There are five suspects in Li Zhemin's murder: Grandma Mei, Niu Dapeng, Zheng Weiguo, Liu Yuming, and Shu Ping. Although Shu Ping is currently the prime suspect, with all evidence pointing to him, there might be other clues hidden in this locked room.
Before confirming the case, Yu Hanjiang decided to interrogate the suspect again.
He first called Niu Dapeng over and calmly asked, "You said you heard someone going to the toilet next door in the middle of the night last night, and you saw a light through the crack in the door, and you also heard strange noises coming from the trash can, is that right?"
Niu Dapeng nodded: "Yes."
Yu Hanjiang: "What time was it?"
Niu Dapeng scratched the back of his head: "I don't know, I was half asleep and didn't check the time."
Yu Hanjiang then asked, "Did you hear that Grandma Mei, who sleeps on the lower bunk, also went to the bathroom?"
Niu Dapeng feigned innocence and said, "No."
Yu Hanjiang raised his head and stared at him coldly: "Did someone see Grandma Mei and Liu Yuming going to the toilet one after the other? You heard someone getting up in the next room, and you heard the sound of the trash can at the other end of the carriage, but you couldn't hear the sound of the person in the lower bunk opening the door?"
Niu Dapeng's expression changed slightly; this was indeed inexplicable. He gritted his teeth and said with a straight face, "I really didn't hear anything. I was half asleep in the middle of the night, and I only woke up for a minute or two before falling asleep again. I don't know what happened."
He insisted that he hadn't heard it, but Yu Hanjiang, who was experienced in interrogation, could tell from his expression that he was lying.
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "You dislike Li Zhemin and suspect that the person who got up to go to the bathroom last night might be the murderer, so you pretended not to hear it even though you overheard it. You wanted to protect this person, didn't you?"
Niu Dapeng's face turned deathly pale instantly. His lips trembled slightly, but he clenched his teeth and refused to speak.
Yu Hanjiang said, "If you deliberately cover up the crime and refuse to cooperate with the investigation, the police can take you to the police station for re-interrogation on charges of obstructing the investigation. Have you thought this through?"
Niu Dapeng remained silent for a moment, then finally slumped his shoulders in frustration and admitted, "I... I did hear Sister Mei go to the toilet."
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow: "Time, number of times?"
"It seems like it happened twice, once around 3 o'clock and once around 4 o'clock... I really don't know anything else." He nervously looked up at Yu Hanjiang: "This shouldn't have anything to do with Sister Mei, right? She's so old, and her legs aren't very strong, how could she possibly kill someone?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "If you think she wouldn't kill someone, why did you hide the fact that she went to the toilet last night?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Niu Dapeng muttered, "I thought it wasn't that important. Isn't it normal for an elderly person to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night..."
Yu Hanjiang then asked, "The second time, the one before four o'clock, how long did she stay in the bathroom before she came back?"
Niu Dapeng said, "This time it took longer, about half an hour. Maybe she ate something bad? Her stomach isn't very good."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Did you hear any other sounds?"
Niu Dapeng thought for a moment and said, " Before Sister Mei went to the toilet for the second time, it seemed like someone else went to the toilet in the next room. There was no light, so it shouldn't have been Liu Yuming. But this person came back shortly after leaving. I heard the sound of the door opening and closing, which took less than half a minute."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance—it seemed that Zheng Weiguo was the one who went to the toilet next door. He had stolen the IOU and wanted to destroy it in the toilet, but when he found someone coming out, he quickly and guiltily returned to his room. His departure and return took less than half a minute, which could be explained.
Niu Dapeng said earnestly, "That's all I know, nothing else."
Yu Hanjiang met his sincere eyes and, for the time being, believed him and nodded, telling him to go back.
Following that, Yu Hanjiang interrogated Liu Yuming in room number 2.
Liu Yuming initially smiled, adopting a "I'm a good citizen" attitude: "Ask me any questions you have."
Yu Hanjiang then asked directly, "Why did you lie?"
Liu Yuming's smile froze on his face. He quickly adjusted his expression and said with a forced laugh, "What do you mean? I wasn't lying."
Yu Hanjiang said, "You went to the bathroom at 3:30 last night, not 3:00."
