"'Zeng Demei'—where is she really? Were the black stockings at the Lakeside Charm Hotel headboard placed by you? What about Qi Min's body? Did you touch it? Did you place it at the bottom of the lake? When you retrieved the suitcase containing Qi Min's body at the construction site, was Qi Min still alive?"
Old He's questions struck Xu Ruyi like thunderbolts.
"And Feng Zhi! The worst thing you could have done was drag Feng Zhi into this! You deliberately implicated him, while secretly arranging for someone else to help you. Who exactly did you arrange? Have you ever considered the consequences of doing such a thing?"
It was this sentence that snapped Xu Ruyi back to cold clarity.
She swiftly emerged from her turmoil. She turned her head, her boiling heart instantly cooling.
She met Old He's gaze. "So, Captain He, is this an interrogation now? What crime have I committed? Where's your evidence? Do you have any? No evidence? On what grounds are you slandering me like this?"
She had to be hard. She had to be righteous. She had to be unflinching.
Xiao Zhi had always emphasized this.
No weakness. No compromise. No collapse. Because this case didn't just involve her alone.
"I have no evidence! But I know everything!"
Old He surged to his feet, striding closer, his eyes locked onto Xu Ruyi's face. He saw the unnatural coldness and rigidity that had frozen onto it.
And the guilt and fear she could no longer hide.
He had hit the mark.
Old He gritted his teeth, his chest tight—this truth wasn't the one he had hoped to see.
"Xu Ruyi, you shouldn't have gotten involved, do you understand?! It's illegal! That evidence, the body—you cannot handle it, you cannot arrange it! If Qin Guan discovers this, he'll make a huge deal out of it! Evidence of unknown origin will be inadmissible! He might just walk free! Do you understand anything?!" he roared. "And Feng Zhi! He's just a student—"
"Enough!"
Xu Ruyi violently pushed Old He away. The anger pent up in her chest crashed against the thin wall of reason like a tidal wave.
"What do I understand? Yes, I don't understand! You understand! You're the professional! But did you catch him? Tell me! When you figured out how my parents died, you also said they died at his hands, right? So, can you catch Qin Guan? Can you convict him? Can you send him to court, get him the death penalty? Can you? You can't! You keep talking about no evidence, about how Qin Guan was flawless! And then what? You just watch him walk free? Is that your skill? Is that the result you want?"
"You figured out my parents' deaths! You even looked into his mother's death! You said yourself he might have done it! But what did you do? Tell me! What did you do? What can you do?"
Old He froze.
"You can't do anything. You're incapable of doing anything," Xu Ruyi's tears were already falling. She gasped for breath, furious, agitated, scornful. "All you do is fixate on me, the victim! You fixate on me, slander me, pressure me—because I'm weak! I'm not as powerful, as capable as Qin Guan! I'm an easy target for you! You fixate on me just to solve the case quickly, to add a shiny line to your resume, to get promoted, to get a raise!"
The visitation room at the detention center was simple, but quiet.
Qin Guan sat at the table, handcuffed, watching coldly as the lawyer across from him spoke eloquently—this one was new to the city, young, but undeniably sharp.
Money truly made the world go round. Qin Guan's private savings were finally proving useful. This lawyer and his team were capable.
"The black stockings are the most crucial evidence. But if we can prove Xu Ruyi stole them, that evidence becomes useless. We've made headway on that… My people have tailed Xu Ruyi for days, but still haven't found 'Zeng Demei'. I've also got people watching Feng Zhi; he hasn't met this 'Zeng Demei' either… Should we apply some pressure? He's just a college student. I don't believe he has the backbone to withstand it," the lawyer said.
Qin Guan shook his head.
He knew Feng Zhi. That boy only looked green.
A man raised under someone else's roof, fed by another's money, educated by another's funds—Qin Guan narrowed his eyes. No one understood the humiliation and resentment better than he did.
Humiliation made you grow up fast. It made you tougher, more resilient.
Unkillable. Unbreakable.
Like Feng Zhi. Like himself. He would not give up until the very end of this case. He would fight with everything to save himself.
Every step of his life had been like this—at ten years old, fighting for his sponsor's help against his mad mother and drunkard father…
Not to mention Shi Jie, Junjun, Qi Min, and yes, Xu Ruyi—no one could knock him down. No one could stop his advance.
"He Zhisheng went back to Guanlan Court," the lawyer glanced around and lowered his voice. "This time, he drove Xu Ruyi out. Took her to the Qingshui River. They seemed to have argued."
The lawyer pushed his phone forward on the table. On the screen was a photo taken from a distance by his operative. In it, Xu Ruyi was arguing fiercely—a side of her Qin Guan had never seen: furious, agitated, distorted.
That He guy had likely discovered something. Stepped on her tail.
What was it? The will? "Zeng Demei"? Or Feng Zhi?
Qin Guan frowned, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table—if they could just trace Xu Ruyi and Feng Zhi's presence at the construction site, his chances would rise another notch.
"Keep chasing 'Zeng Demei'. Find that person at all costs. Feng Zhi is trickier. If you need to apply pressure, focus here,"
Qin Guan also lowered his voice, speaking softly as a mosquito, but enough to be heard in the quiet room. "Xu Ruyi… her soft spot is her daughter… I don't believe she'd choose to protect 'Zeng Demei' over her own child."
"And," Qin Guan's gaze fell on the other man's phone. When he looked up again, there was a smile in his eyes, "this photo can be put to use. You know how it is. The case is already trending. Don't let it die down. The more attention, the more doubts raised, the better for me. The prosecution can't easily convict if it's stirred up. Play it… from that angle. You know. What people love most is a juicy scandal."
His cold smile vanished as quickly as it appeared. "That He guy has been biased in her favor from the start. Who knows what his real intentions are? A single old bachelor, a young widow… You know what to do. Go ahead and do it."
"Muddy the waters first," he took a deep breath, leaning his head back comfortably against the chair. As his body relaxed, his mind coolly processed the information. His narrowed eyes flashed with the image of Old He's puffy, greasy face—he dismissed it with contempt. Then, firmly, unwaveringly, he locked onto that familiar, slender figure.
The trial was approaching. He was fully prepared, ready for this final battle.