At around 12 o'clock, the waiter brought the drinks, but the groom was in the bathroom. When he came out, everyone had already taken their own drinks. So he picked up his drink and drank it.
"I don't know if you planned this beforehand or were just waiting for an opportunity. But this was indeed a god-given chance. At 12:15, you used spilling the drink as an excuse to return to the lounge. At that time, the groom hadn't locked the door or rested yet. You told him the club had messed up the drinks, and his contained alcohol. You advised him to take an anti-allergy pill immediately.
"The groom believed you and wanted to take medicine right away. Let me guess, he asked you to get it for him? This played right into your hands. You switched his anti-allergy pill for the lethal drug and made him swallow it voluntarily."
As she recounted the events, Groomsman C's face turned deathly pale.
Jian Jing knew she was right.
The real groom must not have known where the medicine was kept, so he likely told C to get it. But Groomsman C didn't know this and was dealt a heavy psychological blow by having the details pointed out.
She continued, "Then you advised him to rest and quietly locked the waiting room door. You went into the changing room but didn't change clothes. Instead, you climbed out the window, took the back stairs downstairs, avoided the other people on the terrace, and came back via the main stairwell. If someone saw you, you could say the groom hadn't opened the door and you went downstairs to deal with dirty clothes."
Why did Groomsman C know about the back stairs? Of course the groomsmen had told him, and he had memorized it for later use.
The entire crime process was not complicated, even quite simple. It was just that the groom's initial disappearance and lack of poisoned food found at the scene had confused everyone.
"Why did you kill him?" she asked. "You said he treated you very well."
"Because of Xiao Rou," C said miserably. "I just couldn't stand Brother Yan toying with her feelings like that."
He began recounting his motive for murder.
It turned out he and Xiao Rou were childhood friends. Although his family had made a fortune in home renovation and even started doing business with the Fang Group, it didn't affect their relationship.
That day, he had asked Xiao Rou to come to the bachelor party to broaden her horizons. But he never expected to push her into an abyss.
Fang Yan got drunk and slept with Xiao Rou.
And her crying and scolding afterwards were mistaken by C, who considered himself worldly wise, as just a ploy to latch onto them. She was indeed a virgin, and Fang Yan wasn't a bad guy either, so he comforted her a bit and said they could date.
Perhaps because C had said he was decent, or because of a young girl's fanciful thoughts, Xiao Rou mistakenly believed him.
The two began dating.
With C's guidance, Xiao Rou got along quite well with Fang Yan at first. But what she thought was a "stable relationship" was just a "doesn't know her place" fling in the playboy's eyes.
The news that Fang Yan was breaking up with her hit Xiao Rou like a bolt from the blue.
Especially since she was pregnant at the time.
No one knew if Xiao Rou had gotten pregnant on purpose or by accident. But in Fang Yan's eyes, it was just the girl's way of tying him down.
Either get an abortion and take some hush money, or give birth and sue for child support. He would pay whatever the court ordered, not a penny more.
Wealthy families were well-versed in this.
Xiao Rou was anxious, distraught, suicidal, but it didn't move Fang Yan's heart one bit. It only made C feel pity and guilt.
"I heard Brother Yan climbing out the window that morning," C said bitterly. "I was standing in the hallway and heard noises from the window here. I didn't think much of it at the time, but after he went missing, I knew it was him. I just didn't expect him to climb back in—anyway, I was happy when I found out he went to see Xiao Rou, so I covered for him and didn't let anyone look for her."
Jian Jing sighed softly, "But you didn't expect him to come back."
C closed his eyes and said painfully, "I can't even imagine how devastated she must have been when he came and went like that. She's a good girl, not a gold digger. I just couldn't stand Brother Yan bullying people like that."
"So it was a spur of the moment murder?" she asked.
C nodded, "I saw this stuff in the kitchen before. My grandma pickled vegetables with sodium nitrite to save money, and ended up in the hospital. So I got some, poured out his allergy meds, and replaced it with that. But I didn't intend for him to die, I just wanted to stop the wedding."
He explained anxiously, "My grandma was fine, I really just put a tiny bit, not much at all. I only wanted to make it look like food poisoning! Really!"
Jian Jing listened without commenting. Whether it was premeditated murder or negligent homicide, it wasn't her place to judge.
She just couldn't help feeling that the son in the mother's mouth, the brother in the buddy's mouth, and the husband in the bride's mouth were all the same person.
"Do you want to turn yourself in, or confess to Chairman Fang?" she asked.
Terror flashed in C's eyes as he said without hesitation, "Turn myself in, of course turn myself in."
Just as Jian Jing was about to say something, Lu Groomsman knocked on the door outside, "Are you done? My uncle is rushing you."
"Chairman Fang already knows?" Thinking the urging meant that, C's forehead beaded with sweat, his face deathly pale. "No, I can't fall into his hands."
Jian Jing was still a bit confused, but saw C grit his teeth and take out a paper packet from the inside pocket of his suit. He fiercely licked it.
She was shocked. "Are you crazy?!" She snatched the packet.
Enduring the foul, salty taste, retching all the while, C grabbed her skirt. "C-call an ambulance. Miss Jian, I can't fall into...blegh...their hands..."
