Chapter 78 (1/2)
The five suspects were Mrs Mei, Niu Dapeng, Zheng Weiguo, Liu Yuming and Shu Ping. Shu Ping might have the greatest suspicion right now and all evidence pointed to her, but perhaps there were other pits in this secret room.
Before confirming it, Yu Hanjiang decided to re-examine the suspects. He called Niu Dapeng first and calmly asked, “You said last night that you heard someone going to the toilet next door and you saw a light through the crack of the door. There was also a strange noise from the garbage can, right?”
Niu Dapeng nodded. “Yes.”
Yu Hanjiang asked, “What time was this?”
Niu Dapeng scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know. I was confused and didn’t look at the time.”
Yu Hanjiang then asked, “hen did you hear Mrs Mei also going to the toilet?”
Niu Dapeng pretended to be innocent. “No.”
Yu Hanjiang raised his head and coldly stared at him. “Someone saw Mrs Mei and Liu Yuming going to the toilet one by one. You can hear someone in the next room get up at night and the noise of the garbage can at the end of the carriage but you can’t hear the movement of someone in your room opening the door?”
Niu Dapeng’s face slightly changed. This was indeed inexplicable. He gritted his teeth and sullenly said, “I really didn’t hear it. I slept through the night and only woke up for a minute or two. Then I fell asleep again. I really don’t know what happened.”
He insisted that he didn’t hear it but Yu Hanjiang was an experienced interrogator and knew from his expression that this person was lying.
Yu Hanjiang spoke lightly, “You hate Li Zhemin and guessed that the person going to the toilet last night might be the murderer. You are pretending not to hear it in order to protect that person, right?”
Niu Dapeng’s face instantly whitened. His lips slightly trembled but he gritted his teeth and refused to speak.
Yu Hanjiang said, “If you deliberately cover it up and don’t cooperate with the investigation, the police can use the crime of obstructing the case to take you to the police station for another interrogation. You should think clearly.”
Niu Dapeng was silent for a moment before his shoulders finally slumped with frustration. “I-I did hear Sister Mei go to the toilet.”
Yu Hanjiang raised his eyebrows. “The time and how many times did she go?”
“It seemed to be two times. Once around 3 o’clock and once around 4. I really don’t know anything else.” He looked up at Yu Hanjiang. “This thing should have nothing to do with SIster Mei. She is so old and weak. How can she kill anyone?”
“Since you think that she can’t kill anyone, why did you hide the fact that she went to the toilet last night?”
Niu Dapeng knew that he was in the wrong and muttered, “I thought this wasn’t very important. An old person going to the bathroom in the middle of the night is quite normal…”
Then Yu Hanjiang asked, “The second time, the one before 4 o’clock, how long did it take her to come back after going to the toilet?”
Niu Dapeng replied, “The time was relatively long, approximately half an hour? Maybe she had a bad stomach from the food?”
“Did you hear any other voices?”
Niu Dapeng thought for a moment before saying, “The second time Sister Mei went to the toilet, there seemed to be someone in the next room who went to the toilet. It shouldn’t be Liu Yuming since they didn’t bring a light. However, it didn’t take long for the person to come back. I heard the sound of the door opening and closing in less than half a minute.”
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou glanced at each other. It seemed the one going to the toilet next door was Zheng Weiguo. He stole the IOU note and wanted to go to the toilet to destroy it. Then he found that someone was coming out of the toilet and hurriedly returned to his room. He went out and returned, which could explain why it only took half a minute.
Niu Dapeng spoke seriously, “I really only know this and don’t know anything else.”
Yu Hanjiang saw his sincere eyes and believed him. He nodded and let this person go back.
Immediately after, Yu Hanjiang questioned Liu Yuming of Room 2. Liu Yuming first smiled and put on the ‘I am a good citizen’ act. “What questions do you have? Just ask.”
As a result, Yu Hanjiang directly questioned, “Why are you lying?”
