The concert ended promptly at 10 p.m.
Due to Manager Yun Lan did not tell the girl group about Liang Ting's death. Therefore, the five girls were not affected at all during the second half of the performance. They sang happily on the big stage, and each of their solo performances was perfect. Their first concert can be said to be a complete success.
The fans left in an orderly fashion. The five members of the girl group returned to their dressing room, and leader Zhao Yuxin said with a bright smile, "To celebrate the successful completion of our debut concert, how about I treat everyone to a late-night snack later?"
The proposal was quickly approved by the other four.
However, Manager Yun Lan's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. She said in a deep voice, "Come with me."
The five noticed that she looked unwell, and Qin Huanhuan even joked, "Sister Yun, what's wrong? The concert went really well today, why do you look so pale?"
Li Shengnan said, "Did your boyfriend make you angry again? How dare he bully my sister Yun? I'll go beat him up!" She then clenched her fist and showed everyone the muscles on her forearm.
The other three also expressed their concern for Manager.
Yun Lan took a deep breath, pulled the five people aside, and whispered, " Teacher Liang is in trouble. The police are waiting for you backstage. To avoid any problems at the concert affecting tens of thousands of audience members, the police didn't let me tell you. They wanted to let the concert end smoothly first..."
Upon hearing this, the five people quickly stopped smiling.
Captain Zhao Yuxin forced a smile and asked, "What happened? The police are here. Is it serious?"
Yun Lan was silent for a few seconds before answering in a trembling voice, " Teacher Liang died in the dressing room."
"Huh?" The five of them gasped in unison. The youngest, Qin Huanhuan, immediately teared up, her fingers trembling as she grabbed Li Shengnan's arm and said, "Nan, Sister Nan, Teacher Liang is dead? Did I hear that right?!"
Li Shengnan's expression wasn't too good either, but she managed to maintain her composure and said, "Sister Yun is joking, right? Haha, Sister Yun is so humorous."
Yun Lan turned to look at her and said sternly, "Would I joke about something like this?!"
All five people were stunned at the same time.
Yun Lan said, "You should be prepared, the police will be interrogating you soon."
She had the five girls line up and go next door to find Yu Hanjiang.
To observe the five girls' reactions, Ye Qi hid in the dressing room and watched the entire process. Judging from the girls' expressions, Li Shengnan was the most shocked; her mouth was so wide open that it could fit a duck egg. Qin Huanhuan was so frightened that she cried, and her legs were weak when she walked. Perhaps she was too young to have experienced such a shock and couldn't handle it.
Of the other three, Ye Lan's eyes widened in surprise; Zhao Yuxin looked pale and stared at the Manager in disbelief; Liu Xi maintained a calm demeanor, but her hands clenched slightly at her sides as she took deep breaths.
The five people's behavior didn't reveal any obvious suspicions, so Ye Qi secretly left the dressing room and turned back to the interrogation room.
The five men entered the room one by one to be interrogated by Yu Hanjiang.
Qin Huanhuan couldn't hold back her tears any longer and said while wiping them away, " Teacher Liang is my idol. I've been listening to her since elementary school."
"I'm so happy we were able to invite her to this concert... Waaah, how could she suddenly die? I really don't know what happened."
The round-faced girl's makeup was ruined by crying; either she was an excellent actress, or she was genuinely heartbroken over her idol's death.
Yu Hanjiang asked her about her situation backstage, and Qin Huanhuan said, "After I came off the stage, I went to the dressing room. My eyes are quite sensitive, and my eyeliner smudged. The makeup artist spent a long time touching up my makeup. By the way, Sister Nan was there too. She sweats a lot when she dances, so she also needs to touch up her makeup. We stayed in the dressing room to touch up our makeup."
As for what Liang Ting was saying, Qin Huanhuan said she didn't hear anything.
Her testimony was completely consistent with Li Shengnan's; the two of them had been touching up their makeup ever since they came off the big stage.
Li Shengnan said, " Zhao Yuxin, Ye Lan and Liu Xi went to the restroom together, but Huanhuan and I didn't go."
Yu Hanjiang consulted the makeup artist of a girl group to verify.
Qin Huanhuan and Li Shengnan can be temporarily ruled out as suspects. The two girls never left the makeup artist's sight. Their makeup smudges too easily, and they had to have it touched up several times today. Qin Huanhuan kept saying she wanted to ask Liang Ting for an autograph, but the makeup artist dragged her back to get her makeup touched up, so she never had a chance to get it. She and Liang Ting had no private contact.
Li Shengnan is the same; she sweats a lot and her makeup tends to come off easily. They are either on their way to the big stage or on their way to touch up their makeup.
The remaining three need to be questioned more thoroughly.
Zhao Yuxin said, "I did go to the restroom with Ye Lan and Liu Xi, and we even ran into Liang Ting's manager there." Sister Chen, I greeted her.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Did the three of you go there together and come back together?"
Zhao Yuxin's expression changed slightly, and she hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.
Yu Hanjiang sensed something was wrong and immediately asked, "What happened in the middle?"
Zhao Yuxin looked embarrassed, seemingly hesitant about whether to speak. Yu Hanjiang said in a deep voice, "Ms. Zhao, you are both public figures. You don't want to go to the police station with me and be detained for a few days before telling the truth, do you?"
A hint of panic flashed in Zhao Yuxin's eyes as she hurriedly said, "Actually, the three of us went together, but we didn't come back together... I just needed to pee and came back quickly, but Ye Lan and Liu Xi took much longer to return."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "How long?"
