"And then? Why don't you continue?" Ruoping said anxiously.
"That man, or the suspect, is the husband of the milk tea shop owner on the commercial street. Do you understand?"
"No... no way." Even if Ruoping was slow, she understood now and stammered, "Are you saying that the auntie's family is the culprit?"
She was a regular customer of the milk tea shop and was a bit in disbelief.
"The woman herself might not be in the know."
"But that's not right. Since they hate Gu Qiumian's family so much, why would that uncle go to work at the supermarket?"
"There's something we got wrong."
Qingyi analyzed:
"It's what Shutong just told me. He also got it wrong before. Don't tie the reason for the other person going to the supermarket to their personal likes and dislikes. His only goal is to get information.
"Simply put, if you want to attack Gu Qiumian now, how would you find out about her movements or her family's? There are actually only three places—"
As he spoke, Qingyi held up three fingers:
"School, the villa, and her family's mall.
"You can find out about her personal state at school, how she's feeling, where she's going. It's similar with the villa, but you can't just get into these two places. Only at the mall can you apply for a job as an employee, but note that this isn't to find out about Gu Qiumian herself, but about her father's movements."
Ruoping asked:
"So that man came to work here just to get information about Gu Qiumian's family?"
"Something like that, and he applied several months ago, which means he was prepared."
"Wait, didn't you say it was his first day at work?"
"Dumb," Qingyi said, massaging his forehead. "His wife sprained her ankle, and he took a leave of absence to help out at the milk tea shop for a few days. Today he came back to work, so this is his 'first' day."
"Oh, oh. Then why did he come this morning?"
"Think about it. Let's assume he's the mastermind. He must know about the arson case and also knows that her dad isn't at home, but he doesn't know when her dad will be back. So what's the fastest way to get information, besides asking Gu Qiumian herself?"
"Her family's mall?"
Qingyi nodded:
"Exactly, or more accurately, the management under her dad, which is the mall's manager. This person has a direct way of contacting Boss Gu.
"Following this logic, in order to get the other party's attention, the suspect must have spread the news about the arson case. It's even possible that he directed and acted it out himself. He first spread the news and then deliberately went to complain to the manager, saying that a certain rumor had spread this morning. So what would you do if you were the manager?"
Qingyi gave the answer directly:
"You can't just watch your subordinates gossip about the boss, right? Wouldn't you have to release some information to calm everyone down?
"Doesn't that explain it? The suspect had to come to work this morning for this very reason, to find out when Boss Gu would return to the island, so he could determine the right time to act."
The two had already walked out of the supermarket while talking. Amid the beeping sounds of people checking out, Ruoping nodded blankly. She felt that Qingyi's deduction was very smooth and, in a way, flawless, but she also felt that something was not quite right.
It wasn't until the other person was typing on his phone with a mysterious smile that she reacted:
"I know what's not right. You're clearly assuming he's the culprit and then deducing the motive backward. That's not rigorous at all!"
"That's true, it is a bit," Qingyi said, looking up. "I also felt it wasn't very reliable, but Shutong deliberately kept it a secret before. It's also a blind cat running into a dead mouse. He happened to find a crucial clue."
"What?"
"Let me tell you," a look of excited smiled appeared on the young man's usually expressionless face. "This case is just too interesting. I never thought all the clues could be connected..."
He didn't finish, as Ruoping glared at him:
"Why are you so excited? Shouldn't you hurry and find out where the culprit went?"
The girl then anxiously sent a message to Zhang Shutong.
Because just now at the cooked food window...
She only saw the pig liver hanging there but didn't see the meat cleaver.
...
The bicycle rode on the winter outskirts. As far as the eye could see, it was desolate.
Zhang Shutong was riding the bicycle leisurely. Qingyi's bike seemed to have been specially modified. The brakes were extremely sensitive. Every light tap in the city would turn into an emergency brake, which Gu Qiumian said he did on purpose, which was a real injustice.
Now it was finally better. They had arrived at the outskirts where there was no one around. He, the young man, rode the bike leisurely, and the young miss behind him drank her milk tea leisurely.
As she drank, Gu Qiumian asked him what his friends were up to, with a hint of worry in her tone.
It seemed she had guessed something.
Zhang Shutong said it was nothing and that they were very safe.
But as soon as he said that, as if to prove him wrong, his phone suddenly rang.
It was Du Kang's call.
The few of them had agreed not to call unless necessary. If they did, it meant that they had encountered an emergency.
Zhang Shutong stopped the bike, sighed, and pressed the answer button.
Sure enough, the first thing he heard was Du Kang shouting intensely:
"Help!"
...
"Then what was Du Kang doing?" It took Ruoping a while to react. "Since you've already confirmed the culprit, why did you send him to Gu Qiumian's villa? Could it be that..."
At this point, her eyes filled with worry:
"That man didn't follow them but went straight to the villa?"