Liu Yuming feigned composure: "Ah... really? I'm getting old, my memory isn't what it used to be. I must have misremembered. Sigh... I'm always forgetting things. Before I left this trip, my son repeatedly told me to bring a towel and a toothbrush, but I forgot again. I'll have to buy new ones at the station..."
Seeing him avoid the topic, Yu Hanjiang interrupted him directly: "Bad memory? You can even forget something as simple as losing your watch?"
Liu Yuming paused, his expression turning somewhat awkward.
Yu Hanjiang pointed at his watch and said, "Your watch has been in the trash can for most of the night, but it's still quite clean and hasn't picked up any trash can stench."
Liu Yuming touched his nose and explained, "After I found the watch last night, I washed it in the sink."
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "However, the person who used the restroom across from you said that you went back without washing your hands after using the restroom, and they didn't see your handwashing record."
Liu Yuming hurriedly denied it: "How could that be? He didn't even see me!"
The office fell silent. Yu Hanjiang stared at him calmly, while Liu Yuming's face gradually turned pale from its initial composure, and then suddenly flushed red.
Yu Hanjiang said, "So, when you went to the toilet, there really was someone across the street."
people?"
"..." Liu Yuming wanted to cry but had no tears.
Yu Hanjiang's interrogation was driving him crazy. He was being led by the other party and thought the focus was on the watch, but he didn't pay attention to the key point about "the person across from you going to the toilet." He was tricked into telling the truth by the other party using a word trap.
Yu Hanjiang noticed the old man was lost in thought, so he tapped the table lightly with his pen and said, "One lie requires countless lies to cover it up. Why don't you tell the truth? What did you see when you went to the toilet at 3:30 last night? Was Shu Ping there?"
Liu Yuming snapped out of his daze and hurriedly shook his head: "It wasn't her, I didn't see clearly!"
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow: "But someone in carriage number 4 saw it clearly and has identified it to us. Shu Ping appeared in the restroom at 3:30 last night and even bumped into a nearby trash can."
Liu Yuming's face flushed red and then turned pale, as if he were having an internal struggle.
Yu Hanjiang continued, " Shu Ping and Rui Rui are best friends, right? When you were pursuing Rui Rui, didn't Shu Ping help you a lot? You and Shu Ping should have a good relationship. Unexpectedly, Li Zhemin stole your girlfriend and took advantage of the party to have her. Shu Ping was dumped by Li Zhemin. You were both let down, so you can be said to be in the same boat."
He placed the pen on the table, crossed his arms, and calmly looked at Liu Yuming: "So, even if Shu Ping is the murderer, you don't want to come forward and identify her because Li Zhemin deserves to die. If she kills Li Zhemin, Ruirui can rest in peace after death—that's what you're thinking, right?"
Liu Yuming's body trembled violently, his face filled with horror.
Because what the other person said was exactly what he was thinking. This sharp-eyed man seemed to have mind-reading abilities, directly piercing through his thoughts. Over the years, he had a gentle wife and a filial son, and his life was relatively happy. Although he was trying to forget what happened back then, the thought of the innocent and naive Ruirui still caused him unbearable heartache.
" Li Zhemin deserves to die! Ruirui was killed because of him!" Liu Yuming's eyes turned red as he recalled the past, and he roared like an enraged beast: "When Ruirui married him, Li Zhemin swore to me that he would treat Ruirui well. I believed him. I thought that since they were married, I should bless them!"
"But I never expected that Li Zhemin, that beast in human clothing, would cheat on Ruirui while she was pregnant! He was having an affair with a young nurse at the hospital, sending her flowers every day. Ruirui accidentally caught them when she went to the hospital for a prenatal checkup, and she was so angry that she went into premature labor and almost died in the operating room!"
"She developed postpartum depression because of this incident. When I visited her, she told me she wanted a divorce… but not long after, she took sleeping pills and died! Because she had depression, the police ultimately ruled it a suicide."
"Suicide? What a coincidence!" Liu Yuming said angrily, "Do you believe it? I certainly don't! It must be that beast Li Zhemin who was afraid that she wouldn't get the company's assets after the divorce, so he forced her to take sleeping pills!"
"..." Xiao Lou had long suspected that Ruirui's death was not simple, but he didn't expect there to be such a past event. According to Grandma Mei, Li Zhemin was the Nurse who married Ruirui a year after his death. But in reality, he had cheated on his wife while she was pregnant and was caught by her. Whether Grandma Mei was unaware of this or deliberately concealed it, only Grandma Mei could confirm.
