“Men have their eyes on the pot while eating from the bowl.” As soon as the man left, Dai An couldn't help but complain.
Jian Jing smiled and said, "That's not the point. I have a little experience that when men evaluate women, they usually have a strange filter. Men assessing men would be more accurate."
Dai An immediately asked, "Are you referring to President Che?"
"The deceased was unwilling to suffer losses, which could lead to many murder motives," Jian Jing concluded, "Let's move on to ask the next person."
She stuck her head out and asked the flight attendant to call someone over.
President Meng came over.
He was thirty-nine years old with the best figure and appearance among the three men. But as soon as he entered, he frowned at the environment and glanced at Jian Jing in a critical manner.
In a flash, the impatient expression disappeared. He smiled and asked, "What do you want to ask?"
Jian Jing pretended she hadn't heard anything beforehand, "What was your relationship with Mr. Che? Were you familiar with each other usually?"
President Meng was very cooperative, "Quite well, we were partners after all and knew each other pretty well, but if you ask whether I know who wanted to kill him, then I don't know."
"What was your relationship with him like?" Jian Jing's tone became casual as if chatting.
President Meng pondered for a while and said, "To be honest, he was not bad as a partner, full of energy and ambition with guts, but as a friend, I didn't really like this kind of person."
"I heard you recently had some conflicts?"
President Meng: "Yes, we argued over whether to take the company public. You can't think I killed him, right?"
"Just routine questioning," Jian Jing smiled slightly.
"I didn't kill him. What good would killing him do? His shares wouldn't have come to me anyway," President Meng retorted, "In my opinion, it must have been some woman who did it."
Jian Jing curiously asked, "For example, Mrs. Che?"
"Women can become hysterical emotionally and impulsively commit murder, that's not surprising," President Meng ridiculed as he analyzed it clearly, "Men are different. A death like his isn't something a man would do."
What a stupid prejudice! Dai An almost cursed out loud but managed to restrain herself. She turned to look at the little princess.
But Jian Jing didn't seem provoked at all. On the contrary, she looked at him with great interest, just like a cat eyeing a little bird quietly getting ready to hunt.
"Then how would a man commit murder?" she asked.
President Meng was completely unaware and even laughed, "Run them over with a car, stab them with a knife, smash them with fists."
Dai An rolled her eyes and interjected, "Sorry, but how do you know he was murdered?"
"I'm not stupid," President Meng chuckled, "Although no one said it, from the situation, it definitely wasn't a heart attack that killed him."
"For a woman, who do you think did it? Mrs. Che, Mrs. Bao, or someone else?" Jian Jing asked.
President Meng grinned shrewdly, "I would need evidence to say. I have no proof so I can’t randomly accuse anyone."
Jian Jing blinked, "Not even guessing?"
President Meng admired her beauty openly and spoke nicely, "From my experience, the one who wants a man dead the most is always his wife."
"I'm very curious how you would assess Mrs. Bao," she said.
President Meng immediately obliged and candidly criticized, "An especially promiscuous woman. I dare say she survives solely relying on men. Old Bao couldn’t resist a woman like her but had no choice since she had him under her spell and insisted on marrying her. Tsk.”
Dai An turned her face, unwilling to look at him.
Jian Jing asked instead, "Have you seen the lady sitting a bit behind you guys?"
President Meng recalled briefly, "Maybe. Oh, she’s probably one of his girlfriends, who knows."
Jian Jing nodded and ended the conversation, "Thank you for your cooperation."
"You're welcome. Here's my business card," he familiarly left his contact information and laughed, "No other intentions, just making friends. Feel free to call anytime if you want to reach me."
Jian Jing smiled, "I still need to ask you guys some questions later. Thanks."
President Meng glanced down at her fully before leaving, feasting his eyes.
Dai An scoffed, "Lecher."
"Everything has its pros and cons. The mouths of men like him are usually loose," Jian Jing stretched lazily and asked the flight attendant for a bottle of ice Coke. She gulped down a few big mouthfuls before letting out a satisfied burp.
"Alright, there's one last person left."
She called over the female model for a second round of questioning.
The model sounded impatient, "What do you want to ask again?"
"I know you were the deceased's mistress," Jian Jing got straight to the point, "You concealed your identity and tailed the deceased onto the plane. What was your purpose?"
The model's eyes widened in surprise as she sneered coldly, "Me? Tailing him? What nonsense."
"Or did the deceased buy you the ticket so you could openly and lawfully accompany him on a tryst?"
The model turned up her lips, "Why should I tell you?"
Perhaps the high air pressure wasn't right. Dai An suddenly became irritable and quickly took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
"If the deceased was with you last night, you would be the prime suspect," Jian Jing slowly said, smiling, "By then you would gain nothing and be in significant trouble."
"He died on the plane. What does that have to do with me? I was so far from him!" The model made a strong argument. "You should go ask his wife since she was right beside him!"
Jian Jing stated, "Did you use the bathroom today?"
The model challenged, "So what if I did?"
"Leaving your seat makes you a murder suspect," Jian Jing reasoned objectively. "If I were you, I would fully cooperate with the investigation, or else the little wife facing the big wife usually ends up at a disadvantage. Right?"
