Blank Charge

At ten in the morning, the chess and card room was still empty except for the accountant behind the counter.

The accountant, who also acted as a waiter, brought two cups of hot tea to Liu Yongchang, who was sitting by the window in the lobby. It was a special grade Biluochun tea that Liu Yongchang loved to drink.

Liu Yongchang picked up the tea cup in front of him, blew the rising hot steam, and looked at Jin Zhou sitting across from him, asking, “Why did you invite me here?”

That chess and card room was Liu Yongchang’s newest business. Due to its good location near residential areas, it had been in business for many years without going bankrupt.

“I remember when I was studying criminal law,” Jin Zhou looked at the tea leaves floating in his cup, the mist covering his calm eyes, “I reminded you would get in trouble if you allowed illegal gambling in this chess and card room.”

Some customers would lose hundreds of thousands of yuan playing mahjong there in just one night and if something were to happen, Liu Yongchang would definitely be implicated.

“That’s why I stopped doing business with those gamblers long ago.” Liu Yongchang took a sip of hot tea, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Why are you suddenly bringing this up?”

“When your bar first opened,” Jin Zhou still lowered his gaze, calmly saying, “you turned a blind eye to the drug dealers. I told you not to allow such things to happen in your bar.”

“I’ve always followed the law, and that’s why the bar has been open for many years without any incidents.” Liu Yongchang paused for a moment and added, “Of course, it’s all thanks to you. Otherwise, being a rogue person like me,  I wouldn’t even know if I broke the law.”

“You…” Jin Zhou pursed his lips, finally raising his gaze to meet Liu Yongchang’s eyes, “Why did you go to the coast to do business back then?”

—You mean Liu Yougen, right? He cheats at cards that’s why he left the village.

Jin Zhou specifically found the villagers who knew LiuYongchang at that time and inquired and got this answer from several people.

“Why else? The village was extremely poor, and many people went to the coast to do business.” Liu Yongchang’s response was different from what Jin Zhou had heard. He put down his tea cup, looked straight at Jin Zhou, and asked, “Zhouzi, what’s going on with you today?”

Actually, Jin Zhou still wanted to continue asking further questions, but noticing that Liu Yongchang was insistent on hiding the real reason for leaving the village, he knew there was no need to continue probing.

“You supported me so much in studying law and even introduced me to a law firm for an internship,” Jin Zhou looked at Liu Yongchang and said with difficulty, “Was it all just to have a legal adviser by your side?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Liu Yongchang suddenly frowned, “I treat you as a brother, so whatever you want to do, I will naturally support it.”

“You have indeed been very good to your brothers.” People have two sides, and it couldn’t be denied that Liu Yongchang took good care of his brothers. But looking back now, his kindness seemed to have a purpose.

“What do you mean?” Liu Yongchang’s tone suddenly became serious, and Jin Zhou knew it was a sign of his anger. “Are you trying to say that I anticipated being caught, so I started preparing for it years ago?”

“Not necessarily from the very beginning,” Jin Zhou thought to himself.

Suppose Liu Yongchang was indeed the culprit of the killer case seventeen years ago. If he dared to return to the city, it would indicate that, as Xie Yao analyzed, some criminals are audacious and believe they are safe after so many years of no action from the police.

If that’s the case, when Liu Yongchang initially brought Liu Qian back , he probably didn’t have the old case on his mind and didn’t think about preparing for the future.

Perhaps later, because he was engaged in gray-area business and afraid of being targeted or implicated in past events, Liu Yongchang thought of having a lawyer by his side to promptly eliminate any business risks.

Jin Zhou was undoubtedly the best candidate for that role.

In fact, Jin Zhou had indeed done a lot for Liu Yongchang.

Including helping him clear the suspicion of murder.

Being used like that, Jin Zhou had nothing to say. After all, Liu Yongchang had taken good care of him, and he considered it as repaying the favor.

But the timing of what Liu Qian typed in her Weibo about preparing for something was hard to ignore. If it was just mentioned at any random time and accidentally heard by Jin Zhou, it would be one thing.

But now, all the information pointed to one thing—Liu Yongchang was indeed the killer of the case seventeen years ago.

“It doesn’t matter whether you used me or not, you managed to escape successfully,” Jin Zhou looked at Liu Yongchang expressionlessly, ignoring the eruption of anger within him. “You’re the one who committed the murder, Liu Yongchang.”

“No, I didn’t.” The anger suddenly subsided, turning into a calm abyss. “You were the one who said before that the police’s chain of evidence was incomplete. Now you’re saying I’m the killer, Jin Zhou, have you lost your mind?”

Considering that Liu Yongchang could lie about the reasons for leaving the village, Jin Zhou no longer believed what he said.

“That’s the most disheartening part,” Jin Zhou said coldly. “I’ve already submitted a very detailed defense statement, and all that’s left is to wait for the results. But you arranged for Liu Qian to provoke me, making me lose my temper and only think about getting you out of trouble as soon as possible.”

Jin Zhou had been busy and paid little attention to Liu Yongchang’s case before.

So Liu Qian deliberately pretended to give false testimony, just to force him to fully devote himself to the case.

“Liu Qian?” Liu Yongchang frowned slightly. “How did she provoke you?”

His unexpected reaction didn’t seem fake, and Jin Zhou felt slightly puzzled.

“You had Liu Qian testify that you committed murder, saying that you went to the crime scene twice, and then you had her go to bars and enjoy herself, intentionally making me think she was stabbing you in the back. That way, I would wholeheartedly focus on your case.”

“She said I went to the crime scene twice?” Liu Yongchang’s mouth twitched slightly, but quickly calmed down. “Nonsense.”

