Chapter 3: My life-saving money was stolen
Jiang Xia, whose name had just been called, didn’t hesitate for a second. She immediately followed along.
Such an enormous sum of money was nothing less than the sky falling for an ordinary family. She had to get to the scene and see whether any clues had been left behind. Ideally, she’d solve the case.
She got on her bicycle and sped after Chief Wu.
The Donghua Road area still hadn’t replaced its old worker housing with apartment buildings. Most workers there still lived in single-story homes.
In earlier years, the neighborhood had been fairly orderly. But over the past few years, as families kept adding extensions to their houses, the lanes had become a tangled maze. A newcomer would almost certainly get hopelessly lost.
Chief Wu, however, had worked in the area for more than twenty years and knew every inch of it like the back of his hand.
Leading the team, he turned off the main road into a narrow alley, weaving left and right without taking a single wrong turn. In less than fifteen minutes, they arrived outside Dong Aihua’s home.
In that short time, a crowd had already gathered outside her gate, talking nonstop.
“How tragic…”
“All three members of her family are in the hospital waiting for that money.”
“Whoever did this has no conscience at all!”
…
“Make way! Police!”
Chief Wu got off his bicycle, leaned it against a wall, and pushed his way through the crowd gathered at the entrance.
Jiang Xia followed suit, propping her bike against the wall before hurrying after him. The moment she stepped through the courtyard gate, she saw an elderly woman in her fifties collapsed on the ground.
Her hair was disheveled, her face streaked with tears. Both cheeks were already swollen and red, yet she kept reaching up to slap herself.
“I never should’ve gone out!”
Two women clung tightly to her arms from either side.
“Auntie, Auntie, don’t do this!”
“That was the money that was going to save my family’s lives! We finally scraped enough together, and I lost it all! How are we supposed to go on living now?”
Words of comfort were painfully inadequate. Unable to free her hands to keep hitting herself, Dong Aihua instead repeatedly slammed her head forward, wishing there were a wall in front of her so she could smash into it and end her life on the spot.
Jiang Xia’s expression grew even more serious.
The situation was even more complicated than she’d imagined.
The money Dong Aihua had lost was life-saving medical money.
Theft cases rarely made headlines, but they were notoriously difficult to solve. The hardest part wasn’t catching the thief—it was catching the thief and recovering the stolen money.
Most thieves squandered the cash as soon as they got their hands on it. By the time the police painstakingly tracked them down through clues and surveillance, there was usually little, if any, money left.
The patients in the hospital couldn’t afford to wait. The sooner the case was solved, the greater the chance of recovering the money.
She had to identify the suspect as quickly as possible.
Jiang Xia swiftly surveyed the scene.
Dong Aihua’s home consisted of two buildings. The main house faced west, while a side room had been added on the south side. The side room was locked. To the north stood the back wall of the neighboring house, so three sides enclosed a small courtyard.
The courtyard gate was on the east. A section of wall extended from it—not very high, only about two meters. Anyone could climb over it with their bare hands.
She glanced down at the base of the wall.
Sure enough, it was covered with footprints.
Judging from the scene, quite a few people had entered the courtyard before the police were called.
Well, it was the 1980s. She couldn’t exactly expect people back then to have much awareness of preserving a crime scene.
The footprints were useless for the moment. Better to hear what had happened first, Jiang Xia thought.
“Chief Wu, you’re finally here!”
The head of the factory’s security department had been pacing anxiously around the courtyard. The moment he saw the police arrive, he hurried over and offered Chief Wu a cigarette.
Chief Wu accepted it but didn’t light it.
“What’s the situation here?” he asked.
“The money that was stolen was for surgery,” the security chief replied with a sigh. Having arrived only a short while earlier himself, he continued, “Her youngest grandson accidentally poured a kettle of boiling water over his own foot the day before yesterday. They say it’s a severe burn and he needs surgery, or he’ll have to have it amputated.”
“The boy’s mother—Dong Aihua’s daughter-in-law—is eight months pregnant. The shock sent her into premature labor. Now there are three people lying in the hospital, all waiting for this money to save their lives.”
At this point, even the security chief clenched his teeth, his voice trembling with anger.
“They scraped together that money by borrowing from everyone they could. It took them forever to raise it. And then some damned bastard stole every last cent the moment they turned their backs!”
