Xie Yuan, a name repeatedly mentioned in the diary, aroused Yu Hanjiang's suspicions.
He quickly searched for information about the male celebrity. Back when Lin Yiyan was still in high school, Xie Yuan was incredibly popular. Now, Xie Yuan is a 40-year-old middle-aged man. His wife is a pop diva, and the two have a son and a daughter. On the surface, their family seems very happy.
Yu Hanjiang quickly found Xie Yuan's contact information in the folder given to him by CEO Shao and called to inquire.
Xie Yuan said, " Of course I know Lin Yiyan. She's an artist from the same company. She toasted me at a company event before and said that I was her idol when she was young. She was very polite to me."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Have you two been in contact privately?"
Xie Yuan flatly denied it: "We haven't had much contact. We just exchanged contact information politely. I've been retired from acting for a long time and am now focusing on being a stay-at-home dad. The police officer suddenly asked me about Lin Yiyan, what's going on?"
Yu Hanjiang paused for a moment, then said, "It's related to a criminal case. We'll contact you again if needed. We hope you can assist with the investigation." The other party hesitated for a moment, then said, "Okay, I really don't know much."
After hanging up the phone, Yu Hanjiang glanced at his diary again, seemingly lost in thought.
Xie Yuan seems to have been an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. Lin Yiyan is a full 10 years younger than him. Back then, Lin Yiyan was madly in love with her idol during her teenage years, which led her to enter the entertainment industry. However, by the time she debuted, her idol had already gotten married and had children, and decided to retire from acting.
Yu Hanjiang checked carefully and found that the two indeed had no connection in the industry and had never collaborated on any variety shows or films.
Perhaps for Lin Yiyan, Xie Yuan was just a dream from her youth.
Yu Hanjiang put away the yellowed diary, suddenly thinking of something: "She used to keep a diary. Will she continue to do so after entering the entertainment industry?"
There are many things I'm embarrassed to tell my family or friends, so writing in a diary is indeed the best way to vent.
Lin Yiyan wrote each of her high school diaries meticulously, with a consistent format and neat handwriting. These habits, cultivated over many years, may not have changed. So, where are her diaries now?
Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath, picked up his hat from the table, put it on, and walked out of the office. He called to a few people, "You guys, come with me immediately and search all of Lin Yiyan's residences."
After Lin Yiyan's body was discovered yesterday, Yu Hanjiang sent people to seal off Lin Yiyan's residence. They will forcibly enter the house as soon as the search warrant is issued. According to the manager, Lin Yiyan owned three houses. In addition to the Yuehu Villa, she usually lived in a high-end apartment in the city. On the day of the incident, Lin Yiyan also left from the underground parking garage of the apartment.
Yu Hanjiang led several young police officers to search Lin Yiyan's apartment.
The apartment was messy, with magazines and snacks scattered on the table and clothes strewn everywhere. It was nothing like the neat and clean Moon Lake Villa, which belonged to the same person. Yu Hanjiang's eyes quickly swept across the room and found Lin Yiyan's laptop in the corner.
She was probably sitting barefoot on the carpet with the curtains drawn, playing on her computer. She was smart enough to leave the computer on the carpet when she left, even though it was out of power.
A lot of clean clothes and cosmetics were found in the apartment, but there was no trace of the diary.
High school students like to write diaries with pens, so maybe she'll start writing her diary on a computer later. With that in mind, Yu Hanjiang took the laptop back and handed it over to professionals to crack.
After carefully examining the computer, Yu Hanjiang discovered that it was full of scripts, contracts, and promotional photos.
There was no trace of a diary.
However, some photos caught his attention.
Lin Yiyan created a special folder for photos on her computer. When she opened it, most of the photos were promotional pictures for her new drama, as well as everyday street photos and airport snapshots. There were no major issues.
However, there was a hidden and encrypted folder. After being cracked, the folder was revealed to Yu Hanjiang, and it was filled with Lin Yiyan and Manager's messages. Photos of Qi Ming, including some rather intimate videos.
Recalling what Xiao Lou had mentioned that morning, Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly and sent Xiao Lou a message: "Come over here, I've made a new discovery."
Xiao Lou's office was in the building next to the Police Station. He quickly turned around to find Yu Hanjiang. After seeing the photo, he had an "I knew it" look on his face: "It seems that Qi Ming's girlfriend who has never appeared before is Lin Yiyan."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: " Lin Yiyan debuted ten years ago, and the web series 'Teenage Hearts,' which she starred in, was handled by Qi Ming, right?"
Xiao Lou said, "We were just discussing yesterday why Qi Ming chose Lin Yiyan, who has no connections, when so many beautiful girls participated in the web series auditions. Now it seems that the two of them were probably already there back then."
Yu Hanjiang opened a photo of Lin Yiyan at age 20 and Qi Ming at age 28.
At that time, Qi Ming was already a well-known manager at Starlight Entertainment Group, having made many artists famous. Shao Qingge put Qi Ming in charge of this project in order to discover some students from Film Academy and find a few promising talents to cultivate.
In the photo, Qi Ming is wearing a suit and looks mature and composed. Although his looks may not be as good as those of male celebrities in the entertainment industry, he has been working in the industry for several years and has a unique charm of a mature man.
Lin Yiyan looked young and innocent, standing next to him, leaning against Qi Ming's chest, with a sweet smile.
Looking at the rather dated photo, Xiao Lou said, "Qi..."