“I know Liu Qian quite well,” Jin Zhou said bluntly, “and with her intellect, she couldn’t have fabricated such a lie. so she has to be right about you being the killer, right? You planned the murder from the beginning, went to the crime scene twice, and hid the murder weapon, but in the end, you carelessly left behind footprints.”

“You actually believe her nonsense?” Liu Yongchang sneered at this. “I trusted you so much and knew you would get me out, why would I then let her go to such lengths?”

As Liu Yongchang kept talking, Jin Zhou suddenly felt that something was amiss.

“Zhouzi, I didn’t commit murder.” Perhaps noticing Jin Zhou’s hesitation, Liu Yongchang sighed and said with a serious tone, “Your sister Liu often has a screw loose in her head. Don’t listen to her nonsense.”

Meeting Liu Yongchang face-to-face only increased the questions in Jin Zhou’s mind.

Back at Yang Shiyu’s place………….

The bedroom was warm, and the heater kept the cold winter night outside the window.

Yang Shiyu had just finished taking a shower and exuded a warm and fragrant steam. If it were any other day, Jin Zhou would have eagerly pounced on him but that day, he lay quietly on the bed, contemplating with a troubled expression as he stared at the ceiling.

“You’re not sleeping yet?” Yang Shiyu tucked himself inside the blanket and turned off the bedside lamp. He glanced at Jin Zhou, who showed no signs of sleepiness.

“Liu Yongchang really didn’t know about Liu Qian’s false testimony,” Jin Zhou was still immersed in his thoughts, “Could it be that I wrongly accused him?”

“Why are you so sure that he didn’t know?” Yang Shiyu turned his head to look at Jin Zhou, calmly asking.

“Because when it comes to things he doesn’t want to admit, he will come up with lies to cover it up,” Jin Zhou recalled his conversation with Liu Yongchang. Whether it was about the reason for leaving the village or the motive for supporting Jin Zhou’s legal studies, he didn’t admit anything. “But when I mentioned that he instructed Liu Qian to testify, his first reaction wasn’t to brush it off but rather surprised, and he suddenly became very alert.”

Jin Zhou had dealt with many lawsuits and encountered various people, so he was quite good at observing others’ reactions during conversations.

“If Liu Yongchang doesn’t know about this,” Yang Shiyu continued Jin Zhou’s words, “then was it Liu Qian’s own idea?”

“Impossible,” Jin Zhou shook his head, turning to meet Yang Shiyu’s gaze. “She lost a watch worth over four hundred thousand in a bar and posted phrases like ‘preparing ahead’ on Weibo without considering whether I would see it or not. Given her IQ, how could she come up with such a plan?”

Yang Shiyu furrowed his brow slightly, pondering, and after a moment, he asked, “Are you certain that her mention of ‘preparing ahead’ was referring to Liu Yongchang preparing you to be his personal lawyer?”

“Definitely,” Jin Zhou affirmed, “I checked the timing of her Weibo post, and it was right after we had just picked up Liu Yongchang from the detention center.”

“If that’s the case,” Yang Shiyu contemplated, “then it’s highly likely that Liu Yongchang was responsible for the murder case seventeen years ago.”

“At first, I thought the same,” Jin Zhou frowned, “but I can’t understand it. If Liu Yongchang didn’t ask Liu Qian to testify, then could it be that she really betrayed him?”

“Based on what you’ve said, Liu Qian doesn’t seem like a brave or smart person. Since you believe she couldn’t come up with such a plan, it’s unlikely she would think of stabbing him in the back either,” Yang Shiyu said.

“And from your observation, even if they don’t love each other, they are still close,” Jin Zhou looked back at the ceiling, his brain heating up like an overworked processor. “So Liu Qian’s purpose is to push me to go all out and dig more deep into the case?.”

“There shouldn’t be any doubt about that,” Yang Shiyu’s voice was low and steady, like an unwavering compass needle stabilizing Jin Zhou’s scattered thoughts. “Apart from you, Liu Qian’s false testimony doesn’t have any impact on the case. The prosecutor won’t lose their basic judgment because of her false testimony since it contained many loopholes. In the end, whether Liu Yongchang gets prosecuted or not is due to the incomplete evidence chain itself, and the murder weapon that still hasn’t been found. So Liu Qian’s false testimony—”

“is only affecting me,” Jin Zhou interrupted Yang Shiyu. “She’s forcing me to handle this matter quickly.”

Eliminating all possibilities, only one solution remained.

“The the thing you’ve been struggling with all day,” Yang Shiyu said, “is whether the two of them had conspired or not.”

“Yes, they definitely didn’t conspire when it came to the testifying,” Jin Zhou’s thoughts became increasingly clear. “So I fell into a trap, thinking that maybe Liu Yongchang was innocent.”

“But now, just because they aren’t conspiring means……,” Yang Shiyu said. “that Liu Qian is acting alone.”

The missing link in the logic finally formed a closed loop. Jin Zhou sat up abruptly from the bed, saying, “Someone is advising Liu Qian!”

Bigger confusion appeared in Jin Zhou’s mind, even more complex and chaotic than before.

“It’s not Liu Yongchang, and definitely not me, so who else could it be? Could it be her wealthy group of sisters?”

Who could it be?

“Ding—”

At that moment, the alarm sounded horrifyingly, startling Jin Zhou to the point where his soul almost left his body.

He glanced at the screen of his phone, silently grateful for setting the reminder.

Turning off the alarm, Jin Zhou temporarily set aside all the puzzles and pounced on Yang Shiyu, who was beside him. “Darling, happy birthday!”