The girl had just listened to a lot of deductions, and her mind was also becoming active. In an instant, she thought of many things:
She had always thought that the man left the cooked food stall to follow Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiumian.
But then she suddenly thought that no matter where they went, the two of them couldn't leave the city, so it would be difficult to act anywhere;
He couldn't just kidnap them in the middle of a crowd, could he? There was only one possibility—
Find a deserted place;
And it had to be a place Gu Qiumian had to pass by.
Then there was only one place that met both of these conditions:
The road back to the Gu family's villa.
Ruoping knew that place, which they called the "castle." There were very few traces of pedestrians, making it a natural location for a crime;
Then she thought of the possibility that worried her the most:
What if Gu Qiumian didn't run into the culprit, but Du Kang did?
Her heart became anxious. She quickly spoke her guess out loud and was about to emphasize it again, but Qingyi nodded indifferently:
"That's possible. In a way, the culprit's whereabouts are not fixed, and it's difficult to catch him, but," the young man shook the chat history, "Shutong and I have already considered this, so..."
"I'm talking about Du Kang right now. No, I have to make a call..."
Qingyi, however, laughed gleefully:
"Him? Don't worry. Our birthday boy won't get into trouble."
...
"Help!" Du Kang shouted.
Zhang Shutong moved the receiver away from his ear:
"You were really caught?"
"You got me into this, Shutong! You said everything would be fine!"
"My bad, my bad. I'll call for backup right now."
Zhang Shutong laughed and then handed the phone to Gu Qiumian.
She had been nervous after hearing the cry for help on the phone, but seeing the smile on his face, she became confused.
"Help save someone?" Zhang Shutong asked the young miss to step in.
"Why are you always doing bad things?" she didn't rush to take the phone but asked grumpily, "First, explain to me what's going on. What do you mean by me helping save someone? What kind of trouble did you two get into again?"
"Because you're the young miss. You have to save this face." Zhang Shutong added, "I mean, he accidentally smashed the only two flower pots left at your place."
"Huh?"
"Well, um, my condolences."
Zhang Shutong offered his condolences, as Qiu Yu Mian Mian's eyes were already wide open.
...
"What?" Ruoping was dumbfounded. "Are you saying Du Kang didn't go there to stake out the culprit but to cause trouble?"
"Yeah." Qingyi found her shocked expression amusing every time.
"What for?"
"Well, that's a long story." Qingyi touched his chin and said regretfully, "I came up with a brilliant idea, but Shutong vetoed it."
"What idea?"
"Since we're constantly suspecting this and that person and can't find the real culprit, why don't we just make the first move and kidnap Gu Qiumian?"
"Get lost!"
"It was actually to test her nanny's attitude." The idea was vetoed again, and Qingyi was a bit hurt and no longer in the mood to be mysterious. "Didn't I say before that we suspect Gu Qiumian's nanny has a problem because of that dead dog thing?"
"I know. Hurry up and continue!"
"But it's hard to tell if the nanny really didn't see it or pretended not to see it. Since that's the case, Shutong said, let's just use the process of elimination. Don't waste your brain cells thinking about this and that, like the nanny's identity, who she has a grudge against, and so on. Just go and try it out yourself."
"So?"
"So we sent Du Kang to hang around for a bit. He went just in time for lunch. Her nanny was cooking, and she could see the backyard from the kitchen. Hmm..."
At this point, Qingyi looked at the time:
"I guess we should have a result by now."
...
The result was, of course, that he was caught.
In Zhang Shutong's impression, the nanny, Aunt Wu, was a gentle woman, but now she seemed like a completely different person.
Even without speakerphone, he could hear her serious and suppressed angry voice through the receiver.
And Gu Qiumian was first stunned with a weird expression, then went to the side to make a phone call to explain, with a helpless look:
"Really, Aunt Wu, that person is my friend. Don't make it hard for him. He didn't do it on purpose..."
"My dad said to tell him if there's anything wrong? Oh, Aunt Wu, I'm not lying to you. I'm really fine. That person really is my friend. He was just... just playing a prank. He didn't have any malicious intentions. Just pretend you didn't see it..."
No one could resist Gu Qiumian when she acted spoiled. The woman's tone on the other end of the phone also softened.
Hearing this, Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't intended to give Gu Qiumian a "surprise";
The original plan was for Du Kang to act as a suspicious person and hang around outside the window for a while;
Then, they would take the next step based on the nanny's reaction.
The best outcome would be that the nanny became suspicious and asked a few questions, and then he would explain it clearly, ride his bike, and leave.
But perhaps the nanny was too focused on cooking, or maybe she was nearsighted, she just didn't see him.
In a state of helplessness, he had to do something that looked both "malicious" and "attention-grabbing."
With the five arsonists in front of him, Zhang Shutong naturally thought of smashing the flower pots.
