighbor, Chen Xue, who had just gotten married as well.

Yang Xia noticed something was wrong three years ago, but it was only a suspicion, with no concrete proof. The children were still young, and she didn’t want them growing up in a broken family, so she endured it.

At this point, Yang Xia could no longer hold back her tears.

“If I had known this would happen one day, even divorce would have been better than this!”

As a man, Shen Qiu couldn’t understand it at all.

If you suspect the children aren’t yours, why not say it outright?

Living off your wife’s salary while secretly suspecting her of cheating, eating from her bowl while cursing her behind her back.

How could Zheng Yang be so despicable? He was worse than an animal.

Shen Qiu held his head with one paw, dizzy with anger.

Qin Yan signaled for Yang Yue to take Yang Xia aside to comfort her first. Once she calmed down, they would talk about the other child.

He then took Shen Qiu to see Chen Xue again.

Da Zhuang handed over the phone they’d found.

“The chat history wasn’t deleted.”

The phone model was very old. It was obvious they’d been using it since the time they first met.

In the chat logs, they’d saved each other as “husband” and “wife.” Every line was flirtatious, crude, and explicit.

Qin Yan forced himself to scroll for a long time before finally reaching the part Zheng Yang had mentioned about the five-million-yuan lottery.

Even before that, Zheng Yang had said more than once that he hated the two children and wanted to kill them. The resentment had clearly been building for a long time.

It finally exploded over the five million yuan.

After hearing that Yang Xia’s family had won five million in the lottery, Chen Xue first said she was envious, then said Zheng Yang was lucky and that his wife’s family was so wealthy.

Zheng Yang, however, angrily cursed Yang Xia and said he wished the money were his.

From the chat history, Chen Xue never directly suggested kidnapping the child. Instead, she sent a news article titled something like: after a protagonist wins the lottery, a neighbor kidnaps the child from their home and threatens the family for ransom, ultimately leading to the child’s accidental death.

On the surface, she acted considerate, telling Zheng Yang to remind Yang Xia not to flaunt wealth, or else malicious people might target them. In reality, she was subtly feeding Zheng Yang’s greed.

The day after that news article, one day before the child went missing, Zheng Yang proposed the plan to kidnap the child and extort money from Yang Xia.

Throughout the conversation, Chen Xue never explicitly endorsed the plan. She even appeared to dissuade him repeatedly. But taken together with her earlier words, it was clear she was laying traps at every step. That was why Zheng Yang said she had led him on.

In reality, however, these records were aimed only at Zheng Yang. Chen Xue could easily brush it off by saying, “I was just kindly thinking of others.”

After reading through the messages, Shen Qiu felt a heavy weight settle in his chest.

No wonder Chen Xue had dared to hand over the evidence so readily.

~~~

T/N: Just realized I haven’t updated in awhile though it’s mostly because I’m backing up all of my chapters in case the site goes down. As I said before, Hiraeth hasn’t been available since October, and he runs the entire website. 

I made another website on WordPress: https://silvernoveltranslations.wordpress.com/

I’m slowly moving my chapters there and also updating chapters for “You Plan to Kill Me with Meng?”

3.3k characters to 2.2k words | Translation Time: 2 hours