Unlike the nervous Yu Nurse, Jiang Yue, who was also called to the lobby, did not wait for a greeting and took the initiative to sit down.
"I heard you have questions for me?" She was calm and composed.
Jian Jing asked, "On the day of the incident, at 12:35 pm, after you saw Jiang Xue leave in a hurry, what did you do?"
Jiang Yue very naturally said, "I went back to rest."
"No, you went in," she said. "Like Jiang Xue, you also realized that the chairman was not doing well, but with your attentiveness and professionalism, you must have noticed what was missing—it was hard to determine the patient's condition at the time. Was he overdosing on morphine or suffering from respiratory suppression? Was he about to die or struggling desperately? Anyway, you made a decision to frame others."
Jiang Xue was so angry her teeth itched, but Jiang Madam squeezed her arm tightly to keep her silent.
Jiang Yue shook her head and asked back, "If I did it, why did I specifically remind you beforehand? Isn't that too obvious? And although Miss Jiang Xue orders me around, I don't like her and have no reason to frame her for murder."
Jian Jing's face turned cold as she asked, "Miss Jiang, do you think you are very smart or that I am too stupid?"
"I don't understand what you mean," Jiang Yue said, looking completely surprised.
"If you had paid close attention to Yu Nurse and Tao Doctor, you would know where your first loophole is," Jian Jing took a sip of red tea to wet her throat, and her tone suddenly turned cold. "I asked the doctor and nurse first, and they referred to the chairman as 'the patient,' while you called the deceased 'Chairman'."
Language habits are the easiest way to betray someone.
Dialects and accents give away locations, vocabulary habits reveal professions. It's just like the online jokes—“I’ll check this report before the meeting, the boss really cares about it”. If anyone talks like this habitually, they must either work at a foreign company or have returned from studying abroad to show off.
Doctors and nurses do not usually refer to a particular patient as Mr. So-and-so or Chairman So-and-so verbally, the common terms they use are "patient", "family member" and so on.
But Jiang Yue referred to Jiang Guangze as "Chairman" right from the start, just like everyone else. However, she was not an employee of Jiang Water Group.
Of course, just based on an address, nothing can be determined for sure. Maybe she called the boss that because she was hired privately. But it was enough to arouse Jian Jing's slight suspicion.
"You think your identity is safe enough that giving me some 'hints' doesn't matter," Jian Jing said lightly with a chuckle. "The first time, you reminded me that the injection was damaged; the second time, it was Jiang Xue entering the room; the third time, it was Jiang Lian—as an ordinary medical staff, aren't you too concerned?"
Caution and discretion would have been the reasonable reactions of Tao Doctor when facing the family's investigation into the suspicious death of a patient.
But Jiang Yue was too enthusiastic, noticing too many things.
Jiang Yue said, "You can't suspect me of sabotage just because I'm attentive."
"There's also the amount of medication," Jian Jing said, facing everyone. "Let me explain—the lethal dose of morphine is 200-500 milligrams. The lost injection was 60 milligrams, a number that is neither small nor big, just enough to cause acute poisoning."
She continued, "If it was done by a layman, why not smash all the vials directly to leave no room for conjecture about exactly how much was smashed? The amount was controlled so delicately, not too much or too little, just enough to cause problems and cleverly disguise it as an accident. This person must know the properties of morphine."
"Furthermore, the medicine was left on the cabinet by the door, and the broken glass fell by the door where there is no carpet. If the medicine accidentally fell and smashed, Yu Nurse would have heard it. So someone must have carefully crushed those vials—I found some shards under the carpet by the bed."
Jian Jing took out a sealed plastic bag and slapped it on the coffee table. Inside were shards identical to the hydrochloride morphine injection vials.
Jiang Qi picked it up and glared at Jiang Yue for a while.
"Jiang Yue," said Jian Jing. "After you entered the room, you found the chairman in poor condition, and at the same time realized the abnormal morphine dosage, so you guessed someone had done something. But the lost amount was below the standard, so you 'helped' them and crushed the remaining vials, obscuring the actual injected dose."
