The atmosphere in the room suddenly turned ice-cold, and Qi Yuan’s easy-going expression finally shattered. He twitched the corner of his mouth, letting out a hollow laugh. “I just happened to notice that one time I visited. You’re being a bit over-sensitive, Officer.”
But a slip of the tongue is like a hole in a bag; once it’s open, it’s impossible to stop the truth from leaking out.
Mo Junyi’s face remained devoid of any smile. “You weren’t the only person in Bai Yuan’s room that night.”
“Oh, so it was Bai Yuan. I remember now,” Qi Yuan said, feigning a sudden realization. “There were two of us in that room; indeed, I wasn’t alone.”
“Director Zhang Bin was also there,” Mo Junyi stated flatly. “He has already confessed. That night, while they were both asleep, you took someone else’s phone to do… certain things.”
Mo Junyi deliberately left his statement full of vague openings. Qi Yuan let out a disdainful scoff. “First, I’ve never heard of a Zhang Bin. Second, even if he was there, since he was asleep, how could he possibly know I took Bai Yuan’s phone?”
After Qi Yuan finished this self-assured remark, he noticed the surrounding police officers staring at him in unison. He froze, a sense of alarm rising in his heart.
While Qi Yuan was frantically retracing his words for a mistake, Mo Junyi spoke calmly: “Whether you know Zhang Bin is irrelevant. What matters is that I said you took ‘someone else’s phone.’ Why were you so certain that ‘someone’ referred to Bai Yuan?”
Qi Yuan stood frozen for three seconds, finally unable to maintain his facade. His face darkened. “Do you have evidence?”
He was like a monster whose human skin had been peeled away, finally revealing his true, sinister face. The previous elegance and arrogance were entirely performative; the venomous, shadowed man before them was the real Qi Yuan.
Ordinarily, Mo Junyi indeed lacked direct evidence. They only had some chat records that appeared out of thin air. Neither Bai Yuan nor the director had seen Qi Yuan send the messages, and enough time had passed that it would be difficult to extract fingerprints from the phone. Even if they were found, given Qi Yuan’s relationship with Bai Yuan, it wouldn’t constitute direct evidence of a crime.
Despite these limitations, Mo Junyi showed no sign of panic in the face of Qi Yuan’s challenge.
“The witness is right next door, and the physical evidence is in the lab. Which one do you want to see?” Mo Junyi said leisurely.
Qi Yuan stared at him unblinkingly, trying to discern if Mo Junyi was bluffing. Minutes ticked by, yet Mo Junyi’s expression didn’t waver. Not a single ripple of emotion could be seen in his eyes. This wasn’t Qi Yuan’s first time facing investigators; before his name was cleared, he had been to the station more than once. Every previous “incident” had been resolved in his favor, which was why he had acted so comfortably at the start.
But this time, for the first time, he felt a genuine sense of horror.
Mo Junyi glanced at his watch. Seeing it was 8:30 PM and worrying that Su Xingtong was tired of waiting, he applied more pressure. “The forensic team found residual alcohol in the deceased’s body. There was also a transparent wine bottle in his room—Qiaojiao Tower, a rare fine vintage. It’s a pity the victim had a high tolerance and the dose of sleeping pills wasn’t enough; he could still stand up and go to work after drinking it.”
The bottle was quite old, likely a vintage from the last century with all packaging removed. Mo Junyi wasn’t 100% certain of its identity. He mixed his actual findings with his deductions, betting that the wine wasn’t a coincidence but something Qi Yuan had provided.
He won the bet.
When Qi Yuan heard this, his eyes widened. He looked at Mo Junyi as if he were seeing a ghost.
Mo Junyi threw out the final straw: “It’s true that we didn’t find your fingerprints on the bottle. However, your understanding of this type of baijiu isn’t deep enough. This wine was discontinued in the nineties. To provide a souvenir for enthusiasts, the final batches had different patterns engraved on the bottom. Each bottle is unique, yet each crate follows a specific pattern.”
Qi Yuan seemed to recall something terrifying, his face turning rigid.
Mo Junyi set down his pen. “Someone told us where you store your wine. I imagine that once we find that crate, everything will be clear.”
The final straw fell. Qi Yuan’s posture, held high all evening, collapsed. His head, previously held like a proud swan’s, now hung low like a rotten fruit. He clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his palms. “Who… who told you?”
At this stage, the rest wasn’t Mo Junyi’s job. He gave a cold “no comment” and stood up. The officer taking notes started to stand as well, but Mo Junyi signaled him to stay, turning to Liu Minghua. “Give me the materials tomorrow morning.”
Liu Minghua caught his meaning instantly. “Understood! I’ll handle it, Chief. You go ahead and get busy.”
As Mo Junyi pushed the door open, Qi Yuan shouted, “Was it Li Jinghan?! Did he come to see you?!”
Mo Junyi didn’t look back, closing the door and heading toward his office.
The interrogation room was on the first floor; his office was on the fifth.
