Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Pei Yuming reacted first. He rushed over and dropped to his knees beside his younger brother, prying open his tightly clenched mouth with both hands. He shoved his fingers inside and pressed down on the base of his tongue, doing everything he could to make him vomit. At the same time, he shouted at the people still frozen nearby, “Water! Get me water, now!”

But despite his quick reaction and practiced technique, cyanide was simply too potent. Bai Xue had not even finished giving the ambulance dispatcher the address when Pei Yuming felt the world around him suddenly go quiet. He blinked rapidly a few times, adjusting to the bright lights overhead in the interrogation room.

His abnormal reaction caught Cao Lei’s attention. Cao Lei raised his hand and checked the time. Ten o’clock sharp.

He cursed silently, but his expression remained friendly as he asked, “You went back again?”

Pei Yuming nodded, his mind clearly weighed down. “Yeah.”

Thinking of what Pei Yuming had said earlier, Cao Lei probed, “Didn’t you say you wanted to talk to them? Did you?”

“I did.”

“How did it go?”

Pei Yuming shook his head. After a long while, he said in a low, dejected voice, “My brother died.”

Cao Lei’s gaze sharpened. He stared hard at him. “Was it an accident? Or did you people get into another fight?”

“Neither,” Pei Yuming said flatly. “He was poisoned.”

Cao Lei: “…” Apparently he was not allowed to guess right even once.

“What happened? Tell me.” Cao Lei settled in, ready to listen.

Pei Yuming rubbed his face and let out a heavy sigh before reluctantly giving him a rough account of the argument.

Even though he only summarized it, Cao Lei still frowned as he listened. The conflict between these two families really was complicated, and their resentment had clearly been building for a long time. If he had not heard it from Pei Yuming, one of the people directly involved, and had left it solely to the field team to investigate, they probably would never have uncovered the truth even after eight hundred years.

“So, by your account, the poison had already been put into the wine before you went back to your bedroom to sleep.” Cao Lei once again picked the key point out of the long, tangled narrative. “Do you remember what time your brother drank the wine?”

“Just before seven. A few minutes short.” This time, Pei Yuming answered quickly.

“Oh?” Cao Lei glanced at him and said nothing, but Pei Yuming immediately understood what he meant.

“I looked at my watch on purpose at the time. After he drank it, nothing happened for a few seconds, so I thought the wine hadn’t been poisoned yet. But right after that, he collapsed.”

Cao Lei nodded, reasonably satisfied with his explanation. “In other words, the killer had already poisoned it before seven o’clock.”

“Yes.”

“You opened the wine. You didn’t notice anything wrong when you decanted it?”

“No,” Pei Yuming denied at once. “The packaging on the wine was all sealed. I opened it myself. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. And those two bottles were only brought out before Lu Dong arrived. I don’t think he would have had time to tamper with them.”

Cao Lei clicked his tongue. “Not necessarily. With his connections and methods, if he really wanted to poison sealed bottles of red wine, it probably wouldn’t be that hard for him.”

“So you suspect him…” Pei Yuming’s eyes brightened.

“No, no,” Cao Lei said, waving a hand. “It’s just a deduction. Before the evidence is confirmed, anyone with a motive could be the killer. We can’t casually rule someone out just because of one or two points. That would be too arbitrary.”

“Do you remember what time you decanted the wine?” Cao Lei asked again.

This time, Pei Yuming did not answer immediately. He thought for a moment, then said carefully, “I remember it was after Xiaobei and the others came back, around five forty-five, I think.”
“That is, between five forty-five and seven o’clock, during that window, do you remember anyone going near the decanter?”

“That…” Pei Yuming frowned, clearly reluctant to think back on what had happened earlier. “I don’t really remember.”

Cao Lei had long since noticed how low his spirits were, but he kept his eyes fixed on him and urged, “Lao Pei, this is a very important lead. You have to think carefully. Someone must have gone near the decanter during that period, otherwise there would’ve been no way to poison it. Think it over. Who was there?”

Pei Yuming raked a hand irritably through his hair and forced himself to recall.

In truth, ever since he had returned to the interrogation room this time, his mood had hit rock bottom. All this time, he had believed he counted as one of the few successful people in this city. His career was going well, his family was harmonious, his relationships with friends and relatives were smooth, and his life was moving steadily, step by step, toward something better.

Although there had been a small incident not long ago, fortunately he and Bai Xue had worked together to resolve it. Just as their little family was about to return to its former stability, an ordinary dinner gathering had ended the lives of two families, eight people in all. Yes, including his own.

He was indeed the only survivor, but after learning those truths, he had no idea how he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with a clear conscience.

He could not imagine what Cao Lei, as the lead interrogator, thought of him, but he was certain it was nothing good.

So many things had happened, and every one of them was tied to him in countless ways. It was hard to say the killer’s decision to murder them had not been because of him.

Cao Lei must have seen through that long ago, right? Otherwise, why would he have been so patient, listening to him talk about all these domestic matters?

“Lao Pei?” Seeing that he had been silent for a long while, Cao Lei prompted him. “Remember anything?”

Pei Yuming’s face was slack with defeat. Although he still looked utterly drained, in the end he could not withstand Cao Lei’s expectant gaze. He thought for a while longer before slowly saying, “I remember Su Jin seemed to have ladled soup for the two children once… The soup pot was on the other side of the island. If she went to get soup, she definitely would have passed by the decanter.”

“Su Jin?” Cao Lei narrowed his eyes and asked Pei Yuming directly, “Do you think she could be the killer?”

“Impossible.” Pei Yuming shook his head without the slightest hesitation.

“Oh? Why?” Cao Lei asked, puzzled.

Pei Yuming explained, “Because you’ve never met her. If you only hear me or other people describe her, you probably can’t imagine that there really is a woman in this world with such a good temper and such a kind heart. Unless she was pushed to a certain point, she’s the kind of person who couldn’t even bring herself to say a harsh word. Of course, these past few incidents have also let me see another side of her, but if you’re asking me, I think she’s the least likely person here to be the killer.”

Indeed, if she had poisoned seven people merely because her husband cheated and her best friend betrayed her, and that included herself, her son, and innocent elderly people, among others, then that was somewhat far-fetched. Pei Yuming’s motive for murder was even stronger than hers.

There was one thing, however, that bothered Cao Lei. Of the eight people, the one who could most easily obtain potassium cyanide was Su Jin.

She was the head of a hospital’s Clinical Laboratory, and could have obtained the poison without needing to report to anyone.

Of course, judging from their professions and connections, the others more or less had other channels as well. That point alone truly could not serve as strong evidence against her.