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After waiting for a while, I noticed that the time had already pointed to 4:30. Just as I was about to take my leave, the phone on the table rang.
"What's going on?" Ah Huang answered the call.
"What? Really? Go in for a frontal assault! Bring him back to the station immediately! Remember, don't talk to him on the way!" Ah Huang sounded a bit excited.
After hanging up, Ah Huang turned to me and said, "The agent who was collecting evidence at the school has confirmed that the footprint data of the victim's son, Chen Chuge, matches that of a third party found in the study. Moreover, we discovered the original shoe that made the footprints in Chen's dormitory, and the tread pattern is identical! This confirms that Chen had indeed visited the victim and Yueyue's residence!"
"Is it really him?" I found it hard to believe. Just then, someone outside reported, and Ah Huang shouted, "Come in."
A police officer entered. "Deputy Chief, the technical analysis results are out. The substance you brought back from the bottle is Sodium."
"Sodium? Is it just Sodium? Is there any Phosphorus?"
"The report doesn't mention anything else; it's only Sodium!"
"Alright, got it. You can go now; leave the report here."
"Didn't they also find Phosphorus?" I asked.
"Yeah! It's strange," Ah Huang frowned.
After a moment of silence, I couldn't help but ask again, "But why would Chen Chuge want to kill his own father?"
"I don't know," Ah Huang shook his head.
"Could it be that Yang Xuan instigated the victim's son to do it?" Ah Huang immediately dismissed this possibility. "That's unlikely; such a big kid already has the ability to discern right from wrong, especially when it comes to his own father."
"Uh, does Chen Chuge know Yueyue?" I thought of a dramatic possibility. "Are they conspiring to kill his father?" Ah Huang was very sharp and caught on quickly. "We need to investigate their connections; this could only be one possibility. Moreover, considering the crime scene and timing, it clearly doesn't fit and would easily point the finger back at them."
It seems that no matter what, we still have to wait for Chen Chuge to arrive.
I called Old Tang and told him I would be back later, asking him to organize the Roll Call and debriefing at five. I was really curious to see what kind of person Chen Chuge was.
Around a little after five, Chen Chuge was brought into an interrogation room. Ah Huang personally brought in a Recorder. Another officer and I could only wait outside. There was also a communication device that, when activated, allowed us to hear the voices inside. The glass was one-way transparent, so we could also see what was happening inside.
Chen Chuge sat in the interrogation room chair. Unlike this afternoon, he wasn’t wearing his Glasses, and he looked visibly anxious and fearful, sweating profusely—completely opposite from his indifference at the Cemetery earlier.
“Do you know why we brought you here?”
“No, I don’t know, Officer. What’s wrong with me?”
Hmm? This voice wasn’t the same as the one we heard this afternoon; it was clearly that of a boy going through puberty—much rougher, deeper, and somewhat hoarse.
Ah Huang glanced back at me and then turned to ask, “You really don’t know?”
“I—I don’t know.”
“Do you know how your father died?”
“Yang Xuan, she—she self-ignited!” Chen Chuge nearly burst into tears as he called her name; it seemed their relationship wasn’t very good.
“Is that so?” Ah Huang sneered slightly and placed the technical report in front of him. “The investigation shows that you entered your father’s study before his death and poured something on him. Do we need to remind you what it was?”
“Ah!” Chen Chuge slumped back in his chair. “I don’t know! I didn’t do anything! Officer! I don’t remember any of this!” His face showed confusion and fear, which seemed genuine.
Ah Huang fell silent for a moment, tapping the report on the table. “Your roommate said you didn’t return to the dormitory after your morning class and only came back before your afternoon class. Where did you go during that time? Moreover, your footprints were found in the room. How do you explain that?”
“Ah, I really didn’t do anything!” Chen Chuge suddenly jumped up, appearing somewhat hysterical.
Ah Huang frowned and pressed the bell on the table. An officer rushed in immediately. Ah Huang said, “Keep an eye on him for now and apply for a lie detector test.”
Ah Huang turned and left the room, coming to my side. I stared at him. "Why did your voice change?" Ah Huang was taken aback. "You noticed too?!"
I looked at him in surprise. "I'm not deaf!"
We stood there in silence for a moment, unable to bypass this question. Could it be that we both heard wrong?
Just then, a police officer approached Ah Huang. "The person following Yang Xuan has returned and brought this."
Ah Huang took a piece of paper, read it for a moment, and excitedly exclaimed, "Great, bring Yang Xuan here!"
He turned to me and said, "The investigation shows that there is sodium missing from the lab managed by Yang Xuan, and there hasn't been any chemical research in that area recently. By comparing the residual sodium in Chen Chuge's bottle with that from the lab, we found they are products from the same period, which confirms they originated from the lab. Furthermore, Yang Xuan has signed up for a psychological consultant training course. This is the training schedule and times; look, it's mostly about Hypnosis! I suspected she might have instigated Chen Chuge, but I didn't expect her to use such extreme measures. Is Hypnosis really that powerful?!"
After a while, the results of the lie detection test came back: Chen Chuge was truthful. At that moment, he was brought back into the interrogation room, slumped like a pile of mud on the bench beside it, his eyes vacant and dazed.
I continued to watch from outside. When Ah Huang had Yang Xuan sit down in the chair opposite him, he pushed the report towards her. Yang Xuan glanced at it and her face changed dramatically; she immediately collapsed into her chair, mumbling with vacant eyes, "Karma! Karma! In the end, it's all for nothing!" Then she slowly began recounting everything.
