Hongdou rose to open the door: “I’ll go invite them in right now.”

Once Pan Maosheng and Mrs. Pan had entered the room, He Yunqin got straight to the point: “Mr. Pan, Mrs. Pan, did your daughter ever go to the suburbs before she disappeared?”

The couple exchanged a startled glance, and Mrs. Pan shook her head: “This… ever since Yuqi became a clerk at Aurora, she’s made quite a few friends and often socializes outside. Even when she goes out to play with friends sometimes, she doesn’t usually tell us at home.”

He Yunqin said: “I heard Miss Pan has a younger sister as well — does the second young miss also know nothing of her sister’s affairs?”

Mrs. Pan said: “Yuyuan is four years younger than her sister. She’s currently studying at the Women’s Normal University. Her temperament is quite sharp — she’s always quarreling and bickering with her sister. The two sisters probably say less to each other than they say to the two of us.”

Hongdou blinked. This wasn’t false — Yuyuan always liked comparing herself to her sister, was often jealous of her, and every time Hongdou visited her uncle’s house, she’d frequently run into Yuyuan throwing little tantrums.

He Yunqin asked further: “Since Mr. Pan works at Nanbao Trading Company, has the Lu family sent your daughter any invitations recently? For instance, inviting her to an evening party or the like?”

Mrs. Pan thought it over for a while but had no recollection, and couldn’t help but look to her husband for help.

Pan Maosheng thought for a moment: “I don’t know whether they’ve sent Yuqi an invitation recently, but our young master did pursue Yuqi for a period of time.”

“Lu Jingheng?”

Pan Maosheng nodded: “Because Yuqi wasn’t interested in our young master, she flatly rejected his advances. Our young master has never had much staying power anyway — seeing that Yuqi wouldn’t pay him any attention, he turned around and went to pursue someone else. That was the end of it.”

He Yunqin glanced at Wang Bide, then suddenly said: “I have an imposition to ask. In order to search for clues, might Mr. Pan and Mrs. Pan permit Detective Wang to search your daughter’s room once more?”

Wang Bide’s eyes widened, as if he wanted to raise an objection, but He Yunqin didn’t even look at him, just waited for Pan Maosheng and Mrs. Pan’s answer.

Yu Chongyi said from the side: “Uncle, Auntie, Detective Wang has solved many unsolved cases before — he’s an expert at gathering clues. Even though the French Concession police already looked at Yuqi’s room earlier, it would still be more reliable to have Detective Wang check it once more.”

Pan Maosheng and Mrs. Pan said in unison: “Then we’ll trouble Detective Wang.”

With arrangements made, the group came out to the living room. Seeing that both her son and daughter were going to the Pan mansion to help, Mrs. Yu decided on impulse to get in the car too.

Pan Maosheng’s rickshaw couldn’t fit so many people, so Hongdou got into Wang Bide’s car alongside her brother.

Wang Bide, rare for him, hadn’t been drinking today, and served as driver.

He Yunqin sat to the side, flipping through the transcript of Yuan Ruoli’s ex-wife’s confession that Yu Chongyi had copied down: “On August 23rd, Mrs. Yuan waited until dark to release Wang Meiping in order to avoid notice. Afraid Wang Meiping might get lost again, she personally watched her get into a rickshaw before leaving. Unfortunately, due to long-term medication use, Mrs. Yuan’s mental state was greatly affected, and she couldn’t recall the driver’s appearance at all, so naturally there’s no way to confirm the rickshaw driver’s identity.”

Hongdou said: “Does Mr. He suspect the driver is the murderer? But when Chen Baidie went missing that night, she called a private car, and when my cousin left the New Asia Tea House, she also called a private car.”

As she spoke, she turned to look at Yu Chongyi: “Brother, have you confirmed whether these two cars were from the same rental company?”

Yu Chongyi nodded: “We already confirmed the outgoing call from Chen Baidie’s home earlier, and then confirmed with Yuan Ruoli the car that Yuqi called that day. The two companies aren’t the same, and the drivers aren’t the same person either.”

