Chapter 282: Three Women, One Show

2022-05-20

I nodded. We couldn’t reach Liang Mei at the moment, but we still had the phone numbers for Zhou Moli and Zhang Xue. I told Zhao Mingkun to call Zhang Xue first. She agreed to come over in a bit.

But before Zhang Xue arrived, we needed to confirm whether Liang Mei had really been pregnant seven years ago.

With that in mind I turned to Zhao Pingjuan and asked, “Zhao Pingjuan, was Liang Mei pregnant seven years ago?”

At the mention of this, Liang Mei shot Yang Licheng a glare before starting in, “Honestly I’d almost forgotten, but it was all because of this shameless Yang Licheng. Not only did he lie to Liang Mei, he even got her pregnant.”

“On the night Lü Zhiqiu died seven years ago, did you see Liang Mei?” I asked.

Zhao Pingjuan let out a thoughtful ‘hmm’ before replying, “Actually, no. Back then, Liang Mei hadn’t gotten her period and thought she might be pregnant. She told me about it and I asked for some details, but it was too soon—even a hospital wouldn’t be able to confirm it. I told her to wait another week and see. Maybe Liang Mei was worried, so she said she’d stay in the apartment by herself to calm down. I left her there and left alone.”

I frowned and pressed on, “So you’re saying Liang Mei stayed in the dorm by herself that night and didn’t go drinking with you all?”

“That’s right,” Zhao Pingjuan replied.

“What time did your group break up that night?” I glanced at the three people on the sofa.

Wang Yikai was still rubbing his stomach when he answered first, “I’m not sure, really. All I remember is I came back at dawn, barely got any sleep before hearing someone had died. We all ran out to see what happened and found Lü Zhiqiu’s corpse. Honestly, I sobered up instantly.”

“Almost dawn by then,” Yang Licheng added.

“So throughout the whole gathering, Liang Mei never showed up?” I confirmed.

Zhao Pingjuan nodded. “From the start to the finish, I never saw Liang Mei. Are you saying she’s a suspect?”

I didn’t answer. Instead I said, “It’s too soon to make that call. Anyway, Zhang Xue should be here soon. For now, why don’t you wait in another room? If you stay, Zhang Xue might not speak freely.”

Zhao Pingjuan agreed and slipped into the apartment.

At the same moment, Wang Yikai dashed off to the bathroom. No idea what was up with him.

Half an hour later, Zhang Xue came in. She just gave us a slight nod.

I motioned for Zhang Xue to sit and got straight to the point, “Zhang Xue, you know who we are. We called you because we need to ask about what happened seven years ago. Lü Zhiqiu died under mysterious circumstances, and now someone’s come back for revenge. If we don’t get to the truth, all thirteen of you could be in danger.”

Zhang Xue glanced at all of us, looking troubled, as if she wanted to speak but was holding back.

I quickly said, “Zhang Xue, if you have something to say, just say it. Holding back will only make you look more suspicious, you know that?”

She seemed to steel herself, gave a soft “mm,” then spoke, “I know who the culprits are.”

“You know who did it?” Zhao Mingkun and I exchanged glances.

Zhao Pingjuan had said nearly the same thing, and now Zhang Xue was repeating those words. They both claimed to know who the killer was—could everything Zhang Xue says line up with Zhao Pingjuan’s story?

Zhang Xue nodded and glanced around. “There’s something you should know. When we were interning at the construction site, we actually did discuss in the dorm how to kill Lü Zhiqiu.”

“But—but!” She hurriedly added, as if worried she’d sound guilty. “After drinking, people just vented about how much they hated Lü Zhiqiu. I never thought someone would really go through with it, though. As I recall, it was Zhao Pingjuan who said she wanted to smash Lü Zhiqiu’s head in with a brick.”

Even though Zhao Pingjuan mentioned this detail earlier, she hadn’t admitted that the idea came from her own mouth. In hindsight that made sense—people are emotional and tend to gloss over things that make them look bad. It’s just human nature, it doesn’t make you a monster.

I let Zhang Xue keep talking without interruption.

She continued: “Lü Zhiqiu was always playing the innocent. None of us liked her. That night, I even said something about wanting to kill her, but it was just talk. I was angry—my boyfriend always compared me to Lü Zhiqiu, and I couldn’t stand it.”