Yang Xuan could not get pregnant, so for ten years she lived in fear of the deceased having another woman. She treated Chen Chuge exceptionally well, hoping to forever move the deceased's heart.
Initially, the deceased was indeed moved by her; their small family was quite happy. However, in recent years, as the deceased's wealth grew and social obligations increased, Yang Xuan felt she was gradually losing control over him. The more she tried to control him, the further apart they drifted. Finally, after learning about Yueyue, she couldn't help but confront the deceased for an in-depth conversation. However, he dismissed her concerns and mocked her for having climbed to her position in a similar way. Now that she had what she wanted but could not bear children, wasn't it better to just live her life with one eye closed?
Unable to withstand the humiliation, Yang Xuan slapped the deceased. To her surprise, he became enraged and started hitting her. Terrified, Yang Xuan grabbed a kitchen knife for self-defense. The deceased was furious; not only did he continue to beat and insult her, but he also threatened that before he died, he would have someone kill Yang Xuan first. Initially, Yang Xuan thought this was just a threat. But when he bought life insurance for himself and named his son as the beneficiary, she finally exploded.
Seeing how heartless and irresponsible he was made Yang Xuan decide to fight back. The best way to retaliate was to use his own weapon against him. Yang Xuan thought: if she killed him, all his property and insurance compensation would go to Chen Chuge. Since Chen Chuge was still a minor and she would be his guardian, it would mean she could control all of the deceased's assets indirectly. How could she exclude herself from suspicion? The best way was to use someone else to do it—who? Yang Xuan set her sights on Chen Chuge. Having spent ten years together, she knew Chen Chuge's character was extremely weak; perhaps it was due to generational differences—those who are weaker are more suggestible.
How could she manipulate Chen Chuge? Yang Xuan remembered studying psychology during college and thought of Hypnosis and suggestion. So under the pretense of wanting to take a level two psychological consultant course, she enrolled in a training program run by a well-known local psychologist and diligently studied theoretical knowledge while actively asking questions about anything she didn’t understand.
Yang Xuan knew that Chen Chuge harbored some resentment about her past experiences with his father; therefore, she concocted a story to deceive him: that his father had abandoned her after seducing her mother and caused his mother long-term depression leading to suicide. Before dying, his mother had entrusted her to take care of their family. Only after much pleading from Chen's father did she marry into their family as a replacement for Liu Yibing.
To intensify Chen Chuge's suffering further, Yang Xuan also told him about Yueyue's situation with great sorrow. Poor Chen Chuge had a father who hardly had time or inclination to discipline him; all he knew was to keep giving money—did money solve everything?
Under Yang Xuan's constant deception and incitement, Chen Chuge grew increasingly resentful towards his father—especially after learning about his father's affair with Yueyue—leaving him confused and tormented. Coincidentally marking ten years since his mother's death anniversary, he couldn't help but reveal everything at her grave during his visit.
Yang Xuan had just followed him to the Cemetery. Taking advantage of his dazed state as he left, she hypnotized him, implanting the suggestion that his mother was possessing him to seek revenge. Coincidentally, Tomb-Sweeping Day fell on a weekend. The night before, she knew the deceased would be with Yueyue, so she secretly gave the spare key and some sodium stolen from the lab to Chen Chuge, suggesting he go to his father's place at noon to ignite the sodium.
Yang Xuan had secretly visited that place and knew that the study would be directly exposed to sunlight at noon and in the afternoon. Even if the curtains were drawn, the temperature would rise. She had already planned everything and was aware of the deceased's Unwavering Afternoon Nap Habit. Due to his poor sleep, he took sleeping pills before bed.
Thus, everything unfolded as planned. The flames under the sunlight consumed an irresponsible husband and burned down a family.
After Yang Xuan finished her confession and signed her statement, she was helped up by the police and taken away.
I noticed that when Chen Chuge saw Yang Xuan being led out of the interrogation room, he looked up and smiled ominously. A chill ran down my spine! That smile resembled Liu Yibing's smile on the tombstone in the Cemetery. I suddenly remembered that Liu Yibing in the photo on the tombstone also wore black-framed glasses!
I felt a bit dazed, my mind flooded with questions: Was it Yang Xuan who hypnotized Chen Chuge, making him believe he was possessed by his mother seeking revenge? Or was it Liu Yibing who possessed her son to take revenge?
But Yang Xuan had clearly released him from hypnosis and suggestions at her home on Sunday. So why did Chen Chuge go to the cemetery? Why did he place the bottle containing sodium in front of the tombstone? And whose strange tone was it?
Moreover, since Yang Xuan confessed to giving sodium to Chen Chuge to put in his father’s pocket while he was wearing pajamas, then who placed the phosphorus at the scene? Clearly, when phosphorus and sodium mixed together under intense sunlight, they ignited instantly, creating a wick effect that turned the deceased into ashes. The deceased would not commit suicide; there were no other footprints at the scene. My thoughts vaguely pointed toward one person—why did she want to kill the deceased? What secrets lay hidden beneath that youthful and beautiful face?
(The full text of "Human Candle" has concluded. Stay tuned for the next chapter "Battle of the Floating Bridge," "Love Like the Wind," "The Work of Chasing the Wind." Tomorrow will be even more exciting!)
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