“Let’s go. We might miss the important parts later,” Pei Qinghuai brushed Cheng Ye’s hand off. “After all, you’re a captain. Act a bit more serious.”
“Alright, Officer Pei,” Cheng Ye replied with a cheeky grin, following closely behind Pei Qinghuai.
In the Interrogation Room
“Explain what you were doing at the food street with Chen Yuxin on the night of June 14th,” Fang Yuan asked.
“What do you think we were doing? Eating, of course,” Li He replied with impatience and irritation.
“Then why did you leave alone, and how do you explain Chen Yuxin being killed during that time?” Jiang Fei added to Fang Yuan’s question.
“What do you mean, how do I explain it?” Li He was getting agitated. “I had no idea she was killed!”
Fang Yuan licked his molars, staring at Li He. “Li He, let me tell you something. We have twenty-four hours to spend with you, and we can afford the time. Can you?”
Although there had been an attempt to avoid suspicion when Li He was taken away, some people noticed. A CEO being taken by the police would quickly become public knowledge, and within an hour, rumors could spiral out of control. In five hours, baseless speculations could be taken as facts.
“That night, she called and asked me to pick her up,” Li He said, rubbing his hands. “In the middle of the night, she threatened to expose our relationship if I didn’t come. I had no choice but to go.”
Li He frowned. “I thought it was something urgent, but it turned out she just wanted to go to the food street. Halfway through eating, she said she had a stomach ache and left. She never came back. I felt like I was being played, so I left. I really didn’t know she was dead.”
“When she called, did you know where she was?” Fang Yuan asked.
“She was on Wen Cheng Road,” Li He replied. “I’ve told you everything I know. Can you promise me one thing?”
“What is it?” Jiang Fei asked.
Li He lowered his head, glancing sideways. “Don’t let my wife know about this.”
“Heh…” Fang Yuan chuckled. “You dared to do such things and now you’re afraid of people finding out?”
Though the words stung, Li He had to yield. “Everyone has moments of weakness,” he muttered.
Elsewhere, Cheng Ye hung his head. “Looks like we’ve hit another dead end.”
He glanced at Pei Qinghuai, who seemed deep in thought. Not wanting to disturb him, Cheng Ye waited a minute until Pei Qinghuai finally looked up. “Guo Rui might be our breakthrough.”
He continued, “We should be able to retrieve the surveillance footage from our conversation with Guo Rui earlier today.”
Cheng Ye nodded. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Leave it to Erbao.”
“Alright, thanks,” Pei Qinghuai said, preparing to leave.
“Where are you going?” Cheng Ye asked.
Pei Qinghuai replied, “I have a question. I’m going to discuss it with Forensic Expert Yan.”
Cheng Ye looked around, suddenly feeling a bit redundant. He shut the door and walked over to the office area, pulling up a chair next to Zhang Yi Bao. “Erbao, can you pull up the school’s surveillance footage from this morning around eight or nine?”
Zhang Yi Bao was operating the computer but started talking about Chen Yuxin. “I did a quick check on Chen Yuxin. Before the second half of her sophomore year, she was always among the top few in her grade, never dropping below the top ten. But in the latter half of that year, her grades plummeted, dropping to an average level.”