I suspect my sister-in-law
"Don't be so polite, just call me Miss Jiang," Jiang Shuiying put the teacup back and pushed back her curly hair. "My husband is dead. I'm no longer Madam Yan."
"Okay, Miss Jiang."
"Since Miss Jiang said you're welcome, I'll get straight to the point," Luo Yuwen said, crossing his arms and fixing his gaze on the woman before him. "I've been paid a large sum to investigate you, Miss Jiang."
"What was your relationship like before Yan Ming committed suicide?"
"And where were you on the day he committed suicide?"
Jiang Shuiying didn't rush to answer after hearing this, but continued to examine the person in front of her. She had excellent eyesight, and even though they were separated by a coffee table, she could clearly see the wariness and distrust in Luo Yuwen's eyes.
The air was silent for a few seconds before Jiang Shuiying spoke:
"It's so easy to be a detective these days. The court has clearly declared me innocent. Why do you have to come all the way here to question me?"
"Do private investigators have the right to pry into people's privacy?"
Jiang Shuiying's gaze stayed on Luo Yuwen's heaving chest, and then she returned her gaze to Luo Yuwen's eyes.
"Or do you have any evidence that proves that I killed my husband?"
Luo Yuwen lowered his head and chuckled twice.
"Of course I don't have that right. Miss Jiang doesn't have to say anything if she doesn't want to. But since Miss Jiang knows me and gave me the opportunity to come in, she must know what I will ask."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have the chance to sit here and drink tea, don't you think, Miss Jiang?"
Jiang Shuiying put down her teacup after hearing this. She crossed her legs and leaned on the sofa, looking at the moonlight pouring in from the window. She was silent for a while before she slowly spoke:
"I wasn't with him the day he died."
"We had a fight the night before and I was so angry that I went to the other house, but I didn't expect..."
"I didn't expect that would be the last time we met..."
After she finished speaking, Jiang Shuiying's voice was a little choked, and her eyes were filled with tears again in an instant.
The light in the room was warm, and the moonlight outside the window outlined Jiang Shuiying's delicate profile. The contrast between cold and warm, and the tears in her eyes made Jiang Shuiying look pitiful. Sitting opposite Luo Yuwen, she was as beautiful as a painting.
"Everyone suspected me, but I wasn't even with him at the time. How could I have killed him?"
"He is my husband. What good will it do me to kill him..."
After Jiang Shuiying finished speaking, her face was already full of tears. She covered her face with her hands, and a choked sob came out from her palms:
"I didn't expect him to leave me like this. I loved him so much. He clearly said he would be with me forever..."
"Maybe I shouldn't have argued with him the day before. Maybe I shouldn't have been angry with him that day. I shouldn't have said I wanted to divorce him out of spite..."
Next, Jiang Shuiying was completely immersed in her own emotions, and her sobs echoed in the huge reception room.
Luo Yuwen heard the key words from Jiang Shuiying's intermittent crying. He pushed the tissue box in front of her and waited quietly until her emotions calmed down before asking in a low voice:
"Ms. Jiang, you said that you filed for divorce from Yan Ming the day before he died?"
Jiang Shuiying wiped her tears and nodded, then said:
"What I said that day was just angry words. I didn't want to divorce him at all. Who would have known..."
"Anyway, maybe I shouldn't have said that that day, but Mr. Luo, I really didn't kill my husband."
Jiang Shuiying looked at Luo Yuwen with tears in her eyes. Her cloak became a little messy because of the action just now, but she did not look embarrassed at all. Instead, there was a sense of messy beauty.
Luo Yuwen looked away, "I understand, Miss Jiang Shuiying,"
"I'm so sorry to bother you so late, please get some rest first."
Jiang Shuiying nodded and whispered to a dark corner:
"Butler, send Mr. Luo out."
A man in a black suit immediately appeared in the corner and answered the two respectfully:
"Yes, miss."
After the two of them left, Jiang Shuiying went upstairs and quietly watched the man in leather jacket walk away in the dark corridor, and the sadness on her face disappeared again.
Jiang Shuiying picked up the phone and dialed a number skillfully.
"Hello, it's me."
"How are things going over there?"
A female voice came from the phone, and her voice was as cold as Jiang Shuiying's:
"Almost there, how about you?"
Jiang Shuiying curled her lips and said, "It's almost as expected. Someone has taken the bait."
***
Luo Yuwen walked out of the Yan residence under the escort of the housekeeper, and found the motorcycle parked in the woods according to his memory. Then he fumbled to open the phone, and there was a somewhat irritable male voice on the other end of the phone.
"Hey! Did you find anything?"
Luo Yuwen hesitated, "Do you really suspect that she killed your brother?"
"I've told you a thousand times, my brother can't possibly commit suicide. Who else would have the chance except her?"
"This woman used to be an actress, an actress!"
"Can you even check? I told you your brother..."
Luo Yuwen rubbed his forehead impatiently and interrupted:
"Alright, alright, don't keep reminding me. I promised you I'll investigate."
Hearing this, the other party sneered twice: "Oh, you'd better."
"Stop playing tricks on me! Check it out for me, otherwise you know the consequences!" After saying that, the other party hung up the phone with a click.
Luo Yuwen frowned and put the phone back into his pocket. The man's roar on the phone brought his thoughts back to three days ago.
One night three days ago, in a very small office in an old office building.
The air was filled with the smell of cigarettes and alcohol. The news was playing on the dark grey TV. Luo Yuwen was putting his feet on the table, sipping whiskey drowsily. The bottle of wine beside him was almost empty.
"According to reliable sources, our city has made significant progress in the 314 major dismemberment case. The trial is ongoing. We urge citizens not to panic. This case is our city's second-largest criminal case since the 613 live organ trafficking case ten years ago. The investigation into this case..."