" Li Zhemin should have died long ago! If it weren't for the fact that the child is still too young, I would have killed him when Ruirui left!"
Liu Yuming was agitated, his fists clenched so tightly that his fingers almost dug into his palms, clearly showing his deep hatred for Li Zhemin.
His apparent friendship with Li Zhemin was likely motivated by a desire to show more concern for Ruirui's only son. He married several years after Ruirui's death, demonstrating his deep affection and the fact that it took him years to recover before being moved by his wife's gentle pursuit.
Yu Hanjiang didn't rush to ask questions. He waited until Ruirui finished speaking before whispering, " Was there anything unusual about Ruirui's father's death?"
Liu Yuming took a deep breath to compose himself and said, "President Lin had bone cancer that had metastasized to multiple parts of his body. People from our company visited him before he passed away. He was sent to the intensive care unit and held on for a month, but in the end, he couldn't be saved and passed away."
It seems that Ruirui's father died of natural causes. Ruirui's death was very likely orchestrated by Li Zhemin.
He had already cheated on his wife at the time. If Ruirui divorced him, he would lose control of the company because Mr. Lin left the company to his daughter. Legally speaking, this is "gifted" property. Property gifted by parents to their children is not considered marital property and can be excluded from division during divorce. In addition, Li Zhemin's infidelity is considered marital misconduct, so he would not receive a single penny.
Once Ruirui got divorced, he lost everything. So, he secretly or forcibly gave her an overdose of sleeping pills, then blamed it on depression, claiming she committed suicide due to depression. As Ruirui's spouse, he would be the heir to her estate as soon as she died.
As Xiao Lou was giving her statement, a chill ran down her spine.
This Li Zhemin is truly inhuman when it comes to money!
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Have you mentioned this to Li Mo?"
Liu Yuming immediately shook his head: "No, I don't want Xiao Mo to suffer. It would be hard for anyone to accept that her own father killed her own mother!"
Yu Hanjiang expressed his understanding and continued, "In your opinion, what kind of person is Li Mo?"
Liu Yuming said, "Xiao Mo is an exceptionally sensible and outstanding child. He's been independent since childhood and isn't very close to his parents. He left home to study at sixteen, and Li Zhemin only sent him money on time; he didn't care about anything else because Li Zhemin had a son with his second wife, and he doted on his younger son. Unexpectedly, his eldest son is so capable; after graduating and taking over the company, its market value doubled in just one year."
He discovered that his eldest son was intelligent and good at business, and his attitude changed; he began praising Li Mo's success to everyone he met.
Yu Hanjiang seized on a key point and asked, " Isn't Li Mo the actual person in charge of the company right now?"
Liu Yuming said, "Xiao Mo is just the CEO; the chairman is still Lao Li, and all the shares are in Li Zhemin's hands. I think Lao Li is guilty. His son is so outstanding, but Ruirui might have been driven to his death by him. He's afraid! What if his son finds out the truth? So, Lao Li is nominally retiring and letting his son help manage the company, saying it's for training. But he's been unwilling to hand over the real power. I guess he's waiting for his younger son to graduate from university before handing the company over to him."
After Liu Yuming finished explaining, Yu Hanjiang let him go back.
Yu Hanjiang didn't press Liu Yuming about who he had seen the previous night. Sometimes, the answer doesn't necessarily need to be spoken aloud; his expression told you that he had met Shu Ping near the restroom the night before.
Yu Hanjiang followed up by questioning Zheng Weiguo: "Did you wake up at 3:40 in the morning?"
The old man, a gambling addict, looked uneasy and fidgety. He was clearly in a daze from the two interrogations. He didn't struggle much and quickly confessed: "I... I woke up once."
Yu Hanjiang: "Did you steal the IOU and then go to the restroom to destroy the evidence?"
Zheng Weiguo's eyes widened, and he almost blurted out: How did you know?
He swallowed his words back, gritted his teeth, and said, "I...I admit I stole the IOU. Stealing an IOU shouldn't be too serious, right? I never said I wouldn't pay back the money I owed Old Li! I just came to check the IOU, and it happened by accident..."
Yu Hanjiang: "Did you accidentally eat it?"
Zheng Weiguo looked extremely embarrassed, seemingly realizing that his reason was too absurd.
