Xu Ruyi had indeed fallen for the trap.
"What do you mean? Are you saying I ordered Li Yang and Xiao Zhi to go after Qi Min? What does Qi Min's disappearance have to do with me? How would I know where she is?" Her breathing grew rapid. "I didn't have Xiao Zhi follow her! And I didn't egg Li Yang on either—I haven't even met Li Yang in private!"
Qin Guan watched her face calmly, trying to glimpse her true feelings through her subtle expressions—was her agitation genuine or an act? If it was genuine, then among her, Xiao Zhi, and Auntie Feng, Xiao Zhi was the mastermind, the one calling the shots. If it was an act, then all of this was part of her scheme.
But did she really have that kind of skill?
"Alright, Ruyi, don't get so worked up. This is a police station," Qin Guan said slowly.
"I don't want to talk anymore!" She couldn't win the argument. Still clutching her bag tightly, she made to leave, looking as if she were about to cry. "I don't want to say another word to you. I'm going home!"
"If you don't clear this up today, you won't be going home. Understand?" Qin Guan stared at Xu Ruyi's rigid figure—a young officer was gently blocking her path.
Had she come here unprepared? Why was she in such a hurry to leave?
Or was she doing this on purpose? What was her goal?
Qin Guan didn't have time to ponder deeply. He had used Li Yang to lure out Xu Ruyi, but his ultimate target was Xiao Zhi.
He had to dig out Xiao Zhi—Auntie Feng would always side with her only biological son. Once Auntie Feng cracked, she'd reveal everything Xu Ruyi had done.
Qin Guan sighed, putting on an expression of "sadness" and "helplessness." "Ruyi, to get back at me and Qi Min, you used Li Yang—fine. But how could you drag Xiao Zhi into this? He's still in school, he's so young…"
"Enough!" Xu Ruyi suddenly turned around, glaring at Qin Guan furiously. "You keep twisting things, but this is all about what happened at the supermarket that day, isn't it? You hate me because of that, don't you? Fine! I told Li Yang that you and Qi Min were carrying on together! I told him to confront you! I'd sensed something was off between you two for a long time! I couldn't find proof, but maybe Li Yang could! So I told him. He hit you, cursed at you, humiliated you. So what? You stole his girlfriend—isn't it fair that he beat you up?"
She actually admitted it.
Qin Guan was momentarily stunned—her admission came far too easily.
"What? Want me to say more?" Xu Ruyi gritted her teeth, her voice laced with fury, grievance, and humiliation. Her small nose was red, and tears welled stubbornly in her eyes. "Should I admit that I sneaked into your car at the supermarket and stole something from you? Is that why you've been spinning lies about me nonstop? I've put up with it again and again…"
Qin Guan's heart skipped a beat—what was she doing? Was she about to admit she took Qi Min's stockings?
His gaze fell on the bag she was clutching so tightly—could she be planning to hand over the stockings now?
But why?
"You sneaked into Qin Guan's car that day? Stole something from him?" The young officer looked at Qin Guan with interest. "You never mentioned that."
Of course Qin Guan hadn't mentioned it. He'd tricked "Zeng Demei" into taking the "evidence" of his "crime"—the stockings. How could he ever admit that?
But Xu Ruyi actually confessed. "Yes, I secretly made a copy of his car key. I wanted to find evidence of him meeting Qi Min! Because he was always acting suspiciously, sitting in his car for ages before coming home! And he never let his keys out of his sight! I knew something was wrong! That day, I was with my daughter painting, but I gave the car keys to my housekeeper, Auntie Feng, and told her to search the car."
So it was Auntie Feng—Qin Guan had questioned his daughter that night, and Xu Ruyi really had been with her the whole time.
But was Xu Ruyi really confessing? Now?
"I deliberately kept texting Qin Guan, sending him photos, just to buy Auntie Feng time. I told her Qin Guan had a habit of stashing things under the driver's seat—important things, unimportant things... Auntie Feng did as I said. She waited for Qin Guan to leave, opened the car door, went in, and actually found evidence under the driver's seat! When I saw it… I…"
As she spoke, Xu Ruyi angrily yanked open the zipper of her bag.
She really was about to produce the stockings.
Qin Guan frowned, puzzled. His mind raced—what was the point of producing the stockings now? Qi Min's body hadn't even been found. What use could the stockings possibly serve?
"Here! He actually hid it under his driver's seat! Treasured it! Looked at it every day!" Xu Ruyi flung the items onto the coffee table and began sobbing.
They weren't stockings.
They were a stack of photos.
Qin Guan instinctively stood up and grabbed the photos. They were intimate pictures of him and Qi Min, likely taken by Qi Min herself: Qi Min puckering her lips to kiss Qin Guan; Qi Min lying in Qin Guan's arms; Qin Guan reading in his pajamas; Qi Min in a bathrobe, making a heart sign at the camera while Qin Guan, also in a bathrobe, stood behind her…
Alarm bells instantly rang in Qin Guan's mind—where did Xu Ruyi get these photos?
No, the more important question was: why was she showing these photos now? What was her goal?
This woman was playing a game—every move had a purpose. Qin Guan had been almost certain she was acting and lying since the moment she walked in.
But he still didn't understand! Not even now!
She admitted to secretly contacting Li Yang. She admitted to sneaking into his car… but this part didn't fit. She'd taken the stockings. He could understand why she wouldn't produce those—they were useless until Qi Min's body surfaced. What he couldn't understand was why Xu Ruyi was showing these photos now.
What was the purpose of this move?
Qin Guan stared at the photos in tense bewilderment, completely unaware of Old He—who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Old He's brow was deeply furrowed. He wasn't focused on the photos of the affair; he'd seen those before. What he kept turning over in his mind were Xu Ruyi's words:
"Qin Guan has a habit of stashing things under the driver's seat—important things, unimportant things…"
The next second, Old He silently stood up. Without a word, he pulled open the door and left.
Old He was gone.
The sound of the door closing snapped Qin Guan out of his tension and confusion. He turned his head, looking at Old He's empty chair. His heart suddenly sank for no reason, a sense of foreboding closing in from all sides.
Something had happened.
But he didn't know what it was!
It wasn't until an hour later. Xu Ruyi had safely walked out of the police station gates, yet the officers still hadn't let Qin Guan sign the release papers. Qin Guan was growing frantic, nearly out of control, arguing vehemently that the police had no grounds to keep holding him. That's when Old He finally returned.
Old He brought back sufficient "grounds."
They had searched Qin Guan's office again. Beneath his office chair, hidden in a recess so small it was easily overlooked, they found a piece of black tape. Peeling it back revealed a tiny SIM card.
That card was Qi Min's phone SIM.