The next day, Wang Roommate was called to an office of the student council.
Ji Feng said, "We have already investigated the matter of Yu Qiu. She committed suicide because she couldn't withstand the pressure from intervening in someone else's marriage."
Wang Roommate exclaimed, seeming incredulous, "Wasn't it just a rumor?"
"Where there's smoke, there's fire," Ji Feng said impassively. "Didn't you notice anything?"
Wang Roommate looked very confused. "I didn't know. Who would suspect their roommate? I always thought she just had an ordinary boyfriend."
Ji Feng smiled. "How strange. You were so indignant for Yu Qiu yesterday that I thought you two were very close friends. But it turns out you didn't even know about this."
What was called being crafty and treacherous, this was it. Wang Roommate had accidentally fallen into his trap.
She fell silent for a moment, explaining, "Jin Mei Xian has said unpleasant things more than once or twice. Of course I thought she was just gossiping. I felt Yu Qiu was a bit wronged."
"Do you dislike Jin Mei Xian?" Ji Feng asked.
Wang Roommate was wary now. She answered cautiously, "Many people dislike her."
Ji Feng: "I'm asking you—do you dislike her?"
Wang Roommate: "I didn't kill her."
"This is the surveillance footage from your classroom building," Ji Feng turned his laptop to play the video from outside the interview classroom. "You dislike her so much, you should want to avoid talking to her. But here you chatted for so long?"
Wang Roommate: "We weren't chatting."
"Arguing?"
"Not that either."
"Then what was it, telling jokes?" Ji Feng's tone lowered. "Wang Ruo Ke, think carefully. You still have a bright future ahead, don't be muddled."
Wang Ruo Ke suddenly bit her lip. After a long pause, she said coldly, "I don't do shady things. I'm not afraid of ghosts knocking on my door. Yes, I can't stand Jin Mei Xian, but I didn't kill her. You say I killed her, where's the evidence?"
Of course Ji Feng wouldn't answer directly. He kept the discussion on topic: "You and Jin Mei Xian are both preparing for the postgraduate exam."
"That's right, but we chose different advisors. I picked an advisor who values academic ability, not empty talk. You can check my grades." Wang Ruo Ke had calmed down and spoke in an organized manner. "I've received scholarships. My grades have always been in the top five in my class. It wouldn't have been easy for Jin Mei Xian to take my spot. There was no need to kill her."
Ji Feng could see that Wang Ruo Ke spoke confidently and straightforwardly, without any hesitation.
She really didn't think the postgraduate spot was her motive.
With this point clear, Ji Feng couldn't get Wang Roommate to talk no matter what.
Ji Feng sighed helplessly. He could only look for another opening.
It was then that the coroner's autopsy report arrived.
He flipped through it and found it very interesting. He called Jian Jing over to take a look together. "See this."
With Jian Jing's medical background, she had no problem understanding the report. She immediately grasped the key point: "Look, there were traces of tranquilizers in Jin Mei Xian's body. Who else drugged her?"
Ji Feng asked, "Who do you think it was?"
She thought for a moment, and a face surfaced in her mind: "Zhang."
"Why?"
"Tranquilizers usually won't kill someone," Jian Jing analyzed. "She said many times that Jin Mei Xian had a bad temper."
Ji Feng neither agreed nor disagreed. "We'll know when we ask."
After Wang Roommate, it was Zhang's turn to be interrogated alone.
She tried her best to stay calm. "Officer, what's the matter?"
Ji Feng took out the page about the tranquilizers from the autopsy report and put it in front of her. "Take a look."
Zhang stared at the paper, but the words didn't sink into her brain. She took a few deep breaths to settle herself before slowly reading it character by character.
"What...what does this mean?" She pretended not to understand.
So Ji Feng explained it to her. "It means that in the few hours before Jin Mei Xian's death, someone had given her something containing tranquilizer drugs. Did you know about this?"
Zhang: "How would I know?"
"These are prescription drugs that can usually only be obtained from a doctor." Ji Feng tapped the table. "Hospitals require ID to register. It's easy to find out with a search. If you want to get the medicine without ID, then you can only go to a small clinic. They wouldn't dare prescribe it on your first visit. It must be a place you go to often. Since you go often, it can't be too far. Let me see, how many clinics are there near your school?"
As he spoke, he opened the map to search. Soon some red markers popped up on the screen.
"You Ai, An Ping, Jian Xin..." Ji Feng read them out one by one. Finally when he got to the third one, he saw her eyelid twitch uncontrollably.
He smiled. Then he started lying to trick her. "Although tranquilizers are prescription, they won't kill you. The consequences aren't as serious as you thought. After all it's not poisoning."
Zhang bit her lips and slowly raised her head. After a long pause, she said, "I didn't mean to kill her."
It was good that she was willing to speak. Once she opened her mouth, it became easy to keep asking questions.
Ji Feng held down the autopsy report and asked, "Did you give this to her?"
"I gave her the proper dosage. I really didn't expect her to drown because of it." Zhang didn't actually know the real cause of Jin Mei Xian's death. She assumed it was an accidental drowning.
Ji Feng didn't explain. "Why did you do it?"