He had noticed that there were two intact flower pots in the backyard yesterday.
It was a very good deal to test a person with two flower pots. He didn't think Gu Qiumian would mind.
However:
"What? He didn't just smash the two in the backyard, he also smashed the one I was raising in the front yard?" Gu Qiumian suddenly froze.
Zhang Shutong was also stunned. He remembered telling Du Kang to just smash the ones in the backyard. Why did this guy over-fulfill the mission?
But now, he didn't have to wonder anymore.
Because Gu Qiumian had already handed him the phone:
"Look at what you've done!"
She mouthed the words with her rosy lips, gritting her teeth and ready to settle the score.
Zhang Shutong quickly hid to the side.
...
"Oh, Du Kang sent a message back." Qingyi suddenly smiled, looking at the phone screen.
Ruoping also saw it because this time, the other person sent it to the group chat. Through the phone screen, there were pictures of the flower pot's "corpse" and the young man's red ears.
He also attached a sentence:
Twisted (crying face)
Ruoping also laughed and sent a voice message:
"How did you get caught even when you're just smashing a flower pot? You should have just smashed and ran."
"I couldn't help it," Du Kang said helplessly. "She happened to come out of the kitchen when I was smashing the two in the back. So I ran to the front yard and smashed another one, but I didn't expect her to come out to throw away the trash and catch me. Besides, I didn't do anything wrong. Running away would make me look more suspicious. It's better to just explain. But her nanny is so fierce. She gave me a long lecture."
Qingyi interjected:
"So what are you doing now?"
"Gu Qiumian helped me explain, so it's fine in the end. The auntie told me to come in and eat something, so I went inside."
"You're so rude. You just finished causing trouble." Ruoping laughed and scolded.
Du Kang, however, said aggrievedly:
"Let me tell you, I rode all the way here from my house. I'm freezing to death. Besides, isn't this for Gu Qiumian? What's wrong with coming in and sitting down for a bit? I'm not chatting anymore. I'm going to taste the young miss's cooking."
After that, he disappeared, with no integrity at all.
"So we can rule out the nanny now?" Ruoping asked, putting down her phone.
"Yes, no problem."
Ruoping asked again:
"So you suspected the nanny was the one missing arsonist from the beginning? Then was Du Kang's trip for nothing? He just finished his test, and you found the real culprit?"
"Not really." Qingyi explained. "The nanny has nothing to do with the arson case. Think about it, this matter was participated in by people on the commercial street. How could an out-of-town nanny who doesn't understand the local situation and rarely goes out be able to arrange those five people without anyone knowing and also not show her face?"
"So the nanny and the commercial street are two separate things, but you did suspect her of being the culprit?"
"Yes, because at first, we didn't find the man who sold pig liver either. We had to make a few more plans. In Shutong's words, it's to eliminate a suspect along the way, so we can narrow down our target."
Qingyi paused and then said:
"It wasn't just to test the nanny. Like you said before, what if the culprit is stupid and goes straight to Gu Qiumian's villa without confirming anything? So sending Du Kang there at first was also with this idea in mind. If he found something wrong, he could just ride away."
"So all these issues can be ruled out now?"
"Yes."
"Then will we be successful once we catch the pig liver man?" Ruoping also became excited. God knows when she changed her name from "uncle" to "pig liver man."
This time, Qingyi shook his head:
"Not exactly."
"Why?"
"Because it's just elimination, but in reality, there's one more person we haven't found."
"What do you mean? You're saying there are two people?" Ruoping was stunned.
"Shutong suspects they're working together."
"Are you serious? Where did another person come from?"
"Shutong only suspects it. He hasn't confirmed it."
"Then what are we going to do next?"
Qingyi said:
"Didn't I just say? In a way, we still can't confirm the pig liver man's whereabouts. He might have followed Shutong and them, or he might not have followed them and went straight to the road back to Gu Qiumian's house to wait. His range of activity is too wide, making it hard to catch him."
"So?"
"So, the next step is the fourth phase of the 'The Operation of the Goddess of Fate in Charge of Miss Gu's Future.'"
Qingyi held his hands in front of him, as if there was a fishing rod there. He announced passionately:
"Since the commander-in-chief isn't here, I will state the main goal of the fourth phase on his behalf. Next, we will use the pig liver man's accomplice to completely narrow down his actions, and this behavior is usually called—"
But just before Uchiha Qingyi could speak, his phone rang again. The young man glanced at the screen, and the atmosphere was abruptly cut off. He said regretfully:
"Never mind. Let Shutong say it himself. Anyway, he arranged this operation from beginning to end. A man can't steal his comrade's thunder."
So Ruoping hurriedly looked at the group chat of the four of them.
She saw a picture taken by the water.
Xin Tao Jiu Zhu:
"Starting to fish. My phone's almost out of battery. Don't bother me."
