“All right. I understand.”

Faced with Sang Ning’s brief answer, Lin Zehui looked at her aggrievedly.

“I’ve told you everything. If my brother really is the killer, then the Lin Group will be inherited by me. Ningning… won’t you reconsider me?”

Sang Ning didn’t want to get entangled with him any further. She directly called the two officers stationed outside and had them take Lin Zehui to give a statement.

“Ningning, are you really not going to consider me?” Lin Zehui began shouting again.

Sang Ning said coldly, “Withholding information and interfering with investigators carries legal responsibility. Of course, you can call that Lawyer Jin of yours.”

However, Lawyer Jin hadn’t come to the station today to defend Lin Zehui.

He had come for Lin Zedong.

After bailing Lin Zehui out yesterday, Lin Zedong had already developed a clear understanding of this lawyer’s abilities.

Not long after Lin Zehui was taken away by the officers, Lawyer Jin hurried into the station. The moment he reached the lobby, he saw Sang Ning standing by the corridor.

Sang Ning saw him too, and the corner of her mouth twitched.

Speak of the devil.

“Dr. Sang. We meet again,” Lawyer Jin greeted her first.

Before Sang Ning could return the greeting, Lin Zehui’s voice rang out.

“Ningning, do you like money?”

Faced with that sudden question, Sang Ning had nothing to say.

Was there anyone in this world who didn’t like money?

Lawyer Jin followed her gaze and saw only Lin Zehui’s back, his head held high as he declared, “Divorce that wild man and marry me. I’ll give you the entire Lin Group.”

The words made Sang Ning’s brow twitch.

Gu Yezhou, the “wild man” in question, happened to come out of the detention room beside him just then. His face was tense, his eyes cold.

Sang Ning looked at him in confusion and heard him say, “I got some details from Li Xiaoqiang. He suspects the person who appeared in Shi Li’s apartment that night was Lin Zehui, because Lin Zehui was in Room 304 yesterday.”

Sang Ning gave a light laugh. “Lin Zehui just told me what happened last night. I’ve already had someone take him for another statement. Want me to repeat it for you?”

Gu Yezhou nodded.

The two of them began discussing it line by line, completely forgetting Lawyer Jin, who had come today on Lin Zedong’s behalf.

Lawyer Jin awkwardly adjusted his glasses. “This new criminal investigation captain really is something else.”

He specialized in criminal cases.

Of course, that often meant standing on the side of criminals.

There was no helping it. Criminals were his clients. Morally speaking, helping them reduce their sentences invited condemnation.

But for him, it had long since become routine.

Lawyer Jin left with another officer.

By the time Sang Ning and Gu Yezhou arrived at the technical squad, she had finished repeating everything Lin Zehui had said.

“You little girl, why are you here so soon? The results aren’t out yet. Wait a bit longer.”

An hour had already passed. Old Chen was drenched in sweat, and the other technicians were equally overwhelmed.

“We’ll wait,” Gu Yezhou said.

At that, Old Chen looked up. “Captain Gu, are you here to rush this old man for results too?”

“I heard you made a new discovery, so I came by to take a look.”

Gu Yezhou looked relaxed, as if he already had all the evidence in hand.

Sang Ning, however, felt uneasy.

Until Old Chen said, “The blood on this and Lin Zehui’s… among the STR loci, eight match exactly. So the killer could be Lin Zehui, but it could also be his brother, Lin Zedong.”

“That’s easy. Keep checking where Lin Zedong and Lin Zehui were on the nights of the ninth and tenth.”

Gu Yezhou let out a breath and picked up his phone to give the order.

Sang Ning interrupted. “No need. On the tenth, Lin Zehui was with a woman named Xiaoyue. Just bring her in, or go to her home.”

Gu Yezhou’s finger paused over the call button.

He recalled the first words he’d heard when he met Sang Ning:

*Fine, fine, fine. You can have this rotten cucumber. I don’t want it.*

The corner of his mouth lifted. “All right. I’ll send someone.”

In less than half an hour, the woman named Xiaoyue was brought in.

The whole story about being sick and hospitalized had been a lie.

When Lin Zehui wasn’t at the hospital, the woman had gone home and was busy packing her luggage, looking as if she was about to travel far away.

“Captain Gu, this woman ran the moment she saw us. She must have done something guilty.”

Gu Yezhou looked down at Xiaoyue from above, his voice cold.

“Where were you on the nights of the ninth and tenth?”

Xiaoyue said nervously, “I was with Lin Zehui.”

Gu Yezhou asked, “Aside from Lin Zehui, who else can testify?”

Trembling, Xiaoyue took out her phone. When she looked at Gu Yezhou, admiration crept into her eyes, and her cheeks flushed.

“My home surveillance cameras.”

Gu Yezhou glanced at the footage, then handed it to the officer beside him.

“Take this to the technical department for verification.”

His gaze returned to Xiaoyue. “Why did you run? And where were you planning to go with your luggage?”

Xiaoyue had only been placed in the consultation room instead of an interrogation room. That was already the greatest leniency they could give her.

She trembled with fear.

Watching from the side, Sang Ning’s lips twitched.

With nerves like that, she still wanted to be the other woman?

No—wrong.

Sang Ning was the one who had unknowingly been made the third party.

After all, Xiaoyue was Lin Zehui’s first love.

Lin Zehui’s taste wasn’t that great either.

Thinking this, Sang Ning’s gaze drifted toward Gu Yezhou.

“I… I just wanted to go away for a while… Is that not allowed?” Xiaoyue asked carefully, watching Gu Yezhou.

Gu Yezhou had no patience for this. His voice sharpened.

“Tell the truth.”

How could Xiaoyue withstand a seasoned detective like Gu Yezhou?

He had seen more criminals than she had watched crime dramas.

“I took money from Lin Zedong. I promised him I’d keep Lin Zehui tangled up and stop him from marrying Sang Ning. That’s all.”

Xiaoyue closed her eyes. Two clear lines of tears slid down her face as she choked out, “I used Lin Zehui’s sympathy for me, bribed a doctor, and forged medical records just to keep him by my side. As long as the tenth passed, he would have nothing to do with Sang Ning anymore.”

Sang Ning hadn’t expected that simply sitting in would somehow bring the topic back to herself.

Then she suddenly noticed something strange about the way Xiaoyue looked at Gu Yezhou.

It wasn’t like she was looking at a police officer.

It was more like… she was looking at an old friend she had admired for a very long time.

The kind of hidden excitement that came from finally seeing someone again, yet not daring to act too familiar in front of them.

Xiaoyue’s hands rested on the table, looking exactly like a student in class. Her arms were crossed, her fingers gripping her sleeves so tightly they had turned pale.

Seeing that the man before her said nothing, she cautiously asked Gu Yezhou, “Do you… still remember me?”

Xiaoyue’s face was still painted with sickly, pale makeup. She rubbed at her cheeks, trying to move closer to Gu Yezhou.

Gu Yezhou swept her with an icy glance.

“No.”

Xiaoyue wilted completely, murmuring, “That’s true. It’s been so long. How could you possibly still remember me?”

With Xiaoyue’s confirmation, the blood on the socks and the torn fiber were fully matched to Lin Zedong.