"I don't know what the groom's family is planning," Jian Jing said indifferently to the calculations of both families. "I just want to find out how the person died."
Before she finished speaking, tears suddenly flowed from the bride's eyes, apparently pained by the word "death". Mrs. Nie felt extremely distressed and wiped away her daughter's tears, complaining, "My Rongrong is already very pitiful. Don't provoke her."
Jian Jing said, "Finding out the truth as soon as possible can comfort the spirit of the deceased in heaven."
The bride's tears flowed even more turbulently. But after a while, she slowly propped herself up in bed and choked out, "Why do you want to know?"
"I'd like to chat with her alone," Jian Jing said, looking at Mr. and Mrs. Nie.
Mrs. Nie didn't want to leave her daughter, but Mr. Nie put his arm around her shoulders and gently persuaded, "The more you're like this, the more difficult it is for Rongrong. There are still guests outside, we should go out."
After persuading for a long time, he finally took his wife out of the bedroom.
Only Jian Jing and the bride were left inside.
Jian Jing carefully said, "My questions may be a bit strange, but I hope you can think about them carefully before answering."
The bride nodded, with another tear on her cheek.
"Do you feel like the groom was abnormal in any way today?" she asked.
The bride asked in confusion, "I don't really understand what you mean, what do you mean by abnormal?"
"Did he seem worried or absent-minded?" Jian Jing prompted.
The bride thought back and shook her head: "No, he was very happy, at most a little nervous. Me too, who could stay calm today?"
Jian Jing recalled the ceremony today. The groom was indeed very nervous, not to mention being clumsy, he suddenly forgot the words on stage and babbled incoherently.
But all the guests could understand. Everyone just laughed kindly.
She thought about it, then asked, "How did you and the groom get to know each other?"
"A friend from the band introduced us," the bride said. Recalling how they first met was both sweet and sad. "You wouldn't believe it, but I used to be in a rock band, and so was he. He plays the guitar so well."
Jian Jing's expression changed: "He can play the guitar? Does he play often?"
"You could say it's a common interest between us. I wouldn't say he's that good, but he would play songs for me to hear. When he proposed, he played my favorite song..." Speaking of this, the bride couldn't hide her grief.
Jian Jing handed over a tissue as the bride gradually calmed down before asking, "What kind of person is the groom?"
The bride wiped her tears and recalled, "He's very kind, not the kind of debauched young master. He has ambition and works hard at his career. He's generous to his friends, never declining if asked to lend money or a car, very popular with girls."
"Do you know if he had any conflicts with anyone?"
"There must have been people he didn't get along with, but we didn't send invitations to those we weren't close with, and they didn't come anyway." As the bride spoke, she lowered her head in sorrow. "I really don't know why anyone would want to kill such a good person."
Jian Jing objectively said, "If it's not a dispute over interests, then it must be a dispute over emotions."
The bride suddenly remembered something and hesitated, "He had an ex-girlfriend with a pretty extreme personality. She even came to me specially and asked me to give him back to her, it was so absurd."
"Did she say anything strange?"
"Just that she felt so sorry for herself, they were together for so many years, she couldn't be without him." The bride frowned, "Was it her who did it?"
Jian Jing said, "Nothing is clear yet. By the way, did the groom have any particular food preferences?"
"He loved eating seafood and things like that. Because he's allergic to alcohol and would break out in hives, he doesn't really drink, but he also doesn't like milk tea and drinks soda water in general." The bride knew it all off by heart.
Jian Jing asked, "Did he like pickled foods?"
"Not really."
She asked the bride a few more questions before taking her leave.
Just before leaving, the bride pleaded mournfully, "You must find out who killed him."
"I'll do my best," Jian Jing said.
When Jian Jing returned to the living room, Lu Groomsman eagerly stood up, "Are you done?"
"President Lu, I still have some things to do, I'll be leaving for a bit first," she said without even looking at him, informing President Kang of where she was going.
Kang Mu Cheng, who was sitting right next to his mother, wanted to say something but was pressed back down by his mother. Kang President said expressionlessly, "Call me if anything comes up, Jian Jing. You are no different from my own daughter in my heart."
As she spoke, she glanced meaningfully at Lu Groomsman, the warning clear.
Lu Groomsman swore, "However I take her away, that's how I'll bring her back to you."
"Let's go," Jian Jing walked hastily, only giving Kang Mu Cheng a reassuring look.
After they left, Kang Mu Cheng said, "Mom."
"I know what you want to say. Do I look blind to you? Can't I see something's going on with the Nie family?" Kang President said grumpily, "Since they don't want you to know, don't ask."
Kang Mu Cheng laughed coldly, "What do they mean getting Jian Jing involved in their family affairs?"
"There must be special reasons," Kang President muttered thoughtfully, "Don't talk, Jian Jing has really grown up and is very sensible, don't keep treating her like a child. It's good for her to socialize more and get to know people."
"Like Lu Yue?" Kang Mu Cheng frowned.
Kang President impartially said, "He's the only son and heir of Qu Sheng Liquor. Young masters are bound to be arrogant, but he is still young after all. But Jian Jing is more capable than I thought. Look at her, not the slightest bit timid. Very impressive."
In her memory, Jian Jing was an introverted girl who was not good at socializing. But now it seemed her courage was quite good, very much to her taste.
She remembered when she first started her business, without even an office, just a printing press. Still she dared to bargain with others and even say, "If you sign with someone else, you can just wait for the book to be used as toilet paper."
The other party was intimidated by her, and did end up signing with her, allowing her to earn her first pot of gold.