Three lives were hanging in the balance.
Chief Wu’s hand couldn’t help but tremble. He tucked the cigarette behind his ear, took a deep breath, and asked,
“How was the money stolen? And how long ago did it happen?”
“Less than an hour ago, I think. About forty minutes?”
The security chief thought for a moment before answering.
“She went out to see a relative off. When she came back, she found the house had been burglarized and all the money was gone.”
That was far too vague.
Chief Wu realized he wasn’t going to get any useful details from the security chief.
He turned, about to question Dong Aihua himself, only to find Jiang Xia already crouching in front of her.
Taking out a handkerchief, Jiang Xia gently wiped away the woman’s tears while soothing her.
“Auntie, I know you’re devastated right now. But the most important thing is to catch the thief as quickly as possible and recover your money. Please try to calm down and tell me exactly when the money went missing. And when you got back, what did you find?”
Hm?
Chief Wu paused slightly.
This young woman was quick on the uptake.
He glanced to his right.
Hu Wei, another rookie, was still standing beside him. After hearing what had happened, Hu Wei’s face had turned bright red with anger—but that was about all he could do. Fresh on the job, he had no idea where to begin.
As for Old Lu, who was still standing by the entrance…
Better not mention that old hand.
Chief Wu took a couple of steps forward and stood behind Jiang Xia.
“I… I left to see my younger brother off at around eleven.”
With the police now present, Dong Aihua clung to them like her last lifeline.
She struggled to hold back her tears, but after crying for so long, she couldn’t stop herself from sobbing. Speaking in broken, halting sentences, she continued,
“He was in a hurry to get home, but the roads around here are confusing, so I told him I’d walk him out to the main road.”
“I locked both the front gate and the door to the main house before I left. When I came back, the front gate was still locked just as I’d left it. But as soon as I stepped into the courtyard, I saw that the main house door was open. My heart just sank. When I went inside, the cabinets had all been ransacked, and every penny we’d borrowed was gone.”
“I came out as soon as I heard Auntie shouting that there was a thief,” one of the women supporting Dong Aihua added.
“That would’ve been a little after 11:20.”
Jiang Xia took out her notebook, wrote down the timeline and sequence of events, then confirmed,
“So, Auntie, you were only out for about twenty minutes?”
Dong Aihua nodded.
“Y-yes… about that.”
“The thief worked incredibly fast. I’d say there’s a good chance we’re dealing with a seasoned professional.”
Chief Wu glanced at Jiang Xia’s notes, admiration—and a trace of regret—appearing in his eyes.
Just what you’d expect from a police academy graduate. Quick-thinking, organized…
What a pity…
Pushing the thought aside, he began analyzing the case.
“Outsiders don’t know their way around this neighborhood. Anyone who could pull off a burglary this quickly had to be a local familiar with the area. My guess is that word got around about Sister Dong borrowing money over the past few days, and the thief had been watching her.”
This was money meant to save lives. There wasn’t a moment to waste.
Having reached his conclusion, Chief Wu made a quick decision.
“Xiao Hu, Old Lu… and Jiang Xia. Don’t just stand around waiting for the Municipal Bureau to arrive. Split up and question the people outside. See if anyone noticed any local troublemakers or known petty thieves hanging around during that time.”
“Yes, Director!”
Hu Wei immediately acknowledged the order and ran out into the courtyard to question the bystanders.
Old Lu followed at an unhurried pace.
Jiang Xia, however, stayed where she was.
She felt Chief Wu’s overall line of reasoning wasn’t wrong, but he’d reached his conclusion too hastily—he hadn’t even examined the scene before deciding what had happened.
That was common practice at the time. Criminal investigation in China was still in its infancy. Grassroots police officers, and even many detectives, relied heavily on personal experience to solve cases. Confessions were valued more than physical evidence, making it easy to overlook important clues.
After taking a look at the cloth shoes Dong Aihua was wearing, Jiang Xia stood up, walked to the doorway of the main house, and looked inside.
The main house was about seven or eight meters long. A brick wall divided it into two rooms: the front served as a combined living and dining area for receiving guests, while the back room was a bedroom.
Inside the bedroom, every cabinet—the wardrobe, bedside cabinet, and others—had been thrown open. Most of the clothes had been pulled out and tossed carelessly onto the bed and floor.
