Faced with overwhelming evidence, Jin Xiaoyue finally confessed to the murder of Liang Ting.
When his younger brother casually mentioned that Liang Ting's manager had asked him to do his styling, Jin Xiaoyue, who was already in a low mood, remembered that Liang Ting had rejected him years ago, which prevented him from entering the finals, and he suddenly had murderous intent.
She switched identities with her brother, and he cut off her long hair, dyed it blonde, put on makeup, and wore platform shoes, making her look about 80% like him.
On the day of the makeup trial, she went to see Liang Ting. While curling Liang Ting's hair, she looked for an opportunity. She noticed that Liang Ting liked to drink water from a thermos, and the manager even mentioned that this was Liang Ting's habit. So she thought of poisoning her.
On the night of the concert, Liang Ting was preparing to go on stage. While the makeup artist went out to get takeout, she took advantage of the fact that no one was in the west corridor and secretly slipped into Liang Ting's dressing room, where she put the deadly poison into the thermos.
Jin Xiaoyue showed no remorse during her confession; her expression was cold, as if she were recounting someone else's story. Clearly, her mind was completely twisted. Yu Hanjiang could guess her thoughts: since her life was hopeless anyway, dragging Liang Ting down with her wouldn't be a loss.
After the case was closed, Yu Hanjiang informed Xie Yuan of the news.
When Xie Yuan arrived at the police station, he saw Jin Xiaoyue, the murderer, being handcuffed by the Criminal Police Officer and being taken to detention.
He walked over with a grim face, clenching his fists as if he wanted to give the murderer a good beating, but was stopped by the Criminal Police Officer next to him.
Xie Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to kill this person, and released his grip. His eyes were bloodshot, and he said in a hoarse voice, " Jin Xiaoyue, you will definitely go to hell."
Jin Xiaoyue glanced at him expressionlessly before being taken away by the police.
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xie Yuan and whispered, "The case has been solved. Jin Xiaoyue will be sentenced to death for intentional homicide."
Xie Yuan shook hands with Yu Hanjiang and said, "Thank you for giving my wife justice. I will go back and arrange her funeral."
Yu Hanjiang asked, " Regarding the Lin Yiyan case, is there anything else you're hiding?"
Xie Yuan shook his head: "No, I've said everything I needed to say. I hope the police can solve the case as soon as possible."
The man's departing figure looked very lonely. Xiao Lou sighed and said, "After this incident, he must feel very guilty. I hope he can become a good father and raise his two children well."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Okay. I'll write the case report this afternoon. I'll rest today and continue investigating Lin Yiyan's case tomorrow."
Xiao Lou agreed that Yu Hanjiang should take a day off. Currently, the investigation into Lin Yiyan's case has reached a stalemate, and it's time for them to take a break and reorganize the clues.
*
That evening, Shao Qingge took the initiative to call Xiao Lou and said he wanted to treat him to dinner.
Since the four members of the film crew couldn't leave, Shao Qingge only invited Ye Qi, Yu Hanjiang, and Xiao Lou. Ye Qi loves hot pot, and it's perfect for a hot meal in the cold winter, so the four of them went to a nicely decorated hot pot restaurant in the city and got a private room to eat and chat.
Ye Qi remarked, " The Liang Ting case is truly unexpected. I initially thought the murderer was one of the five members of the girl group, but it turns out to be a hairstylist... Now that I think about it, my hairstylist Tony was actually quite kind."
Shao Qingge chuckled and said, "The same hairstylist who did your rooster-motif hairstyle?"
Ye Qi glanced at him awkwardly: " CEO Shao, don't remember my ugliest hairstyle so clearly."
Shao Qingge continued to tease him: "What I remember most clearly is actually your women's clothing. Miss Ye's look is quite nice."
Ye Qi: "..."
As usual, the two bickered, but Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou simply ignored them and focused on eating.
These past few days have been so busy that Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou haven't been sleeping well, and they've been ordering takeout for lunch and dinner. CEO Shao treated them to hot pot, and since it was a rare opportunity for them to rest, they naturally couldn't neglect their stomachs.
When they were almost finished eating, Ye Qi asked, "Next up is Lin Yiyan's case. Captain Yu, what are your thoughts?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "I'm wondering if this escape room might also have a theme."
Ye Qi's eyes lit up, and he said, " Heart 3 is about revenge, Red Heart 4 is about a scumbag, Red Heart 8 is about rebellion... What will it be this time? It shouldn't be about revenge again, right?"
Xiao Lou analyzed seriously: " The Liang Ting case is not about revenge. In fact, Liang Ting and Jin Xiaoyue don't have much hatred. Liang Ting, as a judge, gave her a red light out of consideration for fairness. Even if his words were a little harsh, that's how cruel the competition is. Some people advance and some people are eliminated. It doesn't reach the level of deep hatred. It's Jin Xiaoyue's own twisted mentality that makes her blame Liang Ting for her failures in life."
Ye Qi nodded in agreement: "That's right. Could this case be about a murder committed by someone with a twisted mind? The Lin Yiyan case, where the body was frozen in the bathtub with ice, also seems like the murderer had a twisted mind?"
Shao Qingge said with a smile, "Moreover, this murderer is even smarter than Jin Xiaoyue; he didn't leave any evidence."
