Murder in a Secret Room Bed and Breakfast (5)

After taking a short break and drinking a glass of water, everyone entered the interrogation room again. When they opened the door, Meng Siqi saw a different face. She did not look panicked like Xia Sulan. She looked much calmer than Xia Sulan.

Although her face was not a standard oval face, it was prettier than Xia Sulan's. Her hair was tied up at the back, but there were still a few strands of messy hair. She was also wearing a thick down coat.

Meng Siqi remembered that Ding Qian was divorced and worked as a logistics worker in the community, cooking for the elderly in the community. She divorced last year and had no children. Compared with Xia Sulan, she had less pressure in life. Although her face did not look obviously old, she could still see the traces of erosion by time, and looked older than a normal 26-year-old.

Ding Qian's eyes were always fixed on the four people who entered the interrogation room and watched them put away their notebooks and pens. She didn't seem to be very nervous about her situation.

Meng Siqi remembered that she was the last one to arrive at the scene of the death. On the surface, she was the least suspicious, but in actual circumstances, she might be the most suspicious.

After Meng Siqi sat down, she turned a new page. In response to Xia Sulan's same question, she asked about the murder weapon again and asked Ding Qian to try to describe it.

Ding Qian said: "When I went to the yard, I found that it was a fruit knife for cutting cakes."

"Why are you so sure?"

“I used that knife.”

"Hmm?" The knife had fingerprints of Long Shanwen, Xia Sulan and Ding Qian. Xia Sulan cut the cake, so she was no longer a suspect. Ding Qian was more likely to be a suspect. If she took the initiative to admit it, she would undoubtedly be clearing her suspicion. Meng Siqi asked, "When did you use it?"

"When Sulan and Yuanyuan were singing a duet, Shanwen said she wanted to eat cake, so I went to get it. Because Sulan cut the cake into a big piece, I cut half of it."

"Did Xia Sulan and Sun Yuanyuan see you cutting the cake?"

"I don't know. They were singing very hard and the lighting was not good at night."

There were only colored lights on the scene, so many details could not be seen, and who would care whether someone cut the cake or not. Could Ding Qian be lying? When she moved her eyes, they happened to meet Feng Shaomin's, who seemed to have the same suspicion.

Meng Siqi asked the same second question, why come to this B&B, Ding Qian's answer was the same as Xia Sulan's, both were suggested by Long Shanwen.

Meng Siqi asked the third question: "Can you tell me about the textile factory? What is your relationship with Long Shanwen?"

Ding Qian also mentioned the gangster "Liuliu" and everyone's protection of Long Shanwen. Her meaning was consistent with Xia Sulan's, that Long Shanwen was a person who knew how to be grateful.

But when describing birthday gifts, her words were different from Xia Sulan's. Xia Sulan said that she was a little selfish and that part of the reason she attended birthday parties every year was because of the gifts, because the gifts were very expensive, equivalent to several months' salary.

Similarly, Ding Qian's salary is also very meager, but she described it this way: "Shanwen gives us birthday gifts every year. The gifts are very valuable, and I will keep them. I don't usually wear them, but I cherish them very much."

Ding Qian considered Long Shanwen's gift as a gift, which was completely different from Xia Sulan's idea.

So Meng Siqi couldn't help but ask: "What kind of person do you think Long Shanwen is to you?"

This is a delicate question. Long Shanwen is her friend and someone she once protected, but the situation is different today. Long Shanwen is more like someone who gives her precious gifts.

Ding Qian paused before saying, "It's hard to say. Maybe we were all innocent at that time and thought that this friendship would last a lifetime. In fact, after leaving the textile factory, we rarely contacted each other. I don't know why Long Shanwen still cares about our relationship. In fact, if she didn't contact us, we wouldn't blame her. If she didn't contact us, maybe this accident wouldn't have happened."

She expressed her true opinion about this friendship, that it was Long Shanwen who valued this friendship, and if it were not for her to maintain it, it might have ended long ago.

Similarly, she showed her regret for Long Shanwen for the first time. Meng Siqi could tell from her expression that she was somewhat sad about Long Shanwen's death.