So this was the "fishing" he was talking about.
"You two are so in sync with your chuunibyou."
Ruoping pouted, but then she looked at the body of water and found it familiar. She said in a daze:
"Is he out of his mind? Why would the two of them go to the 'base' where there's no one? Who would deliberately make themselves the bait?"
"Wrong. On the contrary, it's to get rid of the culprit. Otherwise, why would it be called fishing?"
Ruoping said speechlessly:
"You guys are really bold. I'm afraid he won't catch the fish and will get caught himself instead."
...
Du Kang had already eaten three bowls of noodles.
There was nothing happier than eating a bowl of duck soup noodles in the dead of winter when your body was frozen to the bone.
The rich broth, the chewy noodles, and a sprinkle of scallions—the gold, white, and green, each in its place. Amid the faint steam, the aroma filled the air, making Du Kang feel that this trip was not in vain. He planned to tell Shutong to call him for such jobs next time.
He was very happy, but the woman opposite him sighed:
"You child, why did you come here to smash flower pots on such a cold day instead of staying home?"
Du Kang could only smile sheepishly. He was too embarrassed to say that he was instructed by someone, and too embarrassed to say that he was actually suspicious of her, so he just apologized repeatedly and ate his noodles with his head down.
"Are you... Qiumian's classmate?" The nanny seemed to have something to say.
Du Kang nodded.
"I heard that she doesn't have many friends in her class. Since you're her friend, you should get along with her well, okay? Can you do this as a favor for me?"
The other party's words were sincere, but Du Kang inexplicably wanted to laugh. He thought to himself, "Aunty, the person you should be asking this favor from isn't me, there's another person."
But from Ruoping's tone, her conflict with Gu Qiumian seemed to be resolved, so he and the young miss didn't have any grudges, so he naturally nodded and agreed.
The nanny, Aunt Wu, finally smiled:
"Then I can rest easy. Is that enough? Should I get you another bowl?"
"No, Aunty, it's enough..." Du Kang raised his head and drank the last of the noodle soup. "I have to go now. Thank you for the meal, Aunty."
Since he was already out, there was no point in staying at home, so he planned to meet up with Qingyi and Ruoping.
Anyway, Shutong said he didn't need him to do anything else, so he could just do as he pleased.
Du Kang grinned, wiped his mouth, and was told to take his time by the nanny. He ran to the entrance to change his shoes. As he was saying goodbye to the other person, he opened the door, and the doorbell suddenly rang.
The security system in the villa was electronic. When he looked at the display, he saw an unexpected face.
—Song Nanshan.
Or rather, their homeroom teacher.
In front of the camera, the man had his head down and had just hung up the phone. His expression was unclear.
Wait, what was Mr. Song doing here?
Du Kang watched in confusion. He wasn't very good with these new gadgets and could only wait for the nanny to open the door. He was about to explain who this person was, but he saw the nanny press a button as if the two of them already knew each other.
"I've met your teacher before," the woman explained.
"Oh..."
Du Kang finally nodded slowly. Since they knew each other, he must be here to see Gu Qiumian. It had nothing to do with him.
He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing for his homeroom teacher to see him at another girl's house... While he was pondering, his phone rang.
The man's voice came from the phone:
"You're at Gu Qiumian's place, aren't you? Hurry up and get ready. Come with me. I have an urgent matter to discuss with you all."
"How did you know I was here, Teacher?" Du Kang asked in surprise.
"I just finished talking to Qingyi and them. Just come out first."
"Oh, oh..."
He was a little flustered. He couldn't figure out the homeroom teacher's intentions, had to say goodbye to the nanny, and then get into the small car in front of the villa in a daze.
"I'm here to pick up a student," the man said, rolling down the window and smiling at the nanny as an explanation. Then he released the handbrake, and the Focus slowly drove away.
"Teacher, my bicycle is still here," Du Kang shouted anxiously.
"It'll be fine. You can ride it another day," the man said, looking at the rearview mirror. "The nanny helped you put it away."
"Oh..." After a moment, Du Kang asked belatedly, "What are we going to do? Why is it so mysterious?"
"Go to the school and help me with something. You'll find out later."
"Then are we going to pick up Qingyi and them now?"
The man lit a cigarette, nodded, and didn't speak, as if he had something on his mind.
"Wait, Mr. Song," Du Kang suddenly smacked his thigh and realized. "If you add Qingyi and Ruoping, that's three people, and there's also Shutong and Gu Qiumian. Your little car won't be able to fit all of us."
After saying that, he realized he had accidentally called his teacher by his nickname. Normally, the man would have gotten angry and told him to be more respectful, but this time, the other party seemed not to have heard him.
Song Nanshan suddenly smiled. In the rearview mirror, he could see his teeth and the cigarette with a spark between them:
"Who said we're going to pick up those two? We'll have enough space."