He Yunqin said: “Regardless of whether Wang Meiping got out of the car partway on the night of the 23rd, or whom she met afterward, that rickshaw driver is a key figure. He could be the murderer, or a witness. But right now, Chen Baidie and Pan Yuqi are still in the murderer’s hands. If we make a big show of publishing this in the papers to find the man, given how cautious the murderer is, it could easily spook them — to destroy evidence, they might act early. So for now, our only option is to follow the route from the Yuan family clothing shop to the Zhou Tongqiang residence, and quietly investigate again, carefully.”

Hongdou furrowed her brow. When she used to read Wang Bide’s column before, watching him dissect and analyze cases, laying out clue after clue, she’d thought that with a bit of detective skill, solving a case would be almost effortless. But now that she was personally following He Yunqin and Wang Bide around, hitting dead ends everywhere, she realized just how difficult and tedious gathering and organizing clues actually was.

Fortunately, rickshaws weren’t like private cars — at night when picking up passengers they often had a fixed route, so finding that driver wouldn’t be as hard as searching for a needle in a haystack.

He Yunqin asked Hongdou: “Miss Yu, Lu Jingheng appeared at the tea party that Saturday, and as soon as he arrived, he caused a small commotion by harassing you. Do you remember roughly when he came in, and whether there was anything else unusual at the time?”

Yu Chongyi frowned deeply: “Lu Jingheng harassed you?”

Hongdou made a disgusted sound, seriously recalling that day: “At the time I was listening to Mr. He’s lecture. I remember Mr. He had just finished his opening remarks when someone kicked my chair from behind. When I turned around, I found out it was the young master of Nanbao Trading Company. That seat originally had a foreigner sitting in it — I’m not sure exactly when Lu Jingheng came in.”

He Yunqin looked at Wang Bide: “I recall that before the lecture started, you and I chatted in the back lounge for a bit — the lecture in the main hall began around four o’clock. That means Lu Jingheng had already arrived at New Asia Tea House around four, while Pan Yuqi left the jewelry shop at 3:25.”

“So Mr. He suspects Lu Jingheng?”

He Yunqin said: “Just a hunch. I still don’t know what connection there is between the three victims — I only know that Chen Baidie received an invitation from Nanbao Trading Company before she disappeared, and that your cousin had earlier rejected Lu Jingheng’s advances. Moreover, on the very day your cousin disappeared, Lu Jingheng also appeared at the New Asia Tea House. He has a private car, he has the physical strength — he has every condition necessary to commit the crime. If searching your cousin’s room later turns up nothing else, Detective Wang and I will keep a close watch on Lu Jingheng tonight.”

When they arrived at the Pan mansion, Hongdou had just gotten out of the car when someone suddenly called out to her: “Hongdou.”

Hearing this person address Hongdou by her given name directly, He Yunqin looked over and recognized him as the St. John’s student named Qin Xuekai — he remembered that it was this person who had taken the lead in organizing the tea party at New Asia Tea House last time.

Hongdou stopped in her tracks: “Senior Qin.”

Qin Xuekai walked closer, and only then noticed He Yunqin and Wang Bide behind Hongdou. He froze for a moment, then hurriedly greeted them: “Professor He, Detective Wang.”

Just then Pan Fusheng parked the car and came to lead the way. He Yunqin gave Qin Xuekai a faint smile and headed toward the Pan mansion.

Behind him, he could just hear Hongdou’s sweet, crisp voice asking Qin Xuekai: “Senior Qin, why are you here?”

Qin Xuekai said: “A professor from my department lives on this street. I came to deliver something to him.”

They walked a few more steps, the voices growing fainter. Fortunately, Hongdou didn’t talk to him for too long, and soon caught up.

Entering the Pan mansion, a servant came to open the door, and Mrs. Pan led He Yunqin and Wang Bide upstairs: “Yuqi’s room is upstairs.”

Upstairs, they walked a stretch down the hallway when a door on the side suddenly opened. A young woman came out of the room with a stern face, and seeing He Yunqin and the others, was visibly startled for a moment.

Hongdou walked over: “Yuyuan.”

Author’s Note: There are just a few more chapters before this case is solved — it’s not too complicated, it’s basically the appetizer of this story.

Hongdou and He Yunqin will also get married soon — I’ll keep the circumstances of the marriage a secret for now, but in any case, this novel is half a post-marriage story.

Not much word count today, your author is a bit embarrassed — here’s a red envelope to make up for it.