My Lovely Wife is a Forensic Doctor - Chapter 277
Chapter 277 The Diamond Ring Was Not Lost
The three of them followed Dong Yueyun and Qin Wentao into the study room, which was on the east wing of the first floor.
Having dismissed the servants from the study, Dong Yueyun closed the door.
Presently, Fan Lifeng staked out a seat and took out his pen and journal, waiting to jot down important notes.
Meanwhile, Yan Zihao pointed at the seat next to Fan Lifeng, indicating for Liu Xiaofan to take it up. However, the latter merely waved his hand and said, “I’m fine with standing, so you can take the seat if you’d like.” With that, he glanced over at Dong Yueyun and gestured for her to come into the study.
Qin Wentao, on the other hand, was clueless as to what his wife might say, and he remained standing as he turned to give her a look of askance, waiting for her to speak.
The woman had a grim look on her face, and after clearing her throat, she asked aloud, “Don’t you all want to know what happened to that diamond ring?”
“Yes!” Liu Xiaofan answered, straightening. “Do you know what happened to it, Madam Qin?”
The diamond ring was the key to their breakthrough in this case, and if they could locate it, they could figure out the identity of the driver who had caused the accident, thereby uncovering the whole truth of the incident.
“Yes, I do.”
Qin Wentao was taken aback to hear the certainty in his wife’s voice. “How would you know? Isn’t the ring—”
Dong Yueyun flicked her wrist, signaling for him to stop speaking, and her face was stoic as she said, “Wanqing never lost her ring in the first place.”
“What do you mean she never lost her ring in the first place?” Liu Xiaofan was so surprised that he felt compelled to take a step forward, shooting her an incredulous look as he urged, “Are you sure of this?”
Yan Zihao, too, was taken aback by this sudden proclamation, and he added onto Liu Xiaofan’s line of questioning by demanding, “Is there any proof of what you just said?”
Astonished, Fan Lifeng was hesitant to scribble down any notes. For a moment, he wondered if he had heard it wrong, and as his grip tightened on the pen, his ears pricked up with the hope of hearing Dong Yueyun repeat herself.
However, no one was quite as shocked as Qin Wentao. His eyes were nearly bulging out of his head as he stared at Dong Yueyun in bewilderment, but he did not voice out his confusion. He knew his wife could handle any situation thrown her way, and he was sure that she would not have made such an incredulous statement without reason. I’m sure she has some grander purpose in mind.
“I’m sure of it,” she answered solemnly, nodding her head.
Liu Xiaofan remained skeptical. “Could it be that Dong Wanqing was putting on a show when she claimed to have lost the ring? Was she plotting to hurt Mu Yu then?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Dong Yueyun disagreed. “She really was flustered at first when she thought she lost the ring, and seeing as it’s an important piece of jewelry for her, she was heartbroken. That same night, she made a trip to West Bay, but her efforts proved futile, and when communicating did not work out for her, she flew into a rage, claiming that she would not back off until they compensated her. The head of West Bay and his wife happened to be close friends of ours, and having been driven to their wits’ end, they came to us in hopes of working things out. Considering the business relations between West Bay and Qing Tian Group, my husband thought we should resolve the matter amicably. Besides, Wanqing couldn’t prove that she had lost her ring at West Bay. In light of our efforts to meet them halfway, the head of West Bay compensated for the alleged loss of the ring with fifty thousand in cash.”
Having said all that, she paused and glanced at Qin Wentao meaningfully. When he caught the look in her eyes, he immediately nodded and elaborated, “Yes, I was the one who tried to resolve the whole fiasco amicably. I happened to be at West Bay with a client of mine on a leisure trip, and I took the opportunity to relay Wanqing’s message to President Xu, who, for the sake of our friendship, decided to compensate her with the fifty thousand. He probably wouldn’t have done it for anyone else, you know.”
“So what happened after? Did she find the ring? Where did she find it?” Liu Xiaofan pressed on as he fixed his gaze on Dong Yueyun, ignoring the smug look on Qin Wentao’s face.
“She didn’t find it right away. It was only after President Xu’s compensation that she found the ring under the passenger seat of her car.”
“And have you seen the ring after that?” Yan Zihao interjected.