Ming served as Lin Yiyan's manager for a full ten years. Judging from the photos, their secret, underground relationship also lasted for ten years.
Yu Hanjiang added, "It's also because of this closer relationship that Qi Ming can recommend various resources to her. We met Lin Yiyan's parents today; they are just ordinary working-class people. The fact that someone like Lin Yiyan, with no background, can become so popular in the entertainment industry is probably because Qi Ming is helping her."
Xiao Lou agreed, saying, "I was also surprised when I was researching. None of the TV dramas Lin Yiyan acted in flopped. Every one she acted in became a hit. Her eye for scripts is really strong. It seems that this is all thanks to Qi Ming. After all, Qi Ming is the ace manager of Starlight Entertainment. He has a lot of resources at his disposal. He will pick the best scripts for Lin Yiyan. It would be difficult for Lin Yiyan not to become popular."
Yu Hanjiang said, " The manager who silently supported her behind the scenes had a strong motive to kill Lin Yiyan after discovering that the woman he had been dating for ten years had dumped him after she became famous and started dating a younger man. He was filled with hatred out of love."
Xiao Lou said, "Moreover, his dog just died of illness a few days ago, which is also very strange and too coincidental."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Maybe it was a dog he bought with Lin Yiyan, or a gift from Lin Yiyan. After he found out about Lin Yiyan's affair, he killed the pet in a fit of rage."
The two looked at each other in bewilderment.
These are all the most reasonable speculations based on current evidence.
Ten years ago, Lin Yiyan and Qi Ming had a close relationship. She was an ordinary girl with no background, but thanks to her manager, she had a smooth and successful career and became very famous. Qi Ming used all his resources to promote her and was obviously very devoted to her.
Judging from the photos, the two of them are smiling very sweetly when they are together.
However, you can get tired of the same thing after a while, especially in the complex environment of the entertainment industry, where there are too many temptations of handsome men, beautiful women, and money. For 20-year-old Lin Yiyan, Qi Ming was the most powerful manager who could make her famous. But after she became famous, she saw more of the world and might think that managers are nothing special.
Besides, Qi Ming is already old, and his looks are far inferior to those of male stars in the entertainment industry.
In comparison, Cheng Yu is young, handsome, and a wealthy second-generation heir. Lin Yiyan has a different view of Manager. Qi Ming lost all feeling and started engaging in thrilling car sex with a young man. When his manager discovered this, he killed the man in a fit of rage.
Yu Hanjiang frowned and pondered for a moment. The logical chain he and Xiao Lou deduced was clear, complete, and very convincing. The presence of Qi Ming's skin and hair genes in Lin Yiyan's fingernails also indicated that she and Qi Ming had some physical contact on the day of the incident.
Qi Ming returned home with the editor-in-chief at 11:30 p.m. that night, while Lin Yiyan and Cheng Yu's cars appeared at Moon Lake Villa Estate at around 2:00 a.m. Cheng Yu's car, number 501, left at 3:00 a.m., and Lin Yiyan's car, number 502, left at 4:00 a.m.
Between 2:00 and 3:00, Lin Yiyan and Cheng Yu should have been having an affair at the villa. Regardless of who the murderer is, they wouldn't have killed Lin Yiyan in front of Cheng Yu. Therefore, the murderer must have acted between 3:00 and 4:00, killing Lin Yiyan and then driving away in her car.
Yesterday, the two deduced that the murderer had been hiding in Moon Lake Villa Estate beforehand; otherwise, it would have been too late to drive there after learning that Lin Yiyan had returned to the villa.
Qi Ming has no alibi between 11:30 PM and 3:00 AM.
The editor-in-chief can only confirm that he was taken home at 11:30 p.m., but no one knows what he did after that.
He had plenty of time to get to the villa early, and he certainly wouldn't drive there because Lin Yiyan had taken his car during the meal. He could simply take a taxi, which would prevent the police from finding any evidence.
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou: "I'm going to the villa area again this morning. First, I need to check the surveillance footage from last night, and second, I need to get the list of all the villa owners from the property management. Do you want to come with me?"
Xiao Lou was naturally willing to follow Captain Yu. He had already performed very thorough autopsies on the corpses, and there was nothing else for him to do if he stayed.
The two arrived at Moon Lake Villa Estate together.
Because Yu Hanjiang had given prior notice, the property management had already prepared all the owners' names and registered vehicles.
After careful inspection, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou discovered that Qi Ming did not own any property in this community, nor was there any house registered under his parents' names. It seems that Qi Ming does not live here, but it is also possible that he came to wait in advance after learning that Lin Yiyan was coming here.
Yu Hanjiang then checked the surveillance footage, focusing on the footage from the entire previous Tuesday.
The entire day's recording was too long, so Yu Hanjiang played it at five times the speed. The rapidly flashing images made Xiao Lou's eyes blurry, but Yu Hanjiang was quite professional when it came to watching recordings, and soon shouted, "Stop."
The security guard pressed the pause button, and Yu Hanjiang walked over, took the mouse, and rewound the recording by 5 minutes.
After playing at normal speed, a person quickly appears on the screen.
At 24:30 in the morning, a man who was about 1.75 meters tall and wearing a pure black down jacket appeared at the entrance of the residential area. He was wearing the hood of the down jacket, as well as a mask and scarf, with only his eyes showing. Therefore, it was impossible to tell who he was from his appearance.
But Yu Hanjiang said with certainty, "It is Qi Ming."