At 10:30 p.m., the scene was cleared, and Liang Ting's body was temporarily taken back to the Forensic Doctor Center by a hearse.
Yu Hanjiang used Liang Ting's phone to call her husband, Xie Yuan, and told Xie Yuan... The news of Liang Ting's unexpected death was reported, and he was asked to come to the Forensic Identification Center to claim his body.
Xie Yuan initially thought it was a scam call and refused to believe it. Yu Hanjiang handed the phone to the manager. Sister Chen, choking back tears, said, "Mr. Xie, Teacher Liang is really in trouble. Please come over immediately, directly to the police station!"
Xie Yuan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said, "Okay, I'll be right there!"
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou went back to the police station with the hearse, and Sister Chen was also taken back for detailed questioning.
Xiao Lou will take the evidence brought from the scene to the Forensic Doctor Center for identification, while Yu Hanjiang, together with Xiao Wu, will interrogate Sister Chen in the interrogation room. The interrogation will cover Liang Ting's debut experience, her romantic relationships over the years, her relationships with celebrities in the entertainment industry, and so on.
Sister Chen was probably upset, as her eyes were red as she answered: "I don't really know about her experiences in the past. I only signed with Teacher Liang four years ago and became her manager... People in the industry speak very well of her, and I've never heard of her having any grudges with anyone. She and Xie Yuan have a very good relationship, and the couple travels together every year. Their relationship is the envy of many in the industry."
Yu Hanjiang asked Sister Chen to describe the day's itinerary in detail.
Sister Chen said that she picked up Liang Ting from her home at 6:30 pm. At that time, Liang Ting was carrying a large bag with a thermos inside. The off-white thermos was a gift from Xie Yuan, and Liang Ting usually takes it with her when she goes out to drink water.
On the way, Liang Ting took out a cup and drank a few sips of water. However, once she arrived at the concert venue, she realized that drinking water could affect her makeup after applying lipstick. Therefore, she didn't drink any more water until she went on stage.
Yu Hanjiang followed up with, "You said earlier that you stayed in the restroom for more than ten minutes because of constipation, and when you returned to the lounge you found Liang Ting's body. What exactly did you hear during that time in the restroom? Including footsteps, try to recall carefully."
Sister Chen lowered her head and recalled for a moment, then said, "When I went there, I saw three girls from 505 Girl Group going to the toilet together, and I even greeted them... I had only squatted down for less than half a minute when the girl next to me finished using the toilet and left. I think it was Zhao Yuxin."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "And then?"
Sister Chen thought for a moment and said, "Then, not long after, another girl went out. After a long time, she came back in, knocked on the door across the street, and spoke softly to someone. I didn't hear what she said."
Yu Hanjiang looked up at her: "Think carefully, was the sound of the other person's footsteps high heels on the floor?"
Sister Chen said, "Yes, everyone going out and coming in was wearing high heels."
Yu Hanjiang jotted down this crucial question in his notebook: "During this time, did anyone else come in?"
Sister Chen shook her head: "No, I didn't hear it."
Yu Hanjiang glanced at her shoes—a pair of comfortable flat sneakers.
...
Half an hour later, after Yu Hanjiang finished reviewing Sister Chen's case, he told his colleagues to go home first. Xiao Lou happened to come to see Yu Hanjiang with the test results.
The entire hall was silent; everyone else had left, except for a sliver of warm light shining through the crack in Yu Hanjiang's office door.
Xiao Lou walked over and found the office door ajar. Yu Hanjiang was sitting at his desk, staring at the computer screen, arms crossed, deep in thought. Under the warm light, his dark blue police uniform accentuated his handsome profile.
Yu Hanjiang's expression was serious, and he seemed lost in thought, his brows slightly furrowed. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and met Xiao Lou's eyes. His gaze immediately softened, and he stood up, turning to pour Xiao Lou a glass of water. He asked in a low voice, "Have the test results come out yet?"
"Hmm, have all your colleagues gone home?" Xiao Lou asked casually, leaning against his desk.
"They wouldn't be of much help if they stayed. My colleagues in the secret room might even give me wrong information and interfere with my judgment, so I simply gave them the day off and let them investigate on their own." Yu Hanjiang handed Xiao Lou a glass of warm water and said softly, "Have some water."
Xiao Lou took the water cup, handed the test results to Yu Hanjiang, took a sip of water to moisten his throat, and then said, "The water in the thermos cup has been tested and found to be poisonous. The main component is the highly toxic substance □. Judging from the toxins remaining in the half-cup of water, the amount of □ that the murderer put into the thermos cup should exceed 40 grams."
Yu Hanjiang picked up the documents and looked at them carefully with his head down.
Xiao Lou added, "Normally, the lethal dose of drug is 0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight. Liang Ting weighed less than 50 kilograms, so only 15 grams of drug would have been enough to kill her. However, the killer administered 40 grams, which is far too high. This was clearly intended to make Liang Ting fall into a coma within seconds of ingesting the poison and die quickly, without having time to be taken to the hospital for treatment."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "The excessive dose was enough to kill Liang Ting in one go, eliminating any future trouble. The killer seems to be very knowledgeable about this deadly poison, and was determined to kill him with a single blow." He turned to the next page and asked, " What about Mineral Water?"
