Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The helpful security guard watched Pei Yuming being escorted into the police car with a wounded look in his eyes. He probably had never expected the day would come when his judgment failed him too.

Pei Yuming sat gloomily in the police car, staring in bafflement at the woman across from him. After a long while, he finally couldn’t help asking, “You’d rather call the police than give it to me. Why?”

The woman looked at him like he was insane, her face pale with fury.

“Shut up!” the officer beside him snapped. “Did anyone say you could talk?”

Pei Yuming glanced at the officers holding him on either side and asked in a low voice, “Comrade officer, can I call my family?”

…

Back in the familiar interrogation room, Pei Yuming once again confirmed that trying to stop the dinner party conversation was a trigger condition. He looked at Cao Lei, who was studying him from across the table, and said with certainty, “Officer Cao, I saw that woman.”

Cao Lei raised an eyebrow and caught on quickly. “You mean… you went back again just now?”

“Yes.” Pei Yuming nodded. “She lives in 702. Around thirty years old. I went to ask her for…”

“Wait.” Cao Lei raised a hand and checked his watch. “Do you remember which time this was?”

Pei Yuming thought for a moment. “The sixth time.” Then he asked, “Is it 9:24 now?”

“It is.” Cao Lei looked at him in surprise.

Before Pei Yuming had entered the interrogation room, they had already taken away his watch, phone, and other belongings. Unless he had been silently counting the time while the two of them were talking just now, how could there be such a coincidence?

But even if he had been estimating the time in his head, he shouldn’t have been that accurate.

Goose bumps rose on Cao Lei’s arms. He stared at Pei Yuming and said something no one else had expected. “Next time you come back, tell me.”

Pei Yuming froze for a moment. Of course he could tell Cao Lei didn’t actually believe his explanation about the Flashback. To be honest, if their positions were reversed, he wouldn’t believe it either.

Something like this, unless you experienced it yourself, any adult would think it was complete nonsense. What he hadn’t expected was for Cao Lei to change his mind so quickly.

Still, since Cao Lei was willing to believe him, he was naturally happy to cooperate.

“Oh. Okay.”

Cao Lei leaned back in his chair and asked, “What’s the name of the woman you’re talking about? Did she admit to supplying Lu Dong with the poison?”

“Yes, she admitted it.” Pei Yuming blinked several times in quick succession. “She also said she bought it online and had it mailed directly to Lu Dong.”

“Bought it online?” Cao Lei’s skepticism was obvious. “Are you sure?”

Pei Yuming licked his lips, but in the end, he nodded.

“What about her name? Did you ask what she was called?”

“I didn’t get the chance.”

Cao Lei took a deep breath. “Lao Pei…”

A knock suddenly sounded at the door. Immediately afterward, a police officer about Cao Lei’s age came in. He gestured for Cao Lei to step over.

Cao Lei got up and went to him. The two spoke quietly by the door for a while, then the man handed Cao Lei a file and left.

After Cao Lei returned, he placed the file face down on the table and sat beside Pei Yuming again.

“We’ve contacted the owners on the seventh floor of Lijing Garden. You said just now that the woman lives in 702, right?”

“Right.”

Cao Lei picked up the file and opened it. “Then you should be able to recognize her face?”

Pei Yuming nodded. “I can.”

“Good.” Cao Lei took the contents out of the folder. It turned out to be a stack of printed photos. He laid them out on the tabletop one by one and gestured to Pei Yuming. “Take a look. Which one is her?”
Pei Yuming swept a glance over them, then pointed straight at the photo at the very back. “This one.”

Cao Lei narrowed his eyes slightly and quietly put the photos away. As if asking offhandedly, he said, “Lao Pei, you already knew Lu Dong had another lover, didn’t you?”

Pei Yuming started to nod out of habit, then caught himself and immediately waved his hands. “No, no. I mean, I only just found out too.”

Cao Lei looked at him without speaking. The pressure in his gaze felt almost tangible to Pei Yuming.

Pei Yuming could not help explaining, “I really did just find out. I didn’t have much contact with Lu Dong in daily life. We mostly saw each other at family gatherings, or went fishing together now and then. Even when we talked, it was about industry matters or the children’s studies. He was always airtight about things. There was no way he’d let something slip. Besides, neither of us was interested in the other’s private affairs. I had no way of knowing!”

Cao Lei still stared fixedly at him without saying a word.

Pei Yuming grew even more nervous. “It’s true. I really didn’t lie to you, Officer Cao. Look at how busy I am. I even have to go to the hospital on my days off to work overtime and perform surgeries. Where would I find the time to spend on him?”

Cao Lei rubbed his chin with his hand and asked meaningfully, “What was your relationship with Lu Dong like before?”

Pei Yuming opened his mouth, then finally shook his head as if giving up. “On the surface, we got along well. But to be honest, I looked down on him quite a bit.”

Cao Lei made a gesture inviting him to continue.

Pei Yuming had no choice but to go on. “We were college classmates, but we barely had anything to do with each other back then. Later, after he married Su Jin, my junior colleague, we started seeing each other more often. He was never a sincere person. He was always saying pretty things for show. He clearly didn’t have much ability, yet he loved showing off. In reality, everyone knew what was going on. If he hadn’t married my junior colleague and benefited from her family’s connections, how could he be living so comfortably now? But I’m usually too busy, and I don’t have many friends around me I can really talk to. On top of that, we were always getting together, so over time we became a little more familiar than others. If you want to call that a good relationship… it was just so-so. Maybe to outsiders, we seemed close.”

“Then did you envy him?”

“Envy what?”

“That he married a rich wife.”

Pei Yuming’s expression turned somewhat complicated. In the end, he still shook his head. “I love my wife very much. Before I found out she had cheated on me, I was actually very satisfied with my life. Money isn’t the most important thing to me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have stayed at the hospital all this time. Plenty of people have approached me, asking me to partner with them on one thing or another. Lu Dong also wasn’t the richest or most successful among our classmates. Even if I were going to envy someone, it wouldn’t be him.”

Cao Lei studied him with his arms crossed, as though judging whether he was telling the truth.

Only after a long while did he say quietly, “The woman in 702 is named Li Xiaoya. Our people spoke with her on the phone just now. She’s on her way here.”

“You found her?” Pei Yuming’s eyes lit up. “That’s great. Did she tell the truth?”

“On the phone, she admitted that she had indeed dated Lu Dong, and that she gave him a package of something.”

Pei Yuming’s eyes widened. He could not help clenching his fists, clearly waiting with great anticipation for Cao Lei’s next words.

“But what she gave him wasn’t potassium cyanide.”

“What?” Pei Yuming was startled. “Then what did she give him?”

Cao Lei ran his tongue over his back teeth before finally saying, “Condoms.”

“Huh?” Pei Yuming’s shock did not seem fake.

“What’s so surprising about that?” Cao Lei frowned slightly. “Given the nature of their relationship, isn’t it perfectly normal for her to give Lu Dong something like that?”