"She's changed a lot, it's just..." Kang Mu Cheng sighed, but still didn't tell his mother the truth in the end.
He felt that with Jian Jing's current appearance, the chances were eight or nine out of ten that she had killed someone.
*
Jian Jing returned to the scene and examined the corpse again.
This time, she took all the clothes off the corpse.
Lu Groomsman was horrified, "Is this okay?"
"I need to examine the body. Should I have X-ray vision without taking the clothes off?" Jian Jing carefully put the clothes into transparent plastic bags, trying her best not to contaminate the evidence.
"You're a young lady, you should be more careful," Lu Groomsman said tactfully.
Jian Jing said, "If you feel uncomfortable, you can stand further away."
Lu Groomsman had no choice but to keep quiet. His feelings towards her were very subtle at the moment. On one hand, there was a sense of novelty like "she's different from other women". On the other hand, there was a bit of suspicion "is she deliberately trying to get my attention?".
...And a touch of indignation - "she doesn't really care about me", and a bit of annoyance - "why am I thinking about this?"
These thoughts swirled in his mind for a moment. Suddenly he realized, wasn't this the thought process of the male protagonists of those bossy CEO novels, which he and his brothers had mocked before?
At one point, they had talked about this topic and mocked it derisively.
"What kind of woman haven't we seen that we'd do something so silly?"
"The women who write these books must be dying to marry into a wealthy clan."
"Freaking hilarious. Abstain for a woman? Who? Show us."
However, the slap in the face came, though late.
Lu Groomsman felt unknown embarrassment, fortunately he concealed it.
"Come over for a second," Jian Jing suddenly called him.
Lu Groomsman snapped back to reality, "What's the matter?"
"Has your cousin had laparoscopic surgery before?" Jian Jing asked.
"Probably not," Lu Groomsman said hesitantly.
Jian Jing pointed to the abdomen of the corpse, "He has scars left from laparoscopic surgery. Judging by the healing, it should be within the last two years."
Lu Groomsman said, "I didn't hear about that, I might not know."
She nodded concisely, "Take me to see Master Fang."
"You know who the murderer is?" Lu Groomsman was surprised.
Jian Jing said, "I don't know."
"Then it's better if you don't disturb my uncle," Lu Groomsman said helpfully. "My uncle has very high standards. If you don't complete his orders, I'm afraid he won't be pleased with you."
However, she said very surely, "He will see me."
Lu Groomsman was doubtful, but the fact was as she said. Master Fang immediately agreed to meet Jian Jing, and wanted her to come in alone.
“You have already known for a long time?” As soon as they met, Jian Jing asked first, “Before you told me ‘my child is dead’, you didn’t call the groom’s name.
Master Fang asked in return: “What did you find out?”
Jian Jing didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point: “The person who died wasn't today's groom, it was someone who looked exactly like him - they were twins?”
The bride had said that the groom liked to play the guitar and played quite well, but the fingers of the deceased didn't have calluses left from long-term practice. She also checked the condition of the deceased's skin, it was very rough, like an ordinary man, not a pampered rich young master.
Master Fang sighed lightly, neither denying nor acknowledging: “Miss Jian, you need to keep what you know a secret.”
“Okay, but you have to tell me everything you know,” Jian Jing said.
Master Fang was silent for a moment, then slowly said: “Xiao Yan's mother was my former secretary. More than 20 years ago, I gave her a sum of money and took Xiao Yan away, thinking that was the end of it. I didn't expect she gave birth to twins, and kept one of them herself.
"When Xiao Yan was six years old, she suddenly came to my door and asked me for child support again. For the child's sake, I agreed. Adding it all up over the years, I’ve given her over ten million, but she was never satisfied, and on her own initiative, requested to see Xiao Yan."
Jian Jing said: "So the groom knew that his birth mother was not Mrs. Fang?"
Master Fang nodded slightly.
This explained the relationship between the groom and Mrs. Fang. There was sadness over foster kindness, but she wasn't his birth mother or someone who raised him herself, so not feeling heartbroken was understandable.
"When did you know that today's groom had been switched?" she asked.
"At 10:30, I got a call from Xiao Duo - that child - telling me that Xiao Yan had eloped with a woman, and asking him to come and take his place at the wedding, so as not to embarrass the family. I asked, and Xiao Yan was indeed missing. At that point it was too late to cancel the wedding, so I agreed to this arrangement first."
"You didn't suspect anything?"
"After all, Xiao Duo and Xiao Yan are biological brothers. Once when Xiao Duo was sick, Xiao Yan also had stomach pain at home. With their twin bond, how could it be severed? So I didn't stop them from interacting. If Xiao Yan really had something happen, it made sense for him to look for Xiao Duo."
Master Fang recounted it very calmly: "Miss Jian, you have to understand, with so many people coming to the wedding today, if this got out, it would embarrass my family, and the Nie family would lose face too. This was the best solution."
Jian Jing thought: "Then, have you found the groom? If he doesn't come back, you can't wrap up now."
"I sent people to check his passport and bank cards, there was no record of going abroad," Master Fang frowned, "To be honest, I also find this strange. I was going to ask Xiao Duo to clarify, but as you saw, he suddenly died."
"So the groom is still missing?" Jian Jing said, "Perhaps you should speed up."
Master Fang asked: "What do you mean? Do you think he's in danger?"
She said: "If I guessed correctly, the groom was called away by his birth mother."
Before she finished speaking, Master Fang's eyes suddenly flashed: "Are you saying Xiao Yan was kidnapped?"
