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I couldn't understand why Jiang Xiaochun was acting this way. From the rough situation I observed, it seemed like Jiang Xiaochun was hiding something, but she didn't appear to be someone who had lost her mind. If a person truly went insane yet still looked so well and healthy, I would rather be the one considered mad.
Looking at Hu's Mother’s eager expression, I decided it was best not to leave just yet, especially since I had no idea what Jiang Xiaochun was concealing. After all, she had put in so much effort to pretend; exposing her could end up being detrimental for everyone involved.
I nodded and reassured Hu's Mother, “Don’t worry, the investigation is nearly complete. If we catch the murderer, the police will notify you.”
Hu's Mother sighed heavily and replied, “Alright, I’ll wait for your news.”
I nodded again.
As I stepped out the door, I turned back to Hu's Mother and asked, “Do you regularly open the windows in that room for ventilation?”
“What?” Hu's Mother asked. “Which room are you talking about?”
“Nothing,” I shook my head. “Let’s leave it at that. We may need to contact you again in the future.”
The woman who had accompanied us seemed eager to chat with Hu's Mother, so she didn’t follow us down the stairs. It was just Zhao Mingkun and me in the hallway. Zhao Mingkun appeared puzzled and asked me, “What have you figured out?”
I nodded and stated firmly, “From my observations, Jiang Xiaochun is definitely pretending to be insane.”
“Pretending?” Zhao Mingkun questioned. “How did you come to that conclusion?”
As we walked down the stairs, I explained, “That woman has a peculiar habit; she only eats leftovers and drinks from the tap. On the surface, it seems like she has a mental issue—refusing hot meals while insisting on eating what others have left behind and drinking cold water—but there’s a deeper reason behind it.”
“What is it?” Zhao Mingkun asked.
“Fear of death!” I replied. “The food others have eaten isn’t poisoned, and flowing water isn’t toxic either. She isn’t refusing food; she eats and sleeps just fine. From her physical condition, there’s clearly nothing wrong with her. If she were truly insane, she wouldn’t be in this state.”
Zhao Mingkun rubbed his chin thoughtfully and slowly said, “That makes sense.”
I continued, "That's right. I don't know if you've noticed a detail. In Hu Xiaoxue's room, there is a bookshelf, and all the books on it are neatly arranged, except for one book that was carelessly thrown in. Given the huge incident at home, Hu's Mother didn't even bother to clean the house; how could she have the mood to tidy up the bookshelf? This means the bookshelf has always been this organized. The fact that only one book is out of place indicates that someone has gone through it recently."
"Are you saying Jiang Xiaochun looked at that book?" Zhao Mingkun asked again.
"Most likely," I replied. "There's another detail: when I went outside, I asked Hu's Mother if she had a habit of opening windows for ventilation, but she didn't understand what I meant. This clearly indicates that the window was not opened by Hu's Mother. If it wasn't her, then it must have been Jiang Xiaochun."
I looked at Zhao Mingkun and continued, "A person hiding in a room, reading a book during her free time, and remembering to open her window for fresh air—do you think that's something a madwoman would do? She's just looking for something to occupy herself; she's bored. So, she's hiding."
"If that's the case, I can guess a few things," Zhao Mingkun said. "If she's hiding from someone, I think it's no one other than the Murderer. She believes that if she acts like nothing is wrong and thinks she's gone crazy, then the Murderer won't have any thoughts about her, right?"
I snapped my fingers and said, "Then we have a problem. At the beginning, after Hu Xiaoxue died, Jiang Xiaochun was indeed haunted. But based on our current analysis, what she fears isn't a ghost; it should be a living person—she's afraid of the Murderer. So why does she know that the Murderer is coming to kill her?"
"So Jiang Xiaochun is hiding something?" Zhao Mingkun suggested.
We had already exited the building. I glanced at the sun above and said to Zhao Mingkun, "Exactly. Jiang Xiaochun must know something about what happened seven years ago. Her connection with Hu Pei is too strange and too quick. By the way, did you notice my odd behavior?"
Zhao Mingkun nodded and said, "Of course I noticed; you took her ring? What's wrong with the ring?"
"Raise one finger," I instructed Zhao Mingkun.
He looked at me in confusion but still extended a finger as I asked. I formed a circle with my thumb and index finger and slipped it onto his hand before starting to make a motion as if inserting something.
Zhao Mingkun frowned and asked in a strange tone, "Are you being lewd?"
