"What happened?" The sound of constant pacing woke up the other people in row 1. It was the mother and son that Dai An had helped before.
The lady asked in surprise, "What happened?" She poked her head out to take a look at the dead person. "Dear?"
Jian Jing asked, "Is this your husband?"
"Yes." The lady noticed something was wrong and immediately asked, "What happened to my husband?"
Jian Jing and the flight attendant exchanged a glance. Then, the flight attendant squatted down and softly informed the relative of the bad news.
The lady was so shocked that she couldn't speak. She abruptly stood up wanting to shake her husband, but Jian Jing stopped her, "Madam, please do not touch your husband."
This lady slumped back into her seat, her face pale, yet she did not cry out loud. She only subconsciously hugged her child.
The sleeping child woke up and blurrily called out, "Mommy?"
The flight attendant blocked the child's line of sight and said caringly, "Madam, would you mind if we take care of your child for the time being?"
She hesitated for a bit before nodding her head, but she gripped the flight attendant's arm tightly, "What happened? I can't believe it. Isn't there a doctor? Call a doctor to take a look."
"I can confirm that your husband has passed away," Jian Jing held her hand. "Please stay calm and don't scare your child."
She barely controlled herself and coaxed her child before handing him over to the flight attendant.
Jian Jing sat next to her and patiently asked, "Could you briefly tell me about your husband's identity? Why are all of you going to the US?"
She used her trust card and soon obtained a reply.
"We went to the US for vacation with the other people from the company..." The lady's speech was slightly jumbled. She spoke haltingly for a long time before finally making clear the ins and outs.
Turned out the deceased's surname was Che. He was a shareholder of a company. This time, the shareholders of the company organized a vacation and brought their family and children to enjoy a rare holiday at the beaches in the US.
Jian Jing asked her to point out everyone's identity and made the following summary:
Row 1: a (empty) , b (the deceased) , c (empty) , d (Mrs. Che) , e (Che's Baby)
Row 2: a (President Meng) , b (empty) , c (President Bao) , d (Mrs. Bao) , e (Bao's Daughter)
Among them, the deceased Che, President Meng and President Bao were the three shareholders of the company. The seven of them almost entirely occupied the first class seats.
Rows 11-13 were the business class seats. Kang Mu Cheng, Jian Jing and the others sat there, as well as other people whose identities were found out through observation or subsequent questioning. To facilitate understanding, they were also listed below.
Row 11: a (Secretary of the deceased) , b (Translator) , c (empty) , d (Female Model) , e (empty) , f (Bao family's nanny)
Row 12: a (Kang's Assistant) , b (Dai An) , c (Kang Mu Cheng) , d (Jian Jing) , e (Kang's Lawyer) , f (empty)
Row 13: a (Kang's Translator) , b (empty) , c (empty) , d (Upgraded Passenger A) , e (Upgraded Passenger B) , f (Sick Passenger)
Here, something needed explanation. Among the passengers in row 13, the sick passenger was brought over from economy class by a flight attendant 15 minutes ago. Upgraded passengers A and B were upgraded after getting into conflicts with other passengers and the flight attendants helped resolve it. This happened within an hour.
It could be confirmed that they were unrelated to this case.
Considering that Kang's translator, assistant and lawyer were Green City's seniors who didn't know the deceased's group, they could be excluded for now as well.
The most suspicious people were among those in row 1, 2 and 11.
But the deceased's 5 year old son and President Bao's 3 year old daughter couldn't possibly be the murderer. They could also be excluded.
After this screening, the suspects were among those left.
Jian Jing was very prudent. She requested everyone to keep quiet and to not alarm the sleeping passengers, especially to not cause panic in economy class with so many people.
A dead body was not more frightening than an airplane crash. After a brief moment of panic, the crew immediately cooperated to work and obtained agreement from the ground to temporarily let Jian Jing (with unknown details on her file) assist in the investigation.
The turmoil was temporarily under control.
But Dai An's heart could not calm down completely.
She had never thought that she would encounter a murder case on a flight.
To tell the truth, weren't the "Mysteries in the Clouds" fictional novels? Why did they suddenly appear in reality?
She felt a chill down her spine and couldn't help shivering, but at the same time also felt a bizarre excitement. Her previously muddled brain reacted differently, with countless thoughts gushing forth, scrambling to voice their opinions.
