Everyone in Ruo Tingran's group except the leader herself was called into the police station in the middle of the night. Even if they had nothing to do with Li Qing's death, just by the crime of consuming illegal drugs and distributing it was enough for them to be thrown into the jail and rehabilitation centre.
The truth gradually surfaced. Li Qing's death was confirmed to be suicide due to the impact of overconsuming drugs. However there were still some points that ought to be investigated such as; was there a reason for Li Qing to commit suicide from the Moonlight Pavilion in the middle of the night and for what reason did she sell the villa for? Where did the rest of the money disappear to?
There were five people in Ruo Tingran's group, excluding Ruo Tingran herself and Qu Nanchi, there were Ding Qiaomo, Xiang Yan, and Dai Huiqin. Some refused the summons to the point where Qin Weizhe had to pull out arrest warrants, some were apprehended without any suspense, and the main culprit, Qu Nanchi—who had Nan Xukun's stolen phone—was caught red handed when she was going to get rid of it.
Even if the data was deleted, Wang Chengbing could easily retrieve them anyway.
It was 1 am in the morning by the time Qin Weizhe finished questioning them one by one.
Subsequently, he received a surprise when one of the police officers approached and whispered. "Detective Qin, there's someone by the name Ruo Tingran outside, waiting for you since three hours ago. We told her to go home and come again later but she insisted on meeting you right now."
Qin Weizhe raised a brow. What matter could be so important for Young Miss Ruo to wait for hours? He nodded lightly. "Bring her in."
Ruo Tingran wore a casual cardigan paired with loose pants. Without make-up and voluminous hairstyle, she looked softer and milder, like a well-behaved child. Qin Weizhe even thought that her natural look was better. "Miss Ruo." He smiled after the girl sat down. "Do you have something important to tell me?"
Ruo Tingran fidgeted nervously, her eyes darted back and forth before bracing herself to speak, "Yes, Detective Qin. My friends…are all of them apprehended already?"
"Now that you bring it up," Qin Weizhe leaned on the chair and sighed lightly. "There's something I want to ask of you." He smiled and pulled out a transparent zipper bag. Inside it were a few small, yellow inconspicuous pills. "Do you know what this is?"
Ruo Tingran's eyes trembled and she lowered her eyes, muttering quietly. "I know."
"Then, may I ask why, except for you, does everyone consume it including the deceased Li Qing?"
Ruo Tingran flinched like she had been scalded. When she lifted her eyes again, the rims of her eyes reddened pitifully. "Because I still have a bottom line. Unlike them, I can't bring myself to consume it."
That answer was so unexpected and…dramatic that Qin Weizhe couldn't help blurting out, "Huh?"
The girl sobbed intermittently. "You must think I am lying, but I am not. In our group, it's true that I am the leader, but in fact, Qu Nanchi has the most allowance out of the four of us. It was her who first introduced the pills to us, saying that eating it can make our brain work faster and sharper."
"At first, Li Qing ate it without knowing what it was and the effect was miraculous. She became happier, smarter, even Teacher Yao praised her a few times in front of the class. When she finally knew that it's an illegal drug, everything was too late already."
Qin Weizhe rubbed his growing stubble, pondering.
Even without him questioning, Ruo Tingran confessed everything. "It's all Qu Nanchi. She's also the one who hates Li Qing the most. I don't have any animosity with Li Qing but Qu Nanchi did. Her father had one failed business just because she didn't fulfill Li Qing's wish, so from that day onward, she hated Li Qing. She was the happiest when she heard the news of Li Family's downfall and she was also the one who bullied her the most. It was also her who enticed Li Qing to consume the pills."
Qin Weizhe interjected. "Li Qing knew she hated her so why did she want to take something she gave?"
Ruo Tingran blinked her damp eyelashes. "She could just say that it's the pills Young Master Nan introduced and Li Qing would have been duped. Everyone in our group knows Li Qing liked Young Master Nan the most."
