Investigating

"Su Jie, do you want your eggs fully cooked or soft-boiled?"

At Jingjiang No. 1, Liu Yingying was busy preparing breakfast in the open kitchen, dressed in home clothes with an apron tied around her waist.

"Fully cooked!"

"Just wait. It'll be ready soon."

"For something like this, you could've just let the chef do it. Their cooking is so good."

Su Jie sat on the sofa, watching the television report on the mansion fire that had caused a sensation throughout the city over the past two days.

"That's different! Breakfast made by me is filled with sincerity. Hmph, I remember you said you knew how to cook, Su Jie, but I've never seen you make anything for me."

"Who says I haven't? Didn't I feed you milk this morning?"

"That was because you forced me to! All you know how to do is bully people."

Beneath Liu Yingying's jade-fat snow-white skin, a faint flush of rouge showed through. Her charming, amorous eyes shot Su Jie several fierce glares.

She had been living with Su Jie for two days and had taken leave from the company. Although Su Jie had made no promises to her, she was still willing to wait.

"Then I'll give you a chance to strike back now. Maybe your cooking can conquer my stomach and then tie down my heart."

"Th-that's not happening. This is all the cooking skill I have. I can only make simple breakfasts. Just don't despise my cooking if it doesn't taste good. Those complicated lunches and dinners should still be left to the chef you hired."

Though she said that, Liu Yingying's face was full of excitement.

A few minutes later, Liu Yingying brought the breakfast over to Su Jie and sat beside him. Glancing at the television, she said, "It's this news again. That Chairman of Cold Lily is on the headlines of our local television every day."

"After all, a fabulously wealthy chairman was burned to death. Of course the news is going to chase the hot topic!"

Su Jie smiled and ate the breakfast Liu Yingying had carefully prepared.

Hearing that, Liu Yingying commented, "The news has become more and more shameless. Wasn't it just an accidental fire? Reporters are chasing after interviews one after another, making up all kinds of conspiracy theories—murder, assassins, attempted killings. All they know is how to chase traffic."

Su Jie could not stop laughing when he heard that. If the real culprit behind this matter were sitting right in front of Liu Yingying, he wondered what her reaction would be.

"President Su, there are two police officers outside. They said they want to see you."

As they were joking around, a servant suddenly walked over and bowed to Su Jie.

"Mm. Let them in."

A sharp glint flashed through Su Jie's eyes as he waved his hand.

"What are the police here for?"

Liu Yingying looked puzzled, not knowing what was going on.

"Who knows?"

Su Jie shrugged and continued eating breakfast as though nothing had happened.

A moment later, two police officers appeared before Su Jie.

One was an older officer in his forties with a squarish face. He looked righteous to the core.

The other was a young female police officer in her early twenties, probably newly graduated from the police academy.

"Mr. Su, hello. I'm Zhang Yanqing from the Linping City Criminal Police Brigade. This is my partner, Zhou Xin'er. We're here because there's a case we need to ask you about."

As they introduced themselves, the two showed their police identification.

"Please, have a seat. Ask whatever you'd like. If there's anything I can do to help the police, I'll cooperate fully."

Su Jie warmly invited the two to sit down and even had a servant bring over some fruit.

"Mr. Su, then I'll get straight to the point."

Zhang Yanqing looked quite approachable as he began. "The day before yesterday, a fire broke out at Villa No. 12 in the Changtan Villa District of Linping City. The fire resulted in the deaths of Cui Yunchun, a well-known wealthy businessman in Linping City and also the Chairman of Cold Lily, and his secretary, Ma Lanfei."

Su Jie nodded. "I just saw that news on television."

"And according to what I know, Mr. Su, you're in the timber business and have done business with Cold Lily before. On November 16, a warehouse you rented at the Nanqiao Logistics Center caught fire, burning a batch of valuable timber."

Zhang Yanqing's eyes shone brightly, and his speech suddenly sped up, carrying an awe-inspiring authority.

"That's right. That timber was passed down by my ancestors after they worked hard for generations. Then one fire burned it all to ashes, costing me a great deal of money."

