Do you still doubt me?
The Yan residence looked much the same as before, but Luo Yuwen noticed that even within the vast house, there were fewer servants. He remembered there had been at least five servants before, but now, besides the housekeeper, there was only one maid, which struck him as odd. The Yan residence was well-maintained, and it wasn't something two people could handle.
"Luo Yuwen, what are you looking at?"
"No."
Luo Yuwen shook his head and followed Jiang Shuiying to a reception room. This reception room was smaller than the last time. The housekeeper brought some tea and left, closing the door.
The tea was still from the same pot, the aroma was still the same, even the positions of the two people were exactly the same, but Luo Yuwen's state of mind was completely different from before.
Jiang Shuiying's eyes were red and her head was slightly lowered. Her originally delicate black curly hair no longer had the luster of the past and was scattered a little messily.
She picked up the tea and took two sips. "Luo Yuwen, just ask whatever you want to ask."
Luo Yuwen hesitated, staring at the dark red tea in the cup, his voice low.
"Jiang Shuiying, Qu Qing was deceived, Zhu Zhi was forced, what about you?"
"You...why are you with Yan Ming and marry him?"
Jiang Shuiying didn't seem to want to answer. She changed the subject and asked Luo Yuwen another question.
"Luo Yuwen, do you know why I always wear long sleeves?"
It wasn't until then that Luo Yuwen realized that since the first day he saw Jiang Shuiying, her limbs had always been covered with clothes. Thinking back, he thought of the first time he came to Yan's house, when Jiang Shuiying's cloak accidentally fell down, revealing a light red scar.
An ominous premonition arose in his heart.
Jiang Shuiying was wearing a suit jacket and matching trousers today, with a white shirt underneath. She slowly took off her suit jacket, unbuttoned her cuffs, and turned her sleeves up.
Her white arms were covered with pink scars that were beginning to fade.
Both arms were covered with it, which was shocking to see.
"Do you know now why I answered like that when you asked me if I loved Yan Ming?"
The moment he saw the scar, Luo Yuwen's pupils constricted despite being mentally prepared.
During the time he had known Jiang Shuiying, she had always been very confident and at ease in everything she did. She was intelligent, full of ideas, and had played a significant role in both investigations. Without Jiang Shuiying, he wouldn't have been able to investigate so quickly. Luo Yuwen hadn't expected Jiang Shuiying's marriage to be so unfortunate.
A feeling of bitterness surged from Luo Yuwen's chest. He had felt this way when he asked Qu Qing before, but Luo Yuwen didn't have much contact with Qu Qing, so the feeling was not as strong as this time.
He regretted why he didn't discover it earlier, and also regretted why he let Jiang Shuiying, who had already escaped from the sea of suffering, immerse herself in painful memories again.
Looking at those scars of varying depths, Luo Yuwen's selfishness had already leaned towards Jiang Shuiying. He didn't want to see Jiang Shuiying cry again.
Actions come before brains. Luo Yuwen squatted beside Jiang Shuiying, held her hand, and looked carefully at the scar on it, his eyes full of concern and forbearance.
"...Does it still hurt?"
Jiang Shuiying, immersed in her memories, was a little stunned, and Luo Yuwen's words seemed to have touched a switch. The moment she heard it, her tears fell again, and she cried silently like she did in the bookstore.
This made Luo Yuwen completely panicked. He hurriedly took the tissue and tried to wipe away Jiang Shuiying's tears, but Jiang Shuiying turned her head away and looked straight at Luo Yuwen with tearful eyes.
"Do you still doubt me now?"
"Do you still think of Yan Ming as that kind-hearted philanthropist?"
There was only the crystal chandelier above the ceiling of the reception room, emitting a faint warm light. Luo Yuwen squatted on the ground and looked up to see Jiang Shuiying's face in the shadow under the lamp, tears streaming down her face.
He stood up and sat next to Jiang Shuiying, letting her lean on his arms.
"I'm sorry, Jiang Shuiying."
Jiang Shuiying buried herself in Luo Yuwen's chest, clutching his leather jacket tightly with both hands, sobbing loudly for a long, long time.
Luo Yuwen's clothes on his chest were stained with her tears. He watched the hour hand of the floor clock beside him go around a circle. Only then did Jiang Shuiying raise her head from his arms and break free from his embrace.
Luo Yuwen was caught off guard by the sudden loss of something in his arms, and Jiang Shuiying's next words made him even more at a loss.
Jiang Shuiying wiped her tears without looking at him, "Go away, I have nothing more to say."
"What you can find out later is up to you. I have more important things to do."
Luo Yuwen was shocked when he heard this: "Jiang Shuiying, why are you..."
Jiang Shuiying stood up, turned and walked towards the stairs, walking up the gorgeous marble steps without looking back at the man still sitting in the reception room.
"No."
***
Twelve o'clock midnight, at Luo Yuwen's home.
He didn't turn on any lights, only the floor lamp next to the whiteboard was on. He took a shower and sat on the sofa. The bottle of whiskey on the coffee table was half empty, and there were already several cigarette butts in the ashtray.
There was a blue light on his face, one hand was sliding on his notebook, and the cigarette in the other hand had burned out, leaving only a butt.
Luo Yuwen was checking the news about Jiang Shuiying and Yan Ming's marriage.
But the Yan family seemed to be very sensitive to public opinion. He could only find two pieces of news about Jiang Shuiying and Yan Ming's marriage. One was from the day Jiang Shuiying and Yan Ming got married, which was three years ago. The next one was when Yan Ming died last month and Jiang Shuiying was once again pushed to the top of public opinion.
