Wang Roommate was acting a little strange.
Humans are very complex creatures. Even if you hate someone, after seeing them every day, if you suddenly hear that person has died, you can't help but feel a tinge of sadness. Even if you think they deserved it, at most you would stay silent, but she said "fortunately she's dead."
Yu Qiu's death, Jin Meixian was certainly responsible, but she and Yu Qiu were just roommates, so why did she hate her so much?
Jian Jing decided to let Ji Feng investigate Wang Roommate a bit more.
At the same time, the female police officer had just about finished searching through Jin Meixian's things.
Jin Meixian's phone and computer had already been taken away by tech people earlier, leaving only daily necessities behind, all quite expensive. But other than that, there wasn't much information to find.
Zhang Bestie said: "She didn't stay in the dorms much usually."
The female officer nodded, glancing at Jian Jing, and said with a smile: "Then let's go take a look at your dorm."
Zhang Bestie's dorm was downstairs, and by chance none of her other roommates were in, making it convenient to look around.
Jian Jing carefully observed Zhang Bestie's side of the room. She was quite neat and clean, with her bed and desk very tidy. Most of her daily items were average priced, the kind you could buy at any supermarket, nothing too fancy or too shabby.
Under the desk was a rolling cart, and in the bottom layer was a plastic bin stuffed full of medicines, with things like Yunnan Baiyao and other ointments for bruises and injuries making up a third of it.
"You have a lot of medicated creams in your first aid kit," she asked. "Jin Meixian didn't beat you often, did she?"
Zhang Bestie was startled for a moment, and quickly said: "No no, it was because I had sprained my ankle running before. *sigh*, Meixian did have a bad temper, loved to order people around, but I...I just treated it like serving my boss."
Jian Jing nodded, but there were still doubts in her mind.
Of course she knew some people loved vanity, and would fawn over and curry favor with their superiors for a lifestyle above their means. But still, you can put up with it, serve your boss hand and foot, then complain and vent to your colleagues behind their back - let alone to your "friend".
With the person already dead, Zhang didn't have a single complaint?
Abnormal behavior often indicates something shifty.
It seemed the more she unravelled this case, the more obscure it became.
After finishing with Zhang Bestie, it was Zhao Xuan's turn.
She hadn't lied, she did find a good job, there was work she brought back from the company on her desk. Looking at the letterhead, it was a well-known local enterprise.
"Go ahead and look around, I have no grudges with Jin Meixian, no reason to harm her." Zhao Xuan was at home, so it was convenient for them to search. She hadn't gone to the student council for several days, busy with internship work. Today when she finally went, Liu Kai started clamoring for them all to go out for a meal together.
Who knew that one meal would bring a storm of trouble.
The female officer searched her things carefully from top to bottom, and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. But Zhao Xuan still had areas in the student council building, so conclusions couldn't be drawn prematurely.
She carefully organized all the various clues to send to colleagues for reference.
The search of the female students was now finished.
On the other end, Ji Feng had also finished investigating Cheng Jia You, Liu Kai, and Fang President's dorms, with nothing discovered. But through chatting with nosy classmates, he was able to ask out many interesting things.
Cheng Jia You had a decent reputation among his classmates - family had money but he wasn't arrogant, competent in his work, good grades, considered one of the top men.
Compared to him as vice president, although Fang was president, his reputation wasn't as good.
Classmates all said he "put on official airs", spoke with "bureaucratic jargon", and placed particular importance on his title as president. He wasn't a bad person, just hard to get along with.
But compared to Liu Kai, even these evaluations seemed like nothing.
Male classmate 1: "Liu Kai is just a petty man, currying favor with those who have money and power, looking down on ordinary people." Cheng Jia You isn't bad, just doesn't know how to make friends.
Male classmate 2: "He's dated, changing girlfriends several times already."
...
Ji Feng listened with a smile, casually asking: "Several is how many?"
"At least three or four."
"No fights or scenes when breaking up?"
"There were fights I think, I remember one came looking for him and it got really fierce."
"That's what you get for two-timing."
Ji Feng also asked: "What about the other two?"
"Cheng Jia You dated one before, who later went abroad."
"President Fang seems to also have had one."
This "President" wasn't a term of respect, but a nickname.
Ji Feng: "What do you mean seems to?"
"He must have had a girlfriend, but none of us have met her, and he refuses to talk about her." Fang President's roommates said.
Ji Feng pondered this thoughtfully. In murders, especially premeditated ones, they usually couldn't get away from emotions and vengeance. The kind of random selection and killing by psychopathic serial killers, in all his years on the force he had only seen one such lunatic.
On the emotional front, suspects were Zhao Xuan, Jian Jing, Cheng Jia You, but both girls' motives were too weak. Neither had been in a relationship with the victim, and they were outstanding themselves with some arrogance, the chance of one of them murdering a classmate was low.
As for Cheng Jia You, he looked refined on the surface but in his view, was just an ordinary privileged rich kid, relying on his parents' status, capable of achieving some career success but nothing major.
He lacked drive, too soft, no backbone. For him to commit murder, it would have to be a deep hatred or major grudge.
If it was revenge killing...the only known grudge was with Yu Qiu presently.
Her boyfriend was the priority.
Had Liu Kai dated Yu Qiu before?
As a rich kid, could Cheng Jia You have gifted her name brand goods?
And what about President Fang, who had a mysterious girlfriend - why was he deliberately hiding her?
But would a boyfriend seeking vengeance choose to poison makeup?
Putting himself in their shoes, Ji Feng felt that choosing to poison cosmetics seemed more like something a female perpetrator would do.