Yu Hanjiang said, "The crime of stealing a loan agreement is less serious than murder or harboring a criminal, so you'd better confess honestly."
Zheng Weiguo immediately confessed: "Okay, okay, I will definitely tell the truth!" As if afraid that he was too late, he spoke quickly: "Around 3 a.m., Liu Yuming went to the bathroom with a lamp. I saw that Lao Li was sleeping soundly, so I secretly took the IOU from his pocket. After Liu Yuming came back, he fell asleep quickly as well. About ten minutes later, after the three of them were sound asleep, I went to the bathroom to flush the IOU away. But when I got nearby, the door of a bathroom across the street suddenly opened. I was afraid of being discovered, so I quickly turned around and went back inside."
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou, who was taking notes. Xiao Lou also looked up, and the two exchanged a glance.
The reasoning is entirely correct; it seems they are getting closer and closer to the truth.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Did you see who that person was?"
Zheng Weiguo said confidently, "Although I didn't see it clearly, I know that person must be Shu Ping!"
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow: "Why are you so sure?"
Zheng Weiguo said, " Shu Ping loves to dress up. Even at her age, she still dresses so beautifully. All the old ladies in our group wear flat shoes, but she wears high heels... I saw her shadow by the light at the bathroom door, and she was wearing high heels!"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Why couldn't it be a lady wearing high heels from another room?"
Zheng Weiguo said mysteriously, "Because not long after she came out, I heard that Grandma Mei next door also got up in the middle of the night. Sister Mei has asthma, and her breathing and coughing sounds are easy to distinguish. She walked to about room number 4 and bumped into Shu Ping. I heard the two of them chatting. I don't know what they were talking about, but the two of them definitely know each other."
The only person who knew Mrs. Mei and was wearing high heels was Shu Ping.
This interrogation connected the timeline from the early morning.
At 3:10, Grandma Mei went to the restroom; at 3:30, Liu Yuming went to the restroom and encountered Shu Ping. Shu Ping hid in the toilet and accidentally bumped into the trash can. Liu Yuming realized who the other person was. In order to cover for her, he deliberately confused the timeline and made up the excuse that he went to the trash can to look for his watch.
At 3:40, Zheng Weiguo went to destroy the IOU and happened to see Shu Ping coming out of the restroom. He immediately turned back. Shortly after, Grandma Mei went to the restroom and met Shu Ping in the corridor. The two had a brief conversation.
The final culprit must be either Grandma Mei or Shu Ping.
Just as Yu Hanjiang was about to interrogate the two suspects, Zheng Weiguo had just left his office when Old Madam Mei walked in on her own initiative.
While coughing and clutching her chest, she calmly said, "You don't need to ask Xiaoping anymore— I killed Li Zhemin."
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
Xiao Lou: "..."
The elderly man, over seventy years old, had completely white hair, a hunched back, and a face full of wrinkles left by the years.
She looked extremely old, her steps were unsteady, and she walked as if she might collapse at any moment.
But at this moment, the old woman's eyes were exceptionally clear. She slowly said, " Li Zhemin was someone I recruited into the company. The other people who interviewed him back then didn't give him a high score. I thought this young man was sweet-talking and ambitious, so I thought he could be recruited and trained. It was only after my insistence that the company finally hired him."
She gently patted her head with her withered hands, her face full of regret, and said, "It's all my fault. If it weren't for my insistence, he wouldn't have joined the company, Ruirui wouldn't have died, and Yuming and Ruirui would be a happy couple... Dapeng wouldn't have lost his manager position, and he could have lived a good life through hard work and performance... Xiaoping wouldn't have married that abusive scumbag. She's so beautiful; she would definitely have found an excellent man..."
Grandma Mei clutched her chest and coughed violently. After a few seconds, she calmly said, "The root of everything is me. Li Zhemin is the culprit. "
So many people want him dead, so let this old woman do it. Anyway, I don't have much time left to live..."
The murderer's confession caught Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou completely off guard.
However, the old lady looked serious and didn't seem to be lying.
She took out a small bag wrapped tightly in cloth from her pocket; inside was a photograph.
The girl in the photo has delicate features, a bright smile, and clear, bright eyes that seem to glow.
Looking at the photo, Grandma Mei said gently, "This is Ruirui. Li Zhemin seems to have forgotten that today... is Ruirui's death anniversary."