The first news item briefly described how the two met and fell in love. At that time, Jiang Shuiying was still a newcomer. Coincidentally, there was a play that was invested by Yan's family. During the filming, Yan Ming came to the set as an investor and fell in love with Jiang Shuiying at first sight. Later, the two got married and the marriage lasted for three years.
Could it be that Jiang Shuiying had been tortured by Yan Ming for three years? Luo Yuwen frowned tightly.
Moreover, Luo Yuwen always felt that the way Jiang Shuiying and Yan Ming met was similar to Zhu Zhi's.
Luo Yuwen put down his computer and walked to the whiteboard, intending to sort out the timeline of the whole incident.
At noon on the day Yan Ming died, Zhu Zhi had originally agreed with Yan Ming to meet at a hotel in G City, and Zhu Zhi asked Yan Ming to order fruit and vegetable juice to be sent to the company and brought over by Yan Ming.
However, Zhu Zhi suddenly changed her schedule and went to City A, and the meeting plan was cancelled. After a phone call, Yan Ming's temperament suddenly changed. He locked himself in the office and drank the fatal fruit and vegetable juice.
The biggest connection between Qu Qing and this incident was that she happened to be getting desserts for the employees in the dessert shop at noon that day.
Jiang Shuiying had an argument with Yan Ming the day before and proposed divorce to Yan Ming, which seemed to have only affected Yan Ming's mood. At present, Jiang Shuiying is the least suspicious.
Luo Yuwen wrote it down on the whiteboard, and then decided to go to the dessert shop tomorrow to check the surveillance and see if he could find any useful information.
He lay in bed, looking at the dark ceiling, letting sleep slowly creep in.
The next day, Luo Yuwen got up early and rode his motorcycle to the dessert shop. When he arrived, the shop was still closed. Luo Yuwen, dressed in black clothes, black pants, and black sunglasses, squatted at the door of the shop, almost scaring the children who came out for breakfast.
The owner of the dessert shop was carrying ingredients in his hands and recognized him as soon as he arrived.
"Ah, young man, why are you here? What brings you here so early?"
Luo Yuwen took off his sunglasses and explained his purpose, but the boss looked embarrassed. He remembered that Jiang Shuiying had ordered three bowls of sugar water in a row to get information from him, so he decided to use the same method.
"Boss, if you need compensation for watching the surveillance, I can pay you."
The boss slapped his thigh when he heard this and said, "Hey young man, this is not about money. The police have checked the surveillance cameras in my store before."
"It's just that my shop has been open for a long time. There are only surveillance cameras in the kitchen and at the door. The police checked and said there's nothing wrong. Do you still want to see it?"
The dessert shop is rectangular, with a glass-enclosed kitchen inside and tables and chairs on both sides. The layout is a common shop type.
Luo Yuwen still asked his boss for the surveillance footage, as it was better to have it than not.
There weren't many people in the surveillance footage, but there were plenty of delivery drivers, carrying takeout orders in and out. The owner was also busy in the kitchen. The footage showed the owner making several fruit and vegetable juices before lunch, and Yan Ming only ordered one. The takeout orders from the dessert shop were prepared by the owner and placed on a glass-enclosed counter for the delivery drivers to pick up.
At noon, a male delivery driver entered the store first, followed by Qu Qing, wearing a long-sleeved white dress and with her hair loose. The surveillance camera at the door only captured her entering the store, but not the rest of the process.
The kitchen surveillance camera mainly captured the stove, and only a small part of the bar outside the glass was captured. At this time, there were many packaged sugar drinks on the bar. The boss in the camera said hello to the outside and turned around to busy himself.
The boss explained that he was greeting Qu Qing at that time. He had called in advance to order the dessert, and Qu Qing said on the phone that he would pick it up himself and there was no need to trouble the delivery man.
Hearing this, Luo Yuwen couldn't help but wonder, "Why did Miss Qu come to get it herself?"
"Miss Qu is a regular customer of mine. She often does this. And even though we're so close, sometimes she even comes to sit in the store before leaving. It's quite normal."
Luo Yuwen understood, wrote down the clues and continued watching the surveillance video.
In the kitchen surveillance, the male delivery man first hurriedly took the sugar water and left, followed by a pair of thin hands rummaging through a pile of packaged takeouts. Soon, the hands holding the sugar water disappeared from the kitchen surveillance.
But next, in the surveillance video at the gate, Qu Qing appeared first, then pushed open the glass door and went out, and then the male delivery man who had just hurried in appeared. Moreover, the packaging of the juice and sugar water in the sugar water shop was different. The male delivery man was holding the packaging of juice, and Qu Qing was holding the packaging of sugar water.
According to the timeline, the cup in the male delivery man’s hand is most likely the one given to Yan Ming!
But the timeline in the surveillance video doesn't match. Qu Qing shouldn't have come out before the male delivery man.
"Why did Miss Qu come out first, and then that man?"
The boss frowned and tried to recall, "Ah, let me think..."
"Oh! Now I remember, that guy took the wrong one. It was only after Miss Qu reminded him that he came back to get it again, so he came out last."
At this time, Luo Yuwen's doubts became even greater - how did Qu Qing know that the delivery man took the wrong one?
Seeing Luo Yuwen's hesitant look, the boss on the first floor spoke at the right time: "Hey young man, the male delivery man told me the number when he picked it up, and Miss Qu heard it and reminded him."
Luo Yuwen was still suspicious, so he finally asked his boss to find the male delivery man's phone number in the food delivery app. Then Luo Yuwen transferred some money to the boss to express his apologies. The boss took the money and smiled as he sent Luo Yuwen out of the dessert shop.
Luo Yuwen squatted on the side of the street, looking at the male delivery man's number in his hand, and then glanced at Qu Qing's bookstore.
He stood up and walked towards Qu Qing's bookstore.
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