However, these would not affect her judgment of the suspect. Everything depends on evidence. She continued to ask: "Okay, then let's talk about what happened last night." Meng Siqi made the last request and described the scene last night.

Ding Qian was more rational than Xia Sulan. She described the scene in more detail, but it was basically the same as Xia Sulan's. However, she missed two key details: one was drinking red wine at the first moment, and the other was taking the initiative to ask for a room.

Meng Siqi thought she might have omitted these two details on purpose, so he had to ask her an additional question: "Do you like drinking?"

“I don’t like it.”

"Why did you take the initiative to drink red wine last night?"

Ding Qian seemed to have her mind read. She looked up at Meng Siqi and then lowered her eyes. "Not long after I left the textile factory, I got married. My marriage was a failure in the past few years. My ex-husband was a scumbag. I finally got divorced last year. I drank a lot of wine and got drunk all of a sudden. No one knows how hard I've been... This time, Shanwen's birthday came and I really wanted to talk to him, so I took the initiative to drink some red wine."

"Did you talk to them last night?"

"No, everyone was having fun, and I was happy too. I thought it was all in the past, so I didn't think too much about it."

Meng Siqi asked again: "There is a glass house in the yard. You can all stay there. Why do you want to stay in the room?"

"Sun Yuanyuan and Shanwen have the best relationship, so they must have a lot to talk about. And after my divorce, I especially like to sleep alone, so I took the initiative to ask to stay in the room..."

However, Ding Qian added a different detail. Since leaving the textile factory, they would live together every year for Long Shanwen's birthday. Sun Yuanyuan would definitely do the same anyway. But the only difference was that in the first year, they lived separately.

After asking some more details and asking all the questions that needed to be asked, Meng Siqi pushed the photo of the blood symbol in front of Ding Qian as usual, "Take a close look at it. Do you recognize this symbol?"

Ding Qian gently moved her hand towards her, as if she wanted to see it more clearly. Her brows were wrinkled and her eyes were slightly closed, as if she had a certain degree of rejection. However, she was more rational than Xia Sulan and did not avoid the photo. After looking at it for a few seconds, she raised her eyes and said, "I don't know him. I don't know why Shanwen would draw this."

"Okay, Ding Qian, this is the end of the interrogation. Take a break and drink some water. If you have any questions, please contact us. We will also ask you any questions you have."

After the interrogation, everyone was not in a very good mood when they walked out of the interrogation room, because everyone found that Ding Qian and Xia Sulan's descriptions were basically the same, with no difference, which was somewhat different from the initial assumption.

While refilling the water supply in the office, Feng Shaomin came over and said, "Now only Sun Yuanyuan is left. Do you suspect that Sun Yuanyuan has a direct relationship with the symbol?"

The symbol Long Shanwen drew was a circle. Although his index finger was pointed at the center of the circle at the end, it was still a circle. Sun Yuanyuan's name sounds like "circle", so before his death, the most direct way for Long Shanwen to express himself was undoubtedly to draw a circle.

Moreover, Sun Yuanyuan lived with Long Shanwen yesterday, so she had the most convenient opportunity to kill. If Xia Sulan and Ding Qian wanted to kill Long Shanwen, they still had to take Sun Yuanyuan into consideration, then it would be easy for Sun Yuanyuan to kill Long Shanwen.

The next morning, maybe Sun Yuanyuan deliberately cried "stop thief" to eliminate her suspicion and wanted to lure Xia Sulan and Ding Qian to the scene to eliminate her suspicion in the minds of the other two?

However, all of this is just their guesswork. Meng Siqi would never have made such a conclusion before meeting Sun Yuanyuan.

She said cautiously, "Master, this symbol is too obvious. If I were the murderer, if I were Sun Yuanyuan, and I stayed in the same room with the deceased for one night, I would never let this symbol remain until the morning, right?"

"Well, you're right. But what if the murderer was intentionally trying to prove himself? If the circle symbol is the same as her name, then she would become the first suspect. Normally, she would erase the mark of herself, but if she doesn't do that, she will be safe."

Meng Siqi immediately understood what Feng Shaomin said. If some murderers had a higher IQ, they would play this kind of unpredictable game with others, especially in a secret room.

