Lin Qiupu saw that the woman was too agitated and tried to divert her attention. He asked, "Madam, how can I address you?"

The woman panted but didn’t speak.

"What do you two do for a living?" He asked her husband.

"I'm engaged in sales. She used to be an accountant. She just resigned and planned to get pregnant at home." The husband responded while glancing at the muzzle in fear.

"Madam, I have heard what you said. I want to hear what your husband says as well, okay?"

"He only knows how to lie!" The woman screamed.

"Even in court, you have to let the accused speak. Neither of you should interrupt the other person. Since you just finished talking, let’s give him five minutes to talk, okay?”

The woman didn’t speak, implying agreement. Her husband answered while trembling. "Officer, I’ve really been wronged. I haven’t been cheating. The money was spent with my wife for dinners and the clothes were bought for her. Recently, she’s been a bit forgetful..."

"You’re lying! You’re lying!" The woman screamed. "I've never bought those kinds of clothes. You must have another woman! Say it! Who is it? Is it that fox spirit[1] at your company?!”

Lin Qiupu sighed. This negotiation was too difficult. The other party had completely lost their mind.

The words inside were clearly heard from the outside. Chen Shi said, "Something’s wrong."

"What's wrong?" Lin Dongxue asked.

"The murderer mailed the pistols with a specific goal. He recognized that these people would definitely pick up the gun and kill people. This couple’s problem is definitely not as simple as an affair. There are so many married men cheating, so why did he choose them?"

"It’s clear that you don’t understand women. Cheating impacts women a lot, understood?”

"So much that you need to kill them with a gun?"

"Well, what do you think is so special about this family then?"

"Why did the man keep saying that the money is spent on his wife? A man who cheats has a guilty conscience… Would he say such obvious lies? I’ll go to the neighbors to find out."

"I’ll come with you."

The neighbors gathered downstairs. When they saw the police coming down, they asked about the situation as if there were seven mouths and eight tongues[2]. Chen Shi said, "It's okay, there are no casualties right now. We are currently negotiating with the female owner right now... I want to know more about this family’s situation. Please tell me anything that you may know.”

He learned from the neighbors that the husband's surname was Li and the wife's surname was Han.

"Li xx is a pretty honest person. I think he’s very kind to his wife. He also bought flowers for her on their wedding anniversary... I didn't think that such a man would cheat, haii!"

"I live across from his house. During this time, they would always quarrel in the middle of the night. It seems like it was about this matter.”

"You guys don't know, but this woman is a little neurotic. She often throws things making me unable to sleep at night. I don't know how many complaints I’ve filed with the property managers.”

Most of the neighbors’ comments were their opinions of this family. Chen Shi asked, "Did anyone witness the affair? We just heard Ms. Han saying that her husband brought the little three[3] home. Has anyone seen her?"

Everyone shook their heads. One person said, "Oh, I once saw the man come back with a woman, but the woman was very old. I don't know if it was her or not."

"Nonsense, that's his mother, okay?"

The neighbors couldn’t provide evidence of the affair. When Chen Shi was questioning him, Lin Dongxue kept texting. She dragged Chen Shi to the side and said, "I asked the bureau to check it out. There are several people in Long'an named Han X. Among them, there’s one with a history of mental illness. I wonder if it’s her?"

"You’re quite smart nowadays!"

"Hehe, I just heard the neighbor say she was neurotic. Plus this woman is acting a bit crazy, so I wondered if she was mentally ill."

"Call the psychiatric hospital to confirm. It’s best if we can see photos."

Lin Dongxue made the call immediately. After ten minutes, a document of information was sent to her mobile phone. The two of them looked at it and it was indeed the same woman. The psychiatric diagnosis was that she was overstressed, with slight anxiety and amnesia.

"Amnesia? Did she forget these things herself?"

Chen Shi shook his head. "How can she forget so thoroughly? People's memories are re-recognizable. If those clothes were really bought for her, even if she forgot them, she’d still vaguely remember them when she sees them. But she keeps saying it’s bought for other people... Could it perhaps be dissociative identity disorder[4]?"

Lin Dongxue was slightly surprised. "So, it turned out to be like this. So, the so-called other party in the affair was herself!”

The two immediately told Lin Qiupu of this discovery. At this time, Lin Qiupu was still listening to the husband and wife. After being told of this discovery by Chen Shi, he considered the negotiation strategy going forward. If he directly said that the woman had multiple personalities, she might not admit to it. He could only remind her in a way where she might realize it herself.

So, Lin Qiupu said, "Ms. Han, how about this? We’ll check each matter one by one to see if your husband has cheated or not.”

Ms. Han screamed, "There’s nothing to confirm! Things have already happened! Why wouldn’t I be clear on this?!"

"You know that people's memories may not be reliable..."

"What are you talking about? Do you want to say that I’m mentally unstable? Huh?! You stinking men only know how to protect each other!"

"I don't intend to protect one or the other."

"Then why don't you arrest him and sentence him? Why doesn’t the law care about cheating? The relationship between husband and wife is clearly a legal relationship, but when one betrays the other, the law ignores it. It’s because the law is made by you men! Men are all bastards!"

"It's too extreme for you to say this. If a spouse cheats, he will definitely have to compensate more in the divorce proceedings. This is what the law reflects.”

"I don't want to divorce! I will kill him and commit suicide!!! We live as husband and wife and will die the same way!" The woman screamed.

Cold sweat flowed from Lin Qiupu's forehead. He couldn’t get through to her at all. He turned to the man with a harsh tone and asked the man, "Mr. Li. Tell me honestly, when did you buy that underwear?!"

The man trembled in fright. "Last month on the 18th."

"Is there evidence of this?"

"What evidence? I obviously bought it for her. I don’t know what happened to her. Sometimes she’d let me have my way with everything and sometimes she’d go crazy. I don’t know if it’s because I sent her to get psychiatric treatment previously and got treated wrong."

"You're the one who’s got problems! You're the one who’s sick!" The woman screamed with the gun pointed at the man.

"Calm down! Calm down! You can't solve the problem like this."

"I didn't want to solve the problem. I just wanted to kill him and commit suicide. Don't care about me. Get out! Get lost!"

The police outside all wiped away their cold sweat. It had been half an hour, but the woman’s emotions never settled and they were unable to communicate normally. Old Zhang asked Lin Qiupu, "Captain Lin, do you want to call the SWAT team to arrange snipers on the opposite side?"

"No need!" Lin Qiupu answered firmly.

Chen Shi said on the radio, "The topic needs to be directed back to the underwear. Remind her that she’s worn them herself."

"How would I remind her?"

"The odor!"

Lin Qiupu sighed helplessly. This idea wasn’t very good, but as long as the woman’s emotions could be stabilized, it would be okay. "Ms. Han, I will help you find out the truth now and see who this other party in the affair is, okay?"

1. The fox spirits encountered in tales and legends are usually females and appear as young, beautiful women. It’s an expression that’s often used to describe mistresses that supposedly seduce people’s partners.

2. An expression to describe people speaking at the same time. Often expressing different opinions.

3. The mistress.

4. Multiple Personality Disorder is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Not to be confused with Bipolar Disorder.

DID is a rare mental disorder characterized by at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. These states are unique enough that they may even have different names, life stories, etc. Apparently, these states are temporary behaviors or feelings that depend on a person’s situation and motives at the time.

People with DID might experience memory gaps beyond ordinary forgetfulness. Some professionals believe that DID is caused by childhood trauma and that about 90% of cases have a history of childhood abuse. Another belief is that it’s a by-product of techniques employed by therapists.