Jiang Yue shrugged. "The way you analyze this, I do seem to be the most suspicious. But I still want to ask, why would I do this? Who bribed me?"
"No one bribed you. Your reason for doing this is simple—taking out the competition," Jian Jing said. "Because you are the seventh person with inheritance rights. Lawyer Cai, am I right?"
Cai Lawyer pursed his lips in silent affirmation.
Jiang Madam frowned slightly and eyed Jian Jing doubtfully.
"A sly fox," Jiang Ou said coldly with disdain. "She must be crazy to be plotting something like this."
"No no, you've got it wrong," Jian Jing said lightly, the corners of her lips curving up. “Miss Jiang Yue here, judging by her age, should be old Master Jiang's fourth child, right?”
Jiang Yue raised her head, stubbornness and apprehension surfacing between her brows, “How did you know? Apart from Lawyer Cai, no one should know.”
"Have any of you been in the Chairman's study before?"
Jiang Lian said, "Of course, but there’s nothing in the study except some antiques."
“That’s right, but the chairman originally planned to make this place his residence in his later years, so the decorations were done very carefully, especially the displayed ornaments, all of which were masterpieces, correct?"
Jiang Ou said impatiently, "Get to the point."
"That is the point, you just can't see it," Jian Jing said plainly. “Don’t you find the Chinese zodiac animals on the antique shelf very interesting? They are all made of precious materials, which happen to coincide with several people present.”
“Jiang Lian was born in 1983, the year of the pig; Jiang Qi in 1990, year of the horse; Jiang Ou in 1997, year of the ox; I guess Jiang Yue is 1998, year of the tiger; Jiang BaiYan 2000, year of the dragon; Jiang Xue should be 2006, year of the dog. Am I right?” She asked them one by one.
Except for Jiang BaiYan nodding cooperatively, the others maintained a subtle silence.
Jian Jing continued, “The chairman was heartless to his women, but judging by his deathbed request, he still cared about his children quite a bit. The Chinese zodiac animals are placed right in front of the desk, directly in sight when looking up.”
In the silence, Jiang Yue said, "I never noticed that. After all, I only acknowledged my father a few years ago."
Jiang Lian asked, "Lawyer Cai, did you know about this?"
Cai Lawyer nodded and said, "Miss Jiang did a paternity test with the chairman."
“Maybe you don't know anything about my mother at all. She was only by the chairman's side for three years because he never thought about marrying her. She finally decided to leave and married my adoptive father," Jiang Yue began telling her story. “My mother passed away five years ago. My adoptive father remarried, so I decided to find my biological father."
Jiang Ou glanced dismissively, "No one is interested in your story. All the excuses of kept women are cast from the same mold, nothing new. Stop making yourself out to be pitiful. When it comes down to it, isn't it just about money?"
Jiang Yue smiled and said, "What does that have to do with me? It's true that I'm an illegitimate child, but without the chairman, where would I come from? Is it wrong for me to want to find my biological father?"
"Ahem," Jian Jing interrupted the trial at the right time. "This is not a moral review. Let's get back to the case. Miss Jiang, you also have inheritance rights, and with Secretary Fan's help, you appeared much earlier than anyone else. So you have a complete motive to frame others."
"Secretary Fan?" Jiang Lian looked at the silent audience in surprise.
Fan Secretary said, "After all, Miss Jiang is the chairman's daughter. She wanted to stay by the chairman's side, so the best way was to conceal her identity."
"She is also your son's girlfriend," Jian Jing said. "You didn't lie, you just chose to omit certain facts."
Fan Secretary couldn’t deny it as his lips moved without making a sound.
Jiang Lian gave a cold laugh.
Jian Jing smiled smugly. Secretary Fan had kept the news well hidden, none of the Jiang family knew, but the equally close-lipped driver had extracted intelligence by seducing Jiang BaiYan’s affection.
