Chapter 8: Clue

Chapter 8

That afternoon, three o’clock had just passed, and the minute hand pointed at the five minute tick. Rao Feifei walked into the office, a young woman trailing behind her. 

Ji Fanyang stared at her for a good while, then said: “You’re Miss Hu?”

“Yes.” The woman nodded, her voice faint and wane, “May I ask, who passed?”

“The owner of this phone number.” Ji Fanyang passed her a paper. 

Miss Hu scanned the paper, and her face turned white: “He’s dead?”

“I’m Wang XX’s ex-girlfriend.” Miss Hu said, “We just broke up recently.”

“So, you think…?” Ji Fanyang drew out. 

“I don’t know.” Miss Hu shook her head, “I admit it, I cheated on Wang XX, it was my fault.”

“It doesn’t matter to us who you cheated on.” Lu Hui walked up to the door just then, leaning on the frame, “This clue can be disregarded.”

“This could be the motive.” Rao Feifei frowned in disagreement, “How can we disregard it?”

Lu Hui raised an eyebrow: “I don’t feel like dealing with people. I’m going to the crime scene.”

“Wait.” Ji Fanyang spoke, “You’re going to be at the scene for the whole afternoon?”

“No, I’m also going to play some golf, have some barbeque, and sing karaoke.” Lu Hui drew back the corners of his lips, “Of course I’ll be at the crime scene all afternoon. Even if I’m going to beat the water, it’s not like I can tell you all.”

Although Lu Hui had made fun of him to his face, Ji Fanyang’s temperament was good: “If you think of anything, you can tell me.”

“Understood, my caring brother.” Lu Hui rolled his eyes, then turned around and left. 

“Alright, let’s continue where we left off.” Ji Fanyang’s gaze fell on Miss Hu. 

———Crime scene

Returning once again to the dusty scene, Lu Hui stood in the center. 

The building was so old and decrepit that it seemed like it could collapse with one good stamp of the foot. 

Gaze wandering, Lu Hui sat in the middle of the living room, as if he was reeling in a net. Compared to interacting with others, he was more accustomed to being alone, sitting amongst the wordless evidence in peaceful seclusion, waiting for a flash of insight. 

The sun rose in the east and set in the west. 

Like softly blowing out a candle, the last wisps of sunlight along the horizon were snuffed out. 

Lu Hui stood up and shook out his numb legs. His gaze froze on the medicine bottle laying beside the rattan chair. He turned around and saw the bottle of antifreeze behind the door. 

His expression changed. His intense, frigid eyes gradually lit up, a flame suddenly leaping up in the deep recess of his pupils, like a blade scorched in raging fire. He let out a breath. 

Lu Hui left the room, locked up carefully, and stepped lightly on his way down the stairs. 

He drove home first, ate an entire bowl of noodles in the car, got out of the car, closed the car door, then threw the take-out container in the trash.

Then he went upstairs. 

Returning to his pigsty-of-a-room on the top floor, Lu Hui reclined on the sofa with the lights off, his eyes lit up scarily. 

He laid that way for half the night. He suddenly got up, grabbed a random coat, then went downstairs. 

He ran off in a different direction. 

Two in the morning. 

He knocked on Ji Fanyang’s door. 

The door quietly opened a sliver, and a beige baseball bat flashed by. Lu Hui coughed, and a young man’s face appeared at the crack in the door: “Ch-Chief Lu?”

“Mm.” Lu Hui stood without moving, looking at the slightly opened door. 

“Come in.” Ji Fanyang rubbed his eyes, “No need to change shoes.”

Lu Hui strode into Ji Fanyang’s little apartment. He seldom entered other people’s living spaces, so he felt ill at ease. 

Until now, except for his parent’s house and his own little doghouse, he had only been to Captain Wei’s home. 

Looking around, Ji Fanyang’s apartment was a one bedroom, one bathroom. Though small, it was clean and tidy, everything arranged methodically. 

Compared to Lu Hui’s hellish doghouse, Ji Fanyang’s place was indeed heaven. 

