As Jiayi entered the room, she kept her ears pricked, listening intently.
After much deliberation and comparison, Jiayi was now one hundred percent certain that the sound was identical to what she had heard in her mental imagery.
Observing Qin Hongliang’s silhouette more closely, listening to her talk with Sanfu, Jiayi gradually became convinced—
The murderer was Qin Hongliang!
…
After settling in the room, Jiayi watched Qin Hongliang pour water for everyone before she went to knock on Clara’s door, feeling a chill in her heart.
Qin Hongliang is Clara’s roommate, someone who enters and leaves with her every day, and is a murderer.
Or rather, an evildoer who frames others for her crimes… Clara definitely brought a wolf into the house.
“Rushing me now? Wait a moment,” came an impatient voice from behind Clara’s door.
Qin Hongliang turned and said apologetically:
“Clara just got up, she is washing up and doing her makeup, it might take a while.”
Her expression was as amiable as could be, completely unlike the fierce and evil image Jiayi had imagined.
The room was too small, several tall men stepping in filled it completely.
Uncle Jiu and Gary simply didn’t enter but turned to ask the neighbors and the downstairs caretaker, Uncle Ah, whether they saw anyone returning around 6 a.m. last night, or leaving around four or five in the morning.
“May I ask you a few questions alone?” Sanfu moved around the tea table and sat down on the low sofa with some difficulty.
“Please go ahead, sir,” Qin Hongliang replied in a neutral tone.
“You’re good friends with Zhao Meini and Clara, and all of you work at the Daliyuan nightclub, right?” Sanfu took out a notebook and began to take notes as he asked.
“Yes, we were all recruited in the same year when the Daliyuan was renovated and upgraded. I’m a dancer, and Meini and Clara serve drinks.”
“May I ask what kind of dance?” inquired Sanfu.
“Pole dancing,” Qin Hongliang said with an ambiguous smile and a drop of his gaze.
Because of pole dancing, she has strong arms and legs.
After answering, Qin Hongliang saw Jiayi walking towards a room door and asked with a smile, “Madam, that’s my room, would you like to see?”
“May I?” Jiayi asked, her face expressionless and all emotion withheld.
“I haven’t tidied up; it’s a bit messy,” Qin Hongliang laughed softly, gently declining Jiayi’s request.
Without a search warrant, a citizen’s refusal cannot be forcibly overridden, or else complaints could cause trouble.
Although Jiayi really wanted to look inside, she had to give up. She turned and began inspecting other areas of the room while sneakily observing Qin Hongliang.
Being led by the nose by a murderer, who could manipulate you and sit there fearlessly with an innocent face, Jiayi felt both powerless and somewhat angry.
Thinking about the scene she saw in her mental imagery, she couldn’t help but grind her teeth.
If she had superpowers, she wouldn’t need to bother so much; a simple glare would be enough to shoot through Qin Hongliang and close the case on the spot.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t resort to such simple and brute methods, so she felt frustrated.
“Have you noticed anything different about Clara and Zhao Meini recently?” Sanfu continued to ask.
“It doesn’t seem like anything… It’s just that Meini and Clara had a fight early yesterday morning, but that’s how these sisters are. They fight often, a big fight every three days and a small one every two days. Everyone is used to it by now, and they’ll make up in a few days anyway,” Qin Hongliang replied as if it was nothing.
Jiayi, with her back to Qin Hongliang, stared at the kettle in front of her, slightly furrowing her brow, and mentally rebutted Qin Hongliang: A small fight every three days and a big one every two days? Nonsense! What are you pretending for! You’re just misleading the detective, making him think that the deceased and Clara were at odds, digging a hole for Clara, creating a motive for murder!
While standing in the cramped kitchen, Liu Jiaming happened to glance at Jiayi.
Eh? Why is she frowning so hard at the kettle? It looks like she’s arguing with the kettle.
“Did anything special happen when you parted with Zhao Meini last night?” Sanfu continued to ask.
“It seems like nothing, actually. I’m not really sure what Meini was doing at that time,” Qin Hongliang pondered for a while before answering.
Jiayi turned to face the condiment bottles lined up by size at the sink and forcefully exhaled: How could you possibly not know? You know very well! You planned to kill Zhao Meini, how could you not know what she was doing when you parted?!
Liu Jiaming’s gaze shifted from the bottles, arranged with a gap the size of a fingernail after every six bottles, back to Jiayi’s face, and he couldn’t help but wonder: Eh? Did those condiment bottles annoy Jiayi too? It seems like she’s scolding them.
“Did Clara come home with you last night?” Sanfu continued.
“Oh, that didn’t happen.” Qin Hongliang felt a bit embarrassed and avoided eye contact before continuing, “I actually went to my boyfriend’s place, and we stayed there until the afternoon. Then we went shopping and had lunch together, and only returned home a little over an hour ago. Sir, are you asking about Clara because something happened between her and Meini?”
Sanfu turned to look at Clara’s still-closed room door. If he hadn’t been sure that all the windows on this floor were locked with iron-grilled security bars, he might have suspected Clara had escaped.
Not wanting to startle the suspect and eager to see the most genuine emotional reactions under various questions, Sanfu didn’t answer Qin Hongliang’s question but instead continued:
“Was Clara home when you came back today?”
Qin Hongliang also glanced at Clara’s room door and nodded: “Yes.”
“Is there anything strange at home today? Or is there anything different about Clara today?” Sanfu continued to inquire.
Qin Hongliang began to look nervous, her eyes darting around, and she nervously clenched her fists.
