When Lu Yan saw that Jiang Chengyi’s deduction matched her thoughts, she said to him, “Wait a moment.”

She returned to her room and retrieved the photo album.

“I got this from Deng Man’s house yesterday.” She pushed it toward Jiang Chengyi.

“Look at this. It’s almost filled with photos of the three of us from high school. Deng Man seemed intent on keeping this album hidden before her death, deliberately storing it in her home’s storage room. If it weren’t for moving house and clearing rooms, her mother wouldn’t have found it in the corner.”

Jiang Chengyi knew she wouldn’t mention this album without reason. He glanced at her, frowning as he took it and began flipping through.

Thanks to the plastic cover protection, every photo in the album remained pristine and clear.

When he turned to one particular page, he noticed the footer was visibly curled, and the transparent film covering it was somewhat dirty.

He paused briefly before quickly continuing to flip through, but the photos that followed were as clean and vibrant as the others. Only that one showed obvious signs of being repeatedly touched.

Lu Yan saw that Jiang Chengyi quickly discovered the issue and looked at the photo as well.

Unlike the other photos, this one contained five people – besides the three of them, there was Teacher Zhou and another male student.

Teacher Zhou was much younger then, refined and fair-skinned, wearing black-framed glasses. Though not tall, he possessed an elegant and gentle demeanor that was incredibly pleasing to the eye.

The male student was standing with one foot on a soccer ball, wearing athletic clothes, and facing away from the camera while talking to Teacher Zhou. Like Teacher Zhou, this student was also not very tall.

“If I remember correctly, this was taken during summer break in our second year,” she said. “I recall the school hosted many summer activities then, including a speech competition initiated by Teacher Zhou. Deng Man prepared for it at home for a long time and ended up winning second place in our grade. As far as I remember, that was the first time Deng Man actively participated in such activities.”

Judging from the wear on this page, Deng Man must have frequently revisited this unexpected group photo.

Thinking back to how diligently Deng Man had prepared for that competition, Lu Yan felt a slight ache in her heart. Looking back carefully, Deng Man had left some traces of her admiration for Teacher Zhou, but because she had never considered the possibility of a student-teacher relationship, she had overlooked them all.

It wasn’t until last year, after hearing Teacher Zhou’s post-surgery mumblings and Ding Jing’s fear regarding Deng Man’s death, that she completely shifted her thinking and began to suspect Teacher Zhou.

“Who is this person?” Jiang Chengyi stared at the other person in the photo.

“I don’t know.” She had studied this person yesterday as well, feeling somewhat familiar, and though she had thought hard about it and almost seemed to remember, ultimately she couldn’t place him.

Jiang Chengyi flipped through the album from beginning to end, then took the fruit knife from the dining table’s fruit plate to examine the interlayer, ensuring nothing else was hidden inside. After some thought, he said, “According to Liu Yujie’s statement, Deng Man did make a wish on that website back then, but this alone wouldn’t have been enough for Ding Jing to successfully blackmail Deng Man. Since it was just a joke wish, Deng Man could have simply denied it outright. So I suspect that after seeing Deng Man’s wish, Ding Jing must have followed her and captured some concrete evidence, like photos or videos.”

[Continued in next section due to length…]

Lu Yan had long harbored doubts about this point. She nodded, listening as Jiang Chengyi continued.

“Similarly, this alone isn’t enough to confirm that Deng Man was involved in a student-teacher relationship, as there could be many other reasons for blackmail. But looking at Deng Man’s diary entries from that time: ‘My love is destined to be buried,’ ‘I’m destined to never have him,’ ‘I cannot betray friendship’ – and considering the innocent high school environment, I’m inclined to believe she was in love, and for some reason, couldn’t share this romance even with her close friends.”

“Before seeing this photo album, I was uncertain whether her love interest was Teacher Zhou, but with this photo, the possibility increases. Because besides the three of you, of the remaining two people, one is also a student, and the other is Teacher Zhou. If her attention was focused on the male student in the photo, both being high school students, why would she need to hide the relationship? Of course, just from her habit of touching the photo, we can’t conclude that what she felt for the person in the photo was love – it could have been hatred or other emotions.”

Lu Yan disagreed: “Deng Man did many things before her death to attract Teacher Zhou’s attention. I’m quite certain she had strong feelings for him, but unfortunately, before suspecting Teacher Zhou this year, I hadn’t realized that kind of attention was love. And from the fact that Teacher Zhou mentioned both Deng Man and Ding Jing in his post-surgery delirium years later, I thought of a possibility: he not only knew about Deng Man’s feelings but also responded to them – though, of course, this theory remains unconfirmed.”

“But then I remembered something. Once when you and I had arranged to meet at the basketball court, I was late because Teacher Zhou suddenly wanted to talk to me. The conversation was strangely superficial, which I found odd at the time. When I arrived at the basketball court, Deng Man had just found you to talk privately – that was the first time I saw Deng Man meet with you alone. Similar situations occurred several more times afterward. In other words, when Deng Man was deliberately creating misunderstandings between us, Teacher Zhou was likely not just aware but also a participant. I wonder, if Deng Man had something that could be used against her by Ding Jing, Teacher Zhou, as a teacher, would probably be even more desperate than Deng Man to cover it up to protect his reputation.”

This was the first time Jiang Chengyi had heard this theory. He thought for a few seconds: “This speculation might not be correct, but suppose it’s true. Back then, besides Ding Jing, Zhou Zhicheng was also pressuring Deng Man. You can imagine what kind of situation Deng Man would have been in under such double pressure – it would explain why she became so depressed and miserable later.”

Lu Yan was silent for a moment, feeling as if her chest was filled with fire: “Deng Man couldn’t hate her love interest, so she could only direct her anger at Ding Jing. That day, after my implied accusations, her guilt and shame reached their peak, leading her to write ‘hate her’ and ‘won’t let her go even as a ghost’ in the note. After Deng Man’s death, Ding Jing was so scared she wouldn’t leave her house, and according to what Liu Yujie said that day, eight years later when Ding Jing ran into someone who looked very similar to Deng Man, she suspected me because of her guilty conscience. That’s why she came to ask if I knew about ‘Winter Solstice’ and questioned whether I was behind it all.”

Both fell into deep thought.

After a while, Jiang Chengyi looked at Lu Yan.

She was still staring at the photo album, her eyelashes slightly wet, but the tear stains on her face had dried, making her cheeks appear even clearer than before.

Remembering how she had cried earlier, he felt both heartache and sympathy. After watching her for a moment and seeing the melancholy still lingering in her expression, he tossed the album back onto the table, ending their previous conversation: “There are too many suspicious points in Deng Man’s case. I’ll continue investigating. This matter is related to the Winter Solstice website from back then and might be connected to other later cases. You should stay out of it for now.”

She looked up at him, noticing he was still somewhat upset. Her heart melted like cotton, and she bit her lip, leaning forward to embrace his shoulders while gazing into his eyes: “Jiang Chengyi.”

Just like before, whenever she called his full name in that soft voice, it would send a tingle down his spine – it never failed. Last night, she had called his name countless times in various ways, driving him crazy. When he got up in the morning, his legs were still somewhat weak.

He leaned his head back, trying to maintain distance from her, and said sternly: “What are you doing?”

“Are you going to the bureau later?” One of her hands randomly reached toward his waist, unexpectedly feeling something hard behind him. She paused for a moment before realizing it was a gun holster and curiously tried to look behind him.

He pulled her hand away: “Don’t touch that. Let’s talk about serious matters.”

She had no choice but to stop: “I haven’t been to Mom’s house for a long time. Tomorrow’s Sunday, I want to visit East City.”

The person following her hadn’t been caught yet, so she couldn’t travel alone.

He didn’t respond.

Even before they were dating, he knew she lived with her mother.

Once during training, when she didn’t come because she had class, he felt somewhat dejected, barely responding when his teammates spoke to him.

Then somehow, Ding Jing suddenly started telling other cheerleaders about Lu Yan, saying that an aunt who knew Lu Yan’s mother had told her: Lu Yan’s father was a well-known playboy who had divorced her mother when Lu Yan was six years old. All these years, Lu Yan had lived with her mother, and her father rarely came to see her, providing only money and nothing else. As a result, Lu Yan was particularly insecure and had once told her good friend that even if she found a boyfriend, she would never date someone like her father, a playboy.

Won’t date playboys?

Later, when they got together, he remembered this and laughingly asked if she had ever said such things.

She denied it, but after thinking for a moment, she looked at him with an ambiguous smile and said: “My mother, having been hurt so deeply by my father, has said this more than once. I think when she finds out I have a boyfriend, she might need some time to accept you.”

Hearing this, he was happy inside, but said: “How old are you? Already thinking about introducing your boyfriend to your parents?”

She gave him a proud sidelong glance and softly snorted: “We’ll see how you perform in the future.”

Actually, except for the period when Deng Man committed suicide, being with her back then had been like basking in spring sunshine every day. Even after many years, he still craved that beautiful feeling.

Moreover, although his parents hadn’t had the chance to meet Lu Yan eight years ago, her mother had already met him during Lu Yan’s serious illness, and he could tell that Lu Yan’s mother was quite satisfied with him.

She was still waiting for his answer.

He didn’t want to agree too quickly, deliberately remaining silent.

After struggling between “pretending to refuse” and “taking the opportunity to agree,” he chose the latter. After a few seconds, he reluctantly gave an “mm” of assent.

“We can have lunch at my mom’s place while we’re there,” she said, her lips curling up. “I’ll call my mom in a bit and tell her not to make sweet and sour yellow croaker.”

He frowned and added: “I also don’t like kidney or tripe.”

Such a young master’s temperament.

“I know, I know,” she agreed with a smile, then asked him: “What do you want for lunch? I’ll cook for you.”

“You don’t need to cook lunch.”

“?”

“My mother’s coming over soon.”

She was stunned – his bedroom was still messy, and the bedsheets were in complete disarray: “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

His phone rang. He pulled her away from himself and stood up to answer it. After listening to the other party for a few sentences, he said, “Alright, I’m coming.”

She had already headed to his room.

He walked to the doorway.

His mother and Aunt Liu were probably almost at the complex. The house was too big, and only Aunt Liu knew where the washing machine and dryer were. Even if she changed the sheets, they would probably arrive before she could find the washing machine and dryer.

He let her bustle about, saying flatly: “Dr. Yu has arrived. I’ll probably have a boxed lunch at the bureau. My mother and the others will be here soon, Aunt Liu will prepare lunch then, and the driver will come up too.”

She gave an “oh” but didn’t have time to turn around before he had left.

Dr. Yu was quite punctual. As soon as he arrived at his office, he saw a slightly overweight middle-aged man in his forties sitting at the desk, hands crossed over his stomach, with sharp eyes and a pleasant smile.

Seeing him enter, Dr. Yu immediately pulled back his chair and stood up, extending his hand: “Deputy Captain Jiang Chengyi? I’m Yu Zheng.” Despite his bulky physique, his movements were extraordinarily agile.

“Hello,” he shook hands and invited Yu Zheng to sit.

Old Qin and the others opened the slideshow.

Yu Zheng was very efficient, having already roughly gone through the materials Old Qin and the others had sent him on his way here. As the room lights dimmed, he asked Little Zhou to slowly replay the crime scenes from Li Liwei three years ago, Wang Wei from B City this year, Wang Qianqian from S City, and Ding Jing.

“These cases share some commonalities,” Jiang Chengyi explained, “but there are also some subtle differences. Considering the difficulty of solving them, the higher-ups have temporarily grouped them as a series of crimes.”

While enlarging one of the images, Yu Zheng stared at it for a few seconds, nodding excitedly: “Very interesting. This is a rapidly evolving criminal with certain financial means. If we don’t find this person quickly, he/she will likely create more elaborate scenarios. Come, Captain Jiang, colleagues, let’s start with the crime stimulus scenario.”