Qin Weizhe didn't know how to react to that. Was it really true that the IQ of a girl who fell in love turned negative in an instant when the person they liked was included in the context?
"Actually, this…" Ruo Tingran pulled out a stack of papers from her bag.
Qin Weizhe accepted it with doubt and when his eyes landed upon the familiar villa's deed, his eyes widened in shock. "Li Qing's villa? She sold it to you?!"
"She actually had no idea it was me." Ruo Tingran corrected. "I asked a friend close to my family to buy it for me."
Qin Weizhe flipped to the last page and saw that the name of the owner matched with the one Wang Chengbing discovered. He asked dubiously. "Why did you buy it?"
Ruo Tingran took a deep breath, fists clenched, she said, "To be honest, I have sensed that there's something not right with Li Qing. Ever since she consumed the pills—yes, she had become much smarter—but she had also changed into another person. Bolder, crazier, paranoid…it's scary…" She confessed sadly. "I knew that it was because of the pills but when I advised her to stop, she got angry with me. Then, I found out that she was going to sell her villa and I thought that it couldn't continue any longer. In a spur of a moment, I bought it and gave the money to her in installments so that she couldn't spend it all on drugs. The rest of the money was still in this bank card. Detective Qin, I will hand it over to you now. I…I just didn't expect that she would commit suicide, Qu Nanchi is too cruel…"
"Wait." Qin Weizhe cut her off. "What did it have to do with Qu Nanchi?"
"Oh, she..." Ruo Tingran blinked. "The day before Li Qing's death, Qu Nanchi told her that she was going to confess to Young Master Nan in the moonlight pavilion. She also said that she has been exchanging messages with him for the past few days. Of course, it was all a lie, she wouldn't have expected something like this to happen either…"
In the end, it was all because of the overdose of drugs which messed with Li Qing's mind and caused her to become muddled, she actually believed Qu Nanchi! If she had just thought about it more, then she would have discovered the lies, yet she didn't. More than believing, she even went as far to the Moonlight Pavilion.
Was it to prevent Qu Nanchi from confessing or was it to confront Nan Xukun as to why he was messaging her and Qu Nanchi at the same time?
Exactly how deep was Li Qing's obsession toward Nan Xukun?
Alas, no one knew.
Li Qing had died and the real truth had been buried together with her forever.
Ruo Tingran came out from the interrogation room with her eyes swollen. She bowed deeply toward Qin Weizhe and walked out with brisk steps, as if she had let go of the burden which kept on dragging her down.
Outside, the driver was faithfully waiting. She smiled in apology. "Sorry to make you wait, Uncle Yang. Let's return home."
"No problem, Young Miss." Uncle Yang smiled and opened the door for her.
Ruo Tingran sat on the backseat and her tense shoulders slowly relaxed as the car drove out of the police station into the desolate road. It was almost two in the morning and tomorrow, she still had exams to take, however Ruo Tingran was still wide awake right now.
This day ought to be sleepless for many people.
She looked out toward the passing scenery and sighed. When the car stopped due to the red traffic lights, an ordinary black car stopped at the side and the passenger seat's window rolled down bit by bit. In the middle of the night, the bright screen from the phone of the person sitting inside was especially conspicuous.
Ruo Tingran's eyes were attracted to the source of light and she could see the person's phone screen facing her, well defined joints and neatly trimmed nails wrapped around it, illuminated by the glaring lights.
There were only two words on it. [Well done.]
The girl's pupils dilated in shock and colors drained from her face. Right after that moment, the traffic lights turned green. The car window rolled up and the SUV drove away, merging into the darkness of the night.
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A/N: wait...what?! O_o who the f is that?! Oho, what kind of conspiracy is coming up again?! This trashy author really likes to drop foreshadowing lol please forgive me orz
100 GT right on the last day of the month! You guys must have done it on purpose QAQ expect a mass release in the next few days! I have to prepare first cos I never expected we will make it. You guys rock! Thank you my dearies~
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