The living room, however, was untouched.
The only thing out of place was an empty biscuit tin lying open on the floor, along with several sets of footprints.
Jiang Xia’s gaze lingered on the biscuit tin and the footprints. A vague idea was beginning to form in her mind.
But it wasn’t enough yet.
She turned her attention outside.
A padlock carelessly discarded on the ground caught her eye.
Several reddish scuff marks marred its surface—marks left by repeated blows from a brick.
“Xia, didn’t you hear the director tell you to go question people?”
Seeing Jiang Xia ignore the order and stand staring at the doorway instead, Old Lu frowned in displeasure.
“What are you looking at over there?”
“Chief Wu, I’ve found something.”
Ignoring Old Lu’s sarcastic tone, Jiang Xia picked up the padlock and walked over to Chief Wu.
“Take a look at this lock. It was smashed open with a brick.”
Old Lu curled his lip.
“What’s so special about a padlock?”
Dong Aihua was still clutching at Chief Wu’s sleeve. He glanced at the lock, equally puzzled.
“The padlock was smashed open. So what?”
Jiang Xia answered frankly.
“I don’t think the thief was a professional.”
“Not a professional?”
Although Jiang Xia had contradicted his assessment, Chief Wu wasn’t offended. She was a police academy graduate, after all—she had to know something.
“Go on,” he said. “Let’s hear your reasoning.”
“This type of single-row pin tumbler padlock isn’t very sturdy and is easy to pick. Anyone who’s committed even a few burglaries would know to pry it open with a pair of pliers or a wrench. It’s quick, quiet, and one of the most common methods used by experienced thieves.”
“That said, carrying pliers or a wrench around all the time is cumbersome and attracts attention. So more experienced thieves usually carry a short piece of steel wire and a thin metal shim instead. They can manipulate the pins directly to pick the lock—it’s faster and far more discreet.”
As she spoke, Jiang Xia rotated the battered padlock in her hand so Chief Wu could see the damage.
“But this lock was smashed open. Look at it—it must have taken more than a dozen blows. That’s incredibly loud. What if someone had come to investigate? And smashing a lock is largely a matter of luck. You never know which strike will finally break it open. Only someone who’s never picked a lock before would resort to something like this.”
“Hmm…”
Chief Wu inhaled softly.
Taking the padlock from her, he examined the marks closely. He was already eighty or ninety percent convinced by Jiang Xia’s reasoning.
She had a point.
The average person didn’t know how to pick a lock. If they lost their key and didn’t want to pay a locksmith, they’d simply smash the lock with a hammer. The noise would echo through the entire building. This neighborhood wouldn’t be any different. No experienced burglar would dare make that kind of racket.
He hadn’t expected that the method used to open a lock could reveal something about the criminal.
Looking at Jiang Xia with newfound curiosity, he asked,
“They teach lock-picking at the police academy?”
“Uh…”
Jiang Xia put on a perfectly polite smile.
“No, they don’t. I studied that on my own.”
Modern police academy courses covered criminal investigation, but there was very little on trace evidence, and nothing at all about lock-picking.
Her expertise came entirely thanks to the system.
After all, breaking into houses was still theft. A Master-Level Theft skill naturally included slipping through doors and picking locks.
She just hadn’t expected those skills to come in handy here.
She studied lock-picking on her own?
And she knows every tool and technique by heart?
Chief Wu stared at Jiang Xia, his expression growing a little odd.
“You… can actually pick locks yourself, can’t you?”
“A little.”
Jiang Xia nodded without hesitation.
“Once you understand the mechanics, it’s not that difficult.”
That made sense.
If she understood how locks worked, it was only natural she’d know how to open them.
Chief Wu gave Jiang Xia a long, searching look, committing her face to memory.
He didn’t say anything else.
The case came first.
Seeing that no one was paying him any attention, Old Lu couldn’t resist inserting himself into the conversation again.
“So what if the police academy didn’t teach you?” he scoffed.
He turned his criticism on Jiang Xia.
“Listen here, young lady. You just graduated—you don’t understand how investigations work yet. Do you have any idea how much extra work it takes to change the direction of an investigation? There are novices everywhere! This whole area is full of people who’ve never stolen before. Where exactly are we supposed to start looking?”