While they whispered among themselves, Jiang Chengyi remained focused on his phone.
Though physically present, his mind was on the case.
Finding it uninteresting, Tang Jie and Jiang’s mother continued helping Lu Yan try on clothes.
This season’s designs were noteworthy. While Tang Jie maintained her enthusiasm throughout, Jiang’s mother frequently turned her attention to Lu Yan.
Under their insistence, Lu Yan finally tried on a black and white knit dress, a Chanel classic – a cropped top with a mini skirt. Though simple in design, the perfect tailoring revealed her graceful figure.
When she emerged from the fitting room, Jiang’s mother and Tang Jie immediately gathered around.
The former nodded with a smile, while the latter’s eyes sparkled – both agreed the dress suited Lu Yan perfectly.
Lu Yan glanced sideways at Jiang Chengyi, expecting him to be oblivious, but discovered he was already looking her way, his gaze slowly trailing over certain parts of her body before settling on her face.
The sales associate approached to process the sale, smiling sweetly: “Miss, Mr. Jiang has already paid. This dress only comes in one size, and most people can’t pull it off. But with your figure and grace, it seems tailor-made for you.”
After the shopping spree, everyone had their acquisitions.
At Jiang’s mother’s request, her selected outfits would be delivered to the Jiang residence later. Tang Jie, being impatient, couldn’t wait to wear her new clothes and took her packages directly.
At the parking lot, Tang Jie had a private chat with Lu Yan, made plans with Jiang’s mother for their next shopping trip, then waved goodbye and drove away.
Jiang Chengyi walked his mother and Lu Yan to their car, telling his mother: “Mom, someone’s been stalking Lu Yan recently. I’m worried about her being alone at home. I’d like her to stay with you for now, and I’ll pick her up after I finish work.”
“What about you? Working overtime again?”
“I need to surveil a suspect for a few hours.”
Jiang’s mother grew more puzzled: “You don’t know when you’ll finish. Why go through all this trouble? Just pick up Yan Yan tomorrow morning-“
She stopped mid-sentence, realizing her son couldn’t bear to be apart from Lu Yan for even one night.
She smiled sweetly: “I understand.”
Lu Yan’s cheeks flushed as she stepped aside, softly cautioning Jiang Chengyi: “Be careful.”
Jiang Chengyi deliberately lowered his voice: “I’ll come get you as soon as I’m done. Won’t keep you waiting long, so don’t fall asleep at my parents’.”
Lu Yan pretended not to catch the intimacy in his tone, cast him a bright glance, and then turned to follow Jiang’s mother into their car.
Jiang Chengyi watched his mother and Lu Yan leave before getting into his car.
Jiang Chengyi’s parents lived in a riverside villa. With his father away, Jiang’s mother settled Lu Yan in Jiang Chengyi’s old bedroom.
Health-conscious and strict about early bedtime, Jiang’s mother chatted with Lu Yan for a while before heading upstairs to remove her makeup.
Lu Yan took off her coat and surveyed the room.
It was spacious and tidy, with warm tones. Photos covered the walls – family portraits of the Jiangs and many of Jiang Chengyi’s solo pictures from his youth. Dozens of carefully framed photographs hung in prominent positions, clearly arranged by his mother.
Lu Yan smiled genuinely as she examined each photo. Over twenty years, Jiang Chengyi had grown from a chubby little boy into a handsome young man. Looking at them now gave her a strange yet intimate feeling.
By early morning, she was drowsy, lying on his bed nearly asleep when Jiang Chengyi called. Simultaneously, hushed voices came from outside.
Opening the door, she found Jiang Chengyi talking with Housekeeper Liu.
She quickly retrieved her bag, apologetically bid Housekeeper Liu goodnight, and left with Jiang Chengyi.
It was nearly one when they got home.
As soon as they entered, Jiang Chengyi stripped and went to shower, finishing incredibly quickly – less than ten minutes.
He emerged with a towel around his waist, water dripping from his hair onto his brow.
Lu Yan grabbed a towel to dry his hair, grumbling: “Why don’t you ever blow-dry your hair?”
