Song Xingzhi lebte während der Regierungszeit von Kaiser Huizong

Kapitel 31

"No."

She tried to turn and leave, but he grabbed her hand.

"I'm serious, do you think I'm joking?"

Ling Ge turned to look at him and said bluntly, "If you liked me, you wouldn't have waited three years. If you don't like me now, you'll be even less likely to like me in three years. Since you don't like me, why give me this empty promise? When did I say I absolutely had to marry you? When did I ever say that?" The more she spoke, the angrier she became, feeling even more that he was lying to her and playing her for a fool. Her voice trembled uncontrollably, and she choked up at the end. "I'm not good enough, and I don't expect anyone to be good to me in this life. I've always been a staunch advocate of remaining single, I've said that before, but now I have to make it clear to you: if I'm still single in three years, I'm not waiting for you!"

She tried to shake off his hand after she finished speaking, but he held on even tighter.

“Who said I was making empty promises to you? Do you think I would waste my time getting entangled with a woman I have absolutely no interest in?” He stared at her, making her feel uneasy, then his tone softened a bit, and he said, “Ling Ge, it’s hard for me to promise anyone a future right now because I’m not ready. Can you give me some time?”

"No!" she said angrily.

He looked at her for a while, shook her hand, and laughed, "If you don't want to give it to me, then you don't. I wasted my breath talking, okay? Let's just let things take their course, alright?"

She ignored him.

"Are you still angry?"

She turned her head away and wouldn't look at him anymore. She felt no sympathy for him at all and regretted holding his hand earlier.

“Let’s go eat bibimbap. I’ve only eaten one bowl of instant noodles since noon, and I’m starving,” he said, placing her hand on his stomach. “Feel it if you don’t believe me.”

"I'm nobody to you, why are you acting all coy!" She turned and glared at him, really wanting to punch him, but remembering the look of fear on his face when he mentioned Lu Min's boyfriend, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She could only say:

"I promised them I'd go back..." Before she could finish speaking, he kissed her lips. She felt as if a small missile had struck her brain, rendering her momentarily paralyzed. His kiss was as light as a dragonfly skimming the water, incredibly fast. By the time she came to her senses and tried to push him away, he had already released her. In her dazed state, he whispered in her ear, "Now, I dare not do anything else, I dare not..."

Ling Ge walked nervously to Shen Biyun's door and knocked gently three times. Shen Biyun's elegant and gentle voice came from inside, "Come in."

Ling Ge pushed open the door and went inside. Before entering the room, she didn't forget to look back at both ends of the corridor. Fortunately, no one saw her. Jian Dongping had specifically told her that it was best to avoid other people when talking to Shen Biyun.

Only one table lamp was on in the room. Shen Biyun, wearing a white lace-trimmed nightgown, was sitting under the dim yellow light, slowly sorting through photos. When she saw Ling Ge, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"Ling Ge? Is something the matter?" Shen Biyun asked.

"You're organizing photos?" She didn't know where to begin.

Shen Biyun didn't respond to her greetings, but looked up at her, as if waiting for her to continue.

Okay, then go ahead and tell me.

"Jian Dongping would like to meet you tomorrow at noon," she said, mustering her courage.

"Dongping is back?" Shen Biyun asked gently.

"Yes."

"when?"

“This afternoon…” Ling Ge stammered, noticing Shen Biyun’s eyes darting around in their sockets.

"Did you have dinner with him tonight?" Shen Biyun asked kindly.

"Hmm." Ling Ge felt embarrassed because she had called to say that a high school classmate had invited her to dinner. Jian Dongping denied having a particularly good appetite tonight, eating a stone pot bibimbap, two servings of Han's pancakes, and a lot of grilled meat by himself. Watching him wolf down his food, she felt a little sorry for him. Later, she learned that he hadn't eaten breakfast and had been traveling without stopping much along the way. By the time he arrived at Lu Min's house, it was past lunchtime, and he found only a packet of instant noodles in the refrigerator. He barely ate a few bites and then threw it away. He was just about to go downstairs to buy something else when she arrived, so he was starving that day.

Ling Ge was daydreaming when she heard Shen Biyun ask her:

"Do you know why Dongping wanted to see me?"

He said, "You'll see when you get there."

"This child! I'm so busy, how did he know I would definitely go?" Shen Biyun smiled and frowned, then asked after a while, "What else did Dongping say?"

She also told you to keep the house key with you.

Shen Biyun blinked her eyes playfully, then slowly smiled.

"What on earth is he up to? Okay, I'll go see him tomorrow." After she finished speaking, she muttered to herself, "It's about time I met him."

15. Not Xiang Bing

Jian Dongping was woken up early by his phone ringing. Without a doubt, it was Ling Ge. He was already regretting telling her that his phone was on 24/7. Ever since he told her that, he hadn't slept well. He was either woken up by her phone or worried that she would call. He felt like he was living in misery, unable to eat or sleep well.

He sighed and answered the phone.

"What's wrong?" he mumbled, still half asleep.

"It's Xiang Bing! It's Xiang Bing!" she screamed into the phone.