Zhang gave a bitter laugh. "Mei Xian had a bad temper. She was still restrained in front of others, but when her temper flared up at me, she would smash things and hit people directly. I didn't dare fight back or want to suffer, so I could only resort to some tricks."
She grabbed her hair and propped up her head, regretting it so much that tears welled up. "I was stupid to admire vanity and stick by her side, yet I couldn't swallow my resentment and was also jealous of her. Why was she born so fortunate, looking at the things I wanted as if they were trash? I could curse her ten thousand times in my belly, but I never wanted her to die!"
"I only wanted her to say less," Zhang murmured. "She had a fight with her boyfriend, what was the point of yelling at me? Yes, I know some people say that once I took her things, I had to endure this punishment. But I, I..."
"I didn't want to kill her. I gave her the proper dosage." As she spoke, her eyes grew red and she choked up. "Although she annoyed me too, I really didn't know it would make her fall into the water. I thought those side effects wouldn't fall on my head—the previous times were fine."
Zhang knew tranquilizers had some side effects like drowsiness and dizziness. But cold medicine also had side effects, yet no one stopped taking it.
She never imagined it would happen to Jin Mei Xian, and while she was crossing the bridge.
After listening to her babbling incoherently for half the day, Ji Feng finally said, "You only gave her this?"
Zhang hurried to say, "Just this, really nothing else!"
"When did you do it?" he asked.
Zhang said, "After the interview was over, she was in a bad mood and told me to buy milk tea. I knew she was unhappy that Cheng Jia You didn't accompany her, and I was afraid she would take it out on me. So I slipped one pill into the milk tea."
"Around 2:30?"
"Yes."
The timing fit. The coroner had found remains of pearl milk tea in Jin Mei Xian's stomach.
Ji Feng considered for a moment, fingers interlaced. "I need you to think back carefully. Did Jin Mei Xian ever mention anything to you about Wang Ruo Ke?"
Zhang didn't understand why he had this doubt, but she instinctively felt it wasn't a bad thing. She racked her brains and said, "She just said Wang Ruo Ke was pretentious and hypocritical, but I didn't hear about any feud between them."
"They lived in the same dorm. There were no conflicts that erupted?"
"Mei Xian only stayed in the dorm once a week. They may not have encountered each other much. There must have been some disagreements. Mei Xian said once that Wang Ruo Ke dirtied her coat, and they argued a few times. But a 10,000 to 20,000 yuan coat wasn't a big deal to Mei Xian. She probably forgot about it soon after."
Ji Feng nodded, increasingly puzzled in his heart.
Zhao Xuan couldn't go to her internship today, but she still turned on her computer and buried her head in work.
The days of needing to study hard just because she had classes were almost over now that she was about to leave campus. An intern's salary wasn't much, getting converted to a formal employee was the right thing.
Jian Jing silently watched her for a long time, seeing that she was fully focused on her work, and dismissed most of her suspicions.
A college student who could commit murder and act like nothing happened, that would be too scary.
In comparison, all three boys seemed a bit off.
Cheng Jia You was silent, Liu Kai was restless, and Fang President was distracted.
Jian Jing thought about it for a while, poured a glass of water for Cheng Jia You, and asked him, "You're Jin Mei Xian's boyfriend, what are your thoughts?"
Cheng Jia You rubbed his face. "I can't figure out who insisted on killing her."
"She wasn't very popular," Jian Jing pointed out the objective fact.
Cheng Jia You still had a conscience and didn't want to kick someone when they were down. He argued, "Her family is well off, with two older cousins. She was the only girl."
"What you should be thinking about is who she might have offended, not how innocent she was," Jian Jing bluntly said, "Proving she was as pure as paper won't help find the murderer, will it?"
Cheng Jia You was left speechless by her rebuttal.
Jian Jing then softened her tone and fished for information, "Other than Yi Qiu's business, did Jin Mei Xian share anything else?"
She had tossed and turned most of last night unable to sleep, pondering this very question. There was no smoke without fire. With Jin Mei Xian's personality, she might have offended someone else without realizing it.
"Think hard. Did Jin Mei Xian ever tell you about someone who resented her, or any strange messages she received?" Jian Jing asked.
This time, Cheng Jia You answered quickly, "She was always getting insulted on Weibo, I didn't pay attention."
Jian Jing immediately searched for Jin Mei Xian's Weibo.
Her account was called "Beauty Fairy Being Fairy", with over 200,000 followers. All her posts were about the daily life of a rich second generation.
Luxury items strewn about, a different luxury car every few days, lavish dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants.
Fans of this type of showoff influencer either loved her or hated her intensely.
Jian Jing casually scrolled and saw seven or eight posts insulting Jin Mei Xian, whom she clapped back aggressively.
"You're just jealous."
"Only poor people think it's wasteful, I live like this every day."
"My family has money, why can't I spend it?"
Very, hmm, like that.
The keyboard warriors were not to be outdone, pelting her with all kinds of nasty words, completely useless.
Better to check her school account.
Jian Jing logged into the school platform she hadn't used in a long time and browsed through the accounts of all the suspects.
This search revealed some interesting clues.