He urged her to shower, letting her fuss: “Why bother? I’ll be sweating again soon anyway.”
Really, enough.
Lu Yan glared at him, pushed him away, and turned to enter the bathroom, turning on the faucet to shower.
As she bent down, she suddenly felt physical discomfort. Upon checking, she discovered her period had arrived early.
She sat on the toilet, feeling both wistful and slightly relieved.
Perhaps it was for the best – they hadn’t used protection the past few times, and she’d been worried about pregnancy. It wasn’t that she didn’t want children, just… though unsure of Jiang Chengyi’s thoughts, she wasn’t mentally prepared yet.
Jiang Chengyi first poured water for himself and Lu Yan, then roughly dried his hair with a towel, and finally picked up a list to examine on the sofa.
Deep in reading, he heard Lu Yan’s muffled voice from the bathroom.
“Jiang Chengyi.”
“Hm?” He didn’t look up. “What is it?”
“Help me get something from the bedside table in the other room.”
“What thing?”
“Pink box, there are many of those things inside, bring me one.”
Many of what?
He looked up, puzzled.
Hearing her urgent tone, though confused, he went to the bedroom.
Opening the bedside drawer, he found the pink box, took out its contents, and his face darkened.
“Lu Yan.” Passing the tampon through the door, he expressed his discontent: “Couldn’t you have given me some advance notice about this?”
Though he wasn’t the type to think only with his lower half, he’d been looking forward to tonight, and suddenly getting doused with cold water – to say he wasn’t disappointed would be a lie.
Lu Yan ignored him. Her emotions had been volatile lately, affecting her cycle, and making advance notice impossible.
After showering, she climbed into bed. Though the blanket was light and soft, her hands and feet felt colder than usual. It couldn’t be helped – hormonal changes caused subcutaneous blood vessels to contract, affecting circulation in her extremities. This happened every period.
“Jiang Chengyi.” She pulled the blanket up to her chin, eyes bright as she looked at him, voice soft and gentle. “Could you get me some thick socks from the other room?”
Jiang Chengyi lifted the covers and got in, holding her: “Cold?”
She nodded.
His body was burning hot like a small sun. As soon as he came close, she instinctively curled up like a shrimp and burrowed into his embrace.
He held her shoulders with one arm while his other hand reached down to find her cold feet, wrapping them in his palm: “Is this better?”
She hugged his waist, voice tinged with amusement, encouraging him: “Much better.”
He looked down at her black hair, remembering how in high school she once got her period unexpectedly and stained her pants. He had given her his uniform to cover up and took her home in a taxi. That was when he learned women’s periods often came irregularly.
Her body was soft and full. Afraid of making things harder for himself, he reached back for the list on the bedside table to distract himself.
She lay with eyes half-closed, feet tucked under his calves, toes gently rubbing for warmth.
Her touches made his heart tingle, different from desire – more a serene satisfaction filling his entire heart.
As if remembering earlier events, she opened her eyes and moved closer: “Were you surveilling Teacher Zhou earlier?”
Jiang Chengyi studied the list: “Yeah, Officer Xiao Zhou had been watching for several hours, I went to take over.”
“What’s this?” Lu Yan followed his gaze.
“People who came to pay respects at Ding Jing’s house that night.”
“So many?” She was slightly startled.
Scanning, the list contained about a thousand names.
“Yes.”
“Though the Ding family has declined in recent years, they still have deep roots and broad connections in the city. Ding Jing was Ding Jianguo’s eldest daughter – when something happened to her, the family’s friends were obligated to pay their respects.”
After thinking, he said: “Excluding guests who left half an hour before Liu Yujie was injected with morphine, over a hundred people remained. And in the minutes before Liu Yujie was discovered, more than thirty of these hundred-plus people took the elevator to leave.”
In other words, everyone was a suspect.
Lu Yan noticed that among the names, Jiang Chengyi had circled several, with “Zhou Zhicheng” being the first.
She tried to deduce: “Based on the circumstances of Liu Yujie’s murder that night, the killer must have been among the guests. Now that we have the guest list, can’t we narrow down the scope?”