Su Jie was not intimidated by Zhang Yanqing's righteous aura. Compared with the presence of Old Daoist Qiu, whom Su Jie had met before, Zhang Yanqing was nowhere near his level and had no effect on him whatsoever.

At that moment, he put on a pained expression, as though he were heartbroken over the loss of the timber.

"I'd like to ask what you were doing on the night of November 17, the night of the incident."

Zhang Yanqing continued questioning him while closely observing Su Jie's facial expression.

Su Jie shrugged. "That night, I remember it very clearly. To celebrate the transfer of ownership of this villa, I invited many people over for a party. Many people can testify to that."

"Your warehouse had just been burned, and you held a party?"

Zhou Xin'er was taking notes when she interrupted.

"It was precisely because the warehouse had burned down that I held a party to dispel the bad luck."

Su Jie paused, then pointed at himself in shock. "Wait, don't tell me you suspect I set fire to someone else's villa? I'm a good citizen who obeys the law. I've always kept my nose clean. If you don't believe me, go ask around. Many people can testify for me about that night."

"That's right. Su Jie was with me at the time. I can testify."

Liu Yingying immediately stepped forward. She looked unhappily at the two police officers opposite her. How could they slander her wonderful Su-ge?

"We're only conducting a routine investigation. We never said you were the culprit."

Zhang Yanqing laughed it off, asked Su Jie a few more questions, then got up and left the villa with Zhou Xin'er.

Outside the villa, Zhou Xin'er looked at Zhang Yanqing and pursed her lips. "Captain Zhang, do you think he's actually a suspect?"

"Objectively speaking, he isn't a suspect. Subjectively, however, I have my doubts. Everything is simply too coincidental. Cui Yunchun himself wasn't clean. He kept a group of thugs to handle dirty work for him. It's possible those people burned Mr. Su's warehouse. Even more coincidentally, the next day, on the day Cui Yunchun's villa caught fire, that group disappeared too. Not a living soul or a corpse could be found."

Zhang Yanqing adjusted his police cap and let out a long sigh. "Besides, a senior supervisor at the Nanqiao Logistics Center accidentally drowned on the same day. As it happened, that supervisor's account had received a sum of money from Cui Yunchun's private account. Looking at it from every angle, there are traces of both motive and suspicion."

"If that's the case, can't we bring him back to the station?"

Zhou Xin'er's brows knitted slightly. Su Jie had a motive to set the fire and kill people.

"How can we arrest someone without evidence?"

Zhang Yanqing was both amused and exasperated. He shook his head. "First, the fire investigation and autopsy on Cui Yunchun's side found no signs of murder or evidence of arson. Then we checked the surveillance footage from the Jingjiang residential district that day. Su Jie and his vehicle truly never entered or left. Little Zhang also questioned some salespeople at the property office just now, and they all said they attended the party with Su Jie that night. The timing doesn't match."

"Could he have arranged for someone else to do it?"

"That's possible, but where's the evidence?"

"This..."

Zhou Xin'er fell silent. Solving a case could not be based on subjective assumptions.

"Zhou, you watched the video from Cui Yunchun's villa on the night of the incident, right?"

"I watched it several times. There were many cameras around his villa, but they only captured one person entering. According to our investigation, that person was Cui Yunchun's trusted subordinate—a man called A'hu."

"After eliminating the various possibilities, I can only proceed from the factual evidence. Cui Yunchun did indeed order A'hu to burn down Su Jie's warehouse. But later, A'hu may have fought with Cui Yunchun over an unfair division of the spoils, and in the end, they perished together."

Zhou Xin'er thought about it and realized that it really might have happened that way. Zhang Yanqing's deduction was far more plausible than Su Jie setting the fire himself.

"Now that both parties involved are dead, there's no one left to provide testimony. I may be wrong, but this case can only end here."

"I understand, Captain Zhang."

Zhou Xin'er relaxed her brows and could not help looking back at the enormous villa. On the second-floor balcony, she vaguely saw someone watching her and Captain Zhang.

She rubbed her eyes and looked again. The balcony was empty. Perhaps her eyes had merely deceived her.