Liu Yuming’s smile instantly froze before he adjusted his expression. “What do you mean? I’m not lying.”
“The time you went to the toilet last night was 3:30, not 3 o’clock.”
Liu Yuming calmed down. “Ah… is that so? I am old and my memory isn’t good. I was probably mistaken. Ah, I always forget something. This time, before going out, my son told me to bring towels and a toothbrush but I forgot again. I could only buy new ones at the station…”
Seeing that he was trying to change the topic, Yu Hanjiang directly interrupted. “Your memory isn’t good? Then how did you remember that you lost your watch?”
Liu Yuming had an awkward expression.
Yu Hanjiang pointed to his watch. “Your watch stayed in the trash until the middle of the night yet it is quite clean and doesn’t have the smell of rubbish.”
Liu Yuming touched his nose and explained, “I found my watch last night and cleaned it in the basin.”
Yu Hanjiang’s voice was light. “Yet the person in the toilet next to you said you went back after was.h.i.+ng your hands. You didn’t wash your watch at all.”
Liu Yuming hurriedly denied it. “How is that possible? I wasn’t seen at all!”
The office fell silent. Yu Hanjiang calmly stared and saw Liu Yuming’s face become pale and then suddenly red.
Yu Hanjiang wondered, “Then when you went to the toilet, there really was someone opposite you?”
“…” Liu Yuming wanted to cry.
Yu Hanjiang’s interrogation made him dizzy. He had been walking along the rhythm of the other party. His thoughts were focused on the watch and as a result, he didn’t pay attention to ‘the person who went to the toilet opposite you.’ The other party used these words to trap him and reveal the truth.
Yu Hanjiang found the old man was in a daze and knocked gently on the table with a pen. “A lie will lead to countless lies. It is better to tell the truth. Last night at 3:30, you went to the toilet and what did you see? Was it Shu Ping?”
Liu Yuming’s senses hurriedly returned and he shook his head. “It isn’t her. I didn’t see her!”
Yu Hanjiang raised his eyebrows. “A person in the 4th carriage saw it and told us that last night at 3:30, Shu Ping went to the toilet and hit a nearby garbage can.”
Liu Yuming’s face was red and white and he seemed to be fighting with his thoughts.
Yu Hanjiang continued, “Shu Ping and Ruirui were good friends? When you pursued Ruirui, Shu Ping also helped you a lot? Your relations.h.i.+p with Shu Ping should be very good. You didn’t expect later that Li Zhemin would dig at your relations.h.i.+p and use wine to obtain your sweetheart. Shu Ping was abandoned by Li Zhemin and both of you let down. You can be considered to be in the same boat.”
He put his pen on the table, folded his arms across his chest and calmly watched Liu Yuming. “That’s why even if Shu Ping is the murderer, you don’t want to stand up to identify her. It is because Li Zhemin should de. She killed Li Zhemin and Ruirui will be able to rest in peace in the afterlife. You feel that way, right?”
Liu Yuming’s body trembled violently, face full of horror.
It was because the other person expressed his exact thoughts. This sharp-eyed man seemed to have the ability to read minds, directly piercing into his thoughts. In these years, he had a gentle wife and filial son. His life was happy and he might’ve tried to forget the original things, but the thought of the purely innocent Ruirui was like a knife.
“Li Zhemin should really die! Ruirui was killed by him!” Liu Yuming’s eyes became red as he recalled the past. He roared like an angry beast, “Li Zhemin swore to me that he would treat Ruirui well when he married her. I believed him and thought that since they are married, I should bless them!”
“I didn’t expect that Li Zhemin was actually a beast. During Ruirui’s pregnancy, he cheated on her. He and a young nurse in the hospital colluded together. He sent flowers to the nurse every day and Ruirui inadvertently caught them when going to the hospital for a check. She was angry and entered premature delivery. She almost lost her life in the operating room!”