Jiayi turned to stare at Qin Hongliang’s hands, once, twice… six times.
Even though Qin Hongliang was pretending to be nervous, she clenched his fists six times.
Is this a habit? Or some kind of ritual?
Was Qin Hongliang misled and deceived by some sinister people, and through certain actions achieved some peculiar purposes?
Or is there some other reason?
What is so special about the number 6?
“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything special, I… I didn’t really pay attention, ah sir…” Qin Hongliang’s voice started to stutter.
“No worries, just think about it and say whatever comes to mind.” Sanfu was completely fooled by Qin Hongliang, and even began to soothe her.
Jiayi was standing beside them, her back to Qin Hongliang, almost rolling her eyes in frustration and metaphorically hitting someone in her mind. If her imagined scenario were to materialize, Qin Hongliang’s head would already have been smashed.
Unable to hold back, Liu Jiaming walked up beside Jiayi; he was really worried about her, she seemed to be uncomfortable.
Or was there something wrong with the room? Or did Jiayi notice something they couldn’t see, so she was actually staring not at the TV cabinet, but at something invisible to them?
Suddenly, Liu Jiaming remembered something Uncle Jiu had adamantly said before: “Jiayi, she’s very sinister.”
A chill suddenly ran down his spine, and he couldn’t help but cast his gaze towards the TV cabinet. Clearly, he saw nothing… Could it be… that there was actually someone… uh…
Just then, Qin Hongliang seemed to have thought of something and began to speak:
“Usually, we finish work at dawn, and Clara would be up by noon, but today she seemed to sleep until I came back. And even after waking up, she still seemed tired, more irritable than usual… What exactly happened, ah sir?”
Upon hearing this, Sanfu immediately turned to look at Fang Zhenyue with an expression that screamed, ‘Look! It’s pretty clear now. There’s definitely something wrong with this Clara. Of course, she’s tired because she was out committing murder last night and lacked sleep.’
Hearing this, Jiayi was almost at her limit of endurance.
She glared down at the shoe cabinet by the door, clenching her fists and grinding her teeth. She hated being deceived more than anything, let alone being made a fool of along with her teammates in such a manner.
Sir Fang was a leader she deeply respected; Sanfu and the others were her favorite teammates… one of them. Being tricked like this really infuriated her!
Qin Hongliang might be laughing inside right now, perhaps even proudly thinking she is the smartest and most formidable person in the world, imagining her schemes as flawless, nearly bursting into triumphant laughter.
Thinking about this, and recalling the fierce murderous scenes of Qin Hongliang she saw in her mind’s eye, along with the shocking wounds on Zhao Meini’s corpse, Jiayi felt she was about to explode with anger.
If only they had some evidence now, they wouldn’t have to worry about alerting the culprit prematurely or making other detectives think she was out of her mind… She really wanted to lay everything out on the table!
Finally, Liu Jiaming couldn’t hold back any longer, because there seemed to be fire burning in Jiayi’s eyes, as if she was engaging in a fierce glare-off with the shoes and slippers.
Feeling the policewoman’s anger as she clenched her fists so tightly that her arms trembled slightly, he walked over to Jiayi and carefully touched her arm. When she suddenly snapped back to reality, looking confused and lost, he asked softly,
“Are you okay? Do you want some water?”
“I’m fine, no need, thanks Jiaming.” Jiayi smiled, raising her eyebrows.
Liu Jiaming nodded but still seemed worried about Jiayi. He pulled her down to sit on the sofa, whispered “Just wait here a moment,” and then left the apartment.
He thought Jiayi didn’t want to drink water because she was wary of drinking water from a suspect’s home, so he planned to go downstairs to his car to get the bottled water they had brought for her.
Sanfu asked Qin Hongliang a few more questions before asking him to sign the record and then got up to knock on Clara’s door to hurry her along.
With Sanfu gone, only Jiayi and Qin Hongliang were left sitting on the sofa.
Fang Zhenyue had been leaning by the door the entire time, scrutinizing every expression of Qin Hongliang, analyzing whether her facial expressions and words were consistent.
As Sanfu went to knock, Fang’s gaze had not yet returned.
Qin Hongliang seemed a bit uneasy under his stare, but she didn’t stand up. Instead, she turned to look at Sanfu, pretending to be concerned about Clara.
“I need to use the restroom,” Fang Zhenyue finally moved.
“It’s over there—” Qin Hongliang began to stand to guide him, but Fang signaled for her to stay seated and went to the restroom himself.
The small space in the living room suddenly felt emptier, leaving just the two women stiffly sitting on the sofa.
Although Fang Zhenyue was just in the bathroom inside the house, and Sanfu was arguing with Clara right behind them at Clara’s door, perhaps because Qin Hongliang’s presence was too imposing in Jiayi’s mind, Jiayi felt as if everyone else was very distant.
The two women were sitting just an arm’s length apart—one knew the other was the murderer but couldn’t act rashly; the other knew she was the murderer and therefore regarded all the police as enemies.
Both chose a half-turned sitting posture facing each other. Anyone well-versed in psychology would notice that despite appearing indifferent, they were both defensively positioned against each other.
Outside the night window, the wind began to pick up again, making eerie noises as it blew against the old building’s iron windows and tin awnings.
Both young women remained silent, each wearing a smile, yet both had goosebumps all over.
They seemed relaxed in posture and expression, but in reality, they were both tensely on guard.
TL: Updated 13 chapters!
Thank youu 🏂