Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Wu Xiumin explained to Zhao Yu over the phone, “After the murder, the Maritime Bureau couldn’t find another suitable lighthouse keeper, so they paid Liu Caiyun, the wife of the original lighthouse keeper, to stay and guard the lighthouse.”
Wu Xiumin then added, “However, people held different opinions about the incident. The majority of people were inclined to believe in the innocence of the sailor, Cai Xiangbin. After all, if Cai Xiangbin was really a brutal murderer, why wouldn’t he kill Liu Caiyun? And… Even if he didn’t want to kill Liu Caiyun, why did he not try to escape? It was said that Cai Xiangbin was sleeping when he was caught. As such, he was totally confused and shocked while he was being arrested. If he had really killed people, he shouldn’t have responded like that!”
Wu Xiumin then said, “However, the evidence was unfavorable to Cai Xiangbin’s reputation, as Liu Caiyun insisted that Cai Xiangbin was the murderer and had raped her! Finally, the court sentenced Cai Xiangbin to death! But, for some unknown reason, the death sentence was postponed.”
Wu Xiumin’s eyes were wide. “Cai Xiangbin’s family had some influence in Quliang, and they firmly believed that Cai Xiangbin was innocent and had been wronged by Liu Caiyun. Therefore, after Cai Xiangbin was sentenced, his family used the power of the media and press to make most people in Quliang believe that Cai Xiangbin was innocent. At that time, hailstones of abuse were pelting down on Liu Caiyun, which explains why Liu Caiyun only stayed on the island for half a year, then left suddenly.”
Wu Xiumin then glanced over and said, “Leader, I learned all of this information from an old staff member from the Maritime Bureau. As such, it should be more reliable than the folktales from the local people. This staff member said that, after the wife of the lighthouse keeper left, there was indeed a mysterious tomb that was found on the island, which was located in the backyard of his house!”
Wu Xiumin continued, getting more excited, “Some people said that Liu Caiyun had died and was buried there, while others said that she was pregnant, but her child had not survived, so she had buried her child in the tomb! The Maritime Bureau had reported her sudden disappearance to the police, but they failed to find her.”
Wu Xiumin spoke a bit softer now, “Because Liu Caiyun had no immediate relatives, after their fruitless search, the effort to find her was basically abandoned. Later, the tomb also disappeared! After Liu Caiyun’s disappearance, the Maritime Bureau sent many new lighthouse keepers to the island, but none of them could stay for very long.”
Wu Xiumin then explained, “In those days, people were superstitious. Many of the new lighthouse keepers even claimed to hear ghosts crying at night. In the end, no one dared to go to the island anymore! A few years later, the role of the lighthouse keeper gradually diminished, and the Maritime Bureau stopped sending people to Yongjin Island altogether. Thus, the story of the lighthouse keeper seemed to come to its end, and no one has seen Liu Caiyun ever since.”
“Oh…” Zhao Yu nodded his head in silence after Wu Xiumin finished her long introduction to the old case.
After a while, Zhao Yu said to Wu Xiumin, “There are still a few things that I might need your help with. Gao Facai wants the DNA of the three people. Although they might not be alive now, as long as you can find their immediate relatives, Gao Facai could still check their relationships. Could you please help me with that? I have notified Captain Dou, asking him to have some people assist you. You’d better first collect the files of the old case. So, you can go to Quliang Police Station now!”
Wu Xiumin said, “Okay, but I suddenly remembered something. You once said that the isolated island murder case might have been caused by an accident. You suggested that the murderer wanted to kill only one person in the crew, but because of an accident, he had ended up killing more people than he had originally planned. Do you think that might be related to Liu Caiyun and Cai Xiangbin?”
Zhao Yu was a little surprised by her hypothesis, so he asked, “Did you say that Liu Caiyun’s disappearance was related to Cai Xiangbin’s family?”
Wu Xiumin said, “His family was so angry with Liu Caiyun, they might have forced her to change her testimony or kept her in captivity. Then, after all these years, someone maybe sought revenge.”
Wu Xiumin then said earnestly, “Maybe only Cai Jinda was the target! But, unexpectedly, the killer encountered an accident, which caused him to kill more people!”
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“My God…” After Wu Xiumin finished speaking, she was surprised at her own wit. “When did I become as imaginative as you? I definitely think this is worth considering!”
Zhao Yu nodded affirmatively, although he still thought that Wu Xiumin’s hypothesis was a little far-fetched. After hanging up the phone, Zhao Yu rushed to a white board and began to add information to it.
He wrote that Cai Jinda was Cai Xiangbin’s nephew. Zhao Yu then drew a line on the white board, linking the two names. He then drew many circles next to Cai Xiangbin’s name.
Those circles meant that, if he wanted to know what happened to Liu Caiyun, he should ask the older family members, especially Cai Jinda’s father. However, Cai Jinda’s father had been dead for many years, while the other family members were not easy for the police to locate. So, he had to start with Cai Jinda’s mother or some other older female family members.
But, would they know the inside story?
Thinking about this, Zhao Yu was worried that he might be getting off track from the core of this case. Is the old case really related to the current murder on the island?
At first, Zhao Yu was confident in his intuition. But now, it seemed that the progression of the case was not going the way that his intuition had suggested.
At two o’clock in the afternoon, some of the evidence that had been sent over by Gao Facai was safely delivered to the command vessel. Among the evidence, there were important items, such as the deceased’s mobile phones and the cameras that had been used by the crew for shooting.
According to standard procedure, the police needed to check all of the data to see if there were any important clues. Since the Special Investigation Group couldn’t complete such a large workload by themselves, Zhao Yu had sought help from the Quliang Police.
Bureau Chief Wang Chenggang had immediately assigned a large number of experienced police officers to help them carry out this heavy workload. Before they began, Wang Chenggang stressed the importance of this work, demanding that they not miss a single clip or image.
After all of the arrangements were in place, Zhao Yu did not plan to stay on board. Instead, he said something to Zeng Ke, then borrowed a speedboat from Wang Chenggang and headed for land. Zeng Ke and Wang Chenggang had no idea where Zhao Yu was heading.
At the moment, Zhao Yu had important tasks of his own to complete. Today, although he had opened the same hexagram as yesterday, this side adventure had pointed him to a different location.
After checking the map, he found that the side adventure site was near the coastline of Quliang. As Zhao Yu could not miss such an important side adventure, he left ahead of time to make sure that he would not be late.
In the past, the side adventures had helped Zhao Yu a lot, and during his investigation of the Headless Female Corpses Case, the side adventure had even helped him find important clues!
Therefore, Zhao Yu was quite positive about this side adventure. In fact, he thought that the key point in solving this isolated island case might appear very soon!