HH Chapter 15

Cheng Ye sniffed, raised his chin, and stared straight at Pei Qinghuai. As time passed second by second, Pei Qinghuai remained motionless, sitting on the stool with Tan Mingwei’s file and other witnesses’ statements in front of him.

Cheng Ye felt like every breath he exhaled was a puff of white smoke. After enduring for five more minutes, he finally gave in to the sixteen-degree temperature. Rubbing his goosebump-covered arms, he leaned forward and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Hearing the voice, Pei Qinghuai finally looked up. His lips, which had some color earlier, were now pale and almost invisible. Cheng Ye felt a secret satisfaction, knowing that this was how men competed silently.

“Li Xiaoyan,” Pei Qinghuai said, looking at Cheng Ye. “Are you very cold? Should I turn up the air conditioning? Your facial expression is starting to look a bit unnatural. It’s quite creepy.”

Cheng Ye’s mouth twitched, and he quickly rubbed his face hard. “Let’s talk business. I’m not cold!”

Pei Qinghuai adjusted the air conditioning to a normal temperature, picked out Li Xiaoyan’s statement, and pushed it towards Cheng Ye. “Can you see any issues?”

Cheng Ye gave Pei Qinghuai a puzzled look before lowering his head to read through Li Xiaoyan’s statement. After going through it several times, he asked, “Do you think there’s something wrong with Li Xiaoyan?”

“Yes,” Pei Qinghuai nodded. “She seems a bit too eager to achieve her goal.”

He turned a page in the statement and pointed to a sentence. “Look here, isn’t her answer a bit too straightforward?”

In the statement, when asked if Tan Mingwei had any grudges with others, Li Xiaoyan clearly stated that he did, and even provided specific details about the other party.

Pei Qinghuai continued, “Tan Mingwei and Li Xiaoyan have been separated for twenty-one years.”

Cheng Ye asked, “So what?”

Pei Qinghuai folded his hands. “Based on my experience, we don’t need to take the initiative. Someone will eventually come forward when they can’t hold back any longer.”

Cheng Ye’s gaze fell on the statement, and he spoke in a deep tone, “But what if no one does?”

“They will,” Pei Qinghuai said with confidence.

Cheng Ye closed the statement and stood up. “Cases need to be solved with evidence, not so-called experience or intuition.”

Pei Qinghuai, seemingly expecting this response, leaned back in his chair and tapped the table lightly. “The sentence you just read is your evidence.”

—

It was the rainy season, and the constant downpour delayed the progress of the case by a few days. Wang Gang, who Zhang Yibao had previously investigated, had also been reprimanded and punished at the station.

The result was that Tan Mingwei ended up being the scapegoat stuck in the middle. Wang Gang knew Chen Li, and while Tan Mingwei was borrowing high-interest loans, he was also spending money on Chen Li and others. In the end, only Tan Mingwei was left with nothing.

The people assigned to secretly watch Chen Fei returned empty-handed after finding nothing suspicious. While everyone sat in their chairs feeling dejected, a sudden urgent phone call rang from the desk.

Chen Xiaonuan quickly picked up the phone. “Hello, Criminal Police Unit.”

The caller paused before speaking, “Hello, I want to report someone. Her name is… Li Xiaoyan.”

Chen Xiaonuan was stunned for a moment and then mouthed Li Xiaoyan’s name to Cheng Ye, who nodded. His gaze instinctively fell on Pei Qinghuai in the distance.

It was still raining outside. Although Li Xiaoyan had an umbrella, she was half-soaked and looked quite disheveled. Chen Xiaonuan found a blanket for her and poured her a cup of hot water.

Knowing Li Xiaoyan had arrived, Pei Qinghuai also followed. After a few sips of water, Cheng Ye began questioning her in a gentle voice, “Why did you come so urgently today? Did something happen?”

Li Xiaoyan clutched the cup tightly, her wet hair hanging down, and spoke softly, “I’ve been thinking about it and decided it’s better to come forward. Tan Mingwei and I never actually divorced. Now that he’s dead, I feel I should do something.”

Li Xiaoyan’s words shattered Cheng Ye’s world view a bit. Just as he was processing this, Pei Qinghuai jumped in, “Tell us, how can we help you?”

Looking at the person she had met before, Li Xiaoyan shrugged and said, “Do you remember I mentioned Tan Mingwei’s enemies?”

“Yes,” Pei Qinghuai replied.

Li Xiaoyan began a long explanation. In summary, back then, their neighboring family, named Xiao Cheng, held a grudge because an accident involving Tan Mingwei allegedly caused the death of their elderly family member. They harbored resentment and constantly talked about killing Tan Mingwei for revenge.

Cheng Ye listened with one ear and let it out the other, his thoughts entirely on what Pei Qinghuai had said that day.

“Li Xiaoyan’s words are the evidence you need.” Now, that evidence was right in front of him.

After Li Xiaoyan finished speaking, Pei Qinghuai asked calmly, “Do you believe all this?”

“What?” Li Xiaoyan was taken aback by Pei Qinghuai’s question. “I’m telling the truth!”

Pei Qinghuai did not dismiss her claim. “I didn’t say you were lying. I’m just asking, do you believe it?”

Li Xiaoyan tightened her grip on the cup and looked at Pei Qinghuai. “Believe what?”

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear. Let me rephrase,” Pei Qinghuai paused. “With everything you’ve said, who are you really covering for?”

Cheng Ye’s eyelids twitched. Pei Qinghuai always seemed to be one step ahead. A day after he suspected Li Xiaoyan, Fang Yuan had informed him that Li Xiaoyan had been staying home and hadn’t been out, not even to take out the piled-up trash.

“No one!” Li Xiaoyan’s eyes showed a trace of panic, and she shook her head. “Who would I be covering for? I’m just following the police’s advice…”

Before she could finish, Fang Yuan suddenly burst in through the door. Cheng Ye glanced over, got up, and walked to the door. Fang Yuan lowered his voice and handed a bag of evidence to Cheng Ye. “The murder weapon was found. It’s the fruit knife from Li Xiaoyan’s house.”

Cheng Ye frowned, took the bag, and sat back down. Looking at Li Xiaoyan’s face, he felt a peculiar sensation.

“Explain this. What’s going on?” Cheng Ye threw the evidence on the table, his tone icy.