Chapter 281: A Deadly Pact

2022-05-20

Yang Licheng lit another cigarette and said to us, “I never expected Liang Mei, who usually keeps a low profile, to show up at the reunion. I saw her there, but she didn’t say a single word to me. Still, I could see the resentment in her eyes. You know, she’s never really let go of what happened back then.”

Wang Yikai rubbed his stomach and chimed in, “Yang Licheng, not to call you out, but honestly, that was pretty scummy. If you didn’t like her you shouldn’t have confessed. At least I did better than you on that front.”

I glanced at Wang Yikai’s tightly furrowed brow and said, “Look at you—you’re falling apart and still have the nerve to lecture someone else?”

Holding his stomach, Wang Yikai grumbled, “What did I even eat last night? Feels like my guts are twisted. Hope I didn’t get some fake food again. Don’t mind me, just keep going with what you were talking about.”

Yang Licheng continued, “Yeah, I know I messed up. But by the time I found out Liang Mei was pregnant with my kid, years had already passed. I tried reaching out to her but couldn’t get through. After she… after she killed someone, I thought I’d never see her again. Never expected her to have the guts to show up at the reunion.”

Wang Xianduo once said Liang Mei left in the middle of the night. Now we know she went to find Yang Licheng. The timing matches up. But after Liang Mei met with Lü Zhiqiu, would she really have killed someone? Or did someone else arrange to meet Lü Zhiqiu after Liang Mei left?

As Lü Zhiqiu’s boyfriend, did Hu Pei go looking for her that night? I found myself shaking my head—it felt like we’d run in circles and were back at the same puzzle. Our most pressing matter is to confirm who saw Lü Zhiqiu last. Did anyone see her after Liang Mei?

I turned to Zhao Mingkun and said, “Try getting in touch with Liang Mei. She’s our prime suspect right now.”

Zhao Mingkun nodded and called from Yang Licheng’s landline. Yang Licheng didn’t notice anything strange about this. But after a while, no one picked up. Zhao Mingkun put the phone down. “No one’s answering,” he said.

“No one picked up?” I asked. “Or did they hang up?”

Zhao Mingkun replied, “No one picked up. I’m sure that’s her number—the advisor used the same line to contact her before.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, thinking hard. It had been two full days since the reunion, and we hadn’t stopped chasing leads for even a moment. We’d worked our way forward bit by bit using Luo Ding’s notes, and now we’d finally pinned down Liang Mei as the prime suspect.

But right now, even with Liang Mei, there were still five people we hadn’t questioned. Maybe one of them will give us a fresh angle? Still, why wasn’t Liang Mei answering? Was she busy with something important?

That thought in mind, I said to Zhao Mingkun, “As it stands, Liang Mei is our biggest suspect. But don’t rule out Wang Yikai or Yang Licheng just yet. If the two of you are each other’s alibis, that doesn’t necessarily clear you. You could have planned something together. Back in the hotel, didn’t you say Wang Yikai was the killer, Yang Licheng?”

“No,” Yang Licheng waved his hand, “I never lied to you. The only reason I pointed at Wang Yikai before was because everyone suspected me. I knew Liang Mei was the real murderer, but I couldn’t say it outright. So I brought up Wang Yikai on purpose.”

I suddenly remembered—Wang Xianduo gave us a similar explanation. Everyone in this group has secrets. They each have someone in mind as the killer but always accuse someone else.

“Do you have any other proof? Anything solid at all?” I pressed. “Even if you could prove Liang Mei was pregnant with your child, that would count.”

Yang Licheng went silent. Suddenly he slapped his thigh. “Wait—I know someone who can vouch for me! Zhao Pingjuan can clear my name! She’s the one who told me Liang Mei was pregnant. Do any of you have her number? Let’s bring her here and ask her straight out. She’s in Dongxing City too so it should be easy.”

Looking at how confident Yang Licheng seemed, he probably wasn’t lying. And if we brought in Zhao Pingjuan, it’d save us some back and forth.

I nodded. “Alright, let’s call Zhao Pingjuan and talk about what happened all those years ago. If she can back up your story, you two can leave Dongxing City. The killer is ruthless, and you’re still his targets. So be careful, all of you.”

Still rubbing his stomach, Wang Yikai said, “I’ve already booked a plane for 6 p.m. Let me know when you catch the real killer—I’ll think about coming back then.”