She clapped her hands to attract everyone's attention: "Well, things are very clear now, let me summarize what happened on the night of the incident:
"Jiang Lian was the first to enter and injected the Chairman with a small dose of medicine; Jiang Ou was the second, you discovered your elder sister's actions and hurriedly sought help from your second brother; Jiang Xue was the third, you mistakenly thought the Chairman had passed away, but got burned instead and immediately went to find Madam Jiang; Jiang Yue was the fourth, you broke the medicine bottle, confused the injection dosage, and framed Jiang Xue and Jiang Lian; Madam Jiang was the fifth, you turned off the oxygen machine to protect your daughter; Jiang Qi was the sixth, you forged Madam Jiang's fingerprints, trying to shift the suspicion of killing his father onto her.
"That's all the truth about what happened that night."
Jian Jing summed it up.
Jiang Qi said, "All this is just your speculation, you have no evidence."
"And you haven't even made it clear who killed Dad," Jiang Ou added.
"What's not clear about it," Jiang BaiYan said, "You killed Dad together."
There was silence in the room.
Jiang Ou retorted, "Nonsense, she also said my elder sister injected very little medicine, not enough to cause poisoning. It must have been Assistant Yin who turned off Dad's oxygen machine and killed him."
Jiang Xue immediately protested, "It was the medicine Jiang Lian used! When I went in, Dad was already dying, it must have been her." She was extremely aggressive, accusing Jiang Yue as well in a one-versus-two attack, "And you, maybe Dad could have been saved when you were there, and you're a nurse, but you didn't do anything."
"I may not have done anything, but your mother saw the Chairman off on his final journey." Jiang Yue's words cut to the bone.
The crowd was on the verge of an all-out brawl, with feathers flying everywhere.
Jian Jing said, "Alright, stop arguing. Do you all accept my proposed answer? If so, do you want to hear some of my other guesses?"
"Just say everything you have to say," Jiang Qi said.
Jian Jing thought for a moment, then said, "I think the Chairman had already anticipated your actions and his will may be completely different from what you all imagined."
As soon as she said this, the arguing stopped abruptly.
Jiang Ou asked, "What do you mean?"
"Don't you think the Chairman's requirements are very strange?" Jian Jing spread her hands, "All children must be present and have no doubt about his death. The first is understandable, but what's the purpose behind the second?"
Yes, the key to this case lies in everyone's psychological motivations. But we must not forget the intentions of the person who made the rules, which are also thought-provoking.
"I was too curious, so I took a very close look around the bedroom twice," Jian Jing took a tiny camera out of her pleated skirt pocket, "There's a memory card inside that I haven't watched yet. Everyone—"
She blinked, full of anticipation as she asked, "Shall we watch it together?"
Dead silence.
Everyone had ugly looks on their faces. It was one thing to do bad deeds, but another for those deeds to be anticipated in advance with a camera set up to record everything down.
Jiang Lian looked especially terrible, her face chalk white as if she would faint at any moment; Jiang Ou fidgeted anxiously; Jiang Xue seemed somewhat regretful but looked at her mother and suddenly fell silent again; Jiang Yue was very wary, glancing at the camera a couple times with traces of fear.
But in the end, it was Jiang Qi who stared coldly at Jiang BaiYan as he was about to speak, saying, "No need, I accept the answer."
"How about the rest?" Jian Jing asked. "We don't have to watch it if my reasoning was wrong in places."
No one responded.
Madam Jiang said, "Let it be, Lawyer Cai, can you announce the will now?"
Lawyer Cai looked to each person questioningly. No one raised any further objections. He adjusted his glasses and took out a sealed file folder from his briefcase.
"The Chairman gave this to me beforehand, telling me to open it after everyone came to an agreement." Lawyer Cai showed everyone the sealed edges before breaking it open to read.
Inside was only a thin piece of paper. Lawyer Cai quickly finished reading it, then looked to Jian Jing: "Perhaps we should watch the video after all. The Chairman said his will is inside the footage."