It would be very difficult for a male to think of poisoning makeup. How could they ensure Jin Meixian would definitely use that particular product?
If the amount was very small, and there were no cuts or wounds on the skin, it was highly likely it wouldn't be fatal.
How would they control the dosage?
This whole situation was suspicious.
After finishing searching the dorms, it was around 9 pm. Ji Feng notified it was time to call it a day.
Jian Jing was incredulous: "Wrapping up already?"
"It's 9 o'clock, students will start coming back soon, the school hopes we don't escalate things." Ji Feng said, "It's also out of consideration for you all, in case it somehow negatively impacts your job offers or study abroad opportunities, wouldn't want any additional grievances."
Jian Jing was surprised by his thoughtfulness. He was right, everyone was still only a suspect at this point. If rumors spread to others, who knows how the story would morph into them being murderers.
But in her previous cases, they would work overnight relentlessly until the truth was discovered. Stopping like this all of a sudden, she felt restless, unsettled.
"Don't want to go back?" Snow started drifting down from the sky, Ji Feng sneezed and said to her: "Professor Jian, this won't do. The more a case gets mulled over with no headway, the more you should get proper rest and meals for inspiration to come."
Jian Jing ignored his advice: "Are you coming back to campus tomorrow morning?"
Ji Feng laughed: "Don't worry, you're still a suspect. I'll be back at the school first thing tomorrow to get your report."
Only then was Jian Jing satisfied.
Arriving home at 9:30 pm, she took a shower without even fully drying her hair before taking out markers and a whiteboard and started scribbling on the wall.
Was Jin Meixian's death related to Yu Qiu?
If it was connected to Yu Qiu, then most likely it was an act of revenge, and the focus should be investigating Yu Qiu's boyfriend and family. Crime novels often had this kind of plot, where a relative would take on a fake identity and infiltrate the enemy's side, waiting for a chance to get vengeance.
But what if there was no relation?
Yu Qiu was disclosed by Wang Roommate, but had she told the truth or lied?
Jian Jing circled the character for "Wang", pondering for a bit before heading into her study.
Logging onto the school's main chat group, indeed, the pot had exploded, with everyone sharing a campus post titled: "Karma Strikes, Commoner Girl's Despair Drives Her to Suicide, Karmic Retribution has Playboy Heir Meets Grim End after Arrogance".
The content described Yu Qiu's death in detail, naturally not missing the chance to further sensationalize and fan the flames.
A swarm of melon-eating onlookers in the post's comments.
Comment 1: It's scary how a single sentence can ruin someone.
Comment 2: When will the privileges of rich second generation and official second generation finally be curtailed?
Comment 3: The school should investigate this matter thoroughly!
Comment 4: The dead deserve respect. It's not like the rich second generation killed anyone. The girl was fragile herself, who can you blame?
Comment 5: Yeah, if she couldn't even handle this much pressure, she was bound to crack sooner or later out in society.
Comment 6: Cut the sanctimonious crap, rich kids. A bunch of loser gold-diggers worried on someone else's behalf, for what?
Comment 7: If you know words can be vicious, then bring out evidence, OP!
...
Jian Jing privately messages Zuo Xin: [Is what happened to Yu Qiu real?]
Zuo Xin: [Did she commit suicide or was she a mistress?]
Jian Jing wonders: [Does it make a difference?]
Zuo Xin: [To be honest with you, I was clueless about that post too... Remember the script I wrote for the club?]
Jian Jing remembers it was a story called Perfect Revenge, about twin sisters getting revenge for their older sister.
Zuo Xin: [The dead older sister was modeled after Yu Qiu.]
Jian Jing is shocked.
She recalls the twin's older sister was driven to death by a teacher.
Sure enough, Zuo Xin replies: [Rumors about Yu Qiu were always around. At first none of us took them seriously - it's modern times, we didn't care if the gossip was true or false, just wanted a spectacle. But I wrote that story because I was quite certain.]
Jian Jing: [You saw them?]
Zuo Xin: [Yeah, my roommate and I caught Yu Qiu with her boyfriend, a married teacher in their department. After Yu Qiu died, we figured she must've been driven to death by the wife...]
Jian Jing gasps: [What about that teacher?]
Zuo Xin: [He left last year after Yu Qiu's suicide. Think about it, the school hushed it up but wouldn't keep scum around to tarnish their reputation, right?]
Jian Jing: [You've been a huge help!]
Zuo Xin: [??? So what's the deal with that post?]
Jian Jing can't reveal details, just vaguely says she doesn't know. At the same time, she lets Ji Feng know.
He: "Hmm, faster than I expected."
Jian Jing: "You made that post?"
Ji Feng just laughs without answering, and directly contacts school faculty to investigate.
Of course the school would cover it up if they could, but if it was looked into, they couldn't deny it either.
Just as Zuo Xin said, Jin Meixian's words were no slander. On the contrary, she keenly sensed Yu Qiu's circumstances and exposed her dirty laundry.
Yu Qiu did have something ambiguous going on with a teacher in her department, and was unfortunately caught by the man's wife.
Considering that teacher's future prospects, the other party didn't make a fuss, only asking for a divorce and the school to punish Yu Qiu.
That's how Yu Qiu lost her spot to study abroad.
She lost her lover, lost the chance to further her studies, and had her sordid deeds exposed. In despair, she chose to commit suicide by overdosing.
"While revenge for Yu Qiu can't be ruled out," Ji Feng says over the phone, "tomorrow we can properly question Wang Ruoke. Very suspicious that she randomly brought up Yu Qiu."
