Confession and Punishment
After Yue Lanjing, Hua Chuyu and the others left, only Yue Lanxiu and Xu Rongxuan were left in the office. Xu Rongxuan could no longer hold back and asked, "From what I heard from what you said just now, are you doubting Thyme?"
Yue Lanxiu extinguished the cigarette in his hand, lit another one and started smoking. Although he didn't respond or give a look, he didn't deny it either.
"Are you kidding? How is this possible? Can you please not be so outrageous?" Xu Rongxuan instinctively denied it.
Yue Lanxiu glanced at him, still silent, but his eyes made it clear enough: what was so outrageous? This was the truth!
"We both saw how she treated Asahiro! Even though she was harsh with words, she always stayed by her side without asking for anything in return, giving her her all with all her heart... She treated her better than a friend, better than family, better than myself, better than anything! How could you possibly suspect her? That's too heartless!" The words turned into an accusation in the end.
Yue Lanxiu's eyes revealed a helpless look, and it was clear that this guy actually cared about Thyme! When the case involved her, he subconsciously began to defend her and was unable to look at the problem normally.
"Why would she frame her best friend? So, does that mean she's always had bad intentions?" Xu Rongxuan kept shaking his head, firmly denying this possibility. "No, no, no! I can see that she's absolutely sincere towards her friend! Don't throw dirty water on her just to exonerate Zhao Rirou!"
"Can you calm down? Am I that kind of person?" Yue Lanxiu expected him to lose his mind, but he didn't expect it to be so completely! "Besides, didn't you suspect her character before?"
"I misunderstood her!" Xu Rongxuan raised his voice and solemnly declared that before Ivan died, he told everyone about his collusion with Li Shuqing and asked someone to tell him.
Thinking of what he had done to her before, he felt guilty and heartbroken. He had always wanted to apologize, but he just hadn't found a good opportunity... So this time, he wouldn't jump to conclusions before he got to the bottom of the facts!
And he absolutely didn't believe she was the type to betray her friends! "Let me ask you, do you have any evidence? Don't talk nonsense if you don't have any evidence!"
Yue Lanxiu looked at him and couldn't help but sigh, "You are good at everything except falling in love. Once you fall in love, whatever your lover does is right!"
"Where does the lover come from? Who is in love? Are you saying that I am partial to someone? What about you? You have never been partial to Chao Rirou?" Xu Rongxuan retorted angrily.
"I didn't." Yue Lanxiu said frankly, "I've learned about her recent physical condition. She's severely anemic and very weak! The various test reports and blood test indicators won't lie. With that kind of physical condition, she wouldn't plan to kill someone!"
After a moment of heartache and worry, Yue Lanxiu got back to the point and said, "I'm not suspicious of Thyme for no reason. In fact, I had doubts about her a long time ago!"
Xu Rongxuan's heart sank as he asked, "When?"
"Do you remember the last time I was wrongfully imprisoned, and Zhao Rirou was imprisoned in an abandoned factory by Yan Mingchi, and I escaped from prison to save her?"
Xu Rongxuan nodded slightly, but the disapproval in his eyes deepened. "It was thanks to Thyme that we were rescued, wasn't it? Why are you doubting it?"
"Because she knows too much! There are some things that only Yan Mingchi's confidants would know!" Yue Lanxiu looked at him with a serious and determined gaze. "Don't you find it strange that she knows that Zhao Rirou is imprisoned in an abandoned factory?"
"Maybe April Sakura told her after she found out?"
Yue Lanxiu immediately refuted the question, "Given Siyueying's personality, how could I trust her to go to the prison alone to find me? Siyueying and Yue Lanjing are both experts in obtaining intelligence, but I later verified that they didn't know about that place. It's really strange that she knew about a place that even they couldn't find. What's even stranger is that we were all stunned by the white smoke at the time, but she had the antidote!"
"Didn't she explain that she habitually carries antidotes with her!" Xu Rongxuan argued.