“I have,” she answered, nodding her head once. When she spoke again, she did so slowly, as though she was recounting the events. “Because I was the one who found the ring. I went shopping with Wanqing that day, and I was in the passenger seat while she drove the car. I remember putting on my make-up, and I was holding my cosmetics bag when she suddenly braked. I couldn’t react in time, and the bag fell to my feet, scattering my cosmetics everywhere; I asked her to pull up at the curb so I could pick them up, and it was then that I found the diamond ring nestled in a corner under the passenger seat. Upon seeing the ring, she recalled that her handbag had been left unzipped while she drove back from West Bay the other day; when she braked, the handbag fell off the passenger seat, and the ring must have rolled out then.”
Liu Xiaofan’s gaze flickered over to Qin Wentao, and he sounded suspicious as he pointed out, “Madam Qin, it seems as if your husband had no idea that the ring has been found.”
“That’s because I didn’t tell him about it, though I nearly did when I first came upon the ring. However, I thought about it and decided that I would not shoot myself in the foot,” she explained steadily. “You see, the whole fiasco at West Bay started with this ring, and if President Xu were to find out that Wanqing never lost it in the first place, he would think of her as being an unreasonable brat who made baseless accusations against him and his company. It would do Wanqing little good if this were to happen. Besides, my husband is a forthcoming man, and if he knew about the ring, he would have hastened to return the fifty thousand to President Xu. All in all, my husband would be better off kept in the dark about this, otherwise we’d have a bigger mess to clear up. Wanqing has yet to be married off, and I would like for her to settle down with a respectable family, but if words on this incident were to break out, her reputation would be tarnished; she would undoubtedly be subjected to contemptuous backlash. If I have to be painfully honest, the fifty thousand in compensation is hardly a large sum of money—at least not by President Xu’s standards—and it certainly isn’t worth putting Wanqing’s carefully polished reputation at risk. As such, after a long discussion with Wanqing, we decided to withhold this information from everyone, and she’s supposed to keep the ring out of plain sight.”
Yan Zihao demanded, “So why did she decide to wear the ring again?”
“She’s a vain child,” Dong Yueyun answered with a tired sigh. “Didn’t I say that the ring is her most prized possession? Her vanity is her besetting sin, and she loves to flaunt, so it comes as no surprise that that diamond ring is her favorite accessory. I was worried that my husband would learn the truth, given that he was there when Wanqing bought the ring, so I would always give her a stern talking-to in private whenever she wore the ring. She wouldn’t listen to me at first, believing that all would be fine as long as my husband remained oblivious, but eventually, she caved into my warnings. Nonetheless, she would still wear the ring as often as she could, and she’s only wearing it now because it would complement the rhinestones on her manicure. That being said, I am naturally clueless as to why the driver in your case would have the same ring as well. All I can say with utmost certainty is that Wanqing treasures this diamond ring very much, and on the days she’s not wearing it, she keeps it in a safe.”
Having heard all this, Liu Xiaofan was still doubtful, and he waited until she was done speaking before asking, “Apart from you, does anyone else know about Wanqing losing the ring?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve told her multiple times to keep mum about this incident so that no one else would find out about it. I was worried that someone could sabotage her out of jealousy by spreading the word on this. If anything, Wanqing should know better than to blab about this whole thing. This is all I can tell you, Officer Liu. I hope it helps.”
“It does. It’ll help us with our case greatly,” Liu Xiaofan assured her. Then, he paused before adding as an afterthought, “But only if you’re telling the truth.”
Dong Yueyun squared her shoulders and insisted, “Of course I’m telling the truth! You can look into this if you’d like!”
“I’ll do just that. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. and Mrs. Qin,” Liu Xiaofan said flatly, then glanced over at Fan Lifeng before subtly jerking his chin.
Fan Lifeng understood the silent indication and immediately kept his notepad. Then, the three of them walked out of the study.
Qin Wentao and Dong Yueyun fell in step behind the trio. Upon leaving the study, the former muttered under his breath, “There’s no way Wanqing would admit to the narrative that the both of you are the only ones who know about this. Wouldn’t that be a hurdle?”
Dong Yueyun hummed pensively in response, and she sounded as though she was hazarding a guess as she drawled, “Yin Anran and Wanqing constantly hang out together, don’t they? Maybe Wanqing told her about this.”
