This is impossible! Something must have gone wrong!
Mu Yu took a few deep breaths and quickly dialed Jiang Wenwen’s number. She didn’t even greet her and asked straightaway, “Was it on the afternoon of 17th of September that your school organized that donation activity for charity in Cheng Xi Park?
The 17th of September. That day left a deep impression on her. Because on that day, three major events happened: reporting to the workplace, getting to know Qin Jinhuan, and the Sun Meilan’s murder case.
“Yes, what’s wrong?” Jiang Wenwen was smiling on the other end of the phone.
“Are you sure you saw Yan Xiaobing that day?”
“Yes, I saw him. What’s the matter?”
“Are you sure?”
Mu Yu’s eager questioning caused Jiang Wenwen to be cautious. She immediately stopped giggling and asked with a trace of suspicion, “Why are you asking?”
“Answer me quickly!”
Jiang Wenwen answered after she paused for a few moments, “I think I saw him.”
“I need you to be more specific! Did you see him or not? This is a matter of life and death!”
“What? Yu, don’t scare me! How could it be a matter of life and death?”
Mu Yu thought about it, and decided to tell her the truth. “At around 10p.m. on 17th of September, Sun Meilan was murdered and her body was abandoned in Cheng Xi forest. The primary crime scene has not been found yet. For now, the police had conducted an investigation on every person who had held a grudge against Sun Meilan and basically ruled out everyone. But I found an exception today…”
Jiang Wenwen immediately reacted, “Bing?”
“Yes.” Mu Yu’s tone turned heavy. “I’ve seen his interrogation records. He said that 17th of September was the death anniversary of his wife, his child and his father. He took a day off and returned to his hometown to pray for them at dawn. At night, he stayed in the old house with his mother until he had to go back to the city for work the next day. But, today you said that you saw him at the donation site on the afternoon of 17th September. If you weren’t wrong, this means that he had made a false confession. Moreover, the donation site is very close to the forest where Sun Meilan’s body was found. I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.”
Jiang Wenwen was finally aware of the seriousness of the situation, and dared not to casually speak out anymore. After a while, she said hesitantly, “Until now, I am still unsure whether I really saw Bing at that time. It’s possible that I’ve mistaken someone as him. It could be someone who looked like Bing. Because there were a lot of people at that time, and it was almost the end of the donation event that evening. Plus, it was about to rain and the sky was quite dark.”
Mu Yu was desperate. “Think again, carefully!”
Although she didn’t want to believe that Yan Xiaobing would lie about this, out of her sense of justice, though she would not accuse a good person, she wouldn’t acquit a bad person either. She knew that she had to thoroughly investigate this matter herself.
Now that things had turned out this way, how could Jiang Wenwen speak out simply?
After a while, she said, “Yu, my mind is a bit confused now. I can’t answer your question. But our school has the records of names and contact information of the donors. I will find the head of department to get the record book and check it tomorrow.”
Mu Yu was very disappointed at her answer. “All the signs in Sun Meilan’s case have indicated that the murderer was well prepared when he committed the crime. If the murderer was Yan Xiaobing, he’d certainly not leave any clues in the record book. Even if he really left his personal information as a donor, it’ll definitely be fake.”
“Then what if I get Bing’s picture and let my colleagues identify him?”
“That would be troublesome.”
Yan Xiaobing was the kind of person who looked and dressed very ordinarily. He wouldn’t leave an impression on anyone just by one glance when he stood in the crowds.
“Then what should I do?” Obviously, Jiang Wenwen was also anxious.
“Go and clear up your mind, and recall the situation on that day properly.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Wenwen sighed. Mu Yu felt a little distressed when she heard it, but didn’t say much and quietly hung up the phone. In fact, she was just like Jiang Wenwen. She was reluctant to include Yan Xiaobing in the list of suspects.
After thinking for a while, she dialed Rong Jian’s number. It was her duty to not miss any clue in order to solve the case.