"Don't be so loud so early in the morning, okay? What's wrong with Xiang Bing?" He sat up from the sofa, scratched his hair, picked up a water glass, and took a big gulp of cold water.

"Xiang Bing has been arrested! He confessed that he beat Su Zhiwen to death!"

Jian Dongping spat out a mouthful of water, which spilled all over the ground.

"What? No way. Are you sure you're not mistaken?" He couldn't believe his ears.

“He admitted it himself, I’m not mistaken,” Ling Ge argued.

"Where are you?"

"I just walked out of the police station. Xiao Zheng told me all this. He's such a nice guy. He told me everything I asked him," Ling Ge praised over the phone.

Upon hearing the effeminate man delivering the preserved plums, Jian Dongping was furious, but he couldn't afford to lose his temper, as that would be too uncouth. Besides, he was the one who had promised Ling Ge to keep their three-year friendship pact, so he had no right to get angry. Thus, he suppressed his displeasure and coldly asked, "Alright, what did this gentleman say?"

"Sir? Who is that?" Ling Ge asked, confused.

"It's your little Zheng."

"Why did you call him 'sir' in such a sarcastic way? It startled me. Ugh... I'm so cold." Ling Ge mocked him with a trembling voice on the phone.

"I'm hanging up if you don't tell me."

"Just kidding!" she laughed.

He felt like the two of them had switched places, and he decided that he had to maintain his usual style no matter what.

"I was just kidding, I wouldn't really hang up. Okay, go on," he urged with a fake smile.

"Uncle Lin and his team found out that Xiang Bing's girlfriend's family was killed by Su Zhiwen." Ling Ge's voice suddenly became tense. "It turns out that Xiang Bing used to have a girlfriend. Because the girl had a rural household registration, Xiang Bing's parents always disagreed with their marriage. But Xiang Bing loved the girl very much. He had a huge fight with his parents over this. Later, Xiang Bing's parents finally gave in after the girl became pregnant out of wedlock."

"Pregnant before marriage?" He already knew what she was going to say next.

"Later, Xiang Bing's parents arranged to meet the girl and her parents. Of course, they also wanted to meet the child. So that night, after dinner, Xiang Bing's girlfriend took the child and got into the car with her parents. As a result, they were involved in a car accident on the way."

"Strange, why are they going at night?"

"Because there are no taxis there, the car they took belonged to a relative, who was only available to drive them at night. By the way, that girl had just finished her postpartum confinement. She finally got to see Xiang Bing's parents, and then this happened. It's so pitiful," Ling Ge said with sympathy.

Was the car accident caused by Su Zhiwen's prank?

"Yes. As soon as Su Zhiwen mentioned it that day, Xiang Bing knew it was Su Zhiwen who did it. Xiang Bing was afraid of making a mistake, so he even asked about the name of the road where the incident happened at the dinner table. The time and the road name that Su Zhiwen mentioned matched, so he was certain that it was Su Zhiwen who did it."

"Then what?"

“Around 8 o’clock, Xiang Bing ran to the park while he was on the phone. He said that he had been struggling with his thoughts at that time. He hated Su Zhiwen very much. He had been looking for the culprit for years. Moreover, his suicide attempt was actually because of this. If Su Zhiwen really did it, I think he deserved to die! Xiang Bing did nothing wrong! He just did it too stupidly.”

"Did you say those last few words to that guy surnamed Zheng?" he asked anxiously.

"Not yet. Didn't you say you shouldn't confide in your colleagues? Xiao Zheng is my colleague, I won't say anything out of line. I'm only talking to you."

He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself, "Xiao Ge, you've finally become more shrewd."

"Great. What's next?" He walked into the bathroom while listening to the phone call.

"He was struggling with his thoughts there, and I don't know how much time passed. He saw Su Zhiwen go into the storage room. He was about to climb in through the window, but there was another window next to the storage room when he suddenly saw Fang Rouzhi pop out from beside the stairs. Afraid that Fang Rouzhi would see him, he quickly hid. After several more minutes, he saw that there was no one in the corridor, so he climbed in through the window. The storage room door wasn't closed properly, so he opened it and went in. He said he thought it was a room, but he didn't expect that as soon as he entered, there was a staircase leading down. He almost tripped and fell on the stairs." Ling Ge suddenly asked, "What are you doing? I hear the sound of running water."

"I'm going to take a shower. Go on, don't interrupt." He replied irritably while he was using the toilet.

“You’re living a really comfortable life. When Lu Min comes back, she’ll find out you’ve been using up a lot of water and electricity.” Ling Ge added, “But anyway, you two are very close, she won’t care.”

He laughed heartily: "Me, acquainted with her? I've never even tasted her tomato. Don't forget, Lu Min and I are good friends, but you and I are supposed to be husband and wife."

