<h4>Chapter 48</h4>


    "Fang Rui, I think you have a bit of a criminal talent! But," Mu Mian objected, "we didn''t detect any of those aphrodisiacponents in Lin Qianjie''s body. That possibility has been ruled out."


    Fang Rui felt that the possibility of Chen Dongdong poisoning Lin was low. He had a close rtionship with Lin Qianjie, and if he really wanted to poison him, he could have easily chosen a time when he wasn''t present, allowing Lin Qianjie to die from the poison.


    Moreover, Wang Xiaoya was his girlfriend. If he only wanted to poison Lin Qianjie, he could have easily prevented Wang Xiaoya from drinking the poisoned wine.


    In that case, Xu Qin became highly suspicious.


    Fang Rui focused his investigation on Xu Qin.


    "Boss, this Xu Qin and Shen Yuanyuan were actually from the same high school," Zhang said, holding up a photo. "This is their graduation photo. They were in the same ss for all three years of high school, and from the photo, it looks like they were quite close."


    The photo showed three girls, all smiling happily.


    The third girl in the photo was called Shen Meilin. She didn''t go to college after high school, but she also worked in Jiangzhou City, so she maintained contact with Shen Yuanyuan. When Shen Yuanyuan was involved in thewsuit earlier, she had been by her side the whole time.


    Shen Meilin worked as a waitress in a restaurant.


    "Ah, I should have stayed by Yuanyuan''s side," Shen Meilin sighed. "After thatwsuit failed, Yuanyuan developed severe depression. At that time, Prosecutor Nie, who was in charge of Yuanyuan''s case, and I stayed with Yuanyuan for many days. Later, Yuanyuan pulled herself together and even found a job. We thought her illness had improved and she was starting to live again. We never expected her to suddenlymit suicide by jumping off a building!"


    Fang Rui took out the group photo and asked, "What about Xu Qin? How did she react after Shen Yuanyuan''s suicide?"


    "What reaction could that gold-digger have? What happened to Yuanyuan was her fault. If she hadn''t introduced Yuanyuan to Lin Qianjie, would Yuanyuan have met such a tragic fate? She''s viciously cruel! At that time, she even tried to introduce me to Lin Qianjie. Thankfully, that scumbag wasn''t interested in me. Xu Qin, that bitch, I curse her every time I see her!"


    Shen Meilin became increasingly agitated as she spoke. She and Shen Yuanyuan were from the same vige and had grown up together, sharing a very close bond.


    "What was the rtionship between Xu Qin and Shen Yuanyuan like?" Fang Rui asked.


    "Very good! Originally, Yuanyuan and I were inseparable best friends, but after Xu Qin came along, I became the third wheel in this friendship. That''s why I''m so angry. Yuanyuan trusted her so much, but she knew about Lin Qianjie''s crimes and still refused to testify in court, causing Yuanyuan to lose thewsuit."


    Shen Meilin sighed, "Yuanyuan hated her even on her deathbed, which is why she specifically called her to the bottom of the building and jumped to her death right in front of her eyes. If she had any conscience left, she probably wouldn''t be able to sleep for the rest of her life."


    "Alright, thank you for your cooperation."


    On the drive back, Zhang analyzed, "Boss, do you think the killer could be Xu Qin? If she and Shen Yuanyuan were really good friends, she must have harbored hatred towards Lin Qianjie. On the day of the incident, Lin Qianjie had just won anotherwsuit. Maybe that triggered Xu Qin, and she couldn''t help but poison Lin Qianjie."


    Fang Rui thought Zhang''s analysis made some sense. When they had previously taken Xu Qin''s statement, she had spoken about Wang Xiaoya with disdain and mentioned that Wang Xiaoya would feel guilty about what happened to Lu Tian. Could this have been a projection of her own feelings?


    "Let''s go talk to Xu Qin again!" Fang Rui said.


    Xu Qin had studied art and was now teaching children to paint at a tutoring center. When Fang Rui found her, she was guiding a child in coloring.


    Xu Qin led Fang Rui to her office.


    "Detective Fang, Officer Zhang, please have some tea!" Xu Qin poured two cups of tea for Fang Rui and Zhang, then sat down on the sofa.


    Fang Rui didn''t drink the tea. He noticed a sketchbook on the table and casually picked it up to flip through it.


    The drawings were in color, but the lines were very blurry. They didn''t look like paintings, more like colors randomly smeared on paper. Although Fang Rui didn''t understand psychology, he could tell from these drawings that the mental state of the person who drew them was not very good.


    He took out his phone and photographed them, nning to ask Mu Mian to take a lookter. Mu Mian had long been receiving art therapy and should be familiar with these things.


    "Miss Xu, did you draw these?" Fang Rui asked casually, pretending to be curious. "They''re quite unique!"


    "Yes," Xu Qin nervously snatched the sketchbook and stuffed it into a drawer. "I''ve been obsessed with modernist painting stylestely. These are just some casual drawings, very abstract. That''s the style of modernism."