We called Zhao Pingjuan. She was at work but, the moment she heard we were investigating, she agreed to come right away. Less than half an hour later, Zhao Pingjuan arrived at Yang Licheng’s place. Before we could even ask, she blurted out, “I know who the killer is!”

“What?” I asked, surprised. “Come again?”

“I know who the killer is!” she repeated.

“Who is it, then?” I asked.

“All I can say is—it’s not me,” Zhao Pingjuan replied.

I was exasperated. “That’s not helpful. Everyone claims it wasn’t them.”

Zhao Pingjuan shook her head firmly, then started explaining in detail. “I mean it. I know—because we planned it together back then. At the reunion, there were too many people, so I didn’t dare say a thing. But the person who killed Lü Zhiqiu was right there with us!”

“What happened, exactly?” I urged her.

Clearing her throat, Zhao Pingjuan began, “Back then, there were four of us in the dorm—me, Zhang Xue, Zhou Moli, and Liang Mei. All of us didn’t like Lü Zhiqiu much. It wasn’t that she was competing for scholarships or trying for party membership. She was just too annoying. Each of us had boyfriends, but Lü Zhiqiu kept hanging around them, totally oblivious.”

Even after all this time, Zhao Pingjuan’s frustration was obvious. “She always had some excuse, like needing help with homework or ‘thanking’ someone with a meal. She blew off our complaints, saying stuff like, ‘We’re just friends. No need to be jealous.’”

She started getting more heated, “If any of us fought with our boyfriends, she’d show up and tell us not to be mad because they loved us. Then she’d turn to them and say, ‘Don’t be angry, your girlfriend loves you. Sulking isn’t good for your health.’”

Zhao Pingjuan was still worked up. “Our relationship problems had nothing to do with her! And it’s not like we were even close. Why did she have to butt in? I remember when we were interning at the construction site—someone wanted to kill a dog, and she stepped in all self-righteous, asking why people would eat dogs when they’re so cute. Then she went online to complain, earning herself the nickname ‘most compassionate school goddess’.”

Clearly hotheaded, Zhao Pingjuan continued, “If she doesn’t eat dog meat, fine—but what about cows or pigs? She never said a thing about them. That day in the hotel, Zhang Yifa said we’d discussed killing Lü Zhiqiu in our dorm, and honestly, that was true.”

Taking a deep breath, Zhao Pingjuan pressed on, “We’d been interning at the construction site for two weeks and had come back to campus for a few days to handle paperwork or something—I can’t remember. That night, after a few drinks in the dorm, someone brought up Lü Zhiqiu. No idea who started it, but we joked that since we were all interning together, why not just kill her at the site?”

We all stared at her, waiting to see what she’d say next.

Zhao Pingjuan continued, “We’d all had a bit to drink, so our guards were down. But I clearly remember feeling, in that moment, that maybe I really did want to kill Lü Zhiqiu. At first, we never thought we’d all end up at the same construction site, but every time I saw her, she got on my nerves.”

“Did you actually go through with it?” I asked.

Zhao Pingjuan shook her head. “That’s the thing—hear me out! All four of us talked about it, discussed how to do it, how not to get caught. Someone said just hit her with a brick. Bricks were everywhere, and you could hide it in the foundation, no one would know.”

My brow furrowed. After all, that was exactly how Lü Zhiqiu was killed—hit from behind with a brick. And whoever did it must have really hated her. But if the killer got blood on themselves, surely that would be noticed.

But then again, if everyone else was drinking far away and the murderer quietly sneaked back to the dorm to change clothes, maybe no one would notice.

Zhao Pingjuan kept going, “But that was all talk. No one set a time, no one agreed who’d do it. A few days later, we were all back at the site. A month passed and I forgot all about it. But on our last day of the internship, it happened. The next day, Lü Zhiqiu was dead, and suddenly I remembered what we’d said back at the dorm.”

“Do you know who actually did it?” Yang Licheng cut in.

I gestured at Yang Licheng—let’s not mention Liang Mei yet. Instead, we let Zhao Pingjuan speak.

She went on, “Like I said, it wasn’t me. If I’m innocent, it can only be one of the other three girls from our dorm. But I don’t know who it was, and I’m scared to point fingers. We all discussed it and said we’d kill her.”

She confessed, “I admit I was both scared and oddly excited because Lü Zhiqiu was finally gone. I got what I wanted, so I never brought it up again. But after all these years, I still feel uneasy about it. Really.”

Running my hands through my hair, I said slowly, “So if I question the other dorm mates, I should get the answer?”

“Go ahead and investigate!” Zhao Pingjuan replied.