After she reported that Jiang Wenwen might have seen Yan Xiaobing at Cheng Xi Park on the evening of the incident, she carefully asked, “Chief Rong, what caused the bad blood between Yan Xiaobing and Sun Meilan?”
Since Yan Xiaobing had been interrogated before, this meant that he and Sun Meilan might have had conflicts before.
Rong Jian obviously paid a lot of attention to this clue. After writing down everything she said, he then responded to her question, “You’re not aware of the incident that befell Yan Xiaobing’s family five years ago, are you?”
“Are you referring to the fire that got his family killed?”
“You know about it?”
“Wenwen told me about it. It’s the Wenwen I mentioned just now. She is my best friend and a neighbor of Yan Xiaobing. You have interrogated her before.”
“Yes. Such an incident had befallen Yan Xiaobing’s family. The people living in the same area had sympathized with him, and donated money and necessities…”
Mu Yu was surprised. “Sun Meilan donated too?”
“She’s an exception. Not only did she not donate anything, she even spread rumors all over the place, saying that the Yan family would meet such misfortune because of Yan Xiaobing’s surname. According to her, his surname meant the king of hell, and that men with the surname Yan have tough lives. She added that most people couldn’t suppress the omen, so his wife and unborn child were destined to die because of him. Last year, thanks to the matchmaking by the neighbors, he got a new girlfriend, but it didn’t take long for them to break up because of Sun Meilan’s denigration. Yan Xiaobing really couldn’t take it anymore, and went to confront Sun Meilan. However, he ended up being beaten to a pulp by Gan Wulin. Since then, Sun Meilan had become more arrogant. As soon as she learned that Bing had a girlfriend, she would find ways to tell the girlfriend about how Yan Xiaobing was destined to bring death to his wife and child. Because of her, Yan Xiaobing is still single and alone.”
“How can such people exist? That’s too much!” Mu Yu was furious.
“That’s why Yan Xiaobing had the motive to kill Sun Meilan and cut her tongue into pieces. The clue that you provided today is very important. I will immediately send someone to follow up. Goodbye.” After all, Rong Jian was the chief of the criminal investigation team. He was more observant to these points.
“Hey Chief Rong! If you have any updates, please inform me.”
“Sure.”
After she heard Rong Jian hung up the phone, Mu Yu put her phone aside and lay down silently. She stared blankly at the ceiling, and Yan Xiaobing’s earnest face flickered in her mind involuntarily. She was instantly filled with mixed feelings.
Sun Meilan’s behaviour and actions were indeed very disgusting, but Mu Yu knew that killing her wasn’t the best solution. Thinking that Yan Xiaobing might be the murderer, her heart was weighed down by an indescribable heaviness.
With a clicking sound, the door opened. Needless to say, she knew Qin Jinhuan was back. Mu Yu put her thoughts away and closed her eyes pretending to sleep, yet she couldn’t help but secretly sigh.
When she checked on her small notebook previously, it was to divert her attention from the things between her and Qin Jinhuan. However, her mood now had turned heavier than before.
Since she didn’t have any sign of falling asleep, she turned around, listening carefully to the surroundings.
After a wave of rustling sounds, there weren’t any more movements in the room, and she couldn’t help but find it weird. She opened her eyes a little, and was instantly startled when greeted by Qin Jinhuan’s smiling face inches away from hers.
“What are you doing?” Alarmed, she sat up and quickly covered her chest with the quilt.
“Get up.” Qin Jinhuan straightened up as he smiled, and gestured at her with his finger. When he saw that she didn’t move, he playfully leaned in closer to her. “What? Want me to hug you?”
Mu Yu, who was already in a bad mood, glared at him impatiently. “What is it?”
“There’s food.”
“I don’t want to eat.” Mu Yu, who was afraid to be fooled by him, lay back down again.
“You don’t want to eat osmanthus rice cake? Not even skewers? They’re delicious.” Her eyes lit up at once, but still, she didn’t get up. Qin Jinhuan saw through her and smiled. “Relax, they’re not poisoned nor ladened with drugs.”