The Liang Ting case was easy to solve because the pool of suspects was limited. Liang Ting was poisoned by drinking water, so the only people who could have poisoned him were a few people at the scene. By eliminating possibilities one by one, considering the time, place, and motive, the person left was naturally the most suspicious murderer.
No one expected Jin Xiaoyue to be "dressed as a man," but Yu Hanjiang deduced that she was the most likely perpetrator. He cleverly checked her fingerprints and immediately uncovered the truth of the case.
The difficulty in the Lin Yiyan case lies in the fact that the perpetrator cannot...
locking.
Between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. on the day of the incident, it was impossible to find out who was in her villa or who drove her car away.
Ye Qi, with a wild imagination, said, "Could it be that Liang Ting found out about Lin Yiyan's one-night stand with her husband, and Liang Ting, who has severe mysophobia, couldn't tolerate it and killed Lin Yiyan in revenge? Now that Liang Ting is dead, we can't find the murderer to verify it?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "We have considered the possibility you mentioned. I will check it tomorrow, but it is unlikely."
Xiao Lou said, "According to Ye Lan, at the film festival awards ceremony, Liang Ting smelled Lin Yiyan's unique perfume and knew that she had a one-night stand with her husband. In the backstage dressing room, he slapped Lin Yiyan several times. Liang Ting is a straightforward person. Since he had already slapped her a few times to vent his anger, he shouldn't have planned to kill her again half a year later."
Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou and nodded in agreement: "You can also tell from the talent show that Liang Ting is not the kind of person who is scheming. If she were more scheming and knew how to smooth things over tactfully, she wouldn't have offended Jin Xiaoyue and brought about her own death."
The manager's description also mentioned that Liang Ting is straightforward, decisive, and a person of his word.
Such a person finds it difficult to suppress their anger for more than half a year. Then, they meticulously plan a murder, disregard the other party's feelings, and slap them a few times backstage to vent their anger.
After listening to their analysis, Ye Qi agreed and said, "It seems we still have to find the murderer slowly."
Shao Qingge said, "I'll leave that to Captain Yu. I'll also look for more clues about Lin Yiyan in the company's files later."
After the meal, the four of them went home.
On the way back, Xiao Lou gazed thoughtfully at the scenery outside the car window, his expression serious and focused. Yu Hanjiang knew he was pondering the case and didn't disturb him, concentrating on driving.
After some time, Xiao Lou suddenly turned around and asked, "By the way, the most difficult part of the Liang Ting case was that Jin Xiaoyue was disguised as a man, right?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Yes, if we hadn't thought of verifying her fingerprints to confirm her true identity and instead investigated her as Jin Xiaoyong, our investigation would have reached a dead end. It would have been difficult to find out what grudge Jin Xiaoyong and Liang Ting had, and we wouldn't have been able to determine the motive."
Xiao Lou stroked his chin and said, "Impossible. The theme of this escape room... is actually a disguise?"
Yu Hanjiang's eyes narrowed slightly. He suddenly realized a possibility, slammed on the brakes, and pulled the car over to the side of the road. He immediately dialed Qu Wanyue's number.
A noisy sound came from Qu Wanyue's direction, clearly indicating that a film was being shot on set.
She walked a few steps to a relatively quiet corner, looked around to make sure no one else was there, and then asked softly, " Captain Yu, is there something you need? We're filming here."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "How's the film crew doing these past few days?"
Qu Wanyue said, "It went fairly smoothly. For the first two days, Cheng Yu couldn't get into character and kept forgetting his lines while acting, resulting in many takes and a scolding from the director. Liu Qiao said that the manager forced Cheng Yu to memorize his lines for most of the night. Later, his performance improved a lot, and the director has been quite satisfied with his recent scenes."
She paused for a moment, then continued, " Qiao Xuening is doing very well too. Her acting is quite good; she can get many scenes right in one take. She's much better than Cheng Yu, that young heartthrob. The director often praises her and tells Cheng Yu to learn more from Sister Xuening."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Has her dance scene started filming yet?"
Qu Wanyue thought for a moment and said, "According to the filming schedule, the official filming of her dancing scenes should begin the day after tomorrow. Lao Mo and the scene crew just set up the stage today. Because there are a lot of dance scenes, the director's idea is to finish filming them in a few days and then dismantle the stage."
Yu Hanjiang nodded and said, "Is her leg still okay?"
Qu Wanyue: "She's recovered very well, and she can handle the spinning moves I taught her."
Yu Hanjiang instructed, "Keep an eye on her dancing. Xiao Lou and I will be coming to the set tomorrow."
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Lou couldn't help but ask, "You suspect Qiao Xuening?"
Yu Hanjiang said, " Cheng Yu, this rich second-generation, was just playing around with Lin Yiyan. Neither of them was serious; it was more of a casual fling. He had no motive to kill Lin Yiyan. Currently, the people connected to Lin Yiyan are... Manager." Qi Ming, her best friend Qiao Xuening, and her junior Ye Lan all have alibis, but your mention of forgery just now reminded me of something—alibi can be faked.
A fake alibi?
Xiao Lou was suddenly taken aback: "So, someone can impersonate them and create an alibi?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: " Jin Xiaoyue can impersonate Jin Xiaoyong, so you may have guessed the key to this escape room."
******