Chapter 71
Chapter 71
“Aside from Su Jin, was there anyone else?” Cao Lei asked.
Pei Yuming thought for a moment, then said, “Bai Xue seems to have gone over there too…”
“Seems to?” Cao Lei could not help looking skeptical. “Are you sure?”
Pei Yuming lowered his eyes and thought for a while, then nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. She usually likes spicy food, but none of us can handle it, so when we eat, she takes chili sauce separately to go with her meal. She must have gone to get the chili sauce then.”
Cao Lei’s gaze roamed over Pei Yuming’s face. Based on his many years of experience, he could not detect the slightest sign that the man was lying.
Still, if Bai Xue was the killer, her motive was far stronger than Su Jin’s. In fact, aside from Pei Yuming, she could be considered the police’s second major suspect.
A husband who was insensitive, cold, and had an illegitimate child with another woman; a troublesome father-in-law and younger brother-in-law; a disobedient daughter; a best friend watching from the sidelines like a predator; plus a womanizing lover. Looked at that way, she truly had plenty of motive to kill.
Could it be that Pei Yuming had fabricated that nonsense about a Flashback from the very beginning in order to steer the police into suspecting Bai Xue?
Cao Lei tried asking again, “Then do you think the killer could be Bai Xue?”
This time, Pei Yuming clearly hesitated. The question seemed very difficult for him to answer. His lips moved several times, but in the end, he only shook his head.
“I don’t know…” he murmured.
Cao Lei did not press him. Instead, he returned to the previous topic. “Then aside from Su Jin and Bai Xue, did anyone else go over there?”
Pei Yuming slowly raised the head he had lowered moments ago. After a pause, he said uncertainly, “Lu Dong seems to have gone over to the island counter too…”
Hearing him add Lu Dong to the list, Cao Lei was already too tired to figure out whether he was doing it on purpose. He asked directly, “What did he go there for? When did he go? Was it after Bai Xue?”
Pei Yuming blinked a few times, putting on an expression of recollection. “I remember it was before Bai Xue. Our dining table is rectangular, and Su Jin couldn’t reach some of the dishes, so he went to the cabinet beside the island counter to get Su Jin a plate and serve her some of the food she liked.”
“You remember that pretty clearly,” Cao Lei said, narrowing his eyes as he studied Pei Yuming as if through a microscope.
Pei Yuming swallowed, his expression turning a little unnatural. “I just thought he was pretty good at that kind of thing, so I paid attention.”
Although Lu Dong’s motive for murder seemed stronger than Su Jin’s, Cao Lei did not ask Pei Yuming for his opinion, because he knew that, given Pei Yuming’s position, there was no way he could say anything objective about Lu Dong.
Still, he asked one question.
“Do you still hate Lu Dong now?”
Perhaps he had not expected Cao Lei to ask that. When Pei Yuming heard the question, his brows lifted slightly. He was probably somewhat surprised.
“I…” Pei Yuming hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he shook his head. “I don’t know. Too much has happened recently. Officer Cao, to tell you the truth, all I feel right now is that my head is exhausted. Sometimes I feel like none of this might be real. I actually really want to sleep for a while. Maybe when I wake up, they will all still be alive, and this conversation we’re having might just be a dream. I really hope that’s the case.”
But what kind of dream could feel so real?
Pei Yuming raised a hand to block the soft body of the girl leaning toward him. Amid the dissatisfied complaints of the Woman in the Red Dress, he squeezed straight toward the subway doors.
When the train reached the station, he followed the crowd and quickly made his way out.
He had to confirm one thing.
One thing that was extremely important to him.
The moment he came out of the subway station, he got into a taxi and went straight to the hospital where his daughter had been examined before.
In the car, he called Su Jin again and told her to meet him there.
Su Jin had no idea what he was trying to do, but in the end, she agreed.
Pei Yuming had just intercepted his daughter and Lu Zixuan at the hospital entrance, before he could say anything, when Su Jin drove up.
He opened the rear door and gestured for his pale-faced daughter and the visibly flustered Lu Zixuan to get in.
The two teenagers dawdled, unwilling to climb into the car. Pei Yuming pushed his daughter’s shoulder, put on the stern expression he usually wore, and ordered, “Get in. Don’t make me lose my temper with you out here.”
Pei Xiaobei instantly lowered her head and became obedient, silently ducking into the back seat.
Since Pei Xiaobei had gotten in, Lu Zixuan had no choice but to follow.
Pei Yuming sat in the passenger seat. Su Jin tapped the seat belt, indicating for him to buckle up. Only after the car had merged into traffic did Pei Yuming speak again. “Su Jin, drive straight to our unit.”
Su Jin glanced at the two rigidly seated youngsters in the rearview mirror and could not help asking, “What’s wrong? Is someone sick?”
Pei Yuming clenched the hand at his side. He wanted to explain, but the words would not come. All he felt was an unbearable ache in his chest.
He could not understand how his life had suddenly become so riddled with holes.
Had he been living in a world of lies all these years?
If Xiaobei really was not his daughter, then what about his marriage, his family? What part of it was real?
And what was he working so busily for every day?
With grief in his eyes, he looked out at the stream of cars beyond the window. For the first time, the city he had lived in for more than forty years felt unreal. Everyone was rushing around just to survive, repeating the things they had done yesterday. A whole life was compressed into a handful of trivial routines. Humans were really no different from ants crawling back and forth through cracks in the bricks. From birth to death, it was all nothing more than an accidental mishap.
He wiped the corner of his eye with his thumb and said thickly, his voice nasal, “In a bit, help me arrange something. I need a DNA comparison done for me and Xiaobei, and also… for me and Zixuan. Three hours should be enough to get the results, right?”
Before he had even finished speaking, something happened on Su Jin’s end. She had probably stepped on the brake by mistake. The car lurched violently, then returned to normal.
“You… what did you say?” After a long while, Su Jin stopped at a red light, turned to look at Pei Yuming, and asked in a trembling voice.
Pei Yuming had already regained his composure by then. Or rather, he had forced himself to calm down. Expressionless, he explained, “Su Jin, I heard some things. Just take it as doing me a favor. Don’t ask anything for now, all right?”
Su Jin did not answer. She only stared fixedly at him, until the car behind them honked. Only then did she turn back around and focus on driving.
The two youngsters in the back seat were confused too. At their age, they vaguely understood what a DNA comparison meant, but why would they suddenly need one for no reason? Unless…
Pei Xiaobei and Lu Zixuan exchanged a silent look. Goose bumps instantly rose along both their arms.
No way it was that melodramatic!
Whether it was because she could not refuse Pei Yuming’s request, or for some other reason, Su Jin indeed did not ask another question for the rest of the drive.
Although Su Jin had a gentle, even-tempered personality, at work she was brisk, decisive, and brooked no argument.
She took the three of them straight to the Laboratory. After greeting Lao Xiao, she changed into work clothes and personally disinfected the area before drawing their blood.
After the blood draw, Pei Yuming settled the two teenagers in his own consulting room, then returned to the Laboratory.