Mu Yu lowered her eyes and didn’t make a sound.
“The osmanthus rice cakes are specially fried for you by Auntie Lan. The skewers were specially bought by Rong Jian to thank you. I’ll eat them if you don’t.”
Mu Yu was astonished. She jumped out of bed and asked, “Why does Chief Rong want to thank me?”
Has he confirmed that Yan Xiaobing is the murderer? Isn’t that too fast?
“I’ll tell you after we finish eating.”
Qin Jinhuan had already sat down in front of the sofa. He picked up his chopsticks with one hand and held a grilled chicken wing skewer with the other. He used his chopsticks to pick the chicken wing and put it on the plate. Then, he took the plate, and with his body slightly leaned forward, he carefully put the chicken wing into his mouth, before taking a small bite. Only then did he slowly chew it.
The delicious scent of the osmanthus rice cakes and skewers made Mu Yu drool and gulp uncontrollably. Because she was in a bad mood, she hadn’t eaten much during dinner. Moreover, she couldn’t stand Qin Jinhuan’s elegant table manners. After repeating the question twice, she noticed that he didn’t respond. She thought about it for a while and sat down. She took the take-away bag and helped herself with the osmanthus rice cakes and grilled skewers. While eating, she secretly glanced at him from time to time as a way to hint at him that this was the right way to eat skewers.
Qin Jinhuan pretended to not see her and slowly finished eating his chicken wing. He wiped his mouth then said slowly, “The city council had sealed up the Nightclub City yesterday and rescued many young girls who had fallen victim to it. Rong Jian said that the credit goes to you. He sent some grilled skewers to thank you, and he’ll request recognition for your merits in the bureau later.”
This time, Mu Yu wasn’t surprised about the incident of the Nightclub City, but the recognition request had indeed made her stunned. “Did I do a good deed?”
“After the Heavenly Shopping Center had collected all Fu Hongyun’s criminal evidence, they reported to the respective authorities in your name.”
“What?” He is giving me such credit?
Mu Yu swallowed a mouthful of osmanthus rice cake and then asked him, “Since you know all about Fu Hongyun’s crime from the start, why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”
Because of him, she had been frightened throughout the night, and even had continuous nightmares.
Qin Jinhuan pointed at the table of skewers with a smile. “To give you a surprise. Isn’t it great?”
Seeing the tenderness in his eyes, she remembered her parents’ advice and her best friend’s teasing. Mu Yu couldn’t help but feel waves of warmth filling her heart. Her heart rate suddenly accelerated and she quickly lowered her head, murmuring, “I don’t like to be surprised, just give me the present directly next time.”
“You want a present?” As he spoke, Qin Jinhuan leaned close to her and circled his arm around her waist. His lips brushed across the corner of her ears teasingly.
“Go away.” Mu Yu looked like a scared bunny as she pushed him away with her oily hands.
Qin Jinhuan laughed and loosened his grip. He didn’t even bother with the oil stains on his shirt as he got onto his feet and winked at her. “I’ll go and have a bath. I’ll give you a ‘present’ later.”
“Ugh! Who would want your ‘present’?” Mu Yu turned her head around angrily and ate her drumstick to avoid him from seeing her blush.
Only then did she realize why she was so anxious and frightened last night. It turned out that he had found his way into her heart sneakily, and that she couldn’t accept what she saw in him yesterday.
Quietly, she put down her drumstick that was half eaten, feeling a little downhearted.
Have I really fallen for that Beast Qin?
However, they were just a couple based on contract. After his grandpa’s illness was cured, they would part ways. These days, his grandpa hadn’t been ill. This meant that the expert’s treatment had been working very well. If this went on, the days of her being with him would soon come to an end.
Mu Yu, please get a grip of your heart immediately! You can’t fall for another person so easily.
Once again, she warned herself in silence.
That night, she became sleepless again…