She quickly said, "I understand. I will not be affected by this during the next trial. I will take her confession seriously."

"Okay. Let's get ready and go."

The breakthrough point was all on Sun Yuanyuan. She was the person closest to Long Shanwen last night. If she had woken up last night, she would have noticed something unusual, but she didn't find out that Long Shanwen was dead until the next morning.

When Meng Siqi opened the door, a pretty little face came into his eyes. Maybe she was not the prettiest among the four, but he could tell that she was younger, about 25 years old, with fair skin and neat hair. Her down sweater was a little more fashionable than the ones Xia Sulan and Ding Qian wore.

However, this only shows that Xia Sulan and Ding Qian are not in line with their actual age, and they may suffer more hardships in life.

Meng Siqi remembers that Sun Yuanyuan is single and currently works as a salesperson in a supermarket, so her life worries should be the smallest.

Sun Yuanyuan looked mean and pretty, but her face was obviously stained with tears. She also seemed a little timid when meeting people. She had cried for Long Shanwen and was a bit timid.

The four of them sat down, and after asking about the basic situation, Meng Siqi still asked about the situation of the weapon.

Sun Yuanyuan shook her head. "I don't know. My first reaction in the morning was to look for Sister Shanwen. After I got up and put on my clothes, I found her lying on the ground, covered in blood. I was so scared that I screamed for help..."

She was very excited when she described it, as if she was back to the scene of this morning. Her eyes kept shaking, as if she was afraid to accept the reality.

"So you don't know how she died?"

"I don't know. I can't even imagine how good a person Sister Shanwen is. I just received the diamond ring she bought for me. Sister Shanwen told me that when I get married, she will buy me the biggest diamond ring..."

Meng Siqi asked: "Think carefully, who touched the fruit knife used to cut the cake yesterday?" She did not mention the murder weapon, just to let Sun Yuanyuan put down the burden.

Sun Yuanyuan really calmed down for a while. She recalled the past, and the shaking in her eyes became less and less. She began to calm down. She said slowly: "It was Sulan who cut the cake. I don't know what happened afterwards."

"Ding Qian cut the cake once. Did you see it?"

“I don’t remember.”

Meng Siqi asked them about their work at the textile factory and their relationship. Sun Yuanyuan said almost the same things and mentioned Liuliu.

Meng Siqi asked: "How do you usually deal with the gifts that Long Shanwen gives you?"

"Look, I'm wearing it." Sun Yuanyuan deliberately raised her right hand, "I will wear any gift that Sister Shanwen buys me."

It was a small silver diamond ring with a tiny crystal diamond, which suited her petite hand shape, but it might not be cheap.

Sun Yuanyuan treated the gift more directly than Xia Sulan and Ding Qian. She even regarded it as a symbol of friendship, which was the best proof of her relationship with Long Shanwen.

When describing the details of last night, Sun Yuanyuan's description was basically the same as theirs, except that she added some testimony that the first two people did not have, which was some conversations she had with Long Shanwen while they were living in the glass house after the two of them left.

They talked about Sun Yuanyuan's love life. Long Shanwen urged her to get married soon and said he couldn't wait to buy all kinds of gifts for her baby. In short, most of the conversation was about Sun Yuanyuan.

Sun Yuanyuan didn't know much about Long Shanwen's life. She didn't ask too many questions, but just asked whether her husband was good to her. Long Shanwen's answer was that she was happy.

Sun Yuanyuan also drank red wine that night. Like Long Shanwen, she fell asleep after not chatting for long. Sun Yuanyuan said that because of the wine, she had nightmares all night. When she woke up the next morning, she tried to grab the arm of the person next to her, but failed. After waking up, she desperately looked for the person, but the result was...

All the details were very lifelike, and Meng Siqi didn't find anything suspicious, but she specifically asked a question: "Do you usually like to sleep with others?"

Sun Yuanyuan paused for a moment and said, "I don't feel anything."

"Have you ever had any unpleasant experiences?"

"What do you mean?"

"For example, losing money, being cheated, or having a broken heart..."

Sun Yuanyuan's eyes flickered slightly, as if someone had read something into her. She sighed and said, "I was in a relationship once, but I was cheated, so I never got married."

