Yan Qing looked steadily at this handsome man, knowing that his deliberate pause meant they had found something.

“After Yu Xiaozhen’s family moved away, their old shelter was quickly taken over as a temporary lodging by a vagrant. Fortunately, this vagrant was extremely slovenly and hadn’t cleared out any of the rubbish left behind. Zheng Yun found a glass bottle that had once held salt — and that glass bottle turned out to be…”

Yan Qing said it before she could stop herself: “WAKAWOTO Stomach Powder!”

Shi Ting nodded. “The vagrant had been using the glass bottle he picked up to store salt. He had no idea what the bottle had once contained. Among Yu Xiaozhen’s two family members, at least one must have suffered from a stomach condition. Yu Xiaozhen, like Leng Yu and Fan Dongping, had a web of entangled connections to Qiao Guang and Luo Baimei. If the neighbor’s account is accurate and Yu Xiaozhen’s father was bedridden, then the killer is very likely Yu Xiaozhen’s sister — the one who never once showed her face. That is consistent with our earlier inference about the killer’s gender.”

A stomach condition?

Yan Qing’s heart seized.

Jing Lan’s bright eyes surfaced in her mind, curving into a smile.

Jing Lan had a stomach condition — so much so that she carried a hot water cup with her at all times, no matter the hour or place. Even the snacks Yan Qing made for her were chosen for being gentle and easy on the stomach. But Yan Qing had always assumed it was simply an ordinary complaint.

Her thoughts did not escape his notice. But he didn’t press her. Instead, his voice came out gentle: “Yan Qing, if the killer truly is Jing Lan, we need to gather evidence and bring her in. Conversely, if it isn’t her, we will not wrongfully accuse any innocent person.”

“I know.” Yan Qing’s gaze met his in the air between them, and in that instant became utterly resolute. “I’m willing to cooperate with you.”

—

Yan Qing reined in every trace of her conflicted feelings and greeted the gatekeeper Jiuwan with a smile. Jiuwan knew she was the school director’s daughter, and he naturally didn’t dare to be anything other than attentive.

When Jiuwan walked, the key ring hooked to his waist clinked and jangled with every step.

Yan Qing watched for a moment before smiling and asking, “You keep those keys so close all day long — I imagine they never leave your side.”

“Never leave my side would be an exaggeration — a man still has to take his clothes off at night.” Jiuwan let out a chuckling laugh. “But I can guarantee you this: as long as those keys are in my hands, not a soul can touch them.”

“Your sleep must be quite sound then?”

“Don’t get me started.” Jiuwan let out a sigh. “When you get older, any little noise wakes you up. Especially at night — it goes dead quiet, and you can hear every sound of a mouse eating.”

As Jiuwan finished speaking, he produced the key ring and unlocked the records room door.

The keys would rattle the moment they were touched, and Jiuwan was a light sleeper to begin with. It would clearly be impossible to take the keys without disturbing him. The only explanation was that someone had slipped a sedative into his tea — and the person who could get close to him and do that would have to be someone with whom he was on very familiar terms.

Jing Lan’s smiling face rose before Yan Qing again. It left her with a sensation as though something were squeezing her heart.

“Miss Yan, remember to lock up when you leave. The lock is a bit old — press down firmly when you do it.” With those few parting words, Jiuwan departed.

Yan Qing brought the papers she hadn’t finished the day before back to the desk and went through them one by one.

She didn’t return to the classroom until lunch.

Jing Lan had already heated both their meals.

The school had no canteen. Everyone brought food in a lunch box, which was sent to the boiler room each morning to be heated and then eaten communally.

Yan Qing took her lunch box, and at the same time folded a sheet of paper and slipped it into her bag.

—