Yue Lanxiu looked at him regretfully and said, "I can only fool an outsider like you! Unless we take the right medicine, our bodies won't recover so quickly! The toxins in our bodies won't be eliminated so thoroughly!"
His unquestionable seriousness made Xu Rongxuan's heart sink, but his face still showed an expression of disbelief, "So you started to suspect that she was Yan Mingchi's person from then on?!"
"I wasn't sure at the time. I guessed that she might have her own difficulties, or be threatened, or have no choice, because she did help us a lot, and even risked her life..." Yue Lanxiu's eyes were complicated. Even though things had come to this point, he couldn't regard her as an enemy.
"So why would she harm Asahiro? If she had bad intentions, there would be no need to risk her life to help her, right?"
"Maybe she is just a chess piece being manipulated by others. There are some things that she has no say over whether to do them or not!" Yue Lanxiu's sharp eyes revealed a hint of pity.
Xu Rongxuan opened his mouth but was speechless. The color began to fade from his face, and he looked like he refused to believe it.
Yue Lanxiu knew it was difficult for him to accept these facts, but now it was time to face them. "On the night of Eleven's death, everyone suspected that it was Zhao Rirou who poisoned Guan's wine glass. They thought only she could do it, but there was another person who could do it!"
"Yan Mingchi? You mean Thyme helped hide his whereabouts, so we can't find him!" Xu Rongxuan said with empty eyes.
Yue Lanxiu shook his head, "There's no need for him to go into battle himself!"
Xu Rongxuan looked at Yue Lanxiu again with an incomprehensible look, "You want to say that Thyme did it? Don't forget, Thyme was with the other three the whole time. How could she have done it?"
"It's not difficult. I remember the confession saying this: the four of them were having dinner when something suddenly flashed in the yard, so they all ran out one after another!" Yue Lanxiu emphasized the word "one after another". "Bai Li was the last one to follow. She could easily have made a move as she passed Guan Shaoling's seat!"
Xu Rongxuan took a deep breath, stared at him and asked slowly, "Do you have any evidence? Don't just talk nonsense!"
"I have!" The two short words hit Xu Rongxuan's chest like two wooden sticks.
Now was not the time to comfort him. Yue Lanxiu continued, "I'm sorry I'm telling you something now. Jing and I discovered a very inconspicuous and easily overlooked important clue during the replay of the case. It turns out that on the night of the crime, Zhuang Youya took out two bottles of red wine. One bottle was leftover from a previous drink and had been stored at Thyme's place. She poured it all into Zhuang Youya's glass; the other bottle was a newly brought, unopened bottle, which she poured out to someone else."
"What does this mean?" Xu Rongxuan was impatient at this moment and couldn't calm down to think about the problem.
Yue Lanxiu patiently explained, "When I learned there were two bottles of red wine, a question popped up in my mind. Why was there only one bottle of red wine at the crime scene? Where did the other one go? Did he throw it in the trash after drinking it? But I remember that the Forensic Department searched the scene and related places, but didn't find the second bottle of red wine! I even went to the Forensic Department to confirm it! Indeed, they only got one bottle of red wine, and the remaining wine in the bottle was fine! That's strange, why couldn't I find the other bottle? Could someone have hidden it? Why hide an empty bottle? Is there something shameful? Driven by so many questions, I sneaked into Thyme's clinic that night! Do you think I found the bottle?"
Xu Rongxuan listened with bated breath, and then he exhaled a long sigh. "I think you must have found it! And you found poison in the red wine bottle! That poison is the same as the poison in the deceased! But this doesn't mean that the poison was put by Thyme! Although the wine was stored with her, she is not the only one who had access to that bottle of wine!"
"But it can be said that the glass of wine that Zhuang Youya poured for herself was poisonous! Fortunately, Thyme stopped her from drinking it. Although Thyme took it away because she said she had a headache, I think even if she didn't say it, Thyme would have found a reason to stop her from drinking it! Because that wine was not prepared for her at all! It was prepared for Guan Shaoling!"