Luo Yuwen fumbled with the remote control and changed the channel dizzily. The picture on TV turned into a melodramatic family drama.
He was just about to fall asleep when there was a sudden and urgent knock on the door, which scared him sober and made him almost drop the glass in his hand.
"Who, who is it so late at night..."
Luo Yuwen rubbed his brows and opened the iron gate. With a creak, several strong men in black clothes came in from outside. Some of them even wanted to clamp him, but Luo Yuwen dodged to the side and avoided being clamped by several people.
"Who are you and what do you do?!"
"If you don't say anything, I'll call the police!"
Luo Yuwenhuan stood in the middle, watching a group of men in black automatically stand in two rows, and then a pair of pointed leather shoes came into his sight, and then Luo Yuwen saw the owner of the leather shoes.
It was a man, wearing a suit with his upper body bare, the collar open to his chest, a silver chain as thick as his little finger around his neck, and his hair meticulously combed back.
The most eye-catching thing was that there was a scar on the man's face, which went from his forehead through his eyebrows and eyes to his cheekbone. The man looked at Luo Yuwen with a cold and ambiguous look.
Luo Yuwen did not retreat because there were so many people opposite him. Instead, he stood in the middle of the crowd with his arms around his chest and legs apart, looking at the man opposite him calmly.
"What's the big deal? Who are you?"
The scarred man smiled playfully, "You may not know me, but I know you, Detective Luo."
"Oh? Didn't you know I was so famous?"
The scarred man snorted contemptuously, walked in on his own, took a glass and poured out the remaining whiskey, took a sip, frowned, and threw the glass aside.
"It's really unbecoming of a famous detective like Luo to drink this kind of wine. I'll give you two bottles someday."
Luo Yuwen looked at the scarred man's movements and replied expressionlessly:
"I like people who speak their mind."
Hearing this, the scarred man raised his hands and clapped them, and the gold watch on his wrist jingled with his movements.
"It's easy to talk to smart people," the man stood up and walked in front of Luo Yuwen, "Help me find someone, the price is up to you."
The man with the scar took out a business card from his suit pocket and handed it to Luo Yuwen.
Luo Yuwen returned to his chair and sat down, looking at the business card.
"Yan Ying, Vice President of Yan Group?"
"Oh, so you are Yan Ming's younger brother who died a few days ago?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Ming suddenly became furious and slammed his hands on the table, making a loud noise. Then he grabbed Luo Yuwen's collar with a look of hostility on his face.
"Have some respect for me, he's my brother!"
"If you can investigate, then investigate. If not, then get out! If you keep talking like that, do you believe I'll close down your crappy shop tomorrow?"
Luo Yuwen raised his hands and looked at Yan Ying indifferently.
"Don't get so excited. If Mr. Yan really wanted me to close the shop, he wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to come here in person."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Ying really let go of him and snorted coldly. Luo Yuwen straightened his collar and said to Yan Ying:
"Tell me, who do you want to investigate?"
"Check my sister-in-law."
"ha?"
Luo Yuwen looked strange after hearing this. He had already imagined many melodramatic family dramas in his mind. He cleared his throat and asked, "Why do you want to investigate your sister-in-law?"
"I suspect she killed my brother."
Luo Yuwen thought for a moment and tapped the table with his business card. "Suspicion requires evidence. Do you have any?"
"My brother specifically told me before that he would never commit suicide," Yan Ying rested his elbows on the table, folding his hands. "He said that if he died suddenly one day, he would definitely be murdered!"
"Mr. Yan, this is not evidence."
Luo Yuwen threw the business card on the table, leaned back in his chair and stared at Yan Ying.
"Besides, why don't you call the police instead of me?"
Unexpectedly, Yan Ying became furious after hearing this. He raised his hand and smashed it on the table again, and the wine glass beside him made a noise because of his action.
"Do you think I don't want to? If the police were useful, I wouldn't be talking nonsense with you here!"
"Just one word, will you help or not?"
Luo Yuwen spread his hands, his face calm, "If the police can't do it, I can't do it either."
"And judging by your behavior, your sister-in-law should be innocent."
"Since the police say she's innocent, then she's in my place too. Please go back. I won't send her off."
After saying this, Luo Yuwen put his feet up, ignored the people in the room, and prepared to continue watching the TV series he had not finished.
A few big guys saw Luo Yuwen's nonchalant attitude and were ready to roll up their sleeves to beat him up, but Yan Ying raised his hand and signaled them to back off.
Then, Yan Ying took out his mobile phone and played an audio message.
"Brother...Brother...save me...Brother..."
"Brother... they are going to kill me..."
The audio contained a rather immature male voice, calling for help.
This audio made Luo Yuwen's pupils constrict. He sat up straight and reached out to grab the phone from Yan Ying's hand. Yan Ying didn't give him a chance, retracted his hand, turned off the audio, and put it in his pocket.
That voice belonged to Luo Yuwen’s brother who had been missing for ten years!
"How did you get this audio?! You know my brother?!"
Yan Ying looked down at Luo Yuwen's shocked expression, the smile on her face not diminishing:
"If you want to know your brother's whereabouts, you have to do your job well for me!"
"Otherwise, you will only see his ashes."
***
It was late at night when Luo Yuwen returned home from Yan's house. It was an old and dilapidated house where he was the only one living.
On the TV cabinet stood a photo frame showing a family of four. He took off his coat, sat on the sofa, and took out a cigarette case from his trouser pocket.
The cigarette butt lit up a red dot in the darkness, and white smoke spread around along with Luo Yuwen's breath, blurring his expression.
He sat on the sofa, staring at the boy in the photo frame, the cigarette in his hand burning until dawn.
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