Xiao Lou replied, " The Mineral Water showed no abnormalities. No toxins were found in any of the lipsticks, foundations, or other cosmetics."
Yu Hanjiang had a "I knew it" look on his face: "Were fingerprints detected on the thermos?"
Xiao Lou sighed helplessly.
He said, "The murderer was very cautious. He should have worn gloves when handling the cup. Only Liang Ting's fingerprints were found on the body and lid of the thermos. In addition, I also carefully examined the victim's body and found no injuries. This is a typical poisoning case. The dose of drug was too high and could cause a person to lose consciousness within seconds. Liang Ting didn't even have time to struggle or call for help before he died."
The results of the identification were as Yu Hanjiang had expected.
The murderer clearly premeditated this crime.
He opened Sister Chen's interrogation record, pointing it out to Xiao Lou as he said, " Liang Ting brought this cup from home, but she drank water from the thermos on her way to the concert and nothing happened, which means the murderer is not her husband, Xie Yuan. There was no poison in her cup initially. This shows that our speculation was completely correct; the murderer poisoned her backstage at the concert."
Seeing that Xiao Lou was listening attentively, Yu Hanjiang continued, " Liang Ting stayed in the dressing room before she went on stage, which many people can confirm. At that time, there were three people with her: a stylist, a makeup artist, and a manager. It would have been difficult for the murderer to do it in full view of everyone. Liang Ting went on stage to sing, then came off stage to sign autographs for everyone, and then Ye Qi went on stage to sing. During this period, there was no one in the dressing room for about ten minutes."
Xiao Lou agreed, saying, "The murderer must have sneaked into the dressing room during that time and poisoned the person. During the interrogation just now, several people went out during that time, so the murderer must be one of them, right?"
Yu Hanjiang moved a stool over for Xiao Lou to sit down, and pointed to the interrogation logbook from today, analyzing it page by page—
" Zhao Yuxin said she went to the restroom to urinate and quickly returned to the lounge. She was the first person to leave the restroom, and no one knows what she did after she left. If she just pretended to go to the toilet, flushed after entering, came out immediately, and then secretly went to Liang Ting's lounge to poison him before returning to her own lounge, there was plenty of time."
" Ye Lan's claim that she forgot to bring toilet paper is just her side of the story. Did she really forget it, or was she using it as an excuse to get rid of her companion and sneak out of the bathroom to poison Liang Ting? Sister Chen's supplementary testimony confirms that Ye Lan really forgot it. Because Sister Chen was also constipated and squatting in the bathroom at the time, she heard Liu Xi's footsteps leaving and returning, and she also heard Liu Xi knock on the door to hand Ye Lan tissues."
" Liu Xi spent seven or eight minutes looking for tissues, which is somewhat suspicious. But the most suspicious one is Ye Lan." Yu Hanjiang circled all the suspicious points in the testimonies of the three people, looked at Xiao Lou, and concluded: " Ye Lan is lying."
Xiao Lou took the interrogation record and examined it carefully.
Ye Lan said, "It seems like someone came in. It could be a makeup artist or a staff member. I can't tell from the footsteps that it was Liu Xi, because our second outfit was in high heels, while that person was wearing flats."
Sister Chen's testimony mentioned three footsteps during the incident. The first was when someone went out, and that person was Zhao Yuxin, who finished using the toilet the fastest. The second was when another person went out, and that was Liu Xi going to find tissues for Ye Lan. The third was when someone came in, knocked on the door, and spoke in a deliberately soft voice, which was probably Liu Xi knocking on the door to hand Ye Lan tissues.
The girl group members, because their second outfit consisted of high-heeled leather shoes, would make their footsteps on the tiled floor very noticeable, completely different from the sound of flat shoes. Sister Chen, squatting there, couldn't possibly not hear the fourth person's voice.
Ye Lan said she heard it, while Sister Chen said she didn't. The two testimonies contradict each other, meaning one of them must be lying.
Why is Ye Lan lying?
Yu Hanjiang explained, "Because, of the four people who went to the restroom, only Sister Chen was wearing flat shoes. If Ye Lan really heard the sound of flat shoes on the floor, she should have heard Sister Chen walking out of the restroom, not someone walking in."
Looking at Ye Lan's testimony, Xiao Lou suddenly realized: "She was indeed lying. Only Zhao Yuxin, Ye Lan, Liu Xi, and Sister Chen went to the restroom at that time. Everyone else had companions who could vouch for them not going to the restroom. If Ye Lan really heard the sound of flat shoes on the floor, it should have been Sister Chen who went out, not someone who came in."
The sound of footsteps is different when you walk in and when you walk out.
Ye Lan's flustered statement led her to say the opposite, which indirectly proves that Sister Chen's testimony is correct.
Why did Ye Lan lie?
*****