Xu Rongxuan looked at him in astonishment. "Are you saying that the last glass of wine that the dead man drank was actually Zhuang Youya's?"
"I think so! When the four of them left the table one after another, Thyme, who was at the back, exchanged wine glasses with Zhuang Youya and Guan Shaoling!" Yue Lanxiu's brows were solemn, making people dare not look directly at him.
Xu Rongxuan was so shocked that he was speechless. It took him a long time to react, "Why do you think so?"
"By the fingerprint on the glass! There are her fingerprints on Guan's wine glass..."
Xu Rongxuan interrupted, "Didn't she say that? After the incident, she suspected the wine was poisonous, so she picked it up and took a look!"
"But there are two sets of fingerprints, indicating that she touched it more than once! This contradicts the confessions of Guan Shaoling and Yue Lanjing. They clearly stated that she did not pick up the cup before, after, or before the police took it away!"
"How did her fingerprint get on the cup? This proves that Ye and Guan remembered it wrongly, or they didn't notice it!"
"I don't think they could have remembered it wrongly. It's possible they didn't notice it, but how could they not have noticed? She was clearly always very close to the glass, except for the time when they left the table and went outside to the yard!" Yue Lanxiu's rebuttal was like an impenetrable storm, pouring down mercilessly and making it impossible to resist. "At that time, she picked up Zhuang's wine glass to exchange it, leaving a second set of fingerprints on Zhuang's wine glass! So there are two sets of her fingerprints on Guan's wine glass! So Guan's own fingerprints on his wine glass are only one set, because the wine glass he picked up last was Zhuang Youya's!"
Xu Rongxuan seemed to be overwhelmed by astonishment, and his heart seemed to have stopped.
"I think Eleven's appearance was beyond the murderer's plan, so this kind of flaw appeared in the whole plan!" Yue Lanxiu seemed to have sufficient evidence.
After a moment of silence, Xu Rongxuan tried to speak calmly, "What you said is just a possible scenario! It's not necessarily the case! If she poisoned someone, why didn't she get rid of the poisoned bottle? I think someone is framing her!"
Yue Lanxiu put forward his own opinion, "I think she did this because she was full of guilt. She didn't want to betray Yan Mingchi, and she didn't want to hurt Zhao Rirou, so she left this evidence. She also deliberately left fingerprints and created many doubts for me to discover. I guess she wanted to take all the blame!" This is also the reason why he was unwilling to expose her in public.
"Are you going to say next that there should have been traces of Yan Mingchi on the night Canyue died, but they were wiped out by Thyme!" Before finding other more powerful evidence, Xu Rongxuan still chose to believe Thyme, but he seemed a little anxious!
"She was the only one who could do such a thing at that time!"
Xu Rongxuan could no longer calm down and listen to what he said, but he knew very well what he was going to do next, "You have no evidence to prove that she did these things, but I will find evidence to prove that she didn't do these things! I will definitely find it!" After saying this, he ran out with firm steps.
Yue Lanxiu didn't ask him where he was going. He knew in his heart that Xu Rongxuan must be going to find Thyme! Yue Lanxiu didn't intend to stop him. He firmly believed that Xu Rongxuan would not do anything rash and would focus on solving the case.
It was already dark when Xu Rongxuan arrived at Thyme Clinic. He sat in the car at the door and was reluctant to get out. Looking at the busy scene in the clinic, his face was heavy, as if a thousand-pound stone was pressing on his heart.
She is kind and loving, and is clearly an angel in white to so many people! How could she be related to the devil Yan Mingchi from hell?
The number of people coming in and out of the clinic gradually decreased, and finally the nurse went off duty, leaving Thyme alone. Xu Rongxuan checked the time. It was already past eleven o'clock! Did she work this late every day? Could someone who worked so hard every day to treat patients do something harmful? It was unimaginable!
He smoked a whole pack of cigarettes throughout the night. When he ran out of cigarettes, he thought that he should get off the car and talk to her, but seeing that it was so late, shouldn't he let her have a good rest?