Upon hearing this, Qin Wentao instantly called for Liu Xiaofan, stopping the latter in his tracks. “Officer Liu, you should look for Yin Anran and ask her about this incident. Perhaps she could verify the truth of my wife’s statement.”
While Liu Xiaofan was displeased with the man’s imperious tone, he turned around and said courteously, “I will.” Then, he got into the car with Fan Lifeng, and the both of them sped away.
As the car drove out of Free World, Fan Lifeng heaved a long sigh and said tiredly, “I thought it was bad that Bian Zijun ordered us around and asked us to keep it a secret from Chief Rong. I was so worried that we would get in trouble with the law if we kept following their orders, and I would get anxious just thinking about it. As it turned out, they’ve been a great help! Judging from all the evidence we have right now, the culprit is more likely Dong Wanqing than not.”
“I was pretty worried, too, but I’m not now. I have a hunch that Dong Wanqing is the culprit,” Yan Zihao agreed, nodding his head once. He sighed, then added, “I didn’t think kinship could be so easily outweighed by benefits.”
Fan Lifeng corrected him immediately. “To be fair, I don’t think kinship is as lightweight as you say. We just happen to have presumed that theirs was solid enough to take a hit. Dong Wanqing probably had the same thought, and she believed that her aunt treated her like her own daughter, which was why she had been so ready to do her aunt’s bidding. Now that she’s seen her aunt’s true colors and figured out where she stood, the illusion is shattered. I have to admit that I kind of feel sorry for her.”
“I feel sorry for her, too. She—”
Just then, Liu Xiaofan cut off their conversation by interjecting, “Between the aunt and the niece, whose statements would you choose to believe in?”
Fan Lifeng and Yan Zihao exchanged a bewildered glance, unsure as to how they should answer.
Liu Xiaofan caught sight of their confused expressions in the rearview mirror and snapped irritably, “Could you both please put your heads together and think about this? Dong Wanqing claimed that the ring was lost at Dong Yueyun’s place so that she could make the husband-and-wife duo suspects in our case, seeing as they already have the motive anyway—and a strong one, too. On the other hand, Dong Yueyun is saying that Dong Wanqing never lost the ring in the first place, which means they’re deliberately trying to implicate her as the one who attempted to hurt Mu Yu and her son. With both sides trying to deny having anything to do with Mu Yu, one of them has to be lying. Could you two idiots try to figure out who’s lying?”
Fan Lifeng bristled at the insult and grumbled, “You can’t just call me an idiot and expect me to figure things out.”
Liu Xiaofan, on the other hand, took the jab in stride as he usually did and merely frowned as he thought hard on the question. Finally, he said, “There’s no eye witness to corroborate Dong Wanqing’s statement that she lost the ring at Dong Yueyun’s, but Dong Yueyun mentioned that Yin Anran might know something about Dong Wanqing misplacing the ring. If the latter is true, then it would prove that Dong Wanqing has been lying all along.”
Fan Lifeng perked up at this. “Well then, shouldn’t we look for Yin Anran right away and get her to verify the truth of that statement? If she could prove that Dong Wanqing never lost the ring in the first place, then we would have our culprit!”
“Yin Anran wouldn’t be able to prove anything,” Liu Xiaofan countered stonily. “We’ve interrogated her once, and we even showed her a picture of the diamond ring in question, but she said she’s never seen it before.”
Fan Lifeng sagged against the backseat like a deflated balloon, sulking as he asked, “So are we still going to see Yin Anran and ask her about this?”
With his spirits drained, Yan Zihao replied disgruntledly, “Obviously not, seeing as it would only be a waste of time if we do.”
“No! We have to go!” Liu Xiaofan looked somber, and his tone was grave as he explained, “Yin Anran was particularly anxious when she first saw the picture of the diamond ring, and under such tense circumstances, surely she would have been far too nervous to recall anything. She might have panicked and failed to recognize the diamond ring. Anyway, we can’t just build a case on assumptions alone. We have to go and find out the truth.”
With that, he stepped on the gas pedal, and the car immediately sped down the road toward Qing Tian Building.
Meanwhile, at Qing Tian Building, Yin Anran was seated in her office and spacing out in front of her computer screen when the door was abruptly pushed open.