The Vanishing Lover

"Qin Guan! Qin Guan!"

Qin Guan was jolted awake by cold water.

The icy water felt like a frigid hand, roughly dragging him out of his chaotic dream.

For a moment, it felt like he'd returned to the past—

"Qin Guan! Qin Guan? How can this kid sleep so soundly? Your mother's had an accident! Get up!" A neighbor shouted through the door. He sat up, momentarily disoriented, realized what had happened, and immediately knew what he had to do. He threw off the covers and charged out the door.

A biting cold wind instantly enveloped him. His small body stood in the doorway, his eyes filled with panic, unease, and tension: "Where's Mom? What happened to her?"

He had acted so well back then. So convincing, so natural.

But this time, it wasn't an act.

Stimulated by the cold water, Qin Guan opened his eyes. Blindingly bright white light filled his vision. Within the glare stood several dark silhouettes.

The walls around him were stark white, windowless—clearly an interrogation room.

"Awake? Lawyer Qin, sleeping well?" Old He squatted down, backlit. Qin Guan could only see his outline, not the expression on his face.

"Alright, Lawyer Qin, no more sleeping. Once you're in jail, you'll have plenty of time for that," Old He's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Now that Qi Min's been found, it's time we had a proper chat!"

Qi Min was found.

Qin Guan's foggy mind began to clear—yes, before he fainted, he was at the lakeside villa hotel. They had dragged that HANKE suitcase out of the lake.

Inside the suitcase was Qi Min's corpse.

Swollen, distorted, but unmistakably Qi Min's corpse.

A corpse that absolutely should not have been there.

Was it real?

Qin Guan curled up on the floor, his thumbnail digging hard into the pad of his index finger. Pain. This wasn't a dream. It was real.

But this was wrong. Completely wrong.

Qin Guan slowly pushed himself up from the floor, sat properly, shaking his head, shaking it desperately. His chaotic mind urged him to speak, but perhaps because his mouth had been clamped shut for so long, he found he couldn't make a sound.

His tongue felt knotted.

"What? Not right?" Old He sneered. "We found Qi Min's photos in the hotel room. We found the black stockings you used to strangle Qi Min, with epithelial cells from both of you on them. And now, we've found Qi Min's body in the lake."

"The suitcase was bought by Qi Min. Previous surveillance footage shows Qi Min pushing that case when she traveled with you for the 'business trip.' You had your secret rendezvous, a conflict arose, you strangled her, then stuffed her into this case and sank it to the bottom of the lake. That," Old He declared, "is the entire sequence of events."

No. No. Not like this. Wrong.

Qin Guan kept shaking his head. His stiff mouth and tongue struggled to function. "N-no... no... it's not... not like that... you're wrong... it was books... books... Zeng Demei packed it... she swapped them... she swapped the case... identical... and Xu Ruyi bought one too... also identical..."

His words squeezed out of his throat like toothpaste, first soundless, then gaining volume in the second half. The sound slowly filtered back into his own ears, and he was shocked to find his own voice unfamiliar—hoarse, stammering, incoherent.

Where was his logic?

Where was his composure?

Where was his confident, fluent, eloquent speech that never lost to anyone?

He had faced scenes like this many times in court! He had rehearsed them in his mind!

Why was everything falling apart now?

Where was that confident, articulate self?

The corpse in the case—that was the deadliest weapon.

This weapon, which shouldn't exist, shouldn't have appeared, had dealt him the most fatal blow—Old He wasn't wrong. With the body found, every element needed for this case was present: motive, method, evidence, and the victim's remains.

But this wasn't the truth. Not at all!

Qin Guan knew better than anyone. He was being framed.

He didn't do this.

"It wasn't me!" Qin Guan tried to stand, but his rubbery legs couldn't support his heavy body. He collapsed back onto his knees. He raised his right hand, instinctively gesturing to stop, like he used to do at the firm to cut off a subordinate or client's rambling. But the handcuffs restricted his movement, digging painfully into both wrists, the metal links clinking sharply.

"You're wrong! You've been tricked!" He glared at Old He. "That case had books in it... books... go ask Zeng Demei if you don't believe me!"

Old He settled comfortably into a chair, accepted a teacup handed to him by a subordinate, and took a leisurely sip.

He didn't believe.

Of course. "Zeng Demei" had long since vanished, disappeared. Or rather, in the police investigation, she, like the "Qi Min" who had supposedly returned to the city, didn't exist.

As for Qi Min's mother, the real "Zeng Demei," the police had already met her.

"Witnesses and material evidence are complete. Most importantly, Qi Min's cause of death," Old He completely ignored Qin Guan's explanation, his face radiating the immense relief and satisfaction of a solved case. "The preliminary autopsy results are in. Qi Min was strangled. Someone choked her neck, throttled her to death."

"Qin Guan, you strangled her. You tried with the stockings first, failed, and then used your hands."

"Your motive for killing her was precisely your father-in-law's will."

"Whether Qi Min was pressuring you to divorce and marry her, or whether she discovered your involvement in your father-in-law's accident—Qi Min was the biggest obstacle blocking your path to inheriting your father-in-law's massive fortune!"

"So, you deliberately, premeditatedly killed her, sparing no cost."

"You exploited Qi Min's trust in you, luring her into the villa hotel while avoiding the cameras. After murdering her, you used the hotel's waterslide to send the suitcase into the lake, making Qi Min vanish here without a trace."

"You returned home alone, taking Qi Min's phone with you. You used her phone to send a resignation email to her boss in her voice. You contacted her boyfriend, Li Yang, using her phone. You even used her phone to post on her social media, creating the illusion that Qi Min was still alive."

"All of this was to buy time. You wanted the current to carry that suitcase away completely, making her disappear without a trace."

"Because, as a professional, you knew perfectly well that as long as we couldn't find Qi Min, we could never touch you."

"Except now," Old He stood up, looking down at Qin Guan with a smile that was both comfortable and gratified, "it's game over. You're a lawyer; I don't need to teach you the process. The evidence is conclusive. Confess. We'll handle the arrest; someone will make sure you rot in prison!"

No. No.

Old He's words, each one, echoed Qin Guan's own thoughts, actions, and plans from that day at the lakeside villa. But now, they detonated like thunderclaps, reverberating from his ears down to his heart and lungs.

"It's not like that! Wrong! Wrong! All wrong!"

Qin Guan scrambled to his feet like a madman. He roared, slamming his cuffed hands down on the table, producing a desperate, clanging noise.

"It's not like that! Wrong! I didn't do it! That case didn't have Qi Min! It had books! It was Xu Ruyi! Xu Ruyi did this! Go find Xu Ruyi! Xu Ruyi—"