Jian Jing took a deep breath and said calmly, "I'll get you on an ambulance."
"Th-thank you..." C vomited violently.
The club was fully equipped, including an ambulance.
But after she put C on board, Chairman Fang himself rushed over and simply instructed the driver, "Follow them."
Jian Jing stared at him. "Chairman, the amount he took wasn't lethal."
"That depends on the hospital's capabilities." Chairman Fang was unfazed. "But if we can find Little Yan earlier, I'll be in a good mood and might arrange a better doctor for him."
Jian Jing thought: This man has unprecedented audacity.
"Then trade one life for another." She didn't even lift her eyelids. "One is your son, the other has no relationship with me whatsoever. It's up to you."
But Chairman Fang said, "Miss Jian, I understand people like you. You're obsessed with so-called truth and also cannot accept loss of life. That is your principle."
He beckoned his secretary to bring his phone over.
He opened it and played an audio recording of a phone call.
She first heard Chairman Fang's voice: "Wen Hui, is that you?"
The shrill female voice that answered: "Well isn't this a sight, Chairman Fang actually has time to call me?"
Chairman Fang: "There's something I want to discuss with you."
Wen Hui: "We have nothing to talk about."
Chairman Fang: "Xiao Yan is dead."
She asked in disbelief: "What did you say? Xiao Yan, what happened to Xiao Yan??"
"He's dead," Chairman Fang sighed. "You're his birth mother. I thought I should let you know."
Dead silence on the other end.
Then she said, "That's impossible."
"I know you don't want to believe it, but it's the truth." Chairman Fang said, "Luckily you still have Xiao Duo. Don't be too heartbroken."
The other repeated: "I don't believe you. You must be lying to me."
"If you don't believe me, you can come see your child one last time," Chairman Fang said. "I'll send someone to get you."
A full half a minute of silence.
Then she hung up.
Jian Jing was silent for a moment before saying, "Give me some noise cancelling headphones."
Chairman Fang smiled.
Jian Jing glanced at him. Under the effect of her composure skill card, she maintained calmness, put on the noise cancelling headphones the secretary handed over, and listened to the recording again carefully.
Faintly, there seemed to be a man talking in the background noise.
"You've investigated her, right?" She got straight to the point. "Please tell me this woman's basic information."
The secretary came over and handed her some papers and photos.
The above is detailed information about the groom's mother: her name is Wen Hui, forty-five years old, which means she probably gave birth to twins around twenty years old. Both parents were workers who passed away early, and she came out to work and sell houses at eighteen, was fancied by the housing manager at the time, and was promoted to secretary.
At twenty, she gave birth to twins and took a sum of money to start her own business.
At twenty-eight, because of impatience and greed, her business failed, and she owed a debt. People came to her door to demand repayment. She went to the housing manager again, using the upbringing expenses of her other son as an excuse, and took another sum of money to repay the debt.
At thirty-six, she opened a clothing store and settled into a stable life.
During this time, Wen Hui never married, but had two boyfriends. Her current third boyfriend has no proper job and has a history of fraud.
There is reason to suspect they partnered to commit this crime.
Jian Jing said, "You have her phone number, why don't you locate her?"
"I tried, but couldn't find her," the housing manager said. "Clearly, her boyfriend is very skilled at this."
"If professionals can't find her, how can I have the ability to?" she asked.
But the housing manager didn't answer at all, only said, "You must coordinate with Miss Jian to find this person."
The security guards and secretaries who followed him chorused, "Yes."
Jian Jing scoffed internally and pinched her headset wire, expressionless.
The secretary and two burly security guards just waited for her, extremely courteous.
She activated the listening from her five senses card, listening to the recording a third time.
This time, the indistinct background noise could be distinguished much more easily. The man said a total of three sentences: "He's deceiving you." "They must know." "What should we do?"
At the same time, some strange noises could be heard: "Welcome aboard Metro Line 4..."
Then, 10 courage points were gone.
5 points to continue, 5 points to double the reinforcement.
It hurt.
Jian Jing didn't dare listen anymore. She took out the metro map and looked for Line 4. The voice was so clear, it shouldn't be an underground station, but rather an above-ground transfer station.
Line 4 has three above-ground stations in total, located at the Second Ring Road, Third Ring Road, and Fifth Ring Road. Of course, with the complex terrain of this city, it couldn't truly be divided as such. It just roughly marked the distance from the city center.
The above-ground stations near the Second Ring Road were close to the city center with constant traffic jams, but she didn't seem to hear many honking horns.
The Third Ring Road station was very close to the school. Next to it was a kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school. The station near the Fifth Ring Road outside had a park and amusement park nearby.
"Did Fang Yan attend any of these schools nearby?" She circled the locations for the secretary to recognize.
The secretary said, "Young Master Fang attended this middle school."
"Then let's go there first and take a look," she decided.
Secretary: "No problem."
He immediately ordered someone to come pick them up.
However, as soon as Jian Jing got in the car, the door on the other side suddenly opened and Lu Groomsman got in, saying, "I'm going with you."
Jian Jing asked, "Do you know what I'm going to do?"
"I know," Lu Groomsman took a deep breath, his expression cold. "Little Yan didn't die, right?"
