Chinese online short story 罪恶有痕 Traces of Sin 36 (Intermediate to Advanced)

Looking through the window glass into the interview room, Mr. Zeng shook his head in denial and told detective Liu that he didn’t think Zhuang Liqun had been the mastermind behind the crime.

[simplified Chinese]
罪恶有痕 36

 

老曾隔着玻璃见到庄立群的时候，竟然摇了摇头。站在一旁的刘明天不解地问，“怎么？我们抓错人了？画像可是你画的啊！”

“人没抓错，不过他并不像主谋。你看他那副魂不守舍的样子，充其量就是个帮凶。虽然证人的印象是, 一号指挥二号. 但当时的情况是, 一号在她的视野里停留得比较长, 所以她可能会主观认为一号是主导。 二号在整个行动中很会隐蔽自己, 反倒可能是真正的主谋。”

老曾话音刚落, 刘明天就举起手里的二号画像, 仔细地端详起来。”我也有同感, 这个庄立群不是主谋。如果他能把二号供出来，就应该能破案了。”

 

[vocab table]

 
Simplified Chinese     Traditional Chinese     Mandarin Pinyin     English Definition

主谋
   

主謀
    zhu3 mou2     principal criminal

魂不守舍
        hun2 bu4 shou3 she4     to be preoccupied (idiom); to be frightened out of one’s mind;

充其量
        chong1 qi2 liang4     at most; at best

帮凶
   

幫兇
    bang1 xiong1     accomplice

主观
   

主觀
    zhu3 guan1     subjective

隐蔽
   

隱蔽
    yin3 bi4     to conceal; to hide

破案
        po4 an4     to solve a case

 

[pinyin]
 zuì’è yǒu hén 36

lǎo céng gé zhe bōli jiàndào zhuāng lì qún de shíhou， jìngrán yáo le yáotóu。 zhàn zài yīpáng de Liú míngtiān bùjiě dìwèn，“ zěnme？ wǒmen zhuā cuò rén le？ huàxiàng kěshì nǐ huà de ā！”

“ rén méi zhuā cuò， bùguò tā bìngbù xiàng zhǔ móu。 nǐ kàn tā nà fù húnbùshǒushè de yàngzi， chōngqíliàng jiùshì gèbāngxiōng。 suīrán zhèngrén de yìnxiàng shì, yīhào zhǐhuī èrhào。 dàn dāngshí de qíngkuàng shì, yīhào zài tā de shìyě lǐtíngliú dé bǐjiào cháng, suǒyǐ tā kěnéng huì zhǔguān rènwéi yīhào shì zhǔdǎo. èrhào zài zhěnggè xíngdòng zhōng hěn huìyǐnbì zìjǐ, fǎndào kěnéng shì zhēnzhèng de zhǔ móu.”

lǎo céng huàyīn gāng luò, Liú míngtiān jiù jǔqǐ shǒulǐ de èrhào huàxiàng, zǐxì dì duānxiáng qilai。” wǒ yě yǒu tónggǎn,zhège zhuāng lì qún bùshì zhǔ móu。 rúguǒ tā néng bǎ èrhào gōng chūlái， jiù yīnggāi néng pò’àn le。”

 

[traditional Chinese]
罪惡有痕 36

 

老曾隔著玻璃見到莊立群的時候，竟然搖了搖頭。站在一旁的劉明天不解地問，“怎麼？我們抓錯人了？畫像可是你畫的啊！”

“人沒抓錯，不過他並不像主謀。你看他那副魂不守舍的樣子，充其量就是個幫凶。雖然證人的印象是, 一號指揮二號。 但當時的情況是, 一號在她的視野裏停留得比較長, 所以她可能會主觀認為一號是主導。 二號在整個行動中很會隱蔽自己, 反倒可能是真正的主謀。”

老曾話音剛落, 劉明天就舉起手裏的二號畫像, 仔細地端詳起來。”我也有同感, 這個莊立群不是主謀。如果他能把二號供出來，就應該能破案了。”

 

[English translation]
Traces of Sin  36

Looking at Zhuang Liqun through the window glass, Mr. Zeng shook his head. Liu Mingtian, who was standing beside Mr. Zeng and feeling a bit puzzled, asked him, “Why? You think we got the wrong guy? It was you who drew the portait!”

“Yes, he’s the right guy. However, he doesn’t look like the mastermind behind the crime. Look at him. He’s scared and lost his focus. The best he could have been was just an accomplice. Although the witness got the impression that suspect one was the one in charge, not suspect two, it is possible that her judgement was skewed by spotting suspect one much longer that suspect two. Suspect two, on the other hand, was very agile in protecting himself all through the crime. He was more likely to be the principle criminal.

Liu Mingtian raised the portait of suspect two and looked at it carefully upon Mr’s Zeng’s comment. “I do feel the same way. Zhuang Liqun is not the brain. If he can make a confession about suspect two, then we should be able to crack the case.”