Zhao Yuxin frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "About ten minutes? When they came back, Ye Qi had almost finished singing her second song."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "When you came back, was there any noise from Professor Liang Ting's room next door?"
Zhao Yuxin shook her head: "No, I didn't go to her room because the manager said Teacher Liang had a headache and wanted to rest, so I didn't dare to disturb her."
Yu Hanjiang dismissed the captain and called the other two in one by one.
Ye Lan is the most elegant member of the entire girl group. With her long, flowing hair, she exudes refinement. She sits gracefully and speaks calmly: "I'm not very close to Teacher Liang in private. Teacher Liang doesn't really like my voice. When we were competing, Teacher Liang was our mentor, and she thought my voice was too soft and limited my potential. She likes Liu Xi the most because Liu Xi's voice is more like hers."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Tell me what you did backstage today. Did you leave the group?"
Ye Lan thought for a moment and said, "Most of the time I was with the others trying on makeup and changing clothes. Only during the break... around nine o'clock, did I go to the restroom with Zhao Yuxin and Liu Xi."
Yu Hanjiang said, "The three of you went together, but didn't come back together?"
Ye Lan frowned and said, " Zhao Yuxin went back ahead of time. I came back with Liu Xi."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "According to Zhao Yuxin, you stayed in the restroom for more than ten minutes. What's going on?"
Ye Lan's expression changed, and she gently bit her lip, refusing to speak.
Yu Hanjiang stared at her: "What exactly is going on?"
After a moment, Ye Lan gritted her teeth and said, "I... I forgot to bring toilet paper, and Liu Xi didn't bring any either. There was no toilet paper in the restroom, so I called Liu Xi from next door and asked her to get me some."
Everyone: "..."
Forgetting to bring toilet paper when you go to the restroom is truly a tragedy.
Ye Lan also felt embarrassed, her ears turning slightly red as she spoke: "I don't know where Liu Xi went to find the paper. She didn't come back for a long time. My legs were about to go numb from squatting in the bathroom."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "During this process, did no one else come to the restroom?"
Ye Lan thought for a moment and suddenly said, "It seems like someone came in. It might have been a makeup artist or a staff member. I didn't recognize the footsteps. Because our second outfit was in high heels, and that person was wearing flats, their footsteps were very light on the floor. I didn't dare call out, it would be too embarrassing. I don't know who it was."
One can imagine the awkward scene of her squatting in the toilet waiting for tissues.
Someone came in from outside; this is crucial.
Yu Hanjiang made a key note in the notebook, then asked, "How long did you wait for Liu Xi?"
Ye Lan said, "About seven minutes? I could hear Ye Qi singing in the bathroom. I heard him sing the whole song 'Birch Forest' and the first half of the second song."
Yu Hanjiang told her to go back and then interrogated Liu Xi one last time.
Liu Xi has a cool and aloof personality, and her clear, babbling voice does indeed resemble Liang Ting's. Regarding Ye Lan asking her to get tissues, she explained, " It's too embarrassing for Ye Lan to forget her toilet paper. If someone overheard, they'd definitely laugh at her. I didn't want to go back to the break room to ask someone else for tissues, so I went to the break room. There wasn't any in the north break room, so I went to the south one, and that's why..."
There's a lot of time.
The backstage corridor was long. She went to the north side to look for the paper but couldn't find it, so she went to the south side and then back. It was normal for it to take a few minutes—if she wasn't lying.
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Did you run into anyone in the corridor on your way there and on your way back?"
Liu Xi said coldly, "No. When I went to the restroom, only Ye Lan was squatting there waiting for me."
At this point, all the suspects present had been interrogated. Yu Hanjiang took the prepared testimonies and said to Shao Qingge, "Send the staff back to the concert venue first. I believe we'll reach a conclusion on this case soon."
Ye Qi asked curiously, " Captain Yu, are you so confident? Is this case simpler than the Lin Yiyan murder case?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Well, after all, the murderer who killed Liang Ting was at the scene, and we still haven't been able to identify the murderer in the Lin Yiyan case." He looked at Xiao Lou and said, "Could you do a venom analysis as soon as you get back? Thank you for your hard work."
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "You're welcome. I'll work overtime with you tonight."
Shao Qingge glanced at the two of them and said with a smile, "Since you two have to work overtime, I'll go back to sleep."
Ye Qi said helplessly, " CEO Shao, can you stop acting like you're doing nothing once we get to the heart room? Let's go help Captain Yu too..."
Shao Qingge interrupted him: " What are you, a celebrity, doing at the Police Station? Besides, since Captain Yu is confident in solving the case, we should just wait for the results and trust his professionalism."
Ye Qi was taken aback for a moment, then said awkwardly, "I don't think I can be of any help... Shall we go back first?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "You can all leave now. The entire scene has been searched, and I'll take all the evidence I need back with me. As for the police station, Xiao Lou can handle that."
Shao Qingge dragged Ye Qi back, and also asked Yun Lan to settle the people of 505 Girl Group, as well as all the makeup artists, stylists and assistants who were present today. Everyone had to keep their phones on and be available at any time.
On the way back, Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and asked, " Captain Yu, are you really confident that you can solve the case quickly?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "We've already identified these suspects. We just need to use the process of elimination. By combining their testimonies with the evidence at the scene, the real culprit will eventually slip up. I've already identified the person most likely to be the murderer. I'll go back and investigate her background again."
Xiao Lou finally felt relieved upon hearing this. Since the murderer was among those interrogated today, he was confident that Captain Yu, with his keen eyesight, would be able to spot the culprit from the crowd!