The murderer was in the cabin?
Heavens, could it be a serial killer?
Would he kill again?
Or was it also possible that it was revenge? Was there a hitman here? Like those professional ones from movies?
She couldn't control her wild thoughts. She simply got up and slowly made her way nearer to Jian Jing, "Teacher... Little Jian?"
Little Teacher Jian? Was there another author surnamed Jian?
This fleeting thought passed Jian Jing's mind before being tossed aside by more important matters. She nodded, "Yes?"
"That person... died?" Dai An
She felt frustrated for some reason, wondering why she was more clumsy than usual. It looked awful.
Jian Jing said, "Yes."
"Was he killed by someone?" Dai An asked.
Jian Jing looked at her curiously.
She didn't have much impression of Kang's secretary. She only remembered that she was a capable girl with a middle parting and long hair, light makeup, neither good-looking nor bad-looking. She carried an LV tote bag, wore 3 inch heels, and was always dressed in black, white or grey office wear.
An extremely typical secretary look, to the point of being stereotypical. It seemed like she was afraid of people misunderstanding her of having an improper relationship with her boss.
Her coming over to ask now was rather surprising.
"Would you like to know?" Jian Jing asked back.
Dai An unnaturally said, "Uh, being together with a murderer doesn't seem good..."
"Alright." Jian Jing laughed. She thought for a while and said, "Have you been reading the books that President Kang gave you?"
Dai An hesitated. "More or less."
"Then you should understand today's situation better than me," she said. "Want to be my assistant?"
Dai An asked blankly, "What assistant? To record this case?"
"Of course it's to solve this case," Jian Jing looked at her watch. "There's 8 more hours until landing. I hope we can end this on the plane. Otherwise after getting off, exhausted to death, we still have to cooperate with the police investigation. Annoying as hell. Don't you want to go straight to the hotel to sleep?"
Who wouldn't want to shower and crash to beat jet lag right after a long haul flight?
Although Dai An still had doubts, she agreed, "What do I have to do?"
Jian Jing said, "Firstly as a witness, you have to answer some of my questions."
"Ah." Dai An tensed up in a flash. "O-okay. Ask away."
As she responded, she wondered strangely. The title of little princess was just to indicate Jian Jing's privileges - green light throughout when publishing new books. It didn't mean she herself was dainty and commanding. But at that moment, she felt the tension she had when facing her boss, and it was especially different somehow. Clearly she didn't do anything bad, yet she felt anxious inside.
Jian Jing asked, "Did you go to the bathroom after the plane took off?"
Dai An: "I did."
Jian Jing: "When?"
Dai An: "Before meal service."
Jian Jing: "At that time, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"
Dai An told her about the three things she overheard then.
Jian Jing matched them: Che's Baby was unwell. Mrs. Che asked for a cup of coffee. Playboy President Meng flirted with the flight attendant. The Female Model was using a face mask.
She asked, "Did you notice anything about the deceased?"
Dai An tried hard to recall before answering uncertainly, "He seemed to be sleeping the whole time. Even when I was talking to his wife, he didn't react."
"Alright. Next we'll go ask the flight attendants," Jian Jing said.
There were many passengers on an international flight. There were two chief flight attendants and six flight attendants. One chief flight attendant and four flight attendants were responsible for economy class, while the other chief flight attendant and two flight attendants were responsible for first class and business class.
The three flight attendants Jian Jing asked were the latter group. The former group was not investigated.
"When was the last time you interacted with the deceased?" She asked.
Flight Attendant A said, "Right after boarding, he asked me for a cup of water. I remember his wife said he felt a little sick and hoped to change seats to not infect their child."
The chief attendant confirmed: "According to the booked seats, the Che family was in 1a-1c, but there weren't many first-class passengers today, so we adjusted the seats for Mrs. Che and their children."
Jian Jing asked: "Did anyone else change their seats?"
The chief attendant said: "President Bao's and President Meng's families switched. 11d was originally in 11f. She exchanged seats with someone else."
Jian Jing nodded and asked again: "Did the victim eat?"
Flight Attendant B said: "Yes, I served him a meal."
Jian Jing: "Including the warm milk on the table?"