"Do you feel happy? Are you satisfied with the current situation?"

"I... I don't like my life, but I can't change it. I envy Sister Shanwen. That's what she deserves."

"Why do you think she deserves that?"

"She was very pretty and kind, and treated me very well. She was the best to me among the four of us. She would always treat me when she passed by where I lived. And she was the closest to me when we were at the textile factory, and I knew she was dating someone else."

"Wait, she's dating someone else?"

"Not really. There are many people pursuing her in the factory, but she doesn't agree. She can't afford to lose face with some leaders, so she will go out for dinner or something, but not many."

"Okay." Meng Siqi pushed the photo of the symbol to Sun Yuanyuan again.

Sun Yuanyuan took a look and lowered her head, her eyes reddened. "I don't want to see this."

"Do you recognize this symbol?"

"have no idea."

Seeing that Sun Yuanyuan was in a low mood, Meng Siqi decided to end the interrogation.

After leaving the interrogation room, everyone had a look of worry on their faces. Although a lot of information was obtained from the interrogation of the three people, not much progress was made. They were all describing something they had seen with their own eyes, and also witnessed the relationship that the four of them had maintained together for so many years.

Everyone was silent. Meng Siqi said, "Captain Han, Master, Zhao Leiting and I will go back and sort out the confession."

"good."

Soon, Han Changlin made new arrangements. "This afternoon, everyone should try their best to visit the social connections of the three people and investigate what they said today. We will interrogate them again tomorrow morning."

There are only twenty-four hours left, and tomorrow morning is the last detention time.

After half a day of visits, late at night, the four people gathered in front of the crime board and discussed the case again. In the past, the case summary was presided over by Tang Xiaochuan, but this time it was presided over by Meng Siqi.

She described the entire case in detail with clear ideas, and specially supplemented the results of the half-day visit and investigation, adding new information to the previous information.

Xia Sulan has a daughter, but she is not happy. Her husband is an alcoholic, and her mother-in-law favors boys over girls. She has many complaints about Xia Sulan. Although she has a job in a soap factory, her life is terrible.

Ding Qian had been through three and a half years of miserable marriage. Her husband was a typical scumbag who had an affair and emptied Ding Qian's meager property. When they divorced last year, Ding Qian was almost penniless.

Sun Yuanyuan was abandoned by her ex-boyfriend. She had a soft personality and her ex-boyfriend liked to use violence against her, which caused a lot of trauma to her personality.

These are three miserable women, who pale in comparison to Long Shanwen. As the saying goes, the difference between their circumstances is like fireflies and moonlight.

Next, Meng Siqi suddenly made a conclusion that shocked everyone.

Today, she and Zhao Leiting visited an old chef who has been working in the B&B for several years.

The chef recalled that he was the serving chef on two birthdays and happened to see them making wishes. Long Shanwen smiled and said to the three sisters, I hope my gift can bring you good luck!

It was a joke, maybe no one cared.

But Meng Siqi felt something was wrong. After she came back, she ran to the detention rooms of Xia Sulan, Ding Qian and Xu Yuanyuan three times and asked them if Long Shanwen would say this every time on his birthday, "I hope my gift can exchange for your good luck."

All three nodded.

Meng Siqi faced the crime board and gave the following statement: "Long Shanwen didn't really enjoy celebrating her birthday with them. She probably really thought that she had received good luck from all three of them."

"On the first birthday after leaving the textile factory, Long Shanwen gave everyone a valuable gift. She probably really wanted to thank them that year. But because the gifts were too expensive, they initially refused. In order to get them to accept them, Long Shanwen made a joke: If you think the gifts are expensive, then exchange them for some of your good luck."

"Unexpectedly, her life changed drastically from then on. Long Shanwen probably thought that it was the joke on her birthday that changed her. So she would invite the three of them to her birthday every year, and the gifts became more and more expensive."

These words shocked everyone present.

Meng Siqi concluded his testimony: "The confessions of the three of them were too perfect. Long Shanwen's words may have stimulated them. Resentment and jealousy gave them the motive to kill Long Shanwen. I suspect that they are all murderers!"