On the elevator ride up, Mo Junyi reflected that the original plot of the story seemed to have been completely terminated by his hand.
The first “ML,” Qi Yuan, was about to go to prison. The second “ML,” Su Xingtong, was currently in his office; though judging by his meeting with Li Jinghan today, there was nothing between them but normal friendship. The third “ML” was Mo Junyi himself, who had an antagonistic clash of personalities with Li Jinghan. The fourth “ML” hadn’t even appeared yet, and his name was still unknown.
Finally, the protagonist himself, Li Jinghan, was currently losing himself in Lu Hengyu’s company. Mo Junyi thought coldly: given the way those two looked today, it was hard to tell who was really the “sugar daddy” to whom.
Mo Junyi stepped out of the elevator. When he pushed his office door open, he found Su Xingtong sitting on the sofa, clutching his phone and fast asleep again. The screen was still lit.
Perhaps due to his work schedule, Mo Junyi noticed Su Xingtong seemed exceptionally prone to dozing off. He instinctively slowed his steps, walking over to whisper, “Wake up. Go home before you sleep.”
Even though he was quiet, Su Xingtong was jolted from his dream. His body leaned forward uncontrollably; Mo Junyi instinctively reached out to catch him, and Su Xingtong crashed straight into his embrace. Both of them were momentarily stunned.
Su Xingtong, still sleepy and dazed, stayed in Mo Junyi’s arms for a few seconds before he seemed to be scorched by the man’s warmth. He pushed Mo Junyi away suddenly.
“I… I’m sorry. I was a bit dazed from sleep.” Su Xingtong stood up in a flurry, looking down and smoothing his clothes, not daring to look at Mo Junyi.
Mo Junyi was half a head taller than him. From his angle, he could see Su Xingtong’s eyelashes trembling slightly from panic. His heart stirred, and he reached out to help Su Xingtong adjust his tangled scarf. “It’s fine. The suspect has confessed. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
His movement was natural, yet it made Su Xingtong freeze. However, hearing that Qi Yuan had confessed, Su Xingtong looked up immediately. “He confessed?”
“Mhm, essentially.” Mo Junyi withdrew his hand and looked around the office. Seeing nothing left behind, he continued, “I’ll tell you the details on the way back.”
Su Xingtong was eager to know what happened and obediently followed him to the car.
Amidst the flickering city lights, Mo Junyi gave him a brief summary. The case wasn’t actually that complex. After Li Jinghan broke up with Qi Yuan, the latter turned his hostility toward Su Xingtong with a clear intent to kill. He first used Bai Yuan’s phone to order the assistant, then personally made adjustments to the equipment.
However, man proposes, God disposes. Su Xingtong, who was supposed to be on the wire that night, couldn’t continue due to his shoulder injury, forcing a last-minute change. Learning this, Qi Yuan sent the stunt double the wine laced with sleeping pills. Unfortunately, the double didn’t fall asleep as he had hoped and continued filming as normal, ultimately resulting in the tragedy.
After hearing this, Su Xingtong felt a bit dazed, staring out of the passenger window for a long time. Suddenly, the car slowed and came to a stop. Su Xingtong looked out the window in confusion, then widened his eyes. “…This is?”
Outside the window was a large supermarket, brilliantly lit and bustling with people.
Mo Junyi pulled the handbrake. “Tomorrow is New Year’s Day.”
Su Xingtong clutched his seatbelt, stunned for three seconds before murmuring, “The year is ending…”
Even after saying it, he didn’t see the connection between the holiday and Mo Junyi’s errand, but he was too embarrassed to ask. He turned to watch Mo Junyi get out of the car.
Mo Junyi paused in the middle of opening the door. “If you don’t want to go in, you can tell me now if there’s anything you want to eat.”
Only then did Su Xingtong realize Mo Junyi was going to buy ingredients for tonight’s dinner. He wasn’t Mo Junyi’s boss; it would be quite rude to let the man cook for him while he wouldn’t even get out of the car.
“No, no, no. I’ll go with you,” Su Xingtong replied quickly, pushing his door open and stepping out into the cold.
Noticing the detail in his movements, Mo Junyi’s eyes flickered, making a mental note of this small thing.
New Year’s Day originally referred to the traditional Lunar New Year, but ever since the solar calendar was introduced, the name shifted to the first of January. Even so, the festive atmosphere on the streets was growing thick.
Following Mo Junyi into the supermarket, Su Xingtong widened his eyes at the sea of people. “Is it always this crowded?”
Mo Junyi led him toward the shopping carts, turning to look at him. “Do you need to cover up?”
A celebrity who had just been through such a major controversy appearing in a regular supermarket could easily cause trouble. Su Xingtong tightened his scarf, covering the lower half of his face. “This should be fine. I don’t have that many fans; it’ll be okay.”
Mo Junyi didn’t quite agree with the last part. “Don’t sell yourself short. You are quite famous.”
As they walked toward the fresh produce section, Su Xingtong turned to look at him curiously. “Where did you hear that? I thought you didn’t pay much attention to these things.”