HH Chapter 73

Yi Qingqing gave Pei Qinghuai a sidelong glance, twisted her tongue in her mouth, and said, “The person is dead, who cares about love anymore? Living is just for that face.”

Both Cheng Ye and Pei Qinghuai were surprised by her response. After a few seconds, Cheng Ye asked, “Since you know Guo Jiayi so well, do you know if he had any suicidal tendencies?”

“Suicide?” Yi Qingqing changed her position, yawned, and then said, “Guo Jiayi would never commit suicide. All he cared about was his foolish son, not wanting him to leave his side for even a moment. No one would believe he would commit suicide.”

Cheng Ye and Pei Qinghuai exchanged a glance, then continued, “Do you know if Guo Jiayi was allergic to red medicine?”

Finally, Yi Qingqing’s expression froze for a moment. She looked at Cheng Ye and asked, “He was allergic to red medicine?”

Cheng Ye nodded, and Yi Qingqing sighed in disappointment, “I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t matter to me now.”

Seeing Pei Qinghuai writing something, Cheng Ye continued to ask, “A month ago, what did you say to Guo Xiaofei at his school gate?”

Yi Qingqing thought for a long time before responding, “Oh, I just asked where his father had gone, nothing else.”

Meanwhile, Yi Qingqing’s timid friend had already confessed everything at the police station even before Fang Yuan and Jiang Fei started questioning him. Zhang Yibao had also checked the surveillance at the community gate, confirming their statements. What they thought would be good news now left everyone dejectedly sitting in their seats.

Fang Yuan sighed deeply, looking at the ceiling, and said, “His social relations are simple, no enemies, it increasingly looks like a suicide!!!”

Zhang Yibao, spinning in his chair, looked at the paused video of Yi Qingqing on the computer screen, and suddenly his eyes lit up, “Don’t you find it strange?”

“What’s strange?” Jiang Fei asked.

Zhang Yibao explained, “No matter if it’s the neighbors or Yi Qingqing, they all describe Guo Jiayi as a good person, a good father. But isn’t there a big difference between these so-called facts and what we see?”

After Zhang Yibao spoke, no one said anything. They all just lowered their heads in silence, deep in thought. Finally, Pei Qinghuai looked at Cheng Ye and spoke at a moderate volume, “Maybe we’ve been looking at this from the wrong angle from the start.”

Cheng Ye’s brow twitched as he looked at Pei Qinghuai.

That night, Pei Qinghuai sat at the head of his bed and opened an old, well-worn book. His eyes fell on a marked passage, lightly annotated in ink with a sentence:

“When you immediately judge someone as vulnerable, every action you take thereafter will be in their shadow.”

Pei Qinghuai closed the book after a quick glance and got out of bed. He had often reminded himself to treat all criminals equally, knowing that any sympathy could lead to a misjudgment in a case. But as time passed, this mindset seemed to weaken, constantly influencing his actions.

“Buzz— Buzz—”

His phone on the table rang a few times. Seeing the caller, Pei Qinghuai answered, “Professor?”

The voice on the other end, though aged, sounded energetic, “Qinghuai, how have you been? Are you adjusting well in the team?”

Pei Qinghuai sipped some warm water, “I’m good, much easier than teaching.”

Laughter came from the other end, “You always liked it there.” After a shared laugh, the caller asked, “Got something on your mind?”

Pei Qinghuai was momentarily taken aback but smiled, “No.” He added, “Stop guessing about me. You’d do better using that attention on your wife than on me.”

The professor snorted, “You cheeky boy, learned to tease me now? Who taught you that?” He then continued on his own, “Cheng Ye was always like that in school. Now he’s corrupted my best student.”

“You know Cheng Ye?” Pei Qinghuai asked, surprised.

“Taught him for two years,” the professor recalled. “That boy used to skip my classes all the time. I finally told him to stand at the front every class or I’d deduct his credits. That kept him quiet for half a month.”

Pei Qinghuai laughed louder. Just then, there was a knock on the door. He opened it and, hearing the noise, the professor said, “I’ll let you go. I need to go appease my wife.” With that, he hung up.

Seeing Cheng Ye outside, Pei Qinghuai stepped aside to let him in, “What’s up?”

Cheng Ye, looking serious, handed Pei Qinghuai a tablet, pointing to a spot on the screen, “What color is this?”

Pei Qinghuai was taken aback but smiled slightly, “Red.”

Cheng Ye continued, “And this?”

Pei Qinghuai replied, “Orange.”

Cheng Ye persisted, “And this?”

Pei Qinghuai paused, then met Cheng Ye’s gaze, “When did you find out?”

Cheng Ye put the tablet away, “Not long ago.”

Pei Qinghuai shrugged, “If only you were this sharp in solving cases.”

“When did it happen?” Cheng Ye asked.

Pei Qinghuai leaned lazily against the shoe cabinet, “Not going to sit?”

Cheng Ye glanced at the neatly arranged, cold-looking furniture, feeling a chill, and sat down, waiting for Pei Qinghuai to speak.

“A long time ago. Got hit on the head by those thugs,” Pei Qinghuai poured water for Cheng Ye. “Recently, I’ve been a bit tired, so it’s flared up again. Nothing serious.”

Sitting across from Cheng Ye, Pei Qinghuai asked, “You didn’t come just to talk about this, right?”

Cheng Ye, elbows on the table, nodded, “Li Ru is not simple.”

He continued, “I had Zhang Yibao recheck Li Ru. She divorced Guo Jiayi because of money and remarried a wealthy man within a month.”

“She had the divorce planned,” Pei Qinghuai noted.

“There’s more interesting,” Cheng Ye swiped through his phone and showed it to Pei Qinghuai. “During the custody battle, Li Ru flatly refused to take Guo Xiaofei, her attitude so firm that people doubted if Guo Xiaofei was her biological son.”

Cheng Ye then frowned, “It might not be related to the case, but I wanted to remind you to be careful when choosing a wife.”

Pei Qinghuai smiled, “Who said this clue is useless? It’s important. Remember what Guo Zhenguo said? They ran away with money. Guess who persuaded whom?”

“Li Ru?” Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow, finding it hard not to suspect Li Ru given the current evidence.

“There’s no concrete proof yet, but these clues seem accurate.” Pei Qinghuai handed his phone to Cheng Ye, showing a video of Li Ru herself.

Cheng Ye watched for a while. From start to finish, Li Ru’s words revolved around money, boasting about how much her current husband loved her and how he spent lavishly on her.