Zhang Xue sighed. “After we got back to the site, nobody mentioned it again. Then on the very last day, it actually happened. I was so scared I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the body. Later I heard someone said she’d been killed with a brick.”

I nodded and threw a look at the room where Zhao Pingjuan was. Then I asked, “So what are you getting at?”

Zhang Xue hesitated a moment before saying, “I think the killer must be one of the other three from our dorm. Even though Zhao Pingjuan brought up the idea with the brick, it doesn’t necessarily mean she actually did it. The other two are suspects too. Still, I’d say Zhao Pingjuan looks most suspicious.”

I frowned, wondering if Zhao Pingjuan, hidden in the other room, had overheard any of this.

I asked, “Do you have any proof that clears your name?”

Zhang Xue fell quiet. After a long pause, she finally answered, “I have no way to prove it. If I could’ve, I would have spoken up seven years ago. But I don’t know who actually did it, and I was scared—what if the killer came after me too? I thought I’d never have to talk about this again, but I guess I can’t keep running from it.”

“Seven years and it still isn’t over. I think I have a responsibility to finally say something. If narrowing it down to three people helps, maybe the police will have less trouble. Please, though—don’t tell anyone. If the real killer finds out, someone could get hurt.”

I shrugged helplessly. “I’m afraid I can’t make that promise. But based on your words, you’re saying the suspects are Zhao Pingjuan, Liang Mei, and Zhou Moli?”

Zhang Xue nodded.

I went on, “If that’s the case, I just need to ask the others and see if your story holds up, right? If I talk to Zhou Moli, I might find out what really happened back then.”

“That’s fine,” Zhang Xue said, “just don’t say I told you.”

I pointed toward the other room. “Alright, go in there for now. You’ve got a friend waiting.”

Zhang Xue frowned but went into the room. Just then, Zhao Mingkun placed a call to Zhou Moli.

It wasn’t long before Wang Yikai finally stumbled out of the bathroom. His forehead was covered in sweat, his face was pale, and his whole body shook as he clutched his stomach, veins bulging.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “If you feel that bad, go have it checked out.”

Wang Yikai flopped onto the sofa. “It’s nothing. Not sure what’s going on, probably just hemorrhoids acting up—all this bleeding…”

Zhao Mingkun shot him a glare. “You better not bleed all over the plane this afternoon.”

Wang Yikai managed a weak smile. “If it happens, it happens right here.”

Zhao Mingkun had managed to reach Zhou Moli, who was now a full-time housewife. She agreed to come over after the call.

These three were all easy to contact, but who knew if we’d ever get through to Liang Mei.

With that thought, I turned to Zhao Mingkun. “Try Liang Mei’s number again, see if you get lucky.”

He nodded and dialed, but still no answer. Why wasn’t she picking up? Was it because she really was the killer from seven years ago?

About twenty minutes later, Zhou Moli arrived at Yang Licheng’s place.

I started, “Ms. Zhou Moli, you know why I called you. I need to ask about what happened seven years ago.”

Zhou Moli nodded and sat where Zhao Pingjuan and Zhang Xue had before. “I came because I figured you wanted to talk about this. I know who the murderer is.”

“You know too?” I blurted out, surprised.

Zhou Moli looked at me in confusion, not sure why I was so taken aback. She said, “What’s wrong? I do know. Seven years ago, we talked about killing Lü Zhiqiu in our dorm. I remember someone saying we should do it, and we all agreed.”

I shook my head and pushed the conversation forward. “So you’re saying you didn’t do it, but the other three in your dorm might have? After returning to the construction site, you all forgot about it—until the last day, when Lü Zhiqiu was killed. That’s when you remembered. But since you don’t know the true killer, you kept quiet?”

“Yes,” Zhou Moli replied, startled by my words. “But—how did you know?”

I couldn’t help shaking my head. If I didn’t already know the details, I’d have thought these three were conspiring to fool me. Each of them denied being the killer, and now we couldn’t even reach Liang Mei. Was it possible Liang Mei wasn’t the murderer at all, but someone wanted to pin it on her by keeping her away?

Or could it be the three of them colluded to shift the blame onto Liang Mei?

“What’s going on?” Zhou Moli asked, looking confused.

I said, “You two can come out now. I think you both heard what Zhou Moli had to say. So—who’s really the killer?”