Flight Attendant B: "Yes, he said he didn't want the meal, he asked me to bring him a cup of warm milk."
Jian Jing: "What was his condition at the time?"
Flight Attendant B: "Not very good. I asked if he needed help and he said he just had chills and had already taken medicine."
Jian Jing looked at her watch: "I want to know your meal service times."
The chief attendant said: "The flight was supposed to take off at 3 pm, but it was delayed by nearly an hour. It finally took off at 3:53 pm. It is expected to land at around 8:00 the next day. It is now 9:20 pm Beijing time. Our meal service time should be around 7 pm."
Dai An recorded all the time points based on instinct.
Jian Jing asked: "Besides that, did you talk to him about anything else?"
All three flight attendants shook their heads.
Jian Jing: "When was the last time you confirmed he was still alive?"
Flight Attendant A said: "He was covered with a blanket resting all along and said not to disturb him. We didn't pay much attention."
Flight Attendant B said: "He was still alive when I brought him the warm milk."
Jian Jing: "Did you see anyone talking to him? Did he go to the bathroom?"
The chief attendant said: "I saw him go in when we were preparing the meals. Not after that."
Jian Jing: "Around what time was that?"
The chief attendant: "Around 6:40 pm."
Jian Jing: "Please let me see the passenger manifest."
The chief attendant was visibly hesitant for a moment, but the trust card took effect and she nodded in agreement: "Okay."
Questioning ended.
Next was the female model.
She asked: "Do you know Mr. Che?"
The Female Model said: "I guess."
"Are you close?"
"Well enough."
"What were you going to do in America this time?"
"Can't I just go for tourism?"
"What is your occupation?"
"Model."
"After boarding the plane, did you talk with him at all?"
"Just greeted him." The Female Model paused, and took the initiative to ask, "Is he really dead? Heart disease?"
Jian Jing concealed the cause of death and said, "It's not clear yet. Did he have heart disease?"
The Female Model said: "I don't know, just speculating. Don't people just die suddenly from that?"
Jian Jing smiled and ended the conversation with her.
Dai An couldn't help but ask: "Professor Jian, why did you ask her first? Is she a suspect?"
"Yes, I wanted to confirm their relationship." Jian Jing handed over the form. "Look at when she booked her ticket. It was only a few hours apart from when the victim's company booked."
Dai An: "Were they together?"
"Not necessarily." Jian Jing pondered for a moment and asked, "She said she was a model. Do you recognize her face?"
Dai An honestly shook her head.
"This proves she's not very famous, and from what I know, ordinary models don't earn very high incomes. But look at the stuff she uses - La Mer face cream, Dior nail polish, red-bottomed shoes. It doesn't match her occupational income."
Jian Jing analyzed: "Of course, she may be well-off herself, but notice her shoes are a size too small. If she has so many pairs of the same style, why pick this one that doesn't fit? Also, the plane provides disposable slippers. Why doesn't she wear those?"
Dai An couldn't help but reflect - with her own financial status, if she bought a pair of shoes for tens of thousands of yuan, would she do that?
The answer was no.
Some people who buy luxury goods cherish them and take good care of them. Others want to flaunt them all the time - both are very normal.
But shoes are different.
No matter how expensive, shoes that are uncomfortable simply wouldn't be persisted in wearing, unless it was a special occasion.
It was too important for comfort.
"She's quite vain," Dai An gave her own conclusion.
"Yes, but that raises new questions again." Jian Jing smiled and said, "She's a vain person, so why didn't she sit in first class?"
Dai An blinked, hesitating to say: "The ticket was bought by someone else?"
"Hypothesis 1: All her luxury stuff was bought by others. The other party is not lacking in wealth. With her vanity, she would definitely cajole or persuade to get a seat in first class, but she didn't. And there were still quite a few seats left there.
"Hypothesis 2: She bought all that stuff through gritted teeth with her own money. In that case, upgrading from economy to business class would have been more cost-effective, but she paid full price for a business class ticket. With seats still available in first class, she still didn't go sit in front. Why not - it would have been good to at least take a picture there."
Dai An couldn't figure it out and honestly asked: "Why?"
"Because she had to be in the same space as a certain person from first class, yet she also had to keep a distance from that person."