However, the lights in Thyme's studio were still on, and it was obvious that she was not planning to go to sleep yet.
Xu Rongxuan hesitated for a while, but still got off the car. He didn't know whether he was here to investigate the case or to persuade her to rest!
Thyme has been suffering from insomnia these days. When she thinks of Asahirou's situation, she can't sleep at all. Her conscience is constantly condemning her!
She could stop thinking about it when she had something to do during the day, but when she was alone at night, she started to blame herself again!
Why did she have to choose between love and friendship? Why did she foolishly choose love? Such love was clearly worthless, so why couldn't she let it go?
She just couldn't let go! She still didn't want to betray him! But she couldn't bear to watch her best friend suffer!
She walked into the laboratory woodenly and took out a box from a very hidden place. The box contained the evidence she had hidden.
She has been struggling these past few days, wondering whether or not to expose him!
But she still couldn't do it. Even though she had the idea, it was still very difficult to do!
She doesn't want to hurt either side, so there is only one way!
She is the one who should go to jail!
She still has a few patients on hand now. When her illnesses are almost cured, she will replace Asahirou!
As long as she takes out the bottle of red wine in the box, the police will release Asahirou.
When she opened the box, her eyes widened in horror. The bottle of red wine inside was gone!
Why did the things inside disappear? Who took them?! She searched around frantically and didn't notice Xu Rongxuan approaching quietly.
Thinking of something, she opened another box, and luckily the bullet was still there!
While she was distracted, Xu Rongxuan had already picked up the bullets from the box.
Seeing him and the bullet in his hand, Thyme couldn't help but cover her mouth in panic. Why did he suddenly appear here? !
Did he recognize the bullet? It had a unique serial number on it, so he couldn't hide it now!
Although she originally planned to turn herself in to him, she definitely didn't want him to know the truth in this way!
What would he think of her? He must be very disappointed in her!
Just when she was at a loss, his low, suppressed voice rang out, "The police station was attacked a while ago. Although no criminal was arrested, Xiu Lian shot him several times. Judging from the serial number on your bullet, it must have been fired from that gun. Could it be that he came to you for help after being shot? You removed the bullet from him, so that's why he's here with you?!"
Afraid of tears, Thyme closed her eyes and admitted heartbrokenly, "Yes."
Xu Rongxuan pursed his lips and continued to ask, "Why didn't you call the police? Don't you know who he is? What did he do?"
"I know."
The two of them seemed to be calm, but in fact they had sunk to the bottom, and the sound was like fallen leaves drifting outside.
"Then why didn't you call the police? What's your relationship with him? Is he threatening you?" Xu Rongxuan suddenly turned around and looked at her excitedly. Deep down, he still believed that she had her own difficulties, otherwise she would never collude with the devil!
Thyme was too ashamed to look up at him, "No! I was threatening him to do something for me!"
Xu Rongxuan couldn't help but take a step back, staring at her with eyes full of strangeness, as if he didn't know the woman in front of him, "What are you talking about?!"
Thyme took a deep breath, pretending to be indifferent, and said ruthlessly, "In fact, I did everything! It was me who wanted to poison Eleven! It was me who wanted to frame Zhao Rirou! It was me who wanted to stir up hatred between Yue Lanjing and the Li family! I wanted them to kill each other! I want revenge! They were the ones who killed Yan Mingchi!"
His breath caught in his throat, and he clutched his palms tightly. What was this woman talking about? She said she wanted to avenge Yan Mingchi?! Is this the kind of relationship they have?!
"What a shame the plan failed! I'm so unwilling, but there's nothing I can do!" Thyme kept her eyes downcast, fearing she'd burst into tears if she saw the disappointment, contempt, and disgust in his eyes. She was also terrified he'd see through her flaws. "Catch me! At this point, I have nothing more to say! I only regret not throwing away that damn bullet sooner!"