"What can she do to me?" The model mumbled but her attitude became slightly more cooperative. "It has nothing to do with me. How could killing him benefit me? It would be a huge loss."
Jian Jing asked, "How long have you two been together?"
The model held out her hand absent-mindedly fiddling with her own glittery manicured nails, "About three months."
"Did he treat you well?"
"So-so," the deceased couldn't refuse criticizing him. "A monthly allowance of 100k for shopping, I could swipe his card for buying bags and clothes. Che only lent me the car at first and was reluctant to transfer ownership until after grinding it for a month. Stingy."
Dai An: That's already a lot. My salary is only 18k.
"Right?" The model seemed to find a confidant and suddenly became spirited, "He originally said to bring me to Dubai this month but suddenly changed his mind, saying he was going on vacation with his family. What about me then? I already told my girlfriends and it would be really embarrassing if I couldn't go now!"
Dai An: "..."
Jian Jing came to understand many doubts and laughed, "So that was why you insisted on tagging along?"
"He said as long as I behaved, I could freely swipe the card." The model held resentment. "The card only had 1 million in it. Pfft, how many bags can that buy? Fortunately it was more than usual so I reluctantly agreed."
Dai An: With that money, I could immediately put down the down payment for a house... No no, can't be so corrupt.
She secretly warned herself not to fall into the pit.
"So you were together last night?"
The model replied, "What's weird about that?"
"Tell me what you guys did today."
The model grudgingly recalled, "Nothing much. He got up early in the morning and told me to pack up. He complained I didn't know how and called his wife, saying bring this and that. Then he said to me--don't you think he's sick? He felt his wife was better so why bother getting a mistress out here?"
Jian Jing was amused by her and played along, "Right, why indeed."
"After 9, he left. I started packing my own things, had a meal, then went to the airport." The model drily accounted, "Then there was security check and stuff, as you know."
Jian Jing nodded, "When he left you this morning, did he show any physical discomfort?"
The model curled her lips, "He drank too much last night and got blown by the cold wind. He said he had a headache in the morning. I took his temperature, it was just below 38 degrees Celsius, so he had a fever."
Then she suddenly became alert, "It was his own fault for catching cold. I didn't poison him."
"I didn't say that," Jian Jing replied. "After boarding the plane, how many times did you leave your seat?"
"Two, three times. Going to the bathroom, apply face masks, things like that."
"Before or after the meal?"
"I went to rinse my mouth after eating, then fell asleep when I came back."
"Did you talk to the deceased then?"
"No, he's not feeling well, why would I touch a sore spot?"
Jian Jing nodded: "You can go back now."
The female model walked away in her ill-fitting high heels, clip-clopping as she went.
Dai An asked: "Who should we speak to next?"
Jian Jing smiled mysteriously: "Next, I have a task I want to assign to you."
Dai An's eyes widened: "What task?"
"We still have a few people we haven't asked - the Ba family's housekeeper, the victim's secretary, and their interpreter." Jian Jing said, "I hope you can talk to them and find out the victim's actions in the last 12 hours."
"By myself?" Dai An was surprised.
"Too many people would arouse suspicion. Just chat casually with them, like gossiping in the break room." Jian Jing said, "If convenient, remember to ask their opinion of each person involved."
Dai An took a deep breath. She didn't feel very confident, but was also incredibly excited. It reminded her of her first day on the job: "Okay, I'll try."
"I believe you can handle it." Jian Jing patted her shoulder. "You're Director Kang's most capable assistant."
Dai An: "..." So it was belief in her boss's judgement.
That's annoying.
But she walked away full of motivation.
Jian Jing finished the remaining cola and returned to the scene.
When the body was discovered, she had already conducted an initial investigation of the crime scene. Since the victim had no one on either side, and the seats in first class had ample room, the scene was relatively well preserved.
The victim was covered with a blanket and eye mask, slumped sideways on the headrest apparently asleep. He wore the disposable slippers provided by the plane. The small side table was opened up, with a cup of warm milk on it which had been partially drunk, some undissolved powder visible on the insides of the cup.
What is known so far: 1) The victim died of cyanide poisoning; 2) Poison was placed in the milk, with a faint bitter almond smell; 3) The victim appeared to have been sleeping with his head covered the whole time - if not for Dai An bumping into him, it would have been difficult for others to notice anything wrong.
But the victim's seat was in the first row, next to the bathroom. On the way to or from the bathroom, or while waiting for bathroom occupants, placing poison in the warm milk would have been easy for anyone who left their seat.
In other words, anyone who left their seat could have done it.
Additionally, the flight had been scheduled to depart at 3:05pm, but was delayed by 50 minutes due to weather, taking off at 3:53pm instead.
The flight attendant saw the victim go to the bathroom at 6:40pm. Dinner service started at 7pm and the victim was seated first, with the flight attendant confirming he was still alive then.
Dai An discovered the body around 8:50pm. Rigor mortis had begun setting in, indicating the victim had been dead for over an hour.
That means the death occurred sometime between 7-7:50pm.
In terms of relationships - the victim had cheated multiple times, supporting a female model financially. His wife was resentful. Mrs. Bao was also having an affair with the victim. President Meng and the victim had conflict at work.
Is the killer among these people?
Who killed him?
Author's note: Hello everyone, happy Dragon Boat Festival!
