ebookland Chapter 1132 Interpersonal Relationship Survey
Chapter 1132 Interpersonal Relationship Survey
When Xiao Wang's police car pulled up in front of the bearing factory dormitory, the white shirts hanging on the clotheslines were still swaying in the morning breeze. Zhang Jianguo's wife, Liu Guiying, was wearing a faded floral shirt with the cuffs rolled up to her elbows, revealing an old silver bracelet on her wrist—a wedding gift from Zhang Jianguo. "Officer, please come in," she said, her voice hoarse from crying. Her knuckles left red marks on the doorknob as she opened it. The glass on the coffee table in the living room was still steaming, with a faint ring of tea stains on its rim.
"Who does Master Zhang usually associate with at the factory?" Xiao Wang's notebook lay open on the coffee table, the pen cap tapping lightly on the words "interpersonal relationships." Liu Guiying suddenly turned her head, looking at the wedding photo on the wall—Zhang Jianguo in the photo was wearing blue overalls, smiling broadly, revealing his two front teeth. "He's close to Old Li in the warehouse and Master Wang in the workshop," she wiped her eyes, her silver bracelet rustling softly against her cuff. "He goes home every day after get off work, either to repair old appliances or to accompany me to the market. He doesn't even play cards, how could he offend anyone?"
Old Li, the warehouse manager, was counting bearings, his calloused fingers sliding across the parts box. "Jianguo is such an honest guy," he said, picking up a 6205 bearing, its raceway gleaming in the sunlight. "Last time Li Jun wanted to get materials but didn't sign for them, he wouldn't give them to him. They argued a bit, but then Li Jun offered him a cigarette, and it was over." Old Li suddenly lowered his voice, leaning closer to Xiao Wang: "He'd grumble about even stepping on an ant for ages. Last month a stray cat came into the warehouse, and he brings cat food to feed it every day. How could he possibly have an enemy?" His fingers left shallow marks on the bearing box. "I really can't understand who would do something so cruel to him."
When Xiao Wang found Li Jun in the workshop, he was squatting next to a machine tool changing cutting tools, the machine oil stains leaving dark marks on his work pants. "I did argue with Master Zhang, but it was just about getting materials," he said, twirling a wrench in his hand, his eyes glancing towards the warehouse in the distance. "The next day I offered him a cigarette, and he just smiled and said, 'Following the rules is the right thing to do.' Really, it's just a small matter, not worth killing someone over." Li Jun's Adam's apple bobbed. "He's just too meticulous, but he's not a bad person. Last year, when my son was short of money for school, he secretly gave me two thousand yuan, which I still haven't paid back."
Zhang Jianguo's younger sister, Zhang Guixiang, lived in a neighboring village. When Xiao Wang visited her home, the chickens in the yard were pecking at food. She was holding her one-year-old grandson, the child's laughter mingling with her sobs. "My brother was like an old ox," she said, her fingernails digging deeply into her grandson's swaddling clothes. "When he was little, we were poor, so he dropped out of school early to work in a factory, sending all his wages home for my education." Suddenly remembering something, she turned and pulled a photo from a drawer. "This was taken last month when he came to deliver vegetables to me. He said the factory had given out benefits and that he wanted to buy my grandson a tricycle." In the photo, Zhang Jianguo was squatting in the vegetable garden, holding a bunch of greens, his face crinkled with laughter.
When asking Zhang Jianguo's neighbors, Xiao Wang found Grandpa Zhao in the pavilion of the community. An unfinished chess game lay on his board, the positions of the knight and cannon showing signs of tension. "Jianguo gets up at 5:30 every morning to go to the morning market to buy fried dough sticks," Grandpa Zhao said, his chess pieces tapping against the board with a dull thud. "He always brings me one back, saying, 'Grandpa, your teeth aren't good, this one's fried until it's soft.'" His eyes suddenly reddened, and a chess piece slipped from his hand to the ground. "Just a few days ago he was telling me that his son had been admitted to university and he was saving money to buy him a computer, how could this happen..."
In the union chairman's office at the bearing factory, banners hung neatly on the wall. "Zhang Jianguo has been named an advanced worker for five consecutive years," the chairman said, flipping through the yellowed certificate, the edges of the pages curled. "His attendance record shows he's never missed a day, except for the day his mother passed away. Last time the factory held a fundraising event, he donated half a month's salary, saying, 'We're all fellow workers, it's only right to help each other.'" He suddenly pointed to Zhang Jianguo's file, "The public evaluations are full of 'reliable,' 'honest,' and 'warm-hearted,' not a single negative comment. I've never heard of him making enemies with anyone."
When Xiao Wang found team leader Lao Zhou in Zhang Jianguo's workshop, Lao Zhou was staring blankly at the assembly line, the robotic arm's movements of clamping bearings appearing as blurry double images in his eyes. "Jianguo's bearing inspections are never wrong," Lao Zhou's finger traced across the inspection records. "Once, when a batch of defective products was discovered, he insisted on reworking them overnight, saying, 'We can't ruin the factory's reputation.'" He suddenly remembered something. "Last month, a distributor tried to give him two cartons of cigarettes to make an exception, but he yelled at him and said, 'Don't try that on me.' Could that be it?" But the distributor's whereabouts showed that he was on a business trip out of town at the time of the incident and had no time to commit the crime.
As Liu Guiying poured water for Xiao Wang in the kitchen, the cupboard door wasn't closed tightly, revealing a medicine box inside—Zhang Jianguo's blood pressure medication, neatly arranged, with a label dated July 14th. "He has high blood pressure and takes one pill every night," she said, her hand tracing the medicine box. "On the night of the 14th, he said the factory was doing inventory and he'd be back late. I heated up the food and waited for him, but he didn't come until midnight..." She suddenly covered her mouth, tears falling onto the iron pot on the stove. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have let him go. It's just inventory, what's more important than life..."
Zhang Jianguo's son, Zhang Lei, was studying at a university in another city. When Xiao Wang contacted him via video call, the boy's eyes were red and swollen, and he was clutching a fountain pen his father had given him. "Every time my dad calls, he says, 'Don't skimp on money, eat well,'" his voice trembled with tears, the pen tip poking a small hole in his notebook. "Last time I went home, he secretly slipped a bank card into my bag, saying, 'The password is your birthday,' and there was 20,000 yuan in it..." He suddenly remembered something, "My dad said that a few bearings had recently gone missing from the warehouse, and he was investigating who took them. Could this be the reason?" But the factory's theft records showed that the number of missing bearings was small, and no report had been filed, which seemed insufficient to constitute a motive for murder.
The questioning continued until evening. Xiao Wang's notebook was filled with 37 pages, each page brimming with regret and confusion. Zhang Jianguo's image gradually became clear from these fragmented pieces of information: a husband who returned home on time every day, a father who quietly supported his son's education, a kind man who brought fried dough sticks to the neighbors, a coworker who never argued with anyone. His life was like the raceway of a bearing—regular, stable, without a single crack that could trigger murder.
As Liu Guiying saw Xiao Wang off, the setting sun cast long shadows of the two of them. "Officer," she suddenly grabbed Xiao Wang's arm, the silver bracelet digging painfully into him, "Jianguo really has no enemies. You must find the murderer, otherwise he won't rest in peace..." Xiao Wang watched the light in her eyes dim little by little, like a candle flame extinguished by the wind. As the police car drove away, the white shirt on the dormitory building still swayed, as if silently telling the story of an honest man's tragic end.