Qin Guan had always been certain that the incident with his mother-in-law would never be uncovered by anyone.
Because he had executed it flawlessly.
Moreover, his luck wasn't bad at all – To avoid suspicion at the time, Qin Guan had called the emergency services before calling his father-in-law and Xu Ruyi. His mother-in-law was taken to the hospital, and the hospital determined the cause of death as cerebral hemorrhage.
Coincidentally, just a few days before his mother-in-law went to the hotel, the doctor had specifically warned his father-in-law: "Her blood pressure has been very high lately, and her emotions are unstable. She absolutely must rest and recuperate."
Perfect.
As for how his mother-in-law had caught him red-handed with Jun Jun at the hotel that day, Qin Guan later figured out the reason.
Since the Shi Jie case, although his mother-in-law had reluctantly relented in front of Xu Ruyi, deep down she never trusted him. She remained insistent on notarizing the will and reclaiming the property.
She had privately consulted a lawyer in detail about property notarization. Sorting out the property of the elderly couple went smoothly; the snag was the Guanlan Ting apartment. The lawyer informed her that since Qin Guan's name was already on the deed, it would be very difficult to reclaim the property without involving him at all.
On the day Qin Guan met Jun Jun at the hotel, his mother-in-law was right outside – she had arranged to meet the lawyer at a tea restaurant diagonally across from the hotel.
After speaking with the lawyer, she was deeply dissatisfied with the outcome. Furious, she called her husband to vent about the situation.
It was after hanging up and preparing to go home that she saw Qin Guan cautiously entering the hotel.
Of course, this sequence of events was something Qin Guan pieced together later.
No one else knew besides him.
His father-in-law only knew about events before his wife hung up. In the days that followed, he was filled with regret: "I should have stopped her earlier. Told her not to listen to idle gossip, to trust our own family. Things like wills and notarization... if I had stopped her sooner, persuaded her, she wouldn't have gotten so anxious, so angry."
Both he and Xu Ruyi simply assumed that their mother/mother-in-law, frustrated by her inability to reclaim the Guanlan Ting apartment and consumed by her obsession, had argued with the lawyer. Then, after returning home, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became, until her rage triggered a cerebral hemorrhage.
Even the lawyer himself admitted that the mother-in-law had been extremely agitated during their meeting that day.
Not a single soul knew what happened afterward.
Neighbors in Jiayuan Community had seen Qin Guan. He easily explained it away to Xu Ruyi: "I happened to be meeting a client nearby that day. After finishing, I thought I'd come see you. Just as the taxi pulled up to the entrance, I got out and saw Mom. She was storming off without a word. I knew something was wrong, so I followed her home. And then... as soon as she went inside..."
His explanation was perfectly reasonable – His mother-in-law was already furious with him, having argued with the lawyer because of him. Seeing him then only fueled her anger further. Her emotions became too intense, triggering the cerebral hemorrhage.
This was the "truth" everyone knew.
With his mother-in-law dead, no one would ever know the real truth.
That patch of wall painted white had gradually yellowed over the years.
Xu Ruyi did notice it once, unintentionally: "Huh? When was this painted?"
But Qin Guan brushed it off even more casually: "Oh, that was me. One day I saw a bit of plaster flaking off, so I just patched it up. Looks ugly, doesn't it?"
A past long buried. Yet now, at this moment, it was Qin Guan himself who had kicked down this piece of wall that had been sealed away for years.
How could it be so coincidental?
Had it been loose for a long time?
Had Xu Ruyi seen it too?
In that instant, another thought struck Qin Guan, a deeper, more precise suspicion: Was it possible that Xu Ruyi had inadvertently discovered this and become suspicious of him? Suspected him of causing her mother's death? Was that why she had been so ruthless, scheming step by step to destroy him?
But for all these years, Xu Ruyi had clearly been completely in the dark.
In the three years since her mother's death, he had been exceptionally attentive to Xu Ruyi and their daughter, and increasingly respectful to his father-in-law. The three generations had lived together harmoniously, extremely well.
She had also become more dependent on him, more affectionate.
Had she discovered the bloodstain? No, even if she had found it, she absolutely couldn't have guessed the truth. Who could deduce so much from a tiny stain?
Besides, if she had guessed the truth, she wouldn't have remained intimate with him all this time. She couldn't have.
Yet, to say Xu Ruyi had discovered nothing at all seemed implausible – where did her drastic change come from? Why was she so relentlessly pursuing him?
She must have discovered something.
But when exactly did she discover it?
What else had she found?
Qin Guan's thoughts, which had been almost sorted out, became tangled again.
"Whose blood is this? Qin Guan, you must know, right?" the young officer said, though he clearly didn't expect an answer – they had already called the forensic team to collect evidence.
No matter what excuses Qin Guan made, with this concrete evidence, that past "accident" might be reopened.
Under normal circumstances, Qin Guan wouldn't be afraid at all – the person was dead; dead men tell no tales. Even if he admitted his mother-in-law had coughed up blood before dying, so what?
He was a lawyer. This was his field. He knew exactly what evidence was fatal and what was useless.
He could explain that he was paralyzed with fear at the time, stunned stupid, panicking while making calls, forgetting to mention the blood. Then, before the ambulance arrived, his mother-in-law passed away. Later, to spare his heavily pregnant wife the fright, he painted over the bloodstain on the wall.
He had a pile of plausible reasons to escape punishment. Because he had perfectly avoided the most critical point in a criminal case: he genuinely hadn't laid a finger on his mother-in-law from start to finish.
He wasn't afraid. Not at all.
But now, Qin Guan was a little afraid.
Because he suddenly realized: Xu Ruyi must have known all along.
Otherwise, why would she orchestrate such an elaborate scheme against him?
Why would she go so far as to harm herself to get to him?
Qin Guan should have realized it sooner – her motive wasn't just his affair with Qi Min. Her actions were so extreme, so vicious, it couldn't simply be revenge for a husband's infidelity!
Did Xu Ruyi know everything?
And he, up to this point, only knew she was setting a trap for him. What was her plan? Her next move? He knew nothing.
The forensic team arrived quickly. In front of Qin Guan, they surveyed the scene and collected evidence.
The blood sample was collected without issue.
"It needs to be taken back to the station for testing, but preliminarily, we can confirm it's human blood."
Because of this bloodstain, the police had reasonable suspicion it might be related to the missing Qi Min. Consequently, another team of officers had already headed to Guanlan Ting.
"This is all standard procedure. We've already obtained a search warrant. Lawyer Qin, you're a big-shot lawyer, you should understand this, right? All our procedures are legal, reasonable, and justified!" the officer said.
Qin Guan was powerless to counter.
He knew the police were just waiting for suspicious evidence to take the next step. He knew it all, but he couldn't stop it. He could only watch helplessly as the police entered his father-in-law's home and his own home at Guanlan Ting, conducting thorough searches.
Because Qi Min remained missing, and because of the bloodstain, the police had upgraded the "missing persons" case to a potential "homicide" case.
Let them search.
Qin Guan slumped onto the redwood sofa in his father-in-law's living room. He buried his head in his hands, straining to organize the current chaos in his mind –
He still hadn't found any evidence against Xu Ruyi. He hadn't found Xiao Zhi...
Amidst this turmoil, his mother-in-law's death was being dredged up...
What else?
The police had been wanting to search Guanlan Ting – would they find the stockings and the phone in the house?
No, he had already searched that house thoroughly. No stockings, no phone...
As he was thinking this, he saw an officer walk in after taking a call. The man stared directly at him: "Qin Guan, what's the combination to your safe?"