I realized that this action seemed somewhat inappropriate; I quickly released my hand and said, "Did you feel the friction?"
"Huh?" Zhao Mingkun's frown deepened further.
I realized that my words seemed a bit off, so I quickly added, "What I mean is, if we consider the circle formed by my fingers as a ring, then frequently taking off the ring would naturally lead to some wear. I've seen Jiang Xiaochun's wedding ring; the inside is almost worn smooth, and the engraving on it is no longer visible."
"But!" I continued, "the outside of the ring has quite a few smudges. What does this indicate? It clearly shows that the outside of the ring is rarely subjected to friction. We can speculate why Jiang Xiaochun often takes her ring off. It suggests that she might be seeing someone else."
"What?" Zhao Mingkun seemed somewhat incredulous.
I spoke up, "Jiang Xiaochun must be having an affair. From her demeanor, she doesn't seem particularly sad about her husband or even her daughter. I suspect there’s more to this story. When Jiang Xiaochun married Hu Pei, it likely wasn't as simple as it appears."
"Where should we investigate?" Zhao Mingkun asked.
I replied, "Let's have Mary look into it. If she can find information about a person, she can uncover a lot. As long as Jiang Xiaochun has interacted with someone else, we can gather plenty of information."
"Mary, huh?" Zhao Mingkun seemed reflective and smiled as he said, "I suppose we can consider ourselves old friends."
At that moment, Gu Chen's phone rang at just the right time.
"Gu Chen?" I said.
"I found the information you wanted about that person," Gu Chen responded without hesitation upon recognizing my voice. "The person you're looking for is named Deng Xuemei, female, thirty-two years old. She is still single and resigned from a pharmaceutical company a few months ago. Seven years ago, she graduated from Dongxing University with a degree in Biological Engineering."
Hearing Gu Chen's words gave me an answer in my mind.
"Go on," I prompted.
Gu Chen continued, "According to Mary's investigation, Deng Xuemei doesn't come from a well-off family. Her father fell ill with a strange disease during her middle school years and spent all their savings trying to find a cure but to no avail. Whether seven years ago or now, it was considered an incurable disease."
"At that time, Deng Xuemei's family situation was decent; they weren't wealthy but could be described as comfortable. However, after her father fell ill, their circumstances deteriorated rapidly. Later on, her mother left one night and never returned."
"Deng Xuemei was attending school while taking care of her father. However, life became increasingly difficult for her. Nevertheless, Deng Xuemei persevered and managed to get into a good university through her hard work. The only problem was that she had no money and no way to take out a loan, but later on, a kind-hearted person helped her."
I nodded, guessing what happened next. I spoke up, "I know who it is. Later on, a girl named Lu Zhiqiu sponsored Deng Xuemei, right?"
Gu Chen paused for a moment before replying, "That's right, it was a girl named Lu Zhiqiu. According to Mary’s investigation, she had been supporting this girl Deng Xuemei since the second half of her freshman year. Every month without fail, she sent Deng Xuemei a thousand yuan, asking for nothing in return."
"However, it seems there was one month when she didn’t send any money," Gu Chen continued. "That was during the last year."
"I know about that," I nodded.
We were more familiar with the events that followed. That time, Lu Zhiqiu had borrowed a lot of money to buy a dog and had also been scammed in an investment, leaving her with virtually no extra money at that point. So indeed, that month, Lu Zhiqiu did not have any spare cash to give to Deng Xuemei.
I already had my answer in mind. The doctor had told me before that studying medicine, biology, and chemistry were mandatory courses. Deng Xuemei was a student majoring in Biological Engineering; if anyone could accurately use chemical drugs to commit murder, it would undoubtedly be her.
From a timeline perspective, Deng Xuemei had resigned from her job several months ago, which meant she had ample time to commit the crime. In terms of motive for murder, Lu Zhiqiu had selflessly supported Deng Xuemei for years without asking for anything in return; it would be natural for Deng Xuemei to seek revenge out of gratitude. As for the method of killing, being a student in the Biology Department meant that preparing basic chemical poisons would be quite ordinary for Deng Xuemei.
In my mind, the person I suspected as the murderer was indeed her.
"Then," I continued to ask, "have you found out where Deng Xuemei is now?"
Gu Chen replied, "Not exactly, but we did find out where Deng Xuemei's original home is located. However, her father passed away several years ago, and we don’t know if Deng Xuemei still lives there. I’ll give you the address shortly; if possible, could you check it out?"
"Sure," I said. "There’s one more thing."
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