Chapter 84
Chapter 84
While the interrogation in the interrogation room was proceeding methodically, outside, the clues provided by Pei Yuming had thrown everyone into a frenzy.
The investigators still at the crime scene immediately intercepted several trash cans near Pei Yuming’s home from the garbage truck. The waste collection driver, working late at night, was so terrified that he thought he’d done something wrong; as soon as he got out of the vehicle, he instinctively crouched down with his hands on his head.
Over a dozen people put on masks and gloves to sift through the trash. Whether by sheer luck or the victim’s intervention from beyond, they found the outer packaging of the bouquet Su Jin had brought in the very first bin. The leader of Investigation Team Two held up the pale blue wrapping paper, so emotional he nearly burst into tears.
As it turned out, Pei Yuming had guessed correctly: there was indeed something wrong with that bouquet.
The investigators found several extra pieces of transparent tape on the outer packaging, with clear signs that something else had been stuck to it. Comparison also confirmed that the fingerprints on it all belonged to Su Jin alone.
Although this discovery couldn’t be used as direct evidence, it was a much-needed breakthrough. As long as they followed this lead, solving the case was only a matter of time.
Pei Yuming got off the subway with a mind full of questions. Finding the real culprit hadn’t brought the excitement he’d imagined. Even though he was the victim, he wasn’t sure how to face Su Jin.
However, both Cao Lei and he himself had many questions that only Su Jin, as the person directly involved, could answer. He stood downstairs, took a deep breath, and finally pulled out his phone to call Su Jin.
Su Jin said she’d be right there and was parking in the underground garage. Pei Yuming thought for a moment and said, “Wait for me. I’ll come find you.”
He hung up without waiting for Su Jin’s consent.
Pei Yuming found Su Jin in the residential complex’s parking garage. Face to face, he couldn’t get a single word out for a long moment.
“Yuming? Are you okay?” Su Jin looked at him, puzzled.
Pei Yuming clenched his fists. Words rose to his lips several times only to be swallowed back down, leaving his face twisted with inner conflict.
“You have something to say to me?” Su Jin guessed.
Pei Yuming nodded. “Yes, I… want to ask you something.”
Seeing how serious he was, Su Jin’s expression grew somber as well. She tentatively asked, “Is it about Bai Xue?”
Pei Yuming sighed and shook his head.
Su Jin’s eyes lit up. “Then you want to talk about what’s between us?”
“I…” Pei Yuming looked at Su Jin with a complicated expression. After a long deliberation, he said, “Do you hate me a lot?”
Perhaps not expecting this question, Su Jin was a bit shocked. It took her a while to recover, and then she said awkwardly, “Yuming, why would you say that?”
Pei Yuming took a deep breath. His gaze went past Su Jin to the passenger seat of the car. Carefully choosing his words, he said, “I know your plan for tonight, Su Jin. I just want to ask you: why go to such lengths? What’s there that we can’t talk about face to face?”
At close range, Pei Yuming saw the corners of Su Jin’s forced smile twitch involuntarily. She seemed to have put great effort into suppressing her inner shock, and she asked, feigning ignorance, “Yuming, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
Pei Yuming bypassed her and headed straight for the passenger side. At first, Su Jin didn’t realize what he was up to, until Pei Yuming opened the passenger door and took out the large bouquet of lilies. Su Jin’s face instantly turned pale with fright. “Don’t move!” Su Jin shouted as she rushed over, her voice thin and shrill from extreme tension. “What are you doing? Those flowers aren’t for you!” Pei Yuming turned his back to her, deftly untying the ribbon around the wrapping paper. With a gentle shake, the bound bunch of flowers fell to the ground, but he didn’t pick it up. He remembered Cao Lei saying the flowers themselves were fine, so the problem must lie with the wrapping paper.
“Pei Yuming!” Su Jin, frantic, called his full name, reaching out to snatch the wrapping paper from his hands, but Pei Yuming dodged sideways.
“I thought you didn’t understand what I was saying? What’s hidden in here that’s got you so worked up?” Pei Yuming spread the wrapping paper on the car roof and immediately spotted something stuck to the middle of the lower layer. He lifted the top layer and sure enough, there were three small transparent sealed bags affixed in a row: two contained white coarse granules, one a light blue powder.
Pei Yuming recognized them at a glance. The white ones, needless to say, were definitely potassium cyanide, and the light blue bag was likely crushed sleeping pill powder.
“What is this?”
Pei Yuming pointed at the sealed bags on the wrapping paper and demanded, but he didn’t remove them. potassium cyanide is a highly toxic substance; skin contact alone can cause poisoning. The sealed bags looked secure, but if they tore, things could go badly.
Su Jin stumbled backward in horror, her eyes filled with disbelief, and she muttered repeatedly, “How did you know? Why? Why?!”
Pei Yuming looked at her with a pained expression. “It really is you…”
Caught in the act, and never one to make a scene, Su Jin calmed down instead. She silently took the wrapping paper from Pei Yuming’s hands and, under his bewildered gaze, carefully wrapped the flowers back up.
Pei Yuming didn’t say a word the entire time; for a moment, he didn’t even know where to start questioning.
Su Jin placed the bouquet back on the passenger seat, then looked coldly at Pei Yuming. “What do you want to know?”
When she asked that, Pei Yuming hesitated. He took a small step back, hesitated for a long moment, then finally asked, “Why did you do it?”
Su Jin curled one side of her mouth into a mocking smile. “Yuming, do you even know what I was going to do before you ask that?”
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but Pei Yuming held back. He glanced at the passenger seat and said, “I know the white one is potassium cyanide.”
Judging by Su Jin’s expression, she wasn’t very surprised; instead, she asked Pei Yuming, “How did you know?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Su Jin, I just want to ask you, what were you thinking? I know you’re pregnant. If you needed me to take responsibility, you could have just told me. Why did you…”
“Shut up!” Su Jin shrieked suddenly, triggered by some unknown word. “Take responsibility? That’s easy to say. Every time Bai Xue crooked her finger, you went running to her. Yuming, you’re great in every way, but when it comes to this one thing, I’ve had enough! I can’t take it anymore. Twenty years ago you chose Bai Xue, and twenty years later, even knowing she cheated, you still choose her! All of you choose her. Fine, then I’ll make it happen for you.”
“What if I don’t choose her this time?” Pei Yuming’s expression was mournful; his gaze toward Su Jin held pity and self-reproach.
“What do you mean?” A flash of hope crossed Su Jin’s eyes, then immediately turned to vigilance.
Pei Yuming shook his head and gave a helpless smile. He opened the passenger door, took out the bouquet, and said to Su Jin, “Come on, let’s go upstairs. You’ll understand soon enough.”
Su Jin followed behind Pei Yuming, staring intently at his back the whole way, as if trying to see right through him.
She didn’t know why, but even though she had made up her mind before coming, at this moment, she suddenly felt completely uncertain.