Standing in someone else’s territory, Lu Hui felt unsteady. He was like a dog with fleas, uncomfortable everywhere. 

“Chief Lu made a breakthrough?” Ji Fanyang let out a long breath, half-shutting his eyes as he leaned on the sofa. 

Lu Hui was abnormally excited, which was expressed through his scarily bright eyes. He said: “The deceased comitted suicide, using two methods simultaneously. One was the sleeping pills, and the other was the antifreeze. Then, why was the bottle of sleeping pills by the deceased’s leg, while the antifreeze was behind the door?”

Ji Fanyang pushed himself upright. He didn’t seem completely clear-headed, and he lifted a hand and ran it through his disordered hair: “Yeah, why?”

Lu Hui frowned as he looked at the muddle-headed group member. He picked up an empty glass and walked into the kitchen to fill it with cold water. When he returned to the living room, he raised the glass and splashed the water onto Ji Fanyang’s face. 

“Pfff…cough cough cough.” Ji Fanyang shivered from the cold, bending over to cough for a while. 

The corners of Lu Hui’s lips hooked upward: “Awake now?”

“…I’m awake, I’m awake.” Ji Fanyang hurriedly pulled out a few napkins to wipe off his face. Internally, he thought Chief’s Lu’s temper was quite bad, even demonic. 

“So, why?” Lu Hui brought up the question from before. 

“Because…” Ji Fanyang saw Lu Hui tilt the water glass, hesitated for a moment, then continued, “Because he wanted to go for a walk before committing suicide?”

The second glass of water successfully splashed onto Ji Fanyang’s face. 

Lu Hui said, gritting his teeth: “Because the deceased didn’t mix in the antifreeze himself.”

“Sss…Why?” Ji Fanyang asked under threat of a third glass of water. 

Lu Hui narrowed his eyes, completely losing the intention of instructing his group member: “Because Wang poured him a glass of water.”

“…” Ji Fanyang immediately returned to his normal self, swiftly gathering up all of the clues, “The deceased originally planned to commit suicide. He hoarded a month’s supply of sleeping pills. Because he couldn’t pick up too many at once, he collected some more each week, planning to consume all of them that day. Then, because Wang knew about his girlfriend cheating on him, he planned to kill him with the antifreeze that same day.”

“A perfect coincidence, and a perfect plan.” Lu Hui lowered his voice, “Once the evidence is consolidated tomorrow, the case can be closed.”

“It was because of something as incidental as this?” Ji Fanyang continued his analysis, “Wang wore the plastic gloves given to him by the restaurant and took advantage of the deceased not paying attention while he was eating to mix the antifreeze into the water glass. The main component of antifreeze is ethylene glycol, which tastes sweet. Wang returned the antifreeze to its original location to avoid arousing suspicion…”

“The deceased had not driven his car for a while. Have Shen Pei inspect the antifreeze, check for impressions of the gloves on the clean spots.” Lu Hui said, “The murder and suicide together constitute the case.”

Ji Fanyang could now understand the provincial Bureau of Public Safety’s assessment of Lu Hui. A bastard, from head to toe, but a useful one. 

“I’m leaving.” Lu Hui put down the glass and turned around to depart. 

“Wait.” Ji Fanyang stood up, then raised his head to look at the wall clock, “It’s three in the morning. How did you get here?”

“I ran.” Lu Hui answered. He casted a sidelong glance at Ji Fanyang, “I’ll run back. I can still get five hours of sleep in.”

“Five hours…” Ji Fanyang was speechless, “Won’t you be late?”

“I was at the crime scene until seven, which counts as overtime.” Lu Hui said boldly, with full confidence. 

“…” Ji Fanyang blinked, thinking that it would be best to insist on raising a suggestion, “How about Chief Lu sleeps at my place? I have a pull-out couch.”

“No need, I’m going.” Lu Hui felt uncomfortable just standing there, so sleeping in someone else’s house was beyond mention. He straight-up turned around, opened the door, and walked out, “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” Ji Fanyang looked at Lu Hui dully as he left, “Take care on your way back.”

Lu Hui did not respond. He ran off even faster.