Chapter 309: The One Who Does Art

Qi Fei looked past Wu Chongyue's shoulder at the dog behind him: "We traveled such a long way, won't you invite us in to sit for a while? Otherwise, the dog will have to bark again next time we come."

Qi Fei's words left Wu Chongyue with nothing to say, so he had to lead them inside.

The dog was tied with an iron chain, and the closer they got, the more fiercely it barked. The iron chain on its neck clattered, sounding particularly noisy early in the morning.

"This dog is fierce enough." Wu Shanqiu muttered.

Wu Chongyue immediately explained: "There are no neighbors around where we live. I bought this dog because I saw it loved to bark; it's for guarding the house. Don't look at how fiercely it barks; it's actually a coward when it's really let out and doesn't dare to bite people at all."

Wu Shanqiu pouted. This sounded strange, as if a dog should bite people.

However, this was not important. Walking through the concrete courtyard, they entered Wu Chongyue's home.

Perhaps because it was a self-built house, the ceiling height of the first floor was higher than ordinary buildings. It was designed in a style that was neither rustic nor modern. The upper part of the white walls was covered with layers of gray due to age, making one's nose itch and want to sneeze. Only the black-and-white photo hanging on the wall was new; that was Wu Xingzhou's memorial portrait.

Compared to his younger brother Wu Xingyang, Wu Xingzhou's appearance was clearly more outstanding and could be considered handsome. Even a stranger seeing this memorial portrait would feel regret that such a person had passed away.

However, right below Wu Xingzhou's memorial portrait, Zhu Haitang and Wu Xingyang, mother and son, were sitting at a round table in the living room eating.

The round table was placed against the wall, just enough to seat three people. Watching the mother and son wolfing down their food with great appetite, the three police officers believed even more in what Zhong Kui had said last night. They indeed didn't look like people who had lost a loved one; they were cold without reservation.

Zhu Haitang didn't forget to pick up food for Wu Xingyang, fussing over him as if this son were not twenty years old but only two.

Seeing the three people enter the house, Zhu Haitang finally put down the bowl and chopsticks in her hand and looked at Wu Chongyue uneasily. In this situation, if anyone said this couple wasn't hiding something, no one would believe it.

As if to put Zhu Haitang at ease, Wu Chongyue puffed out his chest and said to Qi Fei: "Let's talk about something practical. Xingzhou wasn't home when the incident happened. We don't know where he went. I only found out when Wu Shulan called me."

Cai Ding was very surprised: "You didn't tell me about this situation before?"

"I knew you were convinced I killed my son; it would have been useless for me to tell you. Police from the city have seen the world and will know I'm not telling a lie," Wu Chongyue said sarcastically, still holding a grudge about being locked in the detention center.

Qi Fei didn't buy his fawning and fawning: "We will verify the situation you mentioned. Wu Xingzhou was your son; he didn't come back all night, and you actually didn't know his whereabouts?"

Before Wu Chongyue could speak, Zhu Haitang took a step forward and said: "It's not that we didn't want to know. This child has been rebellious since he was a child; we couldn't do anything about him. Sigh, I knew he would have an accident sooner or later if he associated with those unsavory friends."

"Men are talking, why are you, a woman, interrupting..." Wu Chongyue suddenly scolded Zhu Haitang.

Qi Fei interrupted Wu Chongyue: "Facing the police investigation means telling everything you know." He said, facing Zhu Haitang, "What kind of friends?"

Zhu Haitang was stunned by Wu Chongyue's shout and hesitated to look at him, not daring to speak for a long time. It seemed that Wu Chongyue not only had prestige in the clan but even more so at home.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. Out of the blue, Wu Xingyang, who was eating breakfast on the side, put down the chopsticks in his hand heavily. First, he shouted at Wu Chongyue: "What are you yelling for? My brother just associated with unsavory friends; what can't be told to the police?"

Looking at this rebellious attitude, according to how Wu Chongyue had just faced Zhu Haitang, he should have started to lose his temper. Unexpectedly, Wu Chongyue held back, his face flushed red as he suppressed it: "You will be the eldest grandson in the future; pay attention to your attitude."

"Heh, no matter how bad I am as the eldest grandson, can I be worse than my brother?" Wu Xingyang lifted his head, not even glancing at the memorial portrait on the wall. "If you don't let my mom speak, then I'll say it. My brother was an artist, so what? Those people with him were all crazy, hiding in rental houses every day not knowing what they were tinkering with. If it weren't for the elders of the Wu family insisting on seniority, he wouldn't be worthy of this eldest grandson status at all."

"Rental house? So Wu Xingzhou didn't live here?" Qi Fei asked.

"That's not it. Most of the time he still came back to sleep. Mainly he rented a house outside with those friends of his, right in the town. As soon as those messy friends came to Sanwu Town, he disappeared. Everyone in our family knew he must be fooling around with those people in that rental house. Once he had fun, he wouldn't come home for several days. This really can't be blamed on my parents. At first, my dad even went to town to look for him, and they had a big fight. Later, we just stopped caring. The money for renting that house was also family money. You can go and see; it's full of the smell of paint. Maybe he was there the day the incident happened, and it was paint poisoning!" Wu Xingyang's words were full of disdain.

Qi Fei listened and looked at Wu Chongyue and Zhu Haitang again. The two of them actually lowered their heads in embarrassment.

How ironic. Even the awkward demeanor that hadn't appeared when their son passed away was now present because of their son's strange behavior during his lifetime.

Qi Fei looked around this self-built house that revealed rigidity everywhere with an incomprehensible mood. Except for that memorial portrait, there was no trace of such an "artist" son having lived there.

"Since he came back at night, take us to see his bedroom?" Qi Fei said.

Regarding this request from Qi Fei, the family was quite straightforward and didn't hide anything at all, taking them upstairs immediately.

This neither-rustic-nor-modern self-built house even had a spiral staircase. When they reached the second floor, they turned directly into a suite attached to the staircase. Qi Fei poked his head to look at the door facing the staircase and saw a huge living room inside, with two bedrooms opposite.

"Your house is big enough." Qi Fei said, pointing to the opposite side of the living room: "Is that where the three of you live?"

"Yes, the rooms have been divided like this since we were kids." Wu Xingyang's tone carried the superiority of being favored.

"That kid often came back in the middle of the night. My wife doesn't sleep well, so letting him live here won't disturb our rest," Wu Chongyue made up.

Wu Shanqiu broke it without giving face: "Didn't your younger son just say that this house was divided since you were kids? Wu Xingzhou has been staying out all night since he was a kid?"

Wu Chongyue knew he had said the wrong thing and went to open Wu Xingzhou's room with his head down.

Qi Fei was a bit surprised the moment he saw Wu Xingzhou's room. According to the Wu family's description, he thought this room should have the "spontaneity" of an artist and be very messy, but the fact was exactly the opposite. ===== CHAPTER 310 =====