After hearing the question asked by Qi Mingyuan, the blush on Qu Jingyun's face instantly faded and her eyes flickered.
When the police came to the art troupe that day and asked her if she had seen the jade bracelet in the photo, she recognized it as her jade bracelet at a glance. Then she remembered that her jade bracelet was still in Du Anping's hand and she had not had time to take it back. She suddenly felt regretful and afraid.
She felt bad about losing such a good bracelet, and was also afraid that the police would find her because of the bracelet. So she had no choice but to pretend that she didn't know the person and pretended to be sick to avoid further questioning by the police.
But Qi Mingyuan asked about the jade bracelet for no reason. Could it be that the police also questioned him with the photo?
Qu Jingyun was surprised and doubtful, and answered tentatively:
"It's such a valuable bracelet. I'm afraid it will get damaged, so I put it in the safe..."
A hint of disappointment flashed in Qi Mingyuan's eyes.
Even now, Qu Jingyun is still trying to lie to him. Doesn't she have any trust in him at all?
"A safe?"
Qi Mingyuan snorted coldly, his voice becoming even colder:
"Go get it."
Qu Jingyun knew immediately that something was amiss. Qi Mingyuan had come to her late at night to ask for the jade bracelet. The police must have questioned him, and he must have come to confirm it out of suspicion. But how could she possibly produce an identical imperial green jade bracelet?!
Not to mention that thing cannot be bought on the market, even if it can be bought, a jade bracelet of this quality would be sold at a sky-high price now, and she could not afford it.
Under Qi Mingyuan's sharp gaze, Qu Jingyun could only turn around and walk hesitantly towards the location of the safe, walking extremely slowly.
But the room was so small that even if she walked slowly, she still stood in front of the safe after a few steps.
She turned her head and secretly glanced at Qi Mingyuan. Seeing him staring at her seriously, she quickly withdrew her gaze, took a deep breath, and slowly turned the combination lock of the safe with trembling fingers.
“Click…click…click!”
With three crisp sounds of gears turning, the door of the safe opened.
Qu Jingyun pretended to be calm and reached in, searching up and down for a while. The next second, he put on a panicked expression, widened his eyes and exclaimed:
"Where's my jade bracelet?! Why is it gone?!"
Qi Mingyuan stood there with a gloomy face, his eyes like a cold blade looking straight at Qu Jingyun who was desperately devoting herself to "directing and acting" himself, feeling extremely ironic in his heart.
Qu Jingyun tried hard to squeeze out the anxious tears from her eyes, and turned to Qi Mingyuan and cried:
"Mingyuan, the jade bracelet is gone! I locked it in the safe. It must have been stolen!"
Qi Mingyuan walked over slowly, his eyes fixed on Qu Jingyun.
His cold gaze made Qu Jingyun feel uncomfortable all over. Her hands unconsciously rested on her arms, and her back, which was usually straight, became hunched. She was completely unaware that her guilty look at this moment could not be more obvious.
"It was stolen...by whom?"
"Du Anping?"
Hearing this name suddenly come out of Qi Mingyuan's mouth, Qu Jingyun couldn't help but shudder, and replied with forced calmness:
"Who is Du Anping? I don't know this person."
"Oh!"
Qi Mingyuan couldn't help but sneered:
"You don't know Du Anping, so tell me, who is this person?"
As Qi Mingyuan spoke, he took the photo out of his pocket and threw it directly on the ground in front of Qu Jingyun.
When she saw who the man and woman hugging in the photo were, she was so frightened that she sat down on the ground, shaking uncontrollably, unable to believe her eyes.
She and Du Anping were photographed meeting outside Xiefang Garden!
Qu Jingyun was stunned for three seconds, and suddenly came to her senses. She rushed to Qi Mingyuan's feet, hugged his trouser legs and cried:
"Mingyuan, listen to my explanation. It's not what you think. I have my reasons. I was forced to do this!"
Tears as big as beans kept sliding down Qu Jingyun's cheeks out of extreme fear. She was really scared at this moment, fearing that Qi Mingyuan would not want her and would turn around and send her to the police station, then her life would be over!
Qi Mingyuan closed his eyes and frowned. Qu Jingyun's reaction at this moment had already revealed the answer, and it also confirmed the guess in his heart that he was reluctant to believe.
He calmed down the violent fluctuations in his heart and said in a deep voice:
"You said you were forced to do this and that you had your reasons. Well, I'll give you another chance to explain."
"Qu Jingyun, listen carefully, this is your last chance."
Qi Mingyuan's voice was calm at this moment, and he couldn't even hear much anger in it, but it made Qu Jingyun's hair stand on end, just like a terminally ill patient being given an ultimatum by the doctor who was trying to save his life.
Her mind raced, desperately trying to think of how to clear herself:
"It was...that guy named Du Anping who found me. He threatened me with the photos and told me to pay him money, or he would spread the photos at the wedding."
"I had no money at the time and didn't want to be threatened by him, so he tried to snatch my jade bracelet. I was too weak to do it, so he took it away from me."
"That jade bracelet was so expensive. I was afraid you would blame me if you found out, so I didn't dare to tell anyone at the time. Later, the police came to my house and said Du Anping was dead. I was scared and didn't dare to tell anyone anymore."
"Mingyuan, you must believe me. I absolutely did not have any quarrel with this Du guy. He was the one who stole my things. There's something wrong with the photo. Someone must have taken it on purpose and gave it to you to destroy our relationship!"
Qi Mingyuan just looked at Qu Jingyun in silence, listening to the lies she told in front of him, but he had no idea how many loopholes there were in her words that he could see through at a glance.
In fact, he had suspected Qu Jingyun since the day the police came to his house, but Qi Guangyao's behavior that day made him very uneasy. Compared with Qu Jingyun, he was more worried that Qi Guangyao was also involved in this murder case.
That's why he lied to the police and deliberately concealed the relationship between Qu Jingyun and the jade bracelet, just because he didn't want the police to follow the clues and implicate Qi Guangyao as well.
He chose to turn a blind eye and forced himself not to pursue the truth of the matter, intending to live with his eyes closed.
But what he didn't expect was that Qi Shengzhi would actually come to him with such a photo that provided conclusive evidence.
Even if he stopped Qi Shengzhi from handing the photos over to the police station, even if the photos were in his hands now, if there was a first photo, there would be a second one. What's more, what he had in his hands were just photos, not negatives. If the person holding the negatives was willing, he could develop as many copies of the photos as he wanted.
Therefore, in Qi Mingyuan's opinion, using money to plug this hole is not enough, and the only way is to start from the root.
Only by scraping the bone and removing the poison can we put an end to all problems and feel completely at ease.
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