    Seeing that Fang Rui hadn''t drunk the tea, Zhang didn''t dare to drink his cup either. He was afraid Xu Qin might have poisoned the tea and kill them both.


    Zhang asked, "Miss Xu, do you remember Shen Yuanyuan?"


    Upon hearing this name, Xu Qin froze. She cautiously asked, "What does this case have to do with Yuanyuan? Yuanyuan''s parents are farmers, they couldn''t possibly have poisoned Lin Qianjie. Please don''t harass her parents, they''re already miserable enough having to bury their child."


    Fang Rui asked, "Do you feel guilty about Shen Yuanyuan''s death?"


    "Why should I feel guilty? I wasn''t the one who raped Yuanyuan, nor did I push her off the building. Why don''t you me Lin Qianjie? Why me me? I had no choice, I didn''t want things to turn out like this..." Xu Qin lost control of her emotions, tears continuously flowing from the corners of her eyes. "Yuanyuan''s death wasn''t caused by me!"


    Zhang asked, "Then don''t you hate Lin Qianjie? He caused the death of your best friend, yet you still associated with him. Aren''t you afraid that Shen Yuanyuan won''t rest in peace?"


    Xu Qin''s mind shed back to Shen Yuanyuan''s bloody, mangled body and those wide-open eyes. These scenes had be her inescapable nightmares.


    Her mental state was on the verge of copse, and she struggled to defend herself: "This society is all about survival of the fittest. Even thew couldn''t do anything to him, what could I do? If I had helped Yuanyuan, I might have been the one who ended up dead!"


    Xu Qin finally realized Fang Rui''s intention. "Detective, I didn''t poison Lin Qianjie. It wasn''t me!"


    "If it wasn''t you, then it must be Chen Dongdong," Fang Rui said. "Was there anything suspicious about him on the night of the incident?"


    "Wang Xiaoya liked Lin Qianjie, she was always trying to seduce him. No man can tolerate being cheated on."


    Xu Qin continued, "He also knows many people in the ck market and often buys illegal goods. It would be easy for him to buy poison. I think he''s the killer!"


    Xu Qin recalled, "Before we went to the dock that day, I saw Wang Xiaoya arguing with Chen Dongdong, and it was quite heated. Could it be that Chen Dongdong intended to poison Wang Xiaoya? Maybe Lin Qianjie identally drank that ss of wine by mistake, and that''s why he was poisoned too? Detective Fang, you should investigate Chen Dongdong thoroughly, he might just be the killer!"


    It was already dark when they left the tutoring center where Xu Qin worked.


    "Boss, looking at the motives, both Chen Dongdong and Xu Qin had reasons tomit the crime. They also had the opportunity to do so, but it''s difficult to prove which one of them is the killer. If the poison was directly added to the ss, it would be hard to find any evidence."


    The lead on the source of the poison couldn''t be pursued further either. Tetramethylene disulfotetramine didn''t have a clear sales channel, making it difficult to trace its origin.


    When Fang Rui returned to the police station, he found Mu Mian still working overtime. She was hunched over her desk, which was covered with papers. She seemed to be solving calction problems.


    Fang Rui ced his phone in front of Mu Mian, showing Xu Qin''s drawings. "Mu Mian, these drawings are very strange. Can they reflect the artist''s psychological issues? Like antisocial personality disorder or something?"


    Mu Mian nced at the jumbled colors and thought for a moment before saying, "ording to the principles of drawing tests, the artist is likely suffering from depression. She needs psychological treatment."


    "These drawings were done by Xu Qin. I thought they might indicate that she had strong aggressive tendencies. Now it seems she''s less likely to be the killer."


    "But many poisoners don''t exhibit aggressive tendencies. The perpetrators in these types of cases are usually women who can''t seek revenge through violent means, so they resort to poisoning instead," Mu Mian said as she continued her calctions on the paper.


    "What are you calcting?"


    "Liquid concentration," Mu Mian replied. "I''ve just finished."


    Fang Rui took a look, but the paper was full of forms he couldn''t quite understand.


    "What''s the point of calcting this?"


    Mu Mian drew four sses of wine on the paper,beling one as poisoned wine while leaving the other three unmarked. Pointing at the poisoned ss, Mu Mian exined, "I conducted aponent analysis of the four sses of wine. This poisoned ss contains an additionalponent of rodenticide, but all otherponents are the same as the other three sses. However, their alcohol concentrations differ significantly."


    "The poisoned ss has added rodenticide, so it would definitely affect the alcohol concentration. Are you suspecting that the murderer put a lot of poison in it?"


    Mu Mian sighed, thinking that Fang Rui was being a bit slow.


    "Mu Mian, just tell me the correct answer directly." Fang Rui couldn''t help but ruffle Mu Mian''s hair. "And don''t you dare think I''m stupid in your mind!"


    Mu Mian exined, "This indicates that the poisoned wine has been diluted."