After dinner, before sky dark, Su Qing went to Jiang Sui's place.
The girl's heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. She bought some things and quickly fled from his house.
Even though she knew Jiang Sui's plane would land, Su Qing was still terrified of the boy's sudden appearance.
So, after everything, Su Qing wanted to calm herself down, and the only option was to study.
She spent the entire afternoon doing three math tests, and only then did she calm down.
Jiang Sui was fine when he got off the plane, feeling nothing. But when the boy returned home, opened the door, and unpacked, Su Qing's heartbeat raced, and her thoughts seemed to have stopped.
She was dazed, her cheeks flushed.
It was a pleasant surprise. Although Su Qing on the other end of the phone had told him to heat it up, Jiang Sui couldn't resist and took a bite of a chicken nugget.
Hearing the chewing sound, Su Qing frowned.
It hadn't even been heated up in half a minute. "Jiang Sui, heat it up before you eat it. It won't taste good if it's cold. I don't know what you like, so I bought some fast food."
In fact, perhaps because fast food doesn't spoil easily, or perhaps because it tastes not so unpleasant, Su Qing finally decided to buy it after much deliberation.
"Well, I'm just imitating my Nannan, who's selectively obedient."
Jiang Sui teased Su Qing with a half-smile. The boy didn't seem particularly angry, but Su Qing felt a little indifferent. Although he was joking and questioning her, she still felt something was off.
"I won't do that again. Go heat it up first."
Her voice was soft and gentle, as if she were being coquettish, with a sweet, clear flavor that wasn't too strong, nor was it cloying.
"Okay."
Jiang Sui's lips curved slightly, but the smile never reached his eyes, which held a lingering coldness.
He fell into a state of self-blame.
Unbeknownst to Su Qing, the girl's face was faintly flushed.
"I don't know if you're hungry. If not, eat less."
Jiang Sui had actually eaten and, looking into the microwave, said, "I am."
"Then eat more."
Su Qing thought for a moment; she'd bought quite a bit.
The two of them didn't hang up until Jiang Sui started eating. The call lasted nearly an hour, and Su Qing was actually a little reluctant to leave when she ended.
--
Meanwhile, Pei Dai, having separated from Jiang Sui, immediately contacted the person in charge and liaison in Wuzhen. The chief immediately began to sort out the case. In fact, the team had already communicated and contacted each other by phone.
So, the general direction of the case was very clear to both parties. However, the evidence this time was related to Tian Shasha, which was a complicated matter after all.
But during this visit, Xiao Chen, who had always been in charge, overheard Pei Dai's suspicions about Tian Shasha and couldn't help but frown.
Seeing the photos of the emails sent from Tian Shasha's IP address, he was stunned.
Pei Dai, standing nearby, quickly noticed this anomaly.
"Is there something wrong with Tian Shasha as a suspect?"
Xiao Chen looked at the photos and couldn't help but say a few words to the person next to him. "Go check the surveillance and reception footage from the station a few days ago."
Then he looked at Pei Dai.
"Brother Pei, to be honest, I remember this girl reporting a case a few days ago."
"But I can't quite remember. Let's have a colleague check the records."
To be thorough, Xiao Chen decided to have the surveillance footage checked first.
Soon, the investigating colleague arrived, carrying something and placing it on the table. Xiao Chen took a quick look at it, then immediately handed it to Pei Dai.
"Brother Pei, if I remember correctly, take a look. I remember this girl coming to the station about a week ago and saying she lost her phone."
Pei Dai's brow furrowed as he listened to Xiao Chen's words. This clearly indicated a significant flaw in the crucial evidence, one that could potentially turn the situation around.
A week ago, Jiang Sui and Su Qing had coincidentally gone to Jiangcheng to look for him. Furthermore, it was precisely because the evidence from that time pointed to a specific person and event that the situation was successfully reversed.
Now, the crucial evidence had a flaw.
Pei Dai carefully scrutinized the contents of his hand.
The contents were crystal clear, and he couldn't help but pull out his phone, which he always used as a notepad.
Pei Dai had a habit of recording a timeline of events in his phone's memo. Because errors were inevitable with so many things, he preferred to stick to facts.
He pulled out his phone and opened the Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School memo. It clearly noted the timeline of Su Qing giving him the evidence, the phone, and the emails.
He stared at it for a moment longer. The timeline of Tian Shasha's visit to the police station, mentioning the phone's disappearance, clearly preceded the time the emails were sent. This proved something.
It proved that someone might have used Tian Shasha's phone to text Su Qing.
So the person the evidence pointed to was uncertain, and even the validity of the evidence was uncertain.
Pei Dai silently put his phone down.
Looking at Pei Dai, Xiao Chen naturally understood how thorny this matter was. Putting aside the fact that so many years had passed and the likelihood of overturning the verdict was slim, the current issues involved, coupled with the incident, naturally gave them a snivel that something was amiss.
If the evidence was sufficient, but it wasn't now, there were two possibilities. One was that the evidence itself was simply inconclusive, pointing to an unknown individual, making it impossible to identify a suspect.
The second possibility was that someone had artificially altered the direction of the evidence.
Either possibility was extremely complex.
Both were intentionally concealed.
Pei Dai narrowed his eyes, staring at the items on the table, then looked at Xiao Chen. "Since it's murky waters, then let's fish in murky waters. First, find the phone. Where was the place it lost? Where was it lost? Who it came into contact with when it was lost, and who had it before it was lost. Find out one by one."
"Let's be clear. We won't let go of this phone. We'll see which snake will come out."
Sometimes, alerting the enemy was a good strategy. See which snake was startled.
Xiao Chen looked at Pei Dai and couldn't help but be inwardly surprised. He was indeed a man with a great reputation. But looking at his calm and aloof demeanor, it was hard to tell his age. He looked to be in his twenties.