Jiang Chengyi pondered: “Don’t forget the killer is skilled at disguise. Following his usual method, he likely stalked Ding Jing for some time before killing her, gaining familiarity with her social circles. He might have used this knowledge to pose as her acquaintance or friend at the wake, possibly using a false name. This makes the list potentially misleading.”
To investigate each person would be an enormous task. Clearly, Jiang Chengyi had spent considerable effort these past few days trying to narrow the range of suspects.
Lu Yan recalled the “teacher-student relationship” mentioned that afternoon and asked: “What did you find in Ding Jing’s house on Yiyuan Road? What were those discs you watched this afternoon?”
Jiang Chengyi, worried about upsetting her, tried to downplay it: “The discs contained footage of Deng Man and Teacher Zhou together, secretly filmed by a stalker back then.”
Lu Yan’s ears tingled, a strong discomfort rising in her throat.
After so many years, suspecting something was one thing, having it confirmed was another entirely.
“Was Ding Jing the one who filmed it?” She steadied her voice.
Jiang Chengyi neither confirmed nor denied, his gaze showing hesitation.
“It wasn’t Ding Jing?” She was very surprised. “Wasn’t she the one who used these recordings to blackmail Deng Man? And Teacher Zhou, not wanting his reputation damaged, was forced to participate. Thinking it through, Ding Jing benefited the most from this.”
Jiang Chengyi turned to look at her, giving a slight “mm” before saying: “After the website was created, Ding Jing was the first to make a wish there. Her wish was: ‘I hope Jiang Chengyi quickly dumps that little bitch Lu Yan.'”
The records were traceable, and easily verified.
Lu Yan mentally rolled her eyes: “Well, congratulations to her then. Though things developed far beyond her imagination, as the instigator, she did get her wish at the time.”
Jiang Chengyi remained silent.
Looking at the later victims, each person’s wish on the website was fulfilled, but only Ding Jing’s wish-making was suspicious.
If she had filmed these videos herself and used them to force Deng Man to break up him and Lu Yan, then in a sense, Ding Jing fulfilled her wish, being her own master. How could she have become part of the killer’s ritual?
“I suspect someone else filmed these videos back then.”
“Why do you say that?”
“That person used the secretly filmed videos to control your best friend’s fate. In providing the videos to Ding Jing, they also provided a way to fulfill her wish. But because this method had too many uncertainties and was too crude, it might have been the killer’s early work. Unfortunately, it’s been too long to determine the source of these discs – whether Ding Jing recorded them herself… or if someone else provided them.”
Hearing this, Lu Yan had a quick flash of memory, but it passed too quickly to grasp.
She steadied her thoughts and tried hard to remember. After a long while, her memory gradually awakened, stopping at the summer after high school graduation: “Do you remember that time you gave me a pair of red patent leather shoes with bows?”
“What about it?” Jiang Chengyi certainly remembered. She had been so beautiful that night. He accompanied her shopping, bought her things, discussed college applications with her, and later, unable to control himself, coaxed her into their first intimate encounter.
“That time we agreed to meet at Central Park, you were late because you went to pick up my shoes. While waiting for you, I accidentally ran into Ding Jing. She came running from the direction of the rose garden, white as paper. I found it strange and looked in the direction she came from, but didn’t see anyone else come out. Then you arrived, and I didn’t think more about it. But this incident… I still find it puzzling. I keep wondering what Ding Jing saw in the park that day?”
Hearing the word “park,” Jiang Chengyi frowned: “Could she have caught Deng Man and Teacher Zhou dating in the park and been frightened-“
He stopped mid-sentence, contradicting himself: “No, that’s wrong. The discs found at Ding Jing’s house were labeled April 2009, and our date was in June after the college entrance exam. By then, Ding Jing not only knew about Deng Man and Zhou Zhicheng but was already using it to blackmail Deng Man-“
“Besides, Ding Jing looked too panicked then,” Lu Yan tried to recall the scene. “Like she’d seen a ghost. Given her personality, if she’d caught Deng Man and Teacher Zhou, she would have been gleeful, not that terrified.”
