Chapter 106: Cunning or the Truth?

"Xu Lei, right? You're in the lending business."

"Officers, I do legitimate lending. I charge private interest rates, not usury. Why did you call me here?"

Xu Lei looked irritated; although he was in a legitimate industry, he quite disliked this place.

Because of past issues with usury, he had been here many times.

"We called you here because there's something we want to ask you."

Liu Fengxia signaled Xiao Song to pour him some water.

"Oh, I get this kind of treatment?"

"Thank you, officer."

The irritation on Xu Lei's face dissipated slightly.

He then asked, "Go ahead. I'll only answer what I know. If I don't know, I'm afraid I can't help."

"Don't worry, the reason we brought you here is definitely something you know."

"Do you remember going to a place called 'Ruoyun Clothing Store' to collect a debt two months ago?"

A hint of nervousness flashed across Xu Lei's face upon hearing this.

"Officer, it's been two months. How could I remember?"

"Besides, we live in a society ruled by law now. We use civilized methods for debt collection; it's not illegal."

As he spoke, he quickly tried to distance himself from any wrongdoing.

Hearing his words and the meaning behind them,

Liu Fengxia knew he had misunderstood.

"How you collect debts isn't the focus of why I brought you here. The point is, what did Mai Ruoyun say to you that made you leave with your men?"

"For example, did she give a specific repayment time, like within a month?"

Xu Lei felt relieved, but then an annoyed expression appeared on his face.

"Yeah, she said she'd definitely give it to me within a month."

"Then she gave me her car keys and the keys to her parents' house."

"That's why I left, but that woman has stalled me for another month now."

"But I'm not in a hurry. The combined value of the car and the house is far higher than her debt."

At this point, it was basically confirmed that Mai Ruoyun knew about Xu Feng winning the lottery.

And using the car and her parents' house as collateral,

She must have been certain that Xu Feng's money could be used by her to fill this hole.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Xiao Song, see him out."

Hearing this, Xu Lei muttered, "How heartless. Kicking me out once you're done using me."

"What, you want to stay here?"

Liu Fengxia turned her head and stared intently at him.

Upon hearing that, Xu Lei took three steps in two and quickly fled the meeting room.

"Has Mai Ruoyun been found?"

Chen Mo asked. When they called Xu Lei over, they had already arranged for someone to keep a close watch.

"Found her. She's at a KTV."

...

...

Dunhuang KTV.

4:00 PM.

Since it operated on a shift system, it was open 24 hours.

But in most places, the peak hours were from 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM.

The officers staking out the place saw Chen Mo and Liu Fengxia arrive.

After greeting them, they led the way.

"She's in Private Room 305. She came straight here after leaving the police station."

After several twists and turns, they arrived outside Private Room 305.

Before they even entered, a faint singing voice drifted out from the room.

—[The First Snow of 2002.]

—[Came a bit later than in years past.]

—[...]

Creak.

The door was pushed open.

The three of them walked in.

They saw Mai Ruoyun with both feet on the sofa, a can of beer in one hand and a microphone in the other.

She looked like she had drunk too much and was intoxicated by her own singing.

She didn't notice the three people entering at all.

The singing continued.

Seeing this, the officer turned off the ambient mood lights and switched on all the main lights.

Only then did Mai Ruoyun snap out of her trance and look at Chen Mo and the others.

Chen Mo walked to the song selection console and turned off the music.

"Mai Ruoyun."

"I won't ask why you're here when your best friend Li Xiaolan just died."

Chen Mo signaled for her to stop standing on the sofa and sit down.

"We discovered that Xu Feng won a sum of money from the lottery, and immediately after that, you got together with him."

"But Xu Feng kept delaying the divorce. After three years of effort, he finally proposed a divorce to Li Xiaolan last month, only to be met with her opposition."

"So, the one who killed Li Xiaolan was actually you."

The room fell silent instantly.

Mai Ruoyun was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"So? You think I killed Li Xiaolan because I was greedy for Xu Feng's money?"

"Otherwise?"

Liu Fengxia asked back.

"It just so happens that two months ago, Xu Lei came to your door to collect a debt. You couldn't pay back the fifty thousand yuan at the time, so you used your car and house as collateral."

"Weren't you just waiting for Li Xiaolan to die so you could use Xu Feng's money to pay off the debt?"

In fact, only if Li Xiaolan died or if Xu Feng divorced her completely

would Xu Feng announce the lottery winnings.

Otherwise, if the money were announced early, 800,000 would be reduced to 400,000.

"I did plan on using Xu Feng's money, but I really didn't kill anyone."

"The temptation of money is great, and I do need it, but I'm not so depraved as to go that far."

Mai Ruoyun swallowed the beer in her hand and then held out both hands in a handcuffing gesture.

Her candid attitude made Chen Mo feel that things were getting complicated.

It felt like the case that was about to be solved had suddenly become blurred.

Liu Fengxia felt the same as Chen Mo; she didn't want to give up just like that.

"Not that depraved?"

"You were able to threaten to jump off a building to force Xu Feng into a divorce. If that's not depraved, what is?"

Hearing this, Mai Ruoyun withdrew her hands.

"Xu Feng told you that, didn't he? What a spineless man."

Then she changed the subject.

"Since you've found out that I'm only with him for his money,"

"then why would I actually jump?"

"If I didn't take some extreme measures, with that cowardly way of his, how would he ever dare to bring up divorce?"

When Mai Ruoyun mentioned the divorce, her eyes were filled with disgust and loathing.

"What's even funnier is that he actually thought I liked him because his calligraphy was good."

"Dammit, every time we get a room, he has to write those filthy words on my body!"

"..."

They walked out of the KTV.

Mai Ruoyun was taken back by the officers.

"Do you think she's bluffing, or is she really not the killer?"

Liu Fengxia watched the police car drive away and turned to look at Chen Mo.

"From her Micro-expressions, she wasn't lying."

"But an interrogation still needs to be arranged."

After Chen Mo finished speaking, he looked down at the watch on his wrist.

"It's 4:30 now. Let's go meet the deceased's younger brother."

"I have a lot of questions I want to ask him."