The Vanishing Lover

"Over a month after your father passed away, you once called the police, didn't you? Why did you call? Did you discover something?"

Captain Qi picked up his teacup, blew on the tea leaves, appearing to casually sip his tea, but his gaze pierced through the steam, fixed intently on Xu Ruyi's face.

Xu Ruyi's heart gave a jolt—that brief call to the police, one she hadn't even had time to explain, they had actually dug it up.

She had indeed called the police.

When she discovered the bloodstain beneath the doorframe at Jiayuan Community, when she realized her mother's death might be connected to Qin Guan, she could no longer bear it. Trembling, she immediately dialed the emergency number.

However, she had only just uttered the name "Jiayuan Community" before hurriedly hanging up.

Call the police? Have them come here to investigate? Investigate what?

Her mother had been gone for three years. All that remained was an examination report that showed nothing amiss and this unexplained bloodstain beneath the doorframe.

Even if they could prove the blood was her mother's, even if neighbors were willing to testify that her mother was alone with Qin Guan and had argued with him, what then?

Without direct evidence, and Qin Guan being a lawyer—a professional criminal defense lawyer—he could have a hundred ways to exonerate himself.

"You later personally went to the police station, right?" Captain Qi set down his cup and continued asking.

Yes, after calming down and facing the police station's repeated callbacks, Xu Ruyi drove there herself.

"A painting my father treasured went missing. I couldn't find it and thought it had been stolen, so I panicked and called the police. But then our housekeeper came, and I learned she had put it away."

Auntie Feng went with her and, of course, corroborated her story.

It was an extremely brief episode, and Xu Ruyi had assumed the police wouldn't have kept a record.

Now, they had actually dug it back up.

Why?

Naturally, because they were suspicious of her.

"Now that you mention it, I remember. That did happen. Sorry for the trouble,"

Xu Ruyi sighed, lowering her head expressionlessly as if immersed in painful memories. "Actually, my mental state wasn't good back then. Everything startled me. My father's death hit me incredibly hard. I cried almost every day during that time. I was in his study looking for his calligraphy and paintings, hanging them up one by one, as if doing that could bring him back..."

She certainly couldn't tell the truth—back then, she was enduring immense psychological torment.

She strongly suspected her mother's death was connected to Qin Guan, but had no evidence whatsoever.

She asked a professional doctor, who told her that the report proved her mother did indeed die from her own illness.

The cause of death was natural illness; calling the police was pointless.

She searched online for similar cases, looking for any precedent. There weren't any. Even with evidence, in such situations, the other party could at most be called the "at-fault party," not the "murderer." Forget jail; holding them criminally responsible was highly unlikely. At best, they might face some financial compensation and humanitarian condemnation.

The opinion of a professional lawyer completely extinguished her last shred of hope.

This high-priced, renowned lawyer patiently listened to her account over the phone and bluntly told her it was impossible.

"What you have is conjecture, no evidence. Forget a lawsuit; even if you went to the police, they wouldn't even file a case."

No chance of winning at all.

And what tormented Xu Ruyi even more was—if her suspicion was true, if her mother's death was really connected to Qin Guan, what about her father's?

Her father's electric wheelchair had always worked fine. Even if he wasn't fully proficient, how could it have completely lost control on a downhill slope and been hit by a car?

Her father had asked her about Qin Guan in the park that very day, and then, not long after, he had the accident?

Moreover, her father had known about Qin Guan's affair all along!

Could it be that her father confronted him, demanding honesty, and angered him? Frightened, had Qin Guan then targeted her father too?

Yet, everything was only speculation.

Her mother had been gone for over three years; only a small bloodstain on the doorframe remained. The scene of her father's accident no longer existed; the wheelchair had long been thrown away.

After consulting several lawyers, all said it was difficult, extremely difficult, harder than climbing to the sky.

"Two cases, both without any evidence. The accident was closed as an accident. The wheelchair is long gone. Even if found, many parts would surely be broken. It would be very hard for you to prove whether the damage was deliberate or from the collision."

"Your mother's case is even harder. Because, even if you could prove the affair, prove that the other party caused your mother's fatal anger that day, you still couldn't punish him legally. Causing death by anger—it's very difficult to convict someone for that under the law."

"Moreover, your so-called motives are just your word. You have absolutely no proof."

"Two cases: one death by natural causes, one already ruled a traffic accident. No scene, no evidence, unclear motive. How do you fight this lawsuit?"

"I assure you it's useless. Police work requires evidence. If you want to convict him, you need all these elements: motive, evidence, process. You can't do without any of them."

"It was Xu Ruyi. Really, it was her. All her doing."

Qin Guan spoke weakly—only when calm could he hear his own voice more clearly.

His throat was hoarse.

Whether from the cold or from shouting, he didn't know.

Since his arrest, he had been trying to talk to the police, to He Zhisheng, the officer in charge of the case. But the other party simply ignored him. No matter how much he shouted or screamed inside, no one ever came.

He was given prison clothes.

He was now, unequivocally, a murder suspect.

The police told him that as family, Xu Ruyi had refused to hire a lawyer to defend him.

A wife betrayed by her husband's affair refusing to defend him—nothing could be more normal.

"You can defend yourself, or apply for a lawyer through the proper procedures," the officer said.

This was already the formal detention process.

This process Qin Guan knew all too well—very soon, the case would be submitted, the procuratorate would prosecute him, he would stand in court, the court he knew so well. Only this time, he would be standing in the defendant's dock.

And then?

Then would come court appearance after court appearance. The police would present various pieces of forensic evidence, each one nailing his guilt.

Criminal motive, criminal evidence, criminal process—nothing was missing.

He would face the court's judgment and then be sent to prison.

No. He couldn't accept it.

He had been to prison many times. Each time, he wore a suit and tie, looking disdainfully at the shaven-headed, lifeless shells.

He was a successful man, part of the elite. How could he be lumped together with those lowlifes?

"I confess. Xu Ruyi, it really was Xu Ruyi," he gasped as soon as he saw Lao He, as if grabbing a lifeline. "It really was her... Can you please listen to me? It was her..."

He could only repeat this sentence; there was nothing more.

Because, how could he say it?

Where would he even begin?

To expose Xu Ruyi's crime, he would first have to admit that he personally killed Qi Min and buried her at the construction site.