When Zhang Rui said "make Lin Hui die" so easily, Lin Dongxue thought that a huge sum of 10 million yuan would indeed make people want to take such risks.

Zhang Rui was silent. Chen Shi slammed the table and repeated the question once more.

He spoke slowly, "I followed Lin Hui to find out who her little lover was."

"You followed her on September 10th?"

"Yes, I saw her carrying the bag that day and walked into the bank. Strangely, she never came out of the bank. I suspected that I had been fooled and went back to her little lover’s place, but found that nobody was there. It was then that I realized that she may have lured me away!"

There was a discrepancy with Lu Hao's testimony here. Chen Shi was thinking that Zhang Rui was more likely to lie between the two of them.

He continued to ask, "After that, did you continue to chase after Lin Hui?"

"I'm not like you police who are so omnipresent. When I lost her, I went to find Li Xiang. I told him that I lost her and the money might be gone. We were depressed and drank all night. I comforted Li Xiang. It might be a good thing that the woman disappeared. After two years, we could pretend that she was dead and the two houses would belong to him. It wasn’t necessarily a loss.”

"You comforted Li Xiang?" Chen Shi sneered. " Li Xiang would get the benefit, but you would get nothing."

Zhang Rui became agitated. "I did think of killing people and grabbing the money, but I couldn't afford the consequences. Even if I had the money, I wouldn’t have the life to enjoy it. I'm not that kind of reckless person! Of course, I’m sad that I lost the money, but I didn't kill anyone!"

"Another question. When you followed Lin Hui, did you notice that other people were also following her?"

"It seems like there were. I guess it would be the private investigators that the corrupt official hired. There were many of them. There was only me, so I knew about them, but they didn’t know about me.”

"Did you go to the Luyi housing district on September 10th?"

"What Luyi housing district? I haven't been!"

"How do you explain this?" Chen Shi showed him a screen taken from the surveillance footage.

Zhang Rui's eyes widened. "That's not me. I really haven't been there. I haven’t worn that windbreaker since last winter. How could it be possible to wear a windbreaker in this weather?"

"We will find more evidence to make you talk."

"Hey, I didn't kill anyone. I didn’t kill anybody!" Zhang Rui said loudly.

The interrogation was suspended. Chen Shi asked Old Zhang to bring back the evidence related to the case. Chen Shi looked unhappy, so Lin Dongxue asked him what was wrong. Chen Shi answered, "I feel like there’s a problem somewhere!"

"It’s not the first time where the suspect didn’t confess the truth. I believe that evidence will be found to pry open his mouth."

The location where Li Xiang was killed didn’t have security cameras. After that, the police went to search Zhang Rui’s residence, found some gun blueprints, the windbreaker, and found a bottle in the most hidden corner of the drawer. After identification, it was found to be cyanide.

The corrupt official had already been handed over to the Discipline Inspection Commission, but the man was very tight-lipped. He didn’t admit that he was hiding 10 million in cash. He said that buying a house was just ordinary investment behavior.

In the evening, Old Zhang came back and brought an important clue with him. A hair of Zhang Rui’s was found in Lin Hui's car, which showed that Zhang Rui was lying. He had close contact with Lin Hui before she disappeared.

Everyone went to a hot pot restaurant for dinner. At the dinner table, Chen Shi seemed much quieter than usual. Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong happily ate mutton. Seeing that Chen Shi was silent, Lin Dongxue said, "Don't think about it anymore. This case is closed now."

Old Zhang raised his beer glass. "Little Chen, the work is over, but you’re still thinking about it?"

Xu Xiaodong said, "This case has been taken over by Lieyang. It counts as us doing them a favor. We should head back tomorrow!”

Lin Dongxue said, "I’ve already booked my ticket. Come and have a drink!"

Back at the hotel in the evening, Chen Shi said that he wanted to go and take a walk around. He went to a place where nobody was around and pulled out a Zhonghua from his wallet. He felt that he needed a little nicotine to activate his brain cells. But after all, he promised Lin Dongxue and didn't want to break the oath.

Chen Shi was holding the cigarette and lighter in his hands. The lighter went back and forth towards the cigarette. He couldn’t do it. A hotel guest next to him saw it and joked, "Elder brother, are you practicing trombone there?"

Chen Shi ignored him. He stared at the little stick for a long time. He suddenly thought of something and immediately returned to the room.

Lin Dongxue had just taken a shower and was lying in bed, watching TV. She was finally able to rest after rushing around for the last couple of days. She felt particularly comfortable and content. Seeing him rush in like that, she was startled. "Didn’t you say that you were going out to buy a drink?"

Chen Shi raised the cigarette in his hand. "This is the one I stole from the cigarette box that Old Zhang set on the table when we were just eating."

"What?!" Lin Dongxue smiled. "Why did you do such a thing?"

"The point is that he didn't find out... I mean, his cigarette case was almost full at the time and he didn't notice one going missing."

"So?" Lin Dongxue looked at his serious expression as if there was something important he had to say.

"The corrupt officials didn’t admit to that money and Li Xiang only later learned that there was a large amount of money. So only Lin Hui knows how much money there really was. It may be 10 million, or maybe 11 million."

"You mean, Lin Hui took some of it? ... Didn't we say not to think about it anymore? Why are you still thinking about it?”

"Because there’s an unreasonable point in this case. According to the current timeline, Lin Hui went to withdraw money at 6:00. When meeting Zhang Rui, Lin Hui ran away. Lin Hui got in the car at 7:00. She mysteriously disappeared at 8:00 on the highway... How did Lin Hui get hurt? And how could Zhang Rui's hair appear in the car?"

"The reasonable guess is that between 7:00 and 8:00, Lin Hui met Zhang Rui."

"Zhang Rui had a gun in his possession. If he had entered the car, could Lin Hui actually survive? That would be a bit unbelievable.”

Lin Dongxue crossed her arms in thought. "He may not have necessarily entered the car. For example, when Lin Hui parked, he reached into the window and shot Lin Hui, but she wasn’t dead."

"If he left his hair in the car, he must have at least put his head into the car. Isn’t that kind of movement a bit strange if you think about it?”

"Well, maybe the hair on his sleeves fell into the car."

"There was a dog in the passenger seat. You’ve seen that dog. It's huge!"

"Perhaps he reached in from the window of the main driver’s seat.”

Chen Shi shook his head. "Shooting at such a short distance, Lin Hui's chances of survival would be slim... And our assumptions are all based on a metaphysical basis. Lin Hui didn’t resist and the dog didn’t bark. The people around weren’t aware. Lin Hui had a huge amount of money hidden in the car, so she would try her best to get rid of Zhang Rui who was tracking her. She wouldn’t let him get close to her. That would be the closest to reality.”

Lin Dongxue shook her head. "A lot of details can’t be explained unless you’re one of the parties involved. I think we’ll find out when Zhang Rui talks."

"Or if we find Lin Hui!"

"Aiya, why aren’t you taking a shower yet? I need to go to sleep. I'm exhausted today." Lin Dongxue urged.

"Okay, I’ll do the ‘serious thing’ first."