"So why didn't you throw it away? Look up and look at me when I talk to you. If you don't dare to look up, it means you are lying!" He couldn't help but yell at her.
Judging from her appearance, she was clearly shielding Yan Mingchi. What kind of relationship could have driven her to such extremes? Family? Lover? He suddenly felt as if the sky had fallen...
Thyme bit her lip, not realizing that blood was seeping out. She suddenly raised her face, filled with hatred, and said, "I didn't throw it away because I wanted to find a chance to put it in the Li family!"
Xu Rongxuan stared at her intently, his face pale at her words, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably. Is this woman really that cruel? !
I thought he'd be full of hatred, but I never expected him to act like he was deeply hurt. Was it her pain? Was he grieving for her? Did he care about her?! I couldn't stop crying!
She blinked hard, trying to hold back the tears.
But her eyes were already moist, and Xu Rongxuan saw it clearly. He seemed to have suddenly come back to life, and a lot of strength was injected into his whole body. He grabbed her arm tightly, "You must have a hard time saying this, right? Did Yan Mingchi threaten you with something?"
She didn't dare look him in the eye, afraid that she would waver. She steeled her resolve and said, "No! I wasn't threatened, and I didn't have any hardship. I did it all willingly! How many times do you want me to say this? Do you want to arrest me? If not, I'll go to the police station and surrender myself!"
"Why don't you want to tell me the truth? Am I not worthy of your trust? I get it. I haven't apologized to you for misunderstanding you before! I apologize to you right now. I'm sorry! I wronged you! In fact, I never believed that you would do anything to frame others! In my heart, you have always been a person who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside, kind and capable, and excellent in all aspects! I really think you are better than any other woman in the world! So good that I feel I am not worthy of you! I feel no one is worthy of you!" In desperation, he said what he had hidden in his heart for a long time.
She could no longer control her tears, and they kept falling like pearls from a broken string. Was this his confession? Thyme couldn't believe it.
Xu Rongxuan wiped her tears distressedly, but the more gentle he was, the more she cried! It was too late! She had no room for maneuver! She was a sinner now, she would only drag him down! She was not as good as he thought! She was not worthy of him!
"We will face and solve any problems together! No matter what you do, I will be by your side!" Xu Rongxuan promised solemnly.
His words soothed her wounded heart, and made her dying heart beat vigorously again! But the next second, it was frightened and almost stopped beating!
Seeing her gaze suddenly turned behind him, her eyes suddenly widened, her pupils shrank to the size of a needle tip, and her face was filled with fear. Xu Rongxuan felt that something was wrong. When he turned around, he slashed his palm at his neck like a knife, knocking him unconscious!
"Ah - don't kill him! He doesn't know anything! Please let him go!" Looking at Xu Rongxuan who fainted on the ground, Thyme reacted immediately, stood in front of him, and knelt down to beg the person who came in front of him like a ghost.
Fearing that he would harm Xu Rongxuan, she was trembling all over and her voice was trembling.
"Are you going to betray me for him?" The voice was as gentle as a spring breeze, but it instantly made people feel as if they were in a world of ice and snow, trembling uncontrollably.
"I didn't betray you! And I will never betray you!" Thyme raised her eyes and revealed only true feelings. She loved both men, so she would never hurt either of them. She would rather be the one hurt! "I just..."
The other party continued her words with disdain, "You just want to take all the blame for me? Go to jail for me?"
Thyme nodded, but her willingness was met with his ruthless words, "Idiot!"
"My plans have been ruined by your stupidity! I want to make Yue Lanxiu and Yue Lanjing miserable. Can going to jail achieve that? You'd better shut up, but I don't think you will shut up! So you'd better disappear!" Senhan glared with a deep gaze and added, "That includes him!"
"No!" Thyme cried out in fear. "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I won't be so self-righteous again! From now on, I'll do whatever you ask me to do, and I'll do it until you're satisfied. I just hope you'll let him go!"
"I just hope that you two will disappear from my sight!" After saying that, he slashed down with another palm.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