"Alright, alright, let's continue with the case." She seemed to snort. "He quietly entered the storage room. Su Zhiwen was surprised to see him. He explained that he had come to the wrong door. Su Zhiwen kindly told him that this was a forbidden area of the house and that he should leave quickly while no one was outside, otherwise it wouldn't be good if someone saw him. Su Zhiwen was quite gentlemanly. Xiang Bing agreed while picking up a vase and smashing it at him. Su Zhiwen was standing with his back to him in front of that big box, the lid of which was open, and he just fell over like that. And then Xiang Bing, Xiang Bing... what are you doing? Why is there only the sound of water? Are you listening to me?"

"I'm comfortably soaking in the bathtub right now, please don't interrupt, keep going." He was flushing the toilet.

"Okay, Xiang Bing thought he was dead, so he used Su Zhiwen's finger to write the words 'Not Xiang Bing' in the box, then closed the box and left. You didn't expect that, did you? Those four words were actually written by Xiang Bing himself. 'Not Xiang Bing,' isn't that a bit unnecessary?"

"If it's his first offense, it's understandable that he might do something stupid in a moment of panic. Was there really no one there when he went out?"

"There's really no one here."

"How did he get out? Did he climb out of the window?"

"Yes."

"But there's something I don't understand. If it was him, didn't he leave fingerprints or other traces? Uncle Lin should have found out long ago. Why is he only contacting him now?" he asked while washing his face.

"Hey, you forgot what he said in his confession? He loves stamp collecting. Many stamp collectors carry gloves and a pair of small pliers with them because they don't want to leave their fingerprints on stamps when they look at other people's stamps."

"So Xiang Bing was wearing gloves." He returned to the living room after washing his face.

"Uncle Lin is amazing, isn't he? He caught Xiang Bing, who was hiding so well. I really admire him. So, do you think we should still meet with Grandma Shen today?" she asked in a low voice.

"Of course we should meet. The murderer isn't Xiang Bing." He said casually, walked to the refrigerator, and took out a sandwich.

"But……"

“Don’t forget, Su Zhiwen suffocated, not killed by a vase. If he had woken up later, and if the box hadn’t been locked with a rolling pin, he could have gotten out. The real murderer is the person who stole the rolling pin, while Xiang Bing only decided to attack Su Zhiwen on the spur of the moment. He couldn’t have thought of stealing the rolling pin from the kitchen. First, he might not have known he could find it there. Second, my dad said the rolling pin disappeared around 5 o’clock, which prevented Zhang Yufen from making dumplings. At that time, Su Zhiwen hadn’t given his speech yet, and Xiang Bing hadn’t planned to kill anyone. So, Xiang Bing isn’t the murderer. He just did what the murderer was planning to do.” He put the sandwich in the microwave, turned it on medium, and continued, “I believe Uncle Lin thinks so too. He’s a cunning old fox. I suspect he already knew about Xiang Bing. He’s arresting Xiang Bing now just to mislead the murderer. Also, he hopes Xiang Bing can provide him with some crucial clues.”

Did he provide it?

"Of course he provided it. Based on what you just said, he provided at least three clues."

"What is it? I don't see it." Ling Ge asked in surprise.

"I'll tell you after we meet; it's hard to say right now. By the way, where was Xiang Bing arrested?"

“He was arrested last night. Yushan came alone last night and didn’t mention it, so we didn’t know anything about it. She only told us this morning and asked me to help her find out. I only found out about all this when I went to the police station. Actually, Yushan still cares about Xiangbing. Although she may not love him, I can tell that she cares about him a lot.”

“I think she’s conflicted too, but I really don’t like people like her.” He said coldly, the microwave beeped, and he took out a sandwich. “There’s a problem. In the story Su Zhiwen told, a couple and a child died in the car, but now Xiang Bing is telling me there were five people in there: the girl, the girl’s parents, the baby, and the driver. How did that happen?”

"Xiao Zheng said that they have investigated the matter and, as Xiang Bing said, five people died in the car. The driver was the girl's uncle, and he had also been drinking that day. He and the girl's father, who was sitting in the front seat, died on the spot, while the girl and her mother died after being taken to the hospital."

“This shows that Xiang Bing wasn’t lying. The car accident did happen, and he hated that person very much because of it. He did want to kill that person, but the person who caused the car accident wasn’t Su Zhiwen. Because of the information asymmetry, Su Zhiwen probably heard this story from someone else.” He took the sandwich to the living room and poured himself a glass of water.

"Ah...so...Xiang Bing killed the wrong person?"

"He hit the wrong person; he didn't kill anyone."

Ling Ge hesitated for a moment before asking, "How could he not notice such big flaws in Su Zhiwen's story? How could he still believe that Su Zhiwen did it?"

“He must think that Su Zhiwen is deliberately hiding something.” He took a sip of water and said, “Alright, Ling Ge, you don’t need to doubt this. Whether Su Zhiwen did it or not, it’s all written in Zhou Jin’s novel. Actually, he was just showing off his friend’s story. This proves that either he was very proud when he spoke, or he had other intentions.”

“It’s ridiculous that some people would brag about something like this,” Ling Ge said.

"Telling others about the bad things you've done is like threatening them. It's like saying, 'Hey, look, I'm capable of anything. Don't think I'm a pushover.'"