Like she’d seen a ghost…
Jiang Chengyi held Lu Yan’s shoulders: “There’s only one path leading to the rose garden and artificial lake in Central Park. After Ding Jing left, did you see anyone else come out?”
Lu Yan shook her head: “You arrived right after she left, then you helped me with my shoes. My attention was completely on you, I wasn’t looking elsewhere. Though I remember some girls passed by because they were looking at you. I was a bit unhappy about that and glanced their way, but didn’t look closely.”
Jiang Chengyi stared at her intently: “Think carefully, did anyone in that group look familiar?”
Seeing his serious expression, Lu Yan nodded and slowly calmed herself, striving to remember that time. After thinking for a while, her memories remained as if covered by a white mist, with only Jiang Chengyi clear in the foreground. He had been exceptionally handsome that night, and her attention had been completely fixed on him, unable to look away.
The scent of roses filled the air, along with the sounds of girls’ laughter. She turned her head to see a group of girls walking past.
They were all around her age, bright and cheerful, naturally noticing the handsome boy. But everyone looked perfectly normal… nothing strange at all.
The more she looked, the less suspicious it seemed, and she was about to open her eyes when suddenly, in her peripheral vision, someone appeared, unexpectedly following behind the group of girls. It was getting dark by then, and the woman wore a dress – she couldn’t remember the color, only that she had wavy hair and dressed like a young married woman. Oddly, though the woman was slender, her calf muscles were very developed, and she took large, quick strides, creating an incongruous impression.
This was why, even after so many years, she still remembered that woman. Compared to her, the faces of others had become blurry.
That wasn’t all – though the woman had kept her head down when passing behind Jiang Chengyi, she quickly looked up at Lu Yan.
At that moment, Jiang Chengyi was helping her with her shoes. Though it was just a split second, the woman seemed to recognize Jiang Chengyi, and that glance held very complex meaning – unclear whether it was jealousy or coldness.
Unfortunately, the woman wore a disposable mask, so Lu Yan couldn’t see her face.
Her heart suddenly jumped, and she grabbed Jiang Chengyi’s arm: “I remember that time, there was a strange woman who took very large strides, almost like a man, and I think she recognized you because when she saw you helping me with my shoes, she seemed very angry. But she quickly turned away and never looked back. After you stood up, you noticed her too. I thought you might greet her, but you didn’t seem to know her, so I assumed I was mistaken, but… something about that person felt wrong, so I couldn’t help watching her a bit longer.”
Jiang Chengyi’s voice deepened: “That person knew me?”
Lu Yan hesitated: “I’m not entirely sure. I’m also not certain if Ding Jing’s fear was related to this woman, but we stayed there for over ten minutes, and I never saw anyone else come out. If this woman scared Ding Jing, she was dressed quite ordinarily – why would she frighten Ding Jing so much?”
“What if Ding Jing thought she saw a dead person?”
Lu Yan froze.
Jiang Chengyi was silent for a long time, then nodded and said: “When Liu Yujie was attacked right under my nose, I thought the killer was deliberately provoking me, but I didn’t share my subjective thoughts with Dr. Yu to avoid influencing his judgment. But now I can’t shake the intuition that the killer might very well be someone from our No. 7 High School.”
Early the next morning, just after washing up, Jiang Chengyi was already making calls: “Hello, this is Jiang Chengyi from the Major Crimes Unit. Yesterday, Old Qin from our team sent over a list. Could you help us screen these people to see if any attended No. 7 High School? Also, regarding Zhou Zhicheng’s immediate family, could you expedite those results?”
Lu Yan helped him find his jacket and shirt and then went to make breakfast.
They were still eating when Jiang Chengyi’s phone rang.
“Good, please send it over.”
Lu Yan leaned over to look – it was a message.
“Hello, Captain Jiang, 1. Confirmed with Zhou Zhicheng’s parents that he lived and studied locally until employment, had no romantic history, and no children. 2. List of wake attendees who studied at No. 7 High School as follows…”
Lu Yan sat beside Jiang Chengyi and scanned carefully. The list was long, including students from Class